Manila Standard - 2017 October 10 - Tuesday

Police: No such term as EJK in PH

By Bill Casas and Rey E. Requejo

A TOP official of the Philippine National Police said Monday there are no extrajudicial killings in the Philippines because there is no death penalty,

which is a judicial killing.

“There is no death penalty so there is no judicial killing,” said Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo of the PNP Internal Affairs Service [IAS], speaking in Filipino. “If there is no judicial killing,

there is no extrajudicial killing.”

The correct term for killings during police operations is “homicides under investigation,” he added.

The IAS, he said, was Next page

VOL. XXXI • NO. 238 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Cops in drug killings drag Duterte ratings—Palace

OPERATION GREYHOUND. Quezon City Jail Warden Supt. Emerlito Moral and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives conduct Monday an Operation Greyhound inside the jail, with K-9 dogs, as part of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs which resulted in the seizure of deadly weapons.

Manny Palmero

THE involvement of policemen in the killing of teenagers pulled down President Rodrigo Duterte’s satisfaction and trust ratings, presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Monday.

“Well I kind [of] expected that because of the incidents involving the minors...” Panelo said in an interview on Unang Balita.

Panelo was referring to the killings of teenagers Kian Loyd delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman, all killed by Caloocan City policemen last August.

But Duterte’s legal counsel said the latest survey results of the Social Weather Stations showed the president still enjoyed the support of millions of Filipinos.

“But you know, if you would translate the percent-

age [of the] survey in relation to the population of the Philippines, there is a huge difference, he got 60 percent? That would be roughly 67-million Filipinos,” he said.

Malacañang itself said Filipinos continued to love Duterte despite the doubledigit drop in his net satisfaction and trust ratings which they admitted were “affected” by the continuing spate of unresolved killings as a result of the bloody drug war.

In a Palace news briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella admitted the “honeymoon period” was over, “given the fact that people start measuring their expectations” about the administration a full year after Duterte took office.

These things usually happen, Abella said. Next page

2 generals, 39 execs axed Palace fires ERC chief, sets anti-graft drive in full swing

Sereno: No need to sign bank waiver; it’s in SALN

By John Paolo Bencito, Alena Mae S. Flores and Vito Barcelo

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed two high-ranking police officials and the chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission in a government shakeup that also saw 38 Customs officials sacked.

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By Rey E. Requejo THE camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Monday rejected a call for her to sign a bank secrecy waiver to allow the examination of her bank accounts amid allegations of undeclared wealth in the impeachment case against her before the House of Representatives.

Sereno’s spokesperson Josa Deinla said the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth submitted

by Sereno to the Supreme Court already included a waiver allowing the Office of the Ombudsman and other bodies to examine the Chief Justice’s assets.

“That [waiver] is no longer necessary because the standard form of SALN authorizes the Ombudsman and other investigative bodies to conduct Next page

APOLOGY. In this photo taken Oct 5, but released only four days later, China Embassy’s military attachés inspect rifles donated by their government to the Philippine military, with a tarpaulin emblazoned with logos of the Philippine defense department and Taiwan’s defense ministry. The Philippines Monday issued a public apology. AFP

Trump eyes PH says so sorry to China for using Taiwan logo Sara Susanne D. curbs to stop ByFabunan exodus of foreigners WASHINGTON, USA— US President Donald Trump sent Congress his immigration legislation priorities Sunday (Monday in Manila), including building a controversial border wall, speeding up deportations and dramatically increasing the number of officials involved in enforcement.

The list, which also includes preventing immigrants from sponsoring their extended families to move to the US, drew immediate fire from Democratic leaders in Congress, who said it goes “far beyond what is reasonable.”

The administration tied its priorities to Democrats’ desire to provide legal protection to some 690,000 Next page

THE Philippines apologized to China on Monday, days after it inadvertently mistakenly used the Taiwan logo in an event to thank China for donating

3,000 rifles and ammunition to the country’s Department of National Defense and Armed Forces.

A banner with the logos of the Philippine and Taiwanese defense ministries hung above the stage Thursday as Philippine

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua sat together to witness the weapons turnover.

“Military assistance gratis from the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of Chi-

na,” read the banner, with the wrong logo apparently not attracting attention at the time.

“The Department of National Defense committed a grievous but purely unintentional mistake of using a

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In a Palace briefing, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said Metro Manila police chief Joel Pagdilao and former Quezon City Police District chief Edgardo Tinio were “administratively liable for serious neglect of duty and serious irregularity in the performance of duty and have been duly dismissed.”

The President had earlier accused the two chief superintendents of being “narcogenerals” that protected the illegal drug trade.

“Evidence shows that both generals deliberately refused, without cause, to perform their duties as police officers resulting in the proliferation of the drug trade in their areas of jurisdiction. Thus, the President’s decision,” Abella said, citing a decision signed by the Executive Secretary on Thursday.

Abella said, however, that he was unaware if criminal complaints would be filed against the two police generals.

In August 2016, the National Police Commission

‘Terrorists exploiting PH democratic space’ THE Philippines has become a breeding ground for terrorists because it enjoys too much democratic space, the heads of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police said Monday.

Armed Forces Chief General Eduardo Año and PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa made the statement to reporters before a joint conference in Quezon City.

“As you know, the country enjoys so much democratic space and that is being exploited by terror groups and criminal groups,” Año said. twitter.com/ MlaStandard

Dela Rosa said as much when he said the Philippines had “so much democratic space that sometimes it’s bordering on indiscipline.”

They made their statements even as Armed Forces spokesman Restituto Padilla said the government was closely watching any potential linkages between local terrorists and foreign jihadist groups.

“The government and all agencies of the government are closely watching any potential sources of linkages with other terror organizations,” Padilla told reporters.

“We continue to work with facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

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other agencies of the government and other countries all over the world to protect our shores and protect others from the things that can be brought about by terror organizations everywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Filipino doctor wanted over a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square previously treated pro-Islamic State group militants in the mountains of Mindanao, the military said Monday.

Russell Salic, 37, had links to the Maute group, which since May had been Next page

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found probable cause to file administrative charges against Pagdilao and Tinio.

Also dismissed was ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar, who was found guilty of simple and grave misconduct in connection with allegations of corruption.

In a decision signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued on Oct.7 but made available Monday, Salazar was found “guilty of two counts of simple misconduct and one count of grave misconduct” after an investigation by the Office of the President.

The Office of the President found sufficient evidence to support allegations that Salazar influenced or exerted pressure on the bidding and awards committee members for the procurement of the audio visual presentation in favor of a bidder, and therefore found him guilty of “grave misconduct.”

The Office of the President said grave misconduct is a grave offense punishable by dismissal from service Next page

UST law dean sued for student’s death

HAZING UPDATE. John Paul Solano

appears Monday at the second preliminary hearing by the Department of Justice on the Horacio Castillo III hazing case where he is a principal accused. Norman Cruz

THE parents of hazing victim Horacio “Atio” Castillo III on Monday filed a supplemental complaint with the Department of Justice to include University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law dean Nilo Divina among the respondents in their criminal complaint arising from the death of their son.

Divina, however, filed two separate libel complaints against Lorna Kapunan, the Castillos’ lawyer, over her accusations in connection with the disbarment complaint she filed against him and the hazing death of Horacio Castillo III. Divina asked for damages totaling P120 million or P60 million each in his complaints filed before the Manila and Quezon City prosNext page ecutors’ offices on Friday.

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Sereno:...

From A1 an examination,” Deinla said in response to the challenge issued by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, who had filed the impeachment complaint against Sereno.

The allegations in the impeachment complaint include her failure to declare in her SALN some P30 million that she earned as one of the government counsels in the arbitration case involving the expropriation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, when she was still a private lawyer.

The non-declaration of assets in SALN was the same ground that led to the impeachment and ouster of the later Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 under the previous administration. The Senate, sitting as impeachment trial court, had voted 20-3 and found him guilty of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

Sereno’s camp played down the allegation, saying she used the money to buy a “modest home and modest vehicle” and declared them and all that was left in her SALNs. The chief justice’s lawyers also opposed Gadon’s proposal to make President Duterte a special private prosecutor should the impeachment case proceed to trail in the Senate, saying this would be an encroachment on the exclusive power of the House of Representatives to act as prosecutors in an impeachment trial.

“The President has no role in such a political exercise,” added lawyer Aldwin Salumbides.

Sereno’s camp said there is nothing wrong with the move of the Senate to start reviewing the impeachment trial rules even pending the proceedings in the House of Representatives.

They said it actually shows “good leadership” on the part of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III. “It only shows the ability of our senators to be pro-active.

I think there is nothing wrong with preparing for such possibilities. It’s just a plan that is being set in motion as preparation. So, I think that’s good leadership,” Salumbides said.

Pimentel earlier told the camp of Sereno that the Senate was reviewing its impeachment trial rules to ensure it would be more than just a numbers game.

A Palace official, meanwhile, labeled as “pure nonsense” Gadon’s proposal that Duterte be made a special prosecutor during the impeachment trial of Sereno.

“The proposal to make the President act as Special Prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno is pure nonsense. The President is constitutionally prohibited [from holding] any other office during his tenure,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said in a statement. With John Paolo Bencito

UST...

From A1 In the complaint filed with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, the law dean and his firm, DivinaLaw, accused Kapunan and Patricia Bautista of maligning his reputation when they publicized the filing of disbarment charges with the Supreme Court on Sept. 25 over the allegations he paid commissions to Bautista’s estranged husband, Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista.

In their supplemental complaint, Horacio Castillo II and Carminia Castillo accuses Divina of violating the Anti-Hazing Law, the same charge filed by the Manila Police District against 18 respondents in Atio’s hazing death on Sept. 17.

They also charged Divina with perjury, obstruction of justice and murder.

Also named in the supplemental complaint filed during the second preliminary investigation hearing were several people, including some Aegis Juris fraternity members and trustees of the Aegis Juris Foundation Inc., as well as UST law professor and Aegis Juris member Arthur Capili.

The additional respondents included other active members of the fraternity: Nathan Anarna, Lennert Bryan Galicia and Chuck Siazar.

No basis for delisting PH—Palace T

HERE is enough basis to consider removing the Philippines from the United Nations Human Rights Council, the international group Human Rights Watch said over the weekend.

Philippines had not fulfilled its obligations as part of the 47 states that comprise the UNHRC. “Being a member of the Human Rights Council is not a right, it’s a privilege for governments,” he said, noting that members should both uphold the highest standards of human rights and cooperate with the council.

“On both counts, the Philippines strikes out and clearly, the government is not upholding the highest standards of human rights when people can be killed in this country with impunity and that’s what we’re seeing happening.”

But Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Monday the Philippines would not be removed from the

UNHRC over the drug-related killings in the country.

He said the UN accepted the Philippines’ human rights report that was submitted by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.

Just last month, the UNHRC decided to adopt the Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines during the 36th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Philippines, however, dismissed 154 of the UNHRC’s 257 recommendations to improve its rights situation.

“Many, many states called for an end to the killings and an end to the inflammatory rhetoric by the President, by President Duterte, for the Philippines to put in place investigations into these deaths, and

“We feel that the Philippines is in violation of its membership obligations, and that the General Assembly would have grounds to consider its removal [from the UNHRC],” HRW Geneva advocacy director John Fisher said in an interview.

He made the statement even as Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Philippines would not be removed from the United Nations Human Rights Council over the drug-related killings in the country.

He told reporters the Philippines’ removal from the top UN Human Rights body waa simply a “depressing scenario” being painted by human rights groups.

“While there are those who call themselves watchdogs and tend to foretell gloomy and depressing scenarios, the truth is, the states and other governments [that] have strong trade relations with our country know better than these gloomy pictures,” Abella said.

Fisher made his statement after previously saying that the

2Fromgenerals...

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ERC commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana filed their 42-page reply to the administrative case against Salazar.

“His actions and utter disregard of the rule of law placed the ERC in chaos, its operations extremely jeopardized with the problems brought about by the irregular procurements and illegal appointments,” they said.

The commissioners questioned the position of Salazar that the ERC is an independent body and beyond the disciplinary powers of the President.

Corruption allegations have swirled around the ERC after one of its commissioners, Francisco Villa Jr. took his own life in November 2016 after allegedly being pressured to approve procurement contracts and hire consultants without proper bidding and procedures.

In May, the Palace appointed Non as officer-in-charge.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the dismissal of Salazar showed the administration is serious about putting the commission in order.

At the Bureau of Customs, Commissioner Isidro Lapeña relieved 38 officials and replaced them with his trusted people from the Philippine

Drug Enforcement Agency as part of his program to rid the agency of corrupt officials.

Lapeña said that relieved were eight district collectors and 30 section chiefs who continued to disregard his order to stop corruption in their respective ports.

The district collectors who were axed were: Elvira Cruz of Port of Cebu; Romeo Rosales of Port of San Fernando; Julius Premediles of Port of Limay; Jose Naig of Port of Iloilo; Carmelita Talusan of Port of Subic; Divina Garrido of Port of Legazpi; Halleck Valdez of Port of Zamboanga; and Tomas Alcid of Port of Appari.

The 30 section chiefs were all from the Formal Entry Divisions of the Port of Manila and Manila International Container Port and were reassigned to various provincial collection districts of the Bureau.

The respective assistant chiefs of the two ports were designated as acting chiefs following the revamp.

Lapeña has repeatedly asked BOC personnel to stop the practice of “tara” and to immediately do away with “benchmarking” or applying a discretionary value to shipments and instead apply the correct valuation of goods.

“I personally monitor the

ports including their daily collection performance and it is apparent from the records that benchmarking is still being used in the assessment of duties and taxes. This has to stop immediately,” he said.

Lapeña recently said that he will be bringing his trusted people in PDEA to help him implement reforms in the agency.

Melvin Estoque from PDEA Regional Office VII is now the chief of the Account Management Office which is in charge of accrediting importers.

Director Jeoffrey Tacio from PDEA Regional Office was assigned as the officer in charge of the bureau’s Import Assessment Service.

IAS monitors all import values of the goods taken into the country to prevent instances of undervaluation.

Also, PDEA Regional Office IV-B Director lawyer Jacquelyn L. de Guzman is the new officer in charge of the Administration Office.

“There will be more reshuffling if the BoC personnel will not cooperate in the reforms we are making. I told everyone there, I will work within the bureau. I will be one with them. But we must be all moving in one direction, and that is removing corruption at all levels,” Lapeña said.

Trillanes said in a statement.

“Worse, his bloody war on drugs has killed thousands of his own people and created a climate of fear across the country,” added Trillanes.

Trillanes said he expected the next survey results “to be worse” as the recent SWS conducted September 23 to 27 was done before the Ombudsman said it was investigating the President’s bank accounts.

On several occasions, Trillanes had accused Duterte of amassing Ill-gotten wealth amounting to P2 billion stashed in banks from September 2006 to December 2015.

He even challenged the President to sign a waiver on the bank secrecy law to disprove his allegations of unexplained wealth.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon attributed the decline in Duterte’s satisfaction and trust ratings to “selfinflicted” issues as he advised the Chief Executive to review his government’s policies.

“I will not pass judgment until the next one or two surveys because that will show the trend,” Drilon said in an

interview.

“The government must better take a second look at their policies and the way they enforce their policies...” he added.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the survey was an ominous warning due to the deep and widening rumblings of discontent across different social classes all over the country with the rampant killings, fake news and numerous accusations of corruption.

She noted that Duterte’s authoritarian style of governance was losing its appeal and support among the public.

Hontiveros said: “The writing on the wall is simple and clear: President Duterte cannot govern based on fear, lies and killings. He cannot govern outside the rule of law and with total disregard for human rights and expect no consequences.

“He cannot brag about cleaning the government of corruption when he himself cannot substantially and convincingly satisfy the public’s demand for an explanation of his undeclared bank accounts.”

She added: “I reiterate my call to the President to stop

his bloody war on drugs that has killed thousands, including innocent minors. I also join the growing public clamor for President Duterte to fully explain the issues surrounding his alleged bank records.”

Another opposition senator, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, said the drop in Duterte’s approval and trust ratings should serve as wake-up call for the Philippine National Police to rethink its strategy for the drug war and address the killings in our communities.

While the SWS did not give any explanation for the decline, Aquino believes that investigations that looked into the killings, especially of teenagers Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman, affected the Chief Executive’s survey ratings.

In a previous interview, Aquino said the minority senators would move for the slashing of the P900million Tokhang budget during the amendment period for the 2018 national budget. John Paolo Bencito, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel Cruz

Customs Enforcement officers and 1,000 attorneys, 370 immigration judges and 300 federal prosecutors.

And he hopes to prevent immigrants from sponsoring extended family members to move to the US, limiting such green cards to spouses and children, as well as to close “loopholes” that prevent the deportation of children who enter the country illegally.

The list includes financially targeting “sanctuary cities” that have resisted the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants.

- Criticism from Democrats“The administration proposes blocking sanctuary cities from receiving certain grants or cooperative agreements administered or awarded by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security,” it said.

Other proposals include cracking down on people who overstay visas, restricting asylum and expanding criteria that would make someone inadmissible to the US. AFP

‘Terrorists...

From A1

and carries cancellation of eligibility, perpetual disqualification from holding public office, bar from taking civil service examinations and forfeiture of retirement benefits.

It did not find sufficient evidence, on the other hand, on allegations of splitting of contracts for the renovation of the board room and the office of the chairman.

It also did not find sufficient evidence that Salazar influenced the bidding committee regarding procurement of consultants, shuttle buses, pest control services and software.

It also said that allegations that Salazar threatened ERC employees are unsubstantiated.

The Office of the President, however, found Salazar violated certain rules when he issued appointments without approval of the other ERC commissioners and thus was found guilty of simple misconduct.

The Office of the President issued a decision on Aug. 2 extending Salazar’s suspension for another four months due to insubordination.

In July, four commissioners of the ERC asked Malacañang to remove Salazar from office.

Cops...

From A1 “This is traditionally happening after a year, a yearand-a-half, and you know, the love is still there,” he claimed, adding public satisfaction remained “good” and public trust remained “very good.”

The Palace spokesman, however, said the drop in ratings might have been a result of the National Day of Protests against the Duterte administration.

“I’m sure there was a full spectrum of emotions out there, and some of these could have spilled over,” Abella said.

In the Senate, opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV Monday said Filipinos “are beginning to see the light,” following the drop in Duterte’s net satisfaction score based on the latest Social Weather Stations survey.

“It’s very encouraging to know that the Filipino people are beginning to see the light.

They are now seeing Duterte for who he really is: a lying, rude, amoral, corrupt and oppressive former mayor who is totally incompetent about governance at the national level,”

Trump...

From A1 immigrants known as “Dreamers” who came to the country illegally as children and were covered by an amnesty by former president Barack Obama that Trump scrapped last month.

“These findings outline reforms that must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] recipients,” Trump wrote in a letter to Congress accompanying the list, using the official name for the amnesty order.

The White House list is topped by “border security,” a category that includes building a massive wall on the southern US border that Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico, which has said it will not do so.

Trump also wants to dramatically ramp up the number of officials involved in enforcement, hiring an additional 10,000 Immigrations and

occupying parts of the Philippines’ most important Islamic city of Marawi in a bid to establish an IS caliphate in Southeast Asia, Philippine authorities said.

“He was among those who were treating wounded members of the Maute group,” military spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo told AFP. Año and Dela Rosa said there was an inadequate security legislation in the Philippines, a country of 100 million people.

Año said the Human Security Act lacked certain provisions, which was why the military was pushing for the Internal Security Act, but did not elaborate.

Dela Rosa raised the proposed national identification card system, which to him would be “very crucial” in tracking all Filipinos.

The bill setting a national ID system is considered a priority measure by both Congress and the executive branch, but the PNP chief said they were facing an “uphill battle.”

The “breeding ground for terrorists” tag came from Salic, a doctor from Marawi City who was allegedly part of a thwarted plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square.

In an electronic exchange acquired by US security agents, Salic described the terror laws in the Philippines as “not strict” in comparison to other countries.

He also said the Philippines “does not care about IS” like the West, a claim that both Año and Dela Rosa denied.

Salic is still under the custody of Philippine authorities and facing interrogation, according to the security chiefs. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II earlier said they would process the US request for Salic’s extradition. John Paolo Bencito, with AFP

for those responsible to be held into account,” Fisher said.

“Disappointingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the Philippines, when it came to Geneva just a couple of weeks ago and gave its responses, rejected every single recommendation that related to ending the killings of holdings those to account.”

Fisher said the government was sending out a message that it would not take responsibility for human rights abuses.

“I think that sends a very clear message to the international community that the government has no interest in itself taking responsibility for ending these abuses or for complying with its international human rights obligations,” he said.

“For us at Human Rights Watch, what that means the

United Nations has no option but to step in.”

Just last week, a group called the Philippine Universal Period Review Watch called on the UNHRC to remove the Philippines as a member amid the government’s “continued denial” of the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country.

“I think that’s a perfectly legitimate call to make,” Fisher said.

“When a government is engaged in violating something so basic as the right to life, and has no apparent interest in investigating the killings or holding people responsible, then it’s perfectly legitimate that groups would be calling for [its] removal from the Human Rights Council.”

John Paolo Bencito

Police:...

From A1

that all 3,800 killed in the campaign against illegal drugs were drug dealers who fired back at the police.

“Firstly, it doesn’t really matter whether somebody is involved with drugs or not. It’s no justification or excuse to murder them. There is due process; that’s part of the international human rights framework.

There’s a requirement of arrest warrants, trials, convictions, punishment, according to law,” Fisher said.

“Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty and clearly, there is not even a semblance of judicial process taking place here.

That’s why they’re called extrajudicial executions—because they happen without judicial process,” Fisher said.

Fisher’s statement came in reaction to the statement of Cayetano, claiming that all the thousands killed in the war on drugs were dealers who fired back at the police.

“They’re claiming that in every single case, which now total in the thousands. That’s simply not a credible response that every single suspect who has been killed and thousands have been killed in ‘self-defense’,” Fisher said.

“As I say, that simply reinforces the need for some kind of international objective assessment, not just relying to the police or government who have obviously every interest in justifying their own action,” Fisher also said.

“I understand that the PNP initially claimed that there was one case of extrajudicial claims in the whole of the Philippines and then revised that down to zero after careful consideration,” he said.

Fisher said the government’s tallies were “absurd.”

investigating 2,000 of such cases.

The figure was lower than the 3,800 cases that Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said during an Al Jazeera invstigation were under investigation.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa supported the police definition of extrajudicial killing under Administrative Order No. 35.

“It’s a killing, but my god, we won’t label it an EJK,” he said in Filipino.

Administrative Order No. 35 defines EJKs as “killings where the victim was a member of, or affiliated with an organization, to include political, environmental, labor, or similar causes; or an advocate of the said cause; or a media practitioner apparently mistaken or identified to be so.”

A human rights watchdog described as “ridiculous” the claim that there are no extrajudicial killings under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Human Rights Watch Geneva director John Fisher also slammed the PNP for subscribing to a “convenient” definition of extrajudicial killings based on an order from the previous administration.

“That’s a ridiculous claim.

The number of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines is there. It’s a very convenient definition that manages to reduce the number to zero,” said Fisher, who visited the Philippines last week to meet with human rights groups.

Human Rights Watch also reminded the PNP to follow due process, as it doubted the Duterte government’s claim

PH...

From A1 different logo on a banner to represent the Ministry of Defense of the People’s Republic of China,” said a Philippine defense ministry statement.

“We have issued an official apology to the government and the people of the People’s Republic of China,” it said, adding Philippine defense authorities and the military “strictly adhere” to Manila’s “One China Policy.”

The Philippines has no diplomatic ties with self-ruling Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

The Chinese embassy could not be reached for comment.

Explaining such action as “unintentional” and a “technical lapse,” the Department of National Defense Public Affairs Service chief Arsenio Andolong admitted Monday such mistake was a “grievous” action using a wrong logo on a banner to represent the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China “We have issued an official apology to the government and the people of the People’s Republic of China,” the DND said, adding the letter was addressed to Chinese ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua.

The event was to mark a “new era” of ties between the Philippines and Chinese militaries following years of tension over the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea. The friendships of both Manila and Beijing has been renewed shortly after the election victory of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Some of the government officials may have overlooked or may not be aware about the

difference between the People’s Republic of China and its breakaway group, the Republic of China or also known as Taiwan, defense and diplomatic observers said.

Despite the “One China Policy,” Manila has consular/ economic ties with Taiwan through its representative offices such as the Manila Economic and Cultural office there; and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) here, respectively.

“We are fully cognizant and grateful for the support that the government of the People’s Republic of China has been providing us,” the DND said.

It reiterated the DND and the Armed Forces “strictly” adhere to the One China policy,” it said.

The DND expressed hope this incident would not affect bilateral ties.

China and Taiwan have not issued any statement thus far.

China has donated $3.3 million worth of weapons to the Philippines to help the country fight against terrorism and criminality.

The Philippines, a military ally of the United States for decades, is trying under President Rodrigo Duterte to build warmer relations with China.

The weapons from China were the second batch to be delivered to the Philippinesthis year to help Duterte fight Islamist militants who have been occupying parts of the southern city of Marawi since May. The two neighbors had long been at loggerheads over disputed islands and waters in the South China Sea, though Duterte has sought to play down the issue as he seeks more trade and investment from Beijing. With AFP

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Probe LTO license plate contract bid’

By Maricel V. Cruz

A

PARTY-LIST lawmaker on Monday sought a congressional inquiry into the decision of the Land Transportation Office to award an almost P1-billion contract for the Procurement of Motor Vehicle License Plates next year despite the alleged irregularities in its bidding process.

In a privilege speech, ACTS OFW Party-List Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz III urged Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to nullify the awarding of the P998,800,000-LTO license plate project to the lowest bidder, the Trojan Computer Forms/J.H. Tonnjes East GmbH. Bertiz said the nearly P1-billion contract was not only allegedly rigged and manipulated, but was also void from the start since the P998,800,000 needed for the procurement of license plates was not included in this year’s P3.35-trillion General Appropriations Act. “In the spirit of transparency and in line with the government’s fight against corruption, it is imperative that we look into the governmental processes involved in the production of these motor vehicles and motor license plates, determine if there are instances of corruption and help eliminate it accordingly,” Bertiz said in his speech.

Bertiz said the provisions of Section 25, paragraph 4

of the revised implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act were allegedly violated after the opening of the bids.

He said the “mandatory 45 calendar day rule as the maximum period for the completion of the proceedings from the last posting of the Invitation to Bid up to the opening of the bids provided” was violated.

Besides, Bertiz said the planned procurement allegedly infringes the constitutional powers of Congress in unlawfully using the General Fund because there is no appropriation for the said project.

While the General Fund can be used by agencies and instrumentalities of the government for their expenditures, there should be a previously enacted law authorizing the expenditure in the form of an existing or continuing appropriations which continue to remain valid as an appropriation authority for the expenditure of public funds, he said.

PH oil firms roll back pump prices by P.85/l

By Alena Mae S. Flores OIL players rolled back pump prices effective Tuesday by as much as P0.85 per liter, ending weeks of price hikes.

The oil firms cut the price of kerosene by P0.85 per liter, gasoline by P0.50 per liter and diesel by P0.40 per liter to reflect the movement of world oil prices.

“Petron will implement the following price rollbacks effective 6 a.m. October 10: P0.50/li for Blaze 100 Euro 6, XCS, and Xtra Advance, P0.40/ li for Turbo Diesel and DieselMax, and P0.85/ li for kerosene. These reflect movements in the international oil market,” Petron Corp. said.

Other oil firms also issued separate advisories on the rollback namely Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Eastern Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Seaoil Philippines, Flying V, among others, The Energy department, in its monitoring report, attributed the price cut to the rise in US drilling and higher Opec output.

US drillers added 6 oil rigs bringing the total count to 750 triggering renewed concerns of oversupply.

It said global supplies rose while Asian gasoline market fundamentals remained in balance.

“Analyst had been expecting a modest 1.5 million barrel build if the Energy International Agency report confirms a rise in gasoline stocks,” the department said.

The department stringently monitors oil trading in the international market and analyzes its effects on the domestic prices of petroleum products as mandated by the Oil Deregulation Law of 1998.

Last Oct. 3, the oil firms raised diesel and kerosene prices by P0.55 per liter and gasoline by P0.25 per liter.

The country’s oil firms also raised prices of diesel and kerosene by P0.45 per liter and P0.65 per liter, respectively last Sept. 26.

TRANSPORT STRIKE. Transport groups led by Piston and other commuters groups under the No to Jeepney Phaseout Coalition announced in a press conference in Quezon City on Monday that they will hold a two-day nationwide transport strike on Oct. 16-17 2017 to demand the junking of the Duterte’s administration PUJ Phase-out program that they claim would massacre the livelihood of over 600,000 PUJ drivers and operators. Manny Palmero

PDP-Laban stops accepting new members

By Macon Araneta SENATE President and PDP Laban President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Monday said that PDP Laban will stop accepting new members by the end of November 2017.

He cited the need for the party to have sufficient time to screen, vet, and choose the official party candidates for the May 2019 national and local elections.

Last week, Pimentel released a partial list of PDP-Laban senatorial candidtoates in the coming elections. Aside from himself, Pimentel named the other five possible PDPLaban bets as majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, Bataan

Rep. Geraldine Roman, Davao City Karlo Nograles and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino.

Benitez, Roman and Tolentino were allies of the Liberal Party during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III before they jumped to the other side of the political fence after Duterte won as president.

Tolentino ran for senator in the 2016 elections and finished no. 13 in the final tally. Since then, he has served as political adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte, the party’s national chairman.

Pimentel said he has not yet personally talked to the prospective candidates about the matter.

After the massive influx of new members into the party for the past year, Pimentel said they now have a ‘significant presence’ in most of the provinces of the country.

“We should now focus on teaching all the members the Party Ideology and Program of Government and deepening their understanding of these.

After this, we can present a solid and united front come 2019,” he said.

The Senate President said that he is wary of “latecomers” who would show up at the last minute to claim the privileges of party membership without actually contributing anything to the development of PDP Laban.

“PDP Laban is a party

for those who believe in its principles, whether it is in power or not. We are not a party of political convenience,” said Pimentel.

“By stopping recruitment, we will have time to indoctrinate and train our members, screen possible candidates, and absorb our new members into our grassroots infrastructure.”

PDP Laban is one of the few parties in Philippine politics that actively recruits from the grassroots and which has an ideology, that it captures in the following phrase: “Belief in God; Human Dignity; Love of Country; Equal Opportunities for All; Consultative and Participatory Democracy; and Federalism.”

Violators of new law on gift checks warned SENATOR Juan Miguel F. Zubiri on Monday warned violators of the new law on gift checks, as he reminded that penalties include a fine of a million pesos, reimbursement of the total value of GCs to holders and revocation or suspension of the authority to issue GCs. After holding a Bicameral Conference Committee meeting on the matter, Zubiri, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, said the panel agreed GCs should be treated as real money or cash.

He added that the committee agreed to disallow the putting of an expiry date on gift checks, and, putting an expiry date

on the unused value, credit or balance stored in the GC. He added that the benefits enjoyed by Senior citizens and PWDs remain available.

The senator said promotional sales activities, loyalty programs, warranties, return policies for cash purchases, and discounts for senior citizens/persons with disability as provided for under the relevant laws and rules and regulations, shall apply likewise to purchases of goods and services that are paid with GCs. “We will definitely push for the promulgation of the law and the approval of the IRR to make it timely as the Christmas shopping season comes,” Zubiri said

“The bicam conferees agreed that the policies shall uphold consumer rights, as follows: ‘to protect the interests of the consumer, promote his general welfare and establish standards of conduct for business and industry; promote and encourage fair, honest and equitable relations among parties in consumer transaction and protect the consumers against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts and practices.’ The law shall be interpreted in favor of the best interests of consumers.”

He said the panel also agreed on a new definition of “Gift check, gift certificate, or gift card.”

The panel defined GCs as “an instrument issued to any person, natural or juridical, for monetary consideration, honored upon presentation at a single merchant or an affiliated group of merchants as payment for consumer goods or services. The instrument can be in the form of paper, card, code or other device and shall remain valid until the cessation of business of the issuer.”

Excluded from the coverage of the law are “GCs issued to consumers including but not limited to those under loyalty, rewards or promotional programs as determined by the Department of Trade and Industry [DTI].”

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Ombudsman suspends mayor for ‘negligence’

By Rio N. Araja

POWER HUDDLE. Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Finance committee huddles with DPWH Secretary Mark Villar during the deliberation on the 2018 Proposed Budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways office held at the Senate office in Pasay City. Lino Santos

THE Office of the Ombudsman on Monday ordered a two-month suspension on former Cebu’s Daanbantayan mayor Augusto Corro for simple negligence.

“In the event of separation from the service, the penalty will be converted to a fine in the amount of his two months’ salary,” the Ombudsman said.

The case stemmed from Corro’s flip-flopping on the qualified beneficiaries of the emergency shelter assistance, a financial assistance fund from the Department of Social Welfare and Development released to victims of

Typhoon ‘Yolanda.’

Under the ESA program, qualified beneficiaries were entitled to receive P30,000 for residents whose houses were completely destroyed by the typhoon and P10,000 for those whose houses were partially destroyed.

DSWD partnered with the local government units in the affected areas, requiring them to individually come up with a list of families within their respective jurisdiction.

In October 2014, the municipality submitted to DSWD a list of 16,613 beneficiaries.

In January 2015, DSWD released Memorandum Circular No. 24 disqualifying beneficiaries living in unsafe or no-build zones.

Because of such, the complainant, Renato Benatiro of Barangay Tapilon, was declared ineligible to receive the financial assistance.

On March 25, 2015, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Mines and Geosciences Board issued a letter stating that “Barangay Tapilon is generally not within a danger/ unsafe zone for rain-induced landslide and flooding.”

On July 30, 2015, Corro wrote the DENR, requesting “technical assistance to establish the unsafe zones as the local government is having difficulty in establishing the so-called unsafe or no-build zones due to the absence of technical personnel.”

Lawmaker Abad, 62, succumbs to cancer

By Maricel V. Cruz BATANES Rep. Henedina Abad, the wife of former Budget secretary Florencio Abad, died on Sunday (Oct. 8) night after a battle with cancer.

In a statement issued

by Rep. Abad’s office, her remains will repose in the Ateneo de Manila University College Chapel until the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 11.

Nightly masses at 8 will also be offered for her in the same venue, while a sendoff mass will be held for her on Oct. 12, Thursday at 10 in the morning at the Church of the Gesu.

Dina will be laid to rest in Batanes, the province she loved and served so faithfully. She is survived by her husband, Florencio, and their children, Julia Andrea, Pio Emmanuel, Luis Andres, and Cecilia Paz. A Liberal Party member, Abad headed the House committee on government reorganization in the 17th Congress.

Gun license processing at arms show THE Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers of the Philippines, Inc. has joined forces with the Philippine National Police for the swift processing of Provisional License to Own and Possess Firearms during the 25th Defense & Sporting Arms Show Part 2 at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 16 to 20, 2017.

PNP Firearms and Explosives Office Chief PCSupt. Val de Leon launched the PLTOPF program last August 2017.

The requirements for PLTOPF are a valid ID, P500 payment to LandBank, and filled up application form.

When the license is renewed under the PLTOPF program, the licensee can now renew his/ her existing firearm registrations; and, sell his/ her firearms and transfer ownership using the new legal documents.

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Opinion

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

W two ago.

Adelle Chua, Editor

When democracy works

E NEVER had this web logs can be read by anybody Many promote hate and violence. Democracy is about having nuconversation about anywhere so long as there is Inter- Manipulate others for personal or merous voices conversing, asking bloggers a decade or net access lends the practice an aura financial gain. Assume identities, questions, critiquing and enlighten-

In the past, it was difficult to get one’s voice across. Being given a platform from which to air one’s thoughts on anything, from the mundane to the profound, was a privilege. One had to be really good, or really well-connected, or both.

These days it’s a free for all. Technology has given everybody an opportunity to create his or her own channel, whatever the purpose— expression, posterity, advocacy, self-aggrandizement. The fact that

of credibility. Operative word: aura.

Social media platforms, on the other hand, were initially thought to bridge gaps created by distance between friends and family. One could share thoughts or photos, or converse with another, creating an intimacy that could rival, even surpass, face-to-face interaction.

But like any tool, the Internet can be used for bad as for good. While it has ceased to be a novelty, the ingenious, the cunning and the malevolent have found ways to use it to their advantage.

personalities or qualities. Sow confusion and fear among the people.

Praise their masters to the heavens.

They blur the line between fact and fiction, befuddling the gullible and exasperating those who continue to revere the truth. When called out for their excesses, they claim they are not bound by the same standards that apply to others in the discipline. They growl at their critics in an attempt to intimidate them, curse, or say they have been joking all along.

Such jokes are never funny.

ing. Unfortunately, what is happening these days, both online and offline, perverts democracy. It gives a bad name to all the good and honest people using the Internet for valid causes.

Sadly, there is no way to rein in this free exchange of ideas except to warn those who are watching, listening or reading to be more incredulous, less trusting, and more discerning—until those feeding off our gullibility will find themselves back on the fringes of our democratic space, where they belong.

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

The turning point THE outrage that comes from the killing of minors by the police may well be the turning point in this administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

We have this survey that says majority of Filipinos do not believe that those killed by the police actually fought back, or were drug dealers.

Now the same survey taker found that President Duterte’s satisfaction ratings have slid to “good” from “excellent.” I feel vindicated!

Earlier, before the release of this latest results that saw a drop in Filipinos’ perception of the President, I said it was illogical that they could still trust him while doubting his war on drugs.

The President should rethink his strategy.

Hilbay’s boneheaded tweet LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES IT’S safe to assume that Florin Hilbay is an aboveaverage lawyer, or he would not have made it as solicitor general in the previous administration. But sometimes, even the best legal minds can fall flat on their faces, as Hilbay did last week.

Reacting to reports that tycoon Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines had agreed to pay the government P6 billion in terminal and other fees it owed over many years, Hilbay was decidedly downbeat. Instead of rejoicing because the Duterte administration had successfully dunned someone who owed the state money, Hilbay intoned on Twitter

as @fthilbay: “Take special note of this Admin’s fixation with immediate cash—Mighty Corp., Uber, Lucio Tan’s PAL—and the way it’s done: arm-twisting.”

Given the space limitations inherent in the social media platform he was using, Hilbay was unable to explain himself further. I would have loved to read an entire legal brief written by him on the subject matter, assuming he is up to it now that he is no longer burdened with the demands of his former job as the top lawyer of the government.

So I guess all of us will have to be content with what Hilbay tweeted, such as it is. And I am of the belief that the former Sol-Gen merely got caught up in the current craze of spreading fake news, instead of declaring a well thought-out

legal opinion as befits his former position.

In the cases cited by Hilbay, the government earned a total of P36.19 billion.

Broken down, that’s P30 billion from cigarette man-

I nominate Hilbay for the post of most intellectually challenged ‘Yellow’ of the moment. ufacturer Mighty, in penalties for tax evasion and other similar offenses; P6 billion from PAL for unpaid use of the government’s airports and other facili-

ties; and P190 million from Uber, the company that developed the ride-sharing application, as punishment for accepting applicants for its service despite an order from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

To Hilbay’s list, I would add Sunvar Realty, the company owned by the Prieto family, which was forced to vacate the governmentowned Mile Long property in Makati on the basis of court orders that have not been enforced simply because the real estate outfit’s proprietors also counted the powerful Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper as one of their assets. There is no valuation yet for the prime property, which President Rodrigo Duterte had vowed to recover from the Prietos in order to convert it into a mass-housing project that

will presumably run almost the entire length of Amorsolo Street in high-rent Makati City.

But in the Mile Long case, it is important to point out that the eviction orders in favor of the government were personally served on Sunvar and its clients—including, I’m told, long-time lessees who had somehow secured titles to their units —by Hilbay’s successorin-office, current Solicitor General Jose Calida. And Calida’s involvement in the Mile Long case speaks volumes about how clueless (or Machiavellian, if you want) Hilbay’s tweet really was. *** It is true that Duterte himself was involved in the collection of the unpaid revenues due to the government in all of these cases, except that of Uber, which was an LTFRB initiative.

But that is about the only thing that Hilbay got right.

Note that instead of commending Duterte for his contribution to the government’s collection effort, Hilbay criticizes the president for his “fixation with immediate cash” and for “arm-twisting.” This is fake news in the extreme.

I don’t know where Hilbay got the idea that a government that collects what is due it under the law is fixated with immediate cash, especially since, like in the case of PAL and Sunvar, decades have passed and several court cases have already been resolved in the state’s favor against the other parties. And those decades included the six years of the government that Hilbay served in as SolGen, a government which never acted fast enough to Turn to A5

These developments are, I think, good and bad for the President. They are good because they can rethink the fact that the war on drugs is not merely a peace-and-order problem that can be solved by just killing everybody.

It is bad in the sense that unless the President rethinks his method of ending the illegal drug menace, the decline of his trust and satisfaction ratings would begin a freefall.

That would be bad for the President because it could lead to something else.

Malacañang may not realize it but if his allies like Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano insists in his line of reasoning, local and international perception could only worsen.

I can only laugh when police claim that there is “zero mark” in extrajudicial killings when no less than 39 members of the United Nations have raised Turn to A5

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Opinion

(Part 1) ONE of the most disturbing developments in the Philippines this year is the proliferation and dissemination of “fake news.” As understood in the current social and political environment, “fake news” means false information deliberately passed off as genuine news.

In the not-so-distant past, information disseminated to the public by the traditional print and broadcast media consisted of news, editorials and opinion materials, and propaganda.

“News” meant factual information obtained from a verified and credible source, and which is of enough importance or significance to warrant public attention.

The more important or significant the news item was, the more priority or importance it got. Important news always found its way to the front pages of the newpapers, and got more broadcast time in radio and television news programs.

Since the rules on journalism ethics explicitly prohibit passing off unverified stories, opinionated essays, and promotional materials as news, the news stories disseminated by the traditional mass media in decades past were assumed by the general public to be truthful.

Tabloids are, however, a different matter. Because tabloids specialize in sensationalism—the use of graphic details designed to trigger public curiosity and, ultimately, to increase sales—the news published in tabloids do not enjoy the same level of credibility and acceptance from readers to whom news and current events mattered. Tabloids, therefore, do not define the news, and their reputation for sensationalism prevents them from being considered as credible news media.

The editorials and opinion materials published in the daily broadsheets are designed to help the reader understand the news, or form his own impression about current events. As a rule, editorials and opinion materials are published in a section in the inside pages of the periodical and properly identified as the opinion-editorial pages to distinguish this section from the news. This way, the readers do not mistake opinion materials for factual information. In fine, there is nothing wrong about the dissemination of opinion materials as long as they are not passed off as news.

On the other hand, radio newscasts are strictly limited to news stories, and do not include opinion materials. Opinion materials for radio are separately broadcast as “commentaries,” and they are usually anchored by professional radio commentators who must constantly identify their program as a commentary. The is so because a listener belatedly tuning in to either a radio news program or a radio commentary may not be able to determine if the material being broadcast is news or a commentary.

The same restriction applies to the television news media, although it is relatively easy for television audiences to distinguish straight news programs from opinion materials.

For one, news programs on television usually consist of a newscaster reading the news script from a teleprompter and periodic cuts to video footage of a news event covered by the broadcast reporters.

Moreover, opinion materials for television use the talk-show format where a

Hilbay’s...

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prosecute or penalize any “big fish” that didn’t have their taxes withheld at the source (as in, even before they get paid) just like you, me

guest or several guests are gathered in the television studio and a moderator asks them their views on current events. Labels and other graphics appearing on the television screen also tell the audience that the program is a commentary.

Some television commentaries do not use the talk show format and utilize a talking head instead.

Throughout the broadcast, graphics indicate that the segment on the air is a commentary.

Propaganda consist of advertisements and similar promotional materials, as well as the usual campaign literature and segments which proliferate during an election season. They are easily identified by readers and broadcast audiences as propaganda because of the one-sided nature of the material concerned, and the intensity by which it glorifies its subject.

When an advertisement looks like a news item, the newspaper editor requires it to be labeled as an advertisement, and the radio or television station management adds a disclaimer at the end of the material. The measure protects the public from mistaking the advertisement for news.

Journalists identified with the traditional mass media are always required to verify their news stories and their sources, and to ascertain the truth of the news stories to be published or broadcast.

They also have to convince their respective news editors that they have satisfied all the requirements for truthful and responsible news reportage before their news stories are disseminated to the public.

Only by observing these exacting standards are the veracity of the news and news sources, and the credibility of the newspaper or broadcast network concerned, maintained and protected.

The veracity of the news stories and their sources is very important to the traditional news media because the news reported in newspapers and on radio and television are almost always considered gospel truth by their readers and audiences.

Credibility is likewise very important because public acceptance of a newspaper or broadcast station as a reliable means of news dissemination depends on how credible the newspaper or broadcast station is to the public. When its credibility ceases, the reason for the existence of a newspaper or a broadcast news program also ceases.

All the foregoing restrictions describe what news dissemination is all about. They also define what a professional journalist should be.

For a long time, the traditional news media dominated the dissemination of all news, local and overseas.

By and large, the traditional news media decided what the people should know, and conversely, what the people need not find out. This system meant that readers and audiences were at the mercy of the news dissemination industry elite.

The development of the social media in cyberspace has changed the news dissemination scene drastically.

Today, not only is news readily available on line; newspaper readership has declined drastically. News on the radio has taken the backseat, while television news had to reinvent itself by incorporating entertainment value in the broadcast news. Viewers were no longer satisfied with plain news; they wanted entertainment with their daily news fix. (To be continued) and millions of other wage earners.

I will never understand why Hilbay’s co-worker in the previous government, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, was so gung-ho about pursuing tax cases against high-pro-

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Waking

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

The fake news phenomenon

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

FORMATION GARY OLIVAR THAT was a pretty loud wake-up call for the President in the latest Social Weather Stations quarterly poll conducted last Sept. 23-27.

His net “satisfaction” rating registered at +48, or 18 points below his +66 net rating in the previous survey last June 23-26. That was enough to drop him from “very good” to “good” status. His net “trust” rating likewise declined to +60, a 15-point drop below his +75 rating in June, but still high enough to keep him in the “very good” category.

There were only two demographics where he stayed steady: in his bailiwick region of Mindanao, and among the “ABC” crowd, where net satisfaction dropped by just 2 points.

The latter finding probably shouldn’t surprise us, since it was mainly among the masa of “D” and “E” that SWS last June found that seven out of 10 Filipinos fear becoming victims of EJK. We can only speculate about the other reasons for the drop in ratings until SWS

comes out with the rest of its findings. The two major survey groups like to do this, stretching out the publicity for their findings like a striptease. However, a string of cumulative bad news only exaggerates negative impressions. This may be great for marketing, but less so for non-partisan reporting, popular morale, and public policy. *** Any decline in the credibility of the head of state and government can only be bad news for everyone, regardless of your politics—unless that leader is so irretrievably bad that nothing he’s done could be worth saving. And no matter how much Duterte’s ratings have dropped, I’m willing to bet that few, if any, would make such an extreme claim about him today.

One thing worth saving is comprehensive tax reform, which is now being whittled down into unrecognizable form by the honorable senators. Without it, you can forget about all the new infrastructure that Duterte wants to build—unless you’re willing to bury yourself in more debt to finance it. That initiative is now at risk because of low ratings.

Another initiative worth

saving is Charter change.

This will not only be about federalism, about which many people concededly still have misgivings. Just as important, it will also be about opening up our economy to more foreign investment and becoming more competitive against our neighbors. Senator Franklin Drilon himself, who’s no friend of Duterte, has already worried aloud about the 90-percent drop in direct foreign investment, year on year, for the first half of this year. This is another reform now at risk because of the President’s low ratings.

Securing the peace, especially in Mindanao, is a third mandate of his that is now in jeopardy. Passage of an acceptable Bangsamoro basic law is now farther out of reach. If ISIS were to renew its offensive in Mindanao, it would be more difficult for Duterte to convince Congress to keep martial law in place there, no matter how terrible those renewed attacks might be. Perhaps nothing short of an assault on Metro Manila would be enough to convince the naysayers.

On the other hand, if these scenarios were exactly what the promoters of destabilization had in mind, then they’re

getting what they wanted.

And debasement of the people’s trust and confidence in the President is a great step in the direction they want to take the country. *** “Waking” is a familiar word for which I’d like to coin a new meaning: Going to one funeral wake after another, practically back to back. It’s a custom that’s quite familiar to people in my age group, for whom the list of people waiting for us on the other side just keeps getting longer.

Just from the last three days, let me cull the following names whom I was privileged to get to know personally, and for whom I request the devout reader’s prayers: Dobbit Palacios—PMA class of ’72, brother and husband of schoolmates of mine at UP High. “Celebration of his life” on Friday 4 p.m. at Stella Strada on Katipunan.

Erick San Juan—possibly the dean of hard-core investigative journalism in this country, a man who always knew about the unlikeliest news tidbits from the unlikeliest sources. Wake starting tonight at Heritage Park in Taguig.

Washington Sycip—the grand old man of Philippine

business. I remember, decades ago, offering to drive him back to his hotel from a Manhattan evening reception, an invitation he quickly accepted, I suspect, as much for the opportunity to save on cab fare as for the comfort of the ride.

Malyn Veluz—one of the Veluz siblings, fixtures in the radical student movement of the seventies, where the beauty of the sisters was as well-known as the rowdiness of the brothers. Wake details pending. *** Less morbidly, let me wish my fraternity brothers in UP Alpha Sigma a grand 55th anniversary celebration tonight.

This year the hot topics for us are refurbishing the bus we donated years ago to UP athletes through the generosity of our one and only “honorary brod” Manny (MVP) Pangilinan ‘12; putting an official end to physical initiation; building new chapters in the other, smaller campuses of UP; and confederating in some fashion with non-UP fraternities who sport the same name and ideals.

Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com.

No to a president-led impeachment On the charge of corruption that she bought an expensive Toyota Land Cruiser, the Chief Justice points out that the purchase was neither illegal nor extravagant. The acquisition was approved by the Supreme Court en banc in A.M. No. 17-03-06-SC. On the charge that she got herself billeted in a presidential villa in Boracay, Sereno says that the Court approved budget of P2.6 million in connection with the holding of the Asean Chief Justices Meeting included the use of the presidential villa as a meeting area for 24 hours.

Only the Resort had the facilities to ensure the safety and safety of the high-profile attendees.

As to the accusation that she travels on business class, the Chief Justcie draws attention to Rule XII-19, II-B.6.b of the Supreme Court Human Resource Manual which expressly allows the Chief Justice to travel “full business class” while the other justices are not allowed to do so. This privilege was given under the authority of SC en banc approved the Human Resource Manual through A.M. No. 00-6-1-SC dated 31 January 2012. All foreign trips of Sereno were made in pursuit of official business to further judicial reform, systems development, Asean meetings, and other international judicial relations.

Sereno denies that she brings a “huge entourage” of lawyers during her trips abroad. She brought only those necessary to assist her given the nature and objective of her foreign trips.

The accusation that the Chief Justice ordered judges not to issue warrants of ar-

rest against Senator de Lima is a barefaced lie. Sereno has never spoken to the concerned judges and the accusation is plain perjurious.

The Chief Justice also belies having given an instruction to the Presiding Justice and Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals not to follow the show-cause orders which the House of Representatives had issued against them following their grant of provisional release in relation to a petition for habeas corpus filed by six provincial officials of Ilocos Norte which were ordered detained by the House for refusal to answer during an investigation. As head of the judiciary, Sereno was duty bound to protect its independence which would be endangered if the justices were called to account for their judicial action by the House, a separate branch of government.

But her action was simply to write the appropriate letter to the Speaker.

In a normal situation, the Sereno impeachment would not stand a single day of rigorous scrutiny by politicians and lawyers of good will. It has come only to this stage because the President himself has said he wants it done because of his perception that Sereno is against him and is part of a conspiracy to oust her. Like the impeachment charges of Gadon, there is absolutely no basis for this suspicion.

It is suspected that Duterte was very upset when he was told about the speech that the Chief Justice had given in the Ateneo de Manila University commencement exercise which happened a few days after martial law.

Obviously, whoever fed the

President that information was motivated by malice as that speech did not attack President Duterte at all but expressed the hope that martial law can be implemented without the excesses of the Marcos era through a strict application of the safeguards provided by the 1987 Constitution.

The decision of the President to pursue impeachment against the Chief Justice as well as the Ombudsman is unfortunate and wrong.

In the same way, the decision of President Noynoy Aquino to have Chief Justice Corona impeached in 2012, done overnight out of anger for the latter support for former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the pending cases pending then before the Supreme Court, was also unfortunate and wrong. That unleashed an ugly genie out of the jar—an angry president can unleash all his powers, including use his bully pulpit, his control of Congress, and all the resources of the executive branch to go after sitting impeachable officials.

Whatever his motivation and no matter how strong the case against Corona eventually became (it was weak when it started but got stronger with the evidence gathered during the process—a “fishing expedition” by any standard—and by Corona’s own admissions), Aquino’s decision was a bad precedent and Duterte further escalates it with his attacks on Sereno and Morales.

The suggestion that Duterte becomes the prosecutor is preposterous but if it does happen, this raises the ante even higher for everyone.

In my view, though, Duterte

has to resign the presidency first to legally take on a role that subjects him to the control and supervision of the House of Representatives as the latter is conferred sole authority to prosecute impeachment complaints.

In my view, there is no chance that Sereno can be convicted and be removed from office as the senators will be fair and look at the evidence objectively and see that they are not based on facts and law. However, the President’s involvement whether as prosecutor or as instigator will put everyone under severe pressure.

President-led impeachment erodes the independence of the judiciary, the Ombudsman, and the constitutional commissions.

If Duterte succeeds as Aquino did with Corona, it will again carry over to the next presidency where a future president will again do the same thing to appointees of a former president even without any basis. Of course, those appointees can signal to the new president their willingness to play ball with the new president dooming independence and accountability.

Surely this was not the intent of the Constitution when it established impeachment as the ultimate accountable mechanism. Let’s walk back from what President Aquino started and President Duterte is now escalating.

Let’s catch the evil genie of a president-led impeachment process and put it back in and permanently seal the jar. This is an imperative for the good of the country.

concerns about the culture of impunity here.

President Duterte should be thankful all this is happening in his second year.

He still has to backpedal and rethink his strategy.

The administration claims that the drug war casualties are all drug dealers. They are insulting our intelligence.

What the police and their allies are saying contradicts this assertion made by the police themselves.

So when officials like

Cayetano and Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella lie on behalf of the President, do they think the people are too stupid not to know? *** The President is going after Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno with an impeachment case brought against her by administration allies. He is also going after Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales who wants to look into his family’s alleged unexplained wealth.

Now the world thinks our country is in chaos.

Remember martial law is

still in force in Mindanao and the President often says a nationwide martial law is always an option for him.

With all this, who would be brave enough to invest here?

The significant drop in foreign investments—90 percent!—simply validates the fear that investors have.

Read this and weep: Foreign equity placements other than reinvestments have already declined compared to last year’s. Here in Southeast Asia, even Cambodia is ahead of us!

The 2016 Asian Business Outlook Survey published

by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the US Chamber of Commerce said, among the companies they surveyed, only 22 percent chose the Philippines as a possible expansion location. Vietnam tops the list at 34 percent.

The Duterte administration should be worried about this.

This leads me to wonder—what ever happened to those pledges of investment that the President supposedly got during his overseas trips? *** The brouhaha over fake news really boils down to the

fact that freedom of expression is not unlimited.

When I write in my column that a person is a crook, I can be sued for libel. I may have the right to express myself and have the freedom to write what I think, but there are laws protecting people.

When bloggers peddle disinformation, that is their right. But in asserting that right they transgress the rights of others.

It is different altogether when the bloggers are in government.

This is where congressional investigation can come in, in aid of legislation.

file individuals like Manny Pacquiao while not uttering a peep about Mighty.

I don’t know how the two Aquino-era transportation secretaries, Mar Roxas and Joseph Emilio Abaya, could destroy the perfectly working public transportation

infrastructure they inherited from their own predecessors yet not collect a centavo from PAL. Lastly, I fail to understand how Hilbay could not have acted on the court decisions against the Prietos’ Sunvar when his successor Calida

was able to evict the beneficiaries of this Marcos-era sweetheart deal in just a little over a year after he assumed the Sol-Gen position.

I certainly hope that none of these officials merely failed to collect what was due to the government be-

cause they had entered into private arrangements with the people they were supposed to be dunning for “immediate” cash. But then, I’m not a great lawyer like Hilbay.

And so I nominate Hilbay for the post of most

intellectually challenged “Yellow” of the moment, at a point in time when that title is always being heatedly contested by the other, equally noisy—and equally boneheaded—officials of Noynoy Aquino. Do I hear any disagreement?

THIS is the fourth of five columns on the impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. As I have done with the previous columns, I base this on the brilliant and comprehensive reply submitted by the lawyers of Sereno. However, I also tackle here the latest developments with President Rodrigo Duterte now coming out openly that he is behind this impeachment.

The complainant, Larry Gadon, charges Chief Justice Sereno of corruption on several grounds, all of which are factually untrue or easily explained: that she acquired a Toyota Land Cruiser (2017 model), an illegal and extravagant use of public money; that she supposedly billeted herself in the Presidential Villa easily at P200,000.00/night room during an international conference in Shangri-LaBoracay; that she travels on business class together with her security and staff, whether on domestic or international flights, while the rest of the Justices had to contend with flying economy class; and that she brings a huge entourage of lawyers during her foreign trips.

Gadon likewise accuses Sereno of committing “high crimes” when she ordered judges not to issue warrants of arrest against Senator Leila de Lima and that she instructed the presiding justice and associate justices of the Court of Appeals not to comply with the processes of the House of Representatives.

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Lapeña vows to eliminate ‘tara’

By Julito G. Rada and Macon Ramos-Araneta

B

UREAU of Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña has vowed to eliminate the “tara” system of illegal payoffs within the agency, increase revenue collections and strengthen the government’s anti-smuggling efforts, while improving the incentives and rewards systems for BoC employees.

In his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Lapeña said weeding out corruption at the agency tops his priority list, which he plans to do by implementing the “no ‘tara,’ no gift and no take” policy.

His five-point program, Lapeña said, involves stopping corruption, increasing revenues, ensuring trade facilitation, strengthening

anti-smuggling efforts, and enhancing the personnel incentives, rewards system and compensation benefits for BOC personnel.

Lapeña told Dominguez that the use of the customs green lane, where imports undergo only minimal inspection and verification, remained suspended, with all X-ray inspection machines being used 24/7.

“The default lane for inspections is the red lane, and so far there have been no reports of congestion,” Lapeña said during a recent Department of Finance Executive Committee meeting.

Meanwhile, Senator Richard J. Gordon proposed an additional budget for the BOC to procure additional X-ray machines, to help Customs become more efficient in the correct assessment and collection of duties and taxes and thus enabling it to meet its target.

During one of the hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling through the BoC, Gordon—who chairs the committee—said he was

able to determine the bureau needed additional Xray machines to improve its operations.

In the bureau’s budget deliberations at the Senate, the lawmaker committed to support the BoC’s request for P1.3 billion to buy additional X-ray machines to ensure the speedy inspection of all shipments entering the country’s ports.

Gordon urged his colleagues that to help the BoC meet its target, the Senate should give the bureau the necessary resources.

“Now, I am glad that you collected taxes on the basis of proper valuation, no green lane. So my disposition, like Senator [Loren] Legarda, is to give you the equipment, give

what you needed,” he said.

“If you ger additional Xrays, will you be faster? No congestions? So if you have more X-rays, ergo, will the process be faster? Businessmen will be happier and collection will be bigger,” said Gordon, noting that the United States was able to grow its Navy, its Army, and pay off its debts through the collections of its customs bureau.

Legarda, as head of the Senate Finance Committee, supported Gordon’s initiative and recommended the approval of the P1.5-billion additional appropriations for the BOC—P1.3-billion for additional X-ray machines and P178 million for additional computers.

Lapeña has made good

IN BRIEF

on his promise to implement the “one-strike” policy at the BOC, which has led to the relief of the district collectors in the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port and further recommendations to remove other personnel in these two offices.

He has also ordered surprise visits and inspections in Manila’s ports, which led to the arrest of an MICP security guard and two of his accomplices who were caught in the act of receiving money from truck drivers last Sept. 30.

The collection being done by the MICP guard and his cohorts “has led to the long line of trailer trucks and container vans passing through the MICP gates,” Lapeña said.

Postbank to morph into bank for OFWs

By John Paolo Bencito parent company of PPSB, A BANK for Overseas Filipino Workers will soon be built after President Rodrigo Duterte issued an executive order approving the acquisition of government-owned Philippine Postal Savings Bank or Postbank by the Land Bank of the Philippines.

In his Executive Order No. 44, released Monday, Duterte said the current Philippine Postal Savings Bank will be converted into the Overseas Filipino Bank, which aims “to efficiently deliver micro-finance and micro-insurance products and services for overseas Filipinos.”

“Overseas-based Filipinos, who contribute to the country’s foreign exchange income, currency stability, employment, and overall economic growth through their remittances, should be given provision of priority support for their growing financial needs,” the executive order read.

Subject to the clearance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Securities and Exchange Commission, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Philippine Competition Commission, the Postbank acquisition will be made via transfer of shares of the Philippine Postal Corp., the

and the Bureau of Treasury, which will then turn over their respective shareholdings in Postbank to Land Bank at zero value.

LandBank, meanwhile, is directed to infuse the necessary capital to the OFW bank “to strengthen the capital base of OFB and enable the same to attain its primary agenda of servicing the various financial and banking needs of overseas Filipinos.”

LandBank will implement a reorganizational plan, which “may cause the detail or assignment of LBP employees to the OFB as may be necessary,” with officers of the Postbank who might be affected by the acquisition to be offered an early retirement incentive plan, EO 44 added.

In December 2016, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez announced that the government-owned LandBank, the country’s fourth largest commercial bank, will open a separate subsidiary that will cater to OFWs. The proposal to absorb the operations of Postbank came after an oversight body on government corporations abandoned a plan by the previous administration to merge LandBank with another state-run lender, the Development Bank of the Philippines.

SNAP POLLS? Former Defense secretary Norberto Gonzales (left) makes a point on the proposed snap elections in the country as former senator Francisco ‘Kit’ Tatad (right) listens during the Samahang Plaridel Kapihan sa Manila Hotel forum on Monday. Lino Santos

PDEA announces openings for 373 new agents

By Rio N. Araja THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency needs 373 new agents—qualified men and women who are willing to join the war against illegal drugs.

PDEA Director Gen-

3.

4.

5.

eral Aaron Aquino said the agency needs highly qualified professionals.

The agency has approved regular positions of 2,271 workers, of which 1,898 are presently filled and deployed across its national and regional offices.

According to Aquino, the list of vacant plantilla positions has been published on the agency’s official website, pdea.gov.ph.

“This is the opportunity for those who want to join the fight in ridding our country of illegal drugs

and be part of an elite drug law enforcement group. Be part of the PDEA family —professional, dynamic, excellence-driven and accountable public servants with credibility and competency in leading a drugfree Philippines,” he said.

THE Senate finance committee on Monday gave the office of Vice President Leni Robredo an additional P20 million to bankroll her “Angat Buhay” program, a nationwide anti-poverty program that aims to complement the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer system.

In just five minutes, the committee chaired by Senator Loren Legarda approved the P443.95-million budget proposed by the Office of the Vice President for next year.

During the deliberations, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III pushed for the approval of P20 million more for the OVP. “I was informed that the OVP has a program called Angat Buhay program, it’s a nationwide anti-poverty program. May we know how much [is the] budget for that particular program?” asked Sotto.

Legarda said Robredo did not submit a proposed budget for the program, but added that she would “be happy to amend” the budget by inserting a specific line item —which Sotto welcomed.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

PDEA Bldg., NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Barangay Pinyahan Quezon City 1100, Philippines www.pdea.gov.ph

PDEA Bldg., NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Barangay Pinyahan Quezon City 1100, Philippines www.pdea.gov.ph

PDEA Bldg., NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Barangay Pinyahan Quezon City 1100, Philippines www.pdea.gov.ph

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

INVITATION TO BID

2.

THE Philippines is in position to join the ranks of countries whose duty-free industry is expected to grow by an average of 40 percent in the next decade, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said.

Teo made the remarks at the recent 2017 Duty Free and Travel Retail Global Summit in Cannes, France.

Teo expressed optimism that global premium brands are now looking to increase their presence in the Philippines in anticipation of the steady growth in arrivals of Chinese tourists.

“Bringing in the global premium brands would be an additional incentive to attract more Chinese tourists, particularly the luxury segment,” Teo added.

In July this year, China nudged out the United States as the country’s second largest tourist market source, next to Korea. Chinese tourists are known to enjoy the Philippines’ outdoor destinations and shopping of premium brands. Bill Casas

Senate adds P20m to OVP

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

1.

PH readies for duty-free boom

ACQUISITION OF SECURITY GUARD SERVICES FOR CY 2018 Bid Ref. No. 2017-37 ThePhilippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum ofTHIRTEEN MILLION FOUR HUNDRED FIFTEENTHOUSAND PESOS(P13,415,000.00)through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2018being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)for the ACQUISITION OF SECURITY GUARD SERVICES FOR FY 2018. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected duringbid opening.

The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for ACQUISITION OF SECURITY GUARD SERVICES FOR FY 2018.Delivery of the service is 365calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00pm).

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on October 9, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of twenty-five thousand pesos (PhP25, 000.00).

The Invitation to Bid may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6. The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference onOctober 11, 2017, 9:30 a.m.at ODDGA Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before October 24, 2017, 9:30 a.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on October 24, 9:30, 2017 a.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/o Mr. Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting October 9, 2017 at Tel No. (632) 920-8082.However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

9. PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082 (Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-OCT. 10, 2017)

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

INVITATION TO BID

INVITATION TO BID

SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF ONE (1) LOT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT (DESKTOP COMPUTERS (500 units), LAPTOP COMPUTERS (100 units), AND PRINTERS (470 units) Bid Ref. No. 2017-41 1. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of FORTY-FIVE MILLION ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY THOUSAND PESOS (P 45,180,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2017 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF ONE (1) LOT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT (DESKTOP COMPUTERS (500 units), LAPTOP COMPUTERS (100 units), and PRINTERS (470 units). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected during bid opening.

2. The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF ONE (1) LOT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT (DESKTOP COMPUTERS (500 units), LAPTOP COMPUTERS (100 units), and PRINTERS (470 units). Delivery of the goods is 60 calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II Instructions to Bidders.

3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOT OFFICE CHAIRS Bid Ref. No. 2017-44

4.

5.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00pm).

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on October 9, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of twenty-five thousand pesos (PhP25, 000.00).

The Invitation to Bid may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov. ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6. The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on October 11, 2017, 10:30 a.m. at ODDGA Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before October 24, 2017, 11:00 a.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on October 24, 2017, 11:00 a.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/o Mr. Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting October 9, 2017, 2017 at Tel No. (632)920-8082. However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

9. PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082

1.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of TEN MILLION FOUR HUNDRED NINETY TWO THOUSAND PESOS (P 10,492,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2017 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOT OFFICE CHAIRS. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected during bid opening.

2.

The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for the SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOT OFFICE CHAIRS. Delivery of the goods is 60 calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00pm).

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on October 9, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of twenty five thousand pesos (PhP25, 000.00).

The Invitation to Bid and Checklist of Requirements may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6.

The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on October 11, 2017, 11:15 a.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before October 24, 2017, 1:30 p.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on October 24 2017, 1:30 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/o Mr. Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting October 9, 2017 at Tel No. (632)920-8082. However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

9.

PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082

(Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-OCT. 10, 2017)

(MS-OCT. 10, 2017)

(Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

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7-6(1), 4-6, 11-9, in the semifinals then whipped Uzziel Pepito, 6-2, 6-3, to capture the boys’ 16-andunder crown. The Tubod, Lanao del Norte then outlasted Ledama in another fierce duel, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8, to clinch the 18-U title in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented

by Slazenger.

The twin victories more than made up for Sonsona’s defeat in

the Ozamiz leg of the country’s longest-running age-grouper last week as he shared the MVP honors with fellow Tubod, Lanao del Norte ace Bandolis, who ruled the girls’ 12-U side with a 6-3, 6-2 rout of Anne Baco.

“The weekly PPS-PEPP circuit gives these young players the chance to prove their worth or redeem themselves and Sonsona showed his ability

to bounce back from a previous setback with two big wins,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/ CEO Bobby Castro.

Ozamiz City’s Judy Ann Padilla, however, foiled Bandolis, 6-2, 6-4, to snare the 14-U plum in the event backed by the Unified Tennis Group, including Cebuana Lhuillier, PPS-PEPP, Wilson, Toby’s, BMeg, Citigreen, Babolat and Tru-Flex.

Manila Per Order dated August 22, 2017,

Standard

Nadal destroys agitated Kyrgios B

EIJING (AFP)--Rafael Nadal won his sixth title of another remarkable year by beating an agitated Nick Kyrgios at the China Open on Sunday, while unseeded Caroline Garcia stunned the new number one.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion Nadal saw the Australian Kyrgios hit with a penalty point as the Spanish number one eased to a 6-2, 6-1 victory on the Beijing hard courts.

Nadal, for whom this was a landmark 75th ATP crown, came to the Chinese capital on the back of winning his third US Open.

The 31-year-old saved two match points in his nervy opener against Frenchman Lucas Pouille, but was never really in trouble as Kyrgios’s final hopes evaporated in acrimony.

The 22-year-old Australian was upset with a call in the first game and appeared unable to let it go after that,

earning a warning and then a penalty point.

“I have lot of respect for Nick, he’s one of the players with more talent on the tour,” Nadal, considered one of the best players ever, said.

Nadal added that he hopes the temperamental Kyrgios, ranked 19 in the world, will one day fulfil his potential.

“The feeling is if he really wants to play and wants to work, he is one of the players that have more talent to achieve a lot of things in this sport,” said Nadal, who will go immediately on next to the Shanghai Masters.

Kyrgios, who was going after a fourth career title, said he had been “de-

stroyed” by Nadal.

“I don’t know, I just got super frustrated,” he said.

“I mean, I obviously didn’t react professionally. Obviously that’s why I got a warning.

“But I mean, that didn’t really matter today. He played well, I played terrible.”

Garcia stuns Halep Unseeded Garcia of France won her second title in as many weeks as she stunned new world number one Simona Halep in a closely fought final.

Garcia is in the form of her life and edged out the Romanian second seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to add the China Open to the Wuhan Open title she lifted last weekend.

Garcia’s feat was all the more remarkable because she was carrying a leg injury that has required frequent on-court treatment and completed a mammoth three-set quarterfinal win well past midnight on Friday evening. AFP

NHA Builders’ Marvin Mercado (22) drives straight to the hoop while Judiciary Magis’ Romulo Paras Jr. tries to stop him during the elimination round of UNTV Cup Season 6 at the Pasig City Sports Center.

NHA Builders defeat Magis, finally FOR the first time since they joined the UNTV Cup, the NHA Builders defeated twotime champion Judiciary Magis last Sunday, 95-87.

Former Most Valuable Player Antonio Lustestica Jr. led the Builders with 25 points, while John Derrick Dizon ably backed him up with 18 markers as the two were hailed as Best Players of the Game.

The Magis set the tone of the game early with three consecutive three pointers from Warren Ybanez, Don Camaso and Chester Tolomia to lead, 23-20, but the NHA Builders quickly grabbed the advantage early in the second

Games Sunday

(Pasig City Sports Center) 2 p.m. AFP vs. COA 3:30 p.m. Ombudsman vs. DA 5 p.m. Senate vs. GSIS

quarter, 28-25, before settling for a 46-38 halftime count.

NHA’s lead reached 14 points, but Judiciary narrowed down the gap to 6 points, before unleashing a 7-0 run to regain the lead, 69-68.

They even held a 74-71 edge after a triple from Tolomia.

But NHA was quick to recover as Lustestica Jr. responded with three consecutive treys to pull away.

Tolomia scored 25 points, Ybanez had 17 and Camaso

hit 16 for the Judiciar y Magis.

“Sabi ko hindi tayo mananalo kung kanya kanya at mage-errors tayo. Sabi ko magtulungan tayo sa depensa, lalo na kina Tolomia at Camaso.

So, kung hindi mo tao ‘yun at libre, kailangan mo puntahan ‘yun. So it’s more team effort kami ngayon at ‘yung puso nila ngayon, hindi sila bumigay,” said coach Bennet Palad.

In other games, Malacanang-PSC Kamao listed its second win by defeating the DOJ Justice Boosters, 91-75; even as the Senate Defenders claimed their first win by handing the BFP Firefighters their second loss, 88-81.

Highlands Ladies Cup lures huge cast A FULL-PACKED field of 200 players, led by regular club players, weekend golfers, executives and corporate bigwigs, make up the huge cast vying in the Highlands Ladies Cup which fires off Saturday at Tagaytay Midlands Golf and Country Club.

In fact, the organizing Tagaytay Highlands Ladies Chapter is tapping the adjacent Lucky 9 course to accommodate the big number of entries gearing up for the fun yet competitive tournament backed by Diamond sponsors Auto Nation Group, Inc., Pacific Online and W Group of Companies.

The THLC said tickets have been sold out 10 days before the staging of the 12th edition of the annual event, which has grown in prestige and participation through the years through the support of Platinum sponsors Leisure & Resorts World Corp., Powerball Gaming & Entertainment Corp., Royal Caribbean Corp., San Miguel Corp. and Security Bank.

Other backers are (gold) Baron Travel Corp. and Lucerne Philippines, (silver) Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Kaiser Int’l Health Group, International Mktg. Group, New Golden City Builders, Petron, Regent Travel, Smart Com-

munications and SM Prime, and (bronze) Ajisen Ramen, Burlington Socks, Concrete Masters, Dickies, Dunkin’ Donuts, Edata Services Phils, Fitness First, H&E Mfg Corp, Holland Blooms, Honda Cavite, Hyundai Asia Resources Inc., Kawsek & Co., Orocan, Parola Maritime Agency Corp., Peerless Products Mfg Corp. SL Agritech, Watsons and the WOW Group.

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

P0 M+ P0 M

this case is set for hearing on October 30, 2017 at 8:30 am in the morning at Room 238, Second Floor, Hall of Justice, Diliman, Quezon City.

TODAY

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT BRANCH 217 – QUEZON CITY MARNE GELACIO, Petitioner, -versusSpecial Proceedings No. [R-QZN-17-0750-CV] For: Recognition of Foreign Divorce SEONGMAN HAN and/or CIVIL Registrar General /or the Local Registrar of Quezon City, Respondents. x---------------------------------------x

P ET IT I O N FOR RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN DIVORCE WITH MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SERVE SUMMONS

BY REGISTERED MAIL AND/OR COURIER AND MOTION TO SET CASE FOR HEARING WITH ORDER OF PUBLICATION PETITIONER MARNE GELACIO, through undersigned counsel, respectfully states that: 1. Petitioner Marne Gelacio is a Filipino citizen, divorced, with residence at 904 Parc Royale Condo Ortigas Center, Pasig.She is represented by undersigned Counsel through whom notices and summons can be served.

2. Respondent Seongman Han is a citizen of the Republic of Korea. His address where summons, notices and court processes may be served on him is 18, Gomudari-gil, Seondu-ri, Gongdo-eup, Anseong-si, Gyeongido, Republic of Korea. (His Korean telephone number is 01087224630) 3. Public respondent Civil Registrar General of the Philippine Statistics Authority has office address at 3/F Vibal Bldg., Times Street cor. EDSA, West Triangle, Quezon City.

4. Public respondent Quezon City Civil Registrar has office at the City Hall compound of Quezon City.

5. As government entities, public respondents shall be represented in these proceedings by the Office of the Solicitor General of the Philippines, which has its address at the Office of the Solicitor General with office address at 134 Amorsolo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City.

6. Petitioner and private respondent were married on 24 June 2008 at the Iglesia ni Cristo Central Temple, No. 1 Central Avenue, New Era, Quezon City. Attached is a certified copy of their Certificate of Marriage filed with the Office of the Civil Registrar General, marked as Annex “A”.

7. The parties have no children together.

8. In 2016, the Parties filed for divorce at Incheon in the Republic of Korea under Korean law. On 1 December 2016, the Family Court finding the same to be in accordance with law, made a decree dissolving the marriage between Seongman Han and Marne Gelacio. (Annex “B”) 9. The Republic of Korea allows divorce. Attached as Annex “C” are the relevant provisions of the Republic of Korea’s applicable law on divorce.

The divorce obtained conforms to the laws of that jurisdiction.

10. Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Family Code states: Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.

11. In Republic vs. Cipriano Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that “before a foreign divorce decree can be recognized by our own courts, the party pleading it must prove the divorce as a fact and demonstrate its conformity to the foreign law allowing it.”

12. In Gerbert R. Corpuz vs. Daisylyn Tirol Sto. Tomas, et al., G.R. No. 186571, August 11, 2010, it was recognized that a foreign spouse has the legal interest to file the petition for judicial recognition of divorce and for the cancellation or correction of entries in the civil registry.

13. Corpuz ruled that the “(t)he recognition of the foreign divorce decree may be made in a Rule 108 proceeding itself, as the object of special proceedings (such as that in Rule 108 of the Rules of Court) is precisely to establish the status or right of a party or a particular fact.

Moreover, Rule 108 of the Rules of Court can serve as the appropriate adversarial proceeding by which the applicability of the foreign judgment can be measured and tested in terms of jurisdictional infirmities, want of notice to the party, collusion, fraud, or clear mistake of law or fact.”

14. The case of Fujiki vs. Marinay, G.R. No. 196049, June 26, 2013 affirmed a foreign spouse’s personality to file a petition for recognition of a foreign court’s judgment dissolving marriage a marriage.

15. Fujiki further rules that “[f]or Philippine courts to recognize a foreign judgment relating to the status of a marriage where one of the parties is a citizen of a foreign country, the petitioner only needs to prove the foreign judgment as a fact under the Rules of Court. To be more specific, a copy of the foreign judgment may be admitted in evidence and proven as a fact under Rule 132, Sections 24 and 25, in relation to Rule 39, Section 48(b) of the Rules of Court.”

16. Thus this proceeding for recognition of foreign divorce.

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SERVE SUMMONS BY REGISTERED MAIL AND/OR COURIER 17. Respondent Seongman Han does not reside and is not found in the Philippines. His address where summons, notices and court processes may be served on him is 18, Gomudari-gil, Seondu-ri, Gongdo-eup, Anseong-si, Gyeongido, Republic of Korea. His Korean telephone number is 01087224630.

18. Under these circumstances, service of summons is governed by Section 15, Rule 14: Section15. Extraterritorial service.When the defendant does not reside and is not found in the Philippines, and the action affects the personal status of the plaintiff or relates to, or the subject of which is, property within the Philippines, in which the defendant has or claims a lien or interest, actual or contingent, or in which the relief demanded consists, wholly or in part, in excluding the defendant from any interest therein, or the property of the defendant has been attached within the Philippines, service may, by leave of court, be effected out of the Philippines by personal service as under section 6; or by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in such places and for such time as the court may order, in which case a copy of the summons and order of the court shall be sent by registered mail to the last known address of the defendant, or in any other manner the court may deem sufficient. Any order granting such leave shall specify a reasonable time, which shall not be less than sixty (60) days after notice, within which the defendant must answer.

19.

Service of summons under Section 15, Rule 14 to a non-resident not found in the country was upheld in Velayo-Fong vs. Spouses Velayo,1 thus: Under this provision, when the defendant is a nonresident and he is not found in the country, summons may be served extraterritorially.

There are only four instances when extraterritorial service of summons is proper, namely: (a) when the action affects the personal status of the plaintiffs; (b) when the action relates to, or the subject of which is property, within the Philippines, in which the defendant claims a lien or interest, actual or contingent; (c) when the relief demanded in such action consists, wholly or in part, in excluding the defendant from any interest in property located in the Philippines; and (d) when the defendants property has been attached within the Philippines. In these instances, service of summons may be effected by (a) personal service out of the country, with leave of court; (b) publication, also with leave of court; or (c) any other manner the court may deem sufficient.

Thus, extrajudicial service of summons apply only where the action is in rem, that is, an action against the thing itself instead of against the person, or in an action quasi in rem, where an individual is named as defendant and the purpose of the proceeding is to subject his interest therein to the obligation or loan burdening the property. The rationale for this is that in in rem and quasi in rem actions, jurisdiction over the person of the defendant is not a prerequisite to confer jurisdiction

StandardENERGY Republic of the Philippines REGULATORY COMMISSION TODAY

San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE OVER/UNDER RECOVERIES BASED ON THE FORMULA ON THE VARIOUS AUTOMATIC COST ADJUSTMENTS AND TRUE-UP MECHANISMS AND CORRESPONDING CONFIRMATION PROCESS PURSUANT TO ERC RESOLUTION NO. 16, SERIES OF 2009 AND RESOLUTION NO. 21, SERIES OF 2010,

Sonsona bounces back, bags 2 PPS tennis titles STEVEN Sonsona bounced back strong from a failed bid the last time out as he racked up two titles while Guia Bandolis posted a win and a runner-up finish in the Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Molave leg regional tennis tournament at the LGU-MoltecMahayag tennis courts in Zamboanga del Sur yesterday.

Sonsona survived a three-set thriller against Nilo Ledama,

Manila

on the court provided that the court acquires jurisdiction over the res.

20. A case which involves the marital status of the parties is an action in rem or quasi in rem. The Supreme Court has affirmed that, in such an action, the purpose of service of summons is not to vest the trial court with jurisdiction over the person of the respondent, but only to comply with due process2.

As a rule, when the defendant does not reside and is not found in the Philippines, Philippine courts cannot try any case against him because of the impossibility of acquiring jurisdiction over his person unless he voluntarily appears in court. But when the case is one of actions in rem or quasi in rem enumerated in Section 15, Rule 14 of the Rules of Court, Philippine courts have jurisdiction to hear and decide the case. In such instances, Philippine courts have jurisdiction over the res, and jurisdiction over the person of the non-resident defendant is not essential.

Actions in personam and actions in rem or quasi in rem differ in that actions in personam are directed against specific persons and seek personal judgments. On the other hand, actions in rem or quasi in rem are directed against the thing or property or status of a person and seek judgments with respect thereto as against the whole world.

At the time Abelardo filed the petition for nullity of the marriage in 1991, Margarita was residing in the United States. She left the Philippines in 1982 together with her two children.

The trial court considered Margarita a non-resident defendant who is not found in the Philippines. Since the petition affects the personal status of the plaintiff, the trial court authorized extraterritorial service of summons under Section 15, Rule 14 of the Rules of Court. The term personal status includes family relations, particularly the relations between husband and wife.

Under Section 15 of Rule 14, a defendant who is a non-resident and is not found in the country may be served with summons by extraterritorial service in four instances: (1) when the action affects the personal status of the plaintiff; (2) when the action relates to, or the subject of which is property within the Philippines, in which the defendant has or claims a lien or interest, actual or contingent; (3) when the relief demanded consists, wholly or in part, in excluding the defendant from any interest in property located in the Philippines; or (4) when the property of the defendant has been attached within the Philippines.

In these instances, extraterritorial service of summons may be effected under any of three modes: (1) by personal service out of the country, with leave of court; (2) by publication and sending a copy of the summons and order of the court by registered mail to the defendants last known address, also with leave of court; or (3) by any other means the judge may consider sufficient.3 21. These facts are sworn to by the Petitioner in accordance with the requirements of the Rules of Court.

Service to respondent Han by way of registered mail and/or courieris therefore prayed for.

MOTION TO SET CASE FOR HEARING WITH ORDER OF PUBLICATION 22. A petition for recognition of foreign divorce follows the procedure under Rule 1084. Rule 108 provides for setting and for notice and publication of the time and place for the hearing of the petition in a newspaper of general circulation thus: Section 4. Notice and publication.

— Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall, by an order, fix the time and place for the hearing of the same, and cause reasonable notice thereof to be given to the persons named in the petition. The court shall also cause the order to be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the province.

23. Due process will therefore be served under both Rule 14 and Rule 108 by the Honorable Court’s directing service of summons to respondent Arnwine by way of registered mail and/or courier, and by the Honorable Court’s issuance of an Order fixing the time and place for the hearing of the case, directing said Order to be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation within Metro Manila.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed that: 1. The Honorable Court order that summons be sent to respondent Seongman Han at his present address: Seongman Han 18, Gomudari-gil, Seondu-ri, Gongdoeup, Anseong-si, Gyeongi-do, Republic of Korea.

(His Korean telephone number is 01087224630) by way of registered mail and/ or courier at Petitioner’s cost, and granting respondent Han until sixty (60) days after notice within which to file his answer.

2. The Honorable Court likewise issue an Order: a. Fixing the time and place for the hearing of the case b. Directing that said Order and notice be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation within Metro Manila.

3. The Petition be given due course and the divorce of the Petitioner be judicially recognized; and, 4. A Decision be rendered directing the public respondent Civil Registrar General and the Quezon City Registrar to record the judicial recognition of divorce and to annotate the divorce/ Dissolution of Status in her marriage record.

5. Such other reliefs as are just and appropriate are likewise prayed for.

Respectfully submitted: Quezon City, 18 June 2017.

CABANATUAN (CELCOR),

ELECTRIC

Applicant. x---------------- --- --- --------x

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: Notice is hereby given that on 29 March 2017, Cabanatuan Electric Corporation (CELCOR) filed with the Commission its Application dated 17 March 2017 (Application) seeking the Commission’s approval of its over or under recoveries based on the formula on the various automatic cost adjustments and true-up mechanisms and corresponding confirmation process pursuant to ERC Resolution No. 16, Series of 2009 and Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010.

CELCOR alleged the following in its Application: THE APPLICANT 1.

CELCOR is a domestic corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, with principal office address at Maharlika Highway, Cabanatuan City;

2.

CELCOR is the duly authorized operator of the electric light and power service in the City of Cabanatuan, Province of Nueva Ecija. The City of Cabanatuan is a Chartered City per Republic Act No. 526 entitled “An Act Creating the City of Cabanatuan”;

3.

CELCOR is represented in this Application by its Chairperson, Mrs. ADORACION C. YATCO. Attached and marked as Annex “A” is a copy of the Secretary’s Certificate authorizing Ms. Yatco to sign the instant Application and the law firm of undersigned counsel to file the same and represent CELCOR; RESOLUTION NO. 16, SERIES OF 2009 AND RESOLUTION NO. 21, SERIES OF 2010

4.

On 13 July 2009, this Honorable Commission issued its Resolution No. 16, Series of 2009 entitled “A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE RULES GOVERNING THE AUTOMATIC COST ADJUSTMENT AND TRUE-UP MECHANISMS AND CORRESPONDING CONFIRMATION PROCESS FOR DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES” directing Luzon DUs to file their respective consolidated applications on or before 30 October 2009;

5.

On 18 October 2010, this Honorable Commission issued its Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010 entitled “A RESOLUTION AMENDING SECTION 4 OF ARTICLE 4 AND SECTION 1 OF ARTICLE 5 OF THE RULES GOVERNING THE AUTOMATIC COST ADJUSTMENT AND TRUE-UP MECHANISMS AND CORRESPONDING CONFIRMATION PROCESS FOR DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES”. Said filing by Luzon DUs of the required consolidated application was moved to 31 March 2011 for adjustments implemented until the billing month of December 2010 and filing period of March 31, 2014 for adjustments covered by January 2011 to December 2013;

6.

In compliance with the aforementioned Resolution, CELCOR filed in ERC Case No. 2011-005 CF and ERC Case No. 2014-012 CF dated 31 March 2011 and 24 March 2014, respectively, its Application entitled ‘’IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF (OVER)/ UNDER RECOVERIES BASED ON THE FORMULA ON THE VARIOUS AUTOMATIC COST ADJUSTMENTS AND TRUE-UP MECHANISMS AND CORRESPONDING CONFIRMATION PROCESS PURSUANT TO ERC RESOLUTION NO. 16, SERIES OF 2009 AND RESOLUTION NO. 21, SERIES OF 2010”;

7.

On 25 February 2013 and 24 November 2014, this Honorable Commission issued its Decision approving with modification CELCOR’s Application in ERC Case No. 2011-005 CF and ERC Case No. 2014-012 CF, respectively;

8.

Article 5, Section 1 of Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010 likewise mandates all Luzon Distribution Utilities (DUs) to file the respective consolidated application every three (3) years following the sequence of period of filing;

9.

In compliance, therefore, with the aforementioned provision of the Resolution, CELCOR herein submits for this Honorable Commission’s confirmation/ approval the following under-recoveries for the period 2014 to 2016: Category

-1,643,582.35

Lifeline Over recovery

-286,702.16

Senior Citizen Under recovery

3,096.28

Total Under recovery

Php 20,446,984.07

Shown below is the breakdown of CELCOR’s (over)/under-recoveries per line item: 1.

GENERATION Generation Allowable Cost Generation Revenue Under Recovery

2.

TRANSMISSION Transmission Allowable Cost Transmission Revenue Under Recovery

P627,294,071.97 P617,667,393.60 P9,626,678.37

3.

SYSTEM LOSS System Loss Allowable Cost System Loss Revenue Over Recovery

P314,040,053.86 P315,683,636.21 -P1,643,582.35

4.

LIFELINE SUBSIDY Lifeline Discount Lifeline Charge Over Recovery

-P53,903,249.58 P54,189,951.74 -P286,702.16

5.

SENIOR CITIZEN Pass Through Cost Lifeline Charge Under Recovery

P3,678,075,061.98 P3,665,327,568.05 P12,747,493.93

P136,827.10 P133,730.83 P3,096.28

10. In compliance with the filing requirements of this Honorable Commission and in further support of the instant Application, CELCOR herein submits the following: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m.

Power Supplier Data Sheet Statistical Data Sheet Implemented Rates Data Sheet Power Bills of Power Suppliers Official Receipts issued by Power Suppliers Breakdown of Payments with Official Receipts Debit/Credit Memo of Power Suppliers NGCP Invoices Official Receipts issued by NGCP Breakdown of Payments with Official Receipts Debit/Credit Memo issued by NGCP DU-MO1 and DU-M02, and Consumer Bills of Lifeliners (per level) and Non-Lifeliners per customer class PRAYER

WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, it is respectfully prayed that after due notice, hearing and evaluation, the (over)/under-recoveries of CABANATUAN ELECTRIC CORPORATION for the period 2014 to 2016, as presented in the instant application, be confirmed and approved accordingly.

Category

Amounts

Generation Under recovery

Php 12,747,493.93

Transmission Under recovery

9,626,678.37

System Loss Over recovery Lifeline Over recovery

Total Under recovery

NOTARY PUBLIC FOR TAGUIG CITY UNTIL DEC. 31, 2018 APPT. NO 20 (2016-2018) PTR No. 2512930, 1/6/2017, PASIG CITY IBP No. 1058109, 1/6/2017 ROLL NO. 59661;MCLE COMPLIANCE NO. V-0023127-7/23/16 32ND ST. CAR PLAZA BONIFACIO GLOBAL, TAGUIG CITY Doc. No. 228; Page No. 47; Book No. 68; Series of 2017. (MST-Oct. 10,17 & 24,

9,626,678.37

System Loss Over recovery

Roll No. 55262 PTR 3949419/1-16-2017/Quezon City IBP 1067974/1-16-2017/Quezon City MCLE Compliance No. V-0023046, 20 July 2016 CP#: (+63) 920-948-9949 Email: wardertrained@yahoo.com

(Sgd.) ATTY. JOWELL A. MENDOZA

Php 12,747,493.93

Transmission Under recovery

By: [Signed] FRANCESCO C. BRITANICO

[Signed] MARNE GELACIO Affiant SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this ____th day of [JUN 19 2017] 2017, Affiant exhibiting to me her valid ID, Philippine passport EB9378090 valid from 16 October 2013 to 15 October 2018 , bearing her photograph and signature, and issued by the Philippine embassy in Seoul, Korea, known to me to be the same person who executed this Verification and Certificate of NonForum Shopping, and manifesting to me that the same was knowingly and freely done by her.

(Over)/Under Recovery

Generation Under recovery

BRITANICO & BRITANICO LAW OFFICES G/F, 4 Matiwasay Street, U.P. Village Diliman, Quezon City Te l N o. ( 0 9 2 2 ) 8 5 8 - 8 6 7 2 E-mail: contact@lawyerphilippines.org

VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATE OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING ================== I, Marne Gelacio, Filipino citizen, of legal age, divorced, with residence at 904 Parc Royale Condo Ortigas Center, Pasig, after having been sworn to in accordance with law, do hereby depose and state, That: 1. I am the Petitioner in this proceeding for recognition of foreign divorce.

2. I have caused the preparation of the Petition for recognition of foreign divorce.

3. The factual allegations in the said Petition are true and correct of my own personal knowledge and/or on the basis of authentic documents in my possession.

4. I have not commenced any other action or proceeding involving the same issues as presented in the foregoing Petition in any other tribunal or agency of government; nor such action or proceeding is pending in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or any other agency; and, if I should thereafter learn that a similar proceeding has been filed or is pending before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or in any other tribunal or agency, I undertake to report that fact within five days therefrom to the court or agency where the original or initiatory pleading had been filed.

IN WITNESS whereof, I hereby affixed my signature this [JUN 19 2017]th day of ________ 2017 in Taguig City.

ERC CASE NO. 2017-015 CF

CORPORATION

-1,643,582.35 -286,702.16

Senior Citizen Under recovery

3,096.28 Php 20,446,984.07

Other relief just and equitable in the premises are likewise prayed for.

The Commission has set the Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on 25 October 2017 (Wednesday) at ten o’clock in the morning (10:00 A.M.), at the ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City.

AIl persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the instant case may become a party by filing with the Commission a verified Petition to Intervene at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure, indicating therein the docket number and title of the case and stating the following: i.

The petitioner’s name and address;

ii.

The nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and

iii.

A statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the case may file their Opposition or Comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before Applicant rests its case, subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure. No particular form of Opposition or Comment is required, but the document, letter, or writing should contain the following: 1)

The name and address of such person;

2)

A concise statement of the Opposition or Comment; and

3)

The grounds relied upon.

All such persons who wish to have a copy of the Application may request from Applicant that they be furnished with the same, prior to the date of the initial hearing. Applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the standard office hours.

WITNESS, the Officer-In-Charge (OlC), Chairman and CEO ALFREDO J. NON, and the Honorable Commissioners GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 29th day of August 2017 at Pasig City.

JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT Oversight Commissioner for Legal Service 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

Top MVP bet Mbala rues Archers’ defense

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

By Peter Atencio BEN Mbala, who emerged as this year’s top MVP candidate, said the defending champion La Salle Green Archers needs to work on their defense.

Mbala said this after he opened up on what went right and what went wrong for his Archers after the Ateneo Blue Eagles escaped with a 76-75 win over them Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“I’d say it was our defense.

We are not the defensive minded team that we were last year, and that’s what we need to change,” said the 6’8” Mbala at the end of their first round campaign in the 80th UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

At the end of the first round, he is solidly in front with 98 points, with Ateneo Blue Eagle top gun Thirdy Ravena a far second with 66 points.

Adamson’s Papi Sarr is third (65.166), followed by Jay Alejandro of National University (62.143) and Alvin Pasaol of the University of the East (61.00).

The Blue Eagles’ defensive screens in the dying seconds worked wonders for the Loyola dribblers in their effort to score a basket with less than 3.9 seconds to go.

Mbala said he expected Ateneo’s defense to be

Ginebra import Justin Brownlee soars for a layup against the defense of TNT KaTropa’s Moala Tautuaa in a PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal game won by the Gin Kings, 115-105.

Ginebra Gin Kings wary of Bolts’ hunger to win

By Jeric Lopez

W

ITH what happened last season in their classic finish in the finals, Barangay Ginebra expects to face a hungry and motivated Meralco side.

To this date, Ginebra’s title win last year against Meralco is still fresh in many people’s minds, especially with the way the Gin Kings claimed the title in six games through the memorable buzzer-beating triple pf Justin Brownlee.

While many people expect Ginebra to have the psychological advantage after they outlasted Meralco last season to end its eight-year title drought, the Gin Kings look forward to a tougher road ahead against the

title-conscious Bolts.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone said Meralco is well motivated to not only win the championship, but also avenge the ghosts from last year’s setback.

“We’re expecting a very motivated Meralco team in the finals. That’s for sure,” said Cone. “I’m sure they haven’t forgotten what happened last year. That alone is very dangerous.”

Ginebra chief playmaker LA Tenorio agrees.

“Alam naman natin kung gaano ka-gutom ang

Meralco na bawian kami,” said Tenorio.

For Brownlee, whose iconic shot to win the championship last season continues to be played again and again in fans’ minds, it’s a brand-new ball game.

“It’s a new game for us in the finals. We may have won last year, but that was last year. What matters is what’s ahead now,” said Ginebra’s resident import.

Ginebra finished off TNT KaTropa last Sunday in their heated best-of-five semifinals duel, 3-1.

tough in the closing minute and that it would be his teammates who would win the game for them.

“Unluckily, my teammates were not able to knock down a shot. And it’s part of the game,” added Mbala, who averaged 30.4 points, 11.8 rebounds, one assist and 1.2 steals.

Ravena was protecting the shaded lane when Kib Montalbo bungled an attempt, and Ben Mbala ran out of time as he tried to get past Ravena’s screen with his drive as time expired.

Nieto canned in two charities with 3.9 seconds to give the Blue Eagles a one-point edge, which turned out to be the final count.

“After the first round, there’s time to work on our game, team chemistry and defense,” said Mbala, who had 18 points for La Salle, with his two charities in the last 1:03 allowing the Archers to move in front, 7574, for the last time.

He said they played poorly even though they had better numbers than the Blue Eagles.

The Green Archers average 46.3 percent on their field goals were actually playing well with their 50 percent shooting.

And the Blue Eagles still won despite being at 39.44, which is way below their average of 44.2 percent.

Palaro medalists to get specialized PSC training FUTURE medalists of the Palarong Pambansa will receive specialized training and be sent to international meets in an effort to develop their talents further.

Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said this as the agency prepares to go into discussions that will that will help strengthen the development of school sports.

Ramirez said the agency is now studying the process of selecting members of the national team.

In doing so, the PSC will do its part by supporting funding and management of potential athletes at the grassroots’ level.

“Sa level pa lang ng under-18 and under-15, dapat may counterpart sila na puwedeng mag-national team na nagpapa-participate na sa mga events all over the world,” said Ramirez.

These will help the athletes in the selection process, according to Ramirez, because by the time that they have been chosen, their vast experience will be a plus.

“The PSC is prepared to support the athletes of the Palarong Pambansa and others all over the country,” added Ramirez.

Representatives from around 140 schools, colleges, universities and athletic associations will gather to meet with the PSC during the National Consultative Meeting for Collegiate Sports at the Philsports Multipurpose Arena in Pasig City from Oct. 17 to 18. Peter Atencio

The big stage is set for the Gin Kings and the Bolts to go to war again in the finals of the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup in a rematch of last year’s epic encounter.

The much-anticipated best- of-seven bat tle bet ween the two loaded protagonists start this Friday, with Game 1 scheduled at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City, Quezon.

JRU eyes Final Four

Rivera brods finish 1-2; Milo is virtual slalom champion

Games today

(Filoil Arena, San Juan) 12 nn.- MU vs JRU (jrs) 2 p.m.- MU vs JRU (srs) 4 p.m.- SSC-R vs AU (srs) 6 p.m.- SSC-R vs AU (jrs)

JOSE Rizal University shoots for a Final Four berth as it tackles an ousted Mapua today even as San Sebastian College and Arellano University collide to stay alive in the race in the 93rd NCAA basketball tournament at the Filoil Arena in San Juan City.

A win against the Cardinals at 2 p.m. would officially push the Kalentong-based dribblers (10-6) to the Final Four alongside the Lyceum of the Phl U Pirates (16-0) and the San Beda Lions (15-1).

San Sebastian, which is at fifth with a 7-8 slate, goes for a share of fourth with Letran (8-8) while Arellano, who has a 5-9 slate but remained in the hunt, tries to breathe life to its sagging campaign in their 4 p.m. encounter.

THE 10th leg of the 2017 RACE Motorsports Club-Phoenix National Slalom Series not only witnessed reigning three-time National Slalom King and 2017 Asian Gymkhana Champion, Milo Rivera, win his 10th straight race and maintain his perfect season so far, it also saw him clinch his fourth consecutive overall slalom crown.

This feat has put him in as one of the most successful drivers in National Slalom History, joining Rikki DyLiacco, Daryl Flores, and Peewee Mendiola, all with four overall crowns, and just two short of rally legend Danny Santiago with a historic six National Slalom Titles.

“My first championship back in 2014, I remember, felt very surreal to me. Now, winning it four straight times is just

an overwhelming moment in itself. Each year, we work hard and dedicate ourselves towards a common goal, and I’m very blessed that with me is a group of great men and women who passionately and tirelessly do everything to make our goals a reality,” said Milo after the race.

Backed by United Auctioneers Inc., Blade Auto Center, AutoperformancePH, and Placewell International Services Corp., Milo finished the 10th leg by clocking a winning time of 54.48 seconds after a tight battle with younger brother Estefano, who finished with a best time of 54.62.

Coming in at third was 13-year-old sensation Inigo Anton of Mark Young CarsYokohama Racing with a time of 55.64.

Completing the Top 5 places were Paul Santos

(56.46) and Powee Base (57.14), respectively.

The brothers’ 1-2 race finish has moved the younger Estefano into second place in the overall driver’s standing, just 3.5 points ahead of close rival and multi-titled veteran, Carlos Anton.

“We may have the upper hand now, but the last two races of the season will surely be very tight between Carlos and I. Milo may have already won the title, but I feel that the job is only half done for us. Yet for now, we’ll enjoy this result with the whole family,” said Estefano who is aiming to clinch second overall in this year’s championship and seal a Rivera 1-2 year, which they achieved last 2015.

With Milo already clinching this year’s championship, the sight is set towards winning the two remaining races

PH 4th place THE Philippines settled for fourth place in the XXVIII BFA Asian Baseball Championship Sunday night at Tien Mou Stadium in New Taipei City.

They took a 0-15 loss at the hands of Korea, which took the bronze medal honors.

Japan went home with the crown after stopping Chinese-Taipei, 6-1.

I n t he sem is, the Ph ilippi nes first took an 0-11 pounding from Korea before bowing to Chinese Taipei, 0-14. Peter Atencio

Milo Rivera, onboard his trusty Toyota Starlet, gives us a thumbs-up en route to securing his 4th straight National Slalom crown, keeping his perfect 2017 race record alive.

of the year to make history as the third driver to ever claim a “perfect” National Slalom year by winning every single race of a calendar season.

In addition, he is cur rent-

ly preparing to triple his Asian Gymkhana success as he and teammate Carlos Anton will once again represent the country in the upcoming Taiwan Leg of the Asian Auto Gym-

khana Championships this Oct. 28 and 29 in Taoyuan, Taiwan. “We may have already achieved such great heights this 2017, and I praise and thank the Almighty Father for this won-

derful adventure, but the year is not over yet and we still aim for more. We hope to finish 2017 on a high and maximize on every opportunity, God-willingly,”the elder Rivera added.

Lakers play it safe with injured rookie Ball

Lonzo Ball of the Lakers is all set to receive the ball during the first half of a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. AFP

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Lakers opted to keep rookie point guard Lonzo Ball out of Sunday’s pre-season game against the Sacramento Kings, letting him rest his sprained left ankle.

Ball was to miss his second straight game since he was hurt on Monday when he came down on Denver Nuggets point guard Emmanuel Mudiay’s foot near the end of the first half of a preseason contest.

Lakers coach Luke Walton

said Ball, the second overall selection in the draft in June, had trouble with lateral movement.

There was some suggestion Ball could miss the rest of the pre-season.

“I hope not, but yeah, that’s a possibility,” Walton said. “It is different with every player. He is new to the team, so we’ve got to see how long these types of injuries take him to come back from.

“We’d like to have him back, but again, we are not going to

rush him back just to try to get him out there.”

The Lakers open the regular season on October 19 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Meanwhile, Connie Hawkins, a Basketball Hall of Fame forward who starred for the Harlem Globetrotters as well as the NBA Phoenix Suns, has died aged 75, the Suns announced on Saturday.

“The Hawk” launched his career on the famed New York outdoor courts of Rucker Park and

led two unbeaten high school teams to titles.

Hawkins was linked to a college basketball gambling scandal in 1961 but was never arrested or indicted. Despite that, he was denied a place at top US college teams or in the NBA. He spent three years with the Globetrotters and four more with minor-league basketball clubs before reaching a settlement with the NBA in 1969 that saw him join the expansion Suns. AFP

Globe eyes debt market next year to raise funds B2

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

B1

Market climbs to new record high S TOCKS surged to a new alltime high Monday, in step with most Asian markets as traders looked past a surprise drop in US jobs.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 56.50 points, 0.7 percent, to 8,367.38 on a value turnover of P6.1 billion. The index eclipsed the previous high of 8,344.05 registered on October 4, 2017.

Gainers beat losers, 106 to 88, with 62 issues unchanged.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. rose 2.4 percent to P1,039, while LT Group Inc. of the tobacco and airline tycoon Lucio Tan climbed 2 percent to P18.30.

PXP Energy Corp., which has oil exploration contracts in the disputed West Philippine Sea, jumped 9.9 percent to P8.88, while Macro Asia Corp., which provides airport services, advanced 1.6 percent to P15.52.

Most Asian markets, meanwhile started the week on a positive note Monday, with Shanghai returning from a week-long break with healthy gains.

But geopolitical tensions returned with another feared North Korea long-range missile test reportedly in the planning and US President Donald Trump suggesting that talking to Kim Jong-Un’s regime was a waste of time and “only one thing will work.”

The Turkish lira was sitting close to record lows against the dollar as Ankara and Washington each cancelled visa services for the other in a deepening diplomatic row.

Wall Street provided a meek lead for Asia, with the Dow and S&P 500 retreating from record highs in response to figures on Friday showing the US lost 33,000 posts in September―the first drop since 2010.

However, while the fall compared with a forecast gain of 75,000, analysts pointed to improving wage growth and a further dip in the overall unemployment rate. They added that the figure was likely an aberration owing to one-off events in the hurricanes that hit Florida and Texas.

Shanghai ended 0.8 percent higher as investors returned from the week-long Golden Week celebrations and reacted for the first time to the Chinese central bank’s decision to cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve as part of a push to help small businesses.

Sydney rose 0.5 percent and Wellington was up 0.4 percent. However, Hong Kong retreated 0.5 percent and Singapore was 0.2 percent off.

Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei were closed for public holidays.

Eyes are now turning back to the US-North Korea standoff after a Russian lawmaker said Pyongyang was planning to fire another missile, which could hit the US west coast.

“There was news over the weekend that ‘the little rocket man’ in North Korea is now capable of launching a missile that can hit the US mainland,” Shane Channel, equity and derivatives adviser at ASR Wealth Advisers, said in a commentary referring to Trump’s name for Kim. That, added to Trump’s remark, led to a return to safe-haven assets with gold up more than one percent at $1,285 on Monday.

The dollar held up against its major peers as markets continue to bet on a third interest rate hike this year, likely in December.

With AFP

IN BRIEF Peza investments jump 94%

THE FILIPINO, BUILDING PORTS, RE-BUILDING ECONOMIES.

The nation of Iraq emerges as a new and vibrant market in the Middle East. Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT) in the Port of Umm Qasr opens its berths to global trade as Iraq expands its economy and connects further to world markets.

BGT: a world class, state of the art seaport facilitating global trade and commerce in Iraq.

BGT is International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) presence in the Middle East, and belongs to a growing portfolio of 28 ports and terminals in 18 countries.

IRAQ

BGT

www.ictsi.com largest nickel laterite operations in the world.

China loan for Agus rehab

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority said registered investments jumped 94 percent to P196.45 billion in the first nine months of 2017 from P101.2 billion yearon-year.

Peza director general Charito Plaza said exports from the economic zones also rose 11.5 percent to $29.26 billion from $26.24 billion a year ago.

“We saw the increasing value of investments continue despite a slight drop in the number of projects by 2 percent to 438 projects from 447,” she said.

Investments from the information technology sector, one the biggest contributors to export earnings, declined 22 percent to P11.38 billion in the nine-month period from P14.57 billion a year ago.

The number of projects dropped 8 percent to 153 from 167, although employment grew 8 percent to 655,635 workers, while exports inched up 1.4 percent to $6.25 billion from $6.16 billion in 2016. Othel V. Campos

FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the rehabilitation of Agus-Pulangi hydro power plants in Mindanao will be included in the second basket of projects that will be presented by Manila to Beijing for possible financing.

Dominguez said in a briefing the rehabilitation of Agus-Pulangi was important because power would be essential to carry out the implementation of the administration’s ambitious infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program.

He said there was already a discussion on the second basket of projects during the latest visit of the Philippine economic team to Beijing.

“We just reported that the Kaliwa Dam project and Chico River project have already gotten the nominees for the three potential bidders and we told them that we were moving ahead and going to get the bidding process going so that we can move forward with those two projects,” Dominguez said. Julito G. Rada

New Marventures president

Meralco: October rates up slightly

YULO Perez will be the next president and chief executive of Marcventures Mining and Development Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marcventures Holdings Inc., effective upon his exit from his current engagement with Silangan Mindanao Mining Company Inc. He will replace Arsenio Sebial who retired on September 30, 2017.

“With his depth of experience and track record, I expect Perez to help us solidify our current operations in MMDC and bring Marcventures to the next level, especially in the development onto commercial operations of our prospective nickel mine in Surigao and two Bauxite mines in Western Samar,” MHI president Isidro Alcantara, Jr. said.

Perez is presently the president and COO of SMMCI. He has 37 years of experience managing mining operations here and abroad, including 11 years with PT INCO Indonesia (now called PT Vale Indonesia), one of the

CONSUMERS of Manila Electric Co. this month will experience increased rates of P0.0345 per kilowatt-hour for a typical residential household.

Meralco attributed the rate increase to the higher generation charges, which were slightly offset by the reduction in other charges.

The company said the overall rate climbed to P9.2836 per kWh from last month’s P9.2491 per kWh. “The slight rate increase this month amounts to a P6.91 increase in the total bill of a typical residential household consuming 200kWh,” Meralco said.

Meralco’s overrall generation charge increased in October by P0.1777 per kWh to P4.7155 per kWh from P4.5378 per kWh in September “primarily due to the completion of the 2014-2016 Meralco-petitioned refund in the previous month, which lowered the September generation charge rate compared to the October generation charge.” Alena Mae S. Flores

Megaworld’s office inventory to reach 1m sq. m.

By Jenniffer B. Austria grow and we will continue our total inventory caters to

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, October 9, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency Unit US Dollar Peso United States Dollar

1.000000

51.1180

Japan

Yen

0.008882

0.4540

UK

Pound

1.310100

66.9697

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128102

6.5483

Switzerland

Franc

1.022286

52.2572

Canada

Dollar

0.797957

40.7900

Singapore

Dollar

0.732923

37.4656

Australia

Dollar

0.776900

39.7136

Bahrain

Dinar

2.651465

135.5376

Saudi Arabia Rial

0.266681

13.6322

Brunei

Dollar

0.730247

Indonesia

Rupiah 0.000074

Thailand

Baht

UAE

Dirham 0.272287

13.9188

Euro

Euro

1.173100

59.9665

Korea

Won

0.000873

0.0446

China

Yuan

0.150313

7.6837

India

Rupee

0.015293

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.236072

0.029913

37.3288 0.0038 1.5291

0.7817 12.0675

New Zealand Dollar

0.706000

36.0893

Taiwan

0.032939

1.6838

Dollar

Source: PDS Bridge

MEGAWORLD Corp. said Monday it is on track to be become the first Philippine property developer to hit 1 million square meters of office inventory by the end of 2017.

Megaworld senior vice president Jericho Go said in a press briefing the company was set to complete 111,500 sq. m. of office leasable space before the end of the year to add to an existing inventory of 885,500 sq. m.

“Megaworld remains bullish about expanding its office portfolio and is on track to be come the first developer in the country to reach 1 million sq. m. of office space inventory by the end of the year,” Go said.

“There is no reason to slow down our office developments.

The demand for office spaces in our townships continues to

to build in order to meet our clients’ growing requirements,” he added.

Go said the Megaworld this year expects to generate P7.2 billion in rental income from office projects out of the total rental income of P12 billion in 2017.

Go said while there was a recent spike in office take-up from Philippine online gaming operators, the bulk of the demand for office space still came from the business process outsourcing sector.

He said online gaming firms occupied 80,000 sq. m. of Megaworld’s total office inventory.

“We are the first, if not among the first, to see the potential of this segment in office rental. Our expertise in office development allows us to efficiently cater to the needs of POGOs. While only 8 percent of

POGOs, we continue to see a bright spot for growth in this segment,” Go said.

Go, however, clarified that POGO tenants within Megaworld office projects offered back room office support to online gaming companies, making their operations a sub-sector of the BPO. Aside from leasing office space, POGOs are also boosting sales of residential condominiums as they prefer to house workers near their workplace.

“POGO operators are just signing up five year contract they spend for the office fit out. Plus they are also condominium units in a township development that are ready for occupancy. Because when they invite workers mostly from mainland China, they offer them not just salary but housing and food as food as well,” Go said.

B2

Business

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Big groups want to keep zero VAT

By Othel V. Campos

E

IGHT large industry associations and members of the Joint Foreign Chambers in the Philippines urged Congress to retain the zero VAT provisions on companies operating in the industrial estates administered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority

The groups are wary that investors with long-term commitments could be placed under a value added tax refund scheme, saying it will be a step backward for locators and create unnecessary red tape, adding to their cost of doing business and making the Philippines a less competitive investment destination.

The groups opposed the imposition of VAT on locators under the proposed tax reform package, or Senate Bill 1592.

They include the American Chamber of Commerce, the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the European Chamber of Commerce, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Foundation Inc. Some 350 economic zones in the Philippines established under Peza host over 3,500 investors who provide most of the exports of goods and services of the country.

A long-time challenge for some foreign investors is the requirement to front-load VAT for reimbursement later. But the Philippine government has a poor record of making the refunds.

Senator Sonny Angara said during the Senate plenary discussion of the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion bill said that P30

billion worth refunds were currently pending payment.

Foreign investors do not prefer any refund arrangement for zero-rated companies. They cited this would be consistent with President Duterte’s policy of making doing business in the Philippines easier and support an improvement in country’s rating in the Global Competitive Index of the World Economic Forum.

The WEF in its most recent GCI survey released September 26, 2017 rated the most problematic factors for doing business in the Philippines.

The number one factor was “inefficient government bureaucracy,” which was cited by 19.7 percent of survey respondents, while “tax regulations” was number four as cited by 10.9 percent of respondents.

Over 30 percent of respondents found red tape and tax regulations as a serious problem in doing business in the Philippines.

Globe eyes debt market next year to raise funds

By Darwin G. Amojelar GLOBE Telecom Inc. said it will tap the debt market next year to raise fresh funds for capital expenditures.

“That’s an option for next year.

That’s for capex for next year if ever,” Globe chief financial officer Riza Maniego-Eala said when asked about the company’s planned retail bond offering.

The company, controlled by conglomerate Ayala Corp., earlier secured an approval from its board to increase the amount of the shelf

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 4.61 48,000 59.75 40,920 102.1 491,570 4.02 1,000 134.4 1,126,010 2.6 7,400,000 36 593,300 16 1,200 32 813,000 8.99 200 0.65 10,000 1.78 151,000 945 10 0.7 342,000 88 419,960 0.84 353,000 12.98 40,400 57.35 157,630 241 1,320 115 2,280 88 180 48.05 12,200 248.2 366,790 1,900 175 86.6 15,010 1.35 30,000

216,990 2,436,037 50,189,207 4,020 151,141,918 19,694,660 21,360,670 19,302 26,058,395 1,798 6,500 264,680 9,450 236,160 37,105,546 297,130 524,404 9,050,564 317,670 253,350 15,960 586,210 91,009,984 333,175 1,299,070.50 39,630

2,407,549 -32,706,404 6,669,496 -3,814,050.00 -2,268,250 -10,940,545 -21,087,314 -8,824,625.50 24,100 408,425 -15,476,650 -57,000 -135,025.50 -

41.5 10.16 0.78 1.37 19.48 0.225 111 5.17 15.74 41.2 20.2 66 73.2 1.92 6.75 11.5 10.1 14.94 13.7 7.26 5.64 1.61 18.96 67 14.2 12.4 18.14 1.86 242 5.4 3.11 21.4 31.15 19.86 16.92 285 0.221 11.28 2.93 6.74 10.1 5.83 9.9 1.77 11.8 66.3 6.52 307.4 4.5 4.4 2.6 13.3 0.142 1.31 149.1 3.42 2.08 0.98

INDUSTRIAL 42 1,060,700 10.36 1,726,200 0.79 234,000 1.38 1,744,000 19.76 10,300 0.226 980,000 116 140 5.2 17,886,000 15.76 31,765,100 42.15 440,600 20.2 700 66 500,000 75 680 1.93 119,000 6.75 537,200 11.5 31,000 10.16 8,566,000 15 2,190,100 13.7 1,061,200 7.27 22,600 5.65 23,442,200 1.71 56,000 19 2,934,500 67 39,150 14.3 204,400 12.42 35,500 18.64 1,330,600 1.88 157,000 245.8 206,590 5.4 13,841,800 3.24 39,000 21.4 27,400 31.55 792,800 19.9 285,800 17 6,122,300 285 1,421,080 0.221 920,000 11.36 37,200 3 528,000 6.8 35,100 10.12 991,000 5.91 18,300 9.9 2,000 1.78 1,107,000 11.98 363,300 67 120,910 6.52 117,200 307.4 920 4.55 36,000 4.4 1,000 2.66 464,000 13.3 88,900 0.142 30,000 1.31 1,523,000 150 1,182,180 3.5 7,000 2.08 1,057,000 0.98 50,000

44,263,285 17,758,798 184,620 2,409,970 201,534 221,490 15,598 96,307,931 506,211,288 18,529,955 14,280 33,000,000 49,859 228,820 3,696,301 356,720 86,987,870 32,837,082 14,540,248 164,229 132,537,345 95,200 55,795,676 2,647,030 2,922,590 441,472 24,600,302 294,690 50,545,794 78,105,024 125,640 587,435 24,997,505 5,697,142 106,750,264 405,959,194 203,570 421,078 1,580,580 238,373 10,054,486 108,189 19,800 1,973,530 4,346,566 8,089,235 766,341 283,282 164,050 4,400 1,212,120 1,185,634 4,260 2,051,590 177,009,044 24,210 2,199,450 49,000

-18,537,430 61,390 124,700 -19,278,057 21,002,400 33,000,000 -34,800 35,739,318 4,793,926 -22,080 -14,525 -66,845,048 84,910 -10,781,692 602,280 -380,510 -5,840,966.00 556,654 490,990 4,157,685 3,718,216 -19,057,522 -6,107,948 198,000 -1,217,586 67,640 614,902 -2,599,595.50 191,615 -209,380 -500 5,240 37,500 -38,292,650 104,000 38,220

0.345 73.65 16.8 1.11 6.79 0.345 0.365 1,006 8.45 15.76 7.79 1,199 7.8 77 0.86 5.63 17.96 6.86 0.054 1.22 2.13 99.75 2.58 909 1.43 290 0.27 0.192 0.218

HOLDING FIRMS 0.345 360,000 75.2 399,560 16.9 2,770,700 1.11 5,000 7 7,000 0.37 11,410,000 0.37 3,350,000 1,039 494,060 8.45 3,418,800 15.76 2,151,100 7.79 2,800 1,199 87,055 7.88 28,900 78.95 502,560 0.86 131,000 5.63 1,267,300 18.3 5,485,100 6.88 6,166,200 0.056 118,420,000 1.22 65,000 2.18 932,000 101 885,320 2.58 8,000 918.5 217,150 1.44 635,000 296 6,220 0.27 20,000 0.192 280,000 0.218 100,000

124,400 29,822,985.50 46,909,052 5,550 48,340 4,146,250 1,238,050 507,063,910 28,897,782 33,971,232 21,832 105,521,970 225,428 39,504,994.50 112,790 7,223,397 100,250,936 42,497,329 6,593,390 80,900 2,030,650 88,846,686.50 20,640 198,860,210 908,540 1,837,518 5,400 53,760 21,800

5,285,232.50 22,138,908 370,000 254,414,665 573,999 -2,638,142 -33,442,575 26,513,737 -1,411,188 -30,208,866 11,154,041 8,540 10,824,549.50 23,679,205 -504,564 -

1,354,450 12,189,700 2,646 19,200 12,224,280 467,851,890 1,172,270 12,163,034 539 69,590 1,735,440 337,030 26,680,020 4,720,600 664,700 3,757,140 857,820 95,040 8,697,780 5,794,380 297,060 56,086,343 9,853,850 2,767,550

-1,120,670 42,960 322,270 -202,807,985 593,610 39,270 192,380 -26,330,090 -650,050 4,310 -664,490 968,200.00 -715,832 690,000 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

4.51 59.15 102.6 4.02 134 2.9 36.2 15.98 32.2 8.99 0.65 1.74 945 0.69 89 0.86 12.98 57.5 240 111 89.5 48.05 248.4 1,945 86.6 1.32

4.61 59.75 102.6 4.02 135 2.9 36.2 16.12 32.5 8.99 0.65 1.78 945 0.7 89 0.86 13.1 57.5 241 115 89.5 48.05 248.4 1,945 86.7 1.35

4.51 59.1 101.6 4.02 133.5 2.53 35.95 15.98 32 8.99 0.65 1.74 945 0.69 87.95 0.84 12.98 57.3 240 110 88 48.05 246.6 1,900 86.5 1.32

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 EUROMED FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG GINEBRA HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MACAY HLDG 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 SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VULCAN INDL

41.5 10.3 0.79 1.39 19.8 0.227 111.1 5.49 16.28 42 20.7 66 73.2 1.92 7 11.5 10.16 15.04 13.8 7.26 5.64 1.61 19.02 67.3 14.3 12.46 18.84 1.86 242.2 5.88 3.24 23.35 31.65 20 17.78 286 0.221 11.3 3 6.8 10.18 5.9 9.9 1.8 12.08 68.3 6.55 308 4.5 4.4 2.66 13.5 0.142 1.32 152.5 3.43 2.08 0.98

42 10.4 0.8 1.4 19.82 0.23 116 5.5 16.28 42.35 20.7 66 75 1.94 7 11.7 10.22 15.1 13.86 7.3 5.69 1.74 19.3 67.95 14.3 12.5 18.84 1.89 245.8 6.09 3.25 23.4 31.7 20 18.06 287 0.222 11.46 3 6.81 10.22 6.2 9.9 1.8 12.08 68.3 6.69 308 4.6 4.4 2.7 13.5 0.142 1.4 152.5 3.5 2.1 0.98

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

0.345 73.65 16.96 1.11 6.79 0.35 0.365 1,006 8.46 15.82 7.79 1,218 7.8 77 0.87 5.79 17.98 6.9 0.057 1.3 2.13 100 2.58 920 1.43 290 0.27 0.192 0.218

0.35 75.2 17 1.11 7 0.37 0.375 1,039 8.47 15.9 7.8 1,223 7.88 78.95 0.87 5.82 18.44 6.94 0.058 1.3 2.2 101 2.58 920 1.44 296 0.27 0.192 0.218

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

4.96 1.1 8.98 2.4 1.12 42.9 3.79 5.05 5.39 5.52 0.52 1.3 1.3 0.223 0.475 43.65 0.7 0.144 2.06 1.55 0.91 5.28 0.35 0.48

4.98 1.1 8.98 2.42 1.12 43.45 3.8 5.1 5.39 5.9 0.52 1.33 1.3 0.225 0.485 43.65 0.7 0.144 2.08 1.58 0.91 5.3 0.355 0.48

4.95 1.05 8.51 2.39 1.05 42.9 3.77 5 5.39 5.52 0.51 1.3 1.29 0.222 0.475 42.9 0.69 0.144 2.02 1.53 0.9 5.25 0.34 0.46

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

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

0.49 6.56 26.1 1.82 3.19 34.9 1.04 7.4 6.32

0.49 6.64 26.35 1.83 3.2 35 1.07 7.4 6.32

0.48 6.49 25.85 1.81 3.19 34.55 1.04 7.4 6.26

0.485 6.64 26.2 1.82 3.2 34.85 1.06 7.4 6.29

750,000 5,470,200 733,600 484,000 12,000 5,445,700 1,437,000 100 231,300

363,600 35,828,449 19,150,370 881,280 38,360 189,255,570 1,507,440 740 1,454,035

23,342,430 1,577,080 373,500 -135,601,610 109,200 -300,618

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR CHELSEA DFNN INC EASYCALL 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 BULLETIN MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

20 40.6 1.74 0.55 0.052 11.02 5.25 10.5 0.073 108 9 9.94 8 3.26 2,070 6.06 18.66 2.52 2.94 106.8 12.08 8.36 0.163 1.36 3.15 15.86 4.35 1.28 15.42 0.56 3.01 7.5 4.25 17.84 2.45 11.06 5.1 171 9.5 1,705 1.5 54.5 105.5 6.32 4.18 1.55 2.2 4.1 1.23 8.6

20 40.6 1.74 0.55 0.057 11.02 5.25 10.54 0.073 108.8 9 9.97 8 3.26 2,078 6.06 19.18 2.76 2.94 107.5 12.08 8.4 0.166 1.4 3.22 15.86 4.35 1.3 16.02 0.56 3.13 7.7 4.28 18.76 2.45 11.06 5.1 171 9.71 1,705 1.53 54.5 106.4 6.32 4.3 1.58 2.2 4.22 1.23 8.6

19.92 40.5 1.68 0.55 0.051 11.02 5.24 10.26 0.071 107.9 8.92 9.92 7.72 3.26 2,060 6.04 18.52 2.52 2.94 106 11.86 8.36 0.161 1.36 3.15 15.86 4.25 1.27 15 0.56 2.7 7.45 4.23 17 2.4 11.06 5.09 167 9.46 1,680 1.5 53.9 105 6.13 4.18 1.55 2.2 4.05 1.18 8.52

SERVICES 20 40.55 1.72 0.55 0.057 11.02 5.24 10.3 0.072 108.5 9 9.92 8 3.26 2,070 6.04 18.9 2.66 2.94 106.1 11.86 8.4 0.161 1.4 3.22 15.86 4.29 1.27 15.52 0.56 2.8 7.45 4.23 17.02 2.41 11.06 5.09 167.2 9.59 1,694 1.53 53.9 106.1 6.3 4.23 1.57 2.2 4.14 1.18 8.55

24,000 16,400 367,000 2,078,000 369,780,000 100 1,400 9,102,100 24,960,000 316,590 6,600 630,500 19,900 1,000 9,360 2,333,500 623,000 16,065,000 2,000 776,300 19,200 243,000 8,980,000 40,000 2,000 600 201,000 337,000 18,270,900 8,000 2,321,000 9,460,600 529,000 57,300 363,000 1,000 8,700 1,260 1,364,800 88,845 240,000 1,734,120 680,090 3,046,900 691,000 5,976,000 6,000 1,579,000 8,934,000 1,427,100

479,382 665,430 622,580 1,142,900 20,102,040 1,102 7,345 93,908,434 1,780,630 34,340,979 59,392 6,263,302 155,167 3,260 19,383,370 14,095,440 11,620,130 42,692,600 5,880 82,642,101 228,064 2,040,700 1,463,880 54,480 6,370 9,516 858,060 431,480 283,505,106 4,480 6,638,650 71,210,948 2,243,570 980,312 879,810 11,060 44,355 210,772 13,067,823 150,219,875 366,670 93,637,734 72,099,395 18,922,351 2,937,940 9,364,040 13,200 6,478,680 10,656,180 12,206,640

-53,814 8,500 -113,200 -32,230,376 144,000.00 -7,430,437 27,000 14,910 5,323,700 -111,240 -139,630 49,733,731 48,300 85,350.00 68,016,826 21,891,576 -8,480 9,640 623,624 -35,161,010 54,990 -60,559,171 -10,966,751 230,190 1,281,300 5,406,430 -1,081,000.00 134,210 -2,535,590

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING ATOK BENGUET A CENTURY PEAK COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 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 1.86 4.95 16 1.92 1.63 0.38 8.57 2.83 0.265 0.192 0.202 0.01 2 7.05 1.74 0.51 1.02 0.013 0.013 0.012 2.52 8.04 8.13 45.05 0.0075

0.0026 1.93 4.95 16 1.92 1.63 0.38 8.57 2.83 0.265 0.192 0.202 0.011 2 7.05 1.74 0.52 1.02 0.013 0.013 0.012 2.52 8.08 8.9 46.5 0.0075

0.0025 1.85 4.9 15 1.9 1.56 0.38 8.36 2.71 0.255 0.184 0.196 0.01 1.9 6.92 1.7 0.51 1.02 0.012 0.012 0.011 2.51 8.02 8.07 45.05 0.0075

MINING & OIL 0.0026 433,000,000 1.89 10,381,000 4.9 568,000 15.74 6,700 1.9 20,000 1.56 3,260,000 0.38 40,000 8.5 1,700 2.71 3,862,000 0.26 40,000 0.186 9,580,000 0.2 3,160,000 0.011 27,600,000 1.92 456,000 6.98 1,004,900 1.7 111,000 0.52 186,000 1.02 341,000 0.012 101,400,000 0.012 58,600,000 0.012 45,200,000 2.51 21,000 8.08 817,000 8.88 23,604,200 46.05 687,400 0.0075 3,000,000

1,125,500 19,654,070 2,787,830 102,864 38,150 5,229,610 15,200 14,450 10,595,790 10,350 1,790,570 633,260 289,800 886,620 7,008,909 189,940 94,980 347,820 1,292,100 760,700 539,600 52,720 6,577,912 203,859,914 31,589,260 22,500

827,600 -362,660 95,160 1,145,180 -183,800 1,298,460 -390,000 -2,677,251.00 173,657 12,345,575 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B PNX PREF 3A SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

40.45 539 525 106 540.5 5.75 1,045 1,039 1.06 108 1,175 103.7 75.5 81 78.3 78.5 80

40.5 540 525 106 540.5 5.77 1,045 1,040 1.06 110 1,175 105 75.6 81 78.3 78.5 80

40.45 539 525 106 540.5 5.74 1,045 1,039 1.05 108 1,146 103.7 75 80.25 78.2 78.5 80

PREFERRED 40.45 592,600 540 16,540 525 2,000 106 120 540.5 1,100 5.75 496,800 1,045 300 1,040 300 1.06 12,000 109.5 8,600 1,146 195 105 270 75.6 80,370 80.25 17,400 78.2 30,000 78.5 740 80 69,800

23,970,690 8,928,080 1,050,000 12,720 594,550 2,858,053 313,500 311,800 12,700 936,500 224,050 28,194 6,030,522 1,396,874 2,347,523 58,090 5,584,000

-489,445 -1,583,143 -200,550 -6,002,550 -

LR WARRANT

2.55

2.55

2.51

WARRANTS 2.54 56,000

141,700

-

835,000 46,000 455,700

4,104,990 220,350 2,592,506

2,386,300 126,123

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 126.5 8,130

1,026,666

-784,523

139,100

-

NAME

MS

PROPERTY 4.98 1.07 8.97 2.42 1.05 43.3 3.78 5.03 5.39 5.9 0.52 1.32 1.29 0.222 0.48 42.9 0.69 0.144 2.07 1.56 0.9 5.28 0.34 0.465

273,000 11,367,000 300 8,000 11,382,000 10,814,700 310,000 2,414,800 100 12,600 3,380,000 259,000 20,681,000 21,220,000 1,390,000 86,900 1,242,000 660,000 4,246,000 3,724,000 330,000 10,626,100 28,560,000 5,880,000

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

4.98 4.6 5.7

5.05 4.9 5.75

4.88 4.6 5.65

FIRST METRO ETF

126.9

126.9

126.1

USD DMPL A1

10.7

10.7

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

12,417,310

INDUSTRIAL

128,519,899

HOLDING FIRMS

159,870,261

PROPERTY

155,159,037

SERVICES

495,529,163

MINING & OIL

727,117,096

GRAND TOTAL

1,679,960,436

10.7

5.01 4.78 5.66

10.7

SME

DDS

13,000

VALUE 2,001.82 (up) 3.64 412,492,636.35 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,101.60 (down) 11.58 1,970,420,853.91 HOLDING FIRMS 8,562.67 (up) 107.22 1,311,342,152.82 PROPERTY 3,878.84 (up) 22.45 1,744.71 (down) 4.20 951,146,936.84 SERVICES MINING & OIL 14,019.14 (up) 36.61 1,153,234,758.49 PSEI 8,367.38 (up) 56.50 295,544,490.971 All Shares Index 4,909.92 (up) 20.48 6,102,139,505.38 Gainers: 82; Losers: 104; Unchanged: 59; Total: 245

registration from P20 billion to up to P40 billion.

Globe said the higher amount would enable the company to offer retail bonds within a three-year period.

Globe earlier signed a seven-year and 10-year, $155-million term loan facility with Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. to finance capital expenditures this year.

The company also signed a 10-year, P8 billion term loan facility and an 8-year, P7-billion term loan facility with BDO Unibank Inc. and another six-year, P7-billion term loan with Development Bank of the Philippines.

Globe has raised its capex this year to $850 million from the original $750 million capex.

Globe has spent around $550 million in capital expenditures in the first six months of 2017, primarily to support the demand for data across mobile, broadband and enterprise segments.

Globe earlier reported a consolidated net income of P8.1 billion in the first six months, down 10 percent from P9 billion year-on-year.

Globe’s core net income, which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, foreign exchange gains and mark-to-market charges, stood at P8 billion, or lower by 10 percent year-on-year.

Globe posted a new alltime high consolidated service revenues of P62.9 billion, or 5 percent higher than P59.9 billion reported in the same period of 2016.

Meralco signs deal with solar company

By Alena Mae S. Flores MANILA Electric Co. has signed a supply agreement with Solar Philippines Tarlac Corp. for up to 85 megawatts of power supplied from the latter’s Tarlac solar facility at P2.99 per kilowatt-hour.

The country’s biggest electricity retailer disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday it opted for the agreement in support of renewable energy after the conduct of a competitive selection process.

“Meralco has executed a power supply agreement with Solar Philippines Tarlac Corp. for the sale and purchase of solar power at a headline rate of P2.9999 per kWh from the solar power plant it is currently constructing in Concepcion, Tarlac,” it said.

“This rate is significantly lower than the prevailing solar feed-in tariff rates and a welcome development for consumers,” Meralco added.

Solar Philippines Tarlac has committed to supply the electricity energy generated by its solar power plant corresponding to 75 MW and up to 85 MW from the first to five contract years and 85 MW from the sixth to 20th contract years.

Meralco said the agreement would be effective after approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

“Both parties are committed to file the ERC application for approval of the PSA on or before October 20, 2017 and secure the ERC’s issuance of a provisional authority, in time for an implementation of the PSA by January 2018,” it said.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

Business/World

TODAY

B3

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Senator warns US on path to WWIII WASHINGTON―A top Republican lawmaker warned Sunday that US President Donald Trump’s impulsive threats against other countries could set America “on the path to World War III,” in comments capping an unusually hostile and public feud between the pair on social media.

Bob Corker, who heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, slammed the president for running his office like a “reality show” in a stinging rebuke against a sitting president of his own party that was remarkable even by the volatile standards of the Trump administration.

The public spat between the former allies could also undermine Trump’s legislative agenda, with Corker’s vote vital to the fate of the Iran nuclear deal and passing tax reform.

“He concerns me,” Corker told The New York Times, adding: “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”

RAINY IN GAZA. Palestinian women ride donkey-drawn carts in Gaza City. AFP

Civilians become human shields HAWI AL-HAWA, Syria― As fighters from the Islamic State group retreat into a shrinking part of Syria’s Raqa, they are dragging along terrified civilians for cover against a ferocious US-backed onslaught.

Locals who managed to flee describe being herded into apartments in buildings used by jihadists as makeshift military bases, and serving as human shields for fighters as they

collect water.

Civilians say the tactic―used elsewhere by the group to slow its opponents―is increasingly putting them in the cross hairs of US air power and allied fighters as they battle IS in densely populated districts near Raqa’s centre.

Raqa resident Umm Alaa and her family were twice forced to provide cover to IS jihadists, she told AFP, hours after her escape from the city.

“Weeks ago, an Iraqi [IS] fighter came to our house in Al-Barid and told us it had become a military zone,” she said, sitting on a plastic chair outside a mosque in Hawi al-Hawa, a western suburb of Raqa controlled by the US-backed force.

IS moved her with her husband, their son Alaa and two-year-old grandson Hassan into a nearby building and refused their pleas to return home. AFP

The drama erupted in the morning, when Trump tweeted that Corker had decided against running for re-election because he lacked the “guts,” and the senator replying that the White House had become an “adult daycare center.”

The highly unusual exchange came seemingly out of nowhere on a rainy Sunday morning that Trump began in the White House before the skies cleared and he headed to a nearby golf course.

Corker, a respected moderate who once supported Trump, has emerged in recent months as one of the president’s most outspoken Republican critics.

He recently said that only the presence of the generals in Trump’s inner circle had kept the White House from descending into “chaos.”

Trump made no mention of that remark in his volley of tweets, instead attacking Corker for his decision to return to private life, saying that the Tennessee Republican bore heavy responsibility for what Trump considers the deeply flawed nuclear deal with Iran.

“Senator Bob Corker ‘begged’ me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out [said he could not win without my endorsement],” Trump wrote in a series of tweets.

“He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said ‘NO THANKS.’ He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!”

Trump called Corker a “negative voice” who would “stand in the way of our great agenda.”

“Didn’t have the guts to run!” the president exclaimed.

Corker for his part disputed the account, telling the Times that Trump had urged him to run again and promised to endorse him if he did.

“I don’t know why the president tweets out things that are not true,” he said.

Trump’s tweetstorm was not particularly unusual― he has rarely been one to calmly endure criticism― but Corker’s blunt rebuttal was strikingly rare, coming from a fellow Republican in such a prominent position.

The senator, perhaps feeling liberated by his decision not to seek re-election, tweeted: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center.

Someone obviously missed their shift this morning,” hinting that presidential caretakers were not doing their job. AFP

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

No need for $300m WB loan for BOC

INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

THE World Bank (WB) announced last week its approval of a $300 million loan to the Philippine government intended for the restructuring and improvement of the Bureau of Customs.

The announcement came close on the heels of the recent foiled attempt to smuggle P6.4 billion worth the illegal drug known locally as shabu.

Applications for WB financing originate either from the governments of developing countries or from the Bank’s staff on the basis of perceptions of financial need developed in the course of the periodic WB missions to its developing-country members. My surmise is that the just-announced loan for the Bureau of Customs (BOC) was a joint initiative of the Philippine government – more specifically the Department of Finance, which has supervisory authority over the Bureau of Customs – and the Washington-based international financial institution.

The BOC has long been the weak link in the Philippine government’s fiscal chain, whose other links are the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of the Treasury and the Insurance Commission. The BOC started off fairly well after Independence, but things appear to have begun to move in a downward direction in the 1960s. By the 1980s the BOC had fallen into a state of disrepute. Every survey of opinion about the departments and agencies has found BOC to be the most corrupt, or one of the most corrupt, instrumentalities of the government.

Over the years there has been so much ranting and raving about the BOC’s shortcomings – perhaps the grossest example of which was the total disappearance from Manila’s container port of 2,000, repeat 2,000, container vans – but there has been no display of serious and sustained interest in making the BOC a corruption-free and efficient government agency.

On the contrary, during the last few decades appointments to the key BOC position of Commissioner have largely been made on the basis of political or personal considerations on the part of the President of the Philippines. The appointment of former Representative Rufino Biazon by former President Aquino and of former soldier Nicanor Faeldon by President Duterte were greeted with skepticism by the business community, which has the greatest stake in an efficient customs service. “What does he know about the practices and culture of the customs services” was the question asked of the Aquino and Duterte appointees and their predecessors by BOC-watchers.

In the face of the recent attempt to smuggle P6.4 billion worth of shabu, the suggestion has been made that BOC be abolished entirely. That is, of course, an asinine idea; one can no more abolish a country’s custom service than one can abolish its entire foreign trade.

Now here comes a $300 million WB loan intended to improve and restructure the BOC. As a Filipino, I am deeply grateful for the financial assistance that the WB has extended to the Philippines over the decades, and I fervently share the Filipino people’s desire to have a customs service that is corruption-free and efficient.

But in the case of the just-approved BOC loan, I find myself questioning, for the first time, the wisdom of a WB loan.

There is, in my view, no need for the WB loan. The weak spots in the BOC structure are by now well-known; many of these were addressed in the Customs and Tariff Modernization Act of 2015. The “tara” system, the misuse of the so-called green lane and other corrupt practices of rogue BOC personnel were well-described in the recent Senate hearings, and rocket science need not be called in to correct these operational and systemic flaws. There is little that the WB experts and consultants can suggest that this country’s customs experts and practitioners don’t already know. Trying to straighten out the BOC is by now a well-traveled road.

Instead of a WB loan, what the Philippine government needs is a display of political will, and that display begins with the appointment, not of a Biazon or a Faeldon, but of an individual who has a track record of honesty, is both competent and street-smart, is no-nonsense when it comes to discipline and is industrious about imbibing the culture and operational

practices of BOC personnel. Such an individual can be found.

There are numerous areas of the Philippine economy that urgently need WB assistance. The government and the WB should direct the $300 million to those areas.

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

1.

The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act CY 2017 intends to apply the sum of Two Billion Six Hundred Nine Four Million Four Hundred Thousand Philippine Pesos (PhP2,694,400,000.00) for the projects listed below. Bids received in excess of each ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening:

IB No. IB No. 2017297-A

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

InvItatIon to BId for the Supply, delIvery and InStallatIon of network Core SwItCh for new pagCor houSe under ItB no. pB17-071Cor-10

IB No. 2017309

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is inviting all interested bidders in its forthcoming public bidding for the Supply, Delivery and Installation of Network Core Switch for New PAGCOR House under ITB No.PB17-071COR-10.

Brief Description

Supply, Delivery and Installation of Network Core Switch for New PAGCOR House 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Contract Duration Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC): Source of Funds:

One (1) 4-slots Chassis Must have redundant supervisor Must have N+1 power supply Must have power load sharing Support Graphical User Interface (GUI) based management software Two (2) modules of forty-eight (48) ports that support one (1) GE or ten (10) G Fiber connection a. with eight (8) units of 1Gigabit Ethernet (GE) transceivers Multimode Fiber(MMF) b. sixteen (16) units of 10GE transceivers Multimode Fiber (MMF) Four hundred forty (440)Gigabit per second (Gbps) per slot Forwarding Bandwidth Thirty-two (32) Gigabit (GB) of memory Eight (8) Gigabit (GB) USB Flash Two (2) x quad cores Minimum of 4096 Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANS) Sixteen(16) units of 10 G Ethernet transceiver Multimode Fiber (MMF) Eight (8) units of 1 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver Multimode Fiber (MMF)

IB No. 2017318

2. Pre-Bid Conference

3. Deadline for the Submission and Receipt of Bids 4. Opening and Preliminary Examination of Bids

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Procurement Department (PD), acting as the BAC Secretariat, of PAGCOR and/or inspect the Bidding Documents at Eight (8th) Floor, PAGCOR House Annex, 1105 U.N Avenue corner Orosa St. Ermita, Manila during office hours of PAGCOR from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of Twenty-Five Thousand Pesos (PhP25,000.00).

Prospective bidders may also download the Bidding Documents free of charge from the following websites: www.pagcor.ph and www.philgeps.gov.ph and may be allowed to submit bids provided that bidders shall pay theapplicable fee of the Bidding Documents not later than the deadline for the submission and receipt of bids.

Prospective bidders should present to PAGCOR’s Cashier located at the Sixth (6th) Floor, PAGCOR Corporate Office, New World Manila Bay Hotel, 1588 M.H. del Pilar Street corner Pedro Gil Street, Malate, Manila either the Fee Slip which may be secured from PD or a copy of this ITB in effecting payment for the Bidding Documents.

Bidders shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of his bid, and PAGCOR will in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.

Bidders should note that PAGCOR will accept bids only from those that have paid the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents.

All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the venue of the bid opening. Late bids shall not be accepted.

PAGCOR assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of their bids.

In accordance with Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Circular 06-2005 – TieBreaking Method, the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) 2 shall use a non-discretionary and non-discriminatory measure based on sheer luck or chance, which is “DRAW LOTS,” in the event that two or more bidders have been post-qualified and determined as the bidder having the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid (LCRB) to determine the final bidder having the LCRB, based on the following procedures: a. In alphabetical order, the bidders shall pick one rolled paper. b. The lucky bidder who would pick the paper with a “CONGRATULATIONS” remark shall be declared as the final bidder having the LCRB and recommended for award of the contract.

PAGCOR reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Please address all communications to the Bids and Awards Committee thru PD, Eighth (8th) Floor, PAGCOR House Annex, 1105 United Nations Avenue corner Maria Orosa Street, Ermita, Manila, Tel No.: (02) 623-0496 or (02) 708-0307

75,000.00

50,000.00

a. At least two (2) similar contracts for local and/ or international contracts and the aggregate contract amounts should be equivalent to at least fifty (50%) of the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet; and b. The largest of these similar contracts must be equivalent to at least half of the fifty percent (50%) of the (ABC) as required.

3.

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

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Sta. Cruz, Manila and inspect the Bidding Documents at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents for each procurement package listed above may be acquired by interested bidders on 10 October 2017 to 30 October 2017 from the address above and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB Resolution No. 04-2012, dated 24 February 2012, in the amount specified above.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders who are interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

Bidding Documents Fee may be refunded in accordance with the aforementioned Guidelines based on the grounds provided for under Section 41 of 2016 Revised IRR of RA 9184.

6.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at the COBAC Conference Room, G/F, Building 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which shall be opened to all interested parties on the schedule given below: IB No.

Name of Contract

Activity (Date & Time) Pre-bidding Submission and Conference Opening of Bids

IB No. 2017- Procurement of Mobile Dental Vehicle297-A Re-bid Supply, Delivery, Installation & IB No. 2017- Commissioning of Brand New Linear 309 Accelerator with CT Simulator and Accessories 17 October 30 October 2017; Supply, Delivery, Installation & 2017; 10:00 A.M. 09:00 A.M. Commissioning of Brand New Hybrid SPECT/CT System-Variable Angle IB No. 2017- Dual Detector Gamma Camera (3/8 318 “Crystal”) and Central Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) Bone Densitometer

7.

Bids must Bids must be delivered to the address stated below. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated below: Form of Bid Security

Cash, Cashier’s/manager’s check issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank.

Bank draft/guarantee or irrevocable letter of credit issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank: Provided, however, that it shall be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank, if issued by a foreign bank.

Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Insurance Commission as authorized to issue such security.

Bid Securing Declaration

Amount of Bid Security (Not less than the required percentage of the ABC)

Two percent (2%)

Five percent (5%) No percentage required

Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. The DOH reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

9.

For further information, please refer to: Special COBAC Secretariat Department of Health San Lazaro Compound Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 Facsimile No.: 741-9775; 740-6830 (SGD) HERMINIGILDO V. VALLE, MD, MPA Undersecretary of Health Chairperson, Special COBAC

(SGD) RODERICK R. CONSOLACION Chairperson Bids and awards Committee (BaC) 2 (MS-OCT. 10, 2017)

50,000.00

Largest Completed Contract

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the abovecaption projects. Delivery of the Goods as specified in Section VI. Schedule of Requirements. Bidders should have completed, within the specified years from the date of submission and receipt of bids a contracts similar to each of the abovecited procurement projects stated in the Bidding Documents. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Corporate Budget for CY 2017

Date, Time and Venue October 10 – 30, 2017 Procurement Department 8th/F, PAGCOR House Annex, Carmen Bldg.

1105 U.N. Avenue corner Maria Orosa St., Ermita, Manila October 16, 2017 2:30pm, Corporate Lounge, Sixth (6th) Floor, PAGCOR Executive Office, New World Manila Bay Hotel 1588 M.H. Del Pilar Street Cor Pedro Gil St., Malate, Manila October 30, 2017 10:30am,Corporate Lounge, Sixth (6th) Floor, PAGCOR Executive Office, New World Manila Bay Hotel 1588 M.H. Del Pilar Street Cor Pedro Gil St., Malate, Manila October 30, 2017 10:30 am Onwards, Corporate Lounge, Sixth (6th) Floor, PAGCOR Executive Office, New World Manila Bay Hotel 1588 M.H. Del Pilar Street Cor Pedro Gil St., Malate, Manila

Procurement of Mobile Dental 127,400,000.00 Vehicle-Re-bid Supply, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning of Brand New Linear 2,167,000,000.00 Accelerator with CT Simulator and Accessories Supply, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning of Brand New Hybrid SPECT/CT System-Variable Angle Dual Detector 400,000,000.00 Gamma Camera (3/8 “Crystal”) and Central Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) Bone Densitometer

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php)

2.

Thirteen Million Pesos (PhP13,000,000.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero-Rated Transaction

Activities 1. Issuance of the Bidding Documents

ABC (PHP)

TOTAL 2,694,400,000.00

The Service Provider shall complete the Supply, Delivery and Installation within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of receipt of the Notice to Proceed

Bidders should have completed, within the last three (3) years before the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

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

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

PAGCORwill hold a Pre-Bid Conference, which shall beopen to prospective bidders.

All particulars relative to Pre-Bid Conference, Detailed Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its IRR. The schedule of bidding activities is listed, as follows:

Name of Contract

(MS-OCT. 10, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

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

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

LGU’s SHARE. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander F. Balutan (left) turns over a check to Tacloban City Mayor Christina Gonzalez Romualdez (center) for P232,395.75 as the city’s share from the Small Town Lottery for July and August 2017 at the mayor’s office recently. With them is City Treasurer Zosima Ordano.

Manila sees better biz climate in 2018

By Bill Casas THE City of Manila foresees a better business climate under the administration of Mayor Joseph Estrada for the year 2018 as it continues to rebound from its deep financial turmoil back in 2013.

The city’s Bureau of Permits said it expects over 1,000 new businesses to open by January, while 45,000 more will renew their licenses and permits, generating P300 million in fees alone.

Bureau of Permits director Fortune Mayuga attributed this to Estrada’s improved government administration, especially at the start of his second term, which spawned a boom in businesses in the city, from micro industries to big companies.

“This is a manifestation of confidence in the city and there are a lot who want to invest here,” Mayuga said in an interview.

“You can see that there are a lot of banks, restaurants, the small- and medium-size establishments, and also call centers,” she added.

Ten big business process outsourcing firms have recently opened in Manila, the city official said.

By Joel E. Zurbano

T

HE city government of Makati has started marking sidewalks and other road-right-of-way (RROW) areas to keep them free of any obstruction or encroachment and restore order and discipline in the community.

Mayor Abigail Binay ordered the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works to conduct the RoadRight-of-Way Demarcation Project covering 985 streets

of barangays in the two districts of Makati.

She said the project also complies with local and national laws pertaining to public domain.

“Clearly marked boundaries separating sidewalks and other public domain from private property line would leave no excuse for anybody to encroach or obstruct them in any way.

These are also meant to ensure that our personnel would properly implement regular clearing operations,” Binay said.

City chief engineering officer Lauro Reyes said to date, his team already covered 442 streets in 14 barangays in District I and 543 streets in 11 barangays

in District II. In District I, city engineering and public works personnel completed road demarcation along 32 streets in Brgy. San Isidro; 13 streets in Kasilawan; 15 streets in Carmona; 53 streets in Olympia; 35 streets in Tejeros; 18 streets, Sta. Cruz; 21 streets, Valenzuela; 79 streets, Poblacion; 38 streets, Palanan; 13 streets, Singkamas; 22 streets, La Paz; 33 streets, Pio del Pilar; 39 streets, San Antonio; and 31 streets, Bangkal.

In District II, already marked were 34 streets in Guadalupe Nuevo; 22 streets, Guadalupe Viejo; 38 streets, Cembo; 32 streets, Pitogo; 21 streets, Pinagkaisahan; 35 streets, South Cembo; 53 streets, West Rembo; 57 streets, East Rembo; 41 streets, Comembo; 101 streets, Pembo; and 109 streets, Rizal.

The road demarcation project of Makati is pursuant to Municipal Ordinance No. 93-330 and the National Building Code.

Ordinance No. 93-330

prohibits the parking of motor vehicles and installation of business stalls or similar objects which restrict, impede or obstruct the free flow of pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks of all streets in Makati.

Under the ordinance, all business stalls and other similar object found on or along sidewalks of all roads and streets shall be penalized. On the first offense, a notice of warning will be served to the owner/operator of the stalls to remove their stalls within two days.

IN BRIEF December 19 a holiday for Munti centennial MALACAÑANG has declared a special non-working holiday in Muntinlupa City on Dec. 19, 2017 marking its Centennial Anniversary.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, by authority of President Rodrigo Duterte, signed on Oct. 4 Proclamation No. 327 declaring the non-working day.

The holiday was declared “to give Muntinlupa residents the opportunity to commemorate the said event,” the proclamation read.

“It is but fitting and proper that the people of the City of Muntinlupa be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies,” Medialdea said.

Events slated in Muntinlupa on Dec. 19 include a Thanksgiving Mass at Muntinlupa City Hall Grounds in Putatan and a Centennial Festival at Muntinlupa Sports Complex in Tunasan.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER. Senator Cynthia A. Villar (second from left) receives a plaque of appreciation from Dr. Milo O. Placino

(center), Southern Luzon State University president, as keynote and guest speaker of the 17th Foundation Anniversary of the Public Administration League of Students in Lucban, Quezon on Oct. 3. Looking on (from left) are Dr. Eriberto A. Casino and Dr. Joanna Paula A. Ellega. Benjie Antioquia

By Butch Gunio SUBIC BAY FREEPORT— Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairperson and Administrator Wilma “Amy” T. Eisma was adjudged a winner in this year’s search for the “100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the

World” or Global FWN100, which recognizes women of Filipino ancestry who are influencing the face of leadership in the global workplace.

Eisma will receive the award during the 14th Filipina Leadership Global Summit scheduled on Oct. 25 to 29 in Toronto, Canada.

The Global FWN100 award, which is handed out by the San Francisco, California-based non-profit association Filipina Women’s Network, cites women who have reached outstanding status in their respective professions, industries and communities.

Marilyn Mondejar, founder

and CEO of Global FWN100, said Eisma will be joining “an esteemed group of accomplished Filipina women worldwide who are advocating with FWN to increase the socioeconomic, professional, political and educational power of Filipina women as leaders and policymakers.”

Davao biodiesel plant is sustainable—Cenro the Cenro.

The plant, located at the Cenro composting facility in Maa, formally started processing used cooking oil last August.

Its aim is to discourage establishments, such as those in the fast food industry, from reusing or selling their used cooking oil. The indiscriminate disposal of cooking oil has also been identified as a factor in clogged drainage and canal systems in the city.

Leni opens private hospital in Solano SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya―Vice President Leni Robredo recently led health and local government officials in the opening of another private hospital along the national highway here.

Dr. Willie Damasco, chairman of the Salubris Medical Center, said the private hospital is owned by Salubris Inc.―taken from the Latin word that means “healthy” or “wellness.”

SMC is a 133-bed hospital and is classified as a secondary level private general hospital. It provides outpatient and emergency medical services, an intensive care unit (for acute stroke, pediatric and general medicine), specialty services (e.g. EEG, Neurology, Heart), an operating room, a dialysis center, a rehab center for occupational therapy, and a spa and wellness center.

Salubris Inc. was formed on November 2005 and started with 34 incorporators and an authorized capital stock of P5 million, Damasco added.

The founders of Salubris, Inc. were among the founders of the Medical Mission Group Hospital and Health Services Cooperative, a cooperative hospital in Solano. Ben Moses Ebreo

Miner’s livelihood groups show growth

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera management specialist of DAVAO CITY—The processing of used cooking oil into biofuel at the Bio Diesel Fuel Plant here has proven to be sustainable since its launching about three months ago, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office said.

“The BDFP has been processing 1,000 liters of used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel on a daily basis,” said Dolly Remojo, supervising environmental

LEGAZPI CITY—The Philippine National Railways South Long Haul Project, spanning some 581 kms from Manila to Matnog, Sorsogon, is on track to its target opening by the second quarter of year 2022.

“Dagos po an Bicol Express (the Bicol Express will push through),” Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda announced here last week, basing it on the project’s revised funding structure recently approved by the National Economic Development Authority board.

Originally proposed years ago by Salceda, the project now forms part of the Duterte Administration’s flagship projects under the massive “Build Build Build” infrastructure Program. It is envisioned as a backbone of economic development designed to improve the connectivity of major airports and seaports in Southern Tagalog and the Bicol Region.

From a proposed budget of P171 billion originally, and later P185 billion, the project is now allocated P299.4 billion and is one of the government’s biggest infrastructure investments.

Salceda, the senior vice chair of the House committees on appropriations and ways and means, said some P800 million and P7 billion have been earmarked for the project in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2016 and 2017 budgets, respectively, of the Department of Transportation, not PNR’s as announced previously.

Makati starts RROW work

SBMA chief Eisma wins ‘Global Filipina’ award

Wilma Eisma

South Long Haul PNR project to Bicol on track

COCONUT CRAFTS. Handicrafts from coconut trees are on display at the historic municipal building of City of San Pablo in Laguna during the CARD-MRI media tour with participants and facilitators from Hijos de San Pablo Tours on Saturday led by Marian Roces, Radio Natin program anchor, Marilyn Manila, Community Development Director, and Cleofe Figuracion, Corporate Communications Deputy Director. Pictured are (from left) Allynete Mae Timoteo, Hijos Tours, Inc Project Officer; Lyka Amethyst H. Casamayor, Corporate Communications Assistant; and tour guides Nanette Domingo and Jeanalyn Eco. Roy Tomandao

QUEZON, Nueva Vizcaya—Livelihood organizations supported by a mining firm here showed improvement in their capital build-up.

Peter Storey, FCF Minerals Corp.’s general manager for operations based in barangay Runruno here, said an assessment and evaluation of the 14 livelihood associations on their financial status showed a three-percent increase in their capital from P2.248 million in the previous year to P2.318 million from January to December last year.

“The increase is attributable to the payment of capital build-up, membership fees and interest on loans of members of these associations,” he said.

The associations were supported by FCF’s Community Enterprise Development and Networking through livelihood support lending program called “Pondong Pangkabuhayan” (Fund for Livelihood). Ben Moses Ebreo

By Bernadette Lunas

T

HE glory days of Manila have long gone. The once opulent city which was home to the society’s upper class is now derided for being dirty, chaotic, and, oftentimes, a dangerous place to be in. It isn’t surprising that some Filipinos advise tourists to “get out of Manila fast.”

Bad rap, notwithstanding, we can’t deny that Manila’s charm, its rich history and colorful culture, is still very much around, the relative chaos, included.

The country’s capital is alive and it beckons everyone, locals and tourists alike, to discover its glorious past and distinct beauty.

Manila’s old world charm radiates in the 49-year-old building of Waterfront Pavilion Hotel and Casino Manila on United Nations Avenue in Ermita, or a few-minute drive from Intramuros and Rizal Park, the Luneta to most Manilans.

The hotel, previously Manila Hilton Hotel, was second home to Gen. Carlos P. Romulo, with one of its two presidential suites named after him, the other one is Aquino suite.

National Artist Federico Alcuaz also made it his residence for years; Waterfront Manila’s function rooms are named after the Filipino painter and some of his works are displayed in the hotel.

Being at the heart of the historical downtown Manila, views from the hotel windows include historical landmarks, like Rizal Park, Intramuros, and the National Museum, among others.

Waterfront Manila features a classic, elegant design. The warm neutral colors of wood are juxtaposed with vibrant hues of teal, yellow, orange, and red, creating a vibrant yet homey vibe in all its 340 rooms.

Guestrooms and suites are spacious, with an average floor area of 30-sqm, and come with plush beds, handsome furnishings, and tasteful details and décor.

The service, according to the hotel, is as it was before: warm and attentive.

But Waterfront Manila does not simply rely on the charms of the past. All of its rooms are equipped with modern creature comforts such as Wi-Fi Internet access, 40-inch flat screen LED TV, HD digital cable, iPhone and iPod dock with radio and clock display, safety deposit box, and bath and shower amenities.

In a bid to transform the four-star hotel into an integrated hotel casino as well as ensure the integrity of the structure, Waterfront Manila is currently undergoing its P350-million renovation.

“Some rooms were already renovated since it started in 2013,” Waterfront Hotels & Casinos Group Marketing Communications Manager Pia de Villa told Manila Standard. According to other hotel executives, 18 of the 22 floors have already been renovated.

De Villa added, “Renovation of facilities and amenities will start some time next year.”

Aquino Suite is glowing in yellow

Life

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

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

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Old Manila’s charm LIVES ON

OLD WORLD. The charm of the glorious, old Manila radiates in the 22-story Waterfront Pavilion Hotel & Casino Manila located in the heart of the historical downtown of the country’s capital.

The revamp also aims to widen the hotel’s market, which primarily caters to local corporate clients, and tap leisure travelers and “staycationers.”

“We’re stronger on local corporate, not much on ‘staycationers,’ because we’re a business hotel—we’re right across a lot of government agencies and offices,” said De Villa.

Waterfront Manila’s corporate clients take advantage of the hotel’s business center, which offers a complete line of secretarial services, business support, and state-of-the-art facilities.

However, the establishment is hopeful they’d be able to attract the leisure traveler market after its renovation.

Whether a guest is doing business or

Seasons Restaurant serves buffet and a la carte dishes

taking a relaxing break in the hotel, everyone can enjoy the good food, some of them have won awards, offered at its inhouse restaurants Seasons and Patisserie.

Seasons is an interactive buffet restaurant that offers local and international cuisines for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It also serves a la carte dishes, including its innovative Pork Humba, deconstructed

Vegetable Kare-kare, and luscious Chocolate Mouse.

You can enjoy an afternoon tete-a-tete at Patisserie while partaking of its bestselling ensaymada (original, ube, and salted egg) paired with a cup of coffee.

Visit www.waterfronthotels.com.ph or call (02) 526-1212 for inquiries and more details.

Deluxe Room comes with a plush bed and modern amenities

Passion Made Possible Brand for Singapore launched THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) jointly unveiled recently a unified brand, Passion Made Possible, to market Singapore internationally for tourism and business purposes. The agencies’ first joint brand is a bold move to put forth Singapore’s unique attitude and mindset: a passionate, never-settling spirit of determination and enterprise that constantly pursues possibilities and reinvention.

In the last 50 years, Singapore has built a strong reputation as a global business and tourism hub, recognised for its quality infrastructure, safety, stability, connectedness and accessibility.

However, global competition to attract tourists and investments has intensified, and the media landscape has become more crowded and complex. Visitors have become more discerning in their travel choices, seeking to immerse themselves in cultures and build deeper connections with destinations, while international businesses want to create new solutions that make a difference.

The unified brand thus aims to communicate the country’s value proposition in addressing the needs of travellers and companies, and help Singapore stand out on the international stage.

“With Passion Made Possible, STB is presenting a brand that can tell a fuller Singapore story beyond just

Asia. It is timely to send a strong and clear signal that companies can do this successfully from Singapore and turn possibilities into reality. Singapore and Singaporeans are where we are today because we pushed the limits of what’s possible, and did not allow constraints to hold us back.”

Singapore is Passion Made Possible

From left: STB CE Lionel Yeo, Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran, STB Chairman Chaly Mah, and EDB Chairman Dr. Beh Swan Gin

tourism. This brand articulates what we stand for as a country and supports the telling of many stories about this destination and its people. It will allow us to build a deeper and more personal connection between Singapore and our fans and friends, even when they are not actively thinking about travel. This brand is in line with Quality Tourism as it will appeal to the more sophisticated tourists who

are seeking more aspirational value propositions in their travel” said Lionel Yeo, chief executive of STB. Dr. Beh Swan Gin, chairman of EDB, added, “Singapore is making the shift from being primarily an investmentdriven economy to one that will be led by innovation. In particular, local and international companies are seeking to create new products, services and solutions that will have a stronger impact in

In developing the new brand, STB and EDB had embarked on qualitative and quantitative research with close to 4,500 respondents on what Singapore stands for, reaching out to residents, industry stakeholders, and international audiences in Singapore and across 10 countries. Respondents shared that the themes of ‘passion’ and ‘possibilities’ best reflected the Singapore spirit: While ‘possibilities’ was strongly associated with Singapore as a destination, the ‘passion’ to strive was what drove these possibilities.

Passion Made Possible was thus derived to capture the nation’s spirit in a way that builds affinity, affiliation and top-of-mind recall for choosing Singapore as a destination to visit and invest in. With the themes of ‘passion’ and ‘possibilities’ entrenched in Singapore’s history and imbued in the nation’s psyche, and told through stories of the people, Passion Made Possible is the embodiment of the country’s track record

and tenacity to fulfil passions and continually create new possibilities.

A unified brand to present Singapore to the world

With a different approach from previous brands of STB’s YourSingapore and EDB’s Future Ready Singapore, Passion Made Possible presents Singapore’s attributes beyond tourism and business. This will provide the opportunity and platform for Singaporeans and residents to showcase their enterprising and persevering spirit to the world, and serve as a unifying brand for Singapore on the international front.

The Passion Made Possible Global Campaign

Following its debut, Passion Made Possible will be unveiled worldwide in various cities throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States of America through consumer launches, trade events, industry partnerships, and global marketing campaigns featuring campaign films and visuals to bring to life how Singapore is Passion Made Possible.

For the Philippines, a Singapore Travel Showcase was held in Manila at the SM Megamall Fashion Hall last month featuring collaborations between Singapore – Passion Made Possible brand personalities and Filipino key opinion leaders and personalities.

Life

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

TIBFI’s Tourism H.R. Congress MERCURY RISING

T

BY BOB ZOZOBRADO

HE Tourism Industry Board Foundation Inc. (TIBFI) is a tripartite body composed of representatives from the government, private and labor sectors, geared towards providing manpower development in various tourism enterprises. It advocates that industrial training and manpower development should be industry-led, as they are the direct beneficiaries, with government serving as support to fast-track such development and skills training through the provision of incentives.

The 4th TIBFI Human Resource Congress took place at the new, centrally located Grand Xing Imperial Hotel in Iloilo City, attracting approximately 500 participants across the country. There were meaningful discussions on issues and factors that influence entrepreneurship and employment in tourism establishments. The event’s goal was to upgrade knowledge and skills of those involved in the Tourism Industry, and to examine management practices dealing with human resources, towards achieving sustainable outcomes.

The three-day congress featured a two-day re-training program on tourism skills, to align practices with the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for Tourism Professionals and the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF). It also included toolbox immersion programs divided into five clusters: housekeeping, front office, food and beverage, cookery, and travel services.

The third day had very interesting dialogues on management practices in

The Bamboo Orchestra played beautiful music during our Lunch Break

GM Ed Vitug of The Bayleaf Intramuros and The Bayleaf Cavite shares his hotels’ contribution to bridging the gap between the Academe and the Industry

Former Tourism Secretary Narzalina Lim (2nd from right) and Department of Tourism Director Rica Bueno are joined by LPU officers (from left) Beth Aragon, Jo Camalig and Gerald Garalde

Dr. Jerry Lego, head, School Govhuman resources that lead to sustain- hotels came up with a LEAP Program able outcomes, with presentations on (Learn, Enable, Acquire, Progress), ernance and Operations Division of various HR practices, and panel discus- which students, on their internship, go DepEd-Iloilo, discussed the different sions on relevant issues that affect the through, to prepare them for jobs in the factors affecting senior high school stuIndustry. outside world. dents’ employability and perceptions Ed Vitug, general manof the tourism industry. ager of The Bayleaf IntraTheir required 80-hour muros and The Bayleaf immersion in the indusYOUR TUESDAY CHUCKLE Cavite, shared with us the try makes them familiar brand created by the two with the workplace, exAn argument ensued between a couple. As it turned violent, hotels providing a conperience work simulathe Husband shouted: “Don’t let the animal in me come out!” ducive environment for tion, and apply compeThe Wife shot back: “Why? Who’s afraid of a mouse?” students to learn and contencies in their areas of tribute meaningfully. The specialization.

Narzalina Lim, former tourism secretary, being the straightforward and astute educator that she is, centered her discussion only on three basic questions –-What do you want your students to know? What do you want them to do? And what do you want them to be?

– with answers to these given by members of the audience who cited varying priorities, making the discussion livelier and more in-depth.

Tourism Undersecretary for Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Alma Rita Jimenez also had a very interesting talk, announcing that in 2022, the country is expected to welcome 12 million visitors. In fact, this year’s January to June visitor arrivals show a 12.73 percent increase over the same period last year. This certainly means an increase in the country’s tourism workforce, which registered 5.2 million employees last year.

In its efforts to standardize Filipino hospitality and service, DOT embarked on the development of “The Filipino Brand of Service,” envisioned to represent everything good and positive about Filipino hospitality that can be used by all tourism stakeholders in dealing with domestic and international visitors.

Beyond the experience of breathtaking sites that tourists get, service excellence becomes a regional brand and a holistic national identity. The Filipino values that come to fore are MakaDiyos (Godly), Makatao (hospitable), Makakalikasan (nature-lover), Makabayan (patriotic), Masayahin (has sense of humor), May Bayanihan (has sense of cooperation), and May Pag-asa (resilient and hopeful).

Through this newly developed brand, tourism front liners will be able to demonstrate the core values in whichever industry they work for, as they imbibe excellent customer service skills, and be familiar with the communication process. Barriers to communication and effective communication tools have to be used as techniques in handling customer concerns.

The congress succeeded in sharing ways to bridge the gap between the tourism industry and the country’s education/training sectors, and examine factors and issues that influence human resource development in the Industry.

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com

Travel hassle-free

Marco Polo Ortigas Manila offers a fun and wholesome play area for kids with the Piccolo Kids Club

Fun-filled play place STAYING in a hotel to unwind and enjoy the food with their families and loved ones is one way of bonding for many Filipinos now.

Marco Polo Ortigas Manila has added the Piccolo Kids Club, a room specially created to cater to the young ones.

Weekends and holidays got more interesting for kids at the only 5-star hotel property on the Ortigas side of the metro.

Located on the level 9 function room, Piccolo Kids Club is indeed a perfect for kids to interact with other children in a fun and wholesome environment. With playing toys, coloring items, and exciting movies, children will not miss out on a fun and playful day. The young ones will be encouraged to explore their creative and fun side from experimenting with arts and crafts, and socializing with new friends.

Giving kids more reasons to enjoy is the Piccolo Kids Club

Passport. Kids are entitled to a Passport one their first stay. Each time they come back, they can get stamps. Exciting rewards will be given once they accumulated five, 10, and 15 stamps, such as the Piccolo Kids Club pillow, art kit, and bag, respectively. Kiddie bags are also available for purchase at Php 580.

Open on weekends and holidays from 9 to 9, this facility is for all the children of the hotel’s guests and restaurant diners. The Piccolo Kids Club also offers complimentary refreshments for kids only. Children must be accompanied by guardians.

For reservations, call (632) 720 7777, or email resv.mnl@ marcopolohotels.com. To know more about the hotel, visit www.marcopolohotels.com. Follow the Hotel in Facebook at facebook.com/MarcoPoloOrtigasManila or @MarcoPoloManila on Twitter or Instagram.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

Former socialite makes a U-turn to SPIRITUALISM

S StarStruck alumnus Vivo Ouano spices up the performance stage in sexy comedy play, "Solo Para Adultos"

A racy sex comedy on stage SOLO Para Adultos (For Adults Only) marks the return of spicy plays on stage. This is a three-act sex-comedy play by Bong Ramos, AJ Rollon and James Golla. And it is about love, real or imagined, or the convolutions that spice the lives of the three characters in it.

Veronica Fox, JV San Miguel and Alfred are three characters that are all victims of a cruel world and the creative minds of the authors behind a film title Solo Para Adultos (For Adults Only in English).

Meet Fox, a female porn star who comes back to the Philippines to make a pornographic but meaningful film. She gets reunited with her long-lost lover—Alfred, but their past is kind of difficult to deal with especially when there is another party involved—a matinee actor—JV San Miguel.

After years of separation from each other—both Veronica and the man she loved before (who is now a masseur) get intimate with each other.

Once again, more and more challenges surface.

Will their love for each other blossom this time and find a way to a happy ending or would it remain just a dream? Not to mention that there are two other characters—Nicholas and Georgina who also jump into the scene and complicate the situation even more.

Solo Para Adultos (For Adults Only) features April Gustillo, Vivo Ouano, Toni Garcia, Andres Velasquez, and John Raspado.

It goes on stage on Oct. 20 at Music Museum. Tickets are fast disappearing. Inquire at the theater box office or TicketWorld (+632 8919999.

HE was a popular society figure who used to grace magazine covers (Lifestyle Asia, Vanity and others) and was dubbed “Asia’s Original Ballroom Dancing Queen.” In the coffee table book entitled Magandang Pilipina she was referred to as a “Woman of Beauty and Wellness” by the author, the late New Yorker Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro.

Suddenly, Aida M. Posadas disappeared from the limelight.

The businesswoman-socialite, who owns 19 East Resto/Music Lounge in Sucat, Parañaque (where famous bands like Side A, Freestyle and MYMP perform regularly) revealed, “I focused on God. And I’m more focused on Him right now.

I realized that if you fixed your sights on Him, peace and bliss would dwell in you. Simple bliss from God makes me happy, blessed, and peaceful.

I can say I am fulfilled spiritually.”

It helps a lot that she does gardening, yoga, and meditation diligently.

In her new spiritual life, Posadas was guided along the way by the teachings of the world’s spiritual leaders, among them Amma (at 64, she is dubbed the “Hugging Saint of India” because of her habit of naturally embracing people she meets). Posadas has met Amma who hugged her tightly while saying mahal kita anak.

Amma, who celebrated her birthday on Sept.

27, has several books about her and Posadas, who describes herself as an ardent Amma devotee, has bought about 20 of them in Singapore worth P50,000.

Also into real estate, Posadas who is still a practicing Roman Catholic has her son lawyermusician Wowee as manager of 19th East Resto Bar Restaurant. Having suffered so much in life (she lost her pilot-husband when she was 35, and nine years later, her only daughter Cherrylen died of leukemia), her life story is truly movie material. But it was something that could have made her lose hope and faith in God. But, she said “Whatever God gives, I accept.”

So what does she want to do? “I want to serve - to do whatever God likes me to do. I want to help people but directly, not through groups. Whoever comes to me for help, I will help him. I’ve come to realize the meaning of my name Aida - God made me to aid others. Acquiring wealth is not the ultimate goal for me. We all die and leave everything behind.”

British bands mark opening of QC’s new mall THE Ayala Malls opens another shopping destination, the Ayala Malls Vertis North in Quezon City. The first mall intended for the hip lifestyle of today’s young generation. Ayala Malls Vertis North is set to be the trendsetter for modern fashion, food, and fun in the north. It boasts a fusion of modern technology, art, and passion, which gives birth to exciting and cuttingedge innovations—the key things that influence the millennial generation.

With all the fun and fashionable offerings of Ayala Malls Vertis North, it’s bound to be the new hangout of the free-spirited, the always connected, and the socially active northern community.

To kick off all things cool, Ayala Malls Vertis North celebrated its grand opening by bringing in British pop groups The Vamps and New Hope Club to officially welcome the community with their upbeat music last Friday.

The Vamps, which burst onto the music scene in 2013, have been taking the world by storm with hit singles, smash albums, world tours, sold-out concerts, and their own record label—and they show no signs of stopping. Brad Simpson (lead vocals and guitar), James McVey (lead guitar and vocals), Connor Ball (bass guitar and vocals) and Tristan Evans (drums and vocal), love performing and as they brought their beat to Manila, this energetic, and multi-faceted young band kept everyone up all night.

New Hope Club, made up of young musicians Blake Richardson, George Smith, and Reece Bibby, serenaded mall goers with hits that they have

Karen Davila and Kaladkaren back-to-back AFTER their face-off on DZMM TeleRadyo that spawned numerous TV guest appearances, Karen Davila and social media sensation “KaladKaren Davila” or Jervi Li in real life are sharing the screen again in My Puhunan.

KaladKaren will get to host a segment in the award-winning program, which she also parodied in a couple of videos that went viral.

Catch her as she gets to know the story of millennial entrepreneur Polsan Pangindian, owner of Above Sea Level seafood restaurant, which has branched out in seven locations despite opening only in December last year.

She will also sample Giant Butterfly Squid, the bestseller off the menu.

The real Karen, meanwhile, will share the success story of Mario Ocampo, Karen meets KaladKaren. TV personality and owner of Marty’s Garments, who used to broadcast journalist Karen Davilla (right) with her be a houseboy. As a young man, Mario was viral impersonator Jervi Li a.k.a. KaladKaren determined to finish his studies and was never unfazed by natural disasters when he from acquiring several properties. started his business. Through his will and Karen interviewed her impersonator perseverance, Mario prevailed and is now in Pasada Sais Trenta, in which she said managing his own garments business, apart they studied the same course - Broadcast

Communication - in UP Diliman. Jervi said “Kaladkaren” was born last year, when her organization UP Samaskom did a spoof of the presidential debate. The character was resurrected in a viral video of her crossing a river where she introduced herself as one of the anchors of former ABS-CBN investigative program The Correspondents.

Apart from sharing the same school with her idol, KaladKaren also showed she is not afraid to discuss important issues. In her DZMM interview, she said she believes in the cause for LGBT rights while she is against Death Penalty. However, Jervi emphasized that her “Kaladkaren” persona is strictly non-political and meant to spread only good vibes.

KaladKaren showed promise when she went on board with Karen and Vic De Leon Lima on DZMM, but can she deliver in telling the inspiring stories of Filipino entrepreneurs?

Catch her with Karen Davila in My Puhunan, 9:30 pm on DZMM Teleradyo today and after Bandila on ABS-CBN.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, October 10, 2017

ACROSS 1 Small wood 6 Linen closet item 11 Dogma 14 Where Greek met Greek 15 Hartford rival 16 Melodrama shout 17 Monsieur, in Madrid 18 Colosseum celeb 20 A Kennedy 21 Bristle with 23 Zigzag 24 Anesthetic 26 Copper alloys 28 Go off the track 30 Sink unclogger 31 Ham it up 32 Solicit brazenly 33 Type option 37 Grounded bird 38 Disturbed 41 Library abbr.

42 Chicken feed 44 Swiss painter Paul — 45 Palace dweller 47 Ph.D. exams 49 In fact 50 Type of playing marble (hyph.)

53 Outmoded

54 Rented, as a limo 55 Without, to Pierre 56 Summer drink 59 Fun 62 Urged on 64 Legal matter 65 Banks of baseball 66 Make serve again 67 NFL scores 68 Uses an atomizer 69 Tankard DOWN 1 Pitched 2 Pointed arch 3 Bulky 4 Box-office sign 5 Less inhibited 6 Wiser 7 Skipper’s place 8 Letter after zeta 9 Come to a halt 10 Taipei locale 11 Particles 12 Push rudely 13 Customs 19 Famed fabulist 22 Electric fish 25 Do lacework 26 Insensitive clod 27 Have status 28 Believe

Businesswomansocialite Aida Posadas

29 Jane Austen title 30 Medicates 32 Filmy fabric 34 Prestigious group of schools (2 wds.)

35 Kentucky resource 36 Band together 39 Word of acceptance 40 Bureaus 43 Fire engine gear 46 New World

alliance 48 Cash in coupons 49 Kept in shape 50 Horoscope 51 Focused 52 Bridge support 53 Gourmet appetizers 55 Fit of pique 57 Ricky Ricardo 58 Paradise 60 Hosp. scan 61 Space widths 63 Acquire

written themselves, like their breakthrough single “Perfume.” The trio packs their every song with an infectious energy and irresistible sense of fun. Fans sang along to their music and heard a lot of lively beats from their album Welcome to the Club.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017

LLOYDIE takes a break

Controversial actor John Lloyd Cruz takes an indefinite leave from showbiz

ISAH V. RED

H

ERE’S something that took the showbiz writers abuzz weekend last. John Lloyd Cruz and ABS-CBN have agreed that he takes an indefinite leave.

Kapamilya’s Kane Choa, who heads the network’s Integrated Communications group in an email sent to the media said, “ABS-CBN and John Lloyd Cruz have agreed for him to take an indefinite leave of absence to attend to personal matters. John Lloyd will be taking a break outside the country and will return to ABS-CBN after his leave of absence.”

The last sentence was I suppose to quell the rumors circulating in café societies that the actor’s contract with the network’s management arm, Star Magic, is not being renewed.

But, what can really the network do with this kind of behavior of an actor that has become too hot to handle. Will the indefinite leave of absence make him a new person? Or is the network just waiting for the rumors to die down?

Whatever, it seems the Kapamilya network is unlikely to let John Lloyd loose of his confine in the network.

**** Let’s proceed to another Kapamilya who bolted out to return to his former hutch, the Kapuso network.

Atom Araullo met the press last Friday for his first documentary feature for GMA Network.

“Life changing” is how Atom Araullo describes his experience in doing the show.

Atom returned to the Kapuso Network last month, and immediately began filming for a new documentary titled Philippine Seas, a special that hopes to uncover the wonders and threats surrounding the Philippines’ marine gems. To really get to know the Philippine seas, Atom went on a rigorous 10-day expedition across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao where he experienced many firsts in his career as a documentary-maker.

In Moalboal, Cebu’s world-famous dive site, Atom witnessed hundreds of thousands of sardines in a single ball in a moment that he can only describe as “impressive”. While in nearby Bais, Negros Oriental, he looked into the current situation of dolphins once being caught and slaughtered before becoming the province’s leading tourist attraction. Here, Atom encountered a group of “bowriders”, dolphins that ride alongside passenger boats.

But not all encounters are so easy. Off the coast of Sarangani, Atom experienced what life is like for tuna fishermen who wait

days for a single catch. Under the harsh elements, Atom and his team witnessed the daily struggles of those who rely on the seas for a living. The most heartbreaking moment was discovering a group of fishermen detained in Indonesia for fishing in foreign waters. Atom talked to Samuel, a fisherman who has not seen his newborn child since being detained in Indonesia. Through the Philippine Seas team, Samuel got a chance to look at his newborn daughter for the first time.

The dwindling sea catch has forced many small fishermen to cross international boundaries hoping for a big catch so they can feed their families. Yet, international poaching remains a huge problem in the Philippines, too. In Palawan, Atom and his team visited the site where sharks were recently confiscated from Vietnamese poachers.

Yet, all hope is not lost. In the same seas of Palawan, Atom comes face to face with the biggest sea turtle he has ever seen, proof that there is still something worth saving here. And, finally, the team behind Philippine Seas also got the surprise of their lives when a rare and beautiful creature made an appearance. Once thought to be a mermaid in the olden times, the dugong or sea cow has an almost mythical status in the world of divers and fishermen.

In this special documentary, GMA Public Affairs will also feature the exploration and expedition on the 13-million hectare Philippine Rise.

On top of the teeming corals and marine species, it is said that this undersea plateau is potentially a rich source of natural gas and other resources. Is it true that the Philippine Rise can deliver the country from poverty?

Philippine Seas airs on Nov. 5, 3:30 p.m. on GMA 7. **** And here’s something that didn’t surprise us.

Jason Abalos, one of Star Magic’s principal stars several yeas back, has jumped ship, as the saying goes, and joined the Kapuso network.

Jason is now facing a new journey after he signed with GMA Artist Center a five-year management on Oct. 3.

Whatever it is that prodded Jason to switch loyalties, it is very obvious that the Kapamilya network is focusing on a few and selected talents they give priorities to.

I am glad Jason is excited to be a Kapuso. But, whether the network would make use of his talent as an actor or just waste him is another story.

Jason said that he is looking forward to the new things he is about to experience with the Kapuso Network, and to meeting new people along the way.

“I’m ready for the challenge, at isa rin sa dahilan kung bakit nandito na ako ngayon ay para masubukan ko ang mga roles na hindi ko pa nagagawa. nagagawa I want to explore and learn more as an actor.

Buong tiwala po ang ibinibigay ko sa GMA Network at GMA Artist Center,” Jason continued.

Former Kapamilya star Jason Abalos signs a five-year contract with Kapuso Network

STAR-STUDDED. Some of the stars that add glitter to this year's Gabay Guro: (clockwise) Lea Salonga, Regine Valsquez, Marian Rivera, Piolo Pascual, Ogie Alcasid, and Toni Gonzaga

PLDT Gabay Guro’s star-studded 10th year AS IF the past nine years weren’t grand enough, PLDT Gabay Guro recently celebrated its 10th glorious year by mounting the biggest and most starstudded Teacher’s Tribute event ever at the MOA Arena. It was so grand that teachers from all walks of life cannot stop talking about it days after it happened.

The spectacle left Gabay Guro’s 60,000-memberstrong organization (20,000 of them were present at the Arena) awed and inspired, refreshed and ready to take on bigger challenges in the field of education. Two public school teachers went home as proud owners of the grand prizes - two houses and lots, courtesy of Bella Vita of Ayala Land while two other teachers were beside themselves with joy having won two vans from Foton. You can just imagine the life-changing episode that will begin to transform the lives of these modernday heroes, thanks to Gabay Guro.

Gabay Guro Foundation Chairman Chaye CabalRevilla and her team of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly behind the scenes for everything that the foundation stands for. It is in these events where our beloved teachers get to experience the tribute they deserve. Revilla says she wouldn’t have it any other way. “We give our all to make our teachers feel special but at the end of the day, we are the ones who feel so much more blessed. The gratitude they show is priceless. It makes everything worth it,” she said.

PLDT Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan has thrown his all-out support to this endeavor by saying, “I am extremely proud of Gabay Guro’s achievements. They are doing a wonderful job for the Filipino teachers. We plan to increase our teacher-scholars to 10,000 in the next 3-5 years and not only that. We will bring our Gabay Guro event regionally. So watch out for it.”

Just for a day, the so-called network war was non-existent. The biggest and brightest stars from ABS-CBN, GMA-7 and TV5 wore the same hat and paid tribute to the Filipino teachers by serving them world-class entertainment. Stellar names

who performed and thrilled the crowd were Lea Salonga, Regine Velasquez, Sarah Geronimo, Ogie Alcasid, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Jaya, Southborder, Toni Gonzaga, Robin Padilla, Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson, Piolo Pascual, Alden Richards, Maine Mendoza, Baste, Marian Rivera, Gabby Concepcion, Pops Fernandez, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Ms. Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Andrew Wolff, Marky Stroem, Michael Pangilinan, Jona, May May Entrata, Edward Barbers, Jinky Vidal, Jay-R, Tom Rodriguez, G-Force, EJ Falcon, Ritz Azul, Loisa Andallo, Elise Joson, Jerome Ponce, Alexa Ilacad, Nash Aguas, and Joshua Garcia, among many others.

All these personalities and volunteers were bound by the same advocacy – to honor teachers all over the country for their passion and service. The Gabay Guro Program has grown to be the force that it is today. Whereas in the beginning, there were only a couple of thousand member-teachers under its stable, 2017 sees a 60,000-strong membership (and growing!) at its helm and has easily taken over the leadership, the one that sets the bar of service, in all education-related NGOs around the nation.

Gabay Guro’s corporate sponsors and partners were Ayala Land Inc., Foton, Maynilad, Motorlandia Philippines, Devant, Telescoop, PLDT Employees Credit Cooperative, First United Travel Inc., Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar, Red Cross, Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC), Light Rail Manila Corp (LRT 1), New Balance, Enchanted Kingdom, Penshoppe, Filstar, Fly Ace, Flanax, Tempra, Vivalyte, MyPhone, Honda, Suzuki, SGV Foundation Saatchi & Saatchi, Penshoppe, McCormick, PLDT, Smart, Sun and TNT. For more information please visit the Gabay Guro official website www.gabayguro.com, and follow them on twitter and Instagram at @ PLDTGabayGuro.