Manila Standard - 2017 October 5 - Thursday

17 Maute hostages rescued

Watch for Manila Standard’s Special Report on the Economy October 9, 2017

By Francisco Tuyay

GOVERNMENT forces rescued 17 more civilian captives Wednesday from the battle zone in Marawi City despite heavy resistance from the remnants of the Maute group terrorists who had overrun the city in May. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the rescued captives were made up of nine males and eight females whose ages range from 18 to 75.

“The details of the rescue are confidential because efforts to rescue the remaining hostages are still ongoing,” he said.

Since the Marawi siege began May 23, it has been unclear how many civilians had been taken hostage by the Maute terrorists. In recent accounts before the latest rescue, the military placed the number at 43. Wednesday’s rescue would leave 26 more.

Since the siege began, 753 terrorists, 155 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed. More than 790 firearms have been taken back by the military. Next page

VOL. XXXI • NO. 233 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Reds, Yellows tied to destab SolGen supports conspiracy angle

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“There’s no Left-Yellow conspiracy as Duterte seems to be implying. The movement has always been transparent,” Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes said, adding that the recent Luneta rally demanding an “They want to evict me The leftist Bagon Alyan- end to tyranny and rejectfrom Malacañang, so give sang Makabayan, however, ing a return to dictatorship me time to pack,” he said in said the President was creat- “was no conspiracy.”

Next page Filipino. ing ghosts to scare himself.

Environment chief clears bicam hurdle

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday insisted that there is a concerted effort by the leftists and the opposition Liberal Party—which he referred to as “the Yellows”—to oust him.

Solicitor General Jose Calida

9 senators hit Mocha’s ‘fake news’

THE Commission on Appointments on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu.

His department said on Twitter that the commission’s 15 members did not object to his appointment.

Malacañang welcomed Cimatu’s confirmation.

“We welcome the confirmation of the nomination of Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy A. Cimatu by the Commission on Appointments,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

The Philippine Nickel Next page

By Macon RamosAraneta

NOT FAKE, THIS. The translucent looks despite, whatever exchange PCOO Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has swapped Wednesday after the adjournment of the public hearing on fake news by the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media chaired by Senator Grace Poe, is no mock-up. Cesar Tomambo

Barangay heads, council keep post under new law

By John Paolo Bencito, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections up until the second Monday of May next year.

Despite initial preparations already made by the Commission on Elections, Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 10952 on Monday, Oct. 2, to move the elections to May next year.

Under the law, President Duterte will not be allowed to appoint barangay officials

as he originally wanted.

Incumbents will be allowed to remain in office until their successors are elected next year.

Subsequent synchronized barangay and SK polls will be held on the second Monday of May 2020 and every three years after that.

The law sets aside P6 bil-

lion as a continuing appropriation to be used for the elections.

Duterte said he wanted the elections deferred because drug money could be funding the local politicians’ campaigns, claiming that 40 percent of barangay captains nationwide were involved in illegal drugs.

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SEXY singer-turnedCommunications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson on Wednesday got a dressing down from opposition senators for allegedly propagating “fake news” on her blog, which she insisted were just her opinions as a blogger and not as a journalist.

During the Senate committee on public information and mass media hearing on fake news, Senators Bam Aquino, Antonio Trillanes IV, Nancy Binay, Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros confronted Uson regarding her attacks on the opposition and other alleged misinformation posted on her official Facebook account.

The opposition senators even lectured Uson on her supposed “higher responsibility” considering the high position she occupied in the bureaucracy.

But Uson maintained she was not a journalist but just a blogger who had the Next page

CONFIRMED. Former armed forces chief Roy Cimatu on Wednesday promises to institute reforms and environment protection programs, following his confirmation as chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“This gives me enough inspiration to carry out the seemingly gargantuan tasks of protecting the environment...,” Cimatu has said. Lino Santos

Duterte to file impeachment complaints vs Sereno, Morales

By John Paolo Bencito, Maricel V. Cruz and Rio Araja THE fight is now out in the open.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he himself would be filing impeachment raps against

tody—she is classified as a “person of interest” to investigators—and is free to go wherever she wants, US media reported.

She was in the Philippines when Paddock opened fire with high-power rifles from a 32nd floor hotel room Sunday night at a sea of concertgoers below on the Las Vegas strip.

Authorities are investigating reports that while she Next page

Du30 vows no whitewash in Castillo’s hazing death HAZING victim Horacio Castillo III was murdered by his own fraternity brothers, President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday as he promised there would be no whitewash in the ongoing investigation into his death.

He made his statement even as Aegis Juris Fraternity member John Paul

Solano, one of the primary suspects in the fatal hazing of 22-year-old University of Santo Tomas law student Castillo, on Wednesday asked the Department of Justice to nullify as evidence the judicial affidavit obtained by police investigators from him for allegedly having been falsified.

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twitter.com/ MlaStandard

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Gunman had 47 weapons in 3 locations

FBI: Shooter’s girlfriend now a ‘person of interest’ LAS VEGAS—The girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock arrived back in the United States Tuesday evening and was met by FBI agents eager to hear whatever she might know about the motive behind his slaying of 58 people and wounding of more than 500 in the worst mass shooting in US history.

Although the FBI wants to talk to her, Marilou Danley, 62, is not in cus-

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, blaming the two for allowing themselves to be used as pawns to throw him off the presidency.

Citing “selective justice”

MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL. An unidentified woman lights a candle at a make-do memorial near the Mandalay Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday, after a gunman—police identified him as 64-year-old local resident Stephen Paddock—killed nearly 60 people and wounded more than 500 others before, police have claimed, taking his life after raining down bullets from his hotel room on a country music festival. AFP facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

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manilastandard.net

FORTY-SEVEN firearms from three locations. Piles of ammunition, and devices that converted assault rifles to automatic weapons that fired like machine guns.

How did Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, who shot and killed 58 people from his 32nd story hotel window, amass an arsenal of firearms? In the United States, and particularly in states like Nevada, it’s easy. And totally legal.

Although the country is notorious for its lax gun laws, there are some restrictions on multiple sales of handguns. But if someone wants to build up a cache of rifles the way Paddock did, they could do so without anyone noticing.

Most gun sales are by federally licensed vendors who must put buyers through background checks. The FBI will run Next page

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Duterte leaves for Brunei

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte leaves for Brunei today to attend the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Accession to the Throne of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah.

The President is expected to arrive at Brunei’s capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan, at around 8 p.m., where he will be joining other world leaders invited to witness one of the most important and momentous events in the history of the tiny, oil-rich kingdom.

Duterte is expected to arrive in his hometown, Davao City by Friday following his visit.

This is also the first time that Duterte will be leaving the country since the Marawi siege erupted last May. Duterte first visited Brunei in October last year, where the two leaders underscored the importance of further strengthening defense ties by countering terrorism, violent extremism and piracy in the high seas.

Bolkiah then visited Manila last April, where both leaders vowed to enhance security, economic and cultural ties.

Bolkiah, born in 1946, ascended to the throne as Sultan of Brunei on Oct. 5, 1967.

Duterte...

From A1 and the “use of falsified documents” as grounds for impeachment against Morales, Duterte will let the impeachment raps against her in-law proceed, even if this means presenting his bank records to prove that she had falsified documents.

“We will file an impeachment case against her and I would tend to believe she was part of the conspiracy ... (of) fabricated papers,” Duterte said of Morales.

“At the impeachment court, I will release [the evidence].

Here Conchita, see —.“ In related developments: • The militant Akbayan Citizens Party backed Morales for doing her duty to check President Duterte.

“In a time where people cower in fear to the President’s threats, Ombudsman Morales has shown that she will do her duty without fear or favor,” secretary-general Kit Melgar said.

Several Akbayan members flocked to the Office of the Ombudsman main office in Quezon City and gave Morales a “people’s medal of valor” and “Di Takot kay Digong award” to dramatize their support to her for doing her constitutional duty to probe abuses in government, including allegations of hidden wealth in the President’s bank accounts.

• The House of Representatives’ committee on justice will begin Thursday the impeachment proceedings on the complaint filed against Sereno.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, the committee chairman, said his panel’s agenda during the initial hearing was to determine the sufficiency of grounds to impeach Sereno as filed by lawyer Larry Gadon.

“We will be voting on sufficient grounds for impeachment. We will have to look at the complaint [based on] the reply and the rejoinder,” Umali said.

“If there will still be grounds after we consider all these pleadings we will vote upon it (sic) and then we will move to the next stage which is determination of probable cause.”

FBI:...

From A1 was in the Philippines, Paddock wired her $100,000.

Danley is an Australian citizen who moved to the United States 20 years ago to work on the casino strip, the Australian government confirmed Tuesday.

Immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport said Wednesday that Paddock had visited the Philippines in 2013 and 2014 and stayed for a total of 12 days.

DFA consultant in hot water

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and Macon Ramos-Araneta

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HE propaganda blogger RJ Nieto, a consultant of the Department of Foreign Affairs, may be held liable if found violating the department’s rules, an official said Wednesday.

gether,” Bolivar said.

But Nieto said Foreign Affairs needed him more than he needed it, and that his P12,000 salary was even enough to pay for his taxi.

“But I want to help the government succeed, and I’m not boasting,” Nieto said.

Nieto, an ardent supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, claims to be the head of Strategic Communications under the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs.

Bolivar was made to react on Tuesday after Nieto said the “DFA needs me more than I need them” when the senators asked if he was fit for the job.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano had tapped Nieto as a “consultant” for migrant workers’ affairs, which the Nieto announced in his blog.

He is a blogger of a political propaganda website called Thinking Pinoy, where he announces his dislike for Vice President Leni Robredo.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said Nieto was bound by the Code of Ethics for government employees.

“If Mr. Nieto violates the

rules and regulations of the Department or is proven to have violated the Code of Ethics for government employees, then that is another matter alto-

Reds,...

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the supposed investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman of the President’s alleged unexplained wealth was just one among many black operations against the Chief Executive.

Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang earlier said that they are investigating the bank accounts of Duterte and his family.

The documents used as basis for the investigation allegedly came from the Anti-Money Laundering Council but the agency denied providing them to the Ombudsman and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Carandang then issued a statement saying he was merely reading reports from the media.

Calida said Carandang is being helped by two lawyers—a former official of the Office of the Ombudsman and a lawyer who campaigned for a losing presidential candidate in 2016.

“If there are any subversive organizations helping Caran-

dang, we will also defend the republic against them,” Calida said.

The government, he added, is now investigating the conspiracy to oust Duterte. “We are getting information from various sources on this conspiracy,” he said.

Earlier, Aguirre said the “yellows” are intensifying moves to oust Duterte.

When asked why the opposition badly wants Duterte out of office, Calida said: “The political losers cannot accept the fact that they loss to a mayor from Davao City; and it is a matter of political lust.

They want to regain their political power and they are using many issues like the EJK [extrajudicial killings], death of minors.”

“They are throwing everything at the President,” the state lawyer said.

Calida also lashed out against Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang, who announced an investigation into Duterte’s alleged hid-

den wealth.

“The Office of the Ombudsman is mandated to protect the people, not mislead them.

Carandang, however, willingly allowed himself to be a tool for political harassment.

There is a clear case of grave misconduct on the part of DO Carandang as any publicity issued by the Office of the Ombudsman must be balanced, fair and true,” Calida said in a statement.

Aguirre earlier disclosed that bank accounts of people identified with the opposition are being investigated.

Aguirre declined to provide details of the probe, but admitted that the investigation involved offshore bank accounts of “mostly yellow” personalities in Switzerland, Malaysia and Australia.

“Yellow” is the color associated with the opposition Liberal Party, which President Duterte accused of plotting his ouster from Malacañang.

John Paolo Bencito and Rey E. Requejo

Surigao del Norte and LRay Villafuerte of Camarines Sur said the postponement of the village polls was in line with the President’s desire to curb illegal drugs.

Abu said the postponement of the barangay elections was in support of Duterte’s antidrug campaign.

Barbers, head of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said there was a need to postpone the 2017 village elections to rid barangays of officials linked to illegal drugs.

Villafuerte called on barangay chiefs nationwide to conduct their respective forums against illegal drugs during the scheduled nationwide barangay assemblies on Oct. 8 in support of President Duterte’s goal to maintain law and order and succeed in the war against the drug scourge.

Villafuerte, a staunch supporter of President Duterte’s

war against illegal drugs, said such forums or assemblies will help in seeking the cooperation of the people at the grassroots level in keeping their communities free from narcotics and other illegal substances.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, on the other hand, said he hoped the Palace would keep its word that this would be the last postponement of the barangay elections.

“I am counting on the palabra de honor of Malacañang that this will be the last cancellation,” he said.

He said officials in this land—from the President down to the barangay captain—have the same employment status: they’re contractual employees elected to fixed terms. Having expiry dates on elective posts is one of democ-

racy’s greatest virtues.

“And nothing inspires good performance more than the threat of being terminated from work. This fear of feeling the end of the boot is what keeps us casuals always on our toes,” he said.

He said the effect, however, of the postponement, is that barangay officials who have lost the trust of their constituents, like those who coddle or are in cahoots with drug lords, are gifted with another year in office.

He said people should not be robbed of their right to replace their leaders or renew their trust in them.

He also said this should be the last deferral because there is a fiscal cost in cancelling.

Every time we reset, we pay a postponement fee, in the hundreds of millions, for activities which must be conducted again,” he said.

absolute freedom to post whatever she wanted amid the remarks of PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar that bloggers should also adhere to the Journalism Code of Ethics.

Taking the cudgels for Uson, Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Paz-Banaag noted that Andanar’s policy was not yet in effect.

President Rodrigo Duterte himself said that any law against the proliferation of “fake news” in the country would not prosper, saying placing standards even on “opinion” would kill freedom of expression. “[That’s dangerous], that’s a violation,” the President said, as he spoke with the parents of hazing victim Horacio Castillo III. “I am sure they cannot pass a law about fake news.”

Duterte said that even if a bill reached his table, he would not sign it.

“If you want to pass a law, it should be on increasing the penalty because we already

have laws for libel and slander,” he added.

Earlier, Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10951 giving stiffer penalties on the 87-year-old Revised Penal Code, which includes publishing false news, libel and slander.

While senators belonging to the minority bloc cried foul for being victims of fake news on several occasions, Uson said she also fell prey to fake news.

As Uson bewailed that several mainstream media did not get her side before publishing news articles on her, Aquino retorted, “with the many blogs that you [launched against] us, was there ever a time you asked for our side...?”

“In your case, you never asked our side on your blog.

In fact the other day, you had your blog on the Senate minority. Did you ever ask for our side even once?” asked Aquino.

Uson replied: “With all due respect, your honor, I am not a journalist. I am a blogger. I am not a journalist,” said Uson as she emphasized that her blog

posts were “just her opinions.”

Not satisfied with Uson’s answer, Aquino repeated his questions and demanded a categorical answer.

“You were asking GMA News Online to get your side... with the many blogs about us, was there ever a time you asked for our side?” Aquino asked anew. Uson said she was also a victim of fake news over ABS-CBN. Senator Vicente Sotto III interfered and told Aquino he was the one who questioned GMA News Online if it got the side of Uson on a fake news about her.

As Aquino demanded from Uson to answer him with just “Yes or no” Mocha said she refused to answer that question.

“Because? On the grounds of?” Aquino asked anew.

“I have the right to refuse (to answer the question),” she said.

“I have the right to.. I have the right, ano po? I have the right against self-discri-ano.. against self-incrimination.

Pasensya na,” Uson said.

“Anong krimen ang tinutukoy mo Asec Mocha? Self-in-

crimination presupposes may krimen na pinapataw sayo…”

Aquino asked.

Initially, Committee chairperson Senator Grace Poe reminded Uson to answer “yes, no or that if you refuse to answer, you have to justify why.”

“We are going far on the issue, I invoke my right against self-incrimination,” said Uson.

“So you are asking for fairness Asec Mocha. You’re asking that these organizations be fair to you, you are asking for fairness, can you also give us fairness?” Aquino said.

Despite this, Uson declined to answer and insisted that “bloggers have a right to their own opinions or to ask the side of others.”

“Opinion based ang blogging unlike in mainstream media,” further stated Uson..”

Senator Miguel Zubiri also defended Uson as he appealed to the committee not to “embarrass” its resource persons.

“I don’t think we should embarrass our resource persons whoever they are…”

Zubiri said. With JP Bencito

Marc Red Mariñas, chief immigration officer at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, said Paddock entered the country first in 2013 and stayed for six days and stayed another six days in 2014. He added Paddock was traveling with Danley and posed no problem on both occasions at that time.

The immigration official also said last Tuesday night Danley was in the Philippines when the shooting began in Las Vegas. He added the 62-year old Filipino-Australian left the country‬ on ‪Philippine Airlines Flight 10 to Los Angeles.

Danley was alone when she left for the US where authorities were awaiting her return so she could shed light on Paddock and the shooting.

Mariñas said Danley is from Pambuan, Nueva Ecija and is already an Australian citizen.

Citing records, Mariñas said Danley arrived in the Philippines on Sept. 15 this year from Japan and then on Sept. 22, she departed for Hong Kong. She returned to the Philippines on Sept. 25 and then left 9 p.m. Oct. 3 for the US. She has no pending case in the country.

As America mourned, President Donald Trump prepared to visit the desert city Wednesday.

He has branded Paddock a “demented man.”

Beyond Trump’s assessment, authorities were at a loss as to how a 64-year-old gambler and retired accountant had hauled a vast arsenal of weapons to the hotel and launched his assault.

Meanwhile, victims began to be identified in the media, each new story stirring emotions as America once again grappled with calls for reforms to its permissive firearm control laws.

Trump was not ready to sug-

gest answers.

“What happened in Las Vegas is in many ways a miracle,” he said. “The police department has done such an incredible job, and we’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.”

US officials have reacted cautiously to a claim by the Islamic State jihadist group that the shooter had carried out Sunday night’s massacre on its behalf.

Experts cautioned that the group—under pressure in its Syrian and Iraqi heartlands— may be trying to rally its supporters with a false claim.

AFP, Joel E. Zurbano, Vito Barcelo

On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said that the government is working to counter actions by “enemies of the state,” including Islamic State-inspired terrorists, the communists, drug cartels, “seditious political opposition or ‘Yellowtards’,” and foreign intelligence agencies that seek to generate international support for regime change.

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Wednesday warned groups that attacks on the President are considered subversive.

“What we gathered is that there are black operations against President Duterte that come from various forms and colors…They will not succeed. They are doing subversive activities and we can send them to jail for that,” Calida said.

The chief state lawyer said

Barangay...

From A1 Of the 42,000 barangays in the country, around 20,000 are still considered tainted by illegal drugs, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

This is the second time that barangay elections were postponed since the President took office.

The Commission on Elections had already made preparations for the barangay and SK polls, including the setting up of a gun ban from Oct. 1 to 30. The poll body has also finished printing ballots worth P59.5 million.

Lawmakers on Wednesday welcomed President Duterte’s signing into law the postponement of the elections.

Reps. Raneo Abu of Batangas, Robert Ace Barbers of

9Fromsenators...

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Nieto, together with blogger turned Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communication Operations Margaux Uson, had also attacked people and journalists criticizing Duterte.

Bolivar said if what Nieto was posting in his blogs were violating the Code of Ethics for government employees, then he could be held liable.

In the Senate probe on fake news, Nieto had said if he had a choice, he would not be working for Foreign Affairs.

“We are like slaves there.

We are only given P12,000.

It’s not even enough to pay for a taxi,” Nieto said.

Bolivar refused to comment but said he had yet to see Nieto’s contract.

In one of his posts in July, Nieto announced his tentative appointment as “Head of Strategic Communications (Content)” under the office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Arriola.

Arriola replaced Undersecretary Jesus Yabes on June 28.

Gunman...

From A1

Three states—California, New York and New Jersey— prohibit sales of more than one handgun in 30 to 90 days, with slight variations between them.

Beyond that, the country is an open market, with private sellers of used guns in most states not having to run background checks, and few restrictions on long gun purchases.

In Nevada, where gun laws are particularly lax and enforcement more so, it would have been easy for Paddock to accumulate all the guns he had unnoticed.

“There is no way that ATF or the FBI would know,” said Cutilletta.

But what stood out in Sunday’s massacre, when Paddock unloaded his guns on a crowd of 22,000 at a country music concert, was the rapid pace of fire.

According to reports, he had modified some of his guns to work like automatic weapons, like machine guns, able to shoot many hundreds of rounds a minute with one trigger pull.

Automatic weapons have been banned in the United States for three decades.

But converting a semi-automatic weapon, including the AR-15 and AK-47-type assault rifles widely available in US gun shops, into an automatic weapon is easy. AFP

their name through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which refers to three databases of offenders.

Those databases are not always perfect, relying on often spotty reporting from the states. Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people in an AfricanAmerican church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, cleared a handgun purchase background check just weeks before, despite having a drug conviction on his record.

But if a person’s record is clean—and Paddock evidently did not raise any red flags—he can buy as many guns as he wants.

There are some controls, points out Laura Cutilletta, the legal director at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Licensed gun dealers, who handle perhaps 60 percent of all firearm sales, have to report multiple handgun sales to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “Multiple” means two or more guns to the same purchaser within five business days.

Even then, Cutilletta says, “There is no requirement that law enforcement investigate.”

Du30...

From A1 Solano’s appeal is contained in his four-page motion submitted by his lawyer Paterno Esmaquel before the department’s investigating panel, led by State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva, during the start of the preliminary investigation on the charges filed by the Manila Police District arising from Castillo’s death.

The MPD said several frat members of the Aegis Juris Fraternity could be identified by a security guard who was posted near the Aegis Juris Fraternity resource center where Castillo’s hazing took place.

The district said the security guard’s testimony would be among the pieces of evidence it would use to boost its case against the Aegis Juris members facing murder charges in connection with Castillo’s death.

Duterte, who met with Castillo’s parents Horacio Jr. and Carmina in Malacañang on

Wednesday, said he had ordered the MPD Chief Joel Coronel to lead the investigation into Castillo’s death.

“Everything went wrong.

Let the chips fall where they may. That’s it,” Duterte said.

“You make your own history. You are bound by your mistake… Everybody has to answer [for their crime].

“He [Castillo] was helpless.

It could not be suicide. The person had no choice... I think it was murder because he was helpless,” he added.

Duterte likewise said he would be asking the Cabinet to cancel the passports of the members of the Aegis Juris Fraternity who might have fled overseas to escape accountability for the crime.

“You have my word,” the President said, assuring the family that justice will be served.

Castillo died after undergoing initiation rites of the Aegis Juris Fraternity on Sept.

17 and was buried on Sept. 27.

John Paolo Bencito and Bill Casas

Environment...

From A1 Industry Association also welcomed Cimatu’s confirmation.

“We express our support for Secretary Cimatu in pushing forward programs toward sustainable development and lasting environmental protection initiatives,” the group said in a statement.

“Most of all, we are confident that Secretary Cimatu’s appointment will foster dialogue within the industry as well as usher in the overall sustainable development of the communities we serve.”

Cimatu, a retired general and former military chief, was tapped

by President Rodrigo Duterte to head the DENR after the CA rejected the appointment of his predecessor Gina Lopez.

Unlike Lopez, Cimatu had expressed his openness to mining in the country as long as it was done responsibly.

Duterte reappointed Cimatu on June 1 after he was initially bypassed by Congress.

“The confirmation of my ad-interim appointment as DENR secretary will allow me to continue to institute reforms and pursue programs and projects that would truly protect the environment and improve people’s lives,” Cimatu said in a statement.

“This gives me enough inspiration to carry out the seemingly gargantuan tasks of protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainable use of the country’s rich natural resources in the face of climate change and dwindling natural wealth of the nation.”

John Paolo Bencito

17 Maute...

From A1 Fighting is now confined to five to seven hectares where about 40 terrorists are still holed up.

Col. Edgard Arevalo, head

of the Armed Forces Public Affairs Office, said he was optimistic that the fighting would soon be over.

“We are incessant, unceasing in our conduct of operations. So we just need a little more time,” Arevalo said in Filipino.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

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TODAY

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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Opinion

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

T

A tribute to tutors EACHERS have always These days, the reverence reserved and all other inconveniences just to know, but how to think. This is for teachers is more a response to so they could show up. especially true in today’s environplayed a big role in their numerous sacrifices.

As in any other profession, teach- ment when falsehood is presented society.

In the olden days, there was prestige in having a teacher in the family. Teaching was seen as a desirable profession, way up there with medicine and law.

The high regard was well deserved. Teachers molded the minds of the young, who then grew up to become nation builders and accomplished individuals. Teachers were steeped in knowledge and discipline. Their word was held sacred; their opinion sought.

Their salaries, for instance, have not become competitive. Not a few leave the profession for higher-paying jobs.

It is also a thankless and punishing occupation—imagine starting your day so early, only to still be hard at work long after the students have gone. Straining your voice. Standing up most of the day.

Correcting papers of dozens, some, hundreds. Dealing with disrespect and politics in the academia.

Braving disaster, long distances

ers come in different forms. Who’s to say which approach or method is more effective? Who can tell which teacher is able to make a lasting impact on a student’s life?

This year is no different from all the other years we honored teachers and told them how grateful we all are for what they tirelessly, consistently do for our children. Indeed they taught them many things in many fields of interest.

But perhaps the best thing our teachers have taught us is not what

as truth, sometimes inadvertently, most times malevolently.

There was a time when knowledge’s worst enemy was ignorance. Now disinformation— information known to be wrong but disseminated anyway—comes into the picture and may be an equal, or worse, threat than the absence of information.

Teachers who teach us, first and foremost, to think for ourselves after arming us with tools of logic and fairness are the best teachers of all.

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

What is fake news?

PRESIDENT Duterte and his supporters do not realize it, but news headlines every day seem to focus on the wrong targets, like Supreme Court Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

This brings to fore the question: What do the President and his supporters hope to achieve with this?

It may be true as alleged that Sereno committed impeachable offenses under the Constitution. But impeachment is purely a political exercise. It is a numbers game.

First, it has to be defined.

Losing in your home court LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES IT WAS supposed to be an investigation into a network of anonymous Web sites put up to attack President Rodrigo Duterte, his officials and all other people supporting his administration.

Instead, it turned into an ugly, partisan battle waged about a new media platform long popular among millions of Filipinos—but still largely terra incognita to our politicians.

As is usual in such politically toxic us-versus-them encounters, the hearing of the Senate committee on media headed by Senator Grace Poe quickly degenerated into a hardening of positions by both camps.

But because of the very

conspicuous absence of Edward “Cocoy” Dayao, the former Aquino-era IT consultant at the center of the controversy, his alleged puppet-masters among the opposition senators took it upon themselves to discredit the pro-administration social media resource persons who exposed him— thereby revealing to all that their two objectives were to protect Dayao and to exact their pound of flesh from the popular pro-Duterte social media personalities.

But that didn’t happen mainly because of the ignorance of most senators about the ways of social media.

And when they presumed to do battle with those who had way more knowledge about the platform on the latter’s virtual home court, it was clear that the senators had lost soon after the fighting began.

The senators from the opposition, in particular, thought that they would be shooting fish in a barrel since the hearing was in the

The proDuterte bloggers made it to the Senate and then withstood the usual cheap shots of paybackhungry senators.

Senate. But because they really did not know what they were talking about, they were taken to school by Rey Joseph Nieto, a.k.a. Think-

ing Pinoy, and his online comrades, who ran rings around them on the subject.

Sure, former Aquino propagandists like Edwin Lacierda and Abigail Valte were present, even if Dayao was not there. But they really weren’t about to save their supposed overall Web administrator, whom they probably threw under the bus with their denials of involvement.

If the strategy was to hide Dayao in order to prevent the total collapse of his string of anonymous anti-Duterte Web sites and the unmasking of the people pulling the strings above him, it failed.

Instead, the senators who had an axe to grind against Dayao’s scurrilous sites, like Senator Tito Sotto, had a field day attacking the Yellow blogs, with no one coming to their defense.

And yes, the Yellow sena-

tors led by Senator Bam Aquino may have thought that they scored big points against Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, whom Aquino angrily bullied. But that was not nearly enough to veer the discussion away from the real topic, which was how the pro-Aquino forces were using anonymous sites and blogs in order to malign Duterte and people aligned with him, like Sotto and the six other senators who were accused of being “dogs” for not signing a resolution they said they never saw.

I don’t know what legislation is supposed to come out of this investigation, since if it is true that the rules of mainstream journalism should apply to social media. If we agree that free and protected speech is enjoyed by both blogger and journalist, then the only thing

that government should do is to allow the public to decide what news and opinion they want to patronize.

It is useless to even attempt to craft legislation that will only erode the constitutionally provided freedom of speech and the press. In the case of criminal abuse of this freedom like libel, both in mainstream and online, there are already enough laws that aggrieved parties who do not have the luxury of calling people to the Senate in order to humiliate them have.

Unless Dayao surfaces with his confederates, I don’t think there will even be a lot of new stuff that will be uncovered in this investigation. The woeful lack of knowledge about social media of our senators, who only consider the platform as a necessary expense in

In the case of Ombudsman Morales, I wonder what Duterte hopes to achieve. The perception by many is that he is just out to discredit the Ombudsman after she said she would investigate the Duterte family’s wealth.

I believe that all these are just distractions. The President still has to worry about his war against illegal drugs. There are also greater challenges like poverty and terrorism.

Even now, there are reports that the Mautes and the Abus are eyeing Cotabato City as their next target. *** The recent survey by the Social Weather Stations that people killed in the drug war are poor and did not fight back shows the sentiment of the people.

This is how people perceive the administration and the police, who are supposed to serve and protect the people. Whom can we trust now?

This can only validate reports from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines that more and more people are seeking

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Opinion Help poor students scale the ivory tower Bloomberg editorial AMERICA’S elite colleges are more selective than ever before. They also remain disproportionately populated by the wealthy—in part because many qualified students from poor backgrounds don’t even apply.

The good news is that there are proven strategies for ensuring that promising students get the opportunities they deserve. What it takes is a concerted effort to reduce barriers and strengthen programs that give low-income kids more guidance about their college options.

Going to an elite college doesn’t guarantee future success, but it greatly increases the chances of earning a degree. Ninety percent of high-achieving, low-income students who attend selective colleges receive degrees, compared to 56 percent of similar students who enroll at less competitive schools. A big reason is money: Richer colleges can often afford to cover the full cost of tuition for poor students and provide more resources to help them graduate.

And yet the vast majority of high-achieving, low income students aren’t even applying. Fewer than one in four high-performing students from families in the bottom socioeconomic quartile apply to any selective colleges at all. Some are undoubtedly scared off by “sticker shock” at the advertised cost of tuition, room and board. Others may balk at application fees, which can add up. There is also a widespread assumption that if they do apply, they won’t get in.

The cumulative effect is that thousands of qualified students from poor families are missing out on colleges that will cost less and produce better outcomes than the schools they ultimately attend. Researchers even have a term for the problem: “undermatching.”

What should be done? Colleges should work together to make the application process simpler, cheaper and more transparent. They can start by using common applications that automatically waive application fees for low-income students, as more than 100 institutions have started to do. They should also make available financial aid data to nonprofit third-party services, such as Pell Abacus, which help applicants compare and calculate the actual (often discounted) cost of tuition.

States and local school districts should identify the most qualified candidates early in the process and provide them with advising resources. CollegePoint, a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative, matches high-achieving, low-income high-school students with advisers from similar backgrounds who are recent graduates of elite colleges. Another promising experiment is the Delaware College Scholars program, a three-week summer academy for 10th, 11th and 12th graders that’s focused on guiding them through each step of the college application process.

More than 90 percent of the program’s graduates have enrolled in four-year colleges.

These programs require resources and commitment, but they are worth the investment.

America’s elite institutions of higher education need to be accessible to working- and middle-class families. Addressing the problem of undermatching is one vital step toward offering opportunity to students who need it most.

What...

Jean Ubial is being delayed, she only has herself to blame.

She has taken six foreign trips within two and a half months. She has brought her family and other Health officials with her.

Perhaps the Commission on Appointments must investigate all these trips were they really necessary? *** There is a lot of fuss about fake news. Even the Senate is now investigating it.

But let us define fake news. When bloggers disseminate news over social media that turn out to be fake or denied, is that fake news? Similarly, when mainstream media come out with reports denied by those to whom they were attributed, is that fake news?

I have been in media for almost seven decades.

During my time, when this happened, editors simply dismissed the reporter. Or, the reporter is slapped with a libel suit.

With reportage evolving from objective to subjective, reporters now always have a slant depending on the bias of the news organization.

in this sordid affair are the pro-Duterte bloggers, who finally generated enough From A4 noise to get the Senate’s atorder to get more votes dur- tention and then withstood ing elections, doesn’t count, the usual cheap shots fired obviously. by payback-hungry senaI think the only winners tors with aplomb. The blog-

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Church protection.

This may well be the tipping point in the war against illegal drugs.

What bothers me is that Malacañang keeps denying that the war is targeting the poor. But are the rich and powerful pursued in raids?

I don’t think so. *** The move of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to look into the bank accounts of officials of the Aquino administration, supposedly in Switzerland, Malaysia and Australia can turn out to be a can of worms. But I say it’s about time.

Former officials of the Transportation Department have been known to be engaged in anomalies in connection with the procurement of mass transportation equipment from China. People who take the LRT and MRT are suffering because of these anomalies.

It would be an interesting probe, wouldn’t it? *** If the confirmation of Health Secretary Paulyn

Losing...

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What people do for money OVERSIGHT DANILO SUAREZ THE primary objective of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is to maintain price stability conducive to a balanced and sustainable economic growth. By virtue of the New Central Bank Act (RA 7653), the BSP performs functions concerning money, banking, and credit, such as liquidity management, issuance of currency, management of foreign reserves, determination of exchange rate policy, lending (as last resort) to banking institutions, and

financial supervision. It supervises banks and exercises regulatory powers over non-bank financial institutions with quasibanking functions.

There is a saying that says, “money is the root of all evil” and I am not surprised why many people resort to unlawful activities just to earn money for a living or to acquire more money than they need.

Cloning of credit cards and hacking of accounts are just some of the “modus operandi” of fraudsters.

Back in July, a Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) executive committed fraud against the bank she had

been working for over 30 years. Metrobank’s vice president of Corporate Service Unit, Maria Victoria Lopez, has faced charges of qualified theft, falsification, and violation of the General Banking Law. Lopez allegedly funneled at least Php 900 million through a loan facility of a fictitious Universal Robina Corporation (URC) account and had channeled the cash interests into other fake bank accounts. Metrobank could have lost about P2.5 billion from this case of internal fraud.

Metrobank was established in 1962 and is now the second-largest bank

in the Philippines, owned by tycoon George Ty. It has not been elaborated in news reports why Lopez, despite being a loyal employee to the company, has allegedly committed such an unlawful act against its employer.

The discovery of alleged existing fake bank accounts is alarming because it implies danger to bank depositors. Hence, I filed House Resolution No. 1143, calling for an investigation on this P900-million Metrobank internal fraud case. I am positive that this inquiry to be conducted by the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries will

not only enlighten us about the case, but will also be a wake-up call for the BSP. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as the regulatory body of all banks in the country, should be more proactive in its functions, particularly in the protection of the depositors and the banking industry as a whole. We entrust our money to the banks and we trust that the banks, most especially the BSP are doing their jobs of protecting our money. The BSP should closely monitor all the activities of the banks and financial institutions to ensure that the money of all depositors are safe and secure.

Too many experts DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA THERE are some things that simply do not change.

When I was designated to take care of traffic in the National Capital Region in the later part of the 1990s, there was hardly any gathering that I attended without being approached by well-meaning individuals and organizations suggesting to me a sort of a magic formula that could decongest traffic in the streets of Metro Manila.

I can see that MMDA Chairman Danny Lim is experiencing the same thing. In a recent visit to the House of Representatives, it was suggested to him to implement the three-number coding system that could eliminate 30 percent of vehicles from the streets of the metropolitan area. He did not say whether the MMDA will implement it or not but he appeared to agree with the suggestion.

Two days ago, another congressman suggested that Edsa be made a oneway street. Of all my years studying traffic, this is the most bizarre suggestion I

have ever encountered. He did not explain how such a scheme could improve traffic flow or if such is possible to implement at all.

As of this writing, MMDA has not issued any statement about this suggestion. I am thinking right now that surely, the MMDA will not buy such a preposterous suggestion which I am almost certain is borne out of frustration because of the apparent inability of our traffic authorities to ease traffic congestion. But strange things can happen.

The suggestion, however, shows that the public is full of imaginative ideas.

This is hardly surprising because all motorists are somehow affected by traffic and since they are able to observe what is happening on our streets, they also believe that they can offer some suggestions —possible in certain circumstances especially in localized areas.

In most cases, the surrounding areas must also have to be studied before making changes. Changing traffic patterns in just one or two intersections may have many negative effects in other places.

This is why it is important that MMDA should be able to conduct continu-

ous traffic studies in order for the agency to make the right decisions and moves whenever necessary.

There lies the problem.

While the public has a lot of ideas, it seems that our traffic authorities have been driven to paralysis, perhaps due to the enormity of the problem or simply because they are incapable. This work can be out sourced to private entities who can do a better job.

But maybe because of public pressure, the MMDA is still in search of a quick fix. If such is the attitude, then there is no chance of success. It is a fact that we all want immediate improvement of traffic. Sadly however, there is no such thing as a quick fix. No one wants to start from the scratch because the traffic situation is already unbearable.

If there is a phrase that best describes the Filipino driver, it is the lack of discipline. Many motorists still do not seem to believe that simply following traffic rules will go a long way in making traffic in Metro Manila a lot more efficient. But I realize that asking the Filipino driver to change his ways is easier said than done. The major causes of road congestion in the NCR are the

buses, jeepneys, tricycles and illegal parking.

The jeepney is perhaps the worst. Unfortunately for the MMDA, the jeepney associations are the most aggressive of the group. Jeepney operators are still going on strike even if the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board already announced that the agency will simply modernize the jeepney. The LTFRB is missing the whole point of the exercise by giving in. It is about the jeepney as a mass transport mode.

It occupies a lot of road space and cannot carry many passengers like the buses and trains. This is exacerbated by how the jeepney drivers behave.

Jeepney drivers use roads as stations and they stop anywhere and anytime to load or discharge passengers. If the LTFRB does not yet recognize the simple fact that the jeepney as a mass transport is no longer efficient in a very congested area like the NCR, then there is very little hope. *** The price of gasoline and diesel in Baguio City is probably the highest in any city in the Philippines. A liter of unleaded gasoline is more than P55

while it is only over P43 in Rosario, La Union. It’s a difference of more than P12. This is the reason why motorists on their way to Baguio load up in Rosario before going up so that they will not have to gas up while in the city.

How about the suffering residents of the city who cannot do anything but buy gasoline at exorbitant prices? It is inexplicable that the city government is not investigating this. Are the government officials in cahoots with the gasoline dealers? I hope not.

The difference in the prices could be because of transport costs. But does it cost that much to transport a liter of gasoline to Baguio from Poro Point in La Union where I understand the products originate?

An additional peso on two added is understandable but P12? It is too much.

Up until now, the city government has not done anything to address this problem of residents and visitors. It must now investigate this blatant overcharging of gasoline products to force the gasoline dealers to charge a reasonable price or face competition from the local government. It must take the lead to get the prices down.

Stop the weird I THOUGHT this administration would run out of weirdnesses with which to surprise the public, but surprise! They haven’t, and reality is becoming even more distorted each day.

Let’s look at two things for now.

First, the Senate investigation into fake news. After much blustering over the previous months about her qualifications for her position, Assistant Secretary for Communication Mocha Uson admitted to Senator Bam Aquino that she is a “blogger” and “not a journalist” which is why, she said, she never bothered to get the other side of the stories she was posting.

This boggles the discerning mind.

A person in her position of public service, particularly someone in the field of communication, has the responsibility of making sure that whatever she re-

leases is without taint—it should be factual and factchecked. Truth is the main criteria, because lies and evasions will be found out sooner or later.

With what we are seeing now, the propagation of fake news coming from high above is creating and normalizing a culture of fake news, which, as Senator Grace Poe rightly pointed out, “cultivates a culture of lying.” People share fake news, and the lies affect their reasoning and decision-making.

Second, the attacks the Palace has made against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales for her investigations into the Duterte family’s alleged unexplained wealth. The Office of the Ombudsman is, like the Commission on Human Rights, established by the Constitution. The former is tasked with monitoring the three branches of government for political corruption.

According to a primer at the Ombudsman’s website, the office is “is principally tasked to investigate on its own or upon complaint by any person,

in any form or manner, any act or omission of any public officer or employee, including those in government-owned or controlled corporations, which appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.”

So if Carpio-Morales is investigating Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s allegation that Duterte has P2 billion in his bank accounts, she is only doing her constitutional duty and any attacks on her are unseemly, improper—and suspicious. Why? For the reason ‘methinks thou doth protest too much…’

Not too long ago, these unspeakable things would have been unthinkable.

No one could have gotten away with doing these things, because during the dark days of the dictator, one man and his cohorts did, and a return to that would have been unconscionable. We have seen all these things happen before.

Since then the country has spun 180 and is creeping towards fascism. Have we not learned our lesson in the intervening dec-

ades? Why does it seem we are back to where we started? “’The bad news is,” says Timothy Snyder in ‘On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century’, “that the history of modern democracy is also one of decline and fall.” He points out several instances of “major democratic moments” in Europe: after World War I in 1918, after WW II in 1945, and after the end of communism in 1989.

“Many of the democracies founded at these junctures failed…”

Our country had its major democratic moments with People Power and Edsa Dos. Just like these and some other democracies, our own is floundering. Snyder says that history shows us that “societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and ordinary men can find themselves standing over death pits with guns in their hands.”

He believes fascism and communism are “responses to globalization: to the real and perceived inequalities it created,

and the apparent helplessness of democracies in addressing them.”

Outcomes, however, are not inevitable. Learning from history, as Snyder recommends, will reveal patterns and allow us to make judgments. Hopefully, this mindfulness will keep us from making the same mistakes.

Fake news and the assault on constitutional bodies are part of fascist tactics to gain control and implement totalitarian conditions. We’ve seen this before and we are seeing it again. It is weird and strange, and not in a good way, because we thought we were done with this.

But because we do not remember the past, we are condemned to repeat it, as George Santayana remarked.

And as we wallow in the decline of our democracy and its institutions, expect things to get weirder still.

There are, after all, five more years of this to go.

gers slew their senator-critics outside of cyberspace after a long career of beating them senseless online.

Not bad for amateur pundits long accused of catering to an ill-informed and intellectually challenged major-

ity. Of course, they were only up against a bunch of Yellow senators who didn’t have enough sense to avoid going head-to-head with bloggers in a contest where the lawmakers couldn’t decipher the rules or even find

the playing field. *** As for mainstream media, I think fellow journalist Roby Alampay said it best when he humbly admitted during the hearing that journalists are not per-

fect and that we do commit mistakes, adding that we should always make the effort to rectify errors when we find them. Of course, Alampay’s admission only applies if media is only doing its job and not allowing

itself to be used by powerful and moneyed interests.

And as Cocoy Dayao’s case teaches us, that’s not always the case. It’s not even a problem that’s exclusive to mainstream media, obviously.

Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. FB: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste

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‘Bagman’ fingers BOC officials

By Macon Ramos-Araneta A CONTRACTUAL employee of the Bureau of Customs testified on Wednesday that she received bribe money from Customs broker/fixer Mark Taguba for Customs Intelligence Officer Joel Pinawin and former Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service director Neil Anthony Estrella.

Testifying during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee 11th hearing into the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling that slipped past the Bureau of Customs, May Escoto said she received the money from Taguba on three occasions.

Escoto said she got the money placed inside two brown envelopes from Taguba on three separate occasions upon the orders of Pinawin of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services.

The envelopes, Escoto said, were labeled “Sir Joel” and “Director,” which was supposedly for CIIS director Neil Estrella.

HAZING PROBE. Alleged suspect John Paul Solano (center) attends the preliminary investigation on the death of hazing victIm Horacio Castillo III at the DOJ. Norman Cruz

Du30 links Trillanes to former AMLC head

By John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday claimed that Julia Bacay-Abad, the resigned executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council was romantically linked to opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and the one who supposedly authorized the release of his alleged bank records.

“Abad, the woman who was the mistress of Trillanes. I do not know her name, but she’s the one in AMLC,” Duterte said in a media interview with reporters.

The President asked of Abad: “Is she beautiful?”

Trillanes, however, immediately denied that he and Abad has a relationship and that he had a mistress at the AMLC. “I categorically deny itong huling imbentong storya ni Duterte.

Nakakalungkot lang na meron pang nadadamay na ibang tao.

In this case, si Attorney Julia Bacay-Abad na kilala bilang isang disente at pamilyadong tao na naging propesyunal sa kanyang

paglingkod bilang Executive Director ng AMLC,” Trillanes said in a statement.

Abad, who was with the AMLC for more than 10 years resigned last January 2017 after Duterte criticized the agency for allegedly being “uncooperative,” as documents being requested from them have been delayed.

The AMLC is an independent body that monitors the financial system to guard against dirty money deals.

Duterte insisted that the opposition senator made a wrong computation into his supposed bank accounts, saying that his multi-billion

claim was “ridiculous.”

“You can’t use it as evidence in courts,” the President said of Trillanes’ supposed evidence against him.

“What Abad gave to Trillanes was stolen. That’s the one he gave to the [Deputy] Ombudsman for Mindanao, and later on to [Ombudsman Conchita Carpio] Morales. That’s why they’re cleansing their hands already.”

He likewise denied that he got the information on Trillanes’ accounts from a certain Daniel “Snooky” Cruz, saying that he only knew about actress “Snooky” Serna and a comic book of the same name.

SSB tax to generate P47b—Win A TOTAL of P47 billion in government revenue would be generated with the content-based approach to the sugar-sweetened beverage by imposing a tax of 10 centavos per gram of sugar contained in a beverage, Senator Win Gatchalian said on Wednesday.

He said the scheme would encourage sweetened products, thus improving the public health outcomes expected from the tax.

“The content-based scheme will penalize drinks which have more sugar. If the drink will have more sugar content, it will tend to be more expensive,” said Gatchalian during the Senate plenary debates on Senate Bill No. 1592, commonly known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act. “So, there will now be an incentive for companies to lower down their sugar content to mitigate the increase in prices,” said Gatchalian.

With this move, Gatchalian said “the government can actually hit two birds with one stone—achieve the health purpose of this bill and, at the

Senate hikes PNP budget next year, Recto says

House summons MRT3 ‘fake’ parts supplier

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives’ committee on good government and public accountability has threatened to cite in contempt and possibly detain owner of Diamond Pearl Development Corporation, Malo dela Cruz, should he continue to disregard the lawmakers’ summons in the light of the construction firm’s supply of questionable parts to the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT3).

Dela Cruz is an alleged political operator of defeated presidential candidate Manuel Roxas and the alleged “mystery man” behind the questionable maintenance service contract entered into by the Department of Transportation and the Busan Universal Rail Inc. “I welcome this move from the Committee chairman. It’s high time that we place a lamp on the shady persona of Mr. Dela Cruz. At the very least, he has unwittingly placed the lives of thousands of MRT riders in danger,” Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said Wednesday.

Nograles earlier filed House Resolution 1212 at the House committee on good government and public accountability headed by Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel.

In filing the resolution, Nograles sought an investigation on why Busan Universal Rail Incorporated (BURI), the current maintenance contract provider of the MRT3 has been using fake parts for the 18-yearold train system instead of the original proprietary parts supplied by Bombardier Transportation Signal Ltd.

same time, achieve the revenue purpose of this bill.”

Under SBN 1592, sweetened drinks will be subjected to a twotiered tax scheme: based on volume during the first 2 years of implementation, followed by a mixed regime based on volume and content in succeeding years.

Gatchalian cited as examples the sport drink “Cobra”, which has 38.34 grams of sugar (equivalent to 9 teaspoons of sugar), instant (3-in-1) coffee (3.5 teaspoons) and soft drinks (5.2 teaspoons). Under the volumebased approach, the percentage price increase for the sports drink will only be 17%; while the instant coffee will increase by 25%; and for soft drinks, 76.25%.

According to Gatchalian, these figures show that the proposed volume-based scheme would essentially penalize drinks which have less sugar and might inadvertently shift consumption patterns, which he said would have an adverse effect on the operations of beverage factories. Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the P19.9-billion increase in the PNP budget to P131.5 billion from this year’s P111.6 billion will enable them to hire 10,000 policemen, construct 96 police stations, and acquire billions of pesos worth of equipment under the PNP’s Capacity Enhancement Program.

He also disclosed proposals by some senators to further raise the PNP budget to narrow down its shortage of 12,243 patrol cars, 11,352 motorcycles, 20,337 service handguns and 27,457 long firearms, 127 police fast boats, and 1,082 special purpose vehicle.

CLEARING OPERATION. MMDA personnel conducts a clearing operation along Mayhaligue Street cor., Dapitan in Tondo, Manila on Wednesday to clear roads of obstructions. Norman Cruz

MASA MASID drop boxes are for citizen feedback, DILG explains INTERIOR and Local Government OIC-Secretary Catalino S. Cuy on Wednesday said that the putting up drop boxes in communities (LGUs) is meant to elicit feedback and suggestions from the residents on the government’s drive against illegal drugs, criminality, corruption and violent extremism, and not to fish for names

of alleged drug suspects.

Cuy made the clarification as several sectors have questioned the DILG directive calling on LGUs to install drop boxes in their communities under its MASA MASID (Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga) project.

“The drop boxes are not for fishing

out information. They are there for feedback because we want the public to be involved in our efforts,” he said.

Cuy also explained that setting up drop boxes is just one of the channels by which the public may provide feedback, comments, suggestions or recommendations to the government on its anti-criminality drive for proper assessment and re-

ferral to appropriate agencies. Other such mediums are through a hotline, electronic mail, short messaging system or texts, among others.

“Of course, all the information given through the drop box will have to be checked, validated and verified.

There is going to be a process in handling these. We won’t take everything hook, line and sinker,” Cuy added.

CebuPac acquires 35 machine units for PWDs, senior citizens

By Joel E. Zurbano CEBU Pacific Air announced on Wednesday it has acquired 35 units of Disable Passenger Lift machines for the boarding convenience of passengers with disability (PWDs) and senior citizens at the airports.

CEB is the first airline in the country to invest in its own DPL

in line with its thrust to improve passenger experience.

Michael Ivan Shau, Cebu Pacific Air vice president for Airport Services, said the use of the machines will be free of charge for airline passengers with reduced mobility and also for pregnant and elders who may have difficulty climbing stairs to board their flights.

Shau said the airline acquired the machines for P100 million.

He added that the first machine was installed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport - Terminal 3 last March for testing and evaluation.

Since July, the machine has been used to lift PWDs, pregnant and elder passengers on a limited number of CEB flights.

The rest of the Australianmade DPL units would be installed beginning 2018. Six units will be placed at NAIA terminal 3 with the rest to be deployed to other CEB hubs nationwide namely—Clark, Kalibo, Iloilo, Cebu and Davao, as well as high-traffic airports across the country wjere CEB operates flights using Airbus aircraft.

Partylist solon slams gun-toting on son, friends

By Maricel V. Cruz BUHAY Hayaang Yumabong (Buhay) party-list Rep. Lito Atienza on Wednesday narrated a gun-toting incident perpetrated by an unnamed police colonel against his son and media personality Kim Atienza and his three cyclist-friends in Sta. Rosa, Laguna two weeks ago.

Atienza said that Kim and his three companions were pedaling their bicycles along Sta. Rosa, Laguna when the unnamed police colonel who was driving his vehicle overtook and allegedly aimed his pistol at the four victims.

“My son Kim and his group were just cycling and exercising along the highways of Laguna, biglang may nag-overtake na kotse, galit na galit.

Binabaan sila, tinutukan ng baril sa mukha lahat,” Atienza, a senior House Deputy Minority Leader, said at a news conference.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Sports

Manila

Standard

TODAY

A7

Sharapova mesmerizes Chinese fans

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EIJING—One fellow player labelled her “a cheater” and she is said to be unpopular in the locker room, but Maria Sharapova remains a crowd favourite in China despite her doping ban.

“Welcome back goddess,” said one banner at the China Open in Beijing this week, while a Russian flag had the words: “I got your back Maria.”

The 30-year-old Russian was in the Chinese capital this week for

the first time since coming back to tennis in April from a 15-month suspension for taking the banned substance meldonium.

The former world number one is now 104 in the rankings and needed a wildcard to make it to the China

Open, where she was to take on world number two Simona Halep later Wednesday.

Sharapova’s return to the tennis circuit divided opinion, with the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard among her biggest critics, calling the five-time Grand Slam champion “a cheater” who should never have been allowed to play again.

But try telling that to Sharapova’s fans in Beijing, where along with Rafael Nadal she has been the biggest draw by far at the

China Open.

Suky, 26, flew from Xiamen in eastern China to see her hero in the flesh for the first time.

Chinese flags flutter all over the country at this time of year to mark the founding of communist China, but the only flag on Suky’s right cheek was a smudged Russian tricolour.

On her left arm and chest she had written her version of Sharapova’s signature in black biro.

“I love Maria Sharapova,” she said. “She’s fair and beautiful, and

volunteers at China’s biggest annual tennis event, are also diehard Sharapova fans.

“She fights to win every game, even when it’s difficult and hard,” said Vivian, a student who only volunteered so she could catch a glimpse of the Russian.

“She’s also beautiful and so tall.

We walked past her and I was like, ‘Gosh!’”

So that makes up for the ban?

“So what? It doesn’t matter,” Lucia chipped in. “It’s in the past. So you never made a mistake?” AFP

so powerful and determined, she never gives up.”

But what about that doping ban?

“I think that’s an American secret,” she replied, lowering her voice slightly.

Pushed to expand on her conspiracy theory, she pulled out her smartphone and tapped Chinese into a translation app.

“Political intrigue” popped up on the screen in English. She declined to go into further detail.

- ‘She’s beautiful and so tall’ Vivian and Lucia, both 20 and

Aussies boost Powerman cast AUSTRALIANS Thomas Bruins and Matt Smith hope to flaunt their world-class form as they banner the crack international field in the 2017 Powerman Philippines Asian Championship Presented by Summit Drinking Water firing off Sunday at Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.

Bruins and Smith loom as the duathletes to beat in the centerpiece Elite category with the former, No. 2 in the Powerman world ranking, coming off a victory in the Powerman Asia Duathlon Championships in Malaysia.

Bruins is also out to improve on his runner-up finish to Frenchman Gael Le Bellec in last year’s edition of the event also held to showcase the the local bets’ potential to be among the world’s top duathletes.

Smith, on the other hand, is ranked No. 9 in the world, and is tipped to crowd Bruins for top honors in the premier run-bikerun event organized by F&F International Events Group along with Malaysians Ziq Junaidy and Jason Loh, who placed fifth in Powerman Malaysia and ranked No. 11 in the world.

Local ace Monica Torres, on the other hand, sets out as one of the top favorites in the women’s side of the Elite division after finishing third last year with Alexandra McDougall and Japanese Airi Sawada, who placed fourth and fifth, respectively, expected to provide the challenge.

But Sawada is coming into the event brimming with confidence following a victory in Indonesia that improved her world ranking to No. 3 with McDougall at No. 6.

Aside from Torres, who ruled the ITU Asian Middle distance division in the Powerman Asian Duathlon in Malaysia, Joey Delos Reyes is the other local entry to watch in the blue-ribbon event.

Cuevas seeks tennis repeat ANDREI Cuevas tries to bring his winning act to Zamboanga del Sur as they banner the field in the Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Molave leg regional tennis tournament beginning Thursday at the LGU-Moltec-Mahayag tennis courts.

Cuevas topped the boys’ 16- and 18-andunder divisions last week, emerging as the lone double winner in the Ozamiz City stop of the circuit sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro and presented by Slazenger.

But the rising star from Tubod, Lanao del Norte expects a big fightback from top seed Steven Sonsona, whom he upended in the 16-U finals, along with the rest of the field seeking ranking points in the Group 2 tournament backed by the Unified Tennis Group.

Janmarie Anghag also sets out for a second straight win in the girls’ 16-U side but the Ozamiz City ace faces an uphill battle against the likes of Wyne Paglinawan, Rovie Baulete and Faye Lim with the troika also vying in the 18-U division led by Anamae Mendoza and Carmeville Gervacio.

Close to 200 entries are clashing for top honors in nine categories with five titles also up for grabs in the doubles, including the boys’ and girls’ 14- and 18-and-U and the 10-unisex.

Heading the huge 32-player draws in the boys’ 12- and 14-U divisions are Nash Agustines, Christopher Sonsona, Aslan Carbonilla and Kurt Bandolis (12-0) with Aaron Geromo gaining the top seed in the 14-U group that also includes Agustines, Christopher Sonsona and Carbonilla.

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

Argentina Embassy holds tilt for kids

Members of the La Salle Greenhills Team display the trophies and medals they won as champion ofthe 32nd SBP-Passerelle twin tournament NCR finals.

Greenies, Red Cubs crowned cage champs SBP-Passerelle’s defending SBP division champion, La Salle Greenhills, remained undefeated in three consecutive seasons after winning against sister school La Salle Santiago-Zobel, at the 32nd SBPPasserelle twin tournament NCR finals.

In the Passerelle division, San Beda College was crowned NCR champion after an equally fierce game against the Nazareth School of National University.

In the SBP division, La Salle greenies dominated the game, scoring a whopping 17-5 in the first quarter, 31-9 in second and 45-12 in third. The Zobel junior archers did only a little better in the last quarter for a score of 50-22. Lorenzo Bryan Competente was awarded Most Valuable Player in this division.

In the Passerelle division championship, the SBC Red Cubs and NSNU Bullpups took turns outscoring each other.

The Red Cubs gained the advantage in the first through several three-pointers, 164, but the Bullpups recovered in the second quarter and surpassed their opponent for a score of 27-30.

SBC narrowed the gap in the third quarter, 46-45, before finally winning

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 project: Items

Approved Budget Bidding for the Contract Documents Fee (ABC)

ITB - GS-20170809-01 Armored Vehicle Services for LANDBANK Branches and Extension Offices Lot No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Area Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 5 Region 6 Region 7 Region 8 Region 9 Region 10 Region 11 Region 12

Period Covered

Two (2) Years

P 49,125,600.00 43,387,200.00 65,668,800.00 71,803,200.00 34,728,000.00 39,304,800.00 46,161,600.00 32,774,400.00 38,282,400.00 44,496,000.00 49,600,800.00 40,281,600.00

P

24,600.00 21,700.00 32,900.00 36,000.00 17,400.00 19,700.00 23,100.00 16,400.00 19,200.00 22,300.00 24,900.00 20,200.00

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

P0 M

entific Training Center, the 32nd SBP-Passerelle Twin Tournament is supported by MILO, in cooperation with Rain or Shine Elasto Paints, Chris Sports, and SKLZ. BEST Center provides a venue for young cagers to apply what they learned in basketball training and showcase their skills.

BEST Center is a Hall of Famer of the Philippine Sportswriters Association for Grassroots Development and the only corporate recipient of the Olympism Award from the Philippine Olympic Committee.

For more information about BEST Center’s classes and tournaments, call the hotlines 411-6260, 3723066 and 372-3065, email bestcentersports@ gmail.com or follow its official Facebook page at https://www.facebook. com/pages/BEST-Center-SportsInc/66172039922

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

1. Issuance of Bid Documents

P0 M+

with a two-point lead, 63-61, in the final period to bag the NCR Passerelle division championship.

Anfernee Zachary Estacio was named MVP. La Salle Greenhills and San Beda College will represent NCR in the national finals, competing against regional winners from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Ateneo de Manila University was third, while San Sebastian College-Recoletos placed fourth in the SBP division NCR finals. Third place in the Passerelle division was La Salle Greenhills while fourth placer was Ateneo de Manila University.

Giving high importance to fair play and discipline, BEST Center is also awarding the much-coveted Sportsmanship Award to deserving schools not only for the exemplary skills showed by the students in playing basketball but also for good behavior among parents, coaches and school officials. This year for NCR, the award was given to Marist School in the SBP division while no winner was announced in the Passerelle division.

Organized by the country’s premier sports clinic, Basketball Efficiency Sci-

FOR the second consecutive year, the Embassy of Argentina in Manila, in collaboration with the Embassies of Brazil and Chile and the De La Salle Araneta University, is organizing a football tournament for children on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. at the football field of De La Salle Araneta University in Malabon.

The kickfest is called the “Torneo ABC 2017,” a miniworld Cup that will provide the kids with an opportunity to test their skills against other teams from different parishes and public schools.

Teams from Lucena, Antipolo, Lipa and Caloocan supported by the embassies of Argentina, Brazil and Chile, teams from Gawad Kalinga supported by the Henry V. Moran Foundation, and a team from the De La Salle Araneta University, will represent Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the Philippines.

Argentinean, Brazilian and Chilean priests were involved in the beginning of this initiative, with different projects that intended to improve the living conditions of the children of their parishes through the practice of sports. By teaching football, the most popular sport in South America, they aim to take the kids off the streets and use the practice of the beautiful game to develop values like healthy habits, team work, leadership, and comradeship.

2. Pre-Bid Conference 3. Submission / Opening of Bids 4. Post-Qualification 5. Notice of Award

SCHEDULE October 5 to 26, 2017 October 12, 2017 - 2:00 PM Bidding Room, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila October 26, 2017 - 11:00 A.M. Procurement Department, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila October 27 to November 2, 2017 November 7, 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

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT OF THENEDA CENTRAL SUPPORT OFFICE - INFORMATION SYSTEM (NCSO-IS) 1. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) intends to apply the sum of Nine Million Four Hundred Thousand Pesos (PhP 9,400,000.00)inclusive of all applicable government taxes and charges, professional fees, and other incidental and administrative costs, as the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC), to payments under the Contract for the subject consulting services. Proposals received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at the opening of the Financial Proposals.

2. The NEDA now calls for the submission of EOI and eligibility requirements for the conduct of the system development of the NEDA Central Support Office – Information System.The contract shall be completed within forty-seven (47) weeks spread over fifty-six (56) weeks.

EOI and eligibility submissions of interested Consultants must be duly received by the NEDA Bids and Awards Committee for Consulting Services (NBAC-CS) on or before 19 October 2017, 12:00 NN, at the following address: Asst. Secretary Carlos Bernardo O. Abad Santos NBAC-CS Chairman 5/F NEDA-sa-Pasig Building, #12 Saint Josemaria Escriva Drive Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1605 3. Interested Consultants may obtain further information from NEDA and acquire a complete set of Bidding/Proposal Documents at the address given above from Mondays to Fridays, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., starting 25 September 2017 upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding/ Proposal Documents in the amount of PhP10,000.00. The Bidding/Proposal Documents may also be downloaded free of charge from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and NEDA websites, provided that Consultants shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding/Proposal Documents not later than the submission of their proposals.

4. A Pre-Proposal/Bid Conference will be held on 02 November 2017, 12:30PM at the G/F NEDAsa-Pasig Building, #12 Saint Josemaria Escriva Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1605, and will be open only to Consultants who have paid the corresponding fee for the Bidding/Proposal Documents. Representative/s should bring a letter addressed to the NBAC-CS Chair certifying that the representative/s has/have authority to speak for and in behalf of the Consultant.

5. Interested Consultantshave the option to submit their Legal, Financial and Class “B” Eligibility Documents (1 original copy and 4 copies), as applicable, in advance (on or before 09 October 2017, 5:00 P.M.) for preliminary evaluation by the NBAC-CS in terms of completeness/ compliance. The NBAC-CS, however, shall only proceed with the preliminary evaluation upon payment of a participation fee of PhP2,000.00.Note that said amount shall cover the attendant administrative cost for the eligibility check and shortlisting process and shall be deducted from the cost of the Bidding/Proposal Documents. The NBAC-CS, after its preliminary evaluation of advance submissions, shall inform the participating Consultantsof any deficiency in their respective submissions at least three (3) calendar days prior to the deadline for submission of Eligibility Documents set in this Request for EOI. 6. The NBAC-CS shall draw up the short list of Consultants from those who have submitted EOI, including the Eligibility Documents, and have been determined as eligible in accordance with the relevant provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA), and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). The short list shall consist of three (3) to seven (7) prospective Consultants who will be entitled to submit proposals. The criteria and rating system for shortlisting are as follows: Rating Factor (Hurdle Rate: 70%) I. Experience and Capability of the Firm II. Qualification of Consultants who may be assigned to the project III. Current Workload Relative to Capacity of the Firm Total

Firms 60 30 10 100

7.

The selection process will be conducted through through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the IRR of RA 9184. This procurement activity is open to all interested Consultants subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in said Revised IRR. 8. Proposals shall be evaluated using the Quality-Cost Based Evaluation/Selection (QCBE/ QCBS) procedure at a weight ratio of 80% for the Technical Proposal and 20% for the Financial Proposal. The criteria and rating system for the evaluation of proposals shall be provided in the Instructions to Proponents/Bidders.

9. NEDA reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, including that of a single eligible proponent, waive any minor deviation in the submitted documents which will not materially affect the substance of the proposal, annul the procurement/bidding process, or not award the contract without thereby incurring any liability to the affected participating Consultant/s.

10. For further information, please contact the NBAC-CS Secretariat: 2/F NEDA-sa-Pasig Building #12 Saint Josemaria Escriva Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1605 (02) 631-3754 / (02) 631-0960 to 65 local 207 Fax Nos. (02) 631-3736 Issued on 25 September 2017.

(SGD) CARLOS BERNARDO O. ABAD SANTOS Assistant Secretary and Chairperson, NBAC-CS (MS-OCT. 5, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017

Falcons edge UP Maroons for 4th victory Games Saturday (Mall of Asia Arena) 2 p.m. – UST vs UE (Men) 4 p.m. – FEU vs AdU (Men)

By Peter Atencio JERICK Ahanmisi missed an important three-point shot in the last 1.4 seconds. But two teammates were waiting underneath.

Papi Sarr bungled a follow-up, but Sean Manganti canned a putback that propelled the Adamson Falcons to a 73-71 verdict over the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons yesterday at the Big Dome.

Manganti’s basket found its mark after it sailed over the outretched hands of Juan Gomez de Liano and sent the Falcons to their fourth win in six games in the 80th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament.

It was a close call for the Falcons, who coach Franz Pumaren admitted have been struggling all afternoon.

Ahanmisi, who only scored three of six triples, went on to finish with a game-high 21 points for the Falcons, who climbed to a tie for third with the Far Eastern University Tamaraws.

“This is a good test for us. That crucial moment of a game. We can survive a game like this,” said Pumaren.

The Fighting Maroons, who dropped to fourth at 3-3, got off to a good start after taking a 25-16 edge in the opening period, with De Liano making seven of his eight points in the first 10 minutes.

The 6’2” Ahanmisi drilled in 17 points in the second period as the Falcons threatened by a point, 43-44, at halftime.

The Fighting Maroons, with Paul Desiderio and Jun Manzo making 19 points, then fought the Falcons to four deadlocks.

Desiderio’s layup past Sarr with 22.1 seconds left allowed UP to tie the contest for the last time at 71-all.

Meanwhile, Ben Mbala scored another personal best for the third time this season, making 39 points in leading the defending champion La Salle Green Archers to a 106-100 smothering of the University of the East Warriors.

Meralco’s Baser Amer drives to the basket against the defense of Star’s Aldrech Ramos in a PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal game won by the Bolts.

Meralco shoots for 3-0 sweep of Star Hotshots

By Jeric Lopez

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ERALCO is on the brink of making a return trip to the finals as it looks to sweep ailing Star in its road to redemption in the semifinals of the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup. Holding a 2-0 lead, the Bolts can march back to the finals when they play the Hotshots once again in Game 3 of their best-of-five semis affair today at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Meralco coach Norman Black knows his Bolts are closer to the finals, but he is also well aware that the job is still not done despite the position they’re in.

“We still need one more game to get to the finals and of course, we’re hoping we can end the series on the first try,” said Black.

After taking Game 1 in tough fashion, the Bolts suddenly summoned all their power to completely manhandle the Hotshots in Game 2.

Meralco was at its best and hardly broke a sweat Tuesday night when it annihilated helpless Star, 98-74, in Sta. Rosa City to grab a firm grip on the series.

Furthermore, the Bolts will have yet another advantage as one of Star’s top guns was already ruled out of the series.

Hotshot star Paul Lee, who only played three minutes early in Game 2 after aggravating an old knee injury, was announced to be done for the series, leading Star with more problems to face against the confident Bolts.

Still, Star coach Chito Victolero remains positive that his team isn’t completely out of it just yet despite all the odds stacked against them.

“This is not yet over. It takes three games. We still have a chance,” said Victolero. “With Paul gone now, everybody needs to step-up. We need to keep a positive mindset.”

PSC preparing early for ‘19 Asian Games PREPARING for the 2019 Asian Games should be the priority of national athletes in the coming months.

Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William “Ramirez” said this as the agency gets ready to meet with the national sports association.

At the same time, the PSC is set to go into more activities that will boost the country’s grassroots programs.

The series of meetings will be held to discuss policies, make reviews, assessments and evaluations of athletes that will be selected for the Asiad, which is slated from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, 2019.

The preparations for the Asiad, along with that of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will

be delegated to two new faces in the PSC, Atty. Sanna Privaldo and Raul Dominic Badilla.

Privaldo, a former varsity football athlete for Letran, has replaced Carlo Abarquez as executive director, while Badilla takes on role of chief of staff, following the resignation of Ronnel Abrenica.

“She (Privaldo) will be playing an important role in the stability of the PSC going to the Asiad, the 2019 hosting of the SEA Games, and the 2020 Olympics, and beyond,” said Ramirez.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Olympic Committee welcomes the desires and clamors of severals national sports association in seeking change from within the association.

POC vice president and spokesman Joey

Romasanta said this after learning that a group of NSA heads got together Tuesday afternoon at a Makati venue to discuss the current situation of Philippine sports.

“I see no problem in this. This is a welcome development,” said Romasanta, who added that he has yet to see the manifesto that the 18 presidents and secretaries-generals of concerned NSAs. The sports represented were gymnastics, boxing, rugby, handball, netball, shooting, speak takraw, swimming, judo, karatedo, triathlon, dragon boat/canoe-kayak, table tennis, squash, taekwando, soft tennis, rowing and arnis.

“The NSAs are eager and participative now.

This is something that the POC should look into,” said Romasanta. Peter Atencio

Lady Bulldogs zero in on finals Games Saturday 8 a.m. – FEU vs NU (men’s) 10 a.m. – UST vs ADMU 4 p.m. – FEU vs AdU (women’s) 6:30 p.m. – NU vs AU

National University’s Aiko Urdas connects on a hard spike against Arellano U’s Andrea Marzan (14) and Necole Ebuen during their PVL Collegiate Conference Final Four duel at the San Juan Arena.

NATIONAL University sustained its hot charge coming off an eliminations sweep, smothering Arellano University with its power game and solid blocking to score a 25-17, 25-16, 25-23 romp and move a win from nailing the first finals berth in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference in San Juan yesterday.

National team Jaja San-

tiago unloaded a match-high 24 hits, the last ending what turned out to be a tight third set after the Lady Bulldogs cruised to lopsided wins in the first two frames in the opener of their best-of-three semifinal series.

The Lady Chiefs put up a strong challenge in the third, overcoming an 11-15 deficit and seizing the lead twice, the last at 20-19 on an NU unforced error.

But Santiago and Risa Sato combined in 4-1 counterattack to regain control and after Santiago and Necole Ebuen traded attack errors, the chief Lady Bulldog converted on a Jasmine Nabor’s set to fin-

ish off the Lady Chiefs and stretch their win run to six, counting the five in their domination of the single round elims of the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.

“We were just able to execute our plays,” said Santiago, who also had three aces and emerged the game’s best player.

NU goes for the clincher in Game Two on Saturday.

Sato marked her 22nd birthday with 11 points, providing the energy and quick points on the net, while Aiko Urdas, who forms part of the solid NU frontline, delivered eight markers.

Rivera goes a Perfect 10 in Phoenix slalom TOUGH Gear Racing’s Milo Rivera continued his domination of the RACE Motorsports Club’s 2017 Phoenix National Slalom Series by going a perfect 10 wins during the 10th leg of the series at the Robinsons Novaliches.

Rivera bagged the overall and production best time with his 10th straight win and a time of 54.48, followed by his teammate/ brother Estefano Rivera with 54.62.

Placing third was 13-year-old Inigo Anton of Mark Young Racing Team with 55.64, with Paul San-

tos (56.46) of Team Big Chill and Powee Base (57.38) from the PMMS Rennsport Racing Team placing fourth and fifth, respectively.

The 10th leg marked the start of the double points’ system in the series.

Meanwhile, Anton brought home the Front Wheel and the novice best time of 55.64, followed by Base with 57.38 and Vegil Calayo of JAF Racing Team with 57.54.

The 2017 RACE Motorsports Club National Slalom Series is presented by Phoenix Premium 98 and

Phoenix Accelerate Fully Synthetic Oil, with major sponsors Federal Tyres and Outlast Battery. It is also backed by Starbright Body Kits, Auto Transporter, Cars Unlimited Auto Sales Fairview, Mark Young Cars, media partners Stoplight TV, C! Magazine, Auto Car Magazine, Power Wheels Magazine, Ride and Drive Philippines and Driven2ride.ph.

The event was participated in by JAF Racing Team, Tough Gear Racing Team, Parts Pro Autofastion Racing Team, Kajega Racing Team, Mark Young Cars,

Rod and Lea Racing Team and Rotary Team.

The 2017 remaining legs for the year are on Nov. 12 at the Tarlac Circuit Hill and Dec. 10 at Robinsons Starmills Pampanga, with the the Slalom Invitational set on Oct. 8 at Robinsons Calasiao Pangasinan.

For details, contact Bing Bang Dulce at tel. no, 09178119337 or like the event’s Facebook page racemotorsportsclub.

Some of the official Results: Novice Stock Injected: 1st Rod Chang 6 1 . 6 4 ;

The Bolts were the runners-up in last season’s version of this tournament with reigning Best Import Allen Durham leading the charge.

With the same approach in this campaign with even more motivation to finally go all the way, they now see themselves a win away from getting back to the big stage.

Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra can also enjoy a 2-0 lead should it continue its dominant ways over at the other side of the bracket.

The Gin Kings are currently going for another one against TNT KaTropa, which is looking to equalize, their own best-of-five semis series.

PH rebounds with victory vs Sri Lanka

THE Philippines bounced back from its opening-night loss in the XXVIII BFA Asian Baseball Championship Tuesday night at Tien Mou Stadium in New Taipei City as it pulled off a close 8-5 thriller over Sri Lanka.

The Filipinos broke free from a 5-5 standoff with a three-run spree at the bottom of the eighth to secure the win.

They improved their winloss record to 1-1 in Group A after a 2-12 loss at the hands of host Chinese Taipei in their previous outing.

The PH IX next faces Korea, which also dropped to 1-1 after a 2-3 setback to the unbeatean Taiwanese (2-0).

The Sri Lankans, who are winless after two matches, jumped the gun on the Pinoy U23 batters with a three-run binge in the second.

But it could not hold on to the lead long as Jonash Ponce blasted the equalizing three-run homer in the third.

Then, the Filipinos went ahead after a run each in the fourth and seventh before the Sri Lankans pulled even with two runs in the top eighth.

After that, the PH batters took the upperhand for good by sending three runners home in the bottom frame and shut their rivals out in the top ninth.

Peter Atencio

Wong leads

Tough Gear’s Milo Rivera makes his move in the race track.

2nd Jimmy Biglangawa 72.22 Novice Stock Carburated: 1st Joseph Ortega 60.32; 2nd Carl Andre Perez 68.02

Novice Modified A: 1st Powee Base 58.00; 2nd Armand Marcaida 58.18; 3rd Karl Sena 62.32; 4th Jonathan Biglang-awa 65.08

PAOLO Wong dished out top form and sizzled with a bogeyfree five-under 67 to wrest a onestroke lead over defending champion Jolo Magcalayo at the start of the 17th Canlubang Amateur Open at the Canlubang Golf and Country Club’s South course in Laguna yesterday.

Wong rattled off three birdies at the front then sustained his charge and added two more at the back as the Manila Southwoods bet completed a 33-34 card for the early lead in the 54-hole tournament put up annually by the host club and the Yulo family as part of their continuing effort to help develop the sport and provide the young players a venue where they could develop their skills.

Century Properties taps Megawide as contractor B2

Business

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

Inflation likely rose to 3.4% in September THE Finance Department said Wednesday inflation rate likely accelerated to 3.4 percent in September from 3.1 percent in August, driven by higher prices of food, fuel and power.

“Inflation rate in September likely crept to 3.4 percent, up by 0.3 percentage point as compared to August. Weather disturbances caused price increases in food items, especially vegetables,” the department said in its latest economic bulletin on inflation.

“Fuel price hikes and power rate increases contributed the increase in the non-food commodity group,” it said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said inflation in September likely accelerated to as high as 3.6 percent from 3.1 percent in August on higher prices of fuel, weaker peso and increased power rates.

The Bangko Sentral said inflation likely settled within the 2.8 percent to 3.6 percent range.

Inflation in the first eight months averaged 3.1 percent, higher than the midpoint of the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year.

A manageable inflation environment and robust domestic economic growth prompted the Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral to maintain the current policy settings steady in its meeting on Sept. 21, 2017.

It maintained the interest rates at 3.5 percent for overnight lending, 3 percent for overnight borrowing, and 2.5 percent for deposit facilities. The reserve requirement ratios were also retained.

Bangko Sentral Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the board’s decision was based on its assessment that the inflation environment remained manageable.

“Latest forecasts show that the future inflation path will continue to be within the target range for 20172019. Julito G. Rada

B1

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, October 4, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE

INVESTMENT ROADSHOW. Officials of the Philippines Investment Promotion Plan and Japan External Trade Organization attend the Board of Investments roadshow in Tokyo, Japan on Oct. 1 to 4 to promote investment opportunities in the Philippines. Shown during the opening ceremonies are Jetro executive vice president Dr. Yuri Sato (seated, fifth from left), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority administrator Raul Lambino (seated, fourth from left), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman and administrator Wilma Eisma (seated, third from right), Subic-Clark Alliance for Development executive director Linda Pamintuan (seated, third from left), Clark International Airport Corp. assistant vice president for strategic development Darwin Cunanan (standing,fifth from left), CIAC assistant vice president for legal governance Jepri Miranda (standing, sixth from left) and other officials of PIPP and Jetro.

Currency Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

Japan

Yen

0.008862

0.4535

UK

Pound

1.323800

67.7494

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128025

6.5521

Switzerland

Franc

1.027116

52.5657

Canada

Dollar

0.800897

40.9883

Singapore

Dollar

0.734268

37.5784

Australia

Dollar

0.783400

40.0928

Bahrain

Dinar

2.653998

135.8263

Saudi Arabia Rial

0.266660

13.6471

0.731582

51.1780

Brunei

Dollar

Indonesia

Rupiah 0.000074

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

1.5307

UAE

Dirham 0.272287

13.9351

Euro

Euro

1.174600

60.1137

Korea

Won

0.000875

0.0448

China

Yuan

0.150218

7.6879

India

Rupee

0.015272

0.7816

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.235988

0.029909

New Zealand Dollar

0.715700

Taiwan

0.032864

Dollar

37.4409

12.0774 36.6281 1.6819 Source: PDS Bridge

WB cuts growth forecast to 6.6%

By Julito G. Rada

T

HE World Bank on Wednesday downgraded the 2017 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.6 percent from the previous estimate of 6.8 percent because of the sluggish pace of the government’s infrastructure program.

The Washington-based multilateral lender said despite the lower growth forecast, the country’s 6.6-percent expansion this year would be strong enough to outperform most of its peers in the Asia-Pacific region.

“In 2017, the [Philippine] economy is projected to expand at a slightly slower pace than 2016, at 6.6 percent. The delay in the anticipated push of the planned govern-

ment infrastructure program has been contributing to the moderation of fixed capital formation growth, softening the growth prospect for the year,” World Bank said in its East Asia and Pacific economic update report for the month of October.

“Nevertheless, it is expected to continue to be the fastest growing of the large Asean economies,” the bank said.

The forecast for the Philippines this year is slightly slower than 6.7 percent for China, but is faster than the 5.1 percent for Indonesia, 5.2 percent for Malaysia, 3.5 percent for Thailand and 6.3 percent for Vietnam.

The World Bank also sees the Philippines growing 6.7 percent in 2018, faster than China’s 6.4 percent, Indonesia’s 5.3 percent, Malaysia’s 5 percent, Thailand’s 3.6 percent and Vietnam’s 6.4 percent.

The Philippines is seen to grow 6.7 per-

PH seen keeping Europe privileges

cent in 2019, faster than 6.3 percent for China, 5.3 percent for Indonesia, 4.8 percent for Malaysia, 3.5 percent for Thailand and 6.4 percent for Vietnam.

The World Bank said the medium-term growth outlook remained positive and is expected to be anchored in the growth of the Philippines’ main trading partners which would lead to a higher external demand.

Imports would remain elevated due to necessary imports of intermediate and capital goods, including for infrastructure program.

“As the public infrastructure program gains traction, capital outlays and construction activities are expected to rise. Consumption growth is expected to remain firm contingent on sustained remittances and expanding credit contributing to improving income levels,” the bank said.

It said local elections in 2019 would like-

Cavite-Batangas expressway to break ground in 2019

By Darwin G. Amojelar will be a Swiss Chal- project was targeted to be lang, Amadeo, Mendez

By Othel V. Campos THE European Union parliament will likely retain the trade incentives accorded to the Philippines under the EU Generalized System of Preferences Plus program, EU Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen said Wednesday.

“I do not want to preempt the report, but I guess the report will not be a surprise to the Philippines,” Jessen said in a pre-event briefing for the upcoming EU-Philippine Business Summit on Oct. 17, 2017.

The EU parliament conducts an annual review of the beneficiary countries’ availment of the trade program to validate these countries’ compliance to conditions set by EU. The report will be released in 2018, following a threemonth evaluation of the nine countries that qualified under the program.

Jessen said the EU was monitoring the Philippines compliance with international agreements on labor and human rights.

THE construction of the P22.43-billion CaviteBatangas Expressway is expected to start by the first quarter of 2019, according to the Public Works Department.

“We are now evaluating the feasibility study before we can give our approval.

We are ready to give the results of our evaluation within the year,” Public Works Undersecretary for planning and PPP Maria Catalina Cabral told reporters.

“By next year, there

lenge,” she said.

Luigi Bautista, president and chief executive of MPCALA Holdings Inc., said his group was hoping to get the original proponent status for the project by November this year.

He said the project, when completed, would cut the travel time from Sta. Rosa Laguna to Nasugbu, Batangas from 2.5 hours to just one hour.

Bautista said the CTBex

Skal International Makati chairman Robert Lim Joseph (center), president Jimmy Bautista (third from right) and vice president Farid Schoucair (left) welcome Spanish Ambassador Luis Calvo, Tourism Secretary and Skal awardee Wanda TulfoTeo and husband Roberto, awardee Ricardo Tan and businessman Jack Rodriquez at the 36th Skal Makati anniversary celebration, in conjunction with the 27th Tourism Personality Awards night at New World Hotel Makati. The annual prestigious Skal Award is in partnership with Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Department of Tourism, Philippine Airlines, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, New World Hotel Makati and Tourism Promotions Board.

EDC appoints 3 directors

THE board of Energy Development Corp. approved the election of three directors that will represent Philippines Renewable Energy Holdings Corp., following the announcement of its formal strategic partnership this year.

EDC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that pursuant to the acquisition by PREHC of 31.7 percent voting shares of EDC, the board accepted the resignation of Oscar Lopez, Petter Garrucho Jr. and Victor Emmanue Santos Jr. EDC said David Luboff, David Baldwin and Christopher Low filled up the vacancy. Lopez will remain as chairman emeritus of the company.

First Gen Corp. of the Lopez Group and PREHC on Tuesday marked the start of their strategic partnership as major shareholders in EDC. PREHC successfully completed its voluntary tender offer to acquire up to 31.7 percent of EDC’s total outstanding voting shares from existing shareholders for $1.3 billion. Alena Mae S. Flores

completed in the first half of 2022.

CTBex is a 49-kilometer expressway that will connect Cavite and Batangas, with a spur road to Tagaytay City and ultimately terminating in Nasugbu, with another spur road to Tuy, Batangas.

The project will start at Silang East Interchange of Cavite-Laguna Expressway. The alignment shall traverse the towns of Si-

and Alfonso in Cavite, Tagaytay City and Nasugbu in Batangas.

MPCala is also constructing the P35-billon Calax―a four-lane, 47-kilometer closed-system toll expressway connecting Cavitex and South Luzon Expressway.

The expressway will start from Cavitex in Kawit, Cavite and end at SLEx-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

TOURISM AWARDS.

IN BRIEF

ly boost domestic activities as early as the latter half of 2018.

The bank warned that a faster-thanexpected increase in interest rates in advanced economies, including the United States, remained a source of external risk.

It said expectations of international interest rate tightening might lead to renewed capital outflows and volatility in the foreign exchange market.

“The pace of economic growth could be slower if the government is unable to timely deliver on its planned infrastructure program. Complementary reforms to address budget execution and implementation bottlenecks and to ensure high quality of spending are needed,” it said.

The banks said that maintaining fiscal sustainability over the medium-term would also depend on the success of the priority tax reforms.

ABS-CBN TVplus hits 3.6m

ABS-CBN Corp. said it is on track to meet its target to sell four million digital terrestrial television set top boxes this year.

“We are on track to hit our target of selling a cumulative total of four million ABS-CBN TVplus boxes this year as more Filipinos experience ABS-CBN TVplus’ promise of clear picture and additional exclusive channels with no monthly fees,” Chinky Alcedo, head of ABS-CBN Digital Terrestrial Television, said.

ABS-CBN sold a cumulative total of 3.6 million boxes as of end-September.

ABS-CBN sold 2.2 million TVplus units in 2016 alone, surpassing the year-end target sales of 2 million boxes.

ABS-CBN TVplus signal coverage is available in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Rizal, Laguna, Pampanga, Tarlac, Benguet, Cavite, Metro Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod and Davao.

The ABS-CBN TVplus box is offered at a one-time payment of P1,499.

Darwin G. Amojelar

Lending sector to keep growing

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said Wednesday the outlook for leasing and lending operations in the country remains bright amid the backdrop of a solid and robust domestic economy.

Espenilla said the positive economic outlook coupled with the government’s thrust to promote infrastructure spending would be favorable for financing and leasing industries.

“While global economic and political conditions remain challenging, the Philippine economy is strongly supported by buoyant consumer and corporate demand. It is projected to grow at 6.8 percent in the medium term,” he said during the general membership meeting and induction of officers of the Philippine Finance Corp. in Makati City.

Espenilla said the inflation outlook for the next two years remained manageable and within the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.

He also cited the country’s international reserves which remained at a healthy level of $80.8 billion as of end-July 2017―enough to cover almost nine months of imports and payments of goods and services. Julito G. Rada

Circular No. 974 Series of 2017

Subject: Amendments to the Manual of Regulations for Banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions as of 31 March 2017 The Monetary Board, in its Resolution No. 1570 dated 14 September 2017, approved the following amendments to the Manual of Regulations for Banks (MORB) and Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions (MORNBFI) as of 31 March 2017.

Section 1. The following statement is added as a footnote to Section X206.

“The new check clearing process shall be implemented on 20 January 2017.

For participant banks which will not be compliant with the CICS standard on 20 January 2017, they shall execute a Letter of Commitment stating, among others, the actions that they will be taking to be compliant with the CICS standard until 21 April 2017.”

Section 2. Annex A of Appendix 89 (Regulatory Relief for Banks affected by Calamities) of the MORB and Annex A of Appendix Q-67 [Regulatory Relief for Non-Bank Financial Institutions with Quasi-Banking Functions (NBQBs) affected by Calamities] of the MORNBFI are amended to add the grant of regulatory relief to covered areas affected by typhoon “Niña” pursuant to Memorandum No. M-2017-002 dated 18 January 2017 (Annexes A and A-1 of this Circular) Section 3. The Computation Sheet for Capital Repatriation (Annex B of this Circular) referred to under Circular No. 942 dated 20 January 2017 shall be incorporated as Attachment 1 of Appendix N-8-c.

Section 4. The provisions under Memorandum No. M-2017-003 are codified in the MORNBFI P-Regulations as shown in Annex C of this Circular.

For the Monetary Board: (Sgd.) CHUCHI G. FONACIER Officer-in-Charge 29 September 2017 Note: This Circular along with its annexes can be accessed at the BSP website: www.bsp.gov.ph under “Regulations\Circulars”

B2

Business

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market advances to new record

T

HE stock market extended its gains Wednesday following a record close on Wall Street, but the dollar eased as attention begins to focus on the likely makeup of the new Federal Reserve board.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 31.12 points, or 0.4 percent, to an all-time high of 8,344.05. Gainers beat losers, 106 to 88, with 62 issues unchanged.

BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets, climbed 2.1 percent to P135, while PXP Energy Corp. advanced 4.2 percent to P8.19.

Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which operates a casino on part of a reclaimed land in Manila Bay, rose 3.8 percent to P10.90, but rival Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp. fell 2.7 percent to P7.56.

Tokyo and Hong Kong, meanwhile, extended gains in Asia equity trade Wednesday.

Investors are broadly upbeat about the global economic outlook and remain buoyed

by the release last week of Donald Trump’s tax-cutting plans, while they are also looking ahead to the release of key jobs data on Friday.

With Fed boss Janet Yellen’s term due to end in February, investors will be closely watching for clues about Trump’s choice to take over—a decision expected to be made in two to three weeks.

The president has said he would decide after interviewing ex-board member Kevin Warsh, current governor Jerome Powell and two other candidates.

On equity markets the Nikkei in Tokyo ended 0.1 percent higher, adding to Tuesday’s gains to sit at more than two-year highs.

However, Nissan sank more than one percent following a report that factories routinely forged inspection documents for new vehicles, as a scandal mounted around Japan’s second-biggest carmaker days after being hit with a costly recall.

Hong Kong ended up 0.7 percent, with dealers also taking heart from a Chinese cen-

tral bank decision at the weekend to cut the amount of cash some banks must keep in reserve in a bid to help small businesses.

Wellington and Jakarta also climbed but Sydney dipped 0.9 percent and Singapore was 0.3 percent off.

Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul were closed for public holidays.

Analysts said the dollar would likely move in line with who is considered the favorite to take the helm, with Warsh seen as a fiscal hawk and Powell more in line with Yellen’s wait-and-see policy to monetary tightening.

“Markets rightly or wrongly came to the view late last week that Warsh was the frontrunner, and viewed him—rightly or wrongly—as having more hawkish proclivities than Janet Yellen,” Ray Attrill, global co-head of foreign-exchange strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.

But he added that talk of Powell taking the top post have “seen the dollar giving back a little of the gains” from last week.

With Bloomberg, AFP

Century Properties taps Megawide as contractor

By Darwin G. Amojelar CENTURY Properties Group Inc. and brand partner Mitsubishi Corp. tapped Megawide Construction Corp. to build a housing project in Tanza, Cavite province.

Under the agreement, PHirst Park Homes of Century Properties through Tanza Properties Inc. awarded the contract to Megawide for the supply of precast concrete panel building systems for 2,830 housing units.

PHirst Park Homes is the firsthome division and brand name of

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 4.56 127,000 59.8 23,790 102 1,078,260 4 360,000 135 3,825,530 2.82 3,906,000 35.55 103,300 9.1 800 16 13,900 32.7 766,400 8.31 1,000 0.67 9,000 1.75 62,000 960 180 0.69 1,397,000 88.8 1,062,520 0.87 144,000 13.02 51,500 24.8 3,500 58 117,050 238 3,960 119 280 87.95 12,450 48.8 95,500 244 174,980 1,900 595 86.6 37,820 1.35 251,000

579,820 1,420,612.50 109,995,447 1,407,870 515,353,955 11,149,000 3,681,510 7,280 220,876 25,162,410 8,232 6,030 105,610 172,800 964,600 94,277,934 121,140 670,530 86,800 6,804,399 942,388 33,320 1,094,977.50 4,658,925 43,827,746 1,130,250 3,272,163 330,100

216,262.50 -47,638,112 -40,679,655 -14,150 -928,295 -7,081,760 5,040 14,000 28,915,331 -3,907,292 -4,752 1,423,960 17,740,122 28,500 -103,015 -

42.9 10.22 0.76 1.39 19.32 0.23 107.5 5.14 17 42.2 19.02 67.9 72.5 1.92 6.33 11.36 10.02 15.02 13.52 7.23 5.6 19.16 67.3 14.2 12.32 19.48 1.88 241.6 60 4.55 3.14 30.45 19.98 15.44 283.6 0.223 11.24 2.95 6.75 10.3 5.85 9.81 1.75 11.8 66.4 6.54 308 4.44 4.4 2.65 13.08 4.5 0.141 1.17 152.3 3.45 2.06 26.5 0.97

INDUSTRIAL 42.95 1,069,800 10.46 1,244,000 0.76 846,000 1.41 1,260,000 19.88 1,400 0.234 2,220,000 110 990 5.2 3,822,000 17.04 891,900 42.55 660,500 20.2 13,800 68 2,890 74 4,120 1.96 1,210,000 6.49 169,800 11.74 34,000 10.26 7,361,200 15.02 129,000 13.64 364,200 7.3 659,200 5.68 21,183,800 19.6 3,373,700 67.7 141,830 14.3 31,800 12.4 50,300 19.98 4,551,300 1.91 2,653,000 242.4 532,970 60 10 5 1,680,000 3.15 25,000 30.5 2,208,500 20 277,200 16.02 4,053,000 285.4 337,410 0.224 780,000 11.3 515,700 2.95 160,000 6.75 84,400 10.38 873,300 6.09 20,400 9.81 147,400 1.78 902,000 11.8 756,900 66.4 100,160 6.58 66,300 308 5,990 4.54 206,000 4.4 45,000 2.7 232,000 13.3 1,480,800 4.55 17,000 0.141 150,000 1.21 304,000 153.7 663,480 3.5 24,000 2.1 4,008,000 26.5 700 0.97 710,000

45,996,030 12,948,628 643,730 1,769,470 27,690 523,810 108,403 19,789,962 15,165,030 28,085,110 277,733 196,403 299,330 2,371,710 1,094,839 387,546 75,453,316 1,944,174 4,984,964 4,799,946 119,913,913 65,833,698 9,588,736.5(1, 454,740 622,868 90,729,697 20 5,123,300 129,175,204 600 8,352,260 79,230 67,432,795 5,545,459 64,864,390 96,102,248 174,680 5,886,974 479,000 573,131 9,056,812 120,131 1,447,450 1,588,530 9,039,310 6,660,085 435,924 1,844,920 921,500 198,020 626,040 19,753,222 77,200 21,210 361,440 101,939,359 83,950 8,363,450 18,550 688,700

-13,719,685 -249,396 7,600 -4,793,646 -33,542 5,377,675 118,885 38,800 -35,162,728 242,824 -1,472,162 2,133,680 -76,184,236 715,036 454,924.4997) -391,840 ,212,985.0001 144,080 -23,824,104 352,210 -57,738,580 854,610 -17,575,246 -3,163,480 -167,050 -1,525,086 681,030 178,000 -1,157,814.50 72,356 -862,400 279,840 3,261,444 33,205,232 2,088,600 -

0.35 74.35 16.88 1.03 6.7 0.335 0.35 987 8.39 15.68 7.71 5.03 1,206 7.8 77.7 5.42 0.86 5.93 17.54 6.83 0.047 1.28 2.11 97.2 2.6 902 0.85 1.42 190.2 292.8 0.27 0.193

HOLDING FIRMS 0.35 120,000 75.2 900,330 17 7,110,900 1.06 714,000 6.99 14,700 0.345 980,000 0.35 1,080,000 998 273,570 8.41 506,400 15.7 15,087,800 7.78 40,800 5.03 29,100 1,211 87,830 7.8 100 77.95 685,500 5.42 2,100 0.87 561,000 5.93 1,146,000 17.66 1,620,800 6.87 15,507,800 0.048 11,800,000 1.29 284,000 2.12 260,000 97.65 143,700 2.6 4,000 907 397,900 0.92 305,000 1.43 160,000 190.2 430 294.8 6,200 0.275 1,630,000 0.193 70,000

42,450 67,684,743 121,313,766 739,890 102,561 332,200 379,650 272,847,920 4,256,672 236,982,060 316,775 146,735 107,569,410 780 53,586,330.50 11,382 489,520 6,817,871 28,588,754 106,751,562 566,400 374,880 550,190 14,019,638.50 10,400 361,534,080 260,870 227,440 82,378 1,823,760 440,900 13,510

-551,961.50 5,482,266 61,513,355 916,571 -41,604,136 -3,915 33,312,525 22,569,976 -883,830 -19,020,954 15,990,558 -1,902,214 -199,018,985 5,100 -383,240 2,700 -

2,079,550 19,763,070 1,366,901(1, 630,570 25,229,820 342,444,955 11,143,850 19,202,528 74,076 4,174,400 369,370 2,322,100 33,953,080 247,800 17,033,415 1,081,870 327,750 63,372,250 20 7,027,100 503,280 4,150 122,436,955 13,064,300

-1,577,090 32,820 279,339.9997) -821,400 -134,235,885 5,789,020 3,030.00 75,800 -11,262,740 -259,845 0 14,600.00 ,931,799.9997 5,528,548 100,800

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK BRIGHT KINDLE CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK FILIPINO FUND FIRST ABACUS IREMIT MANULIFE MEDCO HLDG METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PHILTRUST PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK VANTAGE

4.53 59.8 102 4 132.6 2.78 35.75 9.1 15.88 32.45 8.21 0.67 1.7 960 0.69 88.9 0.88 13.02 24.8 58.4 238 119 87.95 48.8 254.6 1,900 86.65 1.3

4.6 59.8 102.4 4 135.5 2.93 35.8 9.1 16 33.1 8.31 0.67 1.75 960 0.7 88.95 0.88 13.02 24.8 58.6 238 119 87.95 48.95 254.6 1,900 86.65 1.35

4.53 59.25 101.5 3.91 132.6 2.69 35.5 9.1 15.88 32.45 8.21 0.67 1.68 960 0.69 88.45 0.83 13.02 24.8 58 237.6 119 87.95 48.55 244 1,895 86.5 1.3

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS ASIABEST GROUP BASIC ENERGY BOGO MEDELLIN CEMEX HLDG CENTURY FOOD CIRTEK HLDG CNTRL AZUCARERA CONCEPCION CONCRETE A CROWN ASIA DAVINCI CAPITAL DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP EMPERADOR ENERGY DEVT FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG GINEBRA HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO MG HLDG PANASONIC PEPSI COLA PETROENERGY PETRON PHIL H2O PHINMA PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL PRYCE CORP PUREFOODS RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SFA SEMICON SHAKEYS PIZZA SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VIVANT VULCAN INDL

42.9 10.54 0.77 1.4 19.98 0.239 107.5 5.19 17.1 42.2 19.02 67.9 74 1.93 6.4 11.36 10.02 15.1 13.6 7.33 5.61 19.16 68 14.4 12.4 19.48 1.88 242.6 60 4.7 3.16 30.6 19.98 15.44 284 0.223 11.76 3 6.75 10.46 6.1 9.82 1.76 12.24 66.7 6.54 308 4.44 4.41 2.65 13.26 4.5 0.142 1.22 152.9 3.5 2.13 26.5 0.97

43.1 10.54 0.77 1.45 20 0.239 110.2 5.21 17.1 42.6 20.25 68 74 2.02 6.5 11.74 10.38 15.12 13.98 7.33 5.71 19.72 68 14.4 12.4 20.2 1.96 242.8 60 5.13 3.21 30.8 20.05 16.1 285.4 0.224 11.76 3 6.84 10.46 6.1 9.82 1.78 12.24 66.7 6.6 308 4.55 4.41 2.72 13.5 4.55 0.142 1.25 154 3.5 2.14 26.5 0.97

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

0.355 75.2 16.88 1.04 7 0.345 0.35 988.5 8.4 15.76 7.83 5.05 1,206 7.8 78.55 5.42 0.87 6.04 17.68 6.85 0.048 1.31 2.11 98 2.6 902 0.92 1.45 190.3 292.8 0.27 0.193

0.355 75.3 17.18 1.06 7 0.345 0.355 1,000 8.42 15.76 7.83 5.05 1,237 7.8 79 5.42 0.89 6.05 17.76 6.94 0.049 1.39 2.13 98 2.6 912.5 0.92 1.45 195 294.8 0.285 0.193

8990 HLDG A BROWN ANCHOR LAND ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE IRC PROP KEPPEL PROP MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED

4.99 1.14 8.62 2.42 1.05 44.25 3.82 5.14 5.32 0.51 1.36 1.35 0.231 0.47 43 0.68 0.146 2.04 1.5 0.91 4.15 5.33 0.365

4.99 1.14 9.49 2.42 1.13 44.45 3.85 5.17 5.34 0.52 1.36 1.35 0.238 0.475 43.95 0.71 0.146 2.11 1.57 0.91 4.15 5.35 0.365

4.96 1.07 8.5 2.4 1.03 43.95 3.81 5.03 5.32 0.51 1.34 1.25 0.224 0.465 42.5 0.68 0.145 2.03 1.5 0.9 4.15 5.31 0.35

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

0.47 0.485 6.7 25.75 1.81 3.2 35 1.08 7.45 0.86 6.4

0.495 0.49 6.85 26.3 1.82 3.2 35 1.09 7.45 0.87 6.4

0.47 0.48 6.68 25.75 1.81 3.15 34.85 1.06 7.45 0.86 6.26

0.48 0.49 6.68 26.05 1.82 3.18 34.95 1.08 7.45 0.87 6.36

5,730,000 2,640,000 3,583,600 965,500 471,000 148,000 6,652,400 5,137,000 500 207,000 2,086,900

2,786,650 1,281,400 24,063,007 25,183,485 853,650 469,300 232,581,700 5,540,140 3,725 179,440 13,241,383

-39,600 1,934,632 16,377,480 555,770 79,650 -3,369,755 -109,000 113,100 -3,396,878

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR CHELSEA DFNN INC GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN HAVEN HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PHIL RACING PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

20.2 40.7 1.76 0.56 0.049 10.9 10.5 0.072 107.5 9.03 9.96 8.2 2,040 6.05 16.98 2.34 2.96 104.9 11.96 8.41 0.156 1.34 3.1 15.88 4.2 1.33 15.3 3 7.77 4.21 17.88 2.4 11 5.14 8.36 170 9.48 1,662 1.63 0.395 54.9 104 6.2 4.31 1.51 4.07 1.22 8.7

20.2 40.7 1.8 0.56 0.054 11 10.98 0.075 107.5 9.05 10 8.2 2,068 6.05 17.1 2.49 3.1 105.4 11.96 8.41 0.158 1.45 3.14 15.9 4.3 1.34 15.44 3.18 7.96 4.24 18 2.4 11.14 5.14 8.36 170 9.58 1,706 1.63 0.395 55.1 104.5 6.23 4.31 1.56 4.25 1.23 8.84

19.92 40.6 1.72 0.55 0.048 10.9 10.5 0.071 105.5 8.76 9.95 7.8 2,040 6.03 16.94 2.34 2.95 104.3 11.92 8.39 0.156 1.34 3.05 15.8 4.2 1.3 15 2.9 7.55 4.18 17.88 2.33 11 5.05 8.36 164 9.45 1,662 1.56 0.395 53.95 103.1 6.15 4.15 1.51 3.99 1.2 8.7

SERVICES 19.98 40.65 1.76 0.55 0.053 11 10.9 0.074 106 9.05 9.95 7.99 2,064 6.03 17.1 2.49 3 104.9 11.92 8.4 0.157 1.41 3.14 15.88 4.25 1.32 15.02 3.05 7.56 4.22 18 2.36 11.14 5.12 8.36 164 9.5 1,700 1.57 0.395 54.9 104 6.21 4.24 1.54 4.25 1.2 8.8

59,900 27,600 448,000 3,520,000 441,100,000 4,400 15,592,400 51,950,000 363,180 13,700 1,010,400 38,700 37,825 373,300 13,100 2,289,000 70,000 639,910 29,600 313,100 1,290,000 2,568,000 25,000 6,300 321,000 510,000 2,567,400 1,736,000 15,726,700 416,000 3,000 726,000 2,300 3,700 1,000 5,630 569,200 129,745 15,191,000 170,000 2,390,750 1,367,940 848,500 3,929,000 3,755,000 5,803,000 9,279,000 2,058,700

1,195,576 1,121,455 791,510 1,941,300 22,360,600 48,090 169,089,630 3,832,490 38,569,773 123,736 10,073,578 306,353 78,047,020 2,253,332 222,416 5,564,470 211,410 67,094,092 352,904 2,629,841 201,460 3,626,300 77,620 99,972 1,353,840 666,100 38,851,784 5,364,870 121,566,794 1,750,690 53,910 1,720,960 25,580 18,748 8,360 953,232 5,393,612 220,351,475 24,007,320 67,150 131,320,969 142,168,365 5,249,538 16,478,820 5,778,550 23,849,600 11,247,190 18,120,568

3,988 -17,800 -201,200 31,043,436 238,220 -8,211,501 -41,046 -4,095.00 -39,473,240 -72,000 -33,800,363 115,500 8,440 5,288,650 12,187,866 -37,850 -16,440 47,300 -39,342,410 203,580 21,995,826 29,880,383 2,769,320 -10,783,320 602,500 3,505,000 -443,500 -12,233,367

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

0.0025 1.95 4.9 16 1.92 1.84 1.57 0.38 8.61 2.84 0.26 0.179 0.188 0.01 0.011 1.99 6.78 1.68 0.52 1.04 0.013 0.013 0.012 2.57 8.13 8.1 46 0.0078

0.0027 2 4.93 16.98 1.92 1.84 1.58 0.38 8.62 2.93 0.265 0.183 0.19 0.011 0.011 2.04 7.07 1.68 0.52 1.04 0.013 0.013 0.013 2.59 8.28 8.6 46.4 0.0078

0.0025 1.87 4.9 16 1.92 1.84 1.52 0.38 8.37 2.8 0.26 0.179 0.188 0.01 0.011 1.96 6.71 1.63 0.52 1.02 0.012 0.012 0.012 2.5 8.13 7.86 45.9 0.0076

MINING & OIL 0.0027 1,032,000,000 1.9 27,126,000 4.9 211,000 16.96 10,300 1.92 69,000 1.84 12,000 1.55 2,379,000 0.38 130,000 8.59 600 2.81 38,162,000 0.26 850,000 0.183 7,090,000 0.19 2,460,000 0.011 1,500,000 0.011 18,600,000 1.98 688,000 6.81 5,977,900 1.66 146,000 0.52 35,000 1.02 940,000 0.013 102,900,000 0.013 40,200,000 0.012 3,100,000 2.51 149,000 8.16 463,600 8.19 41,302,000 45.95 1,430,100 0.0076 25,000,000

2,685,100 52,355,440 1,033,930 168,826 132,480 22,080 3,655,340 49,400 5,134 109,174,260 221,200 1,290,080 466,390 15,200 204,600 1,373,400 41,226,431 241,410 18,200 959,780 1,337,200 522,500 37,300 376,600 3,802,801 340,325,976 10 65,989,335 194,000

98,800 655,300 -9,830 387,500 7,562,610 -370,500 -12,479,241 -377,000 -246,591 ,325,480.0003 3,850,845 7,600

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

40.45 530 106.3 109.9 540.5 5.77 1,040 1,030 1.05 110 1,070 1,016 106 1.96 75 80.5 77 80.25 78.4 78 78.95

40.5 530 106.3 109.9 541 5.8 1,040 1,030 1.05 110 1,070 1,016 106 1.96 75.5 80.5 77 80.25 78.4 78.5 80

40.4 530 106.1 109.9 540.5 5.76 1,040 1,030 1.05 110 1,070 1,014 106 1.96 75 80.1 76.7 80.25 78.4 78 78.95

PREFERRED 40.5 71,400 530 1,360 106.3 240 109.9 30 541 240 5.76 611,200 1,040 5,000 1,030 2,640 1.05 45,000 110 50 1,070 10 1,014 7,450 106 10 1.96 1,000 75.1 9,160 80.45 122,380 76.7 3,000 80.25 84,450 78.4 10 78 130,500 80 136,280

2,889,405 720,800 25,504 3,297 129,735 3,522,651(3, 5,200,000 2,719,200 47,250 5,500 10,700 7,555,800 1,060 1,960 687,934 9,845,440 230,400 6,777,112.50 784 10,181,200 10,786,900

400,460 1,099 503,642.9997) -36,700 -347,760 -

LR WARRANT

2.5

2.55

2.48

WARRANTS 2.52 152,000

380,230

-

13,751,560 149,020 5,819,554

2,503,860 -364,512

4,301,098

-36,598

22,200

-

MS

PROPERTY 4.98 1.09 8.97 2.41 1.13 43.95 3.84 5.04 5.34 0.52 1.34 1.3 0.224 0.47 42.9 0.7 0.145 2.08 1.54 0.91 4.15 5.31 0.355

418,000 18,073,000 159,100 261,000 22,862,000 7,775,700 2,903,000 3,785,500 13,900 8,145,000 275,000 1,783,000 148,540,000 530,000 395,300 1,535,000 2,250,000 30,353,000 4,551,000 555,000 1,000 22,992,400 36,790,000

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

5.05 4.62 5.82

5.41 4.78 5.91

5.05 4.6 5.78

FIRST METRO ETF

126

126.2

125.8

USD DMPL A1

11.1

11.1

11.1

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

14,264,736

INDUSTRIAL

102,534,202

HOLDING FIRMS

62,403,319

PROPERTY

342,595,584

SERVICES

601,248,145

MINING & OIL

1,353,098,265

GRAND TOTAL

2,479,844,341

5.1 4.75 5.79

SME

2,633,000 32,000 996,500

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 126.2 34,140 11.1

DDS

2,000

VALUE 2,002.73 (UP) 5.76 883,872,297.07 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,180.69 (UP) 64.92 1,351,767,226.52 HOLDING FIRMS 8,452.98 (UP) 25.73 1,436,115,023.498 PROPERTY 3,909.37 (UP) 7.45 1,747.08 (UP) 15.70 994,138,126.20 SERVICES MINING & OIL 13,930.05 (UP) 50.86 1,233,318,618.00 PSEI 8,344.05 (UP) 31.12 627,937,309.2315 All Shares Index 4,907.84 (UP) 15.84 6,551,191,917.52 Gainers: 106; Losers: 88; Unchanged: 62; Total: 256

listed real estate developer Century Properties Group with Mitsubishi.

“PHirst Park Homes works only with the best in the industry to deliver quality housing to first-time homebuyers,” PHirst Park Homes president Ricky Celis said.

“We are confident of Megawide’s experience and leadership in modern precast technology and their expertise will only ensure that our PHirst homes in Tanza are delivered complete and onschedule,” Celis added.

The precast construction system is one of the hallmarks of Megawide. The system enables faster construction, easy standardization, cost-effectiveness, high-quality finish and enhanced facade design.

“We are extremely proud of our precast technology. This memorandum of agreement with PHirst Park Homes is our seal of assurance to buyers in terms of quality and timely delivery,” Megawide president Edgar Saavedra said.

PHirst Park Homes Tanza is a 26-hectare horizontal community that is accessible through Governor’s Drive, Cavite with a total of 2,877 units.

Launched in the second quarter of 2017, the property has begun with land development in the first phase, which will have 950 units.

Target completion for the land development of the first phase is on the third quarter of 2018.

Globe sees increased data traffic from LTE

GLOBE Telecom Inc. said it expects around 50 percent of mobile data traffic to come from the long-term evolution network by the end of the year.

“Over the years, Globe has been continuously upgrading its network infrastructure and capacities to make us future-ready in anticipation of our customers’ bandwidth requirement,” Globe senior vice president Joel Agustin said.

“As our LTE network is steadily becoming more and more pervasive, more and more people transacting in LTE will have improve mobile data experience compared to 3G,” he added.

About 43 percent of the company’s data traffic comes from its LTE network amid the company’s aggressive deployment of LTE sites following its commitment to improve the mobile internet experience in the country.

Mobile data traffic in the first six months of the year soared 85 percent to 280 petabytes (PB) from 151 PB in the first six months of last year amid a steady increase in smartphone penetration, currently estimated at around 67 percent of total mobile subscribers.

To date, Globe has close to 5,000 LTE sites across the country, utilizing the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz frequencies, with a target to increasing this further by more than 600 sites by the end of the year, he said.

Agustin said a significant number of Globe customers were on LTE devices but were using 3G SIMs. while many others were using LTE SIMs but were on 3G devices. Darwin G. Amojelar

Business/World Energy shortages hound N. Korea

WONSAN―At the turbine hall at North Korea’s Wonsan Number 5 hydropower station, a placard mounted on a wall proclaims: “Prosperous and Powerful Nation”. But when it comes to electricity the North is anything but.

The country has made rapid progress in its weapons program under leader Kim Jong-Un, detonating what it said was an H-bomb last month and launching intercontinental missiles that apparently bring much of the US mainland into range.

However, nearly 70 years after it was founded, North suffers from perennial energy shortages, epitomized by satellite photos of the country at night, showing it as a largely dark quadrilateral between the bright lights of China and the South.

Pyongyang is unusually dim for a capital city, the pale glow emerging from apartments often outshone by the moon.

Solar panels are ubiquitous across the city’s balconies and students gather under streetlights at night to read their books.

At the Wonsan power station, the turbine hall is dominated by a giant mosaic portraying the mythical birthplace of Kim Jong-Il, Kim’s father and predecessor as North Korean leader, a hut on the sacred Mount Paektu.

Several meters below, thousands of liters of water thunder through the generators every hour, spinning the turbines to produce electricity for a region on the east coast, chief engineer Choe Yong-Jun says, adding that while the complex’s total capacity is 60,000 kW/h, the actual production is a fraction of that. AFP

B3

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Gunshots, and then silence L

AS VEGAS―Destiny Albers, a woman in the crowd during Sunday night’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, wept in her mother’s arms Tuesday as they visited a makeshift memorial near the Mandalay Bay hotel where Stephen Paddock opened fire.

MEMORIAL. People sign a poster at a makeshift memorial at the base of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign in memory of the victims of Sunday night’s shooting on October 3, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Late Sunday night, a lone gunman killed at least 59 people and injured more than 500 after he opened fire on a large crowd at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.

The massacre is one of the deadliest mass shooting events in US history. AFP

Cities warned to prepare for 50-degree days SYDNEY―Sydney and Melbourne could regularly face 50-degree-Celsius (122F) days within 25 years even if Australia meets its Paris global warming targets, a new study warned Wednesday.

Other areas across the country should also prepare for extreme heat, said the research led by the Australian National University (ANU) and supported by the Center of Excellence for Climate System Science, an international consortium.

The study assessed the potential magnitude of future extreme temperatures under the 196-nation Paris Agreement, which targets curbing increases in global temperatures to between 1.5C and

2.0C above pre-industrial levels.

“Major Australian cities, such as Sydney and Melbourne, may experience unprecedented temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius under 2.0 degrees of global warming,” said lead author and ANU climate scientist Sophie Lewis, adding it could occur by the 2040s.

“The increase in Australian summer temperatures indicates that other major cities should also be prepared for unprecedented future extreme heat.”

The study’s climate modeling projected daily temperatures of up to 3.8C above existing records in the states of Victoria and New South Wales, despite efforts to curb

warming.

In ratifying the Paris agreement last year, Australia set an ambitious target to reduce emissions to 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

This would represent a 50–52 per cent reduction in emissions per capita between 2005 and 2030.

With its heavy use of coalfired power and relatively small population of 24 million, Australia is considered one of the world’s worst per capita greenhouse gas polluters.

Lewis said dealing with such heat in cities would need proper planning, with hospitals better equipped to cope with more admissions.

Australia has just experienced its hottest winter on record amid a long-term warming trend largely attributed to climate change.

Maximum daytime temperatures were 1.9C above the long-term national average of 21.8C during the June-August season, the Bureau of Meteorology said last month.

Data from the weather bureau and national science body CSIRO shows Australia has warmed by approximately 1.0C since 1910.

More recently, over 200 weather records were broken during the last summer, with intense heat waves, bush fires and flooding plaguing the December 2016-February 2017 season. AFP

“She called me on the phone and told me she loved me, she had to help her girlfriend or she would die,” her mother Bonnie Albers, who drove through the night from California, told AFP. “You hear ta-ta-ta, then silence, and I thought it was the end.”

Jennifer Zuccolo, a Canadian tourist, brought a teddy bear to the corner of the busy crossroads on South Las Vegas Boulevard―one of a stream of people who paid their respects with candles, balloons and messages of peace and hope.

“I get comfort from a teddy bear, so I would hope that everyone else would, she said.

Visiting Las Vegas with a friend, she was set to return to Toronto Tuesday night.

“I’m at a loss for words that this could even happen, that somebody could even do this. It’s absolutely disgusting that somebody would do this. I really can’t wait to understand why, or even you know, some kind of answers,” she added.

At 17 years old, Briana Calderon is Vegas born and bred―never imagining the horror of Sunday night would arrive on her doorstep.

Along with friends Cinthya Olivera and Roberto Lopez, she paid tribute at the memorial Tuesday.

“Our life has changed, she said.

“Vegas is pretty small, so it hits everybody, everybody knows everybody. A lot of our families work here, it could have been our parents, it could have been anybody,

it could even have been us.”

“It’s scary to think you really aren’t safe anywhere,” she added, suggesting tourist hot spot Las Vegas makes a “really good target” for terrorism.

But Lopez was more defiant. “Afraid? No, we are more cautious now,” he insisted.

Previously unknown to the authorities, shooter Stephen Paddock killed 58 and wounded over 500 Sunday night, in the most deadly shooting in recent US history. He fired at the crowd for nearly ten minutes, according to police.

After searching his 32ndfloor hotel room in Las Vegas and home in Mesquite, Nevada, authorities later discovered he was in possession of an arsenal of 42 firearms, explosives and thousands of rounds of ammo in the hotel room and a house he owns in Reno.

Police have categorized Paddock as a “lone wolf,” insisting he acted alone. The Islamic State group claimed he was a convert to Islam and one of their “soldiers,” but the FBI said there is absolutely no evidence to support this.

“There is some changes in our life, we are more cautious,” said Cinthya Olivera.

But she believes the solidarity locals have shown to the victims is something good that has emerged from the terror.

“Today more than ever the communities are together, there for each other, everyone is connected,” she added, having spent the morning off school to donate blood following an appeal from the authorities. AFP

Aussie cats kill over a million birds a day SYDNEY―Feral and pet cats kill more than one million birds in Australia every day, new research showed Wednesday, with the staggering slaughter driving the decline of many species.

The study, published in the journal Biological Conversation, estimated that wild cats wiped out 316 million every year, while pets killed 61 million annually.

“Everyone knows that cats kill birds, but this study shows that, at a national level, the amount of predation is staggering,” said lead researcher John Woinarski from Charles Darwin University.

“It is likely to be driving the ongoing decline of many species.”

The numbers are based on results from nearly 100 studies across the country by environmental scientists,

each sampling cat population density. Another set of almost 100 studies assessed feline diet.

Woinarski said that while previous research had looked at the impact cats had on Australia’s mammals, this was the first nationwide assessment on birds.

It found the highest rates of predation were on Australia’s islands and in remote arid areas, where the number of birds killed each year could reach 330 per square kilometer.

Feral cats, which number in their millions across the country, are also considered the main culprit behind Australia’s high rate of mammal extinction.

They have wiped out entire populations since being introduced by Europeans who settled in the country two centuries ago, with the efforts to cull or sterilise

them so far failing to slow their march.

The researchers found evidence of cats killing 338 bird types―almost half of Australia’s native species, including 71 threatened species such as the spotted quail thrush, the squatter pigeon, and the night parrot.

“We found that the birds most likely to be killed by cats are medium sized birds, birds that nest and feed on the ground, and birds that occur on islands or in woodlands, grasslands and shrublands,” said Woinarski.

“For Australian birds, cats are a long-standing, broadscale and deeply entrenched problem that needs to be tackled more effectively.”

Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner Sebastian Lang called the study “extremely important and of great concern”. AFP

RENOVATION. This file photo taken on May 09, 2017 shows a worker cuting through a block of insulation material on the roof of the Humboldt Forum housed in the Berlin palace. Some condominiums act as pioneers as they don’t hesitate to conduct energy-efficient renovations to reduce their bills and harmful emissions. AFP

Philippine-Spanish ties have come full circle WHEN Rajah Humabon and Ferdinand Magellan met and exchanged Filipino goods for Spanish goods, little did they realize that the relationship between the Philippine islands and Spain would experience a range of development that would be full and would come full-circle in the end.

The first phase of that development was, of course, the colonization of the “Las Islas Filipinas” (except Mindanao) by the Spanish conquistadores under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. The Philippine islands’ status as a colony of Spain was lost, as everyone knows, until that fateful day in June 1896 when the war of independence from Spain was proclaimed by General (and later President) Emilio Aguinaldo. The war had virtually been won by the Philippine army when a de-

feated Spain sold the Philippines to the US, through the Treaty of Paris, for $20 million.

The economic aspect of the colonizer-colony relationship saw the establishment in the Philippine islands of business establishments owned by “Peninsular” and “Insular” Spaniards. The biggest of these were Tabacalera (Compania Fabrica de Tabacos de Filipinas) and the father of San Miguel Brewery Inc. (Fabrica de Cerveza de San Miguel). There were other, smaller establishments.

Thus, from a purely colonizer-colony relationship the ties between the Philippine Islands and Spain evolved into an investor-host country relationship. Purely political had become political/commercial.

I spoke earlier of Philippine-Spanish ties having come full-circle. I said that with real

estate development giant Megaworld’s recent investment in a major Spanish in industry in mind.

Last year Emperador Inc., which, like Megaworld, is controlled by tycoon Andrew Tan, acquired Fundador Pedro Domecq, Spain’s oldest and leading branding producer, in a P13.8 billion (275 million euros) all-cash deal. The actual buyer was Grupo Emperador Spain S.A., a company owned by Emperador Inc. The acquisition included Fundador Pedro Domecq’s brandy and sherry business in Jerez de la Frontera and its brandy distillery in Tomelloso. Besides the world-renowned Pedro Domecq, Grupo Emperador acquired Terry Centenario brandy. Emperador Inc. claims that Emperador is now the leading brandy in the Philippines.

Prior to the entry of Megaworld/Emperador into the Spanish market, there have been other significant Philippine investments in Spain in times past. Chief among these have been San Miguel Brewery, which, under its previous name San Miguel Corporation, established two breweries in the Philippines’ longtime mother country.

A Filipino company is now the leading producer of brandy in Spain. Not bad for a nation formerly populated by Indios.

Truly, the relationship between this country and Spain has come full circle. Rajah Humabon, General Aguinaldo and all fighters for Philippine independence and progress must be smiling in their graves.

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

LGUs

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor editor.lgustandard@gmail.com

B4

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017

Manila moving informal settler families to Naic

By Bill Casas

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

HARMONICA HARMONY. The Judy’s Harmonica Ensemble plays a tune during the Taiwan Expo 2017 last Friday at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. Manny Palmero

THE municipal government of Naic, Cavite has agreed to accommodate at least 700 more informal settler families the city government of Manila is planning to relocate there, Mayor Joseph Estrada said Wednesday.

Estrada said he and Naic Mayor Junio Dualan are set to sign an agreement for the “off-city” relocation of the ISFs living along Manila’s road right-of-ways that are considered danger zones.

“We thank Mayor Dualan for his commitment to take in our informal settlers. This is a big development in our efforts to provide safe and decent homes to our poor constituents,” he said.

Among the mayors in Bulacan and Rizal that he had asked for help, Estrada said only Dualan readily obliged to work with Manila to resettle the city’s indigent.

As an expression of gratitude, Estrada said he is open to having a sister-city agreement with Naic, a first class municipality in Cavite 47 kilometers to the south of Manila.

Danny Isiderio, chief of Manila’s Urban Settlement Office, said the soon-to-be-finalized agreement with Naic was concluded in just a couple of discussions.

Dualan paid a courtesy call to Estrada last week, Isiderio said.

QC passes gambling measure

By Rio N. Araja

T

HE Quezon City Council has passed the Gambling Regulatory Ordinance of 2017 on third and final reading, but not after a vigorous five-hour debate among the councilors.

District 2 Councilor Ranulfo Ludovica, the main critic of the measure, echoed the position of the powerful Iglesia ni Cristo religious sect that “there was no such a thing as responsible gambling.”

Still, the ordinance will help pave the way for a

P20-billion casino hotel to be built by Bloomberry Resorts Corp. of billionaire Enrique Razon on the Vertis North development along Agham Road.

The casino, which would be Bloomberry’s second in the country after Solaire Resort in Parañaque City, is

earmarked for a P1.9-billion, 15,676-square meter lot, with construction expected to start mid-2018 and due to be finished in 2019.

“Yes, the INC spokesperson, Edwil Zabala, was right,” Ludovica—an admitted gambling lord for 17 years before becoming a councilor—told Manila Standard on Wednesday.

“I did nothing but to question, oppose and debate on many issues of the proposed measure before its passage,” he added.

The council began its regular session at 2 p.m.

and ended at 7:30 p.m. “because of the lengthy debate due to my objection,” Ludovica said.

“How can gambling be regulated? That cannot be,” he added. “No amount of entrance fees and other payments can stop one person to gamble or regulate a gambler.”

District 4 Councilor Ivy Xenia Lagman, chairman of the committee on games and amusement, said the council would consider Zabala’s recommendation to review and fine-tune the other provisions of the proposed measure.

On Monday, the city council agreed to amend the measure’s original title from the Quezon City Responsible Gambling Ordinance to its present title.

Still, Ludovica said he is “very certain” the ordinance would face strong opposition from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the government casino regulator, in court.

“Under Pagcor’s charter, the local government does not have the power to impose and collect fees from the operation of any games of chances. Here comes Qu-

ezon City imposing fees and other payments,” he said.

The ordinance would impose a P500 entrance fee on any individual who enters an electronic bingo establishment in Quezon City, Ludovica said. A casino player is obliged to pay a P1,500 entrance fee “only” under the measure.

He noted that councilors opposed to the bill “won [the debate] not to collect taxes, but lost in the issue of not to impose an entrance or gambling fee.”

Although the entrance fee is intended to fund the rehabilitation of gambling addicts

IN BRIEF

Subic sets P2.46b to fix seaport

P3.3b in construction in Cordillera last year

By Butch Gunio SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority will prioritize the rehabilitation of piers and wharves in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone to bring the so-called heart and soul of this premier maritime logistics center to tip-top form.

SBMA Chairperson and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said Wednesday the agency has allotted P2.46 billion to repair and develop port facilities in Subic.

“The piers and wharves are undeniably the biggest assets of Subic Bay, and our seaport generates the biggest income among all the SBMA units,” Eisma said.

“We need to put these assets in top condition so that we can service more vessels and also get top returns for our investments,” she added.

The Freeport has a total of 15 piers and wharves that can serve various purposes, from transshipment of containerized and break-bulk cargoes, fuels and lubricants, grains and fertilizer, to servicing vessels and passengers.

in the city, Ludovica said the city ordinance “would only enrich the [casino or gambling] operators.”

“The Quezon City government does not [want] to impose new taxes. We will only earn mounting criticisms for that. There is no more need for such revenues. The city has a lot of money,” he said.

The councilor likened the casino entry fees to the two pesos charged every time a QC resident buts a plastic bag in a mall, store or restaurant under the Quezon City Plastic Reduction Ordinance.

RDC 8 MEETING. Tacloban City Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez (second from right) presides over the Third Quarter Full Council Meeting of the Regional Development Council of Eastern Visayas at the Neda 8 Regional Office in Palo, Leyte on Sept. 30. Among the meeting’s highlights was the State of the Region Address, presentation of the Draft Regional Development Investment Program for 2017-2022, and the approval of the proposed guidelines on the budget proposals, program and activities of regional government agencies and state colleges and universities for next year. Robbie Pangilinan

SM steps up medical mission work

A woman, accompanied by her elderly mother, gets immediate medical attention at the SM Foundation’s medical mission in Bayambang, Pangasinan.

SM FOUNDATION, the social responsibility arm of the SM Group of Companies, continues to dispense medical and dental services to communities around SM malls and stores across the country to show care to the populations it serves.

In Luzon, medical missions were recently conducted in SM City Naga, SM City Molino, SM City Valenzuela, Baiphil-Bayambang in Pangasinan, SM City Marilao, SM City Baliwag, SM City San Jose

del Monte, SM City Rosales, SM City Baguio, Barangays Papaya and Looc in Nasugbu, Batangas, and SM City Calamba.

The missions also went to SM City Bacoor, SM City Rosario, SM City San Fernando, SM City Cauayan, SM City Batangas, SM City Cabanatuan, SM City Tarlac, Barangay Calayo, Nasugbu, SM City Lucena, SM City San Pablo, SM City Dasmarinas, SM City Sta. Rosa, and SM City Trece Martirez.

In the Visayas, SM Foundation has conducted 11 medical missions so far this year, benefitting 10,852 individuals. These missions were conducted at SM Seaside City Cebu, SM City Consolacion, SM City Bacolod, SM City Iloilo, SM City Cebu, and at the Deca Home in Minglanilla, Cebu.

Currently, the Foundation’s medical team is in Mindanao, specifically in Cagayan de Oro City, with more areas in the region on its schedule.

BFAR Cagayan taps locals to enforce ban on catching, selling ‘Ludong’

By Ben Moses Ebreo BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Cagayan Valley has tapped the support of fisherfolk here as the

season for catching “Ludong” or President’s Fish has closed.

Bureau Administrative Circular No. 247 bans the catching of Ludong from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 of each year.

At least 40 fisherfolk here

were recently trained and oriented on fishery law enforcement policies and protocols, scientific fish examination, and the salient provisions of Republic Act 10654, the law against illegal fishing.

They were further deputized as “Bantay Laot” members who will help BFAR in carrying out their responsibilities under BAC 247.

Also known as the lobed river mullet, Ludong is preferred by

the rich because of its unique taste and distinctive aroma. The fish fetches as much as P5,000 a kilo on the market, and was made famous by former President Ferdinand Marcos as one of his favorite viands.

BAGUIO CITY—The Cordillera office of the Philippine Statistics Authority on Wednesday said the region saw P3.3 billion worth of new private construction works in 2016, covering 1,202 jobs with a total area of 300,066 square meters.

The PSA-CAR data showed 938 new buildings were erected for dwelling purposes, comprising 77.8 percent of the total private building construction in the region last year, with a total value of P2 billion and a total floor area of 198,224 square meters. Dexter A. See

Karapatan hits arrest of 5 Vizcaya activists KASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya—The Cagayan Valley chapter of the human rights group Karapatan has assailed the arrest of five members of an environmental activist group at a checkpoint in Barangay Mabuslo of Bambang town last Friday.

Arrested and now detained at the Bambang Police Station were Vicente Ollagon, 40; Joshua Hiquiana, 15; Ferdinand Pakiwon, 55; Marilyn Lango, 30, all residents of Barangay Bilet of this town; and Jogiemar Wayas, 18, of Barangay La Torre, Bayombong town. Abe Almirol

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

shopping

thuRsday, octoBeR 5, 2017

c1

Supermarket promotes healthy eating among kids

R

uStAn’S Supermarket is on a mission to promote healthy eating among children as it welcomes the return of the Goodness Gang in this year’s Body Squad edition.

Different kinds of fruits and veggies are rich in all kinds of nutrients the body needs to be in good shape and prevent chronic illnesses. Each member of the Body Squad possesses vitamins and minerals that power the body with nutritional benefits for strong bones, clearer eyesight, a healthy stomach, and so much more.

First up is Wally the Watermelon, made up of 92 percent water to stay hydrated under the sun, and supplies a daily dose of vitamins A, C, and B6 to keep heart, eyes, skin, and liver functioning properly. Chloe the Cauliflower, on the other hand, is great for helping kids solve problems at school because she improves brain health, while Cedrick the Celery’s specialty is keeping mouth and teeth clean.

Another squad member to watch out for is sweet Paulie the Pumpkin

full of vitamin A to keep eyesight sharp. Patricia the Plum is best companion especially in sports, because of the vitamins she has to strengthen bones. For a super healthy tummy, count on Pio the Pineapple with the fiber to help digestion.

Kidneys work hard to get rid of food the body doesn’t want even when asleep, that’s why Ringo the Radish protects kidneys and prevents from having kidney stones. Finally, for a little boost of energy, Lizzie the Lemon and her amazing abilities keep everyone from getting sick.

Rustan’s Supermarket gives shoppers a chance to own one or all of the members of the healthiest plush toys group Goodness Gang

Rustan’s Supermarket customers can get their hands on the Goodness Gang Body Squad until nov.

30. Eight adorable plush toys can be redeemed by collecting stickers every time you shop at Rustan’s Supermarket and purchase sponsor products.

Customers earn a sticker for every P300 spent, while an extra sticker is earned when P100 worth of the items purchased are sponsor products. Get a Body Squad plush toy for free with 50 stickers earned, or buy them at P339 each when 25 stickers are earned.

Join the R u s t a n’s

Supermarket Goodness Gang Body Squad’s mission to promote healthy eating.

For more information, visit www. rustansfresh.com, follow and like rustansfresh on Facebook, and @ rustansfresh on Instagram and twitter.

Rustan’s Supermarkets are located at makati Area: Glorietta, Greenbelt 1, Paseo de magallanes, Alphaland makati Place, Paseo Center, Century City mall; north Area: Shangri-La Plaza, Gateway mall, Katipunan, tomas morato, P. Guevarra, Corinthian Hills, Village Center Antipolo, the Grove by Rockwell, Ayala malls the 30th; South Area: Ayala Alabang Village, Evia Lifestyle Center, uptown mall BGC; Cebu: oakridge Business Park, Ayala Center, Arcenas Estate CDo: Ayala Centrio mall. Also, visit marketplace by Rustan’s at San Antonio Plaza, Rockwell Power Plant mall, Central Square Bonifacio High Street, Connecticut San Juan, and Eastwood City.

Dress up your windows A FAmouS adage says that the eyes are the windows of the soul. If indeed, then windows must be the entry and access to the essence—or the soul— of every home. this is why a welldressed window is more than just a decorating decision. It is, more importantly, a stylish way to add or block light, provide privacy, and create the mood inside one’s abode.

Hunter Douglas, acknowledged as the world’s leading manufacturer of high quality, innovative window treatments, has given one-of-a-kind window dressings for the most luxurious homes and office buildings across the globe since the 1940s when Joe Hunter collaborated with Henry Sonnenberg towards the production of venetian blinds. Since then, the company’s window coverings not only provide shade but also showcase the consumer’s lifestyle and self-expression. over the years, Hunter Douglas has come up with novel functionality and ground-breaking convenience, setting new standards in window treatments.

With the launch of its latest innovation, Hunter Douglas gives new meaning to the term “power dressing”. the company now brings the PowerView motorization System to the Philippines, a pioneering concept that offers convenience, technology and seamless connectivity keeping balance between light control, energy efficiency, and the art of window styling.

Bring scenes to life

Hunter Douglas is the world’s leading manufacturer of innovative window treatments

With the PowerView motorization System, Hunter Douglas window blinds and shades become smart and intuitive, adapting to your preferences for natural light or protecting your privacy. Aside from enhancing the elegance of any room in the house, your window treatments now move with your preset mood, style, and natural

Interior designer Rene Orosa is the brand ambassador of Hunter Douglas in the country

light requirements, using the PowerView motorization System that operates on discreet and quiet motor.

With your preset programs on your mobile device via an exclusive PowerView App (available on Google Play or the App store) or with a click of a button on the stylish Pebble Remote Control or the Scene Control, these smart window systems adjust to how you want to see the day. the shades rise up automatically in the morning to greet

the sunrise, slide midway to protect you from direct sunlight at noon, and then slowly lower to close at sunset to provide the privacy you deserve for quiet family time or a tranquil night’s rest. the choice is yours with a single press.

It’s as simple as that.

Power dressing your windows James Sia, Hunter Douglas Window Covering Products and Licensing for

Turn to C2

Life

C2

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

INCREDIBLE selfie moments we can share I

N 2015, the ASUS Zenfone Selfie made its grand entrance onto the tech and lifestyle scene, gaining huge fanfare among both hardcore tech media and young, fashion-forward females. However, the unique fusion between the worlds of lifestyle and technology was more so embodied by this trail-blazing smartphone itself – what with the Zenfone Selfie’s unparalleled front-camera technology that “captured the perfect you.” It was no wonder why the Zenfone Selfie was then widely dubbed as the “Selfie King.“

ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie series is packed with the SelfieMaster application, the best beautification technology to date

Fast forward to 2017, when tech industry giant, ASUS Philippines, finally brought back the wellloved Zenfone Selfie line-up, with the introduction of two new Selfie smartphones: the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and the Zenfone 4 Selfie. This time around, selfie fans from all over will be delighted to know that these two new variants even go beyond their predecessor and take the lifestyle-xtech scene to new heights.

From Me to We: More friends, more scenery, more fun!

Make sure everyone’s included in the shot with the help of Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and Zenfone 4 Selfie’s wide-angle front camera

From the perfect selfies to the even more perfect wefies, the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and Zenfone 4 Selfie will definitely reclaim its title as Selfie King with their incredible wide-angle front cameras that are great for taking photos that can fit anyone and everyone in just a single click.

In that way, Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and Zenfone 4 Selfie introduce the wonderful and unique concept of the wefie, to honor not only the perfection of one’s self and the moment that comes along with it, but also to celebrate the perfection of everyone that shares that spectacular moment. The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and Zenfone 4 Selfie gifts all not only by catching the beautiful memories, but also by sharing them with everyone in full inclusivity – because, nowadays, keeping all kinds of shared special moments with loved-ones through personalized photographs is a way to keep the memory alive even well beyond the future.

23.5ºN brings skincare from farm to face SITTING 23.5ºN of the equator, the Tropic of Cancer marks the northernmost circle of the globe where direct sunlight kisses land and water. This intangible loop runs across deserts and tropical climates, with the exception of Southern China and Taiwan— dubbed the Magical Green Belt of the Tropics—where greens and agriculture flourish.

Building off Taiwan’s reputation as an Ilha Formosa or beautiful island teeming with natural resources, cosmetics brand 23.5ºN brings farm to face with natural and nurturing skin care.

Simple and meticulous, the brand’s approach to beauty is rooted in a back-tobasics philosophy. This no-frills ideology keeps the product formulations effective and easy on the skin. Free of fragrance, artificial coloring, alcohol, and parabens, 23.5ºN products are freshly extracted from Taiwan’s local plants grown without the aid of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Well-preserved from harvest to extraction, the plants and the active ingredients within them are kept fresh from start to finish.

Striking an impeccable balance between oil and water-based ingredients, 23.5ºN is dedicated to nurturing Asian skin in a variety of climates, including the Philippines’ hot and humid weather. With high concentrations and refreshing effects on the skin, 23.5ºN proves that women need not choose between proves that when it comes to skincare, women need not choose between efficacy and comfort when it comes to skincare. Providing an answer to common skincare woes, 23.5ºN offers diverse product lines sourced from a variety of carefully selected, natural ingredients.

Rice: Soothing Series Ideal for sensitive to normal skin, the rice series sources its main ingredient through natural farming in Taiwan. Geared towards soothing, brightening, and purifying the skin, the products in this series are recommended for women with dull, dry skin and those who regularly experience cyclic acne.

Rice Soothing Gel Mask Packing a punch of hydration, this gel mask may be used twice a week in generous amounts to bump up the skin’s moisture or on a nightly basis as a sleeping pack.

Rice Soothing Ultra-Feather Mask Promising brighter, well-moisturized skin, use this product after toning the face by carefully removing the pearl-colored sheet and applying the mask on the skin for 15 to 20 minutes.

Rice Soothing Active+ Essence Soothing and brightening, this product boasts of high concentrations of fermented rice essence. Apply to clean skin daily with a cotton pad or with clean fingertips.

Red Pearl Barley: Whitening Series Offering a boost in radiance, this line

Taiwanese cosmetics brand 23.5ºN offers natural and nurturing skin care products, such as gel masks, essence, eye gel, lotion, toner, serum, and cream.

draws its benefits from red pearl barley. A perfect match for normal to dry skin, products in this range are safe to use during daytime and are especially recommended for skin suffering from uneven skin tone, pigmentation, or lack of elasticity.

Red Pearl Barley Whitening Gel Mask Bringing brightening and purifying properties in spades, this gel mask may be used twice a week in generous amounts to bump up the skin’s moisture or on a nightly basis as a sleeping pack.

Rice Soothing Ultra-Feather Mask Use this product after toning the face by carefully removing the pearl-colored sheet and applying the mask on the skin for 15 to 20 minutes. No rinsing required.

Red Pearl Barley Whitening Eye Gel Smooth lines and alleviate the eye area of dryness by applying a thin layer and gently massaging until absorbed.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Lotion With nourishing and brightening benefits, this product promotes skin elasticity. Apply to the skin after toner or serum.

Bamboo: Ultra Hydrating Series Suitable for normal skin and especially suited for those with an imbalance in oil and moisture, 23.5ºN’s bamboo range hydrates, softens, and soothes. With light, easily absorbed formulations, products in this line are safe to use in combination with other ranges.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Facial Cleanser With hydrating and cleansing benefits, this product is recommended for daily use.

Rinse off with water after gently massaging on skin.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Gel Mask This gel mask may be used twice a week in generous amounts to bump up the skin’s moisture or on a nightly basis as a sleeping pack.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Toner Fostering a natural glow, this toner cleans and rebalances the skin. Apply on to clean skin with a cotton pad or the fingertips.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Serum Apply 1 to 2 drops of serum to cleansed and toned skin until absorbed.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Lotion Providing an answer to problem with dryness and skin elasticity, this nourishing lotion covers all fronts. Apply to clean skin after toner or serum.

Bamboo Ultra Hydrating Cream Massage on to cleansed skin until fully absorbed to repair dry, dehydrated skin.

Oriental Beauty Tea: Balancing Series With both flavorful taste and skin benefits to its name, Oriental Beauty Tea is indigenous to Taiwan. Providing a solution to oily, acne-prone skin, this range moisturizes while minimizing visible pores.

Be a ‘SelfieMaster’ in No Time

The new Zenfone 4 Selfie series exclusively packs the best beautification technology to date via the incredible SelfieMaster application, the first ever technology of its kind that lets you create your perfect look on Video, Photo, and Live Streaming. The application is also complete with tools to create collages and slideshows to enjoy and share with friends. With this, female millennials are able to capture and perfect even their of your selfies and wefies.

We Love Selfie and Wefie!

Furthermore, selfies with these smartphones do not have to be taken alone anymore. This time around, ASUS has also taken into consideration one very significant matter in everyone’s life: relationships. ASUS makes it quite known to everyone that relationships are significant to their design philosophy this very year.

The return of the crowd-favorite Zenfone Selfie through its latest variants makes it crystal clear through the SelfieMaster technology and the landfall of their awe-inspiring wefie-ready wide-angle front cameras.

For more information on the Zenfone 4 Selfie and Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro, and all other incredible products, visit the ASUS Philippines’ Official Facebook Page and ASUS ZenTalk Forum.

Dress up...

From C1 Asia GM, said that this is the global company’s answer to the trend of the times. “Worldwide, we see a growing trend in smart home technology. There are décor-friendly gadgets, automated door locks, security systems, automated lighting systems, air-conditioning with programmable thermostats and now, programmable window coverings. In the recently held biggest annual Consumer Electronics Show in the USA, it was all about connected home technology. Connectivity and integration is the trend now,” he says.

He describes the technology of a Programmable Motorization System that allows you to preset scenes and schedules as to how you want to enjoy your day. You can set your preference to have rooms operate independently, or work together in synchronization with the help of the two-way communication technology between Shades and Hub or between Hub and App for accurate positioning and control of your shades Stephen Sy, president of Focus Global, Inc., Hunter Douglas’ exclusive licensee in the country, is happy to bring this technology to the discerning Filipino homeowners. “Its amazing features operate on your schedule, automatically, no hands required. It can even accurately calculate the local sunrise and sunset based on its technologically advanced locator so you could create beautiful scenes to begin and end your day with. These are intelligent shades that simplify your life.

Rene Orosa, a well-respected interior designer and brand ambassador of Hunter Douglas in the Philippines, concurs with Sy. “I have been using Hunter Douglas even when I was based in the USA. It stands for quality. The shades provide UV-protection and reduces glare. Especially for bigger or longer windows, I prefer to have them motorized for ease and convenience. That’s why I’m looking forward to recommending the new PowerView Motorization system. It brings ease and convenience to a whole new level.”

Energy efficiency and effortless convenience

Hunter Douglas has always been at the forefront in developing technologically advanced window treatments—tracing back to its invention of the energy-efficient Duette Honeycomb Shades in 1985 as the company’s response to the global energy crises in the late 70s. Duette Honeycomb Shades and Duette Architella Honeycomb Shades innovations have been considered as smart inventions that combined great designs with the energy saving function to make homes more beautiful and comfortable to live in during the winter and summer months.

PowerView Motorization window shades increase the capability for energy savings by connecting to Internet to synchronize the window shades movement with sunrise and sundown scenes or with timed schedules movement. The battery-operated option for the motor (with the battery pack hidden behind the head rail so there’s nothing to obstruct the beauty of window treatments) makes installation easy without the need to provide electric cable. The cordless shades provide a safer environment for children and even for pets.

All Hunter Douglas window treatments are designed with a broad range of materials and colors for light control and privacy options combined with the reliable patented operating system.

With the Hunter Douglas PowerView Motorization Window System, the world’s most beautiful window treatments have evolved into the most intelligent window treatment as well.

In the Philippines, Focus Global Inc is the exclusive licensee of Hunter Douglas with its own showroom on the 12th floor of Twenty-Four Seven Building in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries, please contact: (02) 705-9999 loc. 654; email hdwcp@ focusglobalinc.com. Check out website: ph.hunterdouglas.asia and hunterdouglasph on Facebook.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017

‘Red Sparrow’ trailer

now in theaters and online

All-boys group wins dance off D Members of Higher Level Kids show off their prize during the finals of “King Julien Dance Off ” second edition

REAMPLAY, City of Dreams Manila’s Dreamworks-inspired interactive play space, staged its second nationwide children’s dance competition, “King Julien Dance Off,” to celebrate its second anniversary and mark its one million visitors to date. Higher Level Kids, an all-boys group from Cavite bested the other seven finalists and bagged the championship trophy at Chaos Manila.

The Higher Level dance group stood out when they sent shockwaves of delight and excitement as they performed amazing dance moves and stunts executed with seamless choreography to the remixed Dreamworks movie soundtrack of Madagascar’s “I Like to Move It,” Kung Fu Panda’s “Kung Fu Fighting,” Shrek’s “I’m a Believer”

and Troll’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling”. The children’s dance crew’s dynamic and talented members are also known for their memorable performances in Dance Kids, a dance competition and reality TV show on ABS-CBN 2 in 2015 and Super Kids – The World’s Greatest Little Talents TV show in Cologne, Germany in 2016.

The judges included officers of City of Dreams Manila, including General Manager for Non-Gaming Operations Marlon Hirsh, Director of Public Relations Romina Gervacio, and also G-Force Senior Choreographer Gelai Aguzar, and celebrity couple Troy Montero and Aubrey Miles.

As the competition’s grand champion, Higher Level brought home P80,000 in cash, a DreamPlay trophy, an Annual Pass for unlimited DreamPlay access for each member, a photo op with DreamWorks characters, DreamShop voucher worth P1,000 and Chez Gingy voucher worth P1,000 for each member. The group will also be returning to perform in various DreamPlay and City of Dreams Manila events.

To find out the upcoming activities at DreamPlay, interested parties can call 800 8080 or e-mail guestservices@cod-manila.com or visit www.cityofdreamsmanila.com.

Spectacular Oishi Snacktacular 2017 FESTIVAL Mall in Alabang was abuzz with cheers and screams from fans all weekend long as teen idols and heartthrobs drew in crowds at the annual Oishi Snacktacular event.

Oishi Snacktacular is an annual extravaganza where snack lovers get to partake in several fun booths that feature their favourite Oishi snacks. An entertaining addition this year was the participation of Oishi friends Panya, Hippy, Pilyo, Waifu, who are colourful mascots of much-loved Oishi snacks.

The Team O members were also in full force who tried out the different fun activities at Oishi Snacktacular.

Oishi’s famous crowd favorite, the Snack Catcher was played

by Maine Mendoza, who was lowered into a pool of snacks and was able to grab more than 50 assorted Oishi snacks. Teen heartthrob Daniel Padilla was caught sneaking around at Oishi’s Snack Shack where he grabbed his favorite Oishi snacks in under 60 seconds while Alex Gonzaga created her own Oishi snack of Bread Pan and chips dipped in cheese in the Make-Your-OwnSnack booth. She invited hundreds of participants to try their own outrageous combinations in the

Alex Gonzaga joining in the fun in the recently concluded Oishi Snacktacular is an annual extravaganza

booth. Some walked away with traditional combinations like chips and cheese while others walked away with bizarre concoctions like wafers with mustard and mayonnaise.

Kathryn Bernardo made a fan squeal with delight as she was invited to join her in Oishi’s Cuckoo Blaster game.

In Cuckoo Blaster, participants were made to wear Cuckoo’s signature wings and try to catch as many balls as they could in

a basket. Being a veteran at Cuckoo Blaster, Kathryn knew how to catch the balls flawlessly so she shared some tips with her lucky fan who managed to catch 23 balls out of the 80 thrown and fell short of the 40 required for the grand prize so Kathryn generously donated the balls she caught, resulting in the fan taking home the entire lineup of Oishi’s delicious beverages!

Oishi’s Snacktacular this year was without a doubt, an

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Thursday, October 5, 2017

ACROSS 1 Tough fiber 5 Should 10 Doubtful 14 Bogus butter 15 Scornful gaze 16 Twine 17 Salve 18 Stone pillar 19 Fleecy animals 20 Smallest Great Lake 22 Make possible 24 Rock’s — Leppard 25 Exaggerated 26 Stickiness 30 Tots of whiskey 34 Raw metal 35 Coach 37 Snow house 38 Wreck 40 R2D2 or C-3P0 42 Round building 43 Seacoast events 45 Beet product 47 Domestic animal 48 “Toodle-oo!”

49 Pickpocket’s craft 51 Distance down 54 “Norma —” 55 Fuse 57 Acrobat

61 Kachina maker 62 Valid reasoning 64 Embankment 65 Perfect place 66 Powerful engine 67 Garfield’s housemate 68 Masculine principle 69 Sprinkle 70 Meadow grazers DOWN 1 Freight hopper 2 Dash or vivacity 3 Liquefy 4 Hair ointment 5 Became inflexible 6 Till 7 Gosh!

8 — Gurley Brown 9 What’s in 10 Growlers 11 Some game 12 Let loose 13 Fabric meas.

21 Break 23 Autobahn vehicle 25 Gawky and crude 26 Large artery 27 Stonehenge worshiper

28 Alpine moppet 29 Boathouse items 31 Woody Allen movie 32 Tooth type 33 Like a chimney 36 Shrill 39 Teasing 41 Milk source (2 wds.)

44 Took to court 46 Juice a grapefruit 50 Ballpark

employee 52 Bombards with snowballs 53 Speckled fish 55 — fountain 56 Candid 57 Derisive remark 58 Non-soap opera 59 Thumb through 60 Football stands 61 Yo! 63 Canine warning

enormous success. Participants seemed to have had a ton of fun as they left with smiles on their faces and bags full of snacks in their hands. No doubt, Team O’s KathNiel, Alex, and Maine also had a blast and will be looking forward to being back next year to share even more fun and snacks with their fans.

Stay Updated with the latest #OishiOWow news on Facebook and @oishiph on Instagram and @oishi_tweets on Twitter.

FEMME FATALE. Actress Jennifer Lawrence is a dangerous seductress in the upcoming spy movie “Red Sparrow” ACADEMY Award winner Jennifer Lawrence is irresistibly hot as a spy temptress in her latest movie Red Sparrow on the reveal of its teaser trailer -https://www.facebook. com/20thcenturyfoxphilippines/ videos/10159337936880582/ Directed by Francis Lawrence (Hunger Games series, Constantine), Red Sparrow brings a powerhouse cast that includes Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons and Academy Award nominee Charlotte Rampling with Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts and Mary-Louise Parker.

Lawrence plays a highly trained Russian spy Dominika Egorova, a devoted daughter who protects her mother at all costs, a prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit and a master of seductive and manipulative

combat.

When she suffers a careerending injury, Dominika and her mother face a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.

Red Sparrow soars in Philippine theaters on Feb. 28, 2018 from 20th Century Fox to be distributed

by Warner Bros.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017

O

UT of 15 dance crews, nine schools will battle each other for street dance supremacy in the MYX Moves Street Dance Competition Grand Finals on Oct. 14 at KIA Theatre.

The MYX Moves Street Dance Competition is a flagship event of MYX, the country’s no. 1 music channel, with the strongest high school dance crews in Mega Manila aiming to be on the top spot and claim this year’s Grand Champion prize.

Fresh original dance tracks from Star Music are incorporated in the crews’ choreography.

In the semi-finals held recently at the Ayala Malls South Park, Dance X of Xavier School set the stage on fire as they bested the Boys Division and ranked first with an average of 87.67 percent. The lads of Marist School’s High Impact landed second and Paco Catholic School’s PCS Street placed third with 86.33 percent and 82.5 percent, respectively.

The ladies of School of the Holy Spirit’s Agalaia reigned queens on stage as they slew the Girls Division, landing in first place with 92.17 percent, followed by St. Paul College Pasig’s Terpsichore with 91 percent in second place and Dominican College Dance Troupe with 83.5 percent in third.

Meanwhile, the School of St. Anthony’s DanSSA led the tough competition in the CoEd Division, ranking first with 89.83 percebt. Colegio San Agustin’s CSA Dance Troupe followed suit with 86 percent in second place, and Bulihan National High School with 83.9 percent in third. Although they did not make the cut, Fort

Boys Division Semi-Finalists Dance X, High Impact, and PCS Street

Which HS dance crew

will win in

MYX’s dance contest?

Girls Division Semi-Finalists Agalaia, Terpsichore, and Dominican College Dance Troupe

Bonifacio High School’s FBHS Contemporary Danzza was able to bag the MYX Voter’s Award and a cash prize of P10,000.

The MYX Moves semi-finals was hosted by MYX VJ’s Ai and Sunny with MJ Arda of A-Team, Lema Diaz of the Philippine All Stars, and Von Asilo of The Crew as members of the panel of judges. R&B singer Kris Lawrence and hip-hop dance troupe The Alliance also made an impact on the audience with their powerful performances.

The MYX Moves Grand Champion will be rewarded with a whopping P100,000 cash prize, while the ultimate dancer with fierce passion and finesse that garners the most votes will be crowned “MYX Supreme Mover,” and will be able take home P10,000 in cash.

You may still vote for the MYX Supreme Mover until Oct. 13 (11:59 p.m.).

Catch the MYX Moves SemiFina ls’ airing on MYX Presents.

MYX is on Skycable channel 23.

For more information visit www.myxmoves.myxph. com or like www.facebook. com/MYX.Philippines on Facebook. You can also follow @MYXPhilippines on Twitter or @myxph on Instagram.

Andanar on fake news PRESIDENTIAL Communications Secretary Martin Andanar led a roundtable discussion tackling fake news at the Seda Hotel North Vertis in Quezon City on Sept. 10.

With the theme “Countering Fake News and Communicating the Right Information”, Sec. Andanar described the negative effects caused by such news.

Sec. Andanar, who is also currently Chairperson of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI), mentioned the importance of such a discussion in collaboration with the neighbors in the region as this predicament also affects other countries.

The roundtable discussion focused primarily on four topics under the theme of fake news. The said topics were the following: “Experiences on Fake News”; “Practical Measures to Counter Fake News”; “Possible Government Initiatives to Ensure that the Right Information is Communicated”; and “Possible Cooperation Initiatives on Countering Fake News and Communicating the Right Information.”

The gathering of 32 information ministers from the ASEAN region, information sector sub-committee chairmen, officials from ASEAN member countries and officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan were made possible through the efforts of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

The Japanese delegates served as observers during the discussion.

The AMRI leaders each shared their particular experiences in combating fake news in their respective countries by implementing measures such as laws to control content on the internet at the same time apprehending fake social media accounts.

The AMRI leaders also considered the vital role of online social media companies in combating the spread of fake news.

ASEAN Secretariat Deputy Secretary General Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee with other members of the ASEAN Ministers for Responsible

Information (AMRI) delegation To this end, Sec. Andanar pushed for a dialogue with companies such as Google and Facebook in order to highlight the relevance of social media networks as a partner in combating fake news by presenting nothing but the truth in their websites.

Sec. Andanar also proposed a mechanism that will constantly monitor news coming from the ASEAN member states, most especially news dealing with pressing issues. This would serve as the nerve center to be named as the ASEAN Communication Center (ACC) based in the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In line with this, the head of PCOO also mentioned the possibility of reviving the ASEAN News Exhange Mechanism (ANEX) headed by officials of news agencies in the ASEAN region.

Meanwhile, Atty.

Oscar Franklin Tan, a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was also tapped to share some practical steps on how to deal with and suppress the spread of fake news online.

After the discussion, the ASEAN leaders proceeded to the ASEAN-Japan TV Festival held at the nearby Trinoma Mall Activity Center.

The Philippine delegation headed by Sec. Andanar composed of PCOO Undersecretary Noel George Puyat, People’s Television Network General Manager Dino Apolonio, Philippine Information Agency Director General Harold Clavite, Radio Television Malacañang Executive Director Demic Pabalan, Radyo Pilipinas Director Rizal Aportadera, Mula Sa Masa Para Sa Masa Director Benjie Felipe, and PCOO Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan.

On the other hand, the lead foreign delegates were Mohd Riza bin Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yunos of Brunei Darussalam, Ly Vannhong of Cambodia, Rosarita Niken Widiastuti of Indonesia, Savankhone Razmountry of Laos, Dato’ Jailani Bin Johari of Malaysia, Dr. Pe Myint of Myanmar, Chee Hong Tat of Singapore, Ormsin Chivapruck of Thailand, Trieu Minh Long of Vietnam, and ASEAN Secretariat Deputy Secretary General Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee.

“Biyenan” is a short film that navigates the delicate relationship between a mom and a mom-in-law

Short film on relationship between in-laws IT IS quite common to find parents-in-law playing active roles in a typical Filipino family, especially in helping raise children.

Despite the comfort and convenience this cultural norm may engender, it occasionally gives rise to conflict. Where do both parties draw the line between nurturing and spoiling them—and how can sensitive issues like this be peacefully resolved?

Biyenan, a short film directed

by Chris Cahilig and presented

by Ascof Lagundi, touches on this subject involving the tricky relationship between two women.

The short film follows the story of Jenny (played by Dalin Sarmiento), a mother of two, who struggles to make her children, Dana (Yuriko Javier) and Kyle (Nathan Martinez), follow her own house rules— such as the proper time to watch TV and do school work.

The children, having been accustomed to their grandmother Marita’s (played by senior actress Lui Manansala) more laidback rules when they were still living in the same house, find it a challenge to comply with their mom’s restrictions.

Jenny is likewise worried about her kids being frequently pampered

by her biyenan with bags of goodies and occasional shopping sprees, and not even her husband Vince (Mon Paulo Martinez) can do anything about it.

At one point in the story, the more willful and outspoken Dana throws a tantrum when Jenny tells them to switch off the TV set and go to bed since it was nearing midnight.

The girl, claiming it was a weekend, after all, is defiant.

“Buti pa kay lola, walang rulesrules! She loves us so much! I want to live with lola again!”

There are a few other scenes in the film that depict how a young mother and her headstrong but well-meaning biyenan were on a collision, but towards the end of the story, Jenny and Marita realize that what they have in common— they are both mothers who love their youngsters unconditionally and want nothing but the best for them—will allow them to overcome their differences and find harmony in the process.

Director Cahilig, producer of renowned indie film Echorsis and a public relations and marketing expert, asserts that Biyenan is something that Filipino families can easily relate to because it presents scenarios that actually happen in real life—like resolving disagreements, as Jenny and

her biyenan did in the short film, by trusting in a common good.

Cahilig affirms this, saying,n “Our viewers will find themselves smiling and frowning and smiling again while watching Biyenan because, whether they admit it or not, they will see a slice of their lives or a reflection of themselves in the characters of a story that is very simple yet will surely tug at the heartstrings of parents and their in-laws.”

“Jenny and her biyenan Marita do not see eye to eye on assorted issues, and this is depicted throughout the film, but they are one in saying that it takes a trusted and natural cough remedy like Ascof Lagundi to ensure that the kids get effective and soothing relief from cough-related sore and itchy throat,” Cahilig adds.

You can watch Biyenan online at the Ascof Lagundi Facebook page.

Pascual Laboratories, the manufacturer of Ascof Lagundi, has its own lagundi farm in Nueva Ecija that organically grows the plant and uses a GMP-certified production process. For inquiries and more details about Ascof Lagundi, visit their official Facebook page at www.facebook. com/ASCOFLagundi or their official website at http://www. pascuallab.com/index.php/ascof.