Manila Standard - 2017 August 24 - Thursday

FAELDON, 14 OTHERS TAGGED CROOKS IN BOC LACSON’S LIST Teddy Raval Ariel Nepomuceno Gerardo Gambala Natalio C. Ecarma III Edward James Dy Buco Neil Estrella Chris Bolastig Zsae de Guzman Larribert Hilario Joel Pinawin Milo Maestrecampo Grace Malabed Alvin H. Ebreo Athena Dans

Duterte mans up to drug war’s aftermath

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday accused former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon of “promoting” corrupt practices in the Bureau of Customs, even mentioning a report that the former rebel officer received a P100-million payoff as a welcome gift shortly after he assumed the BOC post in 2016.

In his privilege speech, Lacson also named Next page

VOL. XXXI • NO. 191 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Bato to cops: Stop planting evidence

By Francisco Tuyay and John Paolo Bencito

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte vowed to continue his war on drugs despite the public outrage sparked by the killing of Grade 11 student Kian Loyd delos Santos, even as the police said they were ready to counter moves to oust the President by a shadowy group that claims to have military men as members.

In a speech before the Air Force dragon boat team in the Palace Tuesday, Duterte said he would not visit Delos Santos’ wake because this would create the misimpression that he was abandoning the police in the anticrime war that he started.

He added that the war on drugs would continue despite innocent civilians getting killed in the process.

“Sometimes, it can go wrong.

But if I do not destroy the drug problem, I will compromise the next generation,” he said, then continued in Filipino. “We don’t know who the next leader will be. The problem is already here, it’s ours to solve,” Duterte said.

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HILIPPINE National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa on Wednesday told police officers to stop planting evidence on drug suspects after a crime lab report said 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos had not fired a gun before he was shot dead by Caloocan City cops on Aug. 16.

REGIONAL COOPERATION. The five-day 15th annual Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (Seacat) exercise, launched at Singapore Navy’s

Multinational Operations and Exercises Center on Aug. 22, focuses on regional cooperation to address shared maritime security challenges like smuggling, piracy and other illicit activities at sea, bringing together liaison officers from Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and the United States to collaborate and execute practical maritime responses to multiple realistic scenarios. Norman Cruz

#FireMocha hot topic on social media after gaffe SOCIAL media users on Wednesday called for the firing of Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson after she taunted opposition leaders to visit the wake of a slain policeman who, as it turns out, had died a year ago.

The hashtag, “#FireMocha,” topped Philippine trending topics on Twitter after users of the service called her out for yet another social media gaffe.

“Calling Leni, Bam, Trillanes at Hontiveros. Kailan niyo dadalawin

ito? (When will you visit this?)”

Uson wrote to accompany a screen grab of an article published a year ago about a police officer killed in a drug raid in August 2016, along with a photograph of his wake.

Uson was taunting opposition

leaders Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Antonio Trillanes and Risa Hontiveros for visiting the wake of Kian delos Santos, a 17-year-old Grade 11 student who was killed by police in an anti-drug sweep.

Uson briefly set her account to private, and restored it to public status after she deleted the erroneous tweet. But by then, social media followers and critics had already saved screenshots of her tweet and circulated it widely.

In a speech at the 116th Police Service Anniversary in Central Visayas, Dela Rosa told police officers that God was watching and there would be a day of reckoing for those who did wrong.

“Avoil planting drugs on the suspect because you want them out of the drug business,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino.

“Maybe you’re tired, and you know they go in and out of jail. You arrest them, but they have nothing on them, so you plant the evidence.

Don’t do that. That is very bad. God is watching us, and there will be a reckoning,” he added.

The PNP is under fire over the death of Delos Santos, a student who was found dead in an alley with with a .45 pistol and two sachets of shabu.

Police claimed that Delos Santos was a drug courier, and had Next page

Critics dared: Prove Paolo’s into smuggling

By John Paolo Bencito STO. TOMAS, Batangas—President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday dared his critics to show him proof that his son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, was involved in illegal smuggling and, if he were, he would resign.

Defending his son amid allegations of giving “tara” for his business transactions, the President stressed his son was simply working to make a living.

“If that is smuggling—give me an accounting and I will resign. I

have no problem resigning,” the President said during the inauguration of a solar manufacturing plant here.

“Prove it is true, and I will resign,” he added.

The President disclosed his son’s transactions at the Bureau of Customs arose from the buy-andsell business of Paolo’s former wife, Lovely.

“You can always see him at the waterfront helping his in-laws, and he has to earn for his kid and has to work for his family,” Duterte said.

He added everything being

thrown at his family was simply a “rehash” during the last elections.

In a separate speech, the President, who was former Davao mayor before getting elected to the presidency, recalled his son got married at a young age and was forced to work for his in-laws, and would have to face many troubles.

“Eighteen years old he was, he eloped with a Muslim, whose father was a Tausug and the mother a Maranao; and their business, you know this those of you who have been assigned to the ‘ukay ukay’ Next page

FURIOUS FISTS. Nick Warner (left), the head of Australia’s international spy agency Asis, stands next to President Rodrigo Duterte and does the latter’s signature picture pose. Duterte, whose war on drugs has claimed thousands of lives and drawn enraged condemnation from human rights groups across the globe, raises his hand in his trademark clenched fist. Malacañang Photo

Bicameral panel confirms Romualdez as envoy to US

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

WARMER FROM WARM. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III (left), chairman of the Commission on Appointments, congratulates Jose Manuel Romualdez, 69, after his confirmation as new ambassador to the United States. Romualdez has stressed that Manila-Washington ties are warm ‘but we’ll try to make it warmer despite the independent foreign policy advocated by President Duterte.’ Lino Santos twitter.com/ MlaStandard

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NEWLY-CONFIRMED ambassador to the United States Manuel Romualdez vowed to make the Philippines’ relationship with the US “warmer” after getting the nod of the powerful Commission on Appointments on Wednesday.

Romualdez said he will communicate to the US government the independent foreign policy being advocated by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“I think the US is cognizant of the fact that we have to try our best

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to have warmer relations with other countries,” said the 69-year-old Romualdez who was confirmed after hurdling the hearing by the CA’s foreign affairs committee led by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Romualdez also said he was informed that US President Donald Trump was coming to the Philippines to attend the Asean meeting in November.

He said he will interact with many of US institutions, particularly the US Congress, since “we have not been able to interact with them for more than a year.”

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PCGG gets authority to probe Andy

By Rey E. Requejo JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has directed the Presidential Commission on Good Government to investigate Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista in connection with his alleged hidden wealth worth P1 billion.

In Department Order 551 dated Aug. 22, 2017, Aguirre granted the PCGG authority to Next page

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

US admiral says Nokor missile plan alarming

By John Paolo Bencito A VISITING American official on Wednesday expressed alarm over the intercontinental ballistic missiles possessed by North Korea in his meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang.

Admiral Harry Harris Jr., commander of the United States Pacific Command, told Duterte that Washington was worried by the developments in the region.

“I am worried. I just came from there,” Harris said.

But Duterte said China “has the greatest leverage over North Korea.”

On Wednesday, Beijing demanded that Washington to immediately withdraw a package of sanctions on some companies and individuals trading with North Korea.

China’s Foreign Ministry insisted its government had fully implemented the UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea, and would punish anyone caught violating the Security Council sanctions under Chinese law.

It said it opposed sanctions outside the framework of the Security Council.

Harris was accompanied by US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, US Embassy Defense Attaché Col. Ernest Lee, and US Pacific Command Major General Jeffrey Kruse.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces Chief Eduardo Año, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, and Foreign Secretary Allan Cayetano were present during the meeting.

Duterte likewise met with the officials of China Communications Construction Co. and thanked President Xi Jinping “for going out of his way to help us.”

“And I must say that we really need the help of China in our infrastructure. Nothing seems to be moving here at a fast rate because of traffic and, of course, the lack of viable infrastructure,” Duterte said.

“So we are hopeful that our talks now will produce results for the good of your country and for our welfare also as you are trying to help us.”

CCCC is a transportation infrastructure group in China that is principally engaged in the design and construction of transportation infrastructure, dredging and heavy machinery manufacturing.

Bicameral...

From A1 Asked about the challenges he faces, Romualdez said: “It’s more of just simply having the same kind of relationship, strengthening it and just putting it in an even keel, meaning to say to explain to our friends in Washington the President’s policy on many issues.

“I think it’s clear that our military alliance with the US is a very strong one and it continues to be strong, and this is shown by the fact that we have many visitors coming here from the military. In fact, Admiral Harris is right here today. He is the commander of the Pacific command, and they’ve also delivered several hardware material for us, the recent delivery of two spy planes.

“All of these are part of what that relationship is, a very strong military alliance, and EDCA is just a sort of like an agreement that strengthens that kind of relationship.”

In his nomination speech, Lacson stressed that with Romualdez, whom he said started as a television newscaster for RPN-9 in the 1970s, “we guarantee strong diplomatic engagement with the United States.”

He said US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim himself welcomed Romualdez’s appointment.

In endorsing the confirmation of Romualdez, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said “soon-tobe man in Washington, DC is no babe in the woods in US affairs.”

Though principally based in Manila, Recto said, Romualdez had enough contacts in the American capital that he could be considered a Beltway insider.

“So wide is his network, I was told, that should Trump drain the swamp, those flushed away and those who will remain are surely friends of his,” Recto said.

“So wired is he with the beating heart of the US government that a friend has joked that if the nominee decides to swim across the Potomac unannounced, someone in Foggy Bottom will be waiting with a set of dry clothes for him.”

Recto said Romualdez had many other competencies aside from his communication skills, which made him a fine diplomat. He said Romualdez was articulate in both the spoken and written word.

PET sets rules on Marcos protest

screening and hiring of the members of the Revision Committees, the creation of an Exploratory Mission or Retrieval Team and the compensation of those who will eventually take part in the actual

Supreme Court’s Gymnasium in the proceedings. It also included two more areas to be used in the election protest: a portion of the Fourth Floor Parking Level of the SC-Court of Appeals Multi-Pur-

pose Building as well as a room at the back of the Division Hearing Room.

The high court also required that each Revision Committee be composed of a coordinator who will be a lawyer, a recorder and a representative, each from the protestant and protestee. It also required the parties to designate their respective alternative representatives.

The tribunal also provided for P1,500 per clustered precinct compensation for each Revision Committee, which will cover the members’ compensation and supplies. The coordinator will receive a compensation of P780 while the recorder will be entitled to P480.

The remaining P184 will be for their

Bato...

had not fired a gun the night he was shot dead.

The information came from a report by the Northern Police District Crime Laboratory.

“Qualitative examination conducted on the paraffin cast taken from both hands of the cadaver [referring to Kian’s body] gave negative results to the test for gunpowder nitrates,” laboratory findings said.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday acknowledged that the Caloocan police may have committed irregularities that led to Delos Santos’ death.

“I’m not justifying the Caloocan incident. That is really bad. That wasn’t in the performance of their duty. Do not commit a crime,” the President said during the inauguration of a solar

manufacturing plant in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

The President repeatedly reminded the military and the police that everything should be done with regularity.

“You are not allowed to shoot a person who is kneeling down, begging for his life, that is murder,” Duterte said.

The President said police who were involved in criminal acts “should get killed.”

Delos Santos, who was killed in a police operation in Caloocan City last week, sustained two gunshot wounds to his head, according to a report from the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory.

The PNP autopsy report, however, contradicted earlier reports of a team of forensic experts, which said De-

By Rey E. Requejo

T

HE Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has prescribed the rules governing the coming recount or revision of the ballots in connection with the election protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The PET laid down the rules, recounting of the ballots.

The PET approved the use of the including the composition,

From A1

fired at them while trying to flee, prompting them to shoot back and kill him.

But his family said the gun and drugs were not his, while witnesses disputed the police version of events.

CCTV footage showing two policemen dragging Delos Santos from one alley to another, where he was killed, also contradicted their story.

Two of the policemen involved earlier admitted that they indeed dragged Delos Santos as seen on the CCTV footage.

On Wednesday, police said Delos Santos tested negative for gunpowder nitrates on both hands, indicating he

Duterte...

From A1 “Rise and fall on that issue. If I committed a wrong, then fine. Someday I will face the consequences. I’m ready to face the consequences,” he added.

Duterte acknowledged that the police may have committed mistakes in the killing of Delos Santos, after CCTV footage showed him being dragged by two policemen to the alley where he was shot dead.

But Duterte said he could not visit the wake because it would seem like he was abandoning the police.

“The media asked me if I would go to the wake, and I said no. I have expressed my condolences. If the family accepts them, good. But if they won’t, that’s fine with me,” he said.

“The thing is, I will not go there, because even if it is true, it is under investigation,” Duterte continued. “If I go there, the perception of the public is, maybe it’s true, that’s why the President visited, to apologize. I don’t want that. Because if I go there, I put down the police.”

The President reiterated his vow to let the cops involved go to jail if their liability is proven in court.

“There is an investigation conducted by the NBI. So when the time comes and it’s true [that they erred], there’s nothing we can do. They’ll have to face the consequences,” he said.

On Monday night, Duterte said intelligence information alone that Kian was a drug courier was not enough to pin him down as being part of the illegal drug trade.

Speaking to reporters at a media roundtable in Malacañang Park, Duterte slammed claims by the local police, including PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa that Kian could be a “legitimate target” of anti-drug operations based on information that he was a source of drugs in the neighborhood.

The President said that even intelligence reports could not prove anything in court.

Early that night, Duterte said he would let the National Bureau of Investigation probe the killing, and vowed that the cops behind the death would rot in jail if found guilty.

The President, however, said that there is no room for the police to misinterpret his orders to destroy the drug apparatus, even if this meant killing those who resist arrest.

On Wednesday, PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos said the police are ready to counter a group calling itself Patriotic and Democractic Movement or Padem, which claimed to have police and soldiers in its ranks.

“The full might of the 190,000-strong PNP will stand in the way of any attempt to destabilize government and challenge our earnest resolve to protect the state and its institutions,” he said.

Faeldon...

From A1 bribe givers, bag men, and collectors at the Bureau of Customs based on “vetted and crossmatched” lists provided to his office.

According to Lacson, 40 percent of the total 15,000 to 16,000 containers, or 6,000 to 6,400 containers passing through the BOC weekly are “with tara” or bribes.

Faeldon denied receiving P100-million payoff as a welcome gift shortly after he assumed the post in 2016, saying in a statement he did not receive or ask anyone to collect money for him “I have not asked anybody to collect tara for me nor have I accepted any tara from anybody.

Again, I have not done any form of corruption in my many years of government service nor tolerated those who tried even in the form of request,” Faeldon said.

“No is no. The country will appreciate if a third party investigation by a competent body will be conducted so that justice will be served. Just like the Honorable Senator Lacson and the Filipino people, I want the truth to come out,” he added.

The so-called “big players” include the Davao Group, which Customs fixer Mark Taguba earlier disclosed in the ongoing Senate probe on the P6.4 billion worth of shabu smuggled from China last May. The other four big players are David Tan,

PCGG...

From A1

investigate allegations of corruption and unexplained wealth of Bautista during his stint as PCGG chairman as well as to perform other investigative powers under its mandate.

“The PCGG [must] closely coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation, the Commission on Audit and the Department of Justice in the conduct of its investigation and is further authorized to prosecute cases, when necessary, in accordance with its powers under Executive Order Nos. 1, 2, 14 and 14-A above stated and other relevant laws,” read the two-page order.

PCGG is under the administrative supervision of the Department of Justice.

In related developemnts: • House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez on Wednesday said the Commission on Elections might receive zero budget for 2018 if Bautista, accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth, would not

supplies or materials.

Unlike the old rules, which required that the coordinator must come from high court personnel, the tribunal amended it by saying the Coordinators must come from outside the high court.

Because of such requirement, the PET ordered the Office of the Acting Chief Administrative Officer to post the vacancies for the members of the Revision Committees and accept applications for the staffing complement. The Acting Clerk of the Tribunal will screen the applicants for the position of coordinators of the Revision Committee.

The PET also created an Exploratory Mission/Retrieval Team that will locate and examine all ballot boxes in

the contested provinces and cities in order to facilitate their retrieval and transport to the Supreme Court compound for the revision.

The tribunal also fixed the compensation of the members of the panel of commissioners Justice Jose Vitug as chairperson who will receive P50,000 a month starting July 2017; and his members lawyers Angelito Imperio and Irene RagodonGuevarra who will each receive P45,000 monthly starting July 2017.

Lawyer Victor Rodriguez, spokesman of Marcos, welcomed the PET resolution which finally set in motion the requirements needed to pave the way for the revision of votes, saying it is a step forward towards their quest for truth. With AFP

los Santos sustained three gunshot wounds overall.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the credibility of eyewitnesses taken into custody by opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros was not in question, since their testimony might now be polluted, given the senator’s anti-government bias.

“Of course it will affect the credibility of these witnesses considering the bias of their handler,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre, who earlier ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a parallel investigation on Kian’s death, said the witnesses should instead be transferred to the custody of the witness protection program.

“It is the WPP which has the mandate to protect witnesses,” he said.

The Justice secretary then reiterated his offer to the witnesses and the family of Kian for coverage in the WPP after they reportedly received threats.

Hontiveros took custody of the witnesses after she visited Kian’s wake last weekend.

The three witnesses under the custody of Hontiveros will appear at the Senate inquiry on the incident on Thursday.

Hontiveros said two of the witnesses, aged 13 and 16, have signed sworn statements that will be included in the criminal case filed against the three policemen involved.

Hontiveros said her office took custody of the witnesses in response to a request from their families to protect them from threats they were receiving.

“Law and order will prevail,” Carlos added.

The PNP spokesperson said the top police officials and rank-and-file strongly deny involvement with the group.

“We call on these shadowy groups with sinister motives to please spare the PNP from their delusion of getting any form of support from our ranks. We will never allow the PNP to be used in any move to betray the Constitution and grab power,” Carlos said.

He also added that the PNP remains faithful to the flag, the Constitution, the Filipino people and to its sworn duty to uphold the rule of law; and obey only legal orders of the duly constituted authorities through the chain of Command.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana urged the public to remain calm and wait for the results of the investigation of Delos Santos’ shooting death.

Lorenzana made the statement in the wake of the public outcry following Delos Santos’ death.

“We must allow the investigation into this incident to take its full and proper course,” Lorenzana said late Tuesday.

The Defense chief also stressed that once allegations of foul play are proven, the perpetrators must be brought to justice and be accountable for what they have done.

Lorenzana also assured the family that the implicated police officers, if found guilty of abuses and other lapses, will be punished to the fullest extend of

the law as the President has promised.

“I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Kian delos Santos,” the DND chief added.

Lorenzana added that Delos Santos did not deserve to die in the manner that he did, even if police claims about his being a drug courier were true.

Earlier, the four officers implicated in the incident, namely PO3 Arnel Oares, PO1 Jeremias Pereda and PO1 Jerwin Cruz and their precinct commander, Chief Insp. Amor Cerillo, were placed under restrictive custody in wake of the ongoing investigations.

The four were earlier ordered relieved over the incident and are now detailed at the National Capital Region Police-Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit pending results of the investigation against them.

CCTV footage contradicted their claims that the Grade 11 student fired at them first, prompting them to shoot back and kill the 17-year-old boy.

Also on Wednesday, Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento said the police’s Internal Affairs Service should be strengthened to become a truly independent body that runs after scalawags and misfits in the police service without fear or favor.

Sarmiento said the IAS should be beyond the influence of all members of the police service, including the PNP chief.

With Maricel V. Cruz, PNA

Critics...

From A1

sub-beat,” he told members of the Philippine Air Force dragon boat team Tuesday night.

“He had to work for his in-laws, he was 18 and his wife was 24, reason he worked at the pier carrying on his shoulders ukay ukay including jars,” he said.

Customs broker Mark Ruben Taguba told the Senate Blue Ribbon committee Tuesday he handed P5 million in cash as a one-time “enrollment fee” to a friend and “handler” of Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte to facilitate his transactions at the Bureau of Customs.

Taguba, the broker of the P6.4-billion shipment of shabu that slipped through Customs in May, said he met “Small”—whom he identified as Davao Councilor Nilo Abellera Jr.— and a certain “Jack” in a restaurant in Davao City to hand over the money in January 2017.

Manny Santos, Teves Group, and a certain Kimberly.

Lacson revealed the other top-ranking Customs officials he claimed received grease money from bribers: Deputy Com. Teddy Raval–Intelligence Group, Dep. Com. Ariel Nepomuceno-Enforcement Group, Dep. Com. Gerardo Gambala of the Command Center, Dep. Com. Natalio C. Ecarma III of Revenue Collection Monitoring Group, Dep. Com. Edward James Dy Buco of Assessment and Operations Coordination Group, Dir. Neil Estrella– Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (alleged to collect also for the Office of the Commissioner together with Chris Bolastig); Atty. Zsae de Guzman–Chief, Intellectual Property Rights Division, Atty. Larribert Hilario of Risk Management Office, Joel Pinawin, OIC Chief, Intelligence Division of the BOC (one of the alleged collectors of Director Estrella); Dir. Milo Maestrecampo– Import and Assessment Service; Atty. Grace Malabed, Acting Chief of the Account Management Office and Atty. Alvin H. Ebreo, Director Legal Service under Revenue Collection Monitoring Group.

Also on the take are all Section Heads, Appraisers and Examiners in the Formal Entry Division in both the MICP and POM; Athena Dans of the Informal Entry Division MICP; all Section Heads; Appraisers and Examiners in the Informal Entry Division in the POM; MICP and POM Sections 1, 9, 10, and 15

Chief Appraiser and Examiner.

Saying that “hell is empty and all the devils are at the Bureau of Customs, Lacson tagged Faeldon as the top beneficiary of the “bribe money,” also called as “payola” or “tara” at the country’s most corrupt government agency.

In describing the BOC, Lacson paraphased William Shakespeare’s “Hell is empty, and all the devils are here” quote to portray a horrible place, filled with horrible people doing horrible things to other horrible people.

When Shakespeare mentioned this many, many years ago, Lacson said he had never thought at that time that more than 10,000 kilometers away and some 400 years later, he would be describing the Philppines’ present-day BOC. And for the devils, he noted “the BOC is heaven—a heaven that is a haven for crooks, criminals, malefactors, and faeldons… sorry, I meant felons.”

While he did not mention the amount Faeldon had been getting from bribers at the BOC, Lacson said an unimpeachable source provided him with information involving a prominent Customs official.

Lacson said the source told him that Mr. Customs Official’s total encashment amounted to Five Million One-Hundred Nine Thousand Pesos (P5,109,000) from May 16 to June 28, 2017.

The following breakdown follows: P1.5 million check deposit on May 16, 2017, P1.2 million check encashment on June 01, 2017, P699 thou-

sand encashment on June 05, 2017, P1 million encashment on June 08, 2017, P910 thousand encashment on June 19, 2017 and 1.3 million encashment on June 28, 2017.

Lacson also said “loud whispers” in the four corners of the BOC compound told of a 100-million-peso ‘pasalubong’ to the newlyinstalled Commissioner, a quarter of which, or P25 million was retained as finder’s fee by his middleman named Joel Teves.

“If in the AFP, under a previous administration, you end your stint with the infamous ‘Good bye Pabaon.’ at the Bureau of Customs you start your stint with a ‘Welcome Pasalubong.’ Holy mackerel! With just the welcome, you are already earning as much,” Lacson of the outright cash incentive.

He said accepting this welcome gift was much like a slippery slope, citing the saying “Corruption is like a ball of snow. Once it’s set a-rolling it must increase [its roll].”

“And just like taking illegal drugs, they find themselves addicted to bribes in exchange for favors. The happiness of the corrupt continues. Indeed, loose morals will blur lines,” said Lacson.

He assailed Faeldon, also of the Philippine Military Academy, of having been gobbled up by the system at the BOC. “Unfortunately, instead of going against the system, he was eaten by the system, thereby effectively tolerating and even promoting the impunity of corruption,” pointed out Lacson.

With Vito Barcelo and Joel Zurbano

resign from his office.

The House Committee on Appropriations was scheduled to hold a briefing for the Comelec’s proposed P16-billion budget for 2018 on Wednesday, but it was deferred to Thursday after Bautista failed to attend it.

During the same press conference, Suarez also floated the idea that the sudden increase in Bautista’s wealth in 2015 could have influenced the May 2016 elections.

Bautista’s estranged wife, Patricia, claimed he had received commissions from Divina Law for “assisting the law firm clients with the Comelec.”

Divina Law is said to be the legal counsel of Smartmatic, a Venezuelan poll technology provider that bagged contracts for the implementation of the 2010, 2013 and 2016 automated elections.

• In the Senate, Senator Francis Escudero said Bautista should attend the next Senate probe investigating his alleged ill-gotten wealth to defend himself against allegations he accumulated P1 billion in unexplained wealth deposited in a thrift bank.

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies, has directed that an invitation be sent to Bautista to shed light “on this or in this matter.”

Ecudero approved the motion of Senator Grace Poe to summon Bautista to the next hearing.

In case Bautisa cannot appear at the hearing, Escudero said he should submit a waiver to LDB on his bank secrecy rights so the hearings can proceed without any legal stumbling blocks.

“A written waiver on bank secrecy will “untie the tongues” of the LDB officials who assured their cooperation in the ongoing Senate investigation.

• In Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella insisted the Palace had nothing to do with the filing of impeachment raps against Bautista.

“The Palace hasn’t anything to do with that,” Abella told reporters in a chance interview.

Meanwhile, former Negros Oriental representative Jacinto Paras, along with other complainants filed an impeachment complaint Wednesday

before the House of Representatives, citing the alleged hidden wealth of Bautista or misdeclaration in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and receipt of referral fees or commissions from the Divina Law Office as alleged by his estranged wife Patricia.

The group will likewise raise as one of the grounds in the impeachment complaint the criminal liability of Bautista in the hacking of the Comelec website that led to the leakage of voters’ database— as discovered by the National Privacy Commission.

Paras’ lawyers Manuelito Luna and Ferdinand Topacio said Bautista’s accountabilities for the data breach and the script tweak of the server during the 2016 elections constitute betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

• In the House, at least three lawmakers— Reps. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu, Harry Roque of Kabayan Party-list and Abraham Tolentino of Cavite—endorsed the impeachment complaint.

With Macon Ramos-Araneta, John Paolo Bencito, and Maricel V. Cruz-Bautista

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF Ex-DA chief Yap posts bail for PDAF scam cases FORMER Department of Agriculture secretary and Bohol 3rd District Rep. Arthur Yap posted a P300,000 bail on Tuesday at the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division in connection with his alleged involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam cases he is facing as former DA chief.

Yap paid a total of P300,000 —P60,000 for 2 graft cases, 40,000 for malversation and P200,000 for malversation through falsification.

Yap is the co-accused of former Misamis Occidental 1st District Rep. Marina Clarete who is facing 18 counts of graft, seven counts of malversation and 11 counts of malversation through falsification.

The Office of the Ombudsman accused Clarete of entering into ghost projects through dubious non-government organizations involving P62 million in PDAF. Yap was allegedly involved in one project by entering into a Memorandum of Agreement with National Agribusiness Corp., a government implementing agency.

The P300,000 bail Yap posted comes after the court issued a resolution finding probable cause against Clarete and her co-accused on August 15.

The court also ordered the arrest of Clarete and several co-accused.

“After a careful review of the record, the Court finds that probable cause exists in these cases, pursuant to Section 5, Rule 11 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure,” the court said.

“Accordingly, let warrants of arrests be issued against all the accused. Likewise, let Hold Departure Orders be issued against them,” it added.

Legarda denies rumor on taking over DSWD SANTO TOMAS, Batangas— Senator Loren Legarda on Wednesday flatly denied rumors of getting an offer from President Rodrigo Duterte for a Cabinet position at the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“I have not talked to the President,” Legarda told reporters in a chance interview during the inauguration of her son’s solar factory here.

Asked if she knew who was the incumbent lady senator, Duterte referred to, Legarda told reporters to “ask the other lady senators.”

All female senators, except Legarda and Risa Hontiveros, are reelectionists. Legarda is under the Nationalist People’s Coalition which has an alliance with Duterte’s political party, PDP-Laban. Akbayan Senator Hontiveros, meanwhile, is part of the Senate minority.

The other female senators are Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, and Leila de Lima, who is detained in Camp Crame over drug charges.

John Paolo Bencito

FRONTLINERS. This photo taken on Aug. 22, 2017 shows a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front wading through a flooded farm on his way to the frontline in Datu Salibo town, Maguindanao province, in southern island of Mindanao. The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group said on Aug. 23 it had lost 10 fighters in battles to stop a ’growing force’ of radical militants who support the Islamic State group. AFP

1,400 rogue cops charged since last year—Albayalde N ATIONAL Capital Region Police Office Director Oscar Albayalde said on Wednesday that around 1,400 policemen in Metro Manila who were linked to criminal activities such as kidnapping and extortion had been charged since the start of the Duterte administration in July last year.

Albayalde said the legal pro- policemen. ceedings are part of ongoing ef“Ito ang patuloy nating ginaforts to rid the force of erring gawa kaya hindi po tayo titigil

hanggang sa maging malinis ang aming hanay dito,” [This will continue and we will not stop until we cleanse our ranks.] Albayalde said in a television interview.

“Sa ating mga kababayan, wag po tayong mabahala, wag po tayong matakot at hindi kailanman ito-tolerate ng ating liderato sa PNP yung anumang pang-aabuso, kung meron talagang pang-aabuso na ginagawa ng ating kapulisan,” [To our countrymen, don’t be wor-

ried, have no fear because the PNP leadership will not tolerate abuse, if there is such abuse.] he said.

The police was again put into spotlight following the death of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos in a purported shootout. Police accused Delos Santos of being a drug courier, a charge his family denied.

Witnesses said policemen blindfold and beat up the teenager before the shooting.

Albayalde said the police force

We lost 10 men fighting rebels— Iqbal THE Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group said Wednesday it had lost 10 fighters in battles to stop a “growing force” of radical militants who support the Islamic State group.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said it was seeking to prevent the militants from gaining a foothold in an area of Mindanao island that the MILF calls its own, senior rebel leader Mohagher Iqbal said.

Iqbal said 50 or so militants had pledged allegiance to IS and had ties to gunmen waging a deadly three-month-old battle with government forces in the southern city of Marawi.

“The radical elements are growing as a force,” Iqbal added.

An AFP video journalist who joined the MILF soldiers on Tuesday said the fighting was centered on vast marshy forests and

farmlands near the town of Datu Salibo.

MILF men were filmed firing automatic weapons from a house, crossing streams and marshes with their machine guns, automatic rifles and rations raised above their heads, and inspecting the ruins of burnt houses.

Datu Salibo is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Marawi and about 800 kilometers south of Manila.

Iqbal put the MILF death toll from the fighting, which began early this month, at 10.

He said the militants had also sustained fatalities, although he could not give confirmed numbers.

The 10,000-strong MILF has been leading a decades-long rebellion to establish an independent or autonomous homeland in Mindanao for the mainly Catholic Philippines’ Muslim minority.

The conflict has claimed more than

100,000 lives.

The MILF signed a peace agreement with the previous administration in 2014 that envisages an autonomous Muslim homeland in Mindanao, and is hoping President Rodrigo Duterte can shepherd a final deal through a reluctant Congress.

However, a range of more hardline militants, including former MILF members, oppose any form of peace with the government and some have in recent years pledged allegiance to IS. The MILF has repeatedly warned that, if the peace process collapses, it will lose many of its younger members to IS-aligned groups.

Hundreds of IS supporters occupied parts of Marawi in late May. Government forces have been unable to dislodge the militants in Marawi despite a massive, US-backed military campaign. AFP

PMA Class ’85 members assume key govt posts

By Florante S. Solmerin

FOR KIAN’S SAKE. Senator Risa Hontiveros joins Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David in a press conference yesterday on the case of Kian Loyd delos Santos. Hontiveros says she will help facilitate the needs of all the witnesses. Norman Cruz

THE Philippine Military Academy “Sandiwa” Class of 1985 is the next ruling class in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, replacing the PMA “Matikas” Class ’83 currently being held by Chief of Staff General Eduardo Año.

Many of the Matikas class members were also appointed in key positions in the Duterte government.

Año, who has been repeatedly announced by President Rodrigo Duterte as his choice to lead the Department of the Interior and Local Government, will reach his mandatory retirement age of 56 on Oct. 26 this year.

He will replace Ismael Sueno who was sacked by Duterte because of allegation of corruption in the procurement of multi-million worth of fire trucks.

Reportedly in the race to the military top position to replace Año are Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez Jr., Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) chief Major General Benjamin Madrigal Jr., and 1st Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Rolando Joselito Bautista.

One of these Sandiwa generals will soon get the most-coveted position.

But according to Duterte, Año could not immediately assume his new government position because of the oneyear ban of Republic Act 6975 or the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990, “no retired or resigned military officer or police official may be appointed as Secretary within one year from the date of his retirement or resignation.”

condoles with Delos Santos’ family and added that the President himself would not tolerate police misconduct.

Albayalde said since they started the campaign against illegal drugs in July last year, 1,400 civilians have died during police operations, but 28,000 have been arrested.

He added that in NCRPO alone, more than 20 police officers have died during anti-drug operations and 60 others were wounded.

Duterte slams ‘excessive’ official

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte slammed a high-ranking government official for traveling exorbitantly and spending government funds on first-class perks.

“May isang opisyal tayo dito sa gobyerno, na tiningnan namin ‘yung travel—hindi sa departamento, not the Executive department—na kung magsakay ng eroplano, magabroad, first-class. Tapos ang mga hotel niya, ‘yung mga suite. May isang Presidential suite pa ang kinuha. T*** i**…,” [There is a government official we’re looking at their travel [expenses]—not from a department, not from the Executive department—when they ride an airplane, go abroad, it’s first class. Even their hotels, it’s on a suite—a presidential suite.

Son of a bitch.] the President said before members of the Philippine Air Force dragon boat team at Malacañang Tuesday.

The President, however, did not name the official he was referring to.

Three officials who were not from the Executive Department are currently facing impeachment raps—Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and Commission on Elections chairman Andres Bautista.

Of the three, Bautista and Sereno were accused of failure to declare billions in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

A4

Opinion

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

P

‘Everybody happy’ RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte announced Monday that he was accepting the resignation of Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and installing the head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Isidro Lapeña in his place.

The announcement followed weeks of speculation on whether Faeldon, a former mutineer who was appointed by the President himself, would stay or go after barely a year on the job.

Mr. Duterte presumably named Faeldon to head the perennially tarnished agency because of he latter’s known aversion to corruption. Faeldon joined the coups he did during the Arroyo administration because he and his group were supposedly outraged about government corruption.

But now Senator Panfilo Lacson alleges

that Faeldon himself received a welcome gift—P100 million—when he began his stint at the BoC last year—something the latter vehemently denied.

Lacson also named numerous Customs officials who were part of the entrenched smuggling syndicate at the bureau. “Hell is empty,” the senator said.

The bureau is one of two major agencies supposedly bringing muchneeded revenue to the government.

Taxes on goods entering the country, if counted and collected correctly,

would be substantial enough to fund government infrastructure and social services.

Unfortunately, the lure of money is much too difficult to ignore for many Customs officials, earning for bureau the notoriety of being perceived as one of the most corrupt in government.

Faeldon insists he waged a lonesome fight against corruption in his agency—which was why he was not able to stop the entry of P6.4 billion worth of shabu from Xiamen, China last May. Now everybody will watch what Lapeña would do differently from his predecessors. There is pressure to show that the BoC is not as impen-

etrable to reform, not only now when there is clamor for accountability, but from hereon so that much-needed money can pour into government and be put into good use.

“Everybody happy” is how Lacson described the system at Customs.

The loot trickles down to all those involved. The rest of us, however, are unhappy—no, outraged—at how such a system could have gone on for so long, unabated.

It would be naive to believe change will be seen at the bureau as soon as a new commissioner—another outsider, for good or bad—assumes his post. We are prepared to wait it out, so long as there are less happy people over there, every day.

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

Unsolicited advice

Delaying the inevitable LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES IF YOU believe that there is a concerted effort to bury the charges of alleged ill-gotten wealth against Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista, you need to look no further than the actuations of Senator Franklin Drilon in the first hearing called by the Senate committee on banks on the sensational case yesterday. Drilon, who really should be steering clear of the investigation as the top vote-getter in the elections supervised by Bautista last year, acted like the prosecutor of government probers looking into the case.

“The [National Bureau of Investigation], while it is an investigative agency, you cannot investigate any Tom, Dick and Harry,” Drilon thundered. “And, very critical, you must not use the

powers of the NBI to harass a citizen of this country.”

Now, as a former justice secretary, Drilon should be the last person to tell the NBI not to investigate someone like Bautista. Unless, of course, Drilon is deathly afraid of the revelations that may come out of any real probe of Bautista and his supposed accumulation of billions, according to his own wife, Patricia.

My skepticism about Drilon’s new position as the advocate of Bautista’s right to privacy against the big, bad and invasive government is, as usual, informed by the senator’s huge role in the conviction of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012. Back then, Drilon was the staunchest proponent of ferreting out the truth concerning Corona’s supposed non-disclosure of his hidden assets, which were kept away from the chief magistrate’s statement of assets and liabilities.

Now Drilon, who was the surprise topnotcher of the May 2016 elections with more than

18 million votes (two million more than President Rodrigo Duterte’s overwhelming 16 million) is on the side of the protecting the rights of a high government official who is being investigated for committing the same offense that got Corona

The task of finding out if Bautista enriched himself by compromising the elections can now begin.

al: Res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself).

If Drilon had not allowed his panic to get the better of him, he should actually inhibit himself from the Senate probe of the embattled Comelec chairman. As a party of interest because of his unexpected topping of the last elections, he should instead be declaring that Bautista can go hang, if that’s what the evidence warrants; that’s what a real “big man” should be doing.

I really don’t know how long Drilon can keep up the pretense of shielding Bautista from the government’s snooping before he starts looking like he’s obstructing justice. But then, maybe that’s his game plan from the beginning.

removed. How’s that for a reversal of roles?

As Drilon said, in his explanation of his vote to convict Corona during the latter’s tri-

*** In the House of Representatives, meanwhile, Bautista’s bid to stave off a Corona-like fate suffered a severe beating yesterday when an impeachment complaint was filed by lawyer

Ferdinand Topacio and former Rep. Jacinto Paras. And unlike all the earlier impeachment complaints filed against officials who can be removed only by this process, three congressmen quickly endorsed the move, thus clearing an important constitutional hurdle.

The only impeachment complaint that has gotten this far under the Duterte administration was the one filed against the President himself, which was filed and endorsed by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano. The impeachment moves against Vice President Leni Robredo, Supreme Court Maria Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales have languished after being filed (or have remained unfiled) for lack of a congressional endorser.

This certainly isn’t the case with Bautista. As soon as Topacio and Paras filed the complaint, Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu,

ABOUT a week ago, in what the Philippine National Police characterized as a shock-and-awe operation, 32 people who the police say were all involved in the illegal drug trade were killed in Bulacan. Not to be outdone, the police in the National Capital Region also killed another 34 drug suspects. Most of those killed were in Caloocan City. This operation included a 17-year-old grade 11 student named Kian delos Santos whose mother, an overseas Filipino worker just arrived from the Middle East just a day before the incident.

In a span of three days, 81 people were killed in the war on drugs. This is perhaps the highest casualty rate in a threeday period in the ongoing drug war. It is possible that the killing binge would have continued had the killing of Kian delos Santos not been caught on CCTV where he was shown being dragged alive by police before being killed. This demolished the allegations of the police that Kian tried to pull a gun on them and so they fired in self-defense.

The Palace initially characterized the killing as an unfortunate isolated incident even if on record, 27 minors have already been killed in the illegal drug war including two pregnant women and a four-year-old boy.

In this case of Kian, however, there is a CCTV footage debunking police claims plus the fact that for the first time, there seems to be a public outrage over the killing. Even people who have remained quiet in the last several months are now speaking out. The Police also eventually backed down. Even the President has washed his hands of the matter, saying those involved violated instructions and must face the consequences of their action. As a result, the three policemen involved have now been restricted to camp pending investigation. The precinct commander, City Chief of Police and District Commander were also relieved.

Even Cardinal Antonio Tagle who has stayed relatively quiet for some time finally issued a statement condemning the killing of Kian.

Over the last 14 months of President Duterte’s presidency, anywhere between 7,000 to 12,500 people have reportedly been killed in the illegal drug war. This is a staggering number which makes one wonder how much a Filipino Turn to A5

Turn to A5

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Opinion TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Duterte ouster not possible THERE is outrage over the —people whose intentions he Philippine National Police’s cannot be certain about. killing of drug suspects.

Lawmakers, the Catholic *** Church, and many other secA female undersecretary of tors have condemned the an agency chaired by Presikillings. dent Duterte sought me out for The Yellow horde led by for- advice one day. This official mer President Benigno Aqui- has all the credentials to be apno III held a rally at the People pointed to that agency, down Power monument along Edsa to a management engineering during the death anniversary degree. of his father. Along with many She said there were sevof us, they were angry over eral intrigues going around the death of 17-year-old Kian the agency where she delos Santos. Santa Banana, works. I told her—leave even the American ambassa- your government job and dor is outraged! work instead in the private The question is whether all sector. Whether she would this noise is enough to oust heed my advice is up to her, President Rodrigo Duterte. of course. People will conWill another people power tinue to envy her especially dislodge an incumbent presi- since they know she has a dent? contact from Malacañang.

I don’t think so. This is why Sure enough, when she was President Rodrigo Duterte named vice chairperson of the remains confident. agency, people said she used We only have to recall what her connections, and the fact happened in the past. There is that somebody in Malacanang nobody who was in love can galvanize with her, to the people get these adenough to vantages.

The President oust the PresiShe soon quit dent. I earlier remains very being vice said that the chairman; I people’s an- popular with the don’t know ger over the people. when she spate of killwould quit ings may have that agency. reached a tipping point in Kian’s case. But *** the drug problem is related to The Manila Overseas Press poverty and joblessness – it Club of which I am chairman cannot be rooted out unless emeritus invited President these twin evils are eradicated. Duterte to be our speaker. It History also tells us that no seems he would not make it, amount of rallies will gain though. He said our Annual the support of the military. President’s Night should be Similarly, no mutiny will held in Davao City, where he prosper without the support is based. This appears imof the people. Remember possible for many of us who what happened in Oakwood? are based in Metro Manila President Duterte gave and who will find it difficult marching orders to incom- to travel to Davao. ing Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña to weed out all *** corrupt people at the bureau.

Sometime last year, my Does that mean Lapeña has good friend Dante Arevalo to fire everybody? Even the Ang told me during a 365 security guards at that agen- Club meeting that I should cy are corrupt! start writing my memoirs.

Lapeña is another novato I was taken aback. I was —an outsider who will need neither celebrity nor politiat least a few months to get cian. “I’m just a journalist,” to know the workings of the I said. He said he would take bureau. In the meantime, en- care of the publication and trenched smuggling syndi- marketing. cates will run circles around I agonized for many months. him, as they did with Lapeña’s I cleared the matter with Philip predecessor Nicanor Faeldon, Romualdez, chairman of Maunder whose watch P6.4 bil- nila Standard, and Rollie lion worth of shabu found its Estabillo, publisher, to have way through the BoC. my memoirs published by I am not predicting how the owner of another newsLapeña would fare. But I paper. Most especially, I know he would rely a great sought the approval of my deal on the advice of insiders wife and children.

Delaying...

From A4 Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino and Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque immediately affixed their signatures to it.

The complaint, according to the rules, will go before the House justice committee, which will determine if it is sufficient in form and substance. After this process is completed, the whole House will then vote on whether it will bring the matter to the Senate, needing only one-third of the entire body to impeach.

The Senate will then convene as an impeachment court and try Bautista’s case, which could lead to the acquittal or conviction of the Comelec chairman. And once that process begins, Bautista and his defenders in Congress—like Drilon—will no longer be able to prevent the disclosure of any information about how the elections boss was supposed to have amassed his humongous wealth, as his own wife claims.

I’ve already said that Drilon and the other politicians believed to have benefited from Bautista’s overseeing of the 2016 elections were part of a heavy-handed propaganda effort to use Kian Loyd delos Santos, the 17-year-old student killed in a police anti-narcotics operation in Caloocan City last week, as a diversionary ploy to prevent the prosecution of the Comelec chief. I remain even more convinced of this now, even if the Senate is about to commence its investigation of Kian’s controversial killing today.

Now that Duterte has declared that he is in favor of thoroughly investigating the killing and that he will not intercede for the policemen involved, Kian’s case can no longer be deployed as a tool to bludgeon to the administration and keep it off-balance. The equally important task of finding out if Bautista enriched himself by compromising the elections can now begin.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Due process OVERSIGHT DANILO SUAREZ PUBLIC outrage followed the killing of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos last week during an antidrug operations of the Caloocan police. The victim’s family, friends, and the Filipino people are crying for justice. I personally condemn this violent act.

It was reported that the police recovered a .45 pistol and two sachets of suspected “shabu” valued at P20,000. The cops who conducted the drug raid insisted that Kian and his family were local drug runners, while Kian’s relatives and neighbors claimed otherwise. Police

claimed that Kian fought back.

The autopsy reports showed no evidence to support this claim.

There have been multiple versions of the incident based on the testimonies of the cops, the witnesses, and the content of the CCTV footage. Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa ordered the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to lead the investigation into Kian’s death.

The three policemen involved in the incident were relieved from their positions while the investigation is being conducted. President Duterte vowed to punish the cops involved in the killing of Kian once they are proven guilty.

PNP’s reputation continues

to worsen with the upsurge of drug-related killings since the President’s war against illegal drugs started. This prompted the Senate to probe the rise in drug-related killings by the PNP. Today, the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson will begin the investigation. Hopefully, this inquiry will shed light on Kian’s death.

On the first two months of the Duterte administration, around 20,584 minors have surrendered to the local police. 65 percent or more than 13,000 had previous records with the police as “first-time offenders” while 8 percent or 1,595 were repeat offenders.

Out of the total number of mi-

nor surrenderees, more than 98 percent admitted to being drug users while 273 surrendered as drug pushers and 66 as drug couriers or runners.

These numbers are alarming.

Let’s face it. Drug-related violence would not have worsened if the previous administration had addressed the drug menace with utmost priority.

In this administration’s drug war, instead of going after the children in conflict with the law, the police should primarily target the syndicates that use these children in their unlawful activities.

As part of the House Minority bloc, I denounce all forms of violence against innocent human beings. Due process must be accorded to all.

Silence means consent WE KNEW from the start what he was like because he said so.

When he campaigned for president, he said he would reduce crime in six months by killing criminals and drug addicts. This would be done in the name of peace and order.

He won the election because people were tired of being jerked this way and that by elites and oligarchs; sick of being lied to, misled, fooled, ignored, unserved; frustrated of life under regimes that were by turns dictatorial, drunken, inept.

The people thought, those are just words coming out of his mouth, he isn’t really going to perpetrate those exaggerations. And we want a change.

But remember, we knew what he was like from the start.

Once he was chieftain of that jewel of a city in the south, bursting with pomelo sweetness shot through with placer gold, royal purple of mountains, and green of trees and farms.

There his death squads enforced his idea of the law, and red blood of those slain without due process stained the vibrant fabric of the community.

He brought the rituals of those killing fields to the nation, and the people said, yes, we are willing for our fellow Filipinos to be killed because we want a new order, we want a change.

He said police could kill suspected drug addicts without fear of retribution from the law. He said to frame them for their own deaths. He said that he would sponsor a bill that lowers the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9.

He said that children killed in the drug war are “collateral damage;” He said he would kill human rights advocates next if they don’t shut up.

And many are now silent out of fear. Fear for their lives, fear for their property, fear for their place in society.

Others stay silent out of fatigue, worn out by the argumentum ad infinitum with his fanatical supporters and ground down by the incessant shrieking and harrying of trolls.

But we must not keep silent any longer because our children are dying.

We should not stay silent, because Kian was killed, and Althea, Hideyoshi, Joshua, Jefferson, Danica, Frances, and two dozen more, or even more than that.

Say their names. Say their names and remember their senseless deaths, they who were the future of our country, the heirs to our patrimony.

We cannot remain silent any more because silence is approval.

Silence is consent.

Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” and in the nothing we do and the silence we keep, our children fear to walk the streets of their neighborhoods, fear to face the warm Philippine nights blessed by the moon and stars, fear to be a part of community life lest they be caught in the crossfire of the killings.

How many unjust deaths have torn men, women, and children from their families? How much longer will human rights to due process be violated and the Constitution and other laws of the land flouted? How can we face our children and grandchildren when they ask us, “Why didn’t you stop the slaughter of the innocents?”

Recall that we knew what he was like from the start.

What we knew and we know are heard in his words and seen in his actions. He will not change; as he is, so he will go on. As he brought death to the southern city, he makes blood flood in the capital.

And we cower in silence and inaction born of fear, even as our children are taken from us by those sworn to protect.

But it is time to take a stand, as it was time when the first shot was fired in this ugly reign of terror.

We condemn those who kill without respect for human life and without due process in flagrant violation of law and the Constitution.

We hold complicit those who aid, abet, and otherwise encourage the drug war to continue and escalate, particularly those in positions of power and influence who have it in their authority to curb these abuses, but do not.

We denounce the state-sanctioned murder that has killed many thousands of Filipinos since July 2016.

We are no longer silent. And we do not consent. *** Dr. Ortuoste is a Californiabased writer. FB: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, IG: @ jensdecember, @artuoste

Second Korean war would quickly spread across Asia

By Brendan Scott and Adrian Leung A RECENT survey commissioned by the New York Times found that people who could find North Korea on a map were more likely to favor talks over military action. A glance at North Asia’s geography explains why.

More than six decades after the Korean War ended without a peace treaty, the peninsula remains bisected in a perpetual stalemate, with the U.S.-backed South Korean military lined up against more than a million North Korean troops. While tensions have occasionally flared—such as after Kim Jong Un’s weapons tests or threats of “ merciless revenge” over American-led military exercises that began Monday—the two sides have so far staved off another devastating conflict.

The 250-kilometer (160-mile) border defined in a 1953 armistice lays bare one obvious peril of any confrontation: The demilitarized zone sits on the doorstep of the Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live.

North Korea has spent decades con-

cealing hundreds of artillery batteries along the frontier that could wreak havoc in the southern capital, according to Joseph Bermudez, an analyst for the 38 North website run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Those weapons could kill thousands of people and damage scores of factories in the time it took the U.S. to project “fire and fury” across the border, as President Donald Trump has warned.

“If all of a sudden artillery rounds started plopping down in the middle of the city, hitting those high-rises, there would be panic like you would not believe,” Bermudez said. “Not only are people killed by direct explosion, they’re killed by all the debris, and they’re killed by accident. You don’t need much artillery to do that.”

After an initial exchange of fire, the danger could quickly engulf the rest of South Korea and neighboring Japan, countries that have been American allies since World War II. More than 80,000 troops are based across the two countries and the U.S. territory of Guam, which would provide key staging areas for any Ameri-

can-led attack.

Those U.S. bases were within reach of Kim’s bombs long before his first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4. Even if Kim still lacks the capacity to outfit those missiles with miniaturized nuclear warheads, he could cause plenty of damage with conventional and chemical weapons.

Kim would probably seek to maximize his advantage against more powerful foes by striking softer civilian targets in places like the greater Tokyo area, which is home to almost 40 million people. At the same time, North Koreans might look to escape the allied onslaught by flooding across the Yalu River to China. The region might also face environmental threats should the U.S. strike Kim’s heavy-water reactor north of the capital Pyongyang, scattering radioactive debris into the atmosphere and groundwater.

Mao Zedong’s decision to back China’s communist neighbors in North Korea was a key reason the U.S.-led United Nations forces were never able to achieve a decisive victory in the Ko-

rean War. China’s concern then—that a unified Korea could provide a springboard for attacks on its own territory —remains largely unchanged. And the world’s most populous country would be hard-pressed to remain on the sidelines if a full-fledged conflict erupted on its border.

Unlike his predecessor, Chinese President Xi Jinping commands a nuclear power with one of the world’s most advanced navies and air forces.

Should China join a second Korean conflict, that firepower would make it harder for Trump to ensure the safety of the U.S. homeland—much less its bases and allies across Asia.

And don’t forget Russia, which shares borders with China, Japan and North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin is already challenging the U.S. in hotspots around the world.

The U.S. is constantly engaging with China and Russia to explain what it would do in a conflict to minimize the chance of an escalation, Bermudez said.

“It’s certainly possible to prevent superpower escalation,” he said. “Communication is the key here.” Bloomberg

if the Police really want to use it, is more appropriate for the New People’s Army, Maute group or the Abu Sayyaf and not to the poor people who live in the slums.

There was only one time in the past where I have seen similar behavior of some government personnel both civilian and military. This was during martial law, but it is not even close.

Some people will always stand out in their attempt to advance their careers. But such behavior destroyed a lot of lives and careers when martial law finally came to an end. People seem to forget that a law enforcement career is a marathon, not a dash.

It is not the second quarter that is important but the last quarter. How many lives and careers were destroyed because of the eagerness of some people who like Dr. Faustus are willing to

sell their souls to the devil for a moment of fame and glory?

After martial law, many in the military lost their jobs and pension benefits. Some were hunted down by the Alex Boncayao Brigade and gunned down. A few lucky ones were able to escape retribution and retired with full benefits. To those in the PNP who are in the front lines on the war on drugs, bear in mind that there is a time for reckoning.

The PNP must therefore do the right thing and enforce the law as it should be. As already proven beyond any iota of a doubt, killing all the petty pushers will not eradicate the illegal drug problem especially if thousands of kilos of shabu are getting through the Bureau of Customs with apparent impunity.

The vast majority of people serving in the PNP are upright

and dedicated people who simply want to serve the country.

This is the reason why there is still hope in the organization.

Let me quote something I once read: “when they came for the communist, I did not say anything because I am not a communist, when they came for the homosexuals, I did not say anything because I am not a homosexual, when they came for the Jews, I also did not say anything because I am not a Jew; when they came for me nobody said anything because there was no one else left to say anything.”

Maybe the killing of Kian has finally awakened some stouthearted men who are finally willing to speak out. As Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, even if Kian was involved in drugs, he did not deserve to die the way he did.

Unsolicited...

From A4 life is worth. Probably not much because those we see dead in our streets who are mostly tattooed and wearing slippers do not seem to generate any outrage from the public. If so, it is a sad commentary of what we have become as a people. These are human lives, after all, and not animals. But in an atmosphere like what we have today, abuses like the senseless killing of Kian are bound to happen unless clear and strict guidelines are written down, understood and distributed to all PNP personnel, there will always be people in a big organizations like the PNP who will abuse.

If the killing of Kian was not partly caught in a five-second CCTV footage, who knows how many people would have died in the so-called shock-and-awe operation? This type of operation,

News

A6

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Alvarez seeks to abolish Road Board

By Maricel V. Cruz

S

PEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez has filed House Bill 6236 seeking to abolish the Road Board and transfer its functions to the Department of Public Works and Highways and to the Department of Transportation, as a means to prevent misuse of billions of pesos of the Road User’s Tax collected by the government.

The Road Board was created under Republic Act No. 8794, which imposed a motor vehicle users’ charge on owners of all types of motor vehicles.

The board is tasked to ensure prudent and efficient management and use of the special funds known as the Road User’s Tax (or Road Fund), which is ear-

marked solely and exclusively for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, installation of efficient traffic lights and road safety devices, and air pollution control.

But Alvarez said over the years, the Commission on Audit has unearthed signs of illegal utilization of the Road Fund, estimated to have amounted to a total of P90.72 billion from 2001 to December 2012.

“Obviously, the Road Board is just another layer of bureaucracy, which became another avenue for graft and corruption,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said that according to CoA reports, some P515.50

Bureau of Treasury. million of the Road Fund was Under the bill, all collections used in 2004 to 2008 for payof the Road Fund shall be “rement of salaries, allowances, mitted to the National Treasury maintenance and other operating and shall be appropriated to the expenses, which were properly proper government departments chargeable to the regular budget. such as the Department of PubCiting a CoA report, Alvarez lic Works and Highways and the said in 2011, P62.52 million of Department of Transportation, the Road Fund was used for the which will implement the road Road Board’s engineering and safety measures and projects.” administrative overhead expensOn the other hand, the bill es. Likewise, in 2013, CoA unretained the original provision covered findings of irregularities of the law which requires that in the use of more than P1.66 bilfunds collected under RA 8794 lion of the funds, he added. pertaining to the Trust Fund for Alvarez added that the CoA Alvarez Pollution Control, shall be aphas pointed out that from 2001 Road User’s Tax between the propriated to the Department to 2010 there were discrepan- collections declared by the of Environment and Natural cies amounting to P1.495 bil- Land Transportation Office Resources. lion in the total collection of and the certification from the CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Manila

Standard EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE TODAY

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: This AGREEMENT, made and entered into in Makati City, Philippines, by and among(1) MRS. RONA AMOR ALSUWAIDI, of legal age, Filipino citizen, lawful spouse of the decedent SALEM MOHAMMED ALSUWAIDI, and with residence and postal address at No. Unit 706 One Salcedo Place Condominium, Jaime Velasquez St., Salcedo Village, Makati City; and (2) BADER SALEM ALSUWAIDI and DAREEN SALEM ALSUWAIDI, both minors, Filipino citizens, and with residence and postal address at No. Unit 706 One Salcedo Place Condominium, Jaime Velasquez St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, represented herein by their mother MRS. RONA AMOR ALSUWAIDI, of legal age, Filipino citizen and with residence and postal address at No. Unit 706 One Salcedo Place Condominium, Jaime Velasquez St., Salcedo Village, Makati City; WITNESSETH: THATWHEREAS, in August 6, 2015, SALEM MOHAMMED ALSUWAIDI, died intestate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, leaving the following real properties: a.

Make: Porsche Series: 911 Carrera Year Model: 2013 Engine No.: MA103C11179 Chassis No.: WP0ZZZ99ZCS114886

b.

Make: Ferrari Series: FF Year Model: 2013 Engine No.: FERRARIF140EB180948 Chassis No.: ZFF3SKL5C0184933

c.

Make: Lamborghini Series: Huracan Year Model: 2015 Engine No.: CSJ001259 Chassis No.: ZHWEC1ZF4FLA00336

d.

Make: Bentley Series: Flying Spur Year Model: 2014 Engine No.: CVA003350 Chassis No.: SCBEM53W7EC088920

e.

Make: Ferrari Series: F12 Year Model: 2015 Engine No.: FERRARIF140FC200542 Chassis No.: ZFF74UFL7D0195162

f.

Make: Audi Series: A1 1.4TFSI Year Model: 2014 Engine No.: CAXB73990 Chassis No.: WAUZZZ8XXDB043674

g.

FAULT REMINDER. Bagong Silangan chairwoman Crisell ‘Bing’Belmi Beltran leads the dissemination of ‘Handa ka ba?’ posters as a reminder

to residents of communities traversed by the West Valley Fault on what to do before, during and after an earthquake. Beltran, together with personnel from the Quezon City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department and Department of the Interior and Local Government marked the path of the West Valley Fault in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City. Manny Palmero

Make: Toyota Series: Corolla 1.8VA Year Model: 2008 Engine No.: 1ZZ-4763333 Chassis No.: MR053ZEE206104275

WHEREAS, the parties hereto are the sole and only heirs of the decedent entitled to succeed to his estate, they being his lawful spouse and legitimate children, respectively; WHEREAS, there are no known debts or obligations due against of said decedent; and WHEREAS, it is to the best interests of the parties hereto to divide, partition and adjudicate among themselves the entire estate particularly the real properties above described extrajudicially in the manner and form hereinafter set forth.

NOW, THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the foregoing premises, and invoking the provisions of Sec. 1, Rule 74 of the Rules of Court, the parties hereto have agreed as they hereby do so agree to divide, partition, and adjudicate the above estate among themselves in pro-indiviso equal shares, subject, however, to contingent liabilities to creditors, heirs or other persons who might have been deprived of lawful participation in the estate of the decedent, for the period of two years from and after the settlement and distribution thereof, in accordance with the provision of Section 4, Rule 74 of the Rules of Court; and That in the remote event that any other property of the decedent should ever found which is not included hereinabove, the parties hereto further agree as they do so agree to settle and distribute the same in like manner and proportion as herein established and disposed.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereunto set their hands at the place first above written, on the_________________________

RONA AMOR ALSUWAIDI Spouse-Heir BADER SALEM ALSUWAIDI Son-Heir Represented by: RONA AMOR ALSUWAIDI DAREEN SALEM ALSUWAIDI Daughter-Heir Represented by: RONA AMOR ALSUWAIDI SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF:

____________________

______________________

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

BEFORE ME, personally appeared the following:

RONA AMOR ALSUWAIDI Tin No.

RES. CERT. NO. EC0320054

By Macon Ramos-Araneta VOTING 17-0 and with no abstention, the Senate passed on third and final reading a bill seeking to reduce the requirements and streamline the processes in starting and operating businesses to create a more conducive business environment in the country.

Senate Bill No. 1311, or the “Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act of 2017,” sponsored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship and co-sponsored by Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, seeks to amend the existing Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 (Republic Act 9485).

The bill was also co-authored by Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senator Joel Villanueva, both principal authors of the old law.

Zubiri said the landmark legislation is the Senate’s answer to the clamor of the business sector and government agencies to ease doing business in the country and make the country competitive and compliant with sound global business practices and standards.

He said the proposed measure was meant to reduce “red tape,” or

“promote transparency in government with regard to business registrations and other manner of transacting with the public.

In approving the bill, “the Senate immediately responded to the call of President Duterte during his last State of the Nation Address [SONA]—to cut red tape in government,” Zubiri added.

The bill sets a new prescribed processing period under which both national and local government offices will have to “process the application and communicate the decision regarding the approval, or if the application has been disapproved, along with comments or reasons for such disapproval.”

The processing period will not be longer than three working days for simple transactions and seven working days for complex transactions from the time the application was received.

For highly technical applications or such cases where extraordinary due diligence in reviewing the qualifications and merits of an application for clearances, accreditation and/or licenses issued by government agencies, the bill prescribed a processing time no longer than 20 working days.

For the Fire Safety Inspection

DATE/PLACE/ISSUED DFA NCR WEST/17 Feb. 14 16 Feb. 19

Known to me and to me known to be the same person who executed the foregoing instrument consisting of four (4) pages and acknowledged to me that the same is their own free and voluntary act and deed.

WITNESS MY HAND AND SEAL on the date and place first above written.

NOTARY PUBLIC

(MS-AUG. 24,31 & SEPT. 7, 2017)

Certificate, issuance shall in no case be longer than 10 working days.

Zubiri said the bill states that if the concerned national or local government agency fail to act on the application for license, clearance or permit after the prescribed processing period had lapsed then the application “shall be deemed approved.”

However, this is provided that the application has lapsed “without informing the applicant of the error, omissions and/or additional documents required for submission,” and that the applicant has complied with all required documents and fees.

To further prevent inaction and corruption in government agencies, Zubiri said they made the penalties stiffer for violators of the law.”

The following are the violations: refusal to accept application; failure to act on the application; failure to attend to clients who are within the premises of the agency prior to end of official working hours; failure to render frontline services; failure to give the client a written notice on the disapproval of an application; and imposition of irrelevant requirements other than those listed in the Citizen’s Charter of the agency.

24 flights to Manila-HK canceled

By Joel E. Zurbano

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES) CITY OF MAKATI )S.S.

NAME

Senate okays anti-red tape bill Three

TWENTY-FOUR flights from Cebu, Clark and Manila to Hong Kong were canceled due to bad weather condition brought by Tropical Storm “Isang,” airport officials said on Wednesday.

Based on the advisory released by the Manila International Airport Authority-Media Affairs Division, 12 of those canceled were Philippine Airlines (PAL) MNL-HKG-MNL flights—PR 300/301, PR 306/307, PR 310/311, PR 318/319, PR 352/353 and PR 382/383.

The Cebu Pacific Air canceled eight flights—5J108 Manila-Hong Kong, 5J109 Hong Kong-Manila, 5J110 Manila-Hong Kong, 5J111 Hong Kong-Manila, 5J150 ClarkHong Kong, 5J149 Hong Kong-Clark, 5J240 Cebu-Hong Kong and 5J241 Hong Kong-Cebu.

The Cathay Pacific Airlines also canceled four flights— CX 900 Manila-Hong Kong , CX 904 Manila-Hong Kong and CX 912/913 Manila-Hong Kong-Manila.

Management of PAL and Cebu Pacific Air advised the affected passengers to contact their offices for further information and inquiries or to rebook flights for free within

30 days, opt for a full refund, or place the cost of the ticket in a travel fund for future use.

They offered apologies for the inconvenience the weather-related flight cancellations caused.

In a bulletin issued late Tuesday afternoon, the weather bureau stated that Isang is already 395 kilometers west of Basco, Batanes, or outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility. It is moving west northwest at 25 kilometers per hour.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Pacific Flight 5J015 DubaiManila scheduled to depart at 3:10 a.m. (Manila time) 11:10 p.m. (Dubai time) was also cancelled last Tuesday due to detected technical issue prior to takeoff.

Airline officials said affected guests will be accommodated on the next available flight scheduled to depart at 3:10 a.m. (Aug. 24, Manila time) 11:10 p.m (Aug. 23, Dubai time).

“We will be providing affected passengers with meals, a one-way travel voucher, other necessities, and hotel accommodation, subject to visa policies of the United Arab Emirates.

Passengers who were not able to avail of hotel accommodation due to visa policies of UAE were provided access to the airport lounge,” they stated.

Basilan execs charged

By Rio N. Araja THE Office of the Ombudsman announced on Thursday the conviction of three executives of Lantawan, Basilan for failure to comply with the mandatory remittance of GSIS premiums under the revised Government Service Insurance System Act or Republic Act No. 8291.

In two separate decisions, the Sandiganbayan convicted ex-mayor Tahira Ismael and ex-municipal treasurer Aida Ajijon of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019, and Section 3 of the GSIS Act. The two were sentenced to a jail term of six to 10 years for graft and two to four years for violating the law.

The court also imposed upon them the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification from holding public office and prohibition from practicing any profession or calling licensed by the government.

Ismael and Ajijon deliberately failed to remit contributions from July 2001 to February 2003 totalling P3,118,005.07, the Ombudsman said.

As a result of such administrative lapse, the loan privileges of employees of Lantawan were suspended to the injury and prejudice of the municipal government.

Ismael tried to cover up for the non-remittance, saying Ajijon failed to prepare the corresponding vouchers for the remittance.

“This argument is skewed,” the Ombudsman said, quoting Sandiganbayan Justice Reynaldo Cruz.

“The Local Government Code explicitly grants the municipal mayor the power to exercise general supervision and control over the activities of the municipal government, which carries the responsibility of ensuring that all executive officials and employees of the municipality faithfully discharge their duties and functions as provided by law,” the decision read.

Sports

A7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

PH retains Gymkhana title T HE Philippine flag is once again on top of the continental Motorsports circle!

Behind the sought-after tandem of Slalom King Milo Rivera and multi-titled veteran Carlos Anton, the Philippines successfully swept the individual and team competitions in the 2nd Leg of the Asian Auto Gymkhana Championships last August 19 and 20 at the BMW Driving Center in Incheon, Korea.

The weekend began when Rivera and Anton scored a 1-3 finish during Saturday’s qualifying sessions, with the former finishing on top.

The next day saw torrential rain and strong winds, which gave the drivers additional difficulty, but the Filipinos

were unfazed.

The first victory for the Philippines came when 22-year-old Rivera ruled the individual races, with Koreans In-yong Lee and Jong-Hyuk-Lee finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Rivera had to deal with sudden death runs on both the semifinal

and final rounds.

However, behind the wheel of a MINI Cooper JCW, the Filipino racing star delivered smooth and swift maneuvers around the technical courses of the event, which propelled him to win his second straight FIA Gymkhana crown.

The sweep was eventually completed later that day when team Philippines emerged victorious in the team competitions.

Just like the individual prix, it needed a sudden death run for our country to claim the crown.

The Filipinos went up against team Korea during the semifinals and behind the control of Anton, team PH knocked them out of competition, before the veteran driver closed it out on

the sudden death run of the final round, defeating South East Asian rivals, Shazmie Ilias and Mitch Chong of Malaysia.

“We knew we were a favorite entering this race, which made the pressure even heavier. But given the preparation we underwent leading up to this weekend, and the unsung talent and heart of the Filipino, we felt that things were gonna be good for us. And true enough, we emerged victorious,”said the jolly Rivera, who is backed by Blade Auto Center, United Auctioneers, and Placewell International Services Corp.

On the other hand, the Castrol, Yokohama, and Cars Unlimited-backed veteran Anton may have missed the opportunity on making it an all-Filipino final

for the individual race, but he surely did not let the same happen in the national team competition.

“After Milo clinched the individual crown, it started to feel very likely that we were on the verge of a sweep. Yet it wasn’t a reason for us to feel overconfident. We still had to work our way up. And God-willingly, we gave our country what it deserves: To stand on top of the Asian Gymkhana scene, with the sound of “Lupang Hinirang” playing in front of the whole continent. Truly, a beautiful sight to see and a feeling to cherish forever,” Anton said.

Given their victories, the duo will try to defend their crowns once again on Oct. 29 and 30 for the series’ third leg in Taiwan.

Sky PPV to reward Floyd fight subscribers AS heartfelt gratitude to all those who will subscribe to the much-awaited Mayweather vs McGregor match on SKY Pay-Per-View Sports, a viewer gets 100 points on Kapamilya Thank You, ABS-CBN’s newly launched customer loyalty program.

The earned points may be availed as SKY billing rebates, a gift certificate at the ABS-CBN store, or as a donation to the ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Tulong Center, among others.

The year’s biggest fight will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas commercial-free, and in high definition on Aug. 27, 9 a.m.

Redemption of the rewards may be done only if subscribers have registered at the Kapamilya Thank You program’s website: thankyou. abs-cbn.com.

The Mayweather-McGregor fight on SKY Sports PPV offer is available to subscribers of ONE SKY, SKYcable, Destiny Cable, SKYdirect, and SKYbroadband via SKY on Demand for only P950.

Subscribers can catch the fight by calling 418-0000 or their local SKY office, texting BOXINGPPV to 23662 or by visiting www.mysky. com.ph/boxi ngppv. SKYdirect postpaid subscribers on the other hand can text SKY to 23668.

The dynamic duo of Milo Rivera and Carlos Anton celebrate on the top step of the team championship podium after completing the sweep in the recent Korean Leg of the 2017 Asian Auto Gymkhana Championships. Inset shows Rivera celebrating just after crossing the finish line to win the individual competitions.

Sonsona, Gervacio banner tennis meet STEVEN Sonsona and Carmeville Gervacio seek to live up to their top billing as they gun for the 18-and-under crowns in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Oroquieta leg regional tennis tournament which gets going Friday in Misamis Occidental.

Sonsona is actually bracing for a fierce showdown with No. 2 Stephen Guia in the premier division with the duo switching rankings in the 16-U category of the Group 1 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger set at the Oroquieta Lawn Tennis Club.

Gervacio, on the other hand, gears up

for a duel with No. 2 Anamae Mendoza in the girls’ side that also includes fresh faces raring to grab the spotlight and gain ranking points, including Yvonne Jonson, Mari Uy, Justine Mamocatcat, Ermiejin Mallay, Trisha Calizar and Robie Baulete.

Mendoza is also entered in the 16-U section but yields the top two seeding to Janmarie Anghag and Robie Baulete, respectively, settling for No. 3 and ahead of Faye Lim. Close to 200 entries are vying in the five-day tournament with the organizers also needing to hold a qualifying in the boys’ 14-U division to accommodate the

big number of participants.

The tournament, backed by the Unified Tennis Group, led by PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg, also offers ranking points for free training abroad under the UTG program, according to PPS-PEPP sports program development director Bobby Mangunay. For details, call 0915-4046464.

Brent Cortes, John David Velez, Nash Agustines and Ashton Villanueva lead the 14-U roster while Guia Bandolis and Judy Ann Padilla loom as the players to beat in the girls’ category.

Heartbreak for PH jins, swimmers in Universiade TAIPEI—Filipino taekwondo jins fell one after the other in the Taipei Universiade on Wednesday.

Erson Macatangay did his best but still fell short against Marat Niiazov of Kyrgyzstan, 16-21, in an exciting round of 32 showdown in the men’s- 58kg event of men’s taekwondo.

The 19-year-old Macatangay had his finest moment in the third round where he outpointed Niiazov, 9-3, including seven decisive points earned in attack.

Another Filipino bet, Gabriel Joshua Ancheta, lost 2-29 to Boris Krasnov of Russia in the round of 32 of the men’s -68kg Peebles Jerkin Pintucan, who drew a first-round bye, will meet Muhammet Vaglar of Turkey in the second round of the men’s -63kg.

Two more taekwondo stars—Glenn Harold Salgado in the men’s +87kg and Ann Janeth Garcia in the women’s -53kg—have yet to see action.

Taekwondo produced the country’s first-ever medal—a silver—in the Universiade courtesy of Far Eastern University star Samuel Thonas Morrison in Shenzhen, China in 2011.

The other Filipino athletes supported by the Federation of School Spirts Association of the Philippines and sponsored by San Miguel Corp. also wore long faces at the end of another long and busy day.

Jingky Obanon was the first to take the plunge in athletics and expectedly, first to return home at the Athletes’ Village with a sad story to tell.

Obanon, the 21-year-old student of

Rizal Technological University-Mandaluyong, clocked 1:04.43 in one of five qualifying heats and failed to advance in the women’s 400m.

Sean Michael Kaufman of the University of the Philippines and Yuhei Go of Xavier University-Cagayan de Oro also both failed to qualify in the men’s 100m.

Kaufman clocked 11.18 in the first round, Heat 3/10.

Topping the heat with surprising ease is Le Shon Jabre Collins of the United States, who timed 10.30.

The 23-year-old Collins is one of mainstays of the star-studded University of Houston team being coached here

by Olympic champions Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell.

Go, on the other hand, finished in

11.61 in Heat 2/10.

Rogil Pablo finished ninth out of 13 participants in the men’s triple jump event with 14.54 on his second attempt, way behind top qualifier Yasser Mohammed Triki of Algeria with 16.24.

The 19-year-old campaigner from De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, however, did better than the entries from South Africa, Macau, Oman and Zambia.

Over at the Taipei University Arena, Alliah Saliendra of Technological University of the Philippines and Carmenrose Matabuena of University of the East both failed to advance in the women’s 100m butterfly.

The 18-year-old Saliendra timed 1:30.80, 10.35 behind Avice Michal Meya of Uganda in Heat 1.

NU Bulldogs pick up win no. 2

Chabs Lugo of the guest San Juan Team tries to get past his guard, NU player Miguel Oczon.

THE National University Bulldogs turned back guest team West CrameSan Juan, 89-75, Saturday to pick up win no. 2 in the 15th Fr. Martin Cup Division 2 basketball tournament at the San Beda-Manila campus in Mendiola.

Cyril Gonzales and Paul Manalang shot 19 and 18 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs to move into the lead of Group A in the seniors’ division.

Gonzales struck with 12 points in the second period as the Bulldogs went on to take a 55-33 halftime advantage.

Last week, Robert Minerva fired 25 points for the NU Bulldogs in their 87-72 stopping of San Beda-B. Terrence Mustre drilled in 15 points for the Adamson Falcons as they won over San Beda-B, 74-67, in another senior division match for their second win

in three games in Group B. San Beda-A, led by Eugene Toba with 32 points, demolished the Letran Knights, 101-73, to join the Bulldogs in the Group A lead at 2-0.

Meanwhile, College of St. Benilde Blazers handed the Diliman College Blue Dragons their first loss after four games with a 95-91 beating in another Group B encounter.

Manila Patriotic School

tripped Xavier School, 8274, to move ahead in Group A of the junior contest with their fourth straight win.

Junnie Goyo gunned down 20 points as the Diliman Preparatory School Baby Blue Dragons whipped Far Eastern University, 73-58, to lead Group B with their 3-0 record.

The NU Bullpups put away Paco High School, 82-61, to improve to 2-1, also in Group B.

Tough test for Ladon in Hamburg HAMBURG, Germany—Filipino light-flyweight Rogen Ladon gets to see old, familiar faces when he plunges into action in the 2017 AIBA World Championships that officially comes off the wraps Friday at the Sporthalle.

There are a few names that ring a bell but Ladon has his sights trained on a trio notorious for inflicting him hurt and pain: Rio Olympics gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzb ek ist a n a nd si lve r m e d a l i s t Yuberjen Martinez of Colombia and Vasilii Egorov of Russia.

Ladon, who took the bronze in the 2015 edition held in Qatar, wants to at least match his feat two years ago.

But it is not going to be easy as evidenced by the presence of the same punchers who regularly stand side-by-side in the medal podium in major tournaments held each year.

Still, Ladon remains unfazed as he aims to make heads turn in his trip that was funded by the Association of Boxing Allia nce s in the Philippines in coordination with the Philippine Sports Commission.

“Kami-kami rin na magkakakilala ang nagkikita-kita pero sa kundisyunan na lang magkakatalo ’yan,” said Ladon on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after arriving here from Manila via Istanbul.

In Rio, Ladon got eliminate early after being upset by Martinez, who eventually took the silver behind Dusmatov, a crafty guy Ladon also has trouble beating.

Egorov, who topped the European qualifying, is also one fellow Ladon has fought and lost to.

In the semifinals of the 2015 worlds, Ladon dropped a decision to Egorov.

Ladon’s coaches, Nolito ‘Boy’ Velasco and Ronald Chavez, are upbeat that the Bago City native would exact payback.

Istiklol Dushanbe blanks Ceres, 0-4, in AFC Cup semis

By Peter Atencio HOST squad Istiklol Dushanbe came off with a 4-0 shutout of Ceres Negros in the first leg of the AFC Cup Interzonal semifinal late Tuesday evening (Wednesday in Manila) in Hisor, Tajikistan.

Istiklol, which was last season’s double winners and runners-up in the 2015 edition, dominated the game from the start.

The Tajiks attacked with three men up front, and this put the Busmen defenders Kota Kawase and Carli De Murga on their toes.

Ceres’ vaunted attack was almost silenced as Istiklol’s defense only limited them to five decent shots, all of them from the outside.

The speed of the Tajik side finally yielded them a goal in the 25th minute, when leftback Akhtam Nazarov scored on a penalty, after putting goalie Roland Muller to the opposite direction.

On the other hand, Romish Jalilov doubled Istiklol’s lead at the 45-minute mark of the match.

The Philippine side started strong in the second half.

But Manuchekhr Dzalilov took over for the six-time Tajik Cup champions, scoring a brace in the 67th and 88th minutes to push Istiklol’s lead to four goals.

The Inter-Zonal semis series shifts to the Panaad Park and Stadium for the second leg, where the Pinoy side will be dealing with a big a deficit to overcome.

The second leg is on Sept. 12.

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

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

A8 THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

John Paul Bejar (left) of the Philippines competes against Iwan Bidu Sirait of Indonesia in the finals of men’s -55kg kumite in the 29th SEA Games karate competition Wednesday at the KLCC Convention Center in Kuala Lumpur. Bejar settled for the silver medal. PSC Media

Gymnasts fail to duplicate feat as Team PH stumbles K UALA LUMPUR—It was heartbreak Wednesday for Team Philippines as the gymnasts, karate fighters and a grizzled thrower all suffered heart-breaking defeats midway into the 29th Southeast Asian Games Wednesday here.

Gymnasts Kaitlin de Guzman and Reyland Capellan, the heroes of Tuesday’s hostilities, failed to sustain their hot performance, while karatekas John Paul Bejar and Mae Soriano fell short as well as Arniel Ferrera, who was forced to hop out of retirement and compete in the men’s hammer throw event after reigning gold medalist Caleb Stuart suffered an injury.

The 17-year-old De Guzman captured the silver medal in the floor exercise after scoring 13.025 points before delivering the bronze in the balance beam after tallying 12.3 points.

Hometown bet Farah Ann won the gold with 13.250 points, while Rifda Irfanaluthf of Indonesia settled for bronze with 13.000 points in floor exercise.

In the balance beam, Rifda tallied 13.125 points, while Tan Ing Yueh of Malaysia grabbed the silver with a score of 13.100 points.

Her silver and bronze medal are great additions to her gold medal, which she won in the uneven bars event last Tuesday, making her the most bemadalled athlete midway into this prestigious biennial meet.

“I can’t say how to feel right now; I’m so happy,” said the Texas-

raised de Guzman, whose mother, Cintamoni, won a gold medal in the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “I came here without knowing what to expect, so it really feels good to represent the country and duplicate what my mom achieved in the past.”

On the same note, Capellan also added a bronze medal to his collection after ruling the vault event in the finals of men’s artistic gymnastics.

He tallied 13.975 points in two tries to finish behind Le Tranh Tung of Vietnam (14.450 points) and Agus Adi Prayoko of Indonesia (14.350 points), who grabbed the gold and silver medals, respectively.

Bejar had the chance to bail the Philippines out of a gold-less day as he advanced to the finals of men’s -55kg kumite.

But he fell prey to a hard-hitting Iwan Bidu Sirait of Indonesia in the gold-medal match to settle for silver, while his teammate, Mae Soriano, collected the

bronze after emerging victorious over April Phaw of Myanmar in the bronze-medal match of women’s -55kg kumite.

Few hours prior to Beram’s sorry defeat, evergreen Ferrera fell short in men’s hammer throw as he registered a heave of 55.94 meters in his sixth attempt for the bronze medal behind the record-breaking performance of Wong Siew Cheer of Malaysia (65.90 meters) and Kittipong Boonmawan of Thailand (65.49 meters).

Wong crushed the record of Stuart, who tallied 65.63 meters in the previous SEA Games in Singapore.

Ferrera’s bittersweet finish was similar to the development that happened to Team Philippines before the end of the day on Tuesday at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

Eric Cray, the two-time Olympian from Texas, successfully retained his crown in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, but fell prey in the men’s 100-meter run due to a

crammed schedule.

Cray registered 50.03 seconds to edge upset-conscious Quach Cong Lich of Vietnam and Andrian of Indonesia, who tallied 50.05 and 51.52 seconds, respectively.

Unfortunately, he fell prey to rising Malaysian star Khairul Hafiz Jantan in the century dash as the event had to be played barely an hour after the draining 400-meter hurdles.

Jantan tallied 10.38 seconds, while Cray and Kritsada Namsuwun of Thailand finished with an identical 10.43 seconds.

“I did my best shot at the 100, but the Malaysian had a good race,” said Cray, who saw action in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. “But if the 100 was run tomorrow, things could have been different. And when I saw the Vietnamese bearing down on me in the 400, it somehow cost me momentum because I was trying to save my energy for the 100.”

Cray vows to bounce back in Manila games KUALA LUMPUR—Eric Shawn Cray was smiling meekly just moments after the men’s 100-meter race late Tuesday night, trying to mask the physical and emotional pain of losing the title of being Southeast Asia’s fastest man to hometown favorite Khairul Hafiz Jantan.

“Oh yeah, I was definitely tired,” said Cray, who entered the century dash handicapped by having raced the men’s 400-meter hurdles finals barely over an hour before, narrowly retaining his title by holding off Vietnamese upstart Quach Cong Lich.

Still, the Rio Olympic Games veteran wouldn’t back down in his duel with Jantan, who had 20,000 cheering Malaysians supporting him at the massive 87,000-capacity National Stadium inside the KL Sports City.

They were neck-and-neck until the last two meters before the Malaysian surged a step ahead, stumbling after crossing the tape to rule the blue-ribbon event in 10.38 seconds, much to the delight of the Malaysian gallery.

“I gave it all I had but he (Jantan) ran a good race,” said the Filipino-American sprinter graciously in defeat after taking the silver in 10.43 seconds, relegating Thai Kritsada Namsuwun to the bronze in a photo-finish.

But Cray admitted that had the 400-meter hurdles and 100-meter run been held on different days, he would have definitely given Jantan a run for his money.

“I wish it (the 100 meters) was tomorrow and I could have recovered, and, you know, feel a little better,” added the sprinter, who bared that lactic acid from his three previous races, including the heats, had caused pain throughout his body.

“I’m taped everywhere from my lower back all the way down,” he said.

Cray, however, refused to dwell on his failure to defend his sprint crown and was determined to redeem himself in the men’s 4x100-meter relays on Friday.

“I got something for them (Filipino fans). I’ll recover, come back and we’re gonna chase that gold in the 4x100,” Cray vowed.

3 boxers Blackwater continues to rise, keeps Alaska winless shoot for By Jeric Lopez SEAG gold KUALA LUMPUR—Three Filipino boxers will go for gold in the finals of the men’s boxing competition of the 29th Southeast Asian Games Thursday at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center here.

First to step on the ring for a record third consecutive gold medal is Mario Fernandez, who will clash with Chatchai Butdee of Thailand in the finals of the bantamweight category.

Then, it will be Eumir Marcial’s turn to shoot for glory when he faces another Thai in Pathomsak Kuttiya in the middleweight class.

Filipino-British Marvin John Tupas will round up the Philippines’ finals campaign when he goes head-to-head against Adli Hapidz Bin Mohd Fauzi of Malaysia in the light heavyweight class.

Alliance of Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson said Fernandez is already quite familiar with his Thai foe and he is eager to avenge his previous setback, which was brought by his eye operation.

“Bagong lipat sa bantamweight yung kalaban ni Mario pero nagkita na sila sa Bangkok noong April at natalo si Mario,” said Picson. “Pero yun ang unang laban ni Mario since ma-diagnosed sya ng cataract.”

Also tipped to go all out is Marcial, who had to forego his chances for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics just to defend his SEA Games title.

Hopes are high for Marcial, who won the 2011 Junior World Championships as a flyweight in Astana, Kazakhstan and the 2013 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships as light welterweight in Subic Bay, after he knocked out Indran Rama Krishnan of Malaysia to secure a spot in the finals.

ITS confidence high and rising, Blackwater came through in the clutch and dug deep to escape with a difficult 111-106 doubleovertime over lowly Alaska for its third straight win as the Elite continued its ascent in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City yesterday.

Henry Walker poured it on, scattering a monster 30-30 game with highs of 35 points and 32 rebounds to spearhead the Elite’s attack throughout.

In a game where it seemed no team was willing to give up, Blackwater made the most crucial plays when it mattered.

Mike DiGregorio sank the goahead triple from the left elbow to give the Elite a 107-106 edge with a little over a minute left in the second overtime period.

Blackwater then made key stops

before Roi Sumang made two free throws to extend the team’s lead to 109-106 with 6.5 seconds left.

Still with a chance to send the game to yet another extension, Alaska went to Chris Banchero, but his potential-tying triple was off the mark as the clock ticked away.

Walker sealed the final scored with two more free throws just before time expired.

Blackwater, which is still unbeaten since acquiring Walker, improved to 3-3 after losing its first three assignments.

The nightmare continued for Alaska.

DI Gregorio finished with 17 points to help the Elite.

Bam Gamalinda was solid as well for Blackwater, tallying an efficient double-double production of 15 points and 11 rebounds on an incredible 5-of-8 clip from the field.

The Aces, who are still winless since April and have now lost 13 in a

row dating back to the Commissioner’s Cup, continued their dry spell as they fell to 0-5 near the bottom, their chances of making the next round slowly slipping away.

LaDontae Henton led them with a team-high 31 points but Alaska, just like in its previous losses, once again failed to deliver in the clutch.

The Alaska import forced the second extension with a jumper while it was Simon Enciso who initially sent the game into the first overtime period with a runner.

The scores: BLACKWATER 111—Walker 35, DiGregorio 17, Gamalinda 15, Erram 13, Canaleta 9, Cruz 8, Pinto 6, Sumang 4, Sena 2, Miranda 2, Aguilar 0, K. Pascual 0.

ALASKA 106—Henton 31, Casio 25, Enciso 11, Banchero 10, Thoss 10, Manuel 6, Baclao 6, Galliguez 3, Exciminiano 2, Mendoza 2, Hontiveros 0, Racal 0.

Quarterscores: 25-13, 44-40, 68-60, 91-91, 97-97, 111-106.

Alaska’s Chris Banchero (left) nearly loses the ball to Blackwater’s JP Erram as teammate LaDontae Henton looks on.

Lyceum Pirates now learning the value of defense

By Peter Atencio MEMBERS of the Lyceum Pirates are itching to make history in the 93rd National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

With their showdown with the Mapua Cardinals called off for the second time before of a typhoon, assistant coach Jeff Perlas said the Pirates are beginning to show heart as the season progresses.

“It’s the heart. It’s not about the coaches anymore, it’s now about these guys,” said Perlas.

Perlas, speaking on behalf of coach Topex Robinson, talked about the mood of the Pirates, who

are going for a ninth straight win that will allow them to sweep the first round.

Never have the Pirates gone this far and a sweep will put the Intramuros-based dribblers in contention for the first seat in the Final Four.

He said the team is now stepping up On defense.

The Pirates’ 6’8” Cameroonian player, Mike Nzeusseu, for instance, is now learning the value of defense.

He just doesn’t attack the basket, Nzeusseu now helps out on defense as well.

“Everytime the opponent takes a shot, he gets the rebound,” noted Perlas.

When action resumes, Robinson

Games today

(San Sebastian Gym, Mendiola) 2 p.m.- San Sebastian vs Jose Rizal (jrs) 4 p.m.- San Sebastian vs Jose Rizal (srs)

will be back on the bench.

Robinson was slapped a onegame suspension following his ejection from their 97-93 win over Emilio Aguinaldo College at the EAC Gym last Aug. 10.

Despite his absence, the Pirates eagerly got past the Letran Knights, 75-68, to post win no. 8.

Meanwhile, San Sebastian College faces off with defense-first Jose Rizal University without its top player Michael Calisaan today

in the 93rd NCAA basketball tournament, which goes on Tour again at the San Sebastian Gym in Mendiola, Manila.

Calisaan was ejected in his team’s 75-73 win over the Emilio Aguinaldo Generals at the Filoil Arena in San Juan City last Friday that resulted in an automatic one-game suspension he will serve in the Stags’ 4 p.m. duel with the Bombers.

It will be a big blow for San Sebastian as Calisaan is its best scorer and rebounder with averages of 16.5 points, league’s fifth best, and nine rebounds in eight games.

“The only way we can win without Michael (Calisaan) is if we step

up as a team, not just one, two or three players,” said San Sebastian coach Egay Macaraya.

San Sebastian’s winning prospect was made gloomier by the fact that Jose Rizal is the league’s No. 1 defensive team, having suffocated their opponents to a league-best 62.9 points a game, leading the latter to a fourth-best 4-3 (winloss) mark.

The Stags are at No. 5 with a 4-4 slate.

In offense, Jose Rizal rely heavily on Teytey Teodoro and Jed Mendoza, who averaged 13.1 and 12.4 points, respectively.

“Our defense is our offense,” said Jose Rizal mentor Vergel Meneses.

Taiwan warns PH vs fugitive businessman B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

B1

Budget deficit widens to P205b

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE government’s budget deficit widened 20 percent in the first seven months to P205 billion from a shortfall of P171 billion a year ago, as expenditures continued to outpace revenue collection.

Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed that in July alone, the budget deficit reached P50.5 billion, slightly lower than the P50.7-billion gap in the same month last year.

The Treasury said revenue collection in July increased 14 percent to P194.6 billion, bringing the seven-month tally to P1.371 trillion, up by 8 percent from a year earlier.

Around 90.7 percent of collection last month came from tax revenues.

National government disbursements in July grew 11 percent to P245.1 billion from P220.9 billion a year ago. Spending in the first seven months also increased 9 percent to P1.576 trillion from P1.442 trillion a year earlier.

Bureau of Internal Revenue collection went up 18 percent in July to P138.1 billion. Total BIR collection in January to July rose 9 percent to P986.1 billion from P900.9 billion a year earlier.

Customs collected 13 percent more for the month over the July 2016 collection and recovered from the minimal growth attained in June. Seven-month Customs collection hit P245.3 billion, up by 11 percent from P221.5 billion a year earlier.

Total Treasury income amounted to P8.5 billion in July, down 7 percent from the previous year, mainly because of lower income from Bond Sinking Fund/ Securities Stabilization Fund, national government deposits with the Central Bank and income from other government services.

Total Treasury income in the seven-month period reached P61.2 billion, surpassing the 2017 full-year program of P58.6 billion by P23.6 billion or 63 percent.

MOBILE-ENABLED LOANS. Esquire Financing Inc., an advocate of small and medium enterprises growth and development, teams up with FINTQ, the financial technology arm of PLDT Inc. and Smart’s Voyager Innovations, through Lendr, the pioneering and award-winning digital lending platform, to offer fast and convenient loans to SME owners using their mobile or laptop devices. At the signing of the partnership agreement are (from left) EFI chief financial officer Sandeep Chandiramani, chairman and chief executive Raj Uttamchandani, PLDT and FINTQ chairman Manuel Pangilinan, Voyager president and chief executive Orlando Vea and FINTQ managing director Lito Villanueva.

Nickelodeon abandons Palawan resort project A merican children’s television network Nickelodeon said Wednesday it had abandoned plans for a themed resort on an island known as the Philippines’ last ecological frontier following a backlash from environmentalists.

Nickelodeon said in January that it would build an “undersea attraction and resort” on Palawan island that would let fans “interact with the brand and the iconic characters they love”, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer.

The announcement triggered fierce criticism from environmental campaigners who said it would destroy the area’s world-famous marine ecosystem, and an online petition calling for the project to be scrapped attracted more than 260,000 signatures.

Viacom International Media Networks, which owns Nickelodeon, said Wednesday it had abandoned the project. “[Viacom] and Nickelodeon will no longer be involved with this proposed development,” the company said in a statement sent to AFP. Viacom said the decision was “mutually agreed” with its Philippine partner, Coral World Park.

The statement did not say why Viacom had pulled out and its regional spokeswoman would not elaborate when contacted by AFP. Conservation groups call Palawan “the last frontier” because of its pristine coastlines and forests, which are among the oldest and most diverse in Southeast Asia.

It is home to two Unesco World Heritagelisted sites, a subterranean river and the Tubbataha coral reefs.

Viacom’s initial statement in January promoted the project as its first resort in Southeast Asia that “would give a significant business opportunity for our partners across multiple platforms”.

However Viacom and Coral World Park

also highlighted the project’s “ocean conservation focus” and plans for a giant marine sanctuary.

Environmental group Greenpeace on Wednesday hailed Viacom’s decision as a victory.

“We commend Viacom for heeding the call of more than 200,000 online petitioners and the offline community campaign,” Vince Cinches of Greenpeace Southeast Asia told AFP. “They were able to dodge the bullet that has a huge reputational backlash for Nickelodeon which has been claiming it is children oriented.”

The Nickelodeon resort was meant to be part of Coral World Park’s 400-hectare (1,000-acre) development.

Coral World Park did not immediately to respond to AFP emails on whether it would pursue the project following Viacom’s withdrawal.

The executive director of environmental group Save Philippine Seas, Anna Oposa, told AFP the campaign against the development would not let up. AFP

SC asked to lift order vs power competition THE Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday it filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to lift the temporary retraining order on retail competition and open access.

ERC officer-in-charge and commissioner Alfredo Non told reporters at the sidelines of a Senate budget hearing that the regulator was seeking guidance from the high tribunal.

“They’re the ones who issued the TRO. It’s impacting the industry and our hands are tied. We have to seek guidance from them on how to move forward,” Non said.

The Supreme Court issued a TRO on Feb. 21 enjoining the Energy Department, the Energy Regulatory Commission and its agents from implementing the RCOA rules and regulations that mandated the mandatory migration of contestable customers.

ERC, which filed the motion for reconsideration a few weeks ago, asked the court to reduce the threshold of RCOA from 1 megawatt to 750 kilowatts for average users and allow the regulator to issue retail electricity suppliers licenses.

ERC officials said power users with one megawatt of average monthly demand could still voluntarily secure their own suppliers under RCOA, but users with 750-kW demand were not yet allowed by the court.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier pushed for a legal opinion from the Joint Congressional Power Commission.

“One of the things I am pushing for in JCPC, being the oversight of Epira [Electric Power Industry Reform Act], is to come out with a legal opinion on RCOA. We are now in a very bad position, from a consumer standpoint. We are now in a negative position because we promised to privatize the entire power sector where some huge companies won, thinking that we will give power to choose to the consumer,” Gatchalian said. Alena Mae S. Flores

THE joint venture company of property developer Ayala Land Inc. and the Alcantara group earmarked P20 billion to develop Azuela Cove, a mixed-use estate in Lanang, Davao City.

Ayala Land said in a statement the 25-hectare Azuela Cove is situated in a prime waterside property owned by Aviana Development Corp., the two groups’

joint venture company.

“We are excited about expanding in the Davao City market once again and are confident in supporting its overall economic plan. We, along with our partners, set aside an initial investment of about P8 billion, part of an expected over P20 billion investment over the next eight years or so in Azuela Cove,” said Ayala Land head for Visayas and Mindanao Rico Manuel.

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

51.3770

Japan

Yen

0.009127

0.4689

UK

Pound

1.282500

65.8910

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.127776

6.5647

Switzerland

Franc

1.032951

53.0699

Canada

Dollar

0.796305

40.9118

Singapore

Dollar

0.734107

37.7162

Australia

Dollar

0.790700

40.6238

Bahrain

Dinar

2.654844

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266660

13.7002

Brunei

Dollar

0.731422

37.5783

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0039

Thailand

Baht

0.030102

1.5466

UAE

Dirham

0.272279

13.9889

Euro

Euro

1.176400

60.4399

Korea

Won

0.000884

136.3979

0.0454

China

Yuan

0.150105

7.7119

India

Rupee

0.015609

0.8019

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.233699

12.0068

New Zealand

Dollar

0.727700

37.3870

Taiwan

Dollar

0.033031

1.6970 Source: PDS Bridge

IN BRIEF PLDT shifts mobile strategy to content

THE PLDT Group is shifting its mobile internet strategy to accelerate growth amid the increasing appetite for video, gaming and other digital content.

The move to “go beyond access” is expected to further bolster Smart Communications’ mobile internet revenues—those coming from smartphone data usage—which rose 20 percent year-on-year to P9.7 billion in the first half.

The strategy seeks to increase the contribution of mobile internet to overall wireless service revenues.

“It’s not just about connectivity anymore, but the key selling point now is the video content that Filipinos can’t seem to get enough of,” PLDT and Smart chief revenue officer Ernesto Alberto said.

He said that heavy video consumption helped drive the 78-percent spike in data usage on smartphones and dongles in the Smart network to 117,657 terabytes.

“We expect video consumption to further intensify as more Filipinos start to use smartphones,” Alberto said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

S&P sees PH banks sustaining expansion

A MAJOR credit ratings agency said it expects Philippine banks to sustain doubledigit growth over the next two years on solid economic growth, corporate profitability, low interest rates and a drop in nonperforming loans.

S&P Global Ratings said in a report that “Philippines banks [will] continue to ride robust economic growth.” It said the outlook for banks in the Philippines would remain stable over the next 12 months, reflecting supportive economic conditions and sound financial fundamentals.

“We believe the combination of sound capital and funding profiles is an enduring strength of the Philippine banking system and will continue to underpin ratings on the country’s banks in 2017,” S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ivan Tan said.

S&P Global said the banking sector in the Philippines was expected to grow 15 percent to 17 percent in 2017 and 2018, after a 16.5-percent expansion in 2016. “We believe that the credit cycle in the Philippines has further to run,” Tan said. Darwin G. Amojelar

ACE HARDWARE’S AWARD. Ace Hardware, a one stop shop for the latest home improvement

solutions, is elevated to the Hall of Fame in the Foreign Brand Retailer – Home Improvement Category during the Philippine Retailers Association’s 20th Outstanding Filipino Retailers & Shopping Centers of the Year Awards at the Grand Ballroom of Solaire Resort and Casino. Shown during the awarding ceremony are (from left) PRA chairman Lorenzo Formoso, Ace Hardware vice president for merchandising and operations Bernard Ong, Ace Hardware senior vice president for operations Bernard Lim and PRA vice chairman Roberto Claudio.

Ayala Land-Alcantara joint venture investing P20b in Davao

By Jenniffer B. Austria

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The first phase of the project will include a high-end residential building to be developed by Ayala Land Premier, a state-ofthe-art St. Luke’s Hospital, a retail center, an events tent with a capacity of 2,000 people and interim sports facilities.

The integrated development is expected to draw additional investments and generate about 13,000 jobs within the next eight to 10 years.

Ayala Land entered Mindanao in 2007 with the launching of residential community Alegria Hills in Cagayan de Oro City.

This was followed by the opening of Abreeza Mall in Davao City in 2011.

It opened Centrio Mall, also in Cagayan de Oro in 2013, supporting the company’s plan to establish economic growth centers in Mindanao.

Ayala Land said it continued

to strengthen its regional presence with the construction of residential and commercial projects in its estates in the Visayas and Mindano.

Among its projects in the southern part of the country are the 50-hectare Cebu Business Park, the 17-hectare estate Gatewalk Central in Mandaue City, the Capitol Central and North Point in Negros Occidenta and Atria Park District in Iloilo.

SAP and Accenture train Filipino talents

GERMAN software company SAP SE and Accenture announced a next-generation program that aims to provide mentorship and skills development for future IT talent in the Philippines.

The program aims to benefit 500 information technology students from top universities in the Philippines through a curriculum that incorporates SAP technologies that drive digital transformation.

The collaboration between SAP and Accenture is part of both companies’ strategy to address market needs in the Philippines to groom new talents and prepare them for the digital economy.

The three-year program is part of SAP Next-Gen, which enables SAP customers and alliance partners to introduce disruptive innovation and accelerate their exponential enterprise journeys and digital futures through connecting with students, startups, academic thought leaders and researchers, accelerators, venture firms, and other partners in the SAP University Alliances innovation network.

Students from the University of Santo Tomas and the Mapua Institute of Technology, both of which are members of the SAP UA, are provided with individual trial accounts on SAP Cloud Platform. It provides them access to the curricula that comprises a combination of teaching materials from SAP UA and SAP Cloud Platform Tech Academy as well as industry expertise from Accenture.

B2

Business

THURSDAY,AUGUST 24, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market drops; Cemex, Nickel Asia top gainers

Resorts World seeks P721m in insurance

By Jenniffer B. Austria Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., a company led by tycoon Andrew Tan, is seeking P721 million in insurance claims to help cover P921 million worth of losses from the June 2 deadly attack on Resorts World Manila.

The P921-million losses included assistance to affected families and losses due to physical damage on a portion of its property including gaming furniture and equipment in the casino area.

The company said in its second-quarter financial statement it was expecting to recover a significant portion of the losses from issuance claims.

TIHGI said of the P921-million total losses, it booked P721 million in receivables from insurance claims, reducing net losses from

casualty to P158.8 million.

“As opined by external counsel, based on the reports from the insurer’s adjusters, and taking into consideration the reports of the pertinent government agencies, there is strong legal ground to believe that the claim related to the June 2 incident will not be disallowed,” TIHGI said.

“In addition, the company has also assessed and determined that the recovery of the foregoing losses arising from insurance claims is highly probable and virtually certain from the respective third party insurance companies,” it said.

A lone gunman entered Resorts World Manila on June 2, fired his assault rifle and set ablaze gaming furniture and equipment in the casino which resulted in physical damage on a portion of the company’s properties.

S

tocks fell for a third day, following the movement of Asian markets as a risk-off reaction to US President Donald Trump’s comments at a rally that he may end the North American Free-Trade Agreement.

59 issues were unchanged.

Six of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by miner Nickel Asia Corp. which jumped 6.2 percent to P6.89 and cement manufacturer Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. which climbed 4.7 percent to P5.99. Chemical producer D&L Industries Inc. advanced 4.3 percent to P10.60.

Meanwhile, Trump grabbed investors’ attention in an otherwise listless Asian trading session, with the yen rising and S&P 500 Index futures slipping with the Mexican peso as the US president said he may end Nafta.

Some of the earlier risk-on trade was unwound, with the dollar pausing after Trump also threatened to shut down the US government if he is unable to get funds to build a wall along the Mexican border. Asian stocks stalled, with benchmarks coming off their highs in Tokyo and declining in Sydney and Seoul. Hong

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 17 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 7,998.75 Wednesday, the first time it fell below the 8,000-point mark in six days. Despite Wednesday’s loss, the bellwether was still up 16.9 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, ended flat at 4,736.44, on a value turnover of P5.7 billion. Gainers outnumbered losers, 99 to 88, while

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017

NAME

OPEN

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 4.26 29,000 59.4 35,290 105.1 1,011,020 3.9 363,000 127.9 1,638,130 1.36 23,000 35.95 149,000 16 1,600 32.85 759,200 1.65 15,000 0.69 1,464,000 89 4,146,430 1.05 9,503,000 13.16 71,700 60.85 88,130 240 420 110 570 88.15 2,750 51.6 35,650 254.2 399,250 1,810 685 86.45 53,120 1.4 277,000

126,230 2,093,896 106,264,908 1,415,700 210,307,634 29,120 5,362,350 25,690 25,030,385 24,750 1,010,660 369,036,224.50 10,233,480 942,440 5,355,012 99,350 63,141 242,415.50 1,837,715 101,924,366 1,237,925 4,592,184.50 388,770

1,849,178 -39,311,700 -55,576,385.00 557,610 -2,467,815 -276,000.00 17,766,155 -118,120 -3,593,170.50 -605,141 6,547,160 352,716 4,200

39.55 9.23 0.8 1.36 24.1 0.239 150.2 5.75 16.88 165.3 32.2 22.5 62.35 72 1.9 5.4 11.16 10.2 14.98 12.8 7.15 6.87 1.7 17.06 67.65 14 12.3 13.1 1.8 238 3.5 3.26 23 31.2 18.7 17.92 276.6 0.235 11.2 2.92 7.12 9.52 7.3 10 1.78 11.82 65.55 6.85 310 4.28 2.45 12.68 4.5 0.145 1.19 150.6 3.7 2.06 32.8 1

INDUSTRIAL 39.6 1,230,800 9.3 1,397,700 0.81 1,051,000 1.37 476,000 24.25 26,200 0.242 750,000 150.3 410 5.99 12,836,800 16.94 160,200 165.3 330 32.7 513,000 23 288,500 62.35 251,650 83 16,830 1.93 700,000 5.4 35,500 11.2 102,700 10.6 6,945,900 15.1 1,671,000 13.3 416,100 7.25 612,100 6.89 2,696,700 1.7 5,000 17.2 604,200 67.85 78,810 14.4 5,200 12.38 55,100 13.5 2,851,100 1.85 683,000 239.2 717,480 3.52 88,000 3.56 8,000 23 7,100 31.7 235,300 18.9 151,500 17.96 1,295,300 277 686,750 0.239 18,070,000 11.2 24,000 2.97 100,000 7.2 85,800 9.52 1,236,500 7.49 65,400 10 26,100 1.79 263,000 11.84 753,800 65.85 87,430 6.88 62,700 311.8 490 4.28 16,662,000 2.45 263,000 12.98 349,000 4.5 537,000 0.147 930,000 1.23 77,000 151 2,071,830 3.7 262,000 2.07 8,330,000 32.8 100 1 44,000

48,763,935 12,984,890 847,030 649,690 644,435 179,950 64,208 76,282,325 2,709,398 54,550 16,788,785 6,853,195 16,105,497.50 1,375,022 1,338,260 192,100 1,156,154 72,386,050 25,095,402 5,508,276 4,449,534 18,593,211 8,500 10,361,352 5,346,730 72,840 681,830 38,546,104 1,254,600 172,281,810 308,400 27,850 163,300 7,469,280 2,857,946 23,261,046 190,567,150 4,309,150 273,484 295,040 617,346 11,979,674 479,933 261,268 470,120 8,950,808 5,746,792.50 434,669 152,640 71,313,360 649,290 4,488,920 2,458,210 135,480 94,320 313,129,755 970,700 17,476,240 3,280 44,000

21,243,260 -1,526,190.00 2,740 -23,268,493 914,268 -843,650 8,781,722.50 -313,232 -9,176,924 4,065,778 -204,186 -896,602 2,822,628 -5,254,488 4,107,500.50 42,000 -189,634 7,621,546 38,357,160 -2,500,610 1,673,942 -4,393,650 -41,793,016 -1,081,810 -8,660 -5,006,498 -100,200 -46,630 1,188 2,213,279.50 43,385 40,536 0 1,104,802 1,560,160 10,230 32,703,249 599,140 232,080 -

0.36 74 13.68 7.04 0.32 901.5 7.93 15.8 7.72 6.3 0.202 1,145 7.92 72.3 5.01 5.41 0.91 7.15 17.38 0.435 6.73 0.045 0.94 2.13 100.7 2.77 823 0.87 1.63 183.1 303 0.29 0.212 0.237

0.355 73.1 13.4 7 0.32 897 7.8 15.5 7.7 6.25 0.201 1,118 7.9 70.8 5 5.41 0.88 7.07 17.2 0.435 6.61 0.044 0.94 2.07 98.5 2.72 813.5 0.85 1.6 183 302 0.28 0.201 0.228

HOLDING FIRMS 0.36 580,000 73.15 327,320 13.6 5,101,000 7.04 35,000 0.32 1,120,000 899 167,190 7.91 7,998,800 15.72 9,353,400 7.72 600 6.25 6,000 0.201 90,000 1,120 229,275 7.92 1,500 71.15 879,370 5 19,700 5.41 7,700 0.9 1,906,000 7.15 499,100 17.24 1,546,300 0.435 20,000 6.62 18,836,300 0.044 3,400,000 0.94 22,000 2.12 70,000 99.7 53,730 2.72 11,000 817 246,990 0.85 240,000 1.6 526,000 183 410 303 4,480 0.29 890,000 0.21 50,000 0.237 230,000

206,250 23,951,228 69,034,710 246,100 358,400 150,357,110 62,478,475 147,003,820 4,628 37,635 18,160 257,309,575 11,853 62,660,700 98,517 41,657 1,700,290 3,553,151 26,688,744 8,700 124,920,753 149,700 20,680 145,600 5,357,671.50 30,080 201,709,365 205,500 846,830 75,035 1,357,300 249,400 10,340 52,710

2,067,439 -2,097,164 -8,778,215 2,947,963 39,373,666 -123,530,230 -7,545,258 -738,090 -13,642,438 -68,986,421 -2,937,063.50 -135,487,430 -451,472 -

5.35 1.3 6.8 2.24 0.92 42.95 3.66 5.27 5.32 0.54 1.33 1.61 0.247 0.5 44.25 0.7 0.165 1.93 1.65

5.29 1.26 6.8 2.2 0.88 42.2 3.54 5.18 5.25 0.52 1.27 1.55 0.236 0.495 43.8 0.69 0.154 1.87 1.6

7,682,436 6,167,710 156,400 343,380 2,663,820 169,555,970 4,745,960 41,907,348 161,405 6,487,330 883,250 5,677,050 28,813,190 203,200 11,259,445 699,650 345,700 32,361,240 5,148,460

-2,320,426 -89,050 -259,180 -74,220,015 1,331,640 -1,746,556 78,148 1,473,680 -1,692,850 104,000 1,418,750 -222,600 11,180,810 -

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE 4.36 ASIA UNITED 59.3 BANK PH ISLANDS 105 BDO LEASING 3.9 BDO UNIBANK 128.6 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.28 CHINABANK 35.9 COL FINANCIAL 16.1 EAST WEST BANK 32.95 IREMIT 1.65 MEDCO HLDG 0.7 METROBANK 89 NTL REINSURANCE 1.08 PB BANK 13.12 PHIL NATL BANK 61.1 PHIL STOCK EXCH 237 PHILTRUST 114 PSBANK 88.2 RCBC 51.6 SECURITY BANK 255 SUN LIFE 1,805 UNION BANK 86.4 VANTAGE 1.42

4.48 59.4 105.4 3.9 129.4 1.36 36.05 16.1 33.1 1.65 0.7 89.15 1.12 13.16 61.2 240 115 88.2 51.6 258 1,810 86.45 1.42

4.23 59 104.9 3.9 127.9 1.25 35.85 16 32.75 1.65 0.69 88.8 1.02 13.1 60.5 236 110 88.15 51.3 254.2 1,805 86.4 1.39

ABOITIZ POWER 39.7 AGRINURTURE 9.26 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.81 ALSONS CONS 1.36 ASIABEST GROUP 24.1 BASIC ENERGY 0.24 BOGO MEDELLIN 158 CEMEX HLDG 5.75 CENTURY FOOD 16.88 CHEMPHIL 165.3 CIRTEK HLDG 32.9 CNTRL AZUCARERA23.2 CONCEPCION 64.9 CONCRETE A 72 CROWN ASIA 1.91 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.5 DEL MONTE 11.3 DNL INDUS 10.2 EAGLE CEMENT 15.1 EEI CORP 12.98 EMPERADOR 7.24 ENERGY DEVT 6.9 EUROMED 1.7 FIRST GEN 17.1 FIRST PHIL HLDG 67.65 GINEBRA 14 HOLCIM 12.42 INTEGRATED MICR 13.1 IONICS 1.85 JOLLIBEE 240 LMG CHEMICALS 3.5 MABUHAY VINYL 3.55 MACAY HLDG 23 MANILA WATER 31.2 MAXS GROUP 18.8 MEGAWIDE 17.94 MERALCO 277 MG HLDG 0.241 PANASONIC 11.5 PEPSI COLA 2.96 PETROENERGY 7.15 PETRON 9.75 PHIL H2O 7.35 PHINMA 10.02 PHINMA ENERGY 1.79 PHX PETROLEUM 12 PILIPINAS SHELL 65.6 PRYCE CORP 7 PUREFOODS 312 RFM CORP 4.28 SFA SEMICON 2.58 SHAKEYS PIZZA 12.7 SPC POWER 4.63 SWIFT FOODS 0.146 TKC METALS 1.19 UNIV ROBINA 151.6 VICTORIAS 3.76 VITARICH 2.08 VIVANT 32.8 VULCAN INDL 1

39.7 9.35 0.82 1.37 25 0.242 159 6.05 16.94 165.4 32.9 25.6 64.9 89.9 1.93 5.5 11.3 10.6 15.1 13.3 7.3 6.9 1.7 17.3 68 14.4 12.42 13.88 1.86 242 3.63 3.56 23 31.95 18.96 18 279 0.245 11.5 2.97 7.28 9.75 7.5 10.02 1.79 12.1 65.9 7.04 312 4.28 2.58 13.02 4.63 0.147 1.25 152.3 3.76 2.13 32.8 1

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ATN HLDG A 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 MABUHAY HLDG 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 ZEUS HLDG

0.355 74 13.4 7 0.32 900 7.8 15.76 7.7 6.3 0.202 1,130 7.9 72 5.01 5.41 0.9 7.08 17.2 0.435 6.72 0.044 0.94 2.13 100.7 2.77 823 0.87 1.63 183.1 302.8 0.28 0.201 0.228

8990 HLDG 5.35 A BROWN 1.3 ANCHOR LAND 6.8 ARANETA PROP 2.2 ARTHALAND CORP 0.9 AYALA LAND 42.95 BELLE CORP 3.54 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.2 CEBU HLDG 5.25 CENTURY PROP 0.53 CITY AND LAND 1.28 CITYLAND DEVT 1.59 CROWN EQUITIES 0.24 CYBER BAY 0.495 DOUBLEDRAGON 44 EMPIRE EAST 0.69 EVER GOTESCO 0.154 FILINVEST LAND 1.89 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.6

VOLUME

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

0.99 4.88 0.27 0.52 0.52 4.87 23.2 1.79 3.23 34.15 0.99 0.86 5.96

0.99 4.98 0.28 0.56 0.52 5.3 23.5 1.81 3.23 34.75 1.01 0.89 5.98

0.97 4.88 0.27 0.52 0.5 4.78 23.15 1.79 3.23 34.1 0.99 0.86 5.94

0.97 4.92 0.28 0.54 0.51 5.3 23.35 1.8 3.23 34.55 1.01 0.88 5.94

67,000 18,717,000 10,450,000 8,292,000 4,204,000 8,937,000 2,793,100 183,000 10,000 7,187,000 441,000 95,000 949,800

65,010 92,249,280 2,871,550 4,453,520 2,125,750 45,947,460 65,055,555 329,400 32,300 247,651,455 440,610 83,490 5,646,533

42,032,680 158,500 -561,370 -2,880,400 -27,657,740 -86,126,855 -3,274,421

2GO GROUP 20.35 ABS CBN 41.45 ACESITE HOTEL 1.69 APC GROUP 0.61 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.04 BERJAYA 5.1 BLOOMBERRY 10.14 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.074 CEBU AIR 103.1 CENTRO ESCOLAR 9.4 CHELSEA 10.04 DFNN INC 8.5 GLOBE TELECOM 2,066 GMA NETWORK 6.16 GOLDEN HAVEN 15.96 GRAND PLAZA 13.22 HARBOR STAR 2.38 IMPERIAL 3.05 INTL CONTAINER 107 IPEOPLE 11.12 IPM HLDG 8.65 ISLAND INFO 0.176 ISM COMM 1.35 JACKSTONES 2.91 LBC EXPRESS 15 LEISURE AND RES 4.75 LORENZO SHIPPNG 1.46 MACROASIA 10.66 MANILA BULLETIN 0.56 MANILA JOCKEY 2.43 MELCO RESORTS 8.83 METRO RETAIL 4.2 MLA BRDCASTING 24.45 NOW CORP 2.28 PACIFIC ONLINE 11.14 PAL HLDG 5.1 PAXYS 2.99 PHIL SEVEN CORP 174 PHILWEB 11.1 PLDT 1,711 PREMIUM LEISURE 1.59 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.4 PUREGOLD 47.4 ROBINSONS RTL 88 SBS PHIL CORP 5.93 SSI GROUP 4.22 STI HLDG 1.4 TRAVELLERS 3.48 WATERFRONT 1.19 WILCON DEPOT 8.84

20.35 41.95 1.7 0.66 0.04 5.1 10.46 0.075 106.5 9.4 10.34 8.5 2,066 6.16 16.38 13.22 2.38 3.17 107 12.5 8.65 0.179 1.35 3.05 15 4.8 1.54 10.78 0.56 2.44 8.9 4.26 24.5 2.29 11.14 5.1 2.99 174 11.1 1,730 1.6 0.4 48 88.95 5.93 4.23 1.44 3.48 1.22 8.85

19.5 41.45 1.62 0.61 0.039 5.1 10.14 0.073 102.6 9.36 10 8 2,028 6.09 15.96 13.22 2.34 3.05 105 11.12 8.45 0.174 1.32 2.91 15 4.55 1.46 10.64 0.56 2.36 8.65 4.16 21.05 2.25 11.12 5.06 2.99 174 10.6 1,711 1.59 0.39 47.4 88 5.92 4.11 1.4 3.4 1.17 8.69

SERVICES 19.64 416,800 41.7 22,800 1.67 109,000 0.63 26,584,000 0.039 37,400,000 5.1 6,600 10.28 19,277,400 0.073 9,450,000 106 644,470 9.36 4,500 10.22 3,056,900 8.1 425,300 2,050 30,320 6.11 414,800 16 488,000 13.22 100 2.36 582,000 3.17 119,000 105.5 3,895,010 12.5 42,100 8.45 372,000 0.175 4,740,000 1.34 337,000 3.04 12,000 15 3,200 4.6 6,556,000 1.51 1,730,000 10.76 323,700 0.56 31,000 2.4 23,000 8.65 2,663,100 4.24 2,597,000 22.45 36,700 2.28 792,000 11.12 10,800 5.1 5,400 2.99 5,000 174 1,440 10.8 4,166,200 1,730 25,230 1.6 795,000 0.39 4,580,000 47.9 518,200 88.8 12,340 5.92 87,000 4.2 1,901,000 1.42 15,438,000 3.43 96,000 1.21 6,156,000 8.85 744,600

8,279,304 953,550 181,460 17,078,610 1,492,100 33,660 198,601,166 695,420 67,830,856 42,196 31,271,768 3,486,304 62,163,400 2,531,830 7,853,624 1,322 1,368,620 365,760 412,892,869 526,112 3,203,300 830,310 449,500 36,110 48,000 30,411,160 2,610,820 3,464,242 17,360 55,690 23,275,320 10,969,590 830,190 1,795,740 120,172 27,384 14,950 250,560 44,915,476 43,551,700 1,270,240 1,800,500 24,778,750 1,095,990.50 515,570 7,924,120 22,039,310 328,300 7,364,860 6,530,947

-65,164 -576,000 -1,320,000 51,015,998 44,594,048 6,028 211,349 -5,505,180 -24,030 -348,300 -39,650 15,459,379 525,000 146,000 -120,200 53,800 -906,775 -137,710 159,300 -43,500 -6,665,052 6,724,910 206,220 23,650 10,351,465 330,527.50 585,970 15,321,730 174,090 -256,800 1,171,109

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 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

0.0028 1.64 4.77 1.85 1.2 0.385 8.31 2.61 0.275 0.18 0.203 0.011 0.011 1.98 6.58 1.94 0.52 1.11 0.011 0.012 0.012 2.45 8.47 3.97 169.9

0.0029 1.64 4.84 1.85 1.23 0.39 8.32 2.61 0.275 0.183 0.203 0.011 0.011 1.98 6.97 1.94 0.54 1.14 0.011 0.013 0.012 2.54 8.49 3.97 170.9

0.0028 1.62 4.66 1.83 1.19 0.385 8.3 2.58 0.265 0.18 0.203 0.011 0.011 1.92 6.57 1.84 0.52 1.06 0.011 0.012 0.012 2.41 8.43 3.79 169.8

MINING & OIL 0.0029 61,000,000 1.62 2,545,000 4.7 1,274,000 1.84 17,000 1.2 1,086,000 0.385 40,000 8.32 3,000 2.59 12,789,000 0.27 960,000 0.183 1,000,000 0.203 120,000 0.011 400,000 0.011 400,000 1.95 266,000 6.89 30,542,900 1.94 28,000 0.54 45,000 1.14 962,000 0.011 10,100,000 0.012 15,600,000 0.012 1,100,000 2.54 15,000 8.43 245,000 3.89 4,429,000 170 128,520

171,000 4,139,360 5,996,870 31,320 1,310,220 15,450 24,922 33,182,980 258,350 182,880 24,360 4,400 4,400 517,600 207,454,105 53,740 24,000 1,071,050 111,100 187,300 13,200 37,120 2,075,145 17,053,020 21,847,304

1,398,700 -46,970 -2,459,540 8,689,688 -196,955 -16,020 8,632,961

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

41.15 516.5 106 105.5 112.2 518 5.83 1,010 1.06 108 1,015 2.39 77 81.05 77 81.8 79

41.15 516.5 106 105.5 112.2 518 5.85 1,010 1.06 108 1,015 2.39 77 81.05 77 81.8 79.5

41.15 516.5 106 105.5 112.2 518 5.8 1,010 1.06 108 1,015 2.39 76.55 81 77 81.8 79

PREFERRED 41.15 142,300 516.5 100 106 17,000 105.5 160 112.2 10 518 1,000 5.81 876,600 1,010 50 1.06 2,000 108 12,000 1,015 50 2.39 4,000 76.65 1,870 81 15,500 77 40 81.8 10,000 79.5 13,750

5,855,645 51,650 1,802,000 16,880 1,122 518,000 5,096,414 50,500 2,120 1,296,000 50,750 9,560 143,159 1,255,565 3,080 818,000 1,093,115

-1,028,750 -2,535,238 770 -

LR WARRANT

2.7

2.8

2.58

WARRANTS 2.69 2,280,000

6,105,530

-

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

3.92 5.18 5.91

3.95 5.18 5.94

3.92 4.94 5.75

SME 3.95 5.12 5.75

244,430 52,565 14,100,755

-58,395

121.3

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120.5 121.1 6,030

727,496

-

NAME

OPEN

IRC PROP MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

MS

PROPERTY 5.33 1,442,300 1.27 4,831,000 6.8 23,000 2.21 156,000 0.92 2,949,000 42.2 4,004,400 3.6 1,316,000 5.22 8,038,200 5.28 30,600 0.53 12,206,000 1.29 679,000 1.61 3,555,000 0.244 118,640,000 0.5 410,000 44.1 254,900 0.7 1,005,000 0.165 2,110,000 1.88 17,022,000 1.62 3,180,000

FIRST METRO ETF 121.3

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

VALUE

FINANCIAL

21,068,479

936,667,966.12

INDUSTRIAL

130,403,680

1,385,387,735.32

54,758,737

1,164,478,161.094

HOLDING FIRMS PROPERTY

244,212,696

794,082,228.52

SERVICES

164,648,022

1,110,912,041.86

MINING & OIL

145,213,803

295,806,619.652

GRAND TOTAL

762,816,783

5,702,461,914.67

62,000 10,300 2,432,900

FINANCIAL 2,000.52 (down) 4.27 INDUSTRIAL 11,139.60 (up) 17.66 HOLDING FIRMS 7,813.63 (down) 44.59 PROPERTY 3,773.85 (up) 12.64 SERVICES 1,711.36 (up) 8.52 MINING & OIL 12,953.58 (up) 92.82 PSEI 7,998.75 (down) 17.18 All Shares Index 4,736.44 (down) 0.72 Gainers: 99; Losers: 88; Unchanged: 59; Total: 246

Kong’s trading session was canceled for the day as a typhoon buffeted the city.

“The Nafta hot air may be as much an excuse to take a step back after Wall Street’s surge yesterday, as it is a legitimate concern about the president not appreciating nuances of inter-dependence embedded in trade deals,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “The ‘she loves me, she loves me not’ thought process could lead to on-off markets.”

The risk-off reaction to Trump’s comments at a rally of his supporters in Phoenix contrasted with Tuesday’s mood on Wall Street, when stocks jumped amid optimism the president’s administration is making progress on tax reform. European stock futures declined.

“It’s possible he’s trying to take a tougher stance externally to make up for recent confusion within the administration,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. in Tokyo. “There’s still the possibility that Trump may suddenly start criticizing trade relationships with Japan and China. Investors are worried about those sorts of possibilities.”

There is little top-tier economic data out this week and volumes are being kept low by the Northern Hemisphere summer. The focus turns to the annual conference of global central bankers that kicks off in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Thursday with sentiment among investors that global policy makers seem reluctant to tighten liquidity.

With Bloomberg, AFP

Aetas support RP Energy project THE Cawag Tribal Association urged the Energy Regulatory Commission to act on the power supply agreement of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. that has been pending with the commission since April 2016.

The Cawag Tribal Association is an association of over 100 members of Aetas from Zambales who are currently residing in Barangay Cawag, Subic.

Tribal chieftain Juanito Balosbalos, in a letter addressed to the ERC commissioners, expressed the group’s support to the planned 600-megawatt power plant of RP Energy in Cawag, Subic.

The letter dated Aug. 2 acknowledged the pending approval of the PSA that RP Energy had been waiting for to proceed with the construction of the power plant.

“This is the reason why we are calling for the urgent approval of the said PSA,” Balosbalos said in Filipino.

He said he even represented the Cawag Tribal Association in the hearing for the PSA in November last year.

Balosbalos said RP Energy had long been providing services and initiating projects to improve the lives of the tribal group.

“We believe that the success of RP Energy will also be the success of the residents in our area. In fact, even with the plant yet to be constructed, RP Energy already has a lot of programs that benefit our barangay,” he said.

Balosbalos said that as an important stakeholder in the project, he believed that the ERC would consider the request and support coming from the Cawag Tribal Association.

Business

B3

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

BSP awards P157.3b from weekly auction

By Darwin G. Amojelar

MICRO-FINANCING DEAL. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez (second from left) and Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Inc. founder and former managing director Jaime Aristotle Alip (center) shake hands after signing a partnership agreement for the Pondo para sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program in Pasig City. The Department of Trade Inudstry and CARD aligned their efforts to provide a communitybased micro-financing scheme dedicated for the micro, small and medium enterprises. Joining Lopez and Alip are (from left) Small Business Corp. president Bartholomew Brillo Reynes, CARD managing director Flordeliza Sarmiento and executive director Jocelyn Dequito.

AmBisyon 2040 should have been for planners WHEN I first heard about it, I thought that the National Economic and Development Authority survey project called AmBisyon 2040 would concern itself with the economic development issues that needed to be decisively addressed by the government if the Philippine economy were to finally get out of its Third World rut and begin moving toward First World status. After all, the purpose for the project was stated

by Neda as “to provide succeeding administrations with the basic ingredients (with which) to draw up development plans during their respective terms” and to serve as “a starting-point on which to base (their) discussions and plans.”

To my surprise and disappointment, AmBisyon 2040 did not turn out to be a document that would “provide succeeding administrations with the basic ingredients (with which) to draw up development plans during their respective terms.” Instead, it turned out to be report on the findings of Neda-commissioned surveyors and 42 focused-group discussants regarding the personal visions, aspirations and ambitions of 10,000 Filipinos aged between 15 and 30.

In my view, the survey respondents and the focused-group discussants should have been asked views on what I choose to call the hard economic development stuff: infrastructure planning and financing, capital flows, investment incentives, technology imports, skilled-labor supply and related growth requisites. These things are, after all, the stuff of economic progress. They are the elements that determine production, employment, income, sales and trade.

The 10,000 individuals who were surveyed and the focusedgroup discussants were, instead, to express their thoughts and feelings about what I regard as the soft stuff: “a single, comfortable life,” “the eradication of poverty,” the creation of adequate employment opportunities in this country, elimination of corruption, peace and security and the provision of social benefits (health, education and housing). They were forthright as to where they stood on these issues.

If the hard-stuff items are adequately and consistently available for this country’s economic development, the soft-stuff items —“a simple comfortable life,” social benefits, elimination of corruption, the creation of employment opportunities and peace and security—will be capable of delivery by a vibrant economy.

Without strong economic performance, these soft-stuff items will be difficult to achieve in an adequate and sustained manner.

The salient findings of the AmBisyon 2040 survey were the following: “A simple, comfortable life is having a medium-sized home, enough earnings to support everyday needs, owning at least one vehicle, having the financial capacity to send kids to college and being able to go on local vacation trips—valued at P120,000 monthly household income.”

“The most important economic goals of Filipinos are the eradication of poverty and hunger and the provision of adequate jobs. The second, third and fourth most important goals are housing, education and health.”

“Filipinos believe that eliminating corruption is important for achieving a better future.”

“77 percent of Filipinos consider peace and security as necessary to national development, and 75.2 percent feel that peace and security are necessary for improving one’s standard of living.”

“The dominant sentiment is that jobs should be located in the Philippines. Eighty-eight percent of Filipinos feel that it will be better for this country if citizens stayed at home instead of going abroad to work. More than 69 percent would choose a job here instead of abroad if they had a choice. The majority—around 60 percent—of the respondents prefer to live and work in their home towns or home provinces rather than move to big cities. The respondents like living in cities but not in megacities.”

“Corruption includes the lack of efficiency in government transactions and the need for more affordable government services. Filipinos want government employees to be polite, helpful, knowledgeable and – quite importantly—not wasteful of people’s time.”

These survey findings on the aspirations and expectations of Filipinos for the year 2040 make up AmBisyon2040. It is important to know what Filipinos’ concept of a “simple, comfortable life is, their thoughts on jobs and the value they place on security and corruption” and the priority they attach to their aspirations. But, to repeat the point that I made at the outset, comfortable lives, satisfactory jobs and adequate social services must come from somewhere. That ‘somewhere’ is a firmly based and efficiently run economy. I had expected AmBisyon2040 to be concerned with the aspirations of the development planners rather than the aspirations those of citizens.

I suggest that a follow-up project—AmBisyon2040 v2?

—be undertaken to ascertain the aspirations and needs of the development planning community. Unless that is done, the likelihood is that for the majority of the projected 130 million Filipinos, life in 2040 will be not much different from life in 2017.

E-mail: romero.business.class@gmail.com

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas on Wednesday awarded P157.34 billion worth of term deposits during its regular auction.

Bangko Sentral said the term deposit auction for the seven-day deposit facilities was oversubscribed as total tenders amounted to P40.84 billion, exceeding the original offer of P40 billion.

Rates for the 7-day debt facility settled at 3.3124 percent.

The central bank said it received total tenders of P117.34 billion for 28-day deposit facilities, lower than the original offer of P140 billion.

The average rates for the 28-day debt facility was 3.4958 percent.

“We expect this turnout based on the trend of banks’ preference to increase their lending to both their individual and corporate clients.

The 7 day TDF remains oversubscribed but fetched lower rates on account of the steady and limited offering of P40 billion plus the increased cash requirements for the long weekend,” Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinugundo said in a text message.

He said the 28-day TDF had higher subscription but still lower than the offering of P140 billion.

“Note that the interest rate was steady at 3.4958 percent on account of higher demand for loans and the long weekend as well. I wish to clarify that the results of the weekly auction should be appreciated in medium term context because weekly auctions reflect the fluidity of cash operations of the banks against our liquidity forecasts,” Guinugundo said.

Taiwan warns PH vs fugitive businessman

By Othel V. Campos

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AIWAN has warned the Philippines against the highly risky investment projects of fugitive You Hao Chen and urged the Bureau of Immigration to deport Chen back to Taiwan soon, the Taiwan Economic Cultural Office said in a statement Wednesday.

TECO said in a statement Chen, the founder and the chief executive of Xianglu Dragon Group in China, had pledged to invest $360 billion to develop a 3,000-hectare mixed-use special economic zone in Pangasinan and spend another P12 billion to build an 85-story IT building along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

“On behalf of the government of the Republic of China, TECO wishes to state that Chen

is an out-and-out economic criminal who has nothing to do with politics. Chen was issued a warrant of arrest on January 14, 2014 by the Taiwan Taipei District Court during the Kuomintang Administration where Chen belonged as a KMT member,” TECO said.

“To clarify, it is not the Democratic Progressive Party Administration who issued the order, therefore, this case is not politically motivated. This is a purely

an economic criminal case,” TECO said.

Chen, it said, was a notorious Taiwanese fugitive swindler. He was the former CEO of Tuntex Group in Taiwan.

The Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office earlier prosecuted Chen for fraud, unlawful embezzlement and other serious economic crimes of more than NTD 800 million (or P1.32 billion).

As a result, he has been officially indicted and wanted by the Taiwan Taipei District Court since January 14, 2014.

Chen allegedly escaped from Taiwan and fled away to Xiamen, China.

TECO said Chen and the Tuntex Group still owed the Taiwan government at least NTD 415 million (P684.75 million) tax arrears and defrauded the Taiwanese banks and investors

over NTD 70 billion (P 115.50 billion).

Chen found a way to invest in Xiamen and became the founder and the chief executive of Xianglu Dragon Group that invested RMB 3.88 billion for PX Chemical Zone in Fujian province of China with the money siphoned off from Taiwan.

However, the project has incurred deficit reaching RMB 2 billion due to the poor management, a series of petrochemical explosions and serious pollution cases starting April, 2015.

“If he cannot find a new financing source, his Xianglu Dragon Group will never afford the RMB 15.7 billion debt due and will go bankrupt. He needs to find another suitable place/country to repeat his criminal business model and it seems that his new target place is the Philippines,” TECO said.

Insurance coverage urged vs terrorism

PRESIDENTIAL AWARD. City Savings Bank receives the Presidential Award from the Coalition for

Better Education at Golden Prince Hotel and Suites, Cebu City on August 05. Reputation Management head Paula Ruelan (center) receives the award for CitySavings. With her are CBE president Ruben Laraya (left) and CBE vice president for external affairs Paulette Liu. CitySavings was recognized as a fellow education advocate who shares CBE’s vision of “Creating Empowered Learning Communities.”

Solar Philippines eyes factory expansion

By Alena Mae S. Flores STO. TOMAS, Batangas—Solar Philippines may expand its solar panel factory here to bring the capacity to 2,000 megawatts by next year.

Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste told reporters the factory was set to reach a production capacity of 800 MW this year. The factory started with an initial production capacity of 200 MW. Leviste said the entire 800MW output was contracted, adding the company was looking for a new site in the province to set up the additional 1,200-MW production capacity.

The manufacturing plant, once fully completed next year, can generate P10 billion worth of solar panels for export and domestic consumption.

“This factory has enabled us to generate the lowest cost power in the history of the Philippines,” Leviste said.

Solar Philippines has offered to replace many planned fossil fuel plants with 5,000 MW of solar farms.

“Filipinos can save 30 percent on electricity. The average family paying P3,000 will see their bill decrease to P2,000 a month, and now with the latest batteries, entire towns can use solar energy for 24-hours a day,” Leviste said.

President Rodrigo Duterte inaugurated the Solar Philippines factory, establishing the Philippines as a major player in the global renewable energy revolution, and enabling solar panels to become accessible to everyday Filipinos.

Solar panel costs have fallen 90 percent over the last 10 years,

and 50 percent in the last three years alone, prompting countries like China and India to source the majority of their new power requirements from renewables.

Bloomberg estimates 86 percent of planned coal plants globally will be canceled, given the new economics of solar prices.

Solar Philippines also announced its new initiative to help communities with poor electric service to form their own “Solar Power Associations” and avail of low-cost 24/7 power.

“We don’t measure our success in terms of profits or revenues, but our contribution towards the development of the Philippines. This factory will create 50,000 jobs for the solar industry, from manufacturing to installation, and show the world that Filipino ingenuity is second to none,” Leviste said.

THE Insurance Commission on Wednesday urged the public to secure insurance against terrorist attacks following the carnage in Barcelona, Spain.

Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa in a statement stressed the need to have insurance cover against terrorism.

“In the light of the continuing risk of terrorist attacks, it is important that the public is protected against losses and damages resulting from terrorist attacks,” Funa said.

There has been an upsurge in Filipinos traveling locally and abroad amid lower air fare from budget airlines.

“Since the 9/11 attack, terrorism insurance industry has grown exponentially. In the Philippine setting, however, it was only recently that a product has been approved which covers losses as a direct result of a terrorist act,” he said.

The only company offering a terrorism insurance cover is FWD Life Insurance Company.

“While existing insurance products specifically exclude death and disability claims arising from terrorist attacks, FWD developed a product which specifically covers this risk,” the official said.

“As the first insurance product of its kind in the country, the product provides financial protection in the vent of death or serious disability such as total and irreversible loss of sight on both eyes or hearing on both ears, total and permanent inability to use one or both hand or one foot or both feet,” Funa said.

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

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

Business

UK compromises to speed up Brexit

P

RIME Minister Theresa May conceded that European Union law will influence the UK long after Brexit, a climbdown aimed at accelerating divorce talks that seemed to be initially accepted by euroskeptics in her Conservative Party.

The pound dropped to the lowest in almost two months versus the dollar amid news the UK was compromising its stance to hasten divorce talks with the European Union.

Sterling touched its lowest since June 28 on Wednesday and held near a 10-month low against the euro.

The pound was down 0.1 percent at 1.2806 against the US dollar, having earlier touched 1.2799, its lowest since June 28.

Seven months after May declared the UK would “take back control of our laws and bring an end to the jurisdiction” of the European Court of Justice, her government will say in a position paper on Wednesday that it’s now seeking to bypass just the body’s “direct jurisdiction.”

The diluting of a onetime “red line” paves the way to EU judges having some say in the UK following Brexit, though perhaps not in a binding way.

The test will be if EU officials accept the shift as enough to speed up sluggish negotiations resuming next week.

“Talk of the ECJ having no direct jurisdiction suggests that the government recognizes that if we are to have a close working relationship with the EU immediately after Brexit and into the future, then European judges will continue to play an important role in determining the shape of the laws that could affect us,” said Andrew Hood, a trade lawyer at Dechert LLP and former U.K. government official.

In the most closely watched

of a series of papers, the UK will argue it would be unprecedented for the Luxembourgbased court to have direct jurisdiction over a non-member state, according to a statement released before the publication. It will instead list alternative ways to enforce rights and obligations once Britain departs in March 2019.

Justice Minister Dominic Raab told the BBC the government’s preferred option was an arbitration system. He said that the government had “absolutely not” backed down, and that instead of the ECJ having jurisdiction over the UK, there would be a situation where the UK keep “half an eye on the case law of the EU.” “It is about having a balanced process where both sides could have confidence,” Raab said. “It is not about one side imposing its will on the other.”

The new approach suggests May realizes the EU is unwilling to sign a deal that would leave the bloc’s judges with no long-term sway in the UK The EU has already said the court should have “full jurisdiction” of the rights of its citizens living in Britain. It will want a way to oversee a future trade accord, too.

Failure to find an agreement would erode the time available for the UK and the EU to craft a long-term trade accord—and that is where the bloc holds the upper hand. A prolonged fight over the law would also complicate Britain’s ability to win the post-Brexit transition it now admits it needs and wants.

Bloomberg

RESTIVE WORKERS. Labor unions stage a protest against the economy and social policies of Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri at the Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires on August 22, 2017. AFP

Brazil mulls over privatization of Eletrobras BRASILIA, Brazil―Brazil’s government is eyeing the privatization of giant power utility Eletrobras in a bid to balance a yawning budget deficit, the energy ministry said, sparking a surge in share prices Tuesday.

“This is a move of fundamental importance for developing the Brazilian electricity sector,” Mining and Energy Minister Fernando Coelho Filho told a press conference in Brasilia.

The energy ministry said in a statement issued after markets closed Monday that the sell-off would “add competitiveness and efficiency to the businesses in the management of its operations, without the stumbling blocks facing public companies.”

The government, which is

struggling to pay the bills following two years of deep recession, hopes to raise 20 billion reais ($6.3 billion) in the partial sell-off of the country’s biggest power utility.

The government would retain a golden share to exercise veto power. It also said it would exclude nuclear power plants from the sale, as well as the Itaipu hydroelectric station which is joint-owned with neighboring Paraguay.

Currently the government holds 40.98 percent of Eletrobras’ capital, while state development bank BNDES holds another 18.72 percent.

Common share prices rocketed on the announcement Tuesday, closing 48.9 percent higher, and preferred shares rose 32.6

percent. The surge helped push the Sao Paulo market’s Ibovespa index above the 70,000 barrier.

Last week, the government conceded that it would not meet its budget targets and raised the expected budget deficit ceiling to $50 billion in 2017, up from $44 billion.

Scandal-plagued President Michel Temer is pushing through market reforms that he hopes will loosen up Brazil’s notoriously inefficient economy and restore growth.

The energy ministry said the troubled company’s debts were draining funds that could “be used for security, education and health.”

The government is modeling its plans on previous privatizations of aerospace company Em-

braer in 1994 and mining giant Vale in 1997.

However, former leftist president Dilma Rousseff, who was removed in a controversial impeachment trial last year, criticized the plan.

“They already sold off the Petrobras power plants and they want to sell our main hydroelectric plants and transmission lines at basement bargain prices,” she tweeted.

Eletrobras has been damaged by the gigantic corruption network uncovered at a host of Brazil’s biggest companies.

On Wednesday, prosecutors filed corruption and money laundering charges against former head of Petrobras and the Banco do Brasil, Aldemar Bendine. He was arrested last month. AFP

By Daniel Bosque

No new trade deal with US—S. Korea

BARCELONA, Spain―A tourist magnet in Spain, adored for its beaches and architecture, Barcelona is working to reassure future visitors in the hope that last week’s bloody rampage won’t impact a key sector for its economy.

Rooms are scarce and prices are sky-high next week due to the expected arrivals of some 30,000 doctors for a cardiology congress on August 26-30.

The tourism sector sees the event as its first test since the twin vehicle attacks carried out in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils that killed 15 people and wounded more than 120.

“There’s some anxiety because (the attacks) are obviously not a positive point,” said Jose Luis Zoreda, executive vice president at industry lobby group Exceltur.

But he said he did not expect “any catastrophe” for the sector.

The attacks claimed by the Islamic State group came in the peak tourist season. Nine of those killed were tourists and the injured include people from 35 different nationalities.

Last year the Mediterranean city’s 1.6 million residents were heavily outnumbered by an estimated 30 million visitors, a significant number of them daytrippers.

Some nine million people stayed in city’s over 400 hotels last year.

The tourism sector accounts for 12-14 percent of the city’s gross domestic product.

Barcelona’s success in drawing visitors has sparked a backlash from locals in some areas who complain that crowds of drunken, rowdy tourists packed into cheap rental properties have been making their lives hell and driven up prices.

Tourism was perceived as Barcelona’s biggest problem according to a recent survey carried out by the city council. Now the problem could be losing tourists.

Barcelona mayor Ada Colau held an emergency meeting with representatives of the city’s tourism sector on Tuesday.

‘Used to these events’ The three-star Rialto hotel in Barcelona’s Gothic quarter located about 100 meters (yards) from the spot on Las Ramblas where the van used to mow down pedestrians came to a stop, received just five cancellations after the attack.

“There were very few cancellations and they were from people who were coming to spend just one night. Long-term bookings have remained,” said the hotel’s front desk manager, Vicente Rodriguez, 54.

At the five-star W Barcelona hotel, whose sail-like structure dominates the city’s seafront, also had a few

SEOUL―South Korea and the US have reached no agreement on renegotiating their free trade pact, a top Seoul official said Tuesday after meeting US counterparts.

The US administration under President Donald Trump has been seeking to revise the pact, signed by former President Barack Obama, which Trump has slammed as a “horrible deal” and a “job killer.”

Trade officials from both sides gathered in Seoul on Tuesday after Washington called a meeting but failed to reach “any agreement,” Seoul’s trade minister Kim Hyun-Chong told reporters.

“We did not agree with the unilateral demand by the US to revise” the Korea-US free-trade agreement, Kim said, adding no date had been set for a follow-up meeting.

“We also explained that the US trade deficit is a result of a complex array of factors on micro and macro levels, not a result of the Korea-US FTA,” he added.

South Korea―Asia’s fourth-largest economy and the seventh-largest trading partner of the US―has maintained there is no clear link between the pact and the US trade deficit.

In a statement on Tuesday, the office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer made no mention of the outcome of the day’s discussions, but said talks would continue “over the coming weeks.”

“American service exports have seen virtually no growth in the past four years,” Lighthizer said.

“President Trump is committed to substantial improvements in the Korean agreement that address the trade imbalance and ensure that the deal is fully implemented.”

Trump’s push to revise the deal is part of his wider drive to cut his nation’s trade deficits with a number of countries including the South, a key Asian ally with which it is confronting the threats from the nuclear-armed North.

The US is the South’s second-biggest trading partner after China.

The US goods trade deficit with the South has more than doubled since the pact took effect in 2012, from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $27.6 billion last year, according to US data. AFP

Barcelona hopes attacks won’t dent its tourism appeal

People display flowers and candles to pay tribute to the victims of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks on the Rambla boulevard in Barcelona on August 22, 2017, five days after the attacks that killed 15 people. An alleged member of the terror cell that unleashed carnage in Spain last week admitted to a judge Tuesday that he and other suspects had planned a bigger attack, a judicial source said. AFP

cancellations but bookings have “stabilized in recent hours,” said the hotel’s director general, Stijn Oyen.

The Spanish Union of Travel Agencies said there were no significant cancellations for Barcelona and passengers were not changing their plans because of the attacks.

“What may happen is that people who planned to go to Barcelona may wait a bit before going,” the body’s vice-president, Jose Luis Mendez, said.

The Barcelona Association of Tourist Apartments (Apartur) has not noticed demand cooling down.

“The pace of reservations has remained the same.

We even continued to receive bookings on the night of the attack,” its president Enrique Alcantara said.

“My conclusion, even though it is sad, is that we are used to these type of events.”

‘Very quiet’ On Las Ramblas, among the flow of tourists and locals, Falko Wieclemann, a 49-year-old German professor looked on with his wife and daughter at the flowers, candles and messages left in honor of the victims.

They arrived on Saturday, two days after the attack, for a week-long holiday.

“We feel safe, it was an isolated act. We came from

Berlin, the same thing happened there. Life has to go on,” he said.

On the same day Jinwon Chun and her partner arrived from South Korea.

“I heard about the attack the day before I left and I got scared. I thought about if I should travel or not, but I had planned it two months ago and here I am,” the 38-year-old housewife said.

Restaurants, however, have noticed a fall in revenues which they hope will be temporary.

At the La Tramoia restaurant in Plaza Catalunya, just beside Las Ramblas, turnover has fallen by around a third since the attack.

It used to make 8,000-10,000 euros ($9,50012,000) per day, but now takes in less than 6,000 euros, said its director David Serrat.

“Everything is very quiet. People are scared and they don’t want to sit on the terrace. On Friday we had reservations for 40 people and they all cancelled,” he added.

“I think Barcelona will bounce back. Maybe not to the same level as before, because we are having a record year... but the impact won’t be as dramatic as it has been these days,” he added. AFP

LGUs

Manila aids 2k families after fires

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

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

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By Bill Casas MANILA Mayor Joseph Estrada on Wednesday promised to help at least 2,000 families recover from successive fires that hit five residential areas and left four dead in the capital city last week.

Last Saturday, Estrada visited Barangay 704, Zone 77 in Adriatico, Malate, the scene of a huge fire the day before that left two residents dead and dozens of houses destroyed.

“It’s tragic that two Manileños perished here, and two more in Tondo. I grieve with the families. But rest assured that help is under way,” Estrada told barangay officials and some of the displaced residents.

The mayor has instructed the Manila Department of Social Welfare to continue providing homeless residents necessities such as food and temporary shelter while the City Hall is studying what proper assistance it could extend, particularly to those who lost their loved ones.

Estrada also made sure the barangay hall’s covered court is ready to temporarily accommodate homeless residents.

Last May, Estrada distributed sacks of rice and building materials to 86 families who lost their homes in another fire that hit Isla Puting Bato, also in Tondo. He also shouldered the funeral expenses of a 15-yearold boy who died in the blaze.

In August 2016, Estrada also distributed P3 million worth of construction materials to families in Baseco Compound and Quiapo who were hit by tornado and fire. He also sent 100 city hall workers to assist the residents in the repair and reconstruction works.

In March last year, Estrada also donated P7.3 million worth of construction supplies to families who lost their homes in separate fires in barangays 775 and 770 in Sta. Ana. The Adriatico fire on Aug. 18 gutted 250 homes along Camia Street and destroyed an estimated P2.7 million worth of properties. Two residents, identified as Abelardo Salonga, 79, and his son Jimmy, 47, perished in the fire, as 380 families were displaced.

NE to help poultry owners C

By Abe Almirol

ABANATUAN CITY–Gov. Czarina D. Umali said the Nueva Ecija provincial government is ready to extend financial aid to small poultry owners in areas affected by avian influenza in the municipalities of Jaen and San Isidro.

“The governor made the disclosure during the meeting of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Monday,” said Abe Pascua, the spokesperson of the Task Force Avian Influenza here.

During the meeting held at the Old Capitol Compound, Umali said she wants to focus help on small chicken and quail raisers. “If they could not avail assistance from the national agencies because they

are small players, we in the provincial government will be the one to help,” she said.

“I sympathize with small poultry investors. We all know they are working hard to make both ends meet. We should not forget them,” added Umali.

The governor also directed the PDRRMC and the Provincial Veterinary Office to coordinate with their counterparts in Jaen and San Isidro.

“Those owning poultry farms with not more than 700 heads, including those maintaining layers, will be directly given aid by Gov. Umali,” Pascua explained.

He said once the inventory is done, a chicken or quail grower with not more than 700 heads can avail of a P10,000 loan.

However, Pascua said there will be no funds released until the inventory is properly done, in compliance with existing Commission on Audit rules.

Anti-AI vaccines will be given to persons directly involved in the culling operations within the one-kilometer radius of barangays affected, Pascua added.

The vaccine would be applied daily for ten days to ensure that people who were in the infected sites are safe from the effects of the AI virus.

The governor also thanked residents for their cooperation in combatting the sicknesses AI can cause.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol had announced that Nueva Ecija was infected last Aug. 18.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan then declared a state of calamity in Jaen and San Isidro.

The Bureau of Animal Industry under the Department of Agriculture earlier pledged to pay for the animals culled in big poultry farms.

Umali has assured that even small poultry operators will be given appropriate support from the provincial government.

NIYUGYUGAN FESTIVAL. Senator Cynthia Villar (center), Quezon province Gov. David ‘Jayjay’ Suarez (beside Villar), and former congresswoman Aleta C. Suarez (second from right) lead the ribbon cutting during the opening of the 5th year of the province’s Niyugyugan Festival, featuring its unique arch made from coconut leaves and fronds. Benjie A. Antioquia

Ex-Pampanga mayor’s food park stirs up QC dads QC orders

By Rio N. Araja A QUEZON City councilor has criticized a former mayor of Sto. Tomas, Pampanga for the illegal construction of a food park in the upscale village of Loyola Heights.

In a privilege speech Tuesday, District 3 Councilor Don de Leon criticized former mayor Romeo Ronquillo when he blocked QC policemen and members of the city’s Department of Public Order and Safety who were set to

apprehend the workers of his daughter, Ara Ronquillo, at the construction site of Park 33 at 31 Xavierville Avenue on April 24.

“Authorities were then implementing the cease-and-desist order issued by the Department of Building Official,” De Leon told fellow legislators and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, the council’s presiding officer.

Ronquillo or his daughter could not be contacted for comment at presstime.

The councilor said as early as last year, the Ronquillos, including Ara’s mother Gloria, put up the food park “in violation of the National Building Code, the lack of a barangay clearance and a building permit, the issuance of a cease-and-desist order from building official Isagani Verzosa, and the filing of a criminal case before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.”

Moreover, the owner failed to secure the approval of the city council’s committee on zoning,

and that the food park owners never appeared for an administrative hearing despite repeated notices, De Leon said.

The place is classified as a residential area where food parks are not allowed, the councilor said.

“As I speak, the construction is still ongoing, with about 90 percent of completion,” De Leon stressed. “This establishment was strong enough to break ground without a barangay clearance, bold enough to construct without

a building permit, and courageous enough to continue construction.”

He said Ronquillo’s violation of the law could set a bad precedent, and was an insult to the city government.

District 1 Councilor Victor Ferrer Jr. said the matter could be resolved at the barangay level.

“I was a barangay chairperson in Bahay Toro. Based on my experience, we can take actions to confiscate building materials and stop the construction,” he said.

Andanar vows to boost national-LGU info network

By Dexter A. See BAGUIO CITY—Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin M. Andanar has vowed to strengthen the information network of the national government with local government units to combat the proliferation of fake news being spread through social media.

This move, Andanar said during his visit to this city last week, seeks to effectively cascade the public policies and reform agenda of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte through establishing rapport with information officers of LGUs, who will be in the frontline of disseminating true information to the people in the countryside through various forms of media.

In meeting with executives of regional and provincial offices of national government agencies, chief executives of LGUs and their information officers, Andanar expressed elation for the overwhelming response of

Cordillera leaders in his second official visit to the city.

“I really appreciate your presence. President Duterte will know of the support from Cordillera,” Andanar said, as he lauded the active participation of regional leaders and information officers to the gatherings.

Andanar revealed the PCOO will be conducting capability training of information officers to equip them with the skills and knowledge to handle the dissemination of true information using the various media platforms. In turn, they would train more information officers who will be the government’s partner in cascading the right information to the public.

The agency will also create a regional pool of trainers who will take charge of the capability needs of information officers in their areas, and update them on the latest trends of information dissemination.

This, he said, will assure that “no misinformation will be transmitted to communication

PANATAG SUMMIT. Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Martin M. Andanar (center) talks with local government officials led by Mayors League of Laguna president Liliw Mayor Tony M. Carolino (second from right), Laguna Police Provincial director Senior Supt. Cecilio Ison (right) former Pagcor chairman Ephraim Genuino (left) and Los Baños Mayor Caesar P. Perez during the Panatag Summit at the Centro Mall Convention Center in Los Baños. Roy Tomandao

outlets,” which puts malice to the reform agenda of the national and local administrations.

Andanar said numerous fake news are being disseminated

by irresponsible individuals on social media, that is why there is also a need for information officers to be aggressive in correcting whatever negative im-

pression fake news has created, for people to understand the real score on the prevailing issues confronting various agencies and local governments.

creation of pride councils

QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista on Wednesday ordered the city’s 142 barangays to create their own pride council as part of the comprehensive implementation of anti-discrimination policy and programs based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

“There is a need to create the barangay pride council in each barangay. That provision is already in the ordinance.

The 142 barangays are mandated to create their barangay pride council,” he told the pride council meeting.

The council is chaired by Bautista in support of the gender and development plans and programs with the aim of integrating and synchronizing projects and programs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the city, and to ensure its effective implementation.

He recently signed a memorandum directing all village executives to form their barangay pride council and set the deadline on Aug. 31.

“We also mandate through the QC pride council that the 142 barangays adopt the barangay pride council programs and integrate the funding source in their GAD barangay budget,” he said. Rio N. Araja

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

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LGUs

TODAY THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

P2.69-b Chico River irrigation project set

By Jessica M. Bacud

T

UGUEGARAO CITY—The P2.696billion Chico River Pump Irrigation Project broke ground in Barangay Dagupan in Tuao on Thursday, with Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba, Tuao Vice Mayor William Mamba, National Irrigation Authority Regional Manager Antonio Lara, and CagayanBatanes Irrigation Division manager Francis Yu leading local officials.

FOR THE FISHERMEN. Balanga City Mayor Francis Garcia (5th from right), Vice Mayor Vianca Venzon-Gozon (4th from right), Councilor Jovic Baluyot (2nd right), Councilor Benjie Merino (right), and Bataan Councilors’ League president Noel Valdecanas (2nd left) join fish processors in flashing the ‘1 Bataan’ sign during the turnover of fish processing wares to the recipients. Butch Gunio

Republic of the Philippines

ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF APPLICANT’S (1) BUSINESS SEPARATION AND UNBUNDLING PLAN (BSUP); AND (2) ACCOUNTING AND COST ALLOCATION MANUAL (ACAM) IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 36 OF R.A. 9136 AND RULE 10 OF ITS IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS,

Planning and Finance

9

Legal

1

Audit

2

Total Personnel

50

All personnel are properly identified to a specific business segment in which they are engaged with. If a person serves multiple business segments (See Annex B2 BSUP, Business Segment Activities), the cost of such personnel is allocated in accordance with the allocation methodology adopted b the Company (See Part VII3, Accounting and Cost Allocation Manual).

ERC CASE NO. 2017-009 MC

DESCRIPTION OF ASSETS

KEPCO SPC POWER CORPORATION (KSPC), Applicant.

As a policy, all assets acquired by the Company are tagged and identified to the specific business segment where these will be utilized. This is based on the purpose to which these assets were acquired, installed, constructed and their use in the over-all operations of the Company Assets acquired for use by multiple segments are allocated as follows:

x---------------- --- --- ------------------x

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Account

TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: Notice is hereby given that on 16 June 2017, KEPCO SPC Power Corporation (KSPC) filed an Application dated 29 May 2017 seeking the Commission’s approval of its Business Separation and Unbundling Plan (BSUP) and Accounting and Cost AIlocation Manual (ACAM) in accordance with the provisions of Section 36 of R.A. 9136 and Rule 10 of its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

2.

KSPC is a holder of Retail Electricity Supplier License No. RES - 10-2016-008, approved on October 18, 2016. Copy of KSPC’s RES License is attached hereto as Annex “E”.

3.

Applicant may be served with orders and other processes through the undersigned counsels.

4.

In compliance with the provisions of Section 36 of R.A. 9136, and Rule 10, Section 3 (b) of its implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which requires electric power industry participants to structurally and functionally unbundle the business activities as between generation, transmission, distribution and supply, and in compliance to the terms and conditions of the Retail Electricity Supplier’s License issued by this Honorable Commission to Applicant KSPC, it herein submits this Business Separation and Unbundling Plan (BSUP) and the Accounting and Cost Allocation Manual ACAM), for the approval of this Honorable Commission.

X

X

Other noncurrent assets

This account includes security deposits for leases, prepaid rent-net of current portion and others

X

X

Other current assets

This includes prepaid real property tax, prepaid rent, insurance premiums paid in advance, advance payments made to suppliers and other current assets.

X

X

Inventories

This account pertains to coal, light oil and limestone: inventories. Included also: are spare parts for use in the operations of the Company.

X

N/A

Trade and other receivables

This repesents outstanding billings for energy fees arising from deliver of electric power and energy from the following:

X

X

x

x

NATURE OF THE APPLICATION

Generation Supply Cash and cash equivalents

COMPLIANCE WITH PRE-FILING REQUIREMENTS 5.

In compliance with Section 2 Rule 6 of the ERC Rules of Practice and Procedure, this being a miscellaneous application, applicant shall furnish the respective legislative bodies of the Provincial Government of Cebu and the City Government of Cebu, where applicant KSPC office is principally located, with a complete copy of the present application and all its annexes and accompanying documents.

Furthermore, applicant shall cause the publication of the present application in a newspaper of general circulation within its franchise area or area where it principally operates.

The Company has prepared an express undertaking complying with the code of conduct promulgated by the ERC to regulate matters relating to end-users. This express undertaking is in compliance with trhe following articles in the Business Separation Guidelines (BSG), as amended:

Prior to the filing of this application, a pre- filing conference will be conducted with the concerned staff of the Commission pursuant to Section 4 of Rule 6, land for purposes of determining completeness of the supporting documents attached to the application.

Article II

BACKGROUND 8.

KSPC’s application for Retail Electricity Supplier License was approved by this Honorable Commission on October 18, 2016. Pursuant to the Terms and Conditions of the Retail Electricity Supplier License, KSPC was mandated to Submit to the Commission its Business Separation and Unbundling Plan (BSUP) at least ninety (90) days from issuance of its RES License.

9.

Due to time constraint, KSPC requested for additional time to comply with the requirements of the filing of the BSUP. In view of the request, KSPC was granted extension until June 30, 2017 to comply the said requirement.

The statements should be able to report all material items that will result in financial information that ,is relevant, reliable and that reflects the substance of the underlying transactions and events of the Company.

10. Through this Application, KSPC respectfully submits this Business Separation and Unbundling Plan (BSUP) and the Accounting Cost Allocation Manual (ACAM), for the approval of this Honorable Commission.

IV

KSPC BSUP consists of six (6) sections as prescribed in the BSUP Filing Package, as follows:

(See Annex D5, Express Undertaking on the Compliance with Articles II, IlI and IV of the BSG, as amended)

SECTION I. CURRENT STRUCTURE

SECTION IV. DESCRIPTION OF SEPARATION

KEPCO SPC Power Corporation (KSPC or the Company) was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 22, 2005 with SEC registration number CS200510755. The Company was incorporated to address the increasing electricity demand and imminent power shortage in 2010. To address this, KEPCO Philippines Holdings,Inc. (KPHI) took on the construction of the 200 MW Circulation Fluidized Bed Combustion (CFBC) Power Plant in the City of Naga, Cebu. The project was implemented by KSPC, a joint venture of KEPCO Philippines and SPC Power Corporation.

KSPC operates as a single juridical entity in the conduct of its business operations which are divided into the following business segments: • Generation of Electricity and Provision of Ancillary Services • Supply Services As a policy, the Company identifies and records its business activities based on the foregoing business segments. Books of accounts are maintained to ensure that activities per business segments are separately recorded. If business activities cover multiple business segments, allocation methodologies and policies are adopted by the Company to ensure that assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses from the business activities are reasonably aUdcated to specific business segments.

KSPC is responsible for the whole construction, operation, and maintenance of the plant, including fuel supply among others, without any Philippine government guarantees. The Company is a merchant power plant, characterized by the execution of Power Sales Contracts (PSCs) with distribution utilities and electric cooperatives.

The Company’s registered office address is located at 7th Floor, Cebu Holdings Center, Cebu Busines Park, Cebu City.

Further, KSPC has expressly undertaken its compliance with the provisions of Article V of the BSG, as amended, requiring the prdper use of End-user information of a distribution utility (See Annex E6, Express Undertaking on the Compliance with Article V of the BSG, as amended).

CORPORATE STRUCTURE KSPC is 60%-owned by KEPCO Philippines Holdings, Inc. and 40%-owned

by SPC Power Corporation (Annex A1 BSUP, KSPC Group Corporation Structure)

SECTION V. MILESTONES AND HIGHLIGHTS KSPC commits to implement the principle and allocation methodologies as written in the ACAM. The Company will enact !he following after the approval from ERC:

SEC Registration No.: AS094-002365

SECTION VI. CODE OF CONDUCT KSPC undertakes to develop a plan to comply with the Code of Conduct for Competitive Retail Market Participants as promulgated by the ERC (See Annex F7, Express Undertaking on the Compliance with the Code of Conduct).

SECTION II. DETAILS OF BUSINESS SEGMENTS

The Company has two (2) business segments which include:

12. The Business Separation and Unbundling PIan and the Accounting Cost Allocation Manual (ACAM) are attached in this Application and marked as Annex “K”, which copy is hereby adopted and incorporated in this instant application. It shall fully implement this Plan upon approval by this Honorable Commission.

1.

2.

13. Copy of the Secretary Certificate executed by the Corporate Secretary of KSPC authorizing this Application is Here attached as Annex “L”.

BUSINESS SEGMENTS

Generation of Electricity and Provision of Ancillary Services; and, Supply Services.

PRAYER

Generation of ElectricIty and Provision of Ancillary Services (Generation)

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully prayed of the Honorable Commission that after due notice and hearing, a DECISION be issued approving the Business Separation and Unbundling Plan (BSUP) and the Accounting Cost Allocation Manual (ACAM) of KSPC. Other reliefs just and equitable are likewise prayed for.

Supply Services (Supply) This comprises the sale of electricity by a generating company, licensed as RES, to Endusers in the contestable marked. It includes the following: a.

The billing, collection and the provision of customer services to such Endusers in their capacity as electricity consumed or to such other customers in their capacity as purchasers of electricity.

b.

Energy trading (including the purchase of electricity) undertaken in connection with the sale of electricity to End-users who are included in the Contestable Market; and,

c.

The sale of electricity to End-users who are included in the Contestable Market.

The Commission has set the Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on 05 September 2017 (Tuesday) at ten o’clock in the morning (10:00 A.M.), at the ERC Hearing Room, 15 Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City.

All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the instant case may become a party by filing with thb Commission a verified Petition to Intervene at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure, indicating therein the docket number and title of the case and stating the following: 1) 2) 3)

SEGREGATION OF PERSONNEL TO BUSINESS SEGMENTS The Company has 161 personnel who will service a specific or multiple business segments summarized as follows:

Department

Total Number of Personnel

Department engaged in a specific segment: Operations 64 Turbine 5 Boiler and Electrical 13 Instrumentation and Control 11 Environmental and Chemical 18 Total Personnel 111 Department

Number of Personnel Servicing Generation

Supply

64 5 13 11 18 111

-

Total Number of Personnel

The petitioner’s name and address; The nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and A statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the case may file their Opposition or Comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before the Applicant rests its case, subject to the reqrirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure. No particular form of Opposition or Comment is required; but the document, letter, or writing should contain the following: 1) 2) 3)

The name and address of such person; Aconcise statement of the Opposition or Comment; and The grounds relied upon.

All such persons who wish to have a copy of the Application may request from Applicant that they be furnished with the same prior to the date of the initial hearing. Applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with he Commission during the standard office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Officer-in-Charge of ERC, ALFREDO J. NON, and the Honorable Commissioners, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC, and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 26th day of July 2017 in Pasig City.

FOR AND BY AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION

Department engaged in both segments: Office of the President

1

Human Resources and General and Affairs

15

_______________________________________________________________

JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT Oversight Commissioner for Legal

Herein attached and marked as Annex “K”.

2 Supra.

3 Supra.

4 Supra.

5 Supra.

6 Supra.

7 Supra.

1

Marketing

10

Contracts

9

Community and Public Relations

3

(MS-AUG. 24, 2017)

rooms, and the irregular operation of wastewater treatment facilities in the area.

“These pollutions are caused by irresponsible swimmers who just leave their wastes on the shore, while WWTFs are not regularly used by several beach resorts. Some of these WWTFs are only used when we come to check them,” she said.

Balubal also said they have intensified their monitoring of beaches in the northern part of coastal towns of Cagayan Valley to ensure their compliance with the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.

She said they are now conducting surprise inspections among the beach resorts on the quality of their beaches and swimming pools to ensure the safety, health and security of their customers and their compliance to the PCWA of 2004.

Balubal also appealed to beach swimmers to refrain from unhealthy practices to preserve the quality of beaches and other inland bodies of water in Cagayan Valley.

Republic of the Philippines Province of Bohol MUNICIPALITY OF SEVILLA

KSPC will also continuously improve on its business processes to ensure proper monitoring or allocation of business activities per business segment.

Formerly known as Salcon Power Corporation, SPC is engaged in various business activities within the Philippines that include, among others, the development, construction, rehabilitation maintenance, management and operation of power generating plants, electricity distribution and related facilities.

This segment pertains to the production of electricity and the provision of ancillary services using the generation assets. Ancillary services are essential to facilitate orderly trading in electricity and ensure that electricity supplies are of an acceptable quality.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Beach resort owners in Cagayan province’s coastal towns should properly observe the regular operations of their wastewater treatment to prevent further pollution of several beaches.

Engineer Marissa Balubal, Department of Environment and Natural Resources– Environmental Management Bureau Water Quality Monitoring Section chief, said they have identified several beaches in Sta. Ana and Gonzaga towns found to be contaminated with high quantity of cauliform types.

“Our report covers second quarter of 2016, and we hope that this has improved already once they have followed our recommendations,” she said during a training for solid waste enforcers in Cagayan Valley at the Tam-an Resort in Barangay Busilac here.

Balubal said the pollution was attributed to several tourists not using the beach resorts’ comfort

Week 1: Accounting system update to ensure that the cost identification and allocation methodologies as described in the ACAM are properly implemented Week 2: Orientation to all employees involved on the BSUP Week 3: Seminars and workshops for its employees to enhance their knowledge of the activities of each business segment Week 4: Trainings of BSUP personnel involved in its implementation

SEC Registration No.: CS200520464

KPHI was registered with the SEC on December 15, 2005 primarily to hold potential investments.

SPC Power Corporation (SPC)

Business Segments The Company’s business segments , should be separated as follows: Generation of Electricity and Provision of Ancillary Services and Supply Services.

KSPC BSUP and ACAM

KEPCO Philippines Holdings Inc. (KPHI)

Information Requirements for Accounting Separation The Company should maintain separate accounts for each business segment or ensure that revenues, costs, assets and liabilities are separately identifiable in the books of the Company.

Copy of the ERC Letter is here attached as Annex “J”.

11.

Provision General Princinles for Accounting Separation The Accounting Separation Statements should be prepared in accordance with the ERC approved ACAM of the Company. This is notwithstanding its compliance -with the general accepted accounting principles (PhilIppine Financial: Reporting Standards or PFRS)

III

Cagayan beaches are polluted—EMB

By Ben Moses Ebreo

As required by Rule 10, Section 1 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of R.A. No. 9136 or otherwise known as the “Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001” (EPIRA), KSPC has prepared an adopted in the preparation of the Accounting Separation Statements (See Annex C4, KSPC Accounting and Cost Allocation Manual).

Copies of the corresponding Affidavit of Publication and the newspaper will be attached as Annexes “H” and “I”, respectively.

7.

This includes peso and dollar denominated accounts for collections and disbursements pertaining to its operations and other activities.

Include also is a reserved account for dividends and subordinated principal & internal distributions

SECTION III. ACCOUNTING SEPARATION

Copies of the certificates from the Presiding authorized representative of the legislative bodies as well as the Province of Cebu, will be attached as Annexes “F”, and “G” respectively.

6.

Supply

This includes building, office equipment, vehicles, furniture and fixtures, leasehold and land improvements, machineries, heavy equipment and construction in progress which have useful lives ranging from five to twenty five years

THE APPLICANT KSPC is a generation company duly authorized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, with principal office address at the 7th Floor of the Cebu Holdings Center, Cebu Business Park, Cebu City. Copies of KSPC’s Certificate of Registration, Articles of Incorporation with By Laws, General Information Sheet, and the ERC Certificate of Compliance are attached hereto as Annexes “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D”, respectively.

Business Segments Generation

Property Plant and Equipment

KSPC alleged the following in its Application:

1.

Description

Mamba expressed his gratitude to the NIA, reiterating the project will irrigate 8,700 hectares of agricultural land.

It will greatly benefit not only farmers in Tuao but also in the municipality of Piat and barangay Pinukpok in the province of Apayao.

“This project is perceived to boost the country’s agricultural production,” Mamba said, adding that the project will also give livelihood to those in nearby municipalities.

Lara said the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, an electric motor-driven pump located at Tuao East, will benefit 4,350 farmers in 21 barangays in Cagayan and Kalinga.

“This major project in Cagayan will increase the production

capacity of our farmer beneficiaries to ensure adequate rice for consumption,” he stressed.

The project will contribute to feeding the 61,535 residents of Tuao, Piat, and barangay Pinukpok in the province of Apayao, Lara added.

Meanwhile, Yu said NIARO2 expects an incremental net income of up to P42,273 per hectare a year from the farmers’ previous P28, 952 per hectare annual income without the irrigation.

The project will provide water for irrigation through the construction of new diversion and canal systems, increase agricultural productivity and farmers’ income and generate employment.”

The irrigation system will get its water straight from the Chico River, with its water source located at Barangay Katabbogan, Pinukpuk in Kalinga. The project will cover 18 barangays in Tuao and one barangay each for Piat, Cagayan and Pinukpuk, Yu said.

Moreover, over 7,580 jobs will be created during the implementation of the project, and that 8,700 people will have permanent employment once the system is completed and becomes operational in three years, Lara disclosed.

INVITATION TO BID FOR Location:/Project Description: Region VII Contract Duration Approved Budget for the Contract Design and Build for the Construction Five Million Seven Hundred Fifty of Water Filtration Plant for Sevilla 210 Calendar Days Thousand Pesos Level III Municipal Waterworks P5,750.000.00 System

1.

The Local Government Unit of Sevilla, Bohol has availed a grant fund from the Department of Interior and Local Government under the Bottoms-Up-Budgeting for CY 2015 to be appropriated for payment under the contract for the Design and Build for the Construction of Water Filtration Plant for Sevilla Municipal Level III Waterworks system and other necessary project components. Approved Budget for the Contract is Five Million Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos, (P5,750,000.00). Completion of the work is Two Hundred Ten, (210) calendar days reckoned from the date of receipt of the Notice to Proceed.

2. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedure as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of Republic Act No. 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act. Subject to exceptions stated in the Bidding Documents, only bids from Bidders who pass the eligibility check will be accepted. The Bidder who passed the technical requirements and complied with the required performance specifications and parameters will be considered for financial evaluation. Prospective bidders will be required to present their design to the Municipal Design and Build Committee anytime from August 31, 2017 to September 11, 2017 as the basis of latter for their recommendation to the Bids and Awards Committee.

3. Implementation of the project will commence upon receipt of the Notice to Proceed issued by the Head of the Procuring Entity.

4. A complete set of Bidding Documents in English maybe purchased by any interested bidders or his duly authorized representative from the BAC Secretariat upon payment of a non-refundable fee of Ten Thousand Pesos, (P10,000.00). which shall be available during office hours from August 30, 2017 to September 8, 2017.

5. The Municipal Government of Sevilla will hold a Pre-Bid Conference open to all interested Bidders on August 30, 2017 at 9:00 o’clock in the morning to be held at the Municipal Conference Hall, 2nd floor Municipal Building, Poblacion, Sevilla, Bohol.

6. Qualification requirements include a successful experience as prime contractor in the design and build contract (as solo, joint venture/consortia) of at least one, (1), work of a nature and complexity equivalent to the works in the last five, (5) years with a single work cited to at least fifty percent, (50%) of the value estimated contract cost of works under Bid. 8. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly in Section II-Instruction to Bidders.

9. Interested Bidders must submit their bids at the BAC Secretariat on or before September 12, 2017 at 12:00 noon. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Security in the form indicated in the Bid Documents. Late bids shall not be accepted. Opening of bids shall be at exactly 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon of September 12, 2017 to held at the Municipal Conference Hall, 2nd floor Municipal Building, Poblacion, Sevilla, Bohol.

10. The Municipal Government of Sevilla, Bohol reserves the right to accept or reject any bid or to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at anytime prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected Bidder or Bidders.

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE (SGD) ARTEMIO D. PERIN BAC Chairman Municipal Hall Poblacion, Sevilla, Bohol (MS-AUG. 24, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

Severe typhoon slams HK T

Iraqi forces retake 3 districts of IS bastion

HE weather observatory raised the storm warning to the city’s maximum Typhoon 10 signal for the first time in five years as “Hato” approached.

It was only the third time the Typhoon 10 warning has been issued since 1997, when the former British colony was handed over to China.

The storm passed as close as 60 kilometers to Hong Kong and made landfall at noon (0400 GMT) in the southern mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.

Thousands of people were evacuated Tuesday in parts of south China in preparation for the typhoon’s arrival, the official Xinhua news agency said.

In Hong Kong, the storm sent metershigh waves crashing into shorelines with flooding knee deep in some areas.

Gusts of up to 207 kilometers per hour brought flying debris, tearing down trees and scaffolding and breaking construction cranes. Shops and homes taped up their windows to protect them from shattering but a number of panes from office building skyscrapers were smashed.

Fallen trees cut off roads to parts of the territory, with the city’s popular Victoria Park covered in a mass of strewn branches.

“I was on my balcony in the village of Yuen Long when a tree literally flew past my house,” said Dave Coulson from the rural northwestern New Territories, who added he was having frequent power cuts.

Normally packed streets were eerily empty as the storm reached its height, aside from a few who tried to battle through the winds.

Some ventured out with cameras to snap and video the typhoon.

One Lohas Park resident had brought his young daughter down to experience the weather.

“I came down here to feel the winds,” he told AFP. The government said 34 people had gone to hospital seeking medical treatment related to the typhoon. Around 280 people were taking refuge in temporary shelters. AFP

PROTEST. Police use tear gas to break up the protesters gathered outside of the Phoenix, Arizona, Convention Center where US President Donald Trump spoke at a “Make America Great Again” rally. AFP

Cambodia orders US NGO to close, expels foreign staff PHNOM PENH―Cambodia on Wednesday closed a prominent American NGO and ordered its foreign staff to leave the country, the latest salvo by Prime Minister Hun Sen against perceived critics before a general election next year.

The order comes a day after the strongman premier threatened the Cambodia Daily, one of the country’s few remaining critical newspapers, with closure over

an alleged unpaid tax bill of $6.3 million, calling them “thieves”.

In a statement on Wednesday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said foreign employees of the National Democratic Institute had seven days to leave after the group allegedly failed to formally register or pay correct taxes.

“Authorities are geared up to take the same measures against any foreign asso-

ciation or non-government organization that fails to abide” by Cambodia’s laws, the statement added.

In recent weeks a string of foreignfunded organizations including the NDI have been named in Cambodia’s pro-government press or by officials as facing tax or regulatory probes.

Analysts say the cascade of legal cases is straight from the political playbook of

C3

Hun Sen, who has cornered opponents throughout his three-decade rule, in the run-up to elections.

Cambodians are due to go to the polls in just under a year, in a poll many expect to be a close-run affair.

Apart from the Cambodia Daily, which is owned by an American, the US-funded Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have also been legally targeted. AFP

BAGHDAD―Pentagon chief Jim Mattis was in Baghdad Tuesday to show US support for Iraqi forces as they pressed an assault on Tal Afar, the Islamic State group’s last major bastion in the country’s north.

Mattis flew in for talks with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other top officials, as well as Massud Barzani, president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, saying he wants to help keep the regime focused on eradicating IS jihadists.

“Right now our focus is on defeating ISIS inside Iraq, restoring Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mattis told journalists ahead of his trip to Baghdad, using an alternative acronym for IS. Iraqi troops, supported by the forces of a US-led international coalition, routed IS in Mosul in July after a grueling nine-month fight for Iraq’s second city.

On Sunday they launched an assault on Tal Afar, once a key IS supply hub between Mosul―around 70 kilometers to the east―and the Syrian border.

In the desert plains around Tal Afar, convoys of tanks and armored vehicles could be seen heading Monday for the jihadist-held city, raising huge clouds of dust.

Mattis would not make any predictions on the fight.

“ISIS’s days are certainly numbered, but it’s not over yet and it’s not going to be over anytime soon,” said the US defense secretary.

Iraqi forces “fought like the dickens in Mosul, [it] cost them over 6,000 wounded, somewhere over 1,200 killed,” he noted.

Yet that comeback restored the confidence of the Iraqi security forces after their shock loss of Mosul to Islamic State group in 2014.

Mattis stressed that retaking Mosul would not have happened “without... Abadi’s steady hand reconstituting that army, that was so shattered in 2014, an army he inherited.”

But the comeback also leaned crucially on extensive training, planning and firepower support from the US military. AFP

1598 M.H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets Malate, Manila Tel. Nos. 522-0000, 551-2200 connecting all departments

INVITATION TO BID The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites consultants/ suppliers/manufacturers/distributors/contractors to bid for the hereunder projects: Items ITB - GS-20170704-01(2) One (1) Lot Supply, Delivery and Installation of Systems Furniture at the following LANDBANK Offices: 1. Bacolod Office Building 2. Dasmariñas Office Building 3. Capiz Lending Center 4. San Pedro (Davao) Branch

IDOLS. An Indian vendor waits for customer as she sells idols of the Hindu deity Ganesh in Amritsar on August 23, 2017.

Hindus bring home Ganesha idols in order to invoke his blessings for wisdom and prosperity at the start of the 10-day-long Ganesh Chaturthy festival (birth anniversary of Ganesh). AFP

Suicide bomber kills 5 in Afghanistan KANDAHAR―A Taliban suicide bomber killed five people and wounded dozens of others, mainly children, when he detonated a car filled with explosives at a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan Wednesday.

It was the insurgents’ first major attack since US President Donald Trump announced in Washington late Monday that he was committing American troops to the war-torn country indefinitely.

“A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-filled car in a parking lot near the main police headquarters in Lashkar Gah,” Omar Zhwak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, told AFP.

“Our initial information shows that five civilians were killed and 25 were wounded, including women and children,” he added.

The car park was full of people queueing to get into the police headquarters when the explosion happened, said Zhwak.

He added that a nearby mosque, which was being used as a madrassa or Islamic religious school, had been been damaged. Children were studying there at the time.

Hospital staff gave a higher figure for wounded.

“We have received 38 wounded― mostly schoolchildren―and five dead, including two women and two soldiers,”

Mauladad Tabihdad, director of hospitals in Helmand, told AFP. Photos posted on Twitter by Afghan media outlets showed damaged Afghan military Humvee vehicles, including one apparently thrown into a drain by the force of the explosion.

“The car bomb targeted a number of army vehicles parked in the parking lot.

We have reports of some casualties to army soldiers,” Salam Afghan, a police spokesman, told AFP. The attack occurred a little over 24 hours after Trump cleared the way for thousands more US soldiers to be sent to Afghanistan, reversing earlier pledges to pull out. AFP

Approved Budget Bidding for the Contract Documents Fee (ABC)

Delivery Period

Within sixty (60) calendar days after receipt of Notice to Proceed (NTP)

P 16,750,000.00

P

8,400.00

ITB - GS-20170807-02 Three (3) Years Messengerial/Courier Services

P124,200,000.00

P

50,000.00

To be discussed during the Pre-Bid Conference

ITB - GS-20170814-01 Network and Performance Monitoring Solution Expansion

P 23,994,000.00

P

12,000.00

Delivery Period: Within sixty (60) calendar days after receipt of NTP Installation Period: Seven (7) calendar days after delivery

Prospective bidders should have experience in undertaking a similar project within the last five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, with an amount of not less than 50% of the ABC. The Eligibility Check/Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids shall use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria. Post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid shall be conducted.

All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs).

The schedule of activities are as follows: ACTIVITIES 1. Issuance of Bid Documents 2. Pre-Bid Conference

3. Submission / Opening of Bids 4. Post-Qualification 5. Notice of Award

SCHEDULE August 24 to September 14, 2017 August 31, 2017 - 2:00 PM Bidding Room, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila September 14, 2017 - 11:00 A.M. Procurement Department, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila September 15 to 21, 2017 September 26, 2017

Bid documents will be available to prospective bidders upon payment of the applicable Bidding Documents fee to the LANDBANK Cashier.

LANDBANK reserves the right to (a) reject any and all bids at any time prior to the award of the contract; (b) waive any minor formal requirements in the bid documents; (c) accept such bids, it may consider advantageous and beneficial without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

Terror cell targeted monuments

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

World OPERA. Haute-contre singer Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, right, who plays Don Quichotte, is seen next to Soprano singer Chantal Santon-Jeffery, left, who plays Altisidore

and baritone singer Marc Labonnette, center, who plays the characture Sancho Panzaper as they perform during the comic opera-ballet Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse (Don Quixote at the Duchess) for the opening concert of the 39th Baroque festival of Sable-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France. AFP

Migrants struggle in hostile Bulgaria ELIN PELIN, Bulgaria―Syrian refugee Fahim Jaber hoped for a better life in Europe. But like hundreds of others, he is stuck in Bulgaria, the EU’s poorest country―safe, but unwelcome and with few prospects.

The average salary here is 510 euros ($602), a third of the European Union average and a fraction of that of rich countries. State help to integrate the newcomers is virtually absent.

Arriving from what remained of Aleppo in 2016, Jaber and his family found themselves in Elin Pelin outside Sofia facing a hostile demonstration by locals in the town’s main square.

“They shouted ‘We resisted the Ottomans and we will not accept you,’ ‘We will Christianize you’,” recounted the 57-year-old.

The local mayor, a member of one of the ultra-nationalist, openly xenophobic parties within Bulgaria’s governing coalition, refused to give the family a residence permit.

“We came back to the house, locked the door and didn’t dare to go out for two months,” Fahim’s wife Fatima Batayi said, recalling how frightened she had been.

Luckily their son Mehmed― who has a job in Bulgaria―took care of them, buying food and other necessities while a longestablished Syrian immigrant helped them get registered.

Since 2013, almost 60,000 migrants have applied for asylum in Bulgaria, having taken the land route out of Syria into Turkey and then over the border into Bulgaria.

Most have then continued their journey westwards to Germany, France or Sweden, but a few hundred remain in Bulgaria -- largely because they have no choice.

While the Jaber family’s experience was extreme, generally the welcome has been far from warm.

This is due to what analyst Yavor Siderov calls an “antirefugee consensus” in Bulgarian society, incited largely through the media and shared across the political spectrum.

“It creates fears and makes people feel scared about a shift in the population given the demographic collapse in this country,” Siderov told AFP. AFP

MADRID―A suspected member of the terror cell that unleashed carnage in Spain last week admitted to a judge on Tuesday that the jihadists had planned to hit monuments in an even bigger attack.

Mohamed Houli Chemlal, 21, said he knew of the plans two months ago, as he, and three other suspects, appeared in court for the first time since twin attacks killed 15 people and wounded more than 100.

The four are the only surviving suspects from what was believed to be a 12-man terror cell that rammed a van into pedestrians on a touristpacked boulevard in Barcelona on Thursday.

Hours later, members of the group committed a similar attack in Cambrils further south.

After a full day hearing before the judge, Chemlal and another suspect, Driss Oukabir, 27, were remanded in custody and charged with terror related offenses.

But the third man who owns the car used in the Cambrils attack, Mohamed Aallaa, was granted conditional release, with the judge saying the evidence against him was weak.

The judge gave himself three more days to decide if the fourth suspect, Salh El Karib―who manages a store that allows people to make calls abroad―should be remanded or released from custody. Searches of his business were ordered late Tuesday.

The judge did not follow the request of the prosecutor, who said all four should be charged with terror related offenses and detained.

Chemlal, a Spaniard, told the judge the cell was planning “an attack on an even greater scale, targeting monuments” using bombs, a judicial source told AFP. He had known of the plans for an attack “at least two months ago”, he added.

Chemlal, dressed in hospital pajamas and with his right hand bandaged, was brought in after a doctor said he was fit for interrogation, a court spokesman told AFP. He was injured in an accidental explosion at the group’s makeshift bomb factory on Wednesday evening. One of those killed in the blast was an imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, who is thought to have radicalised him and other young suspects. AFP

US slaps sanctions on 16 over North Korea support W

ASHINGTON―The United States on Tuesday slapped sanctions on 16 Chinese and Russian individuals and companies, accusing them of supporting North Korea’s nuclear program and attempting to evade US sanctions.

The sanctions are part of a broader US effort to disrupt the flow of cash financing North Korean weapon’s programs and target companies that have dealt in natural resources such as coal and minerals or engaged in financial transactions for North Korean interests.

“It is unacceptable for individuals and companies in China, Russia, and elsewhere to enable North Korea to generate income used to develop weapons of mass destruction and destabilize the region,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The move follows a war of words between Washington and Pyongyang over recent missile tests that show North Korea is capable of reaching the US mainland.

President Donald Trump earlier this month said he would respond to North Korea’s nuclear threat with “fire and fury.”

Also this month, Russia and China both voted to toughen UN sanctions on North Korea.

Trump has urged Beijing, North Korea’s only major ally, to bring greater pressure to bear in reigning in the reclusive state’s nuclear efforts, suggesting that the United States may offer concessions on trade in return.

The sanctions unveiled Tuesday effectively block those targeted from accessing much of the global financial system and freeze any US assets as well.

Among those hit by the sanctions was Russian national Ruben Kirakosyan and his Moscow-based company Gefest-M LLC, which the Treasury Department accuses of procuring metals for a sanctions-barred company involved in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program known as Korean Tangun Trading Corp.

Also targeted is China’s Dandong Rich Earth Trading Co. Ltd., which the United States says has acted on behalf of North Korea’s General Bureau of Atomic Energy―responsible for the North’s nuclear program―and has facilitated prohibited North Korean exports of vanadium ore.

A third company, Mingzheng International Trading Limited, which maintains offices in Hong Kong and mainland China, was in fact a front for Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank, the Treasury Department said.

The Treasury Department said three Chinese companies―Dandong Zhicheng Metallic Materials Co. Ltd., JinHou International Holding Co. Ltd., and Dandong Tianfu Trade Co. Ltdhad collectively imported nearly a half billion dollars’ worth of North Korean coal between 2013 and 2016.

The department also sanctioned Dandong Zhicheng’s director Chi Yupeng, a Chinese national accused of moving cash for North Korean interests. AFP

CAMPAIGN. Delilah Hamlin celebrates Botkier New York’s Fall Campaign in West Hollywood. AFP

Fleet commander to be sacked after collisions WASHINGTON―The commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet will be relieved of duty after a deadly collision between a destroyer and a tanker off Singapore, the latest in a series of accidents, a defense official said Tuesday.

The decision to remove Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin from the post in Japan comes as the Navy undertakes a fleet-wide global investigation after Monday’s incident involving the USS John S. McCain, which left

10 sailors missing and five injured.

The Seventh Fleet, which comprise ships, submarines and aircraft, is the centerpiece of the US military presence in Asia, undertaking sensitive missions such as operations in the South China Sea and around the Korean peninsula.

Admiral Aucoin has been commander of the fleet since September 2015 and has been in the navy since 1980.

Monday’s accident was the second fatal

collision in two months―after the USS Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship off Japan in June, leaving seven sailors dead -- and the fourth accident in the Pacific this year involving an American warship.

The incidents have sparked concern that the US Navy could be overstretched in East Asia as it tackles China’s rising assertiveness and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The latest accident happened before dawn

in busy shipping lanes around the Strait of Singapore, leaving a gaping hole in the hull of the warship and flooding it with water.

A massive search involving planes and aircraft was launched and US Navy divers joined the hunt Tuesday, scouring the ship’s flooded compartments.

The divers had found remains of some of the sailors, Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said Tuesday without giving further details. AFP

Life HEALTH & WELLNESS

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

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39 YEARS

of producing LEARNING FROM THE BEST. Ambia Mari Abolucion wants her daughter Izellah to experience the kind of sports training she had at BEST Center.

F

OR 39 years now, BEST (Basketball Efficiency & Scientific Training) has been training generations of aspiring young athletes. This multi-awarded sports clinic has produced some of the biggest names in basketball, including Chris Tiu, JV Casio, Larry Fonacier, LA Tenorio, Kobe Paras, Kiefer Ravena, Mark and Mike Nieto, to name a few.

BEST Center’s passion and dedication in helping kids learn the fundamentals of basketball and improve sports development in the country is evident in its continuous efforts to improve its training program. This may be the reason why, despite the growing number of sports clinics in the country, parents still trust BEST Center in developing their kids’ athletic skills.

Take for instance Ambia Mari Abolucion, who belonged to the first batch of students in BEST Center summer clinics in Pampanga during the early ‘90s.

She shared, “I was able to experience the kind of training that BEST Center

provides and this is why I enrolled my five-year old daughter, Izellah, in the clinic. This will serve as her foundation in the sport and I want it to be the best.”

Another BEST Center graduate, Kristine Siapoc, who is now an aspiring soldier, agrees. “BEST Center helped me in improving my basketball skills, and paved the way for a scholarship in La Salle, and this has allowed me to play in major collegiate basketball leagues like the UAAP.” Kristine serves as an inspiration to her nine-year-old sister, Kharel, who is also training with BEST Center to realize her dreams of becoming a professional basketball player someday.

THE BEST

Other parents enroll their kids in BEST Center not only for the skills training, but also for the values that they teach their young participants.

Edwin Yap, also a BEST Center graduate, enrolled his sons Aidan, 7, and Aiken, 5, in the clinic. “BEST Center really is the best, not only in teaching the fundamentals of sports, but also in implementing discipline, camaraderie, and sportsmanship.”

Founded in 1978 by former national coach, Nic Jorge, BEST Center takes pride in using the latest technology and most advanced training methods.

It is nationally renowned for its great contribution to sports development in the Philippines, and has been cited by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) and the Olympism Award from the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) as a hall of famer.

For more information about BEST Center and its clinics, call 411-6260 3723066 or visit www.facebook.com/ pages/BEST-Center-Sports-Inc/.

BEST Center graduates owe a lot of their sports skills and some of their life experiences to the training clinic, reason why they’re also enrolling their children and younger siblings to the institution.

Wellness CAMPUS reaches 6.95 million students

City Blends offers an interactive way of expressing gratitude through its 12oz. cup design

‘A Cup of Thankful’

campaign supports local coffee farmers COFFEE lovers will now have more reasons to drink 7-Eleven City Blends coffee as it launched “A Cup of Thankful.” A portion of the sale of a 12 oz.

City Blends cup is given to Filipino coffee farmers to revitalize the coffee industry in the country.

The campaign invites everyone to experience a new way to drink City Blends coffee with a special interactive 12oz. coffee cup design. Customers can simply write what they are thankful for on the cup.

Through these difficult times, City Blends encourages everyone to take a moment to be grateful for the good things in life, especially for the farmers that make their coffee a daily dose of positivity.

Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC), 7-Eleven local licensee, revealed the need to bring one of the top coffee exporters in the world. Over the years, the industry experienced a decline, causing the country to import coffee instead.

Every year, Filipinos consume 65,000 metric tons of coffee, but only 30,000 metric tons are sourced locally – and demand is still projected to rise.

Currently, only 200,000 Filipinos are in the local coffee industry, where problems like low buying price, outdated production practices, unproductive coffee trees, diversification into other

crops, and a lack of post-harvest production and processing facilities continue to hinder profitability.

All these pressing concerns urged PSC to take action and help local farmers through 7-Eleven City Blends. For every 12 oz. cup, P0.50 will be donated to the local farmers through PSC’s partnership with the Foundation for Sustainable Coffee Excellence (FSCE).

Cultivating coffee beans is becoming increasingly difficult because of several problems that farmers face according to Cristy Salbino Carame, a local coffee grower. The changing climate brings unpredictable weather, prolonged dry periods, and, sometimes, intense downpours, all detrimental to the growth of coffee.

Apart from this, the farmers also lack machineries that hasten production and are facing difficulties in getting water for their farms. With this campaign, PSC and FSCE aim to address some of these problems, and the farmers hping for the growth of local coffee.

“This campaign is a channel of God’s Blessing to us, farmers because we will be able to live as healthy, safe and productive people. We are grateful for FSCE for providing educational assistance and livelihood programs. We cannot do this alone and we need all the Turn to D2

A CONTINUING joint initiative by Nestlé Philippines and the Depart Department of Education (DepEd) to pro promote a lifestyle of wellness among young people reached 6.95 million grade school and high school students in the NCR, CALABARZON, Bicol and Central Visayas regions in 2016 in its fourth year of implementation.

Dubbed Wellness CAMPUS, the program serves to educate pub public school students on how to live a healthy life, by choosing healthier food and drink options and physical activity. Last year the program was extended to grade school students to inculcate wellness habits at a younger age. Furthermore, the program empha emphasized nutrition education and encour encouraged schools to start other initiatives beyond the Wellness CAMPUS curriculum to promote healthy habits among students all year round.

Wellness CAMPUS modules taught in schools include managing portions; choosing nutritious and varied options, and moving more

Highlights of the program were the to a catchy beat, both of which scored Wellness dance and the Wellness song high among participating students. titled “Health goal mo ay wellness,” set The 2016 program covered 10,821 schools in the four regions, representing 47 percent of public grade school students and 49 percent of public high school students in the country.

Wellness CAMPUS modules taught in schools included managing portions; choosing nutritious and varied options (Pinggang Pinoy, Go, Grow and Glow foods); and moving more, sitting less.

Pinggang Pinoy is a concept from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, which is an easy-to-understand food guide that illustrates the right food portions per meal to meet the energy and nutrient needs of Filipinos. Go, Grow and Glow foods are carbohydrates, proteins, and vegetables and fruits, respectively.

A component of Wellness CAMPUS was the best region of the year contest, with Bicol winning first place with a score of 95.8 and a prize of P500,000.00 worth of Wellness CAMPUS benefits.

Best practices of Wellness Campus in 2016 included the setting up of Wellness Learning Hubs inside schools that are accessible to parents; the integration of Wellness CAMPUS modules into school lesson plans; Wellness bulletin boards; the creation of a regional Wellness CAMPUS monitoring team; and the use of the Wellness and Champ Moves dance as a mass activity for DepEd’s major events.

As a program, Wellness CAMPUS is driven by the Nestlé purpose of enhancing quality of life and contributing Public school students are taught how to live a healthy life by choosing healthier food and drink options to a healthier future.

Life

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

Run for charity with celebs

R

ESORTS World Manila (RWM) is up and running again. The integrated resort announced that registration for its annual “Run With Me” charity race on Sept. 10 at McKinley West, Taguig, is now open to the public.

“Run With Me” is a one-of-a-kind race with celebrities leading five teams to the finish line for a good cause.

Proceeds for this year’s run will go to the Children of Resorts World Manila (COR) Foundation, which was created for the benefit of the children of the victims of the unfortunate June 2 incident at RWM. The foundation will also guarantee the scholarship of these children all the way up to collegiate level, and will provide a trust fund until they graduate. They will also be guaranteed employment at any company within the Alliance Global Group after they have gained their college degrees.

Last year, the inaugural “Run With Me” saw 800 runners participate in a 7-km charity fun run in celebration of the integrated resort’s 7th year in operation. RWM employees, partners, and special celebrity guests came together at the McKinley West Park to run and donate a total of P1.3 million

for the benefit of Caritas Manila, the Lola Grande Foundation for Women and Children, The Tzu Chi Foundation, and White Cross Philippines.

Now on its second year, “Run With Me” has three categories—21K, 10K, and 5K—with fees of P1,500, P1,000, and P850, respectively, inclusive of singlet, race bib, and timing chip. Those participating in the 10K and 21K categories will also earn a medal and loot bag, plus a finisher’s shirt for 21K finishers.

Interested runners may register at regonline.activeglobal.com/runwithme2017 and pay via credit card and PayPal, or through prepaid cards available at select-Chris Sports branches until Aug. 29.

Manual registration is also possible through participating Chris Sports outlets.

For more information on Resorts World Manila, visit www.rwmanila. com or call (02) 908-8833.

Organic versus inorganic THE organic market is currently trending towards a rapid growth.

Organic products offer more benefits, far better than what synthetic formulations can provide because it is curated without unnecessary ingredients.

Did you know that even vitamins and supplements could either be organic or inorganic?

What we don’t know is that inorganic supplements are more difficult to absorb and can irritate the gut. In contrast, organic supplements break down more slowly, and easily absorbed by the body, letting you receive all the benefits you need.

One organic food supplement available in the market is Bewell-C Plus with Calcium. It contains Calcium Citrate, Calcium Ascorbate and Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D), that aid in the better absorption of Calcium to the bones.

Bewell-C Plus Calcium is an organic vitamin supplement that is non-acidic.

This means that it can be taken with an empty stomach. Being an organic supplement, it provides the full benefits of Vitamin C and Calcium at a very affordable price.

Aside from the bone building, repairing and maintaining benefits Bewell-C Plus Calcium offers the non-acidic Vitamin C that also helps in treatment of common colds. The Vitamin C in Bewell-C plus Calcium enhances the immune system. It facilitates the absorption of iron, resulting to a strong resistance to infection.

It enhances mood. Vitamin

C also plays a key role in the production of norepinephrine that affects the mood of a person and wound repair, facilitating the growth of connective tissues that speed up the healing process of wounds.

Vitamin C aids in stress and helps the body deal with pressures by reducing elevated-stress hormones.

It balances energy and aids in the production of dopamine in the nervous system that supports the adrenal function for increased metabolic energy.

Vitamin C is required in the production of molecules needed for collagen. It improves skin texture and increases the formation of elastin which thickens, protects and heals skin cells. It also improves hair growth. Having enough supply of Vitamin C in the body gives protection against free radicals that affect in hair growth.

Get all these benefits and the power of calcium, organically produced with Bewell- C Plus Calcium available at Mercury Drugstores and other leading drugstores nationwide, for only P10 per capsule SRP. For more information about BewellC Plus Calcium, visit www.facebook. com/bewellcpluscalcium/

Bewell-C Plus Calcium is an organic and non-acidic vitamin supplement

‘A Cup of...

From D1

help we can get,” Carame added.

The foundation organized last year

by Henry & Sons, an established coffee company, to give aid to the coffee farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet and lead them to a flourishing business in the coffee industry.

“The foundation could really use the help of sponsors like 7-Eleven because the farmers will be able to receive post-harvest facilities to help them speed up production. They just need the right encouragement to lead them towards the revival of our local coffee farming,” Michael Harris Lim, Henry & Sons president and FSCE director, said.

“We aim to make a difference in the lives of our farmers and the communities they live in. We are very eager to work with our stakeholders so we can elevate the coffee industry and the lives of the Filipino farmers,” Jose Victor Paterno, president and CEO of PSC, said.

Resorts World Manila’s ‘Run With Me’ charity race lets participants run with celebrities and help the children beneficiaries of Resorts World Manila Foundation

GAOC on expansion mode GAN Advanced Osseointegration Center (GAOC), one of the best dental clinics in the Southeast Asia, is on an expansionary mode with opening of two new clinics: at the exclusive S Maison in Conrad Manila, and at the SM Seaside in Cebu, their first foray outside of Metro Manila.

To date, GAOC has seven state-of-the-art clinics all in strategic locations, each one driven by the desire to provide quality dentistry for every Filipino.

Even as the GAOC Group continues to grow, they ensure that a philosophy of excellence is carried through in every new branch they open. For one, only a caring team of leading professional dental practitioners—all of whom undergo regular training here and abroad—are employed in all their locations.

This is then supplemented by the most advanced dental technology and facilities available today.

Finally, the mark of every GAOC clinic—what makes them stand out from the rest—is its sleek, pristine, and modern interiors that make every visit truly a pleasant and relaxing experience.

This phenomenal growth of GAOC and its worldclass dental care can be attributed to its founder, president and CEO, the visionary Dr. Steve Mark Gan, who has as of late forged partnerships with top clinics in Singapore, Taiwan, and Italy. Plus, having a renowned, 16-year dental practice under his belt, Dr. Gan continues to strive for innovation and distinction, and is very much a trailblazer in the field, with the ultimate goal of bringing the local dental practice—in particular dental implant surgery—to global standards.

No doubt, as GAOC forges ahead, it lives up to its credo of “More than a smile, it’s a statement,” proof of which are his numerous satisfied clients, many of whom are the country’s top stars and celebs. But you, too, can avail of GAOC brand of dentistry by scheduling an appointment and visiting a branch near you.

To know more, visit www.gaocdental.com or follow GOAC on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gaocdental, Twitter at www.twitter.com/gaocdental, and InsDr. Steve Mark Gan opens two more GAOC clinics in the Philippines tagram at www.instagram.com/gaocdental.

Metro Retail Stores Group supports GreenEarth Heritage Foundation GreenEarth Heritage Foundation founder and executive director Mylene Matti, M.D. and MRSGI’s vice president for Corporate Affairs Anna Marie Periquet toast to their partnership

METRO Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) recently solidified its partnership with GreenEarth Heritage Foundation, enabling the nongovernment organization to distribute its products in Metro stores across the country.

Adhering to sound and sustainable agricultural practices, GreenEarth organically grows vegetables and herbs in its Bulacan farm. GreenEarth’s flagship product Moringa Tea and Powder, which is USDA, Eco Certified-Organic, and Fair Trade Certified, will be soon available in all Metro Supermarkets. Proceeds of sold GreenEarth products will be for the benefit of indigent farmers.

“Our partnership with GreenEarth Foundation is a great opportunity to provide quality products to our consumers as well as help GreenEarth’s main beneficiaries. We support the advocacies of GreenEarth and we welcome them as one of our CSR partners,” said Anna Marie Periquet, MRSGI’s vice president for Corporate Affairs.

Known to cater to every customer’s diverse needs, MRSGI offers a wide assortment of fresh and quality products. The collaboration with GreenEarth enables shared growth between the two organizations.

“With MRSGI’s support, we are confident that we’ll be able to reach out to a large number of consumers, particularly those who are looking for ways to be healthy, to try our organic products,” said Mylene Matti, M.D., GreenEarth Heritage Foundation founder and executive director.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

Apo’s

All-new Push Awards honors brightest Kapamilya digital stars

DANNY JAVIER

almost died

By Robbie Pangilinan

A

PO Hiking Society’s Danny Javier almost died in 2011 when he was attacked by multiple illnesses—pneumonia, kidney failure, liver collapse, hepatitis A, emphysema, congestive heart failure, and sepsis. He was given a 10 percent chance of survival within 24 hours.

“But I’m alive!” exclaims the singer-composer who plays golf three times a week.

On June 11, 2011, Danny had pneumonia for the nth time. He knew the symptoms, he had pain and he could not breathe, so he checked himself in a hospital. He needed to curl and assume the fetal position just to be able to breathe. He was not able to sleep the whole night.

“The doctor said, the bad news is you have a 10 percent chance of survival. The good news is you still have 24 hours to live so we’ll do something maybe put you in the ICU. But I said, if I’m going then let me go this way. They allowed me to check out on July 22,” shares Danny.

Then he recovered. It took a

year and a half, but he lived.

“The next problem was maintaining my health. I still wanted to do things; I wasn’t looking for any big thing, nothing like the magnitude of Apo. I just wanted a simple life, a better quality of life,” recalls Danny.

He then met Andy Lugtu, who formulated Malungai LifeOil®, the only oil capsule in the world that has successfully extracted the nutrients from the Moringa plant’s leaves and seeds. Each capsule contains .5ml of Moringa Oleifera leaves and seeds oil extract. Andy explained to Danny the 13 essential vitamins and 16 minerals from the wonder plant malunggay.

“LifeOil is the perfect supplement for anybody who strives to live a healthier lifestyle,

Musician Danny Javier shares how he coped up with fatal sickness that almost took his life

as it embraces and heightens the innate natural capabilities of people. Life Oil supplies the immune system with the necessary cellular nutrition that it needs to combat illnesses,” explains Andy.

Danny took LifeOil every day first thing in the morning and last thing before he slept. He swears he has never fallen ill since then.

“I play golf three times a week, of course, I’m on a healthy diet but

aside from that I do not take any other vitamins besides LifeOil,” says Danny.

“Many Filipinos know about this and I like to share this with other people because it’s such a good news for me as I have personally tried it and can attest to its effectiveness,” adds Danny.

Get your health boost at all leading drugstores nationwide and worldwide.

Cinemalaya 2018 finalists named THE Cultural Center of the Philippines, in partnership with the Cinemalaya Foundation, announced the 10 finalists for the full-length category for Cinemalaya 2018 on Aug. 3 to 12, 2018.

The announcement was made following the closing and awarding ceremonies of this year’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival held on Aug. 13 at the CCP’s Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater).

The finalists for the next year’s full length feature competition are: Ang Mga Bisita ni Mamang by Denise O’Hara delves into the story of Mamang, an old woman who hangs on her memory to be with her unmarried middle-aged son.

Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago by Martika Escobar is a fantasy film about Leonor Reyes, the only female writer of Filipino action movies, who falls into an irreversible coma after an accident and is transported to a 1980s classic Filipino action flick playing on a television at the hospital lobby.

In Babae At Baril by Rae Red, a girl’s life changes drastically when she finds a gun lying on the street and discovers the power that comes with owning one. She eventually learns the reality when she actually uses the found gun.

Kung Paano Hinihintay Ang Dapithapon by Carlo Enciso Catu follows Teresa, a lady at the twilight of her life. Currently living with her longtime partner Celso, she receives a call from her estranged husband Benedicto who is seeking forgiveness from her and their son Chito.

In Kuya Wes by James Robin Mayo, a man called Kuya Wes working in a money transfer company finds himself “in a relationship” with a regular client, a married woman who suffers from marital woes.

Liway by Kip Oebanda is about a notorious NPA rebel in Negros whose beauty is legendary and her tactics, unparalleled. The film is based on the real story of the director’s mother.

In ML by Benedict Mique Jr., Carlo meets Colonel, an old resident in their village who was

"Babae at Baril" is a film by Rae Red

"Kuya Wes" by James Robin Mayo

a former soldier during the Marcos regime.

After learning how the Colonel cruelly tortured student activists, Carlo’s life changes when he experienced all the Martial Law cruelties one night.

Pan De Salawal by Che Espiritu tells about Sal, a lonely panadero with kidney stones who wants nothing but to die. Sharing his sick, grey life along the riles are his neighbors - a barber with severe pasma, a former beauty queen with emphysema, a Cariñosa dancer paralyzed by stroke, and a macho meat vendor with tumor in his breast – who are all battling for dear life, hoping a miracle comes along the riles.

Pilot by Dexter Hemedez and Allan Ibañez deals with the challenging, painful, rewarding yet unrewarding world of soap opera writing.

In Pinay Beauty by Jay Abello, Migs needs to settle a huge debt to a loan shark. When Migs explains that he doesn’t have the money yet, the loan shark proposes that he could settle the bill if Migs could find Lovi Poe and introduce him to the actress. How does a regular guy who knows no one in show business meet a celebrity?

The finalists will each receive a P750,000 production grant from the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Cinemalaya Foundation.

Cinemalaya is a project of the Cinemalaya Foundation, the Cultural Center of the Philippines in partnership with Ayala Malls Cinemas. Established in 2005, Cinemalaya is an all-digital film festival and competition that aims to discover, encourage and honor cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers.

Considered the country’s biggest indie film festival, it has supported and promoted the production of 136 full feature independent films and 118 short films. Many of these films have won awards in local and international competitions and festivals. Through the annual festival, Cinemalaya has showcased over 1,000 works by independent filmmakers including full feature films, shorts, documentaries, Filipino film classics, and art films.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Thursday, August 24, 2017

ACROSS 1 Lake Nasser dam 6 Rounded lump 10 Verdi opus 14 Spanish girl 15 Tiny speck 16 Tailor’s need 17 A schooner has two 18 Most easily broken 20 Use sparingly 21 Winter vehicles 23 Ms. Zellweger 24 Soap operas 26 Buenos — 27 2013 McConaughey movie 28 River horse, for short 30 Ocean liner 33 “P” or “Q” 37 Large cask 38 Gave the willies 40 Traipse 41 Precedence 43 Large tanks 44 Bearings 45 Princess Di’s niece 47 Like a snake 49 Most boring 53 Tug’s tow 54 Habituate 56 Masseuse

employer 57 Good policy for trouble 59 Pigeons’ homes 61 Broadcast 62 Keg-party site 63 Be generous 64 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. — 65 Hot drinks 66 Brief apology DOWN 1 Crowning points 2 Seal a deal 3 More prudent 4 Behave 5 Bahamas resort 6 Taunts 7 Parliament member 8 Singer — Redding 9 Dracula, at times 10 Airplane part 11 Papas or Cara 12 Rx amounts 13 Kitty starter 19 Camera stand 22 DA’s degree 25 Scamp 26 Church alcove 28 Derisive shouts 29 Black as night 30 Ave. crossers 31 Tint

32 Hotel 33 Invent a word 34 Ottoman official 35 — “King” Cole 36 Gridiron stats 38 Made dirty 39 Fly, to a spider 42 Daydream 43 — Kilmer of films 45 Prickly seedcase 46 Votes in 47 Gilbert and Sullivan theater 48 Mob

49 Tunes for two 50 Fragrant compound 51 Asparagus bit 52 Scrumptious 53 Clobber 54 About, in memos (2 wds.)

55 Campus sports org.

58 Rearward 60 Spanish gold

ABS-CBN’s entertainment website PUSH.com.ph is once again hailing the country’s top digital media influencers as it opens the third year of PUSH Awards with a new set of categories dedicated to Kapamilya stars.

The all-new categories in the highly anticipated digital media a w a r d s include the PUSH Personality and PUSH G o a l s , w h o s e winners will be purely determined by the number of fan votes, while PUSH Performance will be decided by the number of fan votes and judges’ scores.

PUSH Awards voting to fans is now open on PushAwards.com.

The most liked, most followed, most talked about, and most watched personalities on digital media are given recognition in the PUSH Personality categories composed of Male Celebrity, Female Celebrity, Group/Tandem, Newcomer, Music Personality, Sports Personality, Radio Personality, and Online Personality.

Stellar performances that have created a huge impact on netizens and have won the hearts of digital media fans are recognized in PUSH Performance in the Male TV Performance of the Year, Female TV Performance of the Year, Male Movie Performance of the Year, Female Movie Performance of the

Year, Celebrity Host of the Year, Song Cover of the Year, and Dance Cover of the Year categories.

PUSH Goals categories, meanwhile, honor celebrities that gave fans a glimpse into their inspirational and aspirational lifestyles through their social media feeds – Celebrity Traveler of the Year Award #TravelGoals, Celebrity Foodie of the Year #FoodGoals, Celebrity Fitspiration of the Year #FitnessGoals, Celebrity Fashionista of the Year #OOTDGoals, and Celebrity Family of the Year #FamilyGoals, and Celebrity Baby of the Year #BabyGoals.

Returning to recognize the top fan club that will actively show their trending support and overwhelming online love for their favorite stars is the PUSH Ultimate Fan Award, which will be awarded to the fan club that will generate the most number of tweets using their designated hashtag.

This year’s PUSH Awards also gets bigger as its awarding ceremony invades “ASAP Chillout,” the most star-studded online show viewed by fans all around the globe where the hottest Kapamilya artists will present the nominees and winners.

Vote for your favorites on PUSHAwards.com and get your daily dose of entertainment news, information, and trivia by logging in to PUSH.com.ph.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017

NEW STARS. The IdealFirst Company key talents (from left) Adrianna So, Cedric Juan, and Christian Bables Prime Cruz

Miko Livelo

A CREATIVE NEW ERA

in Philippine entertainment

I

T’S a brave new world for Philippine entertainment.

With independent films becoming mainstream blockbusters and digital shows becoming talk-of-thetown hit programs, audiences are now clamoring for fresh and innovative content.

A Philippine company that’s poised to meet this challenge is The IdeaFirst Company of award-winning writerdirector Jun Robles Lana and awardwinning producer-director Perci Intalan.

“Artists are now the stars of Philippine showbiz,” says Intalan. “People are now buying tickets if they see that a film has a good story made by good storytellers performed by a good cast of actors and actresses. This is the new winning formula: good story + good cast. That’s why when we formed The IdeaFirst Company the vision was to put artistry at the core of our business.”

Lana recalls how the company started.

“We knew we

needed fresh talent—both onscreen and off-screen. Coincidentally, at that time I gave a free screenwriting workshop called the Cine Panulat Screenwriting Lab. From this, we invited some writers to join in our productions – first as brainstormers, then as writers, then some apprenticed as assistant directors and later became directors themselves. Soon they were creating and even producing their own films and they get invited to local and international festivals.”

“Audiences are looking for something new,” Intalan adds. “Even in Hollywood, you can see that fresh talent is key. There are big productions that are being helmed by relatively new directors top-billed by relatively new actors. As Jun was looking for promising creative artists, we were also watching out for exciting new performing artists. And finally, both off and onscreen, we found the group that can best represent not just our company but this new era of Philippine entertainment.”

Indeed, The IdeaFirst Company has put together an impressive roster.

Among its creative artists is Prime Cruz (Best Director at the QCinema International Film Festival for his film Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B) Miko Livelo (writer-director of acclaimed comedies

Tanods, Blue Bustamante, and I Love You To Death), Ivan Andrew Payawal (writerdirector of I America, which competed at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival), Dominic Lim (writer-director whose debut feature The Write Moment was selected for the 2017 QCinema International Film Festival) and Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo (writer-director of the award-winning Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita and the highest-grossing Filipino independent film Kita Kita).

In the roster of performing artists of The IdeaFirst Company is Christian Bables, the breakout star of the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival who now has Urian and MMFF Best Supporting Actor awards to his name and is one of the busiest young actors in town—filming four movies and landing lead roles in both MMK and Magpakailanman.

Another proud addition to the IdeaFirst roster is MMFF Best Supporting Actor nominee, film and theater actor Cedrick Juan, who previously appeared in films TV shows like On The Wings of Love and plays one of the leads in the 2017 QCinema entry, The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931.

And completing the select group is young actress Adrianna So (formerly

KIANA

VALENCIANO at Shang’s East Wing Showbiz scion Kiana Valenciano

THIS month at Shangri-La Plaza, Art & Home take the spotlight.

Discover new music, experience a different kind of film genre, check out visual art from young up and coming artists, and get inspired by celebrity living spaces as Shang holds exciting events all throughout August.

Kiana Valenciano took center stage at the East Wing on Aug. 19. The young, rising singer who comes from a family of musicians is making a name for herself with her original R&Belectro-pop-influenced music.

Shang continues to celebrate young artists as it hosted the culmination of Ateneo de Manila University’s Ateneo Art Awards for 2017. Winners of the Fernando Zóbel Prizes for

Visual Art and the Purita KalawLedesma Prizes in Art Criticism were awarded and have their works on display at the East Wing Until Sept. 5.

Then, just before the month ends, Shang opens the 11th International Silent Film Festival in Manila, which runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3. This one-of-akind movie viewing experience features silent films from all over the world scored live by Filipino musicians. Catch the 9 films scored by 9 different local artists at the Shang Cineplex, plus the new, emerging talents to be featured at The Silent Film Exhibition and Musika X Pelikula, both to be held at the Grand Atrium.

Shang also highlighted its

home and living selections with Urban Filipino Spaces: Home Exhibit, at the Grand Atrium recently. Personalities like Karylle Yuzon, Tintin and Julius Babao, Jed Madela, Xandra Ramos Padilla, Jappy Gonzales, Jie Pambid, Stephanie Zubiri, Apple David, Rajo Laurel put their own style and decorated different areas of the house, from the home office to the living room, using items from Bo Concept, Tempur, La-Z Boy, La Sedia, Rustan’s Department Store, and more.

For inquiries, call 370-2597/98 or visit www.facebook.com/ shangrilaplazaofficial. Follow the Shang on Instagram: @ shangrilaplazaofficial.

known as Malak So) who Lana describes as “an exciting and unique performer who has a look, a sense of grace and a certain mystique about her that I haven’t seen in showbiz for a long time.”

With these creative and performing artists, The IdeaFirst Company is able to not only produce innovative content, it can now also act as the management company for these artists when they are engaged in projects with other production outfits, film studios and television networks. “We believe that the key to growth is collaboration,” says Intalan. “Collaboration happens on multiple levels at The IdeaFirst Company. It happens internally among the content creators. It happens between the storytellers and our performers. It happens externally between our team and the teams of other companies that we do projects with like Regal, Viva, Quantum and Star Cinema.”

“It’s an exciting time for all artists working in our industry, because there is an audience that’s now pushing us to do more and to do better,” adds Lana. “So both as producers and as managers, we want everyone in our team to constantly challenge themselves.

And with the roster we have, I am already quite excited for what’s coming. It looks like we are indeed entering a new golden age of Philippine entertainment.”

Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo

Ivan Andrew Payawal

Gerard Salonga performs at special concert in Manila MUSIC director Gerard Salonga and the ABSCBN Philharmonic Orchestra recently held a special concert at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) School of Design and Arts (SDA) Theater.

Salonga and the orchestra performed pieces by classical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Filipino musician Ryan Cayabyab, and contemporary composer John Williams, plus choice arrangements from Benilde students.

The concert was likewise attended by residentchildren from nearby barangays, as part of the Music Production Department’s outreach project.

A joint venture of ABS-CBN and First Philippine Holdings, the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra is

composed of 40 musicians under Salonga’s direction, with the guidance of executive director Mickey Munoz. The orchestra was created to connect and reinstate symphonic music into the lives of the Filipino people and its younger generation.

Salonga is a multi-awarded musical director, conductor, arranger, and multi-platinum record producer. He has collaborated with some of Asia’s finest musical artists including Lea Salonga, Regine Velasquez, Wang Leehom, Elisa Chan, and Cecile Licad.

The SDA Theater is located at the De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts (SDA) Campus, 950 Pablo Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila.

Conductor Gerald Salonga with the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra