Manila Standard - 2017 October 12 - Thursday

AFTER PRAYER.

Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista announces Wednesday he is resigning from his post by the end of the year, quoting during a news conference his letter to the constitutional body ‘After much prayer and discernment, I believe this is the right time to step down given the postponement of the barangay and SK elections. This was not an easy decision. But my family, especially my children, need me now more than ever.’

Norman Cruz

VOL. XXXI • NO. 240 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Gordon clams up, Trillanes cries ‘cover-up’ over report

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, remained quiet over his draft committee report into the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that was smuggled through Customs in May, and which called for lifestyle checks of President Rodrigo Duterte’s son, Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, and his son-inlaw, lawyer Manases Carpio, who were both implicated in the incident.

Gordon, a staunch administration ally, remained uncharacteristically quiet and

declined to talk to Senate reporters.

His staff told reporters that Gordon wanted to complete the signatures on his report before commenting on it.

The draft committee report has reportedly been signed by 11 senators.

Aside from Gordon and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who sponsored the adoption of the recommendations contained in the 52-page draft committee report, the other senators who signed it are Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Senators Sonny Angara, JV Ejercito, Next page

Faeldon, 11 others placed on watchlist

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Wednesday he will issue a lookout bulletin order to stop former Customs commissioner Nicanor Fa-

eldon and 11 other officials from leaving the country after they were implicated in drug charges involving the P6.4billion shabu shipment seized in May. Unlike a hold departure order issued by trial courts,

a lookout bulletin order requires the accused to seek permission from the Justice Department before they can leave the country.

Aguirre’s statement came after one respondent, former Next page

Bautista impeached Quits poll post ahead of House vote

By Vito Barcelo, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta

C

OMMISSION on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista said Wednesday he would resign by the end of the year, just as the House of Representatives voted 137-75 to impeach him after his wife Patricia claimed he had amassed nearly P1 billion in ill-gotten wealth.

On his Twitter account, Bautista called the House decision to impeach him “unfortunate” and “unnecessary” as he had already submitted his resignation.

Pinoy doc fights US extradition A FILIPINO doctor accused of wiring money for a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square rejects the allegations and has vowed to fight US extradition, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Russell Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to stage the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016.

On Tuesday, his lawyer said Salic, a 37-year-old Muslim orthopedic surgeon who trained at a government hospital in Mindanao had no connection with terrorist activities and groups.

“He even said that he is mad at terrorist activities.

He said that in Islam, terrorism is prohibited. He is a devout Muslim. He is praying five times a day,” lawyer Dalomilang Parahiman said.

Salic is accused of transferring $423 in May 2016 to the other suspects to help fund a thwarted operation Next page

“It is unfortunate that the decision of the House Committee on Justice, which was voted upon twice by a vote of 26-2, to dismiss the impeachment complaint

against me was overturned this afternoon by the House of Representatives,” Bautista said on his Twitter account.

He continued, “I acknowledge that all members of the House of Representatives are entitled to their own opinion.

While it may be an unnecessary move since I already tendered my resignation to the President today effective end of the year to ensure a smooth transition, I will abide by the Constitution and the relevant rules regarding the impeachment process.”

Bautista informed the Comelec of his decision to resign by the end of the year by letter.

Next page

22 Maute men dug up from bomb shelter—AFP

LEAD TIME. Constructors lay the strong steel bars of a building in Pasay City to ensure people’s safety in the event the muchfeared Big One or major earthquake hit the metropolis, home to nearly 16 million of the country’s population of more than 106 million. Lino Santos

By Francisco Tuyay and John Paolo Bencito

Rody to PDEA: Bring order to drug war

AT LEAST 22 bodies of terrorists, including one that looked like a foreigner—were pulled out from a bombmaking shelter of the Islamic State-inspired Maute group shortly after government troops overran enemy positions in the ruins of the main battle zone in Marawi City.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig.

Gen. Restituto Padilla said the decomposing bodies were found in two commercial establishments adjacent to a bridge leading to Lake Lanao that government troops had assaulted and liberated. Dozens of improvised bombs were seized.

Padilla said police sceneof-the-crime operatives Next page

By John Paolo Bencito and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday indirectly admitted that the administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs is chaotic.

As a result, he ordered the

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to lead the effort in “bringing order” to his war on drugs.

In a memorandum he signed on Oct. 10 but was made public only on Oct. 11, Duterte ordered all concerned government agencies, including the Philip-

pine National Police, to immediately transfer all case files on the drug campaign to PDEA. “All information/data received by the NBI, PNP, AFP, Bureau of Customs, Philippine Postal Office and all other agencies or any and Next page

P1K missing can’t make plunder case, Drilon frets

LANTERNS APLENTY. Christmas is in the air, with this man at the Central Market in Manila making colorful lanterns Wednesday from bamboo sticks to beat the shopping rush for Yuletide shoppers in the run up to the country’s longest holiday. Lino Santos twitter.com/ MlaStandard

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

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manilastandard.net

SENATE Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday called for a probe into the missing P1,000 from the P50-million bribe money that spared two immigration officials from being charged with plunder.

“Obviously, there was obstruction of justice because P1,000 was deducted from P50 million so the case would not be plunder,” Drilon said.

He asked for the status of the P50-million bribe money from Chinese tycoon Jack Lam during the Senate deliberations on the pro-

posed P17.43-billion budget of the Department of Justice on Tuesday.

Republic Act 7659 says P50 million is the minimum amount of illegally acquired wealth that would qualify as plunder.

When asked who should conduct an investigation, Drilon said that was up to President Rodrigo Duterte since “the DoJ is involved here.”

“There are people from the DoJ who were accused, so I don’t think the DoJ is the proper agency to investigate this,” Drilon said.

Next page

Morales case up to House —Alvarez

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives will exercise its independence over the clamor to unseat Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Wednesday.

He said the House would handle the case competently in the event an impeachment complaint was filed against Morales.

“To me, I do not consider it a pressure,” Alvarez told reporters, referring to President Rodrigo Duterte’s desire to have Morales impeached.

“In the first place, I do not work for the President.

I work for the Republic of the Philippines,” Alvarez said.

He said he did not find it personal when Duterte said he wanted Morales replaced as head of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Next page

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Faeldon,...

From A1 Customs Investigation and Intelligence Service chief Neil Anthony Estrella declared in a recent forum that they will not allow themselves to be jailed over baseless charges and would rather go into hiding instead.

Estrella backtracked on Wednesday, however, saying they would face the charges in court.

“We have strong faith in our justice system and our government institutions involved in the administration of justice. We are confident that we will be cleared after the DOJ sifts through the faulty complaint filed by the PDEA,” he said, referring to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. “We will not go into hiding, we will face our accusers in court if need be.”

Estrella said his statement last week came from his deep emotional anguish for his men and himself, whose only involvement in the shabu smuggling case was to have successfully interdicted and seized all the shabu following a tip from the Chinese Customs Intelligence Service.

The CIIS coordinated with the PDEA and the National Bureau of Investigation on the seizure of the shabu and the arrest and identification of the personalities involved in the thwarted smuggle attempt.

“We have no involvement in the smuggled shipment in Customs, or how the shipment was placed in the Green Lane, where there is no need for inspections by the Customs,” Estrella said in Filipino.

He questioned the report of PDEA that questioned their participation in the operation to seize the smuggled shabu.

“PDEA was part of the operation. They gave us a certificate of coordination that we are operating under them. We were able to seize all shabu, we took care the chain of evidence, and arrested all those involved in drug shipment.

How come in the end, those who took part of the arrest are the ones who are now facing charges?” Estrella said.

“That’s why we feel so badly. We risked our lives to prevent those drugs from reaching the streets. We did our job pursuant to the President’s anti-drug campaign.

And now, we are the ones accused,” Estrella added.

In a complaint filed Sept.18, the PDEA sought the indictment of Faeldon, Estrella and 10 other officers of the Bureau of Customs for conspiracy to import illegal drugs and protecting or coddling of drug traffickers under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. The PDEA also accused Faeldon and other BOC officers of obstruction of justice under Presidential Decree No. 1829 by “harboring or concealing, or facilitating the escape” of the persons behind the shabu shipment.

Faeldon and other respondents were also accused of negligence and tolerance under Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code.

Lastly, the PDEA also filed charges of corrupt practices of public officers under the AntiGraft and Corrupt Practices Act for allegedly “causing any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”

The other respondents in the charge sheet are former import assessment services director Milo Maestrecampo; intelligence officers Joel Pinawin and Oliver Valiente; Manila International Container Port district collector lawyer Vincent Phillip Maronilla; Faeldon’s fiancé, lawyer Jeline Maree Magsuci; and BOC employees Alexandra Ventura, Randolph Cabansag, Dennis Maniego, Dennis Cabildo and John Edillor.

P1K...

From A1 He called on the Office of the President to constitute an independent probe or the Ombudsman to conduct an independent probe of the “very obvious amateur way of obstructing justice.”

Pressed if DoJ Seretary Vitaliano II Aguirre was involved in this “mockery of jus-

Carmakers assess Kobe impact T OKYO―Top Japanese automakers said Wednesday they were scrambling to assess their vehicles that used products from Kobe Steel, which has admitted to falsifying quality data in a growing scandal.

see a critical problem as we have our own safety inspection on materials we use. But we are still investigating and it’s premature to say” if recalls will be necessary or not, he said.

In Manila, Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. senior marketing manager Arlan Reyes said Wednesday Mitsubishi Motors Japan had launched an inquiry and investigation on the company’s use of Kobe Steel.

“Our office in Japan is still checking if there components from Kobe Steel that have been used recently in the past and are still being used up to now.

We cannot say what these components are, but we are

certain that we’ll find out soon,” Reyes said.

He said his company was very strict on its policy on safety in all its product lines, and this was why it had immediately ordered an internal investigation to determine which of the industries it was involved were using uncertified steel from Kobe.

Auto giant Toyota has already said Kobe Steel supplied materials to one of its Japanese factories, which used them in hoods, rear doors and surrounding areas of certain vehicles.

The industry ministry has pressed Kobe Steel to work with its clients, spread over a wide range of industries, to conduct ur-

gent safety analysis.

The brewing crisis is the latest in a string of quality control and governance scandals to hit major Japanese businesses in recent years, undermining the country’s reputation for quality.

It is an additional headache for Nissan, which has already announced a recall of more than a million vehicles in the domestic market over a certification issue.

The Kobe Steel scandal broke on Sunday when the manufacturer admitted to falsifying data linked to the strength and quality of products.

An internal probe has revealed that data were fabricated for about 19,300 tons of aluminum prod-

ucts, 2,200 tons of copper products and 19,400 units of aluminum castings and forgings shipped to clients between September 2016 through August 2017.

The stock dived 22 percent on Tuesday to finish at 1,068 yen ($9.50), its maximum daily loss limit―wiping almost a billion dollars off the firm’s market value.

And on Wednesday it plunged a further 17.8 percent to close at 878 yen.

The company said the fabrications, which might have started a decade ago, could affect products sent to as many as 200 companies.

It was not clear whether the scandal affected the safety of their products. AFP, with Othel V. Campos

Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi Motor, Subaru and Mazda joined aviation firms and defense contractors Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI that have used the steelmaker’s products.

Japan’s “Shinkansen” bullet trains also used Kobe Steel’s aluminum, as did high-speed trains in Britain, according to engineer-

ing firm Hitachi.

“Products used [for both Japanese and British trains] met safety standards. But they did not meet the specifications that were agreed between us and Kobe Steel,” a Hitachi spokesman told AFP. Honda spokesman Tamon Kusakabe told AFP: “As to safety, we are still studying [a possible] impact.”

“At this point, we don’t

Bautista...

From A1

was among the lawmakers who voted for the impeachment of Bautista.

Alvarez said a full blown impeachment proceeding against Bautista had to be conducted to give Bautista the chance to explain.

“I believe that the charges against the chairman of the Commission on Elections, Andy Bautista, are very serious. Therefore, I vote ‘no’ to the committee report,” Alvarez said in plenary session.

Topacio and Paras accused Bautista for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution over allegations of ill-gotten wealth.

The complainants also questioned Bautista’s failure to properly declare his SALN and reported receipt of referral fees from the Divina Law; as well as failure to prevent the data breach or hacking of the Comelec website.

Presiding Speaker, Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu said the House justice committee was then directed to prepare an Articles of Impeachment for transmittal to the Senate for a full blown impeachment trial.

The vote to impeach Bautista was in accordance with the House rules on the required onethird vote of all House members.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers also voted against the committee report.

“I object to the committee

report in order for the Comelec chairman be given an opportunity to explain, because it is perceived that there were some infractions that were committed by no less than the chair of the Commission and we never heard any reply on the accusations being hurled at him,” Barbers said.

Deputy Speaker and Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, one of the lawmakers who endorsed the impeachment complaint, also objected to the committee report that dismissed the case against Bautista.

Reacting to Bautista’s resignation, Garcia said: “What if, after his prayers again and discernment, he says I will not resign?

If he thought he can persuade the congressmen with a very lame claim of resignation, the 137 congressmen saw through it all!”

Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said it was as if Bautista “attempted to buy time” by announcing his resignation on Wednesday morning, so he “would have bought himself a year free of impeachment.”

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone welcomed Bautista’s resignation, however, caling it “an honorable move on his part” that would free the Comelec from being dragged into the legal issues he is facing.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, majority leader for the House contingent’s Commission on Appointments, said Bautista made the right decision as he needs to

fix his family problems.

“He resigned because he is already tired,” Albano said.

Makati Rep. Luis Campos Jr., a deputy minority leader, said: “We need a Comelec chairman who can put all of his heart and mind on the job, considering that the mid-term elections are less than 20 months away.”

“He made a sensible decision.

We simply cannot afford to have a deeply distracted Comelec chairman,” Campos said.

Campos said Bautista’s spat with his wife, Patricia, and her allegations that he might have amassed nearly P1 billion in unexplained wealth, has kept him from effectively performing his job.

Speaking to ANC after the vote, Umali said it was likely that they could finalize the articles of impeachment against Bautista

by November.

“The Committee on Justice was directed to prepare the articles of impeachment. So as soon as we finish this...then this will go directly to [the] Senate. This may come probably when we resume session by November,” he said.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III told ANC that the Senate is ready to receive and hear the ouster complaint against Bautista.

“The Senate as an institution will be ready for any impeachment case which is referred to us properly. We are ready. We have

had experiences in the past... It’s a matter of scheduling,” he said.

Pimentel, however, noted that the Senate would no longer pursue hearing the complaint against Bautista if he has already left his post by the time impeachment proceedings begin.

“If the respondent in an impeachment trial is no longer connected to the government, then what is the point of proceeding with an impeachment trial?” he said.

In an interview following Bautista’s impeachment by he House of Representatives, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said once the impeachment case is transmitted to them, the Senate will meet to make preparations for the impeachment trial.

He said they can use the congressional break to plan the schedules and to review the existing rules of the Senate, which were last implemented in the impeachment trial of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Bautista earlier denied he resigned in exchange for a dismissal of the impeachment complaint filed against him.

“There was no ex-deal or trade,” he said in Filipino during a forum in Manila.

Bautista said the impeachment complaint against him was “obviously” deficient as the complainants failed to cite personal knowledge and had no authenticated documents to sup-

port their charges.

Senators on Wednesday welcomed Bautista’s resignation.

“It is the best thing that he can do so that after he quits office, he can take care of his problems,” said Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

“No one can say that he’s using the power of his office to influence the outcome of the case,” said Drilon, referring to the case filed by his wife Patricia.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said it was high time for Bautista to focus on his personal problems.

Bautista has sued his wife for bribery and extortion after she accused him of amassing unexplained wealth.

Lacson said Bautista’s resignation was the “decent thing” to do given his current situation.

The Palace said it respected Bautista’s decision to resign.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo described the decision as “an honorable exit” given the controversy surrounding his marital woes.

“In the end his decision was motivated by his desire to protect his children from the debilitating consequences arising from his family being in the vortex of an injurious public controversy.”

“He evidently acted in the best interest of his family as well as the institution he heads,” Panelo added. With John Paolo Bencito

toms fixer Mark Taguba.

Taguba testified before the Senate that he paid a P5 million “enrollment fee” to Abellera, a member of the so-called Davao Group. In exchange, Taguba’s containers could breeze through the Bureau of Customs.

In a committee hearing, Abellera admitted meeting Taguba through a certain “Jack.” He said Jack introduced him to Taguba, who sought a meeting with Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.

Abellera said he is “known” to be a friend of Paolo but denied receiving P5 million from Taguba. He said he has no knowledge of nor any participation with the Davao Group.

But Gordon said Abellera violated Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code on direct bribery.

“There is no logic for Abellera to meet with a stranger (Taguba) to discuss financial matters, or to plot out schemes in order to further illegal acts, smuggling, if not to conduct a sting,” Gordon said.

Gordon also called for a lifestyle check to be conducted on Abellera.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said he considered Gordon’s findings “lacking” as it did not touch on former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and other former Customs officials who were implicated in the shabu shipment.

Lacson said he has not signed the report and will submit his insights to Gordon, who agreed to make the necessary additions.

Opposition Rep. Tom Villarin of Akbayan on Wednesday supported the call to conduct a lifestyle check on the family members of President Duterte.

“I think that it is a right move to dispel doubts that the Duterte family is untouchable. The law should apply equally without fear or favor,” Villarin said.

Villarin said the President and the members of his family have nothing to fear about the lifestyle check if they have nothing to hide. With Maricel V. Cruz

22 Maute...

From A1

He said the terrorists fired on soldiers as the closed in on the two buildings.

“So this must have been the place where these rebels have been manufacturing the IEDs that have been used in the remaining areas of enemy-held territories,” he said.

“We think they were defending these because they were using the buildings as manufacturing areas for their IEDs,” Padilla added.

The death toll from the terrorist side has reached to 802 while 160 soldiers and police have been killed in nearly five months of fighting.

An Army lieutenant was

killed in the fierce battle with the terrorists over the two buildings.

Padilla said the young army officer, whose identity was temporarily withheld, was planning to get married after the Marawi crisis was over.

Padilla said the government offensive has left enemies with only less than five hectares to move around. He said soldiers have yet to clear 150 buildings.

He said accounts from the rescued hostages validated reports that the number of enemies still in Marawi was about 40, with many of them wounded.

request for Salic that was filed by the Philippine government, state prosecutors said.

They expect the legal proceedings to last less than a year.

“Yes, of course he would [contest it]. He is innocent,” Parahiman said. “They [wove] stories to link the person” to the plot, he added.

The undercover agent said in a sworn statement that the FBI had monitored several social media accounts which he believed to be Salic’s, in which the doctor posted content “supportive of” IS, religious war and terrorist activities.

But Parahiman said Salic was not in control of his social media account at the time.

“According to the doctor,

his [social media] account was hacked. It took him several weeks before he recovered the account.”

On Monday the Philippine military accused Salic of having ties to pro-IS militants who attacked the southern city of Marawi, and of funding terrorists in the United States, the Middle East and Malaysia.

Salic’s lawyer said his client only gave money to unspecified individuals and a charitable group for “humanitarian considerations”.

“He just took pity at these people because he was a bachelor and did not have many expenses. He just wanted to help them,” Parahiman said. AFP

agents,” Aquino said in a text message.

Meanwhile, lawyers on Wednesday filed before the Supreme Court a petition seeking to halt Duterte’s war on drugs and declare it unconstitutional because it has killed thousands of alleged drug users and dealers in Metro Manila.

Jose Manuel Diokno, head of the Free Legal Assistance Group, filed before the high court a petition to declare as unconstitutional the Philippine National Police Command Memorandum Circular 16-2016 and the Department

of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2017-112.

Diokno said CMC 16-2016, or the “Oplan Double Barrel,” is unconstitutional because it gives policemen a free pass to kill suspected drug personalities; it replaces the police function of evidencegathering and case buildup with a mere compiling lists of names of suspected drug uses and dealers; and the houseto-house visit under Project Tokhang (Kneel and Plead) are based on the “furtive fingers” of anonymous informants.

“After much prayer and discernment, I believe that this is the right time to step down given the postponement of the barangay and SK elections. This was not an easy decision. But my family, especially my children, need me now more than ever,” Bautista said.

Bautista said he submitted his resignation to Malacañang the other day and said it is effective Dec. 31, 2017.

“I also want to give our President time to choose my successor,” he said.

Bautista’s estrange wife earlier accused the Comelec chief of corruption while in government service, claiming that Bautista has several undeclared properties in his 2016 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

Bautista’s term was supposed to expire on Feb. 2, 2022.

In the House, lawmakers voted 137-75 with two abstentions to overturn a justice committee report that dismissed the impeachment complaint filed against Bautista.

Earlier, the House committee on justice chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali dismissed what it described as a defective impeachment case filed by lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Jacinto Paras.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez

Gordon...

From A1 Sherwin Gatchalian, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Francis Escudero, Manny Pacquiao, Loren Legarda and Cynthia A. Villar.

Senator Antonio Trillanes, a member of the opposition, vowed to block the Gordon report, which he said was a “cover-up” to protect the President.

When sought for his comment on the report, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said he has not yet read or even seen a copy of it.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said he has not yet read the report. He also noted that since it is a draft, there can still be some changes.

The committee report also recommended the filing of direct bribery charges against Davao City Councilor Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr. Gordon’s report said there was no logical reason for Abellera to meet with Cus-

Morales...

From A1 But in the event an impeachment complaint was filed in the House, “we have no choice but to process it.”

Alvarez played down the criticism the House was using impeachment as a tool against the political opposition.

“I do not think it was a fair statement,” Alvarez said.

“In the first place, impeachment is a constitutional process. If it is a constitutional process, it is in accordance [with] the Constitution tice,” Drilon replied: “ I don’t want to presume that. I was just commenting on the facts that were presented to us.”

It was Aguirre who told the Senate finance committee led by Loren Legarda that the total amount returned was P49,999,000, an amount short of P1,000.

Drilon initially thought it was a joke, but when told it was the truth he asked if the P1,000 had been eaten by rats.

and thus legal.”

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption earlier promised to file an impeachment case against Morales, but has yet to do so at the House of Representatives.

Similarly, lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Jacinto Paras are also bent on filing an ouster complaint against the Ombudsman but are still finalizing it.

Topacio and Paras were the ones who filed an impeachment complaint against Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista, but it was dismissed by the House committee on justice led by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali.

He recalled his previous experience as justice secretary when the drug evidence brought to court suddenly went missing, with the suspects’ camps saying those had been eaten by rats.

Aguirre claimed that his department did not participate in the counting of the money, saying it was the bank that did it. He also claimed they had a CCTV when the counting happened, but Drilon rejected it.

“You know, sir, we have this rule in evidence that the evidence must be consistent with the ordinary human experience.

Isn’t it odd that the P50 million was reduced to P49 million?

“Incidentally, P50 million is the threshold for plunder. I do not know who should conduct the investigation here. The sad part is, you can’t file plunder charges because you lost the P1,000.” Macon RamosAraneta

were identifying the bodies through DNA testing.

He said 18 of the bodies were found in one building, while the four others were pulled from another one.

Padilla said they hoped there were “big fish” among them. None of the cadavers recovered were of women and children, he said.

Soldiers also found two RPGs, two M-16s, one M-4 and one M-14 and “dozens and dozens” of explosive devices, Padilla said.

Pinoy...

From A1 that was planned through internet messaging applications, according to the US Justice Department.

New York’s subway, Times Square and some concert venues were identified as targets in the plot that was monitored by an undercover FBI agent posing as a fellow jihadist, US authorities said.

His lawyer said Salic voluntarily surrendered to Filipino authorities in April, contradicting the US government’s statement that he was arrested.

A Manila court will next week hear the US extradition

Rody...

From A1

all ad hoc anti-drug task forces shall forthwith be relayed, delivered or brought to the attention of the PDEA for its appropriate action,” Duterte says in the memo.

PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino said Wednesday he did not ask Duterte to make PDEA the sole agency in charge of the government’s war on drugs.

“Didn’t ask for it. I still need the PNP. I have only slightly more than a thousand

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Russia to donate rifles, trucks —Duterte

Help us find justice, Castillos tell Trangia

By Bill Casas

By John Paolo Bencito CAMP TECSON, Bulacan—Russia will be providing more than 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles and trucks for the military in its bid to help the the global fight against terrorism, President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday.

Loads of Russian automatic rifles will soon fill the country’s shores as part of Moscow’s pledge during his less than 24-hour state visit to the European power earlier this year which he cut short due to the Marawi crisis, the President said.

“As part of the, dala ko galing Russia, pumunta kami almost just below 24 hours—we will have the Kalashnikov [rifle],” Duterte said during the groundbreaking of a government housing project for soldiers and cops here. “We will have the Kalashnikov so it’s just a matter of using the—memory lang ‘yan, 5,000.”

“So ‘yung ‘pag 5,000 sa inyo, ang baril siguro Kalashnikov na. Mag-aral na lang kayo ng Russian para makumpleto niyo,” he added.

The President refrained from giving additional details after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told him to withhold other details from the deal.

Following the president’s announcement, Lorenzana told reporters that the Russian ship carrying the ammunition will arrive Oct. 22, while the formal turnover will be held on the 25th in Manila—containing 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles with one million rounds of ammunition.

Aside from this, Russia will also donate 20 units of military trucks, all of which will go to the Philippine Army, Lorenzana said.

DND chief tells Du30 supporters: Relax CAMP TECSON, Bulacan—Relax.

This was the advice of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to administration supporters, as he downplayed rumors that the country is under siege from the “enemies of the state” out to destabilize the government and oust President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Just relax. Everything is still in order. While there may be legitimate grievances, we still need to listen to them,” Lorenzana told reporters in a chance interview here.

“Let us just be vigilant and relaxed, because there is no serious destabilization efforts [against the administration],” he added.

Contrary to the calls of some administration supporters, dissent is not tantamount to efforts to destabilize the government.

“When they criticize the President, they’re saying it’s destabilization, but that’s criticism. I guess, criticism is right, so we know if we’re committing right or wrong, or if there is a serious plot to destabilize him,” Lorenzana said.

While the defense chief acknowledged that there will always be destabilizers joining legitimate calls, he said that the President’s trust and approval ratings still remains afloat and could not be easily brought down.

John Paolo Bencito

MOA SIGNING. Officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office led by Chairman Jose Jorge E. Corpuz (left) and National Police Director General

Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa (right) seal their agreement after signing the MOA granting a P21,060,000 financial assistance for the procurement of medical equipment for the Philippine National Police General Hospital. This photo was taken at Camp Crame Headquarters last October 9. Also in photo are PCSO’s general manager Alexander F. Balutan (2nd from left) and Rubin Magno, Charity Assistance Department manager. Joseph Muego

145 high value targets, drug peddlers killed—PNP

By Francisco Tuyay, F. Pearl A. Gajunera and Macon Ramos-Araneta

T

HE Philippine National Police on Wednesday reported that a total of 145 high value targets have been killed while 1,473 high-profile suspects were arrested in a series of drug operations in the country during the past 14 under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

In the latest data provided by the PNP Directorate for Operations headed by director Camilo Pancratius Pascua Cascolan, the PNP said the killing of 145 HVTs took place since Duterte declared his war on drugs last July 1, 2017 and September this year.

In a statement, the PNP information office, said the

killing of the 145 and the arrest of HVTs were based on a generated data emanating from the DO office, Cascolan said that 105 were registered as homicide cases and still subject for further investigations.

The PNP recorded a total of 8,315 HVTs, the object of its relentless efforts to eradicate the proliferation

of illegal drugs in the country.

Of the total HVT figure, 3,103 suspects have voluntarily surrendered and are now strictly under watch by authorities.

The remaining 3,103 HVTs, however, “cannot be located in their respective areas,” and were classified as either deceased, undergoing rehabilitation, or outside of the country.

The PNP said the drug war netted a total of 1, 308,078 surrenderees, while 113,9932 suspects were arrested as a result of the joint efforts of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the PNP during the same period.

The PNP said it has accomplished 90 percent of the government anti-drug efforts.

In Davao, Mayor Sara Duterte underwent a manda-

tory drug test last Tuesday in which she tested negative of any illegal drugs.

Mayor Duterte said the simple act of submitting oneself to a drug test plays a big role in the society especially with the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“We have to lead by example in our society with regard to healthy living, being clean, and not engaging in illegal drugs,” she said.

Aside from Mayor Duterte, all department heads of the City Government also submitted themselves to a random drug test.

Asked what will happen to an employee of the city hall who will test positive of illegal drugs, Mayor Inday said that they will be referred to the City AntiDrug Abuse Council for rehabilitation.

“It will depend, if he is under contract, then we can terminate him immediately, however, we will also consider his service, we can send him to Cadac for a rehab, same as for the plantilla position,” she said.

Under the Civil Service Commission Circular no. 13 series of 2017, all government employees, plantilla or job order, shall undergo a mandatory random drug test.

The mandatory drug test among government employees is being done in close coordination with the PDEA. Around 12,000 employees of the City Government will undergo an unannounced drug test. The drug test is not only limited to those who have offices in the city hall building but also to those in the field work.

Separate pension system eyed for military CAMP TECSON, Bulacan—President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to study the possibility of leasing properties in military camps to fund a separate pension system for the military.

“Here’s my proposal. My suggestion now is, Del, you form a committee of two, kasi sa akin ‘yang— gobyernong ‘to, then you get one from the private sector na ‘yang marunong about investment,” the President said in speech during the groundbreaking of a government housing program for soldiers and

cops here.

“Sa inyo na ‘yan. Wala nang pakialam ang national government diyan. Palaguin ninyo ‘yan at okay na kayo,” he added.

Instead of asking for incremental increases and additional bonuses, Duterte said that the military could instead form a new pension system “separate” from the Government Service Insurance System to fund the necessary modernization upgrades for the military.

“You can buy the arms that you want, probably not in many—so many quantities. Diyan na ‘yung

kunin ninyo ‘yung lahat, pang-education,” he added.

Among those that could be developed is the Fort Bonifacio property in Taguig currently occupied by the Philippine Army, which has a current market value of more than one million per square meter, Duterte said.

In a separate interview, Lorenzana said that an apparent transfer of the Armed Forces’ major service commands—including the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force to Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo could com-

mence within “two years” to utilize the properties for commercial development.

“We’ll fix the mechanism to have a lease agreement with real estate companies, big companies like SM, Ayala, or Megaworld,” Lorenzana sadi.

“The GHQ [General Headquarters] is huge, it’s about 137 hectares and it accommodate all [service] commands so we could utilize the to-be vacated properties,” he said.

“With this, we’ll have a steady stream of finances for modernization and pension funds.”

John Paolo Bencito

PH tourism up; Koreans still lead visitor arrivals—DoT INTERNATIONAL visitor arrivals peaked at 568,035 in July this year, generating P33,525.63 million in visitor receipts, the Department of Tourism disclosed Wednesday.

Although the total visitor arrivals is only 1.28 percent higher from July 2016 arrivals of 560,872, the total visitor receipts in July this year reflect a double-digit growth of 58.22 percent from the previous year’s July expenditures of P21,188.97 million.

“These figures are significant in terms of measuring our tourism industry’s sustainability. We hope to see this upward trend as an indication that our industry is working hard at attracting more of the high-spending segments or that product diversification has yielded

more options to do and spend for,” said DoT Secretary Wanda Teo. The latest statistics show that the average daily expenditure for July is P5,989.49 while the average length of stay of tourists in the country is recorded at 9.81 nights.

The average per capita expenditure of visitors for July is pegged at P 58,756.86.

Korea remained the most fruitful visitor market for July, registering 132,135 arrivals.

China dislodged the United States for second spot, registering 90,763 and 86,017 arrivals, respectively.

“Beijing apparently is making good its promise to send more tourists to the Philippines to help boost the country’s visitor arrival figures,” Teo said. Bill Casas

FLAG PETITION. Lawyers from the Free Legal Assistance Group Jose Manuel Diokno (left) and Felix Mariñas show copies of the petitions they filed before the Supreme Court seeking the declaration of government’s war on drugs as unconstitutional. FLAG lawyers believe that the campaign against illegal drugs has resulted in the rise of number of extrajudicial killings involving police operations on illegal drugs. They are asking the judicial body of government to declare it illegal and unconstitutional since President Rodrigo Duterte had never issued any written order for the police to wage a brutal campaign on narcotics. Norman Cruz

THE parents of University of Santo Tomas freshman law student and hazing victim Horacio Tomas “Atio” Castillo III on Tuesday said they were hopeful the investigation into their son’s death would make headway now that suspect and Aegis Juris Fraternity officer Ralph Trangia is back in the country.

Trangia flew to Chicago, Illinois after Castillo died due to hazing-related injuries. He died after he was brought to the Chinese General Hospital, hours after he collapsed during the hazing rites conducted inside the Aegis Juris Fraternity library in Sampaloc, Manila.

Atio’s parents believed that Trangia could help shed light on the events that led to their son’s death.

“He can face his charges.

He can tell us the truth kung ano talaga ang nangyari sa anak namin para we can all know what happened.

Makita natin ‘yung katotohanan,” said Atio’s mother, Carminia, in a television interview.

“Coping is very hard,” Atio’s father, Horacio Jr. said.

“Kasi we have to live with the fact na hindi na namin siya makikita for the rest of our lives. You know, we miss him a lot. So... coping, we just cope day by day,” said Horacio Jr. Atio’s parents were also undecided if they were in favor of Trangia becoming a state witness.

“Depende po sa statement niya. What he has to say,” the parents said.

“Dapat mayroong substance ‘yung kaniyang sasabihin. So dapat may new leads. Dapat ma-identify talaga who are the guilty ones,” Horacio Jr. explained.

Probe vs rice smuggler Tan, 14 others to proceed

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunana THE Department of Justice is scheduled to finally proceed with the preliminary investigation on the criminal charges against alleged rice smuggling king David Bangayan alias David Tan on Thursday.

In a statement, the DoJ said that the investigating panel headed by Assistant State Prosecutor Eden Valdes will start the preliminary investigation today (Thursday) after the National Bureau of Investigation refiled its complaint against Bangayan and 14 other individuals in September.

The respondents are expected to submit their answers to the charges of monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade under Article 186 of the Revised Penal Code; bid fixing, as penalized under Section 65 of Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Act); using fictitious name or concealing true name, as penalized under Article 178 of the RPC; and violation of Commonwealth Act No. 142, as amended

by RA No. 6085.

Bangayan’s co-respondents in the first charge are Judilyne Lim, David Lim, and Leah Echiveria of Cebu-based DGL Commodities; Elizabeth Faustino; and Eleanor Rodriguez.

For the second charge, he has four fellow respondents —Judilyne Lim, Faustino, Rodriguez and Echiveria.

A4

Opinion

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

The biggest mental case

W

ORLD Mental Health Day fell on Tuesday, October 10, with this year’s theme looking at fostering mental well-being at the workplace.

Mental well-being, it is said, is not the absence of mental illness. It is not simply feeling happy. It is, rather, the ability to cope with the day-to-day stresses of life, work productively, interact positively with others and

realize one’s own potential.

Given this definition it is easy to see how few workplaces across the country could try to establish a good environment for their workers to thrive, much less deal with any illnesses like depression, anxiety or other forms of disorder.

Mental wellbeing has a direct effect on the productivity of workers. Adults in their productive years spend a good part of their waking hours

in their workplaces. If these cannot offer some sort of solace for them, or worse if their workplaces aggravates their mental health issues, then we can just imagine the quality of life they would lead.

Many tend to be dismissive of mental health issues. There are many other problems that need attending to, those who do not know any better say.

There are also those who use “mental health” just so they could say or do as they please.

They do a big disservice to those legitimately dealing with their own conditions.

The problem is, it is often difficult to tell.

The lack of awareness and the abundance of misconceptions on mental health are perhaps the biggest setbacks we face in this issue. We must all take the time to overcome our ignorance about mental health—issues here are an insidious affliction that threatens our ability to realize our full potential.

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Rehabilitate them THERE are many reactions and interpretations on the decline of the people’s trust in and satisfaction with the President.

Some say it was caused by the war on illegal drugs, especially the killing of minors. Others say it was the result of Mr. Duterte’s frequent outbursts.

SWS president Mahar Mangahas said that the decline was faster than average. I think it’s a confluence of events.

I do believe that the decision to focus on eradicating crime, corruption and illegal drugs is a good one. Moreover, President Duterte is seen as a strong leader.

But when six months passed and the President asked for an extension,

There is a lot of work to be done in the fight against drugs.

Bautista, Gutierrez and Corona LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES THERE will be no long goodbyes for Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista. Unless, of course, he decides to take his chances and face an impeachment trial in the Senate.

Bautista, in a surprise move, declared in a letter to the employees of Comelec yesterday that he was resigning by the end of the year.

Previously, Bautista hailed the dismissal by the House committee on justice of the impeachment complaint filed against him earlier on the basis of insufficiency in form and vowed to fight any moves to remove him.

But just hours after Bautista declared that he was quitting, the full House voted to reject the report of the justice committee headed

by Oriental Mindoro Rep.

Reynaldo Umali. In a vote of 137 to dismiss, 75 to uphold and with two abstaining, the House effectively impeached Bautista.

This means that the House, voting in plenary, overruled Umali’s committee and impeached Bautista by coming up with more than the one-third vote needed under the law to do so. Around 100 congressmen must vote in favor of Bautista’s impeachment for the complaint to be transmitted to the Senate, which will then convene itself into an impeachment court.

What does this all mean?

Well, it means that the House, whose members must know that Bautista had already declared that he was resigning before they voted on his impeachment late yesterday, probably want to him to follow in the footsteps of Merceditas Gutierrez, the former Ombudsman.

Gutierrez was impeached

by the House on March 22, 2011. Instead of facing an impeachment court, Gutierrez opted to resign, announcing that she was quitting on April 29, with

Bautista could resign immediately like Gutierrez or he could follow in the footsteps of Corona.

her resignation taking effect on May 6.

I remember that the Senate was already preparing to convert itself into an impeachment court right before Gutierrez quit. The

senator-judges had already had their judicial robes made and were boning up on impeachment law and procedure when the Ombudsman resigned.

Their efforts were not wasted, however, because they got to wear their robes and pretend to be actual judges by the end of that same year, after Chief Justice Renato Corona was also impeached by the House on Dec. 12. On May 29, 2012, Corona was convicted by the Senate on the decidedly flimsy charge of not properly declaring his assets and liabilities.

The Corona impeachment trial should resonate with Bautista, as well. After all, if the chief justice was removed on the grounds of failing to accurately report his net worth—an offense that most legal experts concede can be easily “cured” without ousting him—the Comelec chief must realize that he may not be able to

survive a trial where his own wife, using evidence of hidden bank accounts allegedly containing billions of pesos, will testify against him.

Bautista could resign like Gutierrez, who was never tried because she quit before her trial could start. Or he could follow Corona, who was publicly humiliated and unjustly convicted by a Senate kangaroo court that did not really follow the Marquis of Queensberry rules.

It’s Bautista’s choice, really. *** Here I must insist that there is a lot more evidence against Bautista than against either Gutierrez or Corona, who were both impeached simply because both Houses of Congress wanted so much to please then President Noynoy Aquino. The vengeful Noynoy, after all, did everything in his power to remove those two appointees of his predecessor, Gloria

Arroyo, even bribing lawmakers with his Disbursement Acceleration Program in order to make it happen.

I am convinced that there is more evidence, as well, to convict Bautista in an impeachment trial than against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. This doesn’t mean, however, that if the Senate actually gets to try Sereno’s case, it will not be able to convict and remove her, if it will do to her what it did to Corona five years ago.

Bautista’s impeachment is even more important than Sereno’s, to me, because the subsequent trial may be able to shed much-needed light on what really happened during the national elections last year, which the Comelec chairman supervised.

That last election was so fraud-marred that, with the exception of President Rodrigo Duterte, practically all the current holders of the

people started realizing there were other problems that have emerged.

I am on record as saying that the more important issue here is the rehabilitation of drug users. Drugs can never be entirely eradicated; for as long as there is demand, there will always be supply. *** Transport officials of the Aquino administration should be held accountable for the almost-daily glitches of the MRT3. It’s a recipe for disaster!

Mass transport here is a joke—but I don’t think the commuters are laughing.

Read this and weep: Although a total of P526 million has been paid by government to Dalian Corp. of China, out of the 48 light rail vehicles that have been delivered, only 29 have a signaling system. All 48 LRVs weigh above the required 46,300 kilograms.

No wonder the MRT3 has frequent glitches.

There is no other way to

Turn to A5

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Opinion

Speech delivered at the Korean International Water Week “MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. shares the common goal of providing sustainable water solutions for stakeholders.

Together with MWSS, Maynilad strives to meet this goal for our over 9 million customers in the West Zone of Metro Manila.

Managing the West concession has been a challenge.

From the period 1997 to 2006, Maynilad was in bad shape. Its previous private owners could not sustain operations when it suffered huge losses following the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

So when the concession was re-privatized in 2007, the new Maynilad owners faced the seemingly impossible task of reviving a financially crippled company.

That was 10 years ago. Since then, Maynilad was able to swiftly get out of rehabilitation and implement a massive Capex Program of P65.2-billion or approximately $1.5 billion at historical exchange rates.

I am proud to say that because of our efforts our service and efficiency levels have dramatically improved.

Our customer base grew by 94 percent from about 678,000 in 2006 to over 1.3 million in 2016, covering 94 percent of our service area.

From 32 percent, our customers with 24-hour water supply increased to 98 percent. Those who receive their supply at an average pressure of 7 psi also increased from 45 percent to 100 percent.

We have also brought down our average NRW level from 68 percent in 2006 to 29.9 percent by the end of last year.

In line with the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals, we also work to ensure water access for urban poor communities. One such program is “Samahang Tubig Maynilad,” which organizes urban poor communities into a cooperative that can manage and earn from their own bulk water system. In these poor communities, access to water became our entry point to promote water conservation, sanitation, and even self-sufficiency.

It was not easy getting to where Maynilad is now.

What helped was the continued faith of the MWSS in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), despite the failure of its initial privatization.

What also helped was our people—the dedicated men and women of Maynilad who persisted through our turbulent corporate history and proved their strong dedication to public service.

On our 11th year of operation, we want to focus on growing our business further, while fulfilling our commitments to our stakeholders.

We are setting our sights on expanding to other areas of the Philippines. There are currently abou 15 million Filipinos who are still without water access. We want to replicate our success in other areas so that more people can enjoy improved water supply and sanitation.

Our partnership with the MWSS has benefitted millions of Filipinos. Our services have spurred economic activity, while our investments have generated thousands of jobs.

More than a business, we see Maynilad as a vehicle for nation-building. Because by partnering with government, we can use our resources to uplift the lives of our countrymen.”

Rehabilitate...

From A4

go about it but cancel the contract and ensure that those responsible are indicted. They made money at our expense! *** The recommendation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that a lifestyle check be done on the family of President Duterte, particularly his son Paolo and son-in-law Manases Carpio, is a good thing. This is an opportunity for the family to clear their name. *** There are news reports that European parliamentarians are warning is we could lose preferential trade deals if drug killings and the persecution of administration critics do not stop. But former Senator Edgardo Angara, Duterte’s special envoy to the EU, claimed the warning was a gross misrepresentation.

Angara said that the representatives of the European Commission were very frank. They appreciated President Duterte’s idea to set up a monitoring center.

So who is telling the

Bautista,...

From A4

major elective positions do so under a cloud of doubt.

As a voter and a taxpayer, I certainly would like Bautista to explain before an impeachment court now only how he amassed huge sums of money in obscure bank accounts, but also how Comelec and its automation partner Smartmatic made perennial survey tailender Mar Roxas second after Duterte, Leni Robredo vice president over Ferdinand “Bongbong” Mar-

truth, now?

*** Many of the reports about business icon Washington Sycip say he was an American, not a Filipino, because of force of circumstance, having been hired by the US Army to decipher Japanese codes. But he was Manila-born.

Just to set the record straight. Wash obtained dual citizenship three years ago. This is attested to by Bobby Ongpin, the youngest managing partner of SGV at age 26.

To say that Wash was an American is to belittle his contributions to the country. He was a Filipino through and through. *** Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista was right to resign. His continued stay at Comelec just compromises the institution.

He showed delicadeza, a trait not common among public officials. *** I condole with the family of my good friend Eric San Juan. He was a regular at the 365 club and was wellrespected. May he rest in peace. cos and Franklin Drilon and Joel Villanueva Senate topnotchers, to name just a few of the questionable results of last year’s polls.

If Bautista resigns, we will all be deprived of that information.

But who knows? Maybe Bautista will not amend his resignation letter and decide to fight it out before an impeachment court.

I guess we’ll need Divine Intervention for that to happen, given Bautista’s claims that God actually gives him career advice. We can only pray that God talks to Andy Bautista once again.

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Underspending, underperforming

MAIL MATTERS Maynilad Water Services Inc. president Ramoncito S. Fernandez

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

OVERSIGHT DANILO SUAREZ THIS Congress just passed on third and final reading the General Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2018, with P3.77 trillion as next year’s national budget. The National Government asked for an increase of 12.4 percent or P417 billion more than the 2017 budget. The Department of Public Works and Highways was allotted the greatest increase, followed by Department of Education, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Transportation, and Department of Social Welfare and Development. Incidentally, these departments belong to the top ten recipients of the 2018 budget.

For the last four years, the national government has been experiencing difficulties in fully utilizing the annually approved budget. According to DBM reports, in 2013, there was substantial shortfall of P103.7 billion or

5.2 percent in government expenditures against disbursement targets; in 2014, at P302.7 billion or 13.3 percent; in 2015, 2.8 percent or P328.3 billion, nominally higher due to increased budget; while in 2016, underspending was considerably lower at P96.3 billion or 3.6 percent. On the other hand, the annual budget utilization rates of the agencies mentioned earlier, except for the DOTr, fell between 63 percent to 95 percent from 2012-2016, with DPWH recording the lowest average at 70 percent, and DILG at 95 percent.

As of Sept. 30, 2017, the DBM reported that 82.6 percent of the 2017 appropriated budget was released, with remaining P423 billion left to be disbursed. Likewise, as per the September report on the Notice of Cash Allocation, the DPWH was only able to utilize 51.8 percent of the total appropriations.

DILG has utilized 83.2 percent, DepEd with only 45.7 percent, and DOTr, 37.18 percent.

With less than three

months left before the fiscal year closes, we are looking at the dismal fiscal performance of executive departments. How can we therefore expect full utilization of the budget we just approved?

Failure and delay in submission of documentary requirements, poor liquidation of cash advances, procurement problems, delays in bidding, incorrect technical specifications and costings, difficulty in hiring, land acquisition and right-of-way issues, and delays in the approval of agreements and issuances of clearances are just some of the usual reasons of the chronic underspending identified by the DBCC. In the recent Senate hearing on the budget, Senator Panfilo Lacson expressed his view regarding underspending. We agree. Both Houses of Congress pass the General Appropriations Bill. Failure to comply with its provisions is a violation of the said Act. We have to remember that the public is always on the receiving end

of this unsatisfactory fiscal management. Poor budget utilization of the government deprives the public of the essential goods and services such as roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, health services, and quality education.

It was also seen that low government spending coexist with low GDP. In recent years, researches from the World Bank and the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd noted that increases in government consumption, particularly in infrastructure spending, highly correlate to GDP growth. It was hoped that the Build, Build, Build thrust of this administration will provide the economic boost that we need. However, underspending remains a problem.

The 2018 budget is considered to be the first true budget of the Duterte administration. Focus is laid on the improvement of social services such as health, education, and employment as well as accelerating infrastructure development

and promotion of peace and order. While these are very promising, I reiterate my concern on the ability of the government agencies to fully utilize and spend their budget. During the GAA deliberations, most of the agencies subjected to questioning have promised better absorptive capacity and program planning. Let us not make the same mistakes committed by previous administrations where disbursement was always lower than what was programmed.

The people have been promised change, and we should live up to our promise and make a difference. With this, I urge my fellow legislators to be more active in monitoring how the government spends its budget.

I am repeating my call for a more vigilant Congress.

We must make full exercise of our oversight powers to ensure that every centavo of the budget we approve each year is spent for the intended programs and services and such be delivered efficiently to the target sectors and the public in general.

A war on many fronts DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is fighting a war on many fronts.

He is not only trying to finish off the remnants of the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf in Marawi City who seem to be clinging to a 15-hectare piece of real estate but also a resurgent Communist Party of the Philippines/ New People’s Army that have been targeting individual soldiers and policemen. They just burned a warehouse and several industrial equipment in Mindanao.

On the political front, the President continues to do battle with his fiercest critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who has been relentless in his attacks on him and his family. His conflict with the senator has now spilled over to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and the feisty Ombudsman Conchita CarpioMorales. He wants the two to be impeached—Chief Justice Sereno for corruption and lavish lifestyle and Ombudsman Morales for selective justice.

On our economy, although it continues to grow as projected, the peso con-

tinues to weaken and is the worst-performing currency in Asia. Foreign Direct Investments also have gone down by 90 percent in spite of press releases to the contrary. It seems that foreign companies prefer to locate to other countries like Vietnam and Cambodia rather than here.

All these issues would be taxing enough for a younger man but even more so to a 72-year-old who has admitted to having some health issues.

To top it all, his stratospheric satisfaction and trust ratings have gone down precipitously. All these months, he has basically been able to say and do whatever he wanted, confident in the knowledge that the public has always supported him. This support has now weakened considerably. It still good but not as it used to be.

This can be interpreted in many ways depending on whose side of the aisle one belongs. For administration supporters, this is to be expected because the high and lows of public perception is cyclical. They are of course right. Besides, the rating is still good and his support among the ABC classes which is very important is still rock solid.

It hardly moved. Mindanao is also still overwhelming

supportive.

To his critics, however, this is the beginning of a downward trend which will only continue if the administration does not change gears. It remains to be seen however, how the President will react to the survey results. But it is safe to say that the happiest person right now must be Senator Trillanes. He must be congratulating and saying to himself that all the things that he has been doing are starting to pay off.

Is the public beginning to believe the corruption issues labelled against the President and his family?

Is it the killing of Kian who pleaded for his life but still apparently killed by the police?

The next survey, either by the SWS or Pulse Asia, should provide a clearer picture of how the public views some of these lingering issues. But if Senator Trillanes remains true to form, he and his allies will take advantage of the SWS survey to redouble their efforts to go on the offensive against the President.

Whatever one thinks about the senator, he has at least shown that he is not afraid of the President. Other critics of the President are careful on what to say but not Senator Trillanes. He says whatever he wants to say

and this maybe unnerving the President which causes him to make mistakes. The invented Singapore bank accounts which the President himself admitted as simply a figment of his imagination was a point for Senator Trillanes. His refusal to sign a bank waiver may also be another point.

Another issue that the public should bear in mind is whether to support to the desire of the President to impeach both Chief Justice Sereno and Ombudsman Morales. Maybe the two ladies should just have accepted the challenge of the President that they resign simultaneously. Had this happened, VP Leni Robredo would be president now and who knows, it may be possible for both ladies to be reappointed back to their positions but perhaps this possibility was never considered by the two and simply chose to tough it out and face whatever is coming.

Two impeachment trials, however, would take a long time and would be quite a distraction. Instead of the government concentrating its time to rebuilding Marawi City and other important problems like the Metro Manila traffic, economy and repairing our international reputation which has taken a hit because of our brutal war

on drugs, the public will again be riveted to two long impeachment trials. *** It is hard to understand why the Philippine National Police leadership allowed the Quezon City Police District to go ahead with the Barangay drop box program. It basically allows anyone to accuse anybody of drug user or drug dealing anonymously. The Police said that every information will be fairly validated, but this is another recipe for abuse. The Commission on Human Rights has rightfully said so and is right.

This practice of accusing people anonymously is being practiced widely in government. In fact as far as I know, the office of the Ombudsman also entertains anonymous complaints.

And this is the reason why it is hard to understand why the PNP also wants to follow the practice considering that Police personnel are often times the victims of anonymous complaints.

Government officials from other agencies are also victims. It is so difficult or down right impossible to defend oneself from malicious and false accusations coming from anonymous sources. The Police should be discouraging this bad practice instead of following it.

Trump has the highest IQ—he says so himself

By Timothy L. O’brien PRESIDENT Donald Trump has challenged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to a duel, suggesting that he and his beleaguered adviser match scores from their respective IQ tests to see who’s smarter.

To be fair to the president, Tillerson has reportedly called Trump a “moron.”

Even away from Trumplandia, that’s a fighting word.

“I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests,” Trump said of Tillerson in an interview that Forbes published Tuesday. “And I can tell you who is going to win.”

You betcha. No doubt who would win that one.

After all, Tillerson—who is the former chief executive of one of the world’s largest corporations, Exxon Mobil, and has a degree in engineering—must be dumb if he didn’t realize that questioning Trump’s smarts is a dangerous game.

Trump’s always been the world’s leading gladiator when it comes to IQ smackdowns.

In 2016, he challenged London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to compare IQ tests after Khan dismissed Trump’s take on Islam as “ignorant.”

Trump has also boasted that he has a higher IQ than George W. Bush, Barack Obama, George Will, Karl Rove and the entire staff of the Washington Post.

Trump was talking so much about his IQ way back in the early 2000s, when I covered him as a reporter and then spent time with him for a biography, that I once asked him for evidence of his lofty scores. He never produced anything.

Trump’s insecurity about his intellect is one of the constants of his journey on the public stage over the last several decades. (The other two legs of Trump’s insecurity stool are his sex appeal and the scope of his wealth; Trump sued me for questioning the latter, a case he lost in 2011.)

Trump’s bragging about his brain was also a hallmark of the 2016 presidential campaign, and beyond.

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because

I have a very good brain,” Trump told Morning Joe interviewers in 2016 when asked who was advising him about foreign affairs and diplomacy. “My primary consultant is myself, and I have a good instinct for this stuff.”

Such expertise extended to national security and intelligence matters, as he noted in an interview last December in which he explained why he doesn’t need daily briefings: “I’m, like, a smart person,” he said. “I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”

The day before he was inaugurated in January, Trump told a luncheon honoring his cabinet that, “We have by far the highest IQ of any cabinet ever assembled!” (It’s not clear where he ranked Tillerson at the time.)

On he rolled: “Is Donald Trump an intellectual? Trust me, I’m like a smart person,” he told a gathering at the Central Intelligence Agency the day after he was inaugurated.

In February, he advised that anyone questioning the bona fides of a travel ban he had proposed against seven mostly-Muslim countries might not measure up academically: “I was a good student,” he said. “I comprehend very well, okay, better than I think almost anybody.”

Trump’s alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, might have a different take on that. While a number of Trump profiles have described him as first in his class, college records don’t support that. A Trump biographer, Gwenda Blair, has noted that the president had merely “respectable” grades at Fordham University before he transferred into Wharton, a school he has lauded as “super genius stuff,” during his junior year.

The University of Pennsylvania’s student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, reported earlier this year that Trump never made the Dean’s List at Wharton. Former classmates described him as a lackluster student.

“He was not an intellectual man, but that wasn’t what his goal was,” one classmate told the paper.

But even for Mika Brzezinski, Rex Tillerson and others who can’t make Trump’s IQ cut, hope is not lost. The president himself has offered an easy formula for getting back on the brainiac track.

“Tell yourself that you are a genius,” he wrote in “Think Like a Champion,” one of his many books. “Right away you will probably wonder why and in what way you are a genius. And right away, you will have opened your mind up to wonder—and to asking questions. That’s a big first step to thinking like a genius.”

If that advice isn’t enough, there are always tests available. Mensa, the international club for smarties, said on Tuesday that it’s ready to give the president’s statements a reality check.

“Mensa would be happy to hold a testing session for President Trump and Secretary Tillerson,” the group announced. Bloomberg

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

BoC seizes P3m worth of smuggled goods

By Vito Barcelo THE Bureau of Customs confiscated more than P3 million worth of smuggled fake branded shoes, apparels, auto parts and agricultural machine parts from China.

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the seizure was part of the bureau’s intensified drive against smuggling which had caused the government to loss P30 billion in duties and taxes a year.

Lapeña said the shipments were seized after Customs examiners found irregularity in the declared weight.

“The container weighs more than the declared weight in the entry declaration that’s why it was physically examined, it was through profiling that we were able to intercept the goods,” Lapeña said.

MICP District Collector Ruby Alameda said the 11 shipments were all misdeclared to defraud the government of rightful duties and taxes.

The shipments consigned to Gandar Import and Export Trading were all declared as fabrics but were found to contain used clothing, fake Nike shoes, auto parts, roll of fabrics, as well as rice.

Also, the shipment declared as fabrics, apparels, and LED lamps consigned

to JJTS International Trading were loaded with misdeclared onions and fabrics.

The Malaya MultiPurpose Cooperative declared the imported goods as fresh apples, pears, and frozen pork cheek meat, but turned out to be fresh apples mixed with white onions, apples mixed with carrots, and pears mixed with white onions.

Lapeña said all shipments would undergo seizure and forfeiture proceedings after violating Section 1400 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, and Intellectual Property Law. “The fake Nike shoes will be turned over to the Intellectual Property Rights Division for proper disposal while the onions, pears, carrots, and used clothing will be destroyed,” the Customs chief said.

The consignees and their Customs brokers will be under investigation for smuggling-related cases.

“The rampant smuggling of agricultural products and smuggled counterfeit goods have an adverse effect on the local farmers and legitimate brand owners in the country,” the Customs chief said.

“This should discourage businessmen and traders who are into illicit trade.

BoC will detect these shipments and catch up with them,” he added.

‘Ban contractors responsible for substandard houses’

By Maricel V. Cruz

T

HE chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on housing and urban development on Wednesday urged the government to ban contractors responsible for the substandard housing projects for “Yolanda” victims from future government housing projects like the rehabilitation program for strife-torn Marawi City.

At the same time, Ne- chairperson, said Autonogros Occidental Rep. Al- mous Region in Muslim bee Benitez, the panel Mindanao officials and the

Marawi City local government must closely monitor the construction of housing projects for victims of the Marawi siege.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman earlier lamented the P5 billion to be spent for Marawi City had been initially earmarked for “Yolanda” rehabilitation but remained idle despite availability.

Benitez welcomed the reported decision of the Duterte administration to realign some P5 billion in unused “Yolanda” funds

intended for the rehabilitation efforts for Marawi.

“It has become our responsibility to make sure that our brothers in Marawi City are allowed to recover much of what they lost from the Mautes by protecting them from other acts of ter rorism committed through graft and greed,” Benitez said.

He said “the fund may be put to good use in Marawi during the time that financing of big-ticket items in the Yolanda rehabilitation pro-

gram have been assured.”

But Benitez said the government must be able to provide the needed funds in the event the “Yolanda” rehabilitation projects had gone in full swing.

Benitez’s panel, with the House committee on good government and public accountability, earlier vowed to recommend the filing of perjury, syndicated estafa and plunder charges against those responsible for the substandard “Yolanda” housing projects.

No pork in 2018 budget—Nograles DAVAO City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on appropriations, on Wednesday defended that its approved version of the proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for next year 2018 was “pork free.”

“Just like last year, this year and the next years, I reiterate my position that the national budget is and will be free of any pork barrel,” Nograles said.

Congress strictly complies with the decision of the Supreme Court, which declared as unconstitutional pork barrel funds or lumpsum, discretionary funds that legislators in the past were able to control through post-enactment methods or measures, he said.

“There was no such thing in the national budget because all programs are itemized and specifically defined and described in the budget book. The budget process and deliberations have been very transparent and the budget book is open to everyone’s scrutiny,” Nograles said.

Nograles added that under the present budget and proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for 2018, legislators could not interfere in the disbursement and utilization of the funds as well as the implementation of the projects and programs as this was purely an executive

function.

“From the moment the budget law becomes effective, no member of Congress can play any role in the implementation or enforcement of the budget since this will violate the principle of separation of powers as held by the Supreme Court,” Nograles said.

He added: “Once the budget law is passed by Congress, then we turn it over to the executive to execute. Legislators cannot regulate the release of funds or influence how the Executive Department would utilize the budget.

“Nothing in the budget law allows Congress or any of its members to play any role in the execution or implementation of the budget.”

Nograles said the House, which exercises the power of the purse, had exorcised discretionary funds from the annual budget in bid to promote transparency as advocated by the Duterte administration.

This was accomplished through line item budgeting, which prevents postenactment appropriations, he added.

“President Duterte abhors corruption just as much as he abhors drugs and criminality. He is also a lawyer.

For these reasons alone, he won’t let PDAF or any form of pork barrel crawl back into our budget culture,” Nograles said. Maricel V. Cruz

NEW MEMBERS. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of PDP-Laban administers Wednesday his party’s oath to new members from Lakas CMD Party: (from right) Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo; Bohol Rep. Arthur Yap; former Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman; Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority chief Raul Lambino. To Alvarez’s left is House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas. Ver Noveno

CGMA takes oath as new PDP-Laban member FORMER President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday took her oath as new member of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan.

PDP-Laban secretarygeneral and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, with House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas by his side, administered the oath to Arroyo and Bohol Rep. Arthur Yap—who both belonged to the then ruling

Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats.

Yap served as National Food Authority head and Agriculture secretary— both under the Arroyo administration.

Arroyo, in a statement, said: “My joining the PDP-Laban is to consolidate support for the President. It is a matter of course as we have been talking about this for quite sometime.”

Arroyo is the chairman emeritus of the political party

which also emerged as an opposition during the past administration.

She was stripped of her post as deputy speaker for Central Luzon last March for opposing the death penalty bill.

Nasser Pangandaman, who served as Agrarian Reform secretary during the Arroyo administration, also joined the PDP-Laban.

Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo, vice chairperson of the House committee on energy, and on trade and

industry, also was an addition to the PDP-Laban, comprising a total of 124 members at present.

Romualdo was among those lawmakers in the 16th Congress who supported the presidential candidacy of Manuel Roxas. After which, Romualdo joined the LakasCMD. Arroyo’s counsel, lawyer Raul Lambino, also took his oath before Alvarez and Fariñas as new PDP-Laban member. Maricel V. Cruz

Cebu Pacific advises public: Be extra careful

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Cebu Pacific Air management on Wednesday advised its clients to take extra precautions if their flight bookings were made via travel agents Skiddoo and Traveloka.

“Cebu Pacific Air warns the public to take extra precautions and verify flight details and other ancillary services directly with the airline if bookings were made through Online Travel Agents

[OTAs] such as Skiddoo and Traveloka,” the CEB said in a statement.

The airline stated since these travel agents have neither authority from, nor permission to transact in behalf of Cebu Pacific, any flight bookings or reservations made by or through them might not be reflected in Cebu Pacific’s booking reservation system.

“Moreover, requests for ancillary services such as meals, seat selection and baggage allowance might not also (sic) be

reflected in the Cebu Pacific booking system since these OTAs are not synced to that of the airline,” it stated.

In addition, CEB said, since these unauthorized OTAs are not linked to the Cebu Pacific booking system, the airline does not have the contact details—which are important for the airline to relay information in case there are flight changes.

“We urge the traveling public to double-check bookings made with OTAs

to avoid any inconvenience.

Whenever possible, we encourage travellers to book f lights only via the official Cebu Pacif ic website, cebupacif icair.com; through the CEB Mobile App; or through the reservation hotlines (+632)702-0888 or (+6332)230-8888,” the airline also stated.

It said the traveling public may also transact with legitimate sales agents to book flights and ancillary services with Cebu Pacific.

TF on media marks 1st year THE Presidential Task Force on Media Security celebrated its 1st anniversary Wednesday at the National Press Club in Intramuros, Manila.

PTFoMS co-chairman Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar addressed the members of the media, together with the observers, resource persons and member-agencies of the Task Force.

The heads of the Member-Agencies include Undersecretary Catalino Cuy, OIC of the Department of the Interior and Local Government; Secretary Delfin Lorenzana of the Department of National Defense; Solicitor General Jose Calida; Executive Director Severo Catura of the Presidential Human Rights Committee; General Eduardo M. Año, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Director General Ronald dela Rosa of the Philippine National Police; and Director Dante Gierran of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Erap to MPD: Start cops training for Asean meet

By Bill Casas

SYMBOLIC UNITY. The transport group, which calls itself Voltes V, (from left) Fejodap’s Zenny Maranan, Acto’s Efren de Luna, LTOP’s Orlando Marquez, LDAP’s Boy Vargas and Pasang Masda’s Obet Martin, tells a news conference Wednesday in Quezon City it will not join an earlier announced transport strike by other groups calling on the administration for a P2 fare increase. Manny Palmero

MANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada directed the Manila Police District to finalize the security measures for next month’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, including the retraining of the policemen assigned to provide security to world leaders and foreign delegates.

Highlighting the importance of this gathering of prominent heads of states and VIPs, including US President Donald Trump, Estrada considers the Asean conference as the biggest meeting to be hosted by the Philippines and the City of Manila.

“Important issues will be discussed during this meeting of world leaders so we have to do our part in ensuring that there will be zero incidents during the conduct of Asean activities,” Estrada said.

In coordination with national and regional security and law enforcement agencies, the Manila mayor reminded the Manila Police District to see to it that its security measures were foolproof to guarantee the safety and security of all delegates and participants and facilitate the uninterrupted conduct of all Asean activities.

MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel, in an interview, said 2,500 policemen—half of the city police’s total armed strength—would be committed to the Asean event starting on the first week of November up to the leaders’ meetings on Nov. 13 to 15.

They will be part of the 19,000-strong police security contingent belonging to Task Group Manila Shield, formed to secure the Asean summit from terrorist groups and criminal rings.

As tasked by Estrada, Coronel

said each unit would be undergoing refresher training on area security, billet security, route security, communication, and civil disturbance management.

“As early as Nov. 10, 11, 12, we will be putting in place our security plans. We will have a wide security deployment,” Coronel bared.

Most of the Asean meetings and events, according to Coronel, would be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, especially at the Philippine International Convention Center; VIP convoys would also regularly pass through Roxas Boulevard and other major roads in the city.

World leaders and foreign delegates will also be billeted in five big hotels in the city, namely Manila Hotel, Manila Diamond Hotel, New World Manila Bay Hotel, Pan Pacific, and Century Park Sheraton, he added.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Embiid seals $148m 76ers’ pact L

OS ANGELES—Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid sealed a five-year contract extension on Tuesday, with the injury-plagued Cameroon-born star saying he hoped to finish his career with the team.

The 76ers did not confirm the financial terms of the deal but several US media outlets reported that Embiid stands to earn $148 million (125.3 million euros) over the course of the extension.

If confirmed, that would mean Embiid, 23, is being paid the maximum allowed under the rookie

wage scale, having played only 31 games over three seasons.

Embiid missed the first two seasons after being drafted in 2014 and suffered a knee injury last season which meant he only played 31 games.

“Joel Embiid is a transformative young talent that you rarely come

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers looks on before his team’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. AFP

across in our game,” 76ers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo said in a statement.

“Joel is only scratching the surface, but he has all the potential and promise to go down as one of the all-time greats to wear a Sixers jersey. Ownership’s willingness to extend this contract reflects our collective belief in Joel Embiid and a reinforced commitment to building a championship-level basketball program.”

Embiid scored 20 or more

points in 19 of 31 games last season before suffering a knee injury in January that required surgery.

“I’m so thrilled to be in this position,” Embiid said in a statement.

“I want to thank ownership, management, the coaches and most of all the fans, for supporting me throughout this whole process. I love this city and I’m so, so, so, so excited to be spending my next five years here and hopefully the rest of my career, God willing. Trust ‘The Process.’”

Universiade wushu silver medalist pays Pacquiao a visit WHAT a day for Universiade silver medalist Jomar Balangui to cherish!

A visit to the Senate office of Manny Pacquiao, the world renowned athleteturned-politician, where he was honored by the manytime, pound-for-pound boxing king of the world with a record eight championship belts in different divisions, for his stunning silver-medal finish in the 29th Summer Universiade in New Taipei City, Chinese Taipei.

It could well be the highlight of the young sports career for the 19-year-old Balangui, a product of the University of Baguio and who secured a silver in men’s wushu sanda during the Taipei Universiade.

The Summer Universiade, also known as the World University Games in the past, is a biennial multisport competition that fea-

tures the top university athletes from around the world, including those from the United States, Russian Federation, People’s Republic of China and Taipei Universiade overall medal winner Japan.

Along with the top officials of the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines, which is the sole national university sports federation in the country that is recognized by the International University Sports Federation, Balangui paid a courtesy call on Sen. Pacquiao in the halls of the Philippine Senate last Oct. 4.

Balangui was accompanied by University of Baguio president and FESSAP Cordillera Autonomous Regional Director, Dhanna Kerina Bautista-Rodas.

During the meet, Balangui presented the silver medal to Pacquiao, the third

Senator Manny Pacquiao is shown with World Universiad silver medalist Jomar Balangui and his teammates during a courtesy call at the Filipino ring icon’s Senate office.

overall Universiade medal won by the Philippines, under the watch of the FESSAP. Previous medalists were Samuel Thomas Harper Morrison, who won a silver in men’s taekwondo during the 2011 Universiade in Shenzhen, People’s republic of China; and Grandmaster Wesley So, who rewarded the country with its firstever gold in Universiade

history in the men’s chess competitions.

Also with Balangui in the trip to Pacquiao’s Senate office were his wushu teammates during the Taipei sojourn. They are Gladys Sia (team captain), Sean Elijah Siy, Eal Von Erick Pasno, Abigail Faniega, Czarina Hagos and Kelly Marcelo.

Officials from the FESSAP in attendance during the cour-

tesy call were Honorary President David Ong, Executive Vice President Robert Milton Calo, Board Chair Alvin Tai Lian and Vice President Jedel Agron of SCUAA. Also present were the FESSAP Athletes’ Committee, led by Mapua University’s Ann Janeth Garcia and Gabriel Joshua Ancheta.

Ong presented to Pacquiao a video copy of the Taipei

Universiade opening ceremony and informed him about the history of the Summer Universiade. He also briefed the Senator about the 30th Summer Universiade in Napoli, Italy in July 2019.

For his silver-medal achievement during the Taipei Universiade, Pacquiao gifted Balangui with some money as a token of appreciation.

St. Clare Coderos, Banico banner PPS Dumaguete net cast shoots for cage title Games Thursday (San Andres Sports Complex) 8 a.m. -- RTU vs. Enderun (W) 10 a.m. -- De Ocampo vs.

St. Clare (S) 12 nn -- OLFU vs. St. Clare (J)

DEFENDING champion St. Clare College seeks to win back-back titles in the NAASCU men’s basketball tournament when it meets De Ocampo Memorial College today at the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate, Manila.

A win by the Saints in their 10 a.m. encounter against the Cobras will enable them to complete a two-game sweep of the best-of-three title showdown and capture their third title since 2012.

Buoyed by a smashing 101-79 win over the previously unbeaten Cobras in Game 1 last Monday, the Saints vow to go for all the marbles today to become only the third team since University of Manila and Centro Escolar University to win three or more NAASCU titles since the league’s inception in 2001.

“We’ll go for it. We now have the opportunity to win back-to-back titles,” said St.Clare coach Jino Manansala, who is also hoping to join CEU coach Egay Macaraya as the second winningest coach in NAASCU with three tites.

Manansala steered the Saints to their first-ever NAASCU title with a twogame sweep of CEU in 2012, the same year he was taken in by NAASCU president Dr. Ernesto Jay Adalem following UM’s withdrawal from the league.

Last year, Manansala piloted St. Clare to its second title with a 2-1 win over Our Lady of Fatima University in their best-of-three series.

HAZEL Coderos and Faith Banico brace for tough outing as top seeds in the 14- and 12-and-under divisions, respectively, of the Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Dumaguete leg regional tennis tournament, which unfolds tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 13) at the Praxevilla Tennis Courts.

The two girls’ categories feature a huge 32-player draw each, guaranteeing a

spirited battle for top honors and ranking points in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president and CEO Bobby Castro.

Tipped to contest the title from Coderos of Cebu are Sheynna Yu, Shai Masicampo and Chantal Haft while Shara Paliwag, Riza Coderos and Yu are expected to crowd Banico in their side of the event serving as

the 42nd leg of the country’s premier age-group competitions presented by Slazenger.

Close to 200 entries are seeing action in the fiveday tournament, backed by the Unified Tennis Group, including Cebuana Lhuillier, PPS-PEPP, Wilson, Toby’s, BMeg, Citigreen, Babolat and Tru-Flex, with Vhon Tudtud, Wilfredo Grospe, Reyniel Marcellana and Lorenz Celis leading

the boys’ 18-U division and Ellaine Bahonsua, Bless Coderos, Sunzel Callao and Joanna Taganile heading the cast in the girls’ premier division.

Grospe also gains the top seeding in the boys’ 16-U section which also features Pete Rodriguez, John Coderos and Andre Bartolabac with Bahonsua and sisters Hazel and Bless Coderos also likely to slug it out in their side of the

tournament.

Meanwhile, the circuit also gears up for at least two big tournaments, including the Masskara Tennis Festival in Bacolod on Oct. 19-23, and the Pintaflores Juniors on Oct. 19-23 and the Pintaflores Festival Open on Nov. 1-5 in San Carlos, Negros Occidental.

For details, call PPS-PEPP sports program development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

FC Barcelona, Milo reveal 1st PH team to undergo Spain training

The MILO FCB Road to Barcelona team that conducted the selection camp (from left Aquilino “Ake” Pastoral, III (Grassroots Football Manager, Philippine Football Federation), Arnau Blanco (Coach, FCB Escola), Marti Vila (Coach, FCB Escola), Robbie De Vera (Sports Executive, MILO Philippines).

BANNERING the values of heart, effort, ambition, respect, and teamwork, the first MILO FC Barcelona Philippine team has been officially revealed, chosen from a talented pool of almost 150 kids from all around the country who took part in the MILO FCB Road to Barcelona Training Camp last Sept.

2 to 3.

The team of 13 kids was selected by an expert panel comprised of executives and coaches from MILO Philippines, the Philippine Football Federation and the FCB Escola Youth Academy. The maiden

team of the partnership will be participating in a life-changing football opportunity as they train, learn, and play the Barça way in the global camp to be held in Camp Nou on Oct. 15 to 23.

In cooperation with the PFF, MILO proudly announced the following players joining the prestigious activities in Barcelona: Lien Dale Manuel (Vicente Lim Elementary School), Lara Angela Amante (Isabelo de los Reyes Elementary School), Liam Arc Villaran (Don Bosco College-Canlubang), Kevin

H. Hadap (Diosdado P. Macapagal Elementary School), Heaven Andrei Teodosio (Ilaya Barangka Integrated School), Lorenzo Miguel Castillo Plaza (Xavier School), Alexis Caitlin Tan (Keys School Manila), Joseph Kyne Garces (Don Bosco Technical College-Cebu), Marcus Lucas Arias (Don Bosco College-Canlubang), Lorenz Albert Tortona (Xavier School), Enzo Gacutan Courbet (Brent International School), Boris Malcolm Uy (Keys School Manila), and Ethan Jacob Roxas (Paref SpringdaleCebu).

Chiefs face Altas, try to boost bid; Salado doubtful starter AN Arellano University team playing without its star player in Kent Salado is a possibility when it takes on Perpetual Help today in a crucial match that could make or break its Final Four bid in the 93rd NCAA basketball tournament at the Filoil Arena in San Juan City.

Salado, who leads the league in scoring and assists with 19 points and five assists and tied at fourth in steals with 1.3, will be doubtful in the Chiefs’ 2 p.m. showdown with

Games today (Filoil Arena, San Juan) 12 nn.- AU vs UPHSD (jrs) 2 p.m.- AU vs UPHSD (srs) 4 p.m.- CSB vs EAC (srs) 6 p.m.- CSB vs EAC (srs)

the Altas after hurting his right leg in an 85-79 win over the San Sebastian Stags Tuesday.

It is not yet known at press time the extent of Salado’s injury, but there is a chance it could

be a hyperextended leg.

“I hope he (Salado) plays, but he’s 50-50 for now,” said AU coach Jerry Codinera. “But if he can’t play, we just have to be ready.”

AU, currently with a 7-9 record, is in dire need of a win as such would push it half a game closer to No. 4 Letran (8-8).

“We have no choice but to win, that’s the only way to make it to the Final Four,” said Codinera, whose team takes on Mapua Tuesday.

Salado has been the doing

almost everything for AU as it leads the league in points (19) and assists (5) and tied for No. 4 in steals (1.3).

When he went down, AU drew strength from unlikely heroes in Levi dela Cruz and Richard Abanes, who came through to lead their team to victory.

Emilio Aguinaldo, for its part, which currently owns a 6-10 card, aims to pump some life into its dying Final Four hopes as it tackles St. Benilde (3-13) at 4 p.m.

PH Golf Tour to launch Pro-Am THE Philippine Golf Tour will launch the first ICTSI National Pro-Am Open next week at Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club with the country’s leading pros teaming up with the top and rising amateurs for cash, trophies and prizes.

The three-day tournament, slated Oct. 17-19, will cap the PGT season and will now serve as one of the side events on the PGT calendar, along with the Ryder Cup-style The Duel held every other year.

The organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. is also putting up the event in recognition of the amateurs’ role in boosting Philippine golf and at the same time provide them the exposure they need to further raise the level of their respective games.

Listup is ongoing with the PGTI limiting the twoman squads to 120. Fee is pegged at P10,000 per team. For details, contact Jocelyn Duque at (+63) 918-9515308 or email jocelyn_duque@yahoo.com.

Format is foursomes (alternate shot) with the top 40 teams after 36 holes advancing to the finals. The winning pro will pocket P360,000 while the top amateur will receive trophy and gift prizes.

The event is open to all pro and amateur golfers although the top 40 on the PGT Order of Merit ranking will not be allowed to pair with amateurs with handicap index of 5 and below.

The National Pro-Am staging comes on the heels of the PGTI’s launching of the PGT Asia Tour, an eight-leg regional circuit put up by ICTSI to further the growth of Philippine golf and help produce world-class players.

Corteza is world pool champion THE Philippines’ Lee Van Corteza did what no other Asian before him could do before him, win the World 14.1.

The slim, smooth-playing Filipino became the Bottledeck.net 77th World 14.1 Champion and doing so in fashion by defeating none other than the king of straight pool, Thorsten Hohmann of Germany.

The weeklong event was challenging with Corteza playing a total of 13 matches and pocketing almost 2000 balls.

Hohmann had pocketed over 1700 shots.

The World 14.1 title is perhaps the most hardearned title in billiards with no luck or short cuts in winning games.

In the finals, this was the third time in history that Asia versus Europe matched.

Previously, Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes of the Philippines had came short against their western opponents for the World 14.1 title.

Corteza intended to change that. In his first try no less, as this was his first appearance at the World 14.1.

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

P0 M+ P0 M

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

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

Sports

Argentina reaches World Cup on Messi hat-trick

Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Ecuador during their 2018 World Cup qualifier football match in Quito. AFP

Maroons halt losing streak

By Peter Atencio

T

HE University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers were held scoreless for almost five minutes in the last period.

They came to their senses in the remaining time and rallied, but still fell short as the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons sustained its sturdy defense until the last moment to escape with a 71-69 triumph yesterday at the start of the secondround hostilities of the 80th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Fighting Maroons, who were out-rebounded, 40-61, kept the prolific Marvin Lee from connecting with a triple twice as time

Eagles soar past Tams, near crown ATENEO leaned on its power game to buck Far Eastern University’s superb blocking, scoring a 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 victory yesterday to move a win from claiming the men’s crown in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Gian Glorioso and Marck Espejo combined for a 29-hit game as the Eagles produced 44 kills, 13 more than the Tams, who, however, foiled a number of Ateneo attacks upfront for a 10-block effort against the Eagles’ five.

Glorioso took charge in the second set while Espejo, the four-time UAAP MVP, imposed his will in third, rallying the Eagles from a two-point deficit midway through on their way to completing a straight-set romp in the opener of their best-of-three series for the crown in the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.

“They (FEU) live and die with their energy and intensity. I just told my players that we have to match that and that’s when we were able to play better. They (FEU) were forcing fast plays on us but through little rallies, we’re able to recover,” said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro.

Glorioso led the threetime UAAP champions with 15 points while Espejo finished with 14 points off 11 attacks, two aces and a kill block with 12 excellent receptions and five digs to boot in the tournament and backed by Mikasa and Asics.

expired.

Lee, who led UST with 17 points, tried to knock in a triple but his attempt rimmed out, with Maroons Ibrahim Outtara and Juan Gomez De Liano deflecting the ball to the left side.

Chris Vito and Felix Jaboneta rushed to the open left corner just in time to keep Lee from making a second three-point attempt as time winded down.

When it was over, Jaboneta and Jun Manzo showed the way for the Fighting Maroons with 12 and 11 points, respectively, and the Dili-

man-based dribblers went on to post their fourth win in eight matches.

“It was the third close game we had. But we were able to make a stop in the last possession,” said UP coach Bo Perasol.

UST remained winless after eight matches.

The Maroons bounced back after three straight setbacks, improving their record at fifth spot.

UP was up, 61-55, at the start of the fourth. It moved further ahead by 11 on Javi De Liano’s triple and Manzo’s driving shot for a 66-55 count, with 6:02 left.

Four charities from Jorem Soriano and Lee then started UST’s rally in the remaining 4:27 to close the gap to 59-66.

With 1:28 left, UST trimmed UP’s lead down to 64-68, off

Games Saturday (at the Araneta Coliseum) 2 p.m. UE vs NU 4 p.m. Ateneo vs Adamson

another trey from Soriano.

UST then forced two turnovers in the last 11 seconds and Marvin Romero scored on a drive, and Lee shot a trey as UST came close, 69-70.

Manzo then canned in a split charity with 9.2 seconds to go to give UP a two-point lead, 71-69, in the closing seconds.

Meanwhile, Bernadeth Pons and Cherry Rondina, two of the country’s best sand court women’s players, will be at the opposite sides once more as Far Eastern University and defending champion University of Santo Tomas dispute the outright Finals berth today in

the UAAP Season 80 beach volleyball tournament at the Sands SM By The Bay. Both sporting identical 6-0 slates, the Lady Tamaraws and the Tigresses will dispute the outright slot in the best-of-three championship at 3 p.m.

The loser will drop at No. 2 and hold the twice-to-beat bonus in the step-ladder semifinals.

Pons and Rondina were club teammates in the offseason and played together for the Philippines in last month’s Southeast Asian Games beach volleyball tournament.

“Si Rondina, hindi bastabasta magpapatalo. Kahit sinasabi na bago ang partner niya, kaya niyang dalhin iyon,” said Pons, who has been with the FEU beach vol-

ley team right from the start.

“May advantage kami sa kanila kasi matagal na kaming magkasama ni Kyla (Atienza) sa beach volley. So iyon ang advantage namin na kailangang maipakita namin sa Thursday. Hindi madaling laban kasi dikdikan iyon. Gagawin namin ‘yung part namin. Gagawin namin ang best namin,” she added.

Rondina, a two-time MVP, has Caitlyn Viray, as her partner this year for UST. De La Salle’s Tin Tiamzon and May Luna (3-3) and Ateneo’s Bea de Leon and Jules Samonte (2-4) collide at 3:30 p.m., with the Lady Spikers gunning for the last semis berth. A win by the Lady Eagles will force a playoff against their fierce rivals for the No. 4 slot in the step-ladder semifinals.

Slaughter vows to contribute a lot for Kings

By Jeric Lopez

Imagine a Greg Slaughter playing 100 percent for the Kings.

SIDELINED by an ACL tear for a year, Greg Slaughter said he’s not yet 100 percent back in shape after undergoing operation and rehabilitation.

And yet, the seven-foot Barangay Ginebra slotman is expected to crowd his teammate LA Tenorio, San Miguel Beer’s JuneMar Fajardo and Meralco swingman Chris Newsome for the PBA Best Player of the Conference Award.

Now imagine a Slaughter that’s 100 percent full recovered.

Good news for the Kings, bad news for the rest.

“I still have a lot of work to do, but I hope to contribute a lot for the team,” Slaughter said. “From here, I hope we’ll get better and better as a team.”

Slaughter, LA Tenorio,Newsome and Fajardo are four of the top players gunning for the BPC award for the tournament.

With the Gin Kings and the Bolts about to go at it in a much-anticipated best-ofseven finals showdown, the four are projected to be the front-runners for the individual plum.

As for the Best Import Award, just like last season, it will boil down again between reigning winner Allen Durham of

Meralco and Justin Brownlee of Barangay Ginebra.

Based on statistics for the tournament, three-time reigning Most Valuable Player Fajardo and Jayson Castro of TNT KaTropa are the top two players.

However, Fajardo’s Beermen were eliminated early on in the quarterfinals, while Castro’s Tropang Texters made their exit after the semifinals, leaving the the three players from the Gin Kings and the Bolts the active ones remaining.

Fajardo, who is once again the favorite to win the MVP of the season award for the fourth straight time, ended up with an average of 38.45 statistical points for the tourney, while Castro wrapped up his campaign up with 33.56.

Slaughter is third in the race with 32.6, while Newsome isn’t far behind at fourth with 30.88. Arwind Santos rounds up the Top 5 with his 30.58 average.

Tenorio is sixth with his 30.19 SPs. For Best Import, Durham leads with his average of 58.88 SPs. Both awards will be given in Game 4 of the finals.

Ginebra and Meralco will kick off their finals rematch tomorrow at 7 p.m. Game 1, scheduled at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City, Quezon.

Folayang defends Lightweight title vs Nguyen before home fans

By Reuel Vidal CHAMPIONS faced off when ONE Championship Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang and Featherweight counterpart Martin “SituAsian” Nguyen met media representatives during the launch of ONE: Legends of the World last Tuesday at the City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati.

Folayang defends his Lightweight title against Nguyen in the main event of the Nov. 10 card at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Filipino champion

faces the biggest challenge in his career against the wellrounded Nguyen.

Folayang won the lightweight title by beating then champion Shinya Aoki and successfully defending his title against Ev Ting.

Aoki was a submission specialist while Ting was an accomplished striker. Nguyen combines the best of both styles winning by stoppage through strikes in six of his nine victories and winning by submission in three.

Folayang said he has worked hard to prepare for the dangerous Nguyen.

“Martin [Nguyen] is a

great martial artist and an amazing competitor. He has earned the highest degree of my respect. There is absolutely no chance that I am coming into this bout underestimating him. I am prepared for the best Martin Nguyen possible, one that has no weaknesses,” said Folayang.

“This bout will be talked about long after it is finished, as two champions face-off inside the cage. I live for these challenges, and I am motivated for victory, for the pride and honor of the Philippines,” he added.

Nguyen said that while

he admired Folayang, he was not about to pass up the chance to set ONE Championship history by winning a second ONE world title.

“I like Eduard [Folayang].

I said to myself I did not want to compete against someone I like and take away their glory, but opportunities like this do not come around too often. And, if I refused to do this, someone else was going to compete against him and take his glory,” said Nguyen.

“So, it is strictly business. I am in a super bout for the first time ever in ONE Championship history to become a two-division cham-

pion. This match is not going to go the distance.”

The 33-year-old Folayang is riding the crest of a fourfight winning streak against high-profile opponents including grappling legend Aoki and the highly regarded Ting.

The 28-year-old Nguyen knocked out previously undefeated ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov to win his first ONE crown. He challenges Folayang hoping to win a second ONE world title.

Ticket information for the event is available at www. onefc.com.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay—Lionel Messi fired Argentina into the World Cup with a brilliant hattrick on Tuesday as South American champions Chile suffered a shock elimination.

Messi single-handedly resurrected Argentina’s hopes in a 3-1 win over Ecuador in Quito that drew a line under a chaotic campaign that had left the two-time champions in danger of failing to qualify.

The Barcelona superstar scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes to give Argentina the lead after Ecuador had stunned the visitors with an opening goal after from Romario Ibarra after 38 seconds.

Messi then completed his hat-trick—the 44th of his dazzling career —with a sublime chip in the second half to seal the victory.

The Argentinian superstar can now look forward to his fourth appearance at the World Cup at next year’s finals in Russia, where he will attempt once more to lead his country to an elusive major title.

Since his country’s defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, Messi has twice suffered agony at major tournaments with Argentina, losing the finals of both the 2015 Copa America and the 2016 Copa America Centenario.

Messi, who will turn 31 during next year’s World Cup, now has one, perhaps final, chance to emulate his idol Diego Maradona by lifting the World Cup. Relieved Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli —the third coach appointed during the qualifying campaign—could not avoid expressing his gratitude to Messi following Tuesday’s win.

“Messi doesn’t owe a World Cup to Argentina — football owes a World Cup to Messi,” Sampaoli said.

“He’s the best player in history. This is a team victory. They played a brilliant match.”

Messi later told reporters the prospect of not qualifying had weighed heavily on the squad.

PH Azkals, Yemen play to a draw THE Philippine Azkals played Yemen to another draw, 1-1, in the second leg of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Qualifiers on Wednesday at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

The Yemenis were the first to score after a scoreless first half, with Tawfik Ali striking quickly in the 63rd minute after his teammates pinned down the Azkal defenders.

From the Philippines’ side, Mike Ott came up with the equalizer, connecting from a pass from Phil Younghusband in the 89th minute.

The Azkals will remain on top of Group F with their 2-2-0 win-draw-loss record.

The game saw the return of defender Daisuke Sato after serving his suspension in the first leg for the Azkals.

In their first game against Yemen, Sato got another yellow card, leading to his suspension, which he served in their second encounter with the same team.

Sato’s heroics at the left back position provided the Azkals the needed energy to keep up with Yemen offense.

Peter Atencio

PNB, Security Bank selling notes B2

Visayas electricity supply still tight

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Visayas grid will experience tight power supply, with “yellow and red alerts” until December this year, underscoring the need for additional reserves in the region, an official of Philippine Electricity Market Corp. said Wednesday.

The system operator issues a ‘yellow alert’ whenever there is insufficient reserve in the grid.

“Availability of the geothermal plants has already improved significantly since September and no further increase in yellow or red alerts are foreseen.

However, the geothermal plants are projected to be fully available towards the end of the year. Hence, alerts for Visayas grid are still expected until December,” Francis Saturnino Juan, a member of the PEMC transition committee, said.

PEMC operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the trading floor of electricity in both the Visayas and Luzon.

The Visayas’ precarious power condition followed a series of five yellow alerts in the Luzon grid from August to September, raising concerns over the need for more power in the area.

Peak demand in the Visayas reached 1,804 megawatts Wednesday, while available system capacity was at 2,247 MW. “For Visayas, supply conditions are tight [resulting in yellow alerts] due to deratings of major generating units [geothermal plants Leyte A and Tongonan as a result of the July 2017 earthquake in Leyte which damaged the geo plants including the HVDC link between Luzon and Visayas] resulting in occasional price spikes,” Juan said.

The PEMC official said September encountered less grid alert conditions in the Visayas, compared to July and August with the improvement of the geothermal supply level and the availability of the high voltage direct current or HVDC link.

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

BEST HOTEL AWARD.

B1

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Megaworld Corp.’s homegrown brand Belmont Hotel is recognized as the Best Leading Hotel and Resort at the Golden Globe Annual Awards for Business Excellence and Filipino Achiever 2017 at Manila Hotel.

Shown during the awarding ceremony are (from left) chairman of research committee Ramon Juanito Balunes Paras, Belmont Hotel security manager Jeffrey Nunez, assistant front office manager Thomas Hallare, investor relations officer Monica Layug, Belmont Hotel general manager Lorenzo Tang, area director of housekeeping Nanette Pangatungan, area revenue manager Djoanne Buluran, food and beverage manager Jowie Guillar and director of food and beverage Bernard Bulaong.

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

Japan

Yen

0.008894

0.4563

UK

Pound

1.320600

67.7573

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128139

6.5746

Switzerland

Franc

1.025746

52.6290

Canada

Dollar

0.799169

41.0038

Singapore

Dollar

0.737518

37.8406

Australia

Dollar

0.777600

39.8971

Bahrain

Dinar

2.653928

136.1677

Saudi Arabia Rial

0.266660

13.6818

0.734808

51.3080

Brunei

Dollar

Indonesia

Rupiah 0.000074

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

1.5426

UAE

Dirham 0.272279

13.9701

Euro

Euro

1.180700

60.5794

Korea

Won

0.000882

0.0453

China

Yuan

0.151934

7.7954

India

Rupee

0.015327

0.7864

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.237135

0.030066

New Zealand Dollar

0.706700

Taiwan

0.032952

Dollar

37.7015

12.1669 36.2594 1.6907 Source: PDS Bridge

AGI proposes Makati Skytrain infrastructure projects and participate in the government’s public-private partnership deals.

LLIANCE Global AGI said Infracorp. submitted this week Group Inc., the an unsolicited proposal to the government to build a two-kilometer monorail called holding company Skytrain which is expected to benefit of tycoon Andrew Tan, is around 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily. diversifying into infrastructure “Given the country’s strong and stable and proposed a two-kilometer economy, we see a huge opportunity to invest in infrastructure. We are excited monorail project that will to participate and optimistic about the government’s aggressive push for connect Fort Bonifacio to infrastructure developments,” AGI Metro Rail Transit Line 3 executive director and Infracorp. president Guadalupe station in Makati Kevin Tan said.

The Skytrain project, which will utilize City.

AGI said in a disclosure to the stock the automated cable-propelled monorail exchange it formed Infracorp. Development technology, is expected to reduce travel Inc. as an infrastructure subsidiary to handle time from Fort to MRT Guadalupe to five

By Jenniffer B. Austria

A

minutes.

Under the proposal, a station will be built in Guadalupe near the MRT station and another in Uptown Bonifacio, a township development of AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld, at no cost to the government.

Once approved, the Skytrain monorail project will take three years to construct and it could be interconnected with the subway system project passing through Fort Bonifacio that the government is set to build.

“Funding of the project will be internallygenerated as part of AGI’s existing capex program. We cannot disclose the exact amount of the investment yet until the government gives us the go-signal to proceed. We will follow the rightful process of this exercise,” Tan said.

Aside from Skytrain, Infracorp. is also

looking into other potential infrastructure projects, particularly on transport solutions, in several business districts around Metro Manila and in key growth areas around the country.

This is not the first time that Andrew Tan group took an interest in the government’s infrastructure projects. AGI’s property unit Megaworld Corp. earlier teamed up with Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. to bid for the P123.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway and Dike project.

The project includes the construction of a 47-kilometer expressway and a 45-kilometer flood control dike, and the reclamation of around 700 hectares of land in the western part of Laguna Lake. The government declared a failed bidding in March 2016.

Lulu Hypermarket plans to expand in PH

By Othel V. Campos QATAR is bringing its largest chain of supermarkets to the Philippines as a part of its expansion in Southeast Asia.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority directorgeneral Charito Plaza said Lulu Hypermarket started scouting for locations in the Philippines.

“This is an opportunity for them to invest in the Philippines. In as much as they would also like to continue importing food from us, they are also keenly looking at investing in food production and bring the produce back to [the Middle East],” said Plaza.

Lulu is the largest retail chain in the Middle East and has 127 stores world-

IN BRIEF PAL to start Clark-Virac route

PHILIPPINE Airlines said Wednesday it will start flights to Virac, Catanduanes from Clark International Airport in Pampanga province on Dec. 15.

“This latest pioneer route enables us to serve the flight needs of our ‘kababayans’ in the province of Catanduanes. It will be our pleasure to serve the Clark-Virac route and provide them our trademark heartfelt service on this short hop,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said.

“The new flights further expand our domestic route network and our hub at Clark International Airport giving travelers the flexibility to choose from our wide array of domestic services,” he said.

PAL will operate the 76-seater Bombardier Q400 fleet for the new route.

PAL’s domestic hub operations in Pampanga serve the following routes: Clark-Basco, Clark-Busuanga, Clark-Caticlan, Clark-Cebu and Clark-Puerto Princesa.

New domestic flights out of Clark this December will serve Bacolod, Cagayan, Davao and Tagbilaran. From Clark, the flag carrier also serves Seoul (Incheon) four times week. Darwin G. Amojelar

D&L most honored company

D&L Industries Inc. was named as the Most Honored Company in Asia by New York-based Institutional Investor in its 2017 All-Asia Executive Team survey.

D&L said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the company was ranked among the top in a list of over 2,500 Asian companies nominated for outstanding corporate leadership and investor relations.

D&L president and chief executive Alvin Lao was also recognized as the Best CEO in the Philippines.

The company’s investor relations program ranked number 3 in the country.

These awards earned D&L the Most Honored Company recognition, which was given to 88 companies across Asia in 2017, including two other Philippine companies – Universal Robina and Metro Pacific Investments.

“This is a wonderful achievement for the entire team.

This which would not have been possible without the support of D&L’s management. We have the utmost respect for our minority shareholders and will continue our efforts to

wide.

The top management of Lulu visited the Philippines recently to look for warehouses where they could store and consolidate items the company plans to bring to the Middle East and other countries, according to Plaza.

The warehouse will also serve as a storage of products once the company starts to grow food in the Philippines, she said.

Plaza, who encouraged Qatari investors to explore agro-farming in the Philippines, is set to go back to the Middle East to formalize an agreement with the Minister of Economic and Agriculture and Qatari food companies on food production in the Philippines.

maintain an IR program that is engaging, informative and transparent,” Lao said. Jenniffer B. Austria

Govt expects higher sin tax

FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government stands to gain almost P40 billion in additional revenues from the “sin tax” on tobacco products starting in 2018, following the move by Mighty Corp. to settle its tax liabilities and sell its assets to global firm Japan Tobacco Inc. Dominguez, citing preliminary computations done by the DoF and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, said JTI would pay a minimum of P3.1 billion a month starting January 2018, or about P2 billion more per month than what Mighty had been paying.

“For fiscal year 2018, JTI is expected to pay almost P40 billion out of the estimated P118 billion in total excise tax collections on tobacco products,” Dominguez said in a statement. The amount represents a third of the total revenue collections from the excise tax on cigarettes.

Mighty Corp. which had faced a string of criminal complaints filed by the BIR before the Department of Justice for its use of counterfeit tax stamps offered in July to settle its tax liabilities for P25 billion and shutter its business. The Bulacan-based cigarette manufacturer sold its assets to JTI to pay off its tax dues. Julito G. Rada

Smart taps Amdocs solution

SMART Communications Inc. said it tapped Amdocs to deploy a solution to support the telco’s entire subscriber base of nearly 60 million prepaid and postpaid subscribers.

“This is a strategic milestone in our digital transformation journey,” said Smart chief revenue officer Ernesto Alberto.

“We wanted to introduce a new way to engage with customers. As opposed to the typical mass-market or segmentation-based marketing campaign, the Amdocs customer engagement solution powered by Amdocs aia allows us to target individual customers with products and services that can offer them the most value when they are most likely to need them,” Alberto said.

The solution is powered by the Amdocs aia platform which offers a rich set of telecom-specific, real-time intelligence capabilities. It will enable Smart to create personalized customer journeys that deliver the most relevant products, messages or offers to Smart subscribers, at the most appropriate time and over the most appropriate channel.

Darwin G. Amojelar

Visitor arrivals rose 1.3% in July

INFRACORP. Development Inc., the newly formed infrastructure arm of Alliance Global Group Inc., the holding company of tycoon Andrew Tan, submits an unsolicited proposal to the government to build a 2-kilometer monorail project called Skytrain that will link Fort Bonifacio to the MRT Guadalupe Station, which is expected to benefit around 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily. The project will utilize the automated cable-propelled monorail technology to reduce travel time from Fort to MRT Guadalupe to five minutes. A station will be built in Guadalupe, Makati near the MRT station and another in Uptown Bonifacio, a township development of AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld, at no cost to the government.

Duterte’s foreign trips generate $59.3b

By Julito G. Rada FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Wednesday the foreign trips of President Rodrigo Duterte in his first year in office generated $59.3 billion in economic benefits to the country.

Dominguez, who heads the government’s economic team, said the trips “resulted in various deals such as $37 billion worth of investment pledges between business to business through the signing of memorandum of understanding/letter of intents.”

The trips also yielded $18 billion in official development assistance funds and $4.3 billion in trade.

Dominguez, citing data from the International Finance Group of the DoF and the Trade Department,

said the countries visited

by Duterte included Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei, China, Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Russia.

Earlier reports said Duterte had the most number of foreign trips by a president in his first year in office and incurred large travel expenses during the period.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a radio interview earlier that the president spent more than P300 million in his 21 trips.

But he said these trips generated investments for the country.

National Economic and Development Authority director-general and Economic Planning Secretary

Ernesto Pernia, a member of the economic team, said Senator Franklin Drilon “insisted” on his view about the status of foreign direct investments in the country but missed the facts on FDI. Drilon at the Senate plenary on Friday expressed concerns over what he said “a significant deceleration in the influx of new investments,” particularly in the first half compared to a year ago.

“Senator Drilon narrowly looks at so-called ‘new’ FDIs only. Fact it with reinvestments reckoned as well, drop in total FDIs was only 14 percent by the second quarter, not 90 percent.

Reinvestments are just as good as expansion of operations does create employment multipliers too,” Pernia said.

INTERNATIONAL visitor arrivals in the Philippines increased 1.3 percent in July from a year ago, but tourism receipts surged 58.2 percent on higher per capita spending, the Tourism Department said Wednesday.

Data showed that arrivals in July reached 568,035, up from 560,872 arrivals registered in the same month last year. This brought total arrivals in the first seven months to 3.92 million, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

The Tourism Department said tourism receipts in July climbed to P33.52 billion from P21.18 billion a year ago.

“These figures are significant in terms of measuring our tourism industry’s sustainability. We hope to see this upward trend as an indication that our industry is working hard at attracting more of the high-spending segments or that product diversification has yielded more options to do and spend for,” said Tourism Secretary Wanda TulfoTeo. The average daily expenditure amounted to P5,989.49, with foreign tourists staying for an average of 9.81 nights in the country in the sevenmonth period. The average per capita expenditure of visitors in July was estimated at P58,756.86.

South Korea remained the top source market in July with 132,135 arrivals. China dislodged the United States for the second spot, registering 90,763 and 86,017 arrivals, respectively.

Othel V. Campos

B2

Business

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

PNB, Security Bank selling notes

By Julito G. Rada HILIPPINE National Bank and Security Bank Corp., two of the largest universal and commercial banks in the country, are issuing long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits to fund future growth.

P

PNB, the sixth-largest lender in terms of assets, said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday it would issue the third tranche of LTNCDs worth P3 billion, which was earlier approved by the Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“This offering is under the authority to issue up to P20.0 billion of LTNCDs granted by the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in October 2016,” PNB said.

The notes have an indicative interest rate ranging from 3.75 percent to 3.875 percent per annum, with the final rate to be determined during the offering period, and are

payable quarterly.

PNB began offering the securities Wednesday until Oct. 19, 2017, with the issue date set on Oct. 26. The notes will mature on April 26, 2023.

PNB tapped Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. and ING Bank N.V., Manila branch as the joint lead arrangers and book runners for the issuance. The selling agents are PNB, HSBC, ING, and Multinational Investment Bancorporation. PNB Capital and Investment Corp. is the financial advisor.

Security Bank, meanwhile, said Wednesday it received the approval of Bangko Sentral to issue LTNCDs. Tthe bank said in a statement it would issue LTNCDs up to the aggregate amount of P20 billion.

It said the offering period for the first tranche would start this month or at a date to be determined, depending on the approval from Bangko Sentral and prevailing market conditions.

Security Bank posted an 8-percent growth in first half net income to P5.2 billion over a year ago, driven by a double-digit increase in

net interest income.

Net income in the second quarter grew 32 percent to P2.43 billion, as net interest income rose 24 percent to P4.9 billion.

LTNCDs are time deposits that have a maturity of at least five years. The LTNCDs will be insured with Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. for up to the maximum insurance coverage and subject to PDIC’s applicable rules and regulations.

Upon issuance, the LTNCDs will be listed for trading through the facilities of Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

PNB in the first half of 2017 posted a 38-percent decline in net income to P2.67 billion from P4.32 billion a year ago due to the absence of one-off gains from the sale of foreclosed assets and lower trading and investment securities gains.

Interest income on loans and receivables rose 12.7 percent to P10.64 billion from P9.44 billion, while interest earnings on trading and investment securities fell 20.4 percent to P1.75 billion from P2.2 billion. With AFP

Market retreats; BDO, DMCI Holdings climb STOCKS retreated Wednesday on profit taking after surging to a new record high Tuesday, with the market likely to consolidate and focus on third-quarter earnings report.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 39.57 points, or 0.5 percent, to 8,358.47 on a value turnover of P11.63 billion. Losers edged gainers, 97 to 90, with 56 issues unchanged.

Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, tumbled 3.9 percent to P144, while Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-biggest lender, lost 1.7 percent to P86.50.

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 59.5 35,520 101.6 790,500 4.04 3,000 139.9 2,602,050 2.65 1,421,000 36 142,300 15.9 15,100 31.55 1,250,600 8.3 1,100 0.65 200,000 1.78 34,000 950 100 0.7 253,000 86.5 1,816,050 0.83 88,000 12.92 101,800 25 2,100 57.25 281,650 240 310 113 150 89.9 900 55.05 2,312,460 250.2 573,620 1,945 565 86.85 88,590 1.31 6,000

2,108,552 80,307,144 12,240 359,862,192 3,771,930 5,120,235 240,090 39,547,890 9,082 130,000 60,040 95,000 176,970 158,016,969.50 72,560 1,317,224 52,500 16,135,304.50 74,350 16,950 80,910 131,222,597.50 144,933,554 1,098,450 7,687,391.50 7,860

2,027,148 -18,063,624 214,384,166 -2,660 -1,025,735 -4,699,600 -19,000 -100,744,293 7,380 -15,366,796.50 -28,729,972 28,369,596 6,810,105.50 -

41.6 10.18 0.78 1.37 19 0.221 118 5.01 15.36 42.05 19.04 67.5 72 1.92 6.36 11.38 10.1 14.92 13.34 7.1 5.65 18.5 67.35 14.4 12.4 19.24 1.86 243.2 59.95 5.1 3.02 31.4 19.86 16.7 286 0.218 10.66 2.92 6.73 9.98 6.1 10 1.76 11.5 66.5 6.28 310 4.66 4.42 2.5 13.5 4.6 0.143 1.21 144 2.08

INDUSTRIAL 41.75 506,400 10.92 2,255,000 0.78 174,000 1.38 507,000 19.6 9,200 0.221 7,570,000 118 90 5.05 16,603,300 15.38 4,490,300 42.55 621,500 19.5 4,100 67.5 360 72 1,080 1.93 219,000 6.48 364,600 11.5 46,000 10.18 4,049,700 15 1,778,700 13.4 1,117,100 7.12 998,300 5.66 37,890,100 18.64 2,780,000 67.35 71,170 15 131,700 12.4 27,500 19.74 1,875,100 1.86 216,000 244 313,220 60.6 2,910 5.1 1,277,200 3.2 2,000 31.6 741,900 19.9 204,400 16.72 1,890,400 286 422,860 0.22 1,060,000 10.92 71,900 2.95 82,000 6.73 38,600 10.1 3,617,400 6.18 44,000 10 700 1.78 960,000 11.54 2,407,600 66.9 89,580 6.3 309,100 310 10 4.67 270,000 4.42 27,000 2.5 334,000 13.58 1,189,200 4.6 4,000 0.143 170,000 1.23 109,000 144 2,264,190 2.1 1,813,000

21,141,970 24,106,598 136,660 695,960 176,930 1,689,720 10,620 84,133,419 69,419,016 26,334,605 79,496 24,300 77,880 421,490 2,333,234 530,154 41,339,180 26,666,498 14,978,228 7,122,407 215,111,478 51,860,692 4,803,082.50 1,956,950 341,030 36,627,590 402,910 76,459,198 176,101.50 6,627,164 6,220 23,402,280 4,066,064 31,600,480 121,617,756 232,030 782,804 242,380 260,108 36,363,206 270,992 7,000 1,700,100 27,847,134 6,007,395 1,959,908 3,100 1,263,610 119,550 842,870 16,172,544 18,400 24,310 132,660 329,778,495 3,807,720

3,725,930 56,906 -11,700 2,760 20,010 -19,434,205 -12,098,604 8,035,590 4,671,194 14,687,300 -7,746,230 -3,882,859 -116,977,338 -28,377,410 1,241,541.50 -308,790 3,270,570 21,557,024 797,569 3,089,555 1,962,146 -13,978,732 41,074,522 -12,726,244 129,106 231,150.50 528,985 -88,400 -43,600 9,519,134 -92,964,210 -172,700

0.35 75.7 17.08 1.09 6.92 0.395 0.395 1,055 8.47 16.4 7.65 1,220 7.99 78.5 5.2 0.86 5.8 18.5 0.405 6.94 0.055 1.48 2.21 102.2 950 0.88 1.45 297.6 0.275 0.192

0.345 75.45 16.64 1.05 6.73 0.38 0.38 1,041 8.4 15.98 7.5 1,205 7.88 77.25 5.1 0.84 5.67 17.52 0.405 6.78 0.053 1.28 2.17 101.5 925 0.86 1.43 282 0.275 0.192

HOLDING FIRMS 0.35 120,000 75.5 520,410 16.68 18,172,900 1.09 10,000 6.92 10,200 0.395 27,930,000 0.395 4,260,000 1,052 725,760 8.46 4,245,200 16.3 18,839,900 7.5 82,600 1,209 58,480 7.88 20,100 77.7 872,650 5.2 2,000 0.86 225,000 5.72 1,263,300 17.52 2,397,100 0.405 10,000 6.8 19,707,300 0.053 40,020,000 1.42 1,237,000 2.21 909,000 102 533,090 928 359,600 0.88 4,000 1.45 982,000 297.6 4,430 0.275 50,000 0.192 10,000

41,600 39,292,961 305,604,530 10,860 70,438 10,880,450 1,657,800 762,089,155 35,888,752 306,401,530 622,287 70,613,710 160,319 67,821,100 10,300 191,630 7,210,631 42,513,496 4,050 134,778,232 2,140,190 1,718,790 1,999,040 54,290,951 334,358,875 3,480 1,413,770 1,309,814 13,750 1,920

25,676,873 -45,343,754 135,250 455,619,395 -5,227,832 91,219,806 9,187,140 12,429,020 1,006,722 -2,012,710 -11,020,344 53,000 -22,080 11,755,664 79,399,810 -275,528 -

4.98 1.04 8.84 2.48 1.07 43.45 3.81 5.07 5.32 0.52 1.31 1.32 0.233 0.48 43 0.7 0.15 2.09 1.61 4.16 5.39 0.35 0.445

4.93 1 8.51 2.4 1.05 42.3 3.75 5.04 5.3 0.51 1.28 1.29 0.229 0.475 41.6 0.68 0.143 2.05 1.57 4.16 5.27 0.335 0.435

2,191,460 20,990,530 144,221 2,163,770 3,148,510 1,284,304,085 1,832,390 4,442,447 822,930 2,548,890 65,310 240,420 9,622,760 372,450 9,180,205 288,600 220,030 11,858,270 7,603,840 4,160 189,388,742 20,159,250 1,170,850

-2,043,080 204,000 -159,000 -364,012,500 460,860 16,448 256,530 -1,310 22,950 47,700 4,219,940 320 3,721,350 -73,640 -4,160 2,797,462 16,750 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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 PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PHILTRUST PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK VANTAGE

59.7 101.4 4.1 137 2.66 35.95 15.9 32.05 8.21 0.65 1.78 950 0.71 88 0.83 12.88 25 57.35 240 113 89.9 56 252 1,945 86.9 1.31

59.7 101.9 4.1 139.9 2.72 36 15.9 32.05 8.3 0.65 1.78 950 0.71 88.3 0.84 12.94 25 57.35 240 113 89.9 58.55 255 1,945 86.9 1.31

59.1 101.3 4.04 136.5 2.6 35.95 15.9 31.55 8.2 0.65 1.69 950 0.69 86.5 0.82 12.88 25 57.25 239 113 89.9 55.05 250.2 1,940 86.5 1.31

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

42.2 10.3 0.78 1.39 19.66 0.225 118 5.15 15.42 42.2 19.6 67.5 72 1.92 6.36 11.7 10.2 14.94 13.4 7.18 5.7 18.96 67.6 14.4 12.4 19.32 1.89 245 59.95 5.28 3.02 31.4 19.92 16.78 286 0.219 10.66 2.99 6.8 10.14 6.16 10 1.77 11.66 66.5 6.4 310 4.7 4.45 2.55 13.6 4.6 0.143 1.21 149.8 2.1

42.3 10.92 0.79 1.39 19.66 0.225 118 5.18 15.6 42.55 19.6 67.5 75 1.93 6.5 11.7 10.32 15.02 13.6 7.19 5.75 18.98 67.6 15 12.44 19.76 1.9 246.6 60.6 5.33 3.2 31.6 20 16.92 289.2 0.22 10.98 2.99 6.8 10.2 6.2 10 1.78 11.68 68 6.5 310 4.7 4.45 2.56 13.7 4.6 0.143 1.23 150 2.12

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 KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS

0.35 75.5 16.7 1.05 6.9 0.39 0.39 1,050 8.47 16 7.65 1,217 7.91 78.5 5.1 0.86 5.78 18.5 0.405 6.88 0.055 1.38 2.17 102 947.5 0.86 1.43 282 0.275 0.192

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

4.96 1.04 8.51 2.48 1.05 43.45 3.76 5.06 5.31 0.51 1.28 1.3 0.232 0.475 41.85 0.68 0.145 2.06 1.57 4.16 5.29 0.345 0.435

VOLUME

NAME

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 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

0.47 6.51 26.35 1.81 3.18 34.7 1.06 0.89 6.26

0.48 7.01 27.1 1.83 3.18 35 1.06 0.89 6.26

0.47 6.23 26.35 1.81 3.18 34.6 1.05 0.89 6.1

0.475 7 26.75 1.83 3.18 34.9 1.06 0.89 6.1

1,250,000 7,207,500 3,201,700 127,000 100,000 7,671,800 555,000 687,000 3,116,200

593,350 48,633,442 85,591,420 231,280 318,000 267,674,800 584,600 611,430 19,116,410

400 -872,521 41,831,085 229,450 43,112,990 610,540 -3,258,989

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR CHELSEA DFNN INC FAR EASTERN U 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 PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

19.86 40.55 1.67 0.56 0.053 11.5 10.48 0.072 109.1 9 9.7 7.88 960 2,078 6.08 19.1 2.47 2.88 106 11.86 8.39 0.158 1.35 3.19 15.8 4.16 1.3 17.02 0.56 2.83 7.46 4.25 17.2 2.37 11.06 5.09 170 9.54 1,714 1.5 0.405 53.95 101 6.12 4.15 1.63 4.18 1.14 8.36

19.9 40.55 1.7 0.57 0.056 11.5 10.5 0.073 110.9 9 9.73 7.88 960 2,118 6.08 19.5 2.58 2.88 107.5 11.86 8.4 0.16 1.35 3.23 15.8 4.2 1.3 17.3 0.68 2.9 7.65 4.26 17.22 2.37 11.06 5.09 178 9.54 1,714 1.51 0.405 54 101.5 6.15 4.19 1.64 4.46 1.16 8.36

19.64 40.3 1.67 0.56 0.052 11 10.18 0.071 108 9 9.56 7.8 960 2,074 6.01 18.2 2.36 2.85 103.8 11.86 8.39 0.158 1.35 3.19 15.78 4 1.26 16.52 0.55 2.8 7.45 4.23 17.2 2.3 11.06 5.05 165 9.37 1,690 1.5 0.395 53.1 97.75 6.12 4.1 1.56 4.18 1.13 8.19

SERVICES 19.9 40.3 1.7 0.56 0.054 11 10.2 0.072 110.9 9 9.56 7.8 960 2,118 6.01 19.5 2.54 2.85 104.4 11.86 8.4 0.16 1.35 3.23 15.8 4.09 1.29 17 0.65 2.9 7.5 4.25 17.22 2.31 11.06 5.05 170 9.37 1,690 1.5 0.395 53.8 98 6.15 4.1 1.61 4.39 1.16 8.19

89,500 90,800 232,000 1,640,000 147,030,000 700 11,887,400 6,800,000 241,750 4,000 2,586,200 107,600 20 49,525 710,100 316,300 3,654,000 73,000 521,270 100 286,200 1,160,000 15,000 83,000 700 1,868,000 164,000 5,329,700 1,841,000 288,000 1,118,200 354,000 500 928,000 500 1,100 3,150 650,900 67,275 7,895,000 660,000 1,834,700 2,391,150 32,200 1,129,000 11,316,000 10,348,000 4,985,000 3,696,400

1,768,624 3,669,110 388,630 928,900 7,971,850 7,750 122,091,270 493,000 26,485,164 36,000 24,850,489 847,312 19,200 103,796,750 4,275,518 6,135,186 9,062,060 209,420 54,945,529 1,186 2,401,250 183,860 20,250 265,780 11,058 7,631,980 211,640 90,601,764 1,172,590 820,090 8,413,896 1,503,790 8,602 2,154,220 5,530 5,579 544,470 6,109,451 114,469,565 11,850,440 261,850 98,571,640 235,419,259 197,598 4,648,700 18,130,340 45,042,450 5,695,200 30,454,516

-167,090 2,700 -36,500,148 3,752,920 755,742 51,050,730 -97,500 117,000 10,198,563 -48,000 631,000 16,343,604.00 1,717,025 -12,710 143,220 -163,970 189,000.00 13,256,480 -3,723,180 -25,754,111 -37,699,756 82,410 478,770 6,503,650 -3,110,620.00 -347,150.00 -3,423,364

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

0.0026 1.83 4.95 15.1 1.88 1.59 0.385 8.38 2.65 0.265 0.181 0.196 0.01 0.011 1.9 6.89 1.74 0.51 1.03 0.012 0.013 0.012 2.64 8.23 8.65 45.25

0.0026 1.85 5 16.46 1.88 1.62 0.39 8.61 2.69 0.265 0.182 0.201 0.01 0.011 1.9 6.93 1.74 0.53 1.03 0.013 0.013 0.012 2.64 8.23 9 46.2

0.0025 1.81 4.9 15 1.88 1.58 0.385 8.15 2.64 0.255 0.18 0.196 0.01 0.011 1.88 6.65 1.68 0.51 1.01 0.012 0.013 0.011 2.51 7.99 8.5 44.9

MINING & OIL 0.0025 50,000,000 1.83 11,308,000 4.98 428,000 16.46 2,200 1.88 6,000 1.6 2,971,000 0.39 210,000 8.58 58,200 2.65 1,774,000 0.26 50,000 0.181 5,610,000 0.201 130,000 0.01 100,000 0.011 500,000 1.88 421,000 6.68 2,886,200 1.73 21,000 0.53 315,000 1.01 218,000 0.013 2,900,000 0.013 10,300,000 0.012 21,700,000 2.51 19,000 8 1,954,200 8.76 8,568,500 45.15 2,242,100

127,100 20,651,320 2,098,980 33,294 11,280 4,760,020 81,450 479,097 4,721,550 12,900 1,015,690 25,730 1,000 5,500 793,100 19,448,624 35,640 160,950 221,740 35,700 133,900 239,300 47,950 15,662,644 75,396,301 101,708,005

-52,600 -24,520 -11,280 32,200 1,068,460 0 5,238,273 -11,000 -4,491,109 1,476,861 30,035,345

PREFERRED ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

40.3 539.5 530 107.5 107 5.75 1,040 1,035 1.06 1,016 112.8 75.6 81.2 76 81 79 78.5 80.1

40.3 539.5 530 107.5 107 5.75 1,040 1,035 1.06 1,016 112.8 75.6 81.3 76 81 79 78.7 80.1

39.9 539.5 530 107.5 106.4 5.75 1,040 1,035 1.06 1,016 112.8 75.5 81.2 76 81 76.5 78.5 80

39.9 539.5 530 107.5 106.4 5.75 1,040 1,035 1.06 1,016 112.8 75.5 81.25 76 81 77.1 78.7 80

2,661,705 1,138,345 31,800 795,500 20,235 4,496,500 2,080,000 476,100 210,940 203,200 22,560 762,842 12,944,854 1,748,000 542,700 1,419,600 3,964,350 14,400,190

-928,075.00 -4,450,500 -101,600 -144,960 -1,748,000 -

LR WARRANT

2.41

2.49

2.37

WARRANTS 2.37 426,000

1,020,850

-

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

5.29 4.8 5.7

5.31 4.8 5.7

4.8 4.61 5.61

5.28 4.7 5.68

11,548,257 57,000 1,491,699

15,066

FIRST METRO ETF

127.4

127.5

126.5

372,423

-76,200

USD DMPL A1

10.9

10.9

10.9

19,947

-

MS

PROPERTY 4.95 1.04 8.84 2.4 1.05 42.5 3.78 5.05 5.3 0.51 1.31 1.29 0.23 0.48 41.6 0.7 0.146 2.07 1.6 4.16 5.39 0.335 0.435

443,000 20,536,000 16,900 887,000 2,974,000 30,088,900 486,000 880,000 155,100 4,945,000 51,000 185,000 41,770,000 780,000 219,500 421,000 1,530,000 5,735,000 4,771,000 1,000 35,427,500 59,150,000 2,670,000

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

12,022,283

INDUSTRIAL

105,370,717

HOLDING FIRMS

144,185,924

PROPERTY

239,175,532

SERVICES

265,733,979

MINING & OIL

125,089,627

GRAND TOTAL

894,071,853

SME

66,300 2,110 60 7,400 190 782,000 2,000 460 199,000 200 200 10,100 159,320 23,000 6,700 18,300 50,500 180,000

2,214,600 12,000 263,500

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 127 2,930 10.9

DDS

1,830

VALUE 2,027.67 (up) 10.61 952,192,242.25 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,967.48 (down) 129.60 2,011,552,486.62 HOLDING FIRMS 8,587.15 (down) 39.13 2,380,462,261.26 PROPERTY 3,856.96 (down) 12.22 1,729.76 (down) 15.89 2,043,174,620.56 SERVICES MINING & OIL 13,733.64 (down) 113.19 3,978,634,876.802 PSEI 8,358.47 (down) 39.57 247,975,404.038 All Shares Index 4,907.88 (down) 14.83 11,627,465,187.28 Gainers: 90; Losers: 97; Unchanged: 56; Total: 243

DMCI Holdings Inc., which has interests in coal mining, power generation, construction and water distribution, gained 3.8 percent to P16.30, while BDO Unibank Inc., the largest bank in terms of assets, rallied 2.5 percent to P139.90.

Japan’s main stock index, meanwhile, finished at its highest in more than two decades on Wednesday, leading broad gains across Asian equities following another record Wall Street close.

The rally came as the euro extended gains after Catalonia’s leader stepped back from the brink in a standoff with Spain over independence, though analysts warned of uncertainty in one of the eurozone’s biggest economies.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index finished the day 0.3 percent higher at 20,881.27―its best finish since December 1996, the year Prince Charles and Diana divorced, Bill Clinton won his second term as US president and Nintendo launched its Pokemon brand.

Japan’s corporates have enjoyed bumper profits and the economy is enjoying its best growth spurt for years, while equities have also been supported by a global rally that has seen Wall Street chalk up several record finishes in recent weeks.

Several other markets in the region are also sitting at multi-year highs, helped by hopes that US President Donald Trump’s proposed big-spending and tax-cutting promises will be implemented and fire up the world economy. With AFP

Robinsons falls 5% on share sale

By Jenniffer B. Austria SHARE price of Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., the retail holding company of the Gokongwei Group, fell five percent Wednesday to P98 per share on a report that an institutional investor sold 28.7 million shares worth P2.8 billion ($55 million).

RRHI senior vice president and chief strategy officer Bach Johann Sebastian in a text message confirmed that an institutional investor of the company unloaded the shares. No other details were available.

The undisclosed institutional investor sold 28.7 million RRHI shares, accounting for 2.1 percent of the company’s outstanding capital stock for P97.80 apiece. The price represents a five percent discount to the stock’s closing price of P103 per share Tuesday.

Share price of RRHI has been going up over the last two months, hitting an all-time high of P108.10 per share on Tuesday, on the positive outlook on the domestic retail industry.

The stock also rose after it was included the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange Index last on September 28 to replace Energy Development Corp.

RRHI reported a 12.8-percent increase in net income to P2.28 billion in the first half of the year .

Core net earnings, which excludes interest, equitized net earnings from the 40 percent stake in Robinsons Bank and unrealized foreign exchange effects, grew at a faster rate of 14.1 percent to P1.99 billion from P1.75 billion year-on-year.

First half consolidated net sales reached P53.5 billion, up 10.7 percent from P48.33 billion last year, brought about by stable same store sales growth (SSSG) and sales contribution of new outlets.

Business/World FDA feels the heat from Church group THERE’S big money to be earned in the manufacture and distribution of contraceptives in the Philippines.

For the religious and conservative sector, the stakes are higher when moral choices are pitted against any form of birth control.

The Food and Drugs Administration is forced do a balancing act to please both the prospective distributors of contraceptives in the Philippines following the enactment of the Reproductive Health Law, and their critics, presumably with the blessings of the powerful Church.

A non-governmental organization, which appears to have the backing of the Roman Catholic Church, is going all-out to cast doubt on the technical review being done by the Food and Drugs Administration on two contraceptives.

The FDA reevaluation of Implanon and Implanon NXT are being carried out in line with a Supreme Court resolution stopping the distribution of the two products until the agency have re-certified that they do not cause nor induce abortion. The SC issued the restraining order in response to the petition of a group calling itself the Alliance for the Family Philippines Inc. The group seems to be a political and influential one.

Its leadership, according to its website, includes prominent names in Metro Manila’s circle of elite families.

The group espouses the same advocacies that are currently championed by the Catholic Church—the war against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, divorce and others. Its president is a lady lawyer known for backing business interests that deal with regulatory authorities, especially the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The group’s headquarters is located in the enclave of Metro Manila’s wealthy families—Alabang. This sends signals to the FDA that the group has the wherewithal to carry out a long battle to permanently stop the government from distributing the two contraceptive products in question.

The Supreme Court’s restraining order attests to the influence that ALFI has. Based on its posts in its website, the group has recruited a former SC justice in its bid to derail the FDA re-certification process. Securing a TRO from the High Court alone is an initial indication of the group’s political mettle.

US-certified The two controversial contraceptives, meanwhile, have already been certified safe by the US government. The US FDA has one of the most rigid processes and standards in the world. Its methods and the certifications it issues for food and drug products are under perpetual scrutiny by the public and interest groups in the US. It may be reasonable to presume that the two contraceptives have passed through the eye of the needle when its manufacturer applied for product certification from the US FDA. We are not sure if these facts were made known to the SC when the petition to stop the two contraceptives were filed. If the High Court did, credit should be given to the ALFI for convincing the court to ignore established facts and adopt a position different from what other countries in the world had.

FDA led by director-general Nela Charade Puno should realize that her agency is up against a group that is wealthy and has the backing of the country’s top moral authority, the Church. It also has brilliant legal minds that know exactly how to bring the SC to its side.

ALFI claimed that the FDA has not been transparent in the conduct of the re-certification process for the two contraceptives in question.

Observers noted that ALFI wants to bring the issue away from the realm of science and into the arena of a legal-political debate. “We hope the sober voice of science is not drowned in the din of emotions triggered by political debates,” one industry observer said.

Given the credentials of ALFI’s front-liners, one would doubt if the FDA could generate much support for the science-based truth. Puno should also be warned that the current vilification efforts against the agency would invite so-called “piggy-backers.”

Sources say Puno is in the cross hairs of a multinational company that prominently figured when the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008 was still being deliberated in Congress. This powerful interest is reportedly piqued by moves initiated by the Department of Health to trigger the inclusion of more drug products in the list of medicines covered by the Cheaper Medicines Law. Pharmaceutical sources say the same group also lobbied heavily against Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial, who was rejected by the Commission on Appointments Tuesday. There are concerns that this interest may use the debate on the re-certification of the two contraceptives to get back at the FDA and neutralize the DoH. Puno’s battle and that of the FDA have just begun.

E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or extrastory2000@gmail.com

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Hunger traps Rohingya trying to flee Myanmar M AUNGDAW, Myanmar― Ahead is a river they can’t afford to cross, behind is hunger and hostility. So hundreds of Rohingya encamped on a black sand beach in Myanmar’s Maungdaw cling to thinning hopes of safe passage to Bangladesh―before their food runs out.

Thrust into a grim limbo by communal violence, women and children are among the desperate sheltering under plastic sheets from the blistering sun or late monsoon downpours on

Gaw Du Thar Ya beach, an area charred by violence.

The relative safety of Bangladesh lies tantalizingly close―just five kilometers across the Naf River that bisects the two countries.

But pincered by poverty, those massed on the beach are unable to afford the price for passage that has rocketed to upwards of $250.

“If we stay here we will starve. We have nothing,” Siru Bibu, a 45-year-old grandmother told AFP on a rare government-steered visit to the epicenter of the violence.

The majority of the Rohingya on the beach are from inland Buthidaung district, several days trek from the coast.

Some have waited for two weeks for a chance to board a boat, despite the dangers of

a river crossing that has seen scores of Rohingya drown as crowded vessels capsize in choppy waters.

All they have to eat is the rice they could carry, a cache that dwindles by the day.

Myanmar authorities have not been providing aid and are instead imploring them to return to their villages.

“We want to persuade them that they don’t have to leave the country,” said Kyaw Thint Swe, a minister for the office of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, adding that the displaced would be given food and security.

But Rohingya who have

made it to Bangladesh in recent days say returning to villages abutting ethnic Rakhine settlements is impossible as their erstwhile neighbors starve them out.

“The Rakhine Buddhists stopped us from leaving our village. They used to shoot at us when we reached the end of our villages,” 25-year-old Mohammed Nur said, from Balukhali refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar.

The exodus began in late August after raids by Rohingya militants were met with a Myanmar army campaign the UN says amounts to “ethnic cleansing.” AFP

US planes overfly Korean peninsula SEOUL―The US has flown two supersonic heavy bombers over the Korean peninsula in a show of force against Pyongyang, staging the first night-time joint aviation exercises with Japan and South Korea.

Two B-1B Lancers based in Guam flew a mission in the vicinity of the Sea of Japan late Tuesday, the US Pacific Air Forces said in a statement.

“Flying and training at night with our allies in a safe, effective manner is an important capability shared between the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea and hones the tactical prowess of each nations’ aviators,” Major Patrick Applegate said in a statement.

South Korean defense authorities on Wednesday said the bombers staged a simulated air-to-ground missile firing drill with two South Korean fighters over the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The four aircraft then flew across the peninsula and staged another round of a firing exercise over the Yellow Sea before the two B-IBs returned home, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

“This drill was part of a routine deployment training aimed at enhancing deterrence” against the North’s nuclear threats, the JCS said in a statement.

“Through the practice this time, South Korean and US air forces showed off the allies’ resolve for strong retaliation against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” it added.

AFP

PROTEST. A masked protester holds a smoke flair during a demonstration as part of a nationwide action day of French civil servants against the French government’s plans to freeze their pay and eliminate 120,000 public jobs on October 10, 2017, in Nantes, western France. Nine unions representing 5.4 million public workers joined together to call for a day of nationwide strikes and demonstrations to show their disagreement with Macron’s bid to transform the gargantuan public service. AFP

Disgraced producer Weinstein accused of rape LOS ANGELES―Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein faced claims Tuesday he raped an Italian film star and two other women, in a widening scandal that has drawn condemnation from across the film industry as well as America’s liberal political elite.

The women’s allegations against the 65-year-old movie mogul were made in an bombshell expose published by the New Yorker Tuesday.

Weinstein denies all charges, according to a statement from his spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister, circulated among US media.

But former President Barack Obama and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton have weighed in to condemn the Oscar-winning producer, a longtime Democratic Party donor who has become a political liability.

His wife, British fashion designer Georgina Chapman meanwhile told celebrity magazine People she was leaving Weinstein,

with whom she has two children.

The latest accusations are a hugely damaging escalation of the scandal. Previous

allegations which led to his weekend sacking from The Weinstein Company had so far been limited to complaints about harassment. AFP

GENERAL REHEARSAL. Italian Baritone Renato Dolcini and Belgian-Swiss soprano Chiara Skerath perform during the general rehearsal of ‘The Coronation of Poppaea’ (L’incoronazione di Poppea), an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi directed by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, and led by Moshe Leiser and Gianluca Capuano, on October 7, 2017 at the Angers-Nantes Opera in Nantes, western France. AFP

BoI used to be an awesome institution APART from a number of supplements in the major newspapers and a handful of luncheons and dinners attended by businessmen and current and past staffmembers, last week’s commemoration of the 50th birthday of the Board of Investments (BoI) elicited little attention and interest from the rest of the nation. But the situation would have been far different on October 5, 1967.

That was the day on which the agency created by the Investment Incentives Act of 1967 opened its doors for business in the Ayala Avenue building that stood where the Multinational Bancorporation Building now stands. The air was filled with excitement and great expectancy.

There were a number of reasons for that.

One was the fact that for the first time in the history of its economy this country was implementing legislation intended to rationalize investments—foreign and domestic—through the medium of fiscal and other economic incentives. Hitherto investing in the Philippines had been essentially a matter of go-whereyour-investment-fancy-takes-you, with the twin results of excessive productive capacity in some areas of the economy and inadequate productive capacity in areas deemed to be of high priority to Philippine economic development. The rationale

channeling of foreign and domestic investments was to be accomplished through the provision by the government of fiscal and other economic benefits to entrepreneurs who would invest in economic areas of high development significance.

This did not mean that entrepreneurs who wanted to invest in high-productive-capacity areas would no longer be allowed to do so; they could continue to do so, but they would obviously be operating at a disadvantage vis-à-vis investments that were registered with the BoI and carried the BoI’s blessing.

Every year the BoI drew up an Investment Priorities Plan (IPP)—this was later joined by an Export Priorities Plan (EPP)—that listed all the industrial activities that the BoI considered highly desirable, together with a novel concept called measured capacity. This was the BoI technical staff’s estimate of the individual-industry productive capacity that the Philippine economy needed for its sound, no-surpluses development.

In time the BoI’s annual IPP became the second most important economic blueprint in this country, second only to the General Appropriations Act (aka the national budget). Businessmen with investment plans strove to have their projects included in the measured capacity for an industry.

The reason was obvious: the award of all or a large part of a measured capacity to a project virtually assured its success, while non-award meant operating at a competitive disadvantage.

In due course the BoI established programs intended to rationalize investment in specific, big-ticket industries. All the programs were described by the adjective ‘progressive’; thus were established the Progressive Car Manufacturing Program (PCMP), the Progressive Truck Manufacturing Program (PTMP) and the Progressive Motorcycle Manufacturing Program (PMMP). An observer would have been perfectly correct if he came to believe that the Philippine economy was not at last on the way to rational, sustained development.

Another cause of the excitement that attended the BOI’s birthday was the powerhouse group of individuals that composed the original Board of Governors—Cesar Virata (whom President Marcos had wooed away from the University of the Philippines and SGV & Co.), Edgardo Tordesillas (a seasoned commercial banker), Caesar Lanuza (a veteran Tariff Commission negotiator) and Antonio Ayala (a US-trained economist).

The business community was impressed

by the first BOI leadership and as time progressed and one IPP followed another, Filipino and foreign businessmen came to believe that the nation’s new investment policy was being administered by a group of highly competent, honest and fairminded individuals. When Mr. Virata left the BoI to become Secretary of Finance, he was succeeded by a man who the business community regarded highly: Vicente Paterno, the Harvard-educated former Manila Electric Co. general manager.

Because it was largely associated with the regime of President Marcos, the BOI was clipped of its wings, and deprived of its clout, when the Edsa Revolution broke out and the Aquino administration came into power. More and more the BoI moved to the sidelines of economic (and especially industrial) policymaking.

Yes, the BoI was once an awesome institution run by awesome individuals who produced awesome policies and regulations. Those were truly halcyon days.

The words of the Barbra Streisand ballad are applicable here. “Some good things never last.”

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

Tourist cops for Tomas Morato area tapped

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

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

By Rio N. Araja

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

LOCAL HEALTH PACT. Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. or AC Health has announced plans to continue investments in the healthcare space, including future investments

in hospitals, financing, and health technology, alongside its aggressive expansion plans for Generika drugstores, and FamilyDOC primary care clinics. In February, the firm also invested in MedGrocer, a local start-up operating an FDA-licensed online pharmacy, that has provided medicines and vaccinations to over 24,000 people. Present at the press briefing in Makati were (from left) Jerome Uy, founder and CEO of MedGrocer; Raymund Darroca, general manager of FamilyDOC; Paolo Borromeo, CEO of AC Health; and Jay Ferrer—vice president for operations of Generika. Manny Palmero

Adamson mum on Pangilinan mauling ADAMSON University has refused to cooperate with the National Bureau of Investigation in probing the mauling case against 16 Tau Gamma Phi fraternity members who are enrolled at the school, the parents of the victim—a grandson of Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan— said Wednesday.

NBI Agent Nelson Moreno served the subpoena to the university’s Office of Student Affairs, but the Adamson staff did not give him the addresses of the persons involved, nor allowed him and investigators to conduct an ocular on the crime scene, the Pangilinan family said.

“Sa labas naman nangyari yang pagbubugbog at di naman dito sa school [The beating happened outside the school],” said one staff of the Adamson Student Affairs Office, who refused to be named.

Moreno was also set to meet the school’s legal counsel, lawyer Jan Nelin Navallasca, on Tuesday, but the latter was not available. The Student Affairs Office said they will course the issue through their legal department.

On Aug. 7, Robert Louis Pangilinan was mauled by the frat members who accused the victim of leaking some incriminating photos.

The young Pangilinan said he was repeatedly punched and slapped, and blacked out once. He was also hit with a phone that injured his eye. Robert feared for his life as the frat members carried bladed weapons, his family said.

QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista on Wednesday ordered the creation of a tourist police unit at the Tomas Morato district to promote police visibility and ensure the safety of visitors in the area.

At least 10 operatives from the Quezon City Police District’s Station 10 shall constitute the tourist police unit, Bautista said.

The station commander, Supt. Christian dela Cruz, said police personnel assigned to the unit will also be provided with bikes for patrol and visibility purposes.

Dela Cruz assured the public that the number of police personnel in the area may increase in the coming days, especially during the holiday season, as theft, physical injuries and crimes against properties are likely to increase then.

Creating a tourist police unit at Tomas Morato is part of Bautista’s effort to transform the South Triangle area into a major city tourism district.

Bautista said the area’s redevelopment plan will be unveiled on Friday for the provision of the sidewalk improvement, opening of bike lanes and installation of an organized parking zone.

For sidewalk improvement, the 2.3-kilometer stretch of pedestrian walk along Tomas Morato running from E. Rodriguez Avenue to Eugenio Lopez Drive will be paved with stamped concrete to provide a more walkable environment for pedestrians.

Subic eyes infra funds

By Butch Gunio

S

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority will ask the national government for funds for major infrastructure projects planned for implementation here starting next year.

SBMA Chairperson and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the funds would help fix two crucial accesses to the premier free port.

“The first order of business is the repair of the

Alava Pier and the construction of a new Magsaysay Bridge, which leads to the Subic Freeport main gate,” Eisma said.

“I have asked Finance officials to consider the

release of funds for Subic as an investment for the national government, because the SBMA would be giving back bigger remittances to the national treasury once these projects are completed,” she added.

The projects are estimated to cost a combined P2.84 billion, with the repair of Alava and other piers in Subic eating up P2.45 billion.

“We need to prioritize these infrastructure projects since they will further push

the Subic Freeport’s business potential,” Eisma said.

It would be the first time in many years that the SBMA would request for a national allocation as it has been operating as a self-sufficient government agency for at least a decade, the freeport chief said.

“But it can be done, and I know how to get it done,” Eisma said.

The SBMA would channel its own funds instead to other projects meant to enhance se-

curity in the freeport.

Eisma, who attended the Asia Cruise Forum Jeju in South Korea last month where she had a discussion with cruise ship firms, said the reason why large cruise ships were unable to visit the Freeport is that its port is already silted.

“Alava Pier is badly in need of dredging, since large ships such as US aircraft carriers can no longer dock there. Aside from that, the pier posts there have al-

IN BRIEF

NEW FAMILY PLACE.

QC looks to buy lot for police station

Lamp Quarters, which bills itself as ‘a new food and retail destination where family and friends enjoy and have a great time’ in Marikina City opened its doors on Friday.

Featuring at least seven up-and-coming restaurants, Lamp Quarters is located on Gil Fernando St., Centro de Buenviaje, Sto. Nino, Marikina.

Teddy Pelaez

Korean firm, local builder team up for P2.3b Clark Hill estate CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga—A global construction company and a tourism developer broke ground Wednesday on a P2.3-billion tourism estate inside the former American air force base here.

Called The Clark Hill, the estate will be built on

ready deteriorated and need replacement,” she said.

The repair of Subic piers would complement the Duterte government’s “Build Build Build” program, which includes the construction of the proposed Subic-Clark Cargo Railway that will ease the transfer of cargo container from vessels docked in Subic to the nearby Clark Freeport and other destinations in Central and Northern Luzon, Eisma said.

2.3 hectares and is a combination high-end residential complex and resort.

A statement released by the Clark Development Corp. said the tourism estate will be finished in 2020.

The project is joint venture between POSCO Engineering and Construction Co.

Ltd based in South Korea and local construction firm JB Cresta Corp., which created the Sharp Clark Hills Corp. to undertake the project.

Clark Hill includes stateof-the-art and premium residential houses, five high-rise condominium buildings with a total of

508 units, resort and support amenities like clubhouse, swimming pools, gym, and spa, and other related facilities.

The project will employ about 500 local construction workers and 120 regular workers during its initial operation, the CDC said.

POSCO Engineering has built many projects in South Korea, including the Songdo International Business District there, and the North An Khanh New City of Vietnam. JB Cresto is a tourist and leisure developer based in the Freeport since 2007.

Navotas awards 11 art scholarships

DENTAL MISSION. The members of the Philippine Army’s 564th Engineer Contraction

Battalion 51E recently held a free medical and dental mission at Barangay Abo in Nagcarlan, Laguna. In photo are (from left) Barangay Chairman Edgar Lucido, Lt. Col. Darwin Hernandez, Dr. Imelda B. Cendeña, TSG. Carmelo A. Ilaya, dzJV News and Public Affairs head Daniel Castro, SSG. Melvin P. Catequista, and Nagcarlan Vice Mayor Amie M. Hernandez. Roy Tomandao

THE City Government of Navotas has announced the names of “NavotaAs” scholars in five art categories.

Eleven Navoteño senior high and college students will now receive educational assistance from the city government after passing the scholarship screening conducted last September.

“We want to develop and hone the talents of the Navoteño youth, and we want to help them achieve their potential

through education,” Mayor John Rey Tiangco said.

The first batch of art scholars included Samantha Nicole Soria and Angelica Andan of Navotas National Science High School for creative writing; John Rufiel Aniceto of Philippine Normal University and Christine Angela Diaz of Kaunlaran High School for music; and Lord Ahzrin Bacalla of College of the Holy SpiritManila for visual arts.

Likewise granted scholarships were Gemma Patungan of San Roque National High School, Charls Maris Chua of Immaculate Conception Parochial School-Malabon, and Jaro Danielle De Leon of Navotas National High School for dance; and Micah Jackson of Governor Andres Pascual College, Restie Angelo Taruc of San Roque National High School, and Wilma Rasco of Navotas Polytechnic College for theater arts. Jun David

QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista is looking to acquire a private lot in Barangay Talipapa on which to put up a new police station.

The Quezon City Police District’s Station 3 will be relocated either to a 1,000-square meter lot along Quirino Highway or in a 2,833-sq.m. property on the corner of Mindanao Avenue and Sauyo Road.

District 2 Councilor Ranulfo Ludovica and District 3 Councilor Franz Pumaren authored City Resolution 7136, authorizing Bautista to negotiate the acquisition through negotiated sale of either parcel of land, identified as Lot 8-B-1-C, Block No. Psd-007404026801-D and Lot 526-A-2 Block LRA PSD-364070. Rio N. Araja

GenTri, Meralco ink partnership GENERAL TRIAS CITY —The General Trias City Government, led by Mayor Antonio “Ony” Ferrer, has signed a partnership with the Manila Electric Co. or Meralco for the Energizing Partnership Program for the city and a brighter tomorrow in simple rites at the city hall here.

Ferrer reiterated the importance of private-public partnerships to grow the local economy and help the local government to advance and improve the living conditions of the local folk. The GenTri LGU and Meralco “share the same mission to serve the people,” he said.

M

ENTION Rustan’s and three things automatically come to mind: high quality merchandise from the finest of local and imported brands; top-notch service that is the hallmark of Rustan’s customer care; and an incomparable, thoroughly delightful in-store experience.

Life SHOPPING

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

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EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY. ‘The Many Facets of Glecy Tantoco: Retail Extraordinaire’, exhibit dedicated to founders Gliceria Tantoco and Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., features the founder and the brand she built on its journey from inception to present time. This will be open for everyone to visit in Rustan’s Makati starting Sept. 14 and will travel to other Rustan’s Stores throughout the celebration.

65 Facets of Extraordinary,

65 Years of Rustan’s

From its well-curated product selection and impeccable offerings to its meticulously organized racks and displays, a multisensory treat lies in every Rustan’s store for even the most discerning of shoppers.

Indeed, the Philippines’ premier retail giant is all about living and loving the luminous, luxe lifestyle –and making it eas-

ily accessible to everyone else, too.

This year, Rustan’s, the brand that is well-loved by fashion aficionados and fans of the finer things, looks back on a history marked by magnificent milestones as it celebrates its 65th anniversary.

To kick-off the grand celebration, Rustan’s invited special guests and partners to Rustan’s Makati for an

evening of merriment. Those who attended the launch were able to get a preview of the special exhibit dedicated to the founders of the Rustan’s—Gliceria Tantoco and Bienvenido Tantoco Sr. The Many Facets of Glecy Tantoco: Retail Extraordinaire shows the founder and the brand she built on its journey from inception to present time.

From left: HSBC’s Jasmine Gonzales, HSBC’s Kris Werner, Ayala Corporation’s Fernando Zobel de Ayala, SSI Group Inc. President Anton Huang, Rustan Commercial Corporation Chairman Emeritus Amb. Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., Rustan Commercial Corporation Chairman and CEO Zenaida Tantoco, Sta. Elena Properties Executive Vice President and Rustan Supercenters Chairman of the Board Bienvenido ‘Rico’ Tantoco Jr., Rustan Commercial Corporation Member of the Board Maritess Tantoco Enriquez, Rustan Coffee Corporation Director of Store Development and Rustan’s Flower Shop President Menchu Tantoco Lopez, and HSBC’s Anya Katigbak Cajucom.

During the program, some members of the Tantoco Family were invited on stage to commemorate the celebration — SSI Group Inc. President Anton Huang, Rustan Commercial Corporation Chairman Emeritus Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., and Rustan Commercial Corporation Chairman and CEO Zenaida Tantoco, as well as Sta. Elena Properties Executive Vice President and Rustan Supercenters Chairman of the Board Bienvenido “Rico” Tantoco Jr., Rustan Commercial Corporation Member of the Board Maritess Tantoco Enriquez, and Rustan Coffee Corporation Director of Store Development and Rustan’s Flower Shop President Menchu Tantoco Lopez.

Joining them on stage were esteemed partners from HSBC and Ayala Corporation, namely Jasmine Gonzales, Kris Werner, and Anya Katigbak Cajucom.

Lastly, to end the program, the first leg of the Private Label Fashion Roadshow was staged during the event, highlighting some of the exclusive brands under Rustan’s such as Ricardo Preto, U by Ricardo Preto, Jill by Jojie Lloren, Criselda Lontok, Lady Rustan, Rustan’s Jr and Rustanette. These respected designers have created a specially crafted capsule collection featuring the beautiful Blue Sapphire — the regal shade that celebrates 65 years and the corporate color of Rustan’s Department Store.

It was indeed a celebration of elegance

and luxury, all in honor of the 65 extraordinary years of Rustan’s. But definitely, the festivities don’t end there, Rustan’s encourages everyone to visit the store and experience an entire world of festivities, with impressive promotions and awesome events, including an extraordinary raffle promo, promised to be as exciting as the momentous occasion, itself. A full list of happenings and designer deals are available online at www.rustans.com.ph

A prized treasure

Surely, the Rustan’s legacy will endure, as the extraordinary group of companies continues to endear itself to the Filipinos with its flair for the finest. The brand will continue to evolve, whilst staying true to its greatest treasure: the people it serves. As Gliceria R. Tantoco once put it, “Rustan’s has always geared every aspect of its operations to shoppers’ needs and expectations.

This basic retailing philosophy permeates every phase of corporate decision-making and puts Rustan’s in a unique position to set trends, especially in fashion retailing.”

With an illustrious past and a gleaming present, it is with eager anticipation that Rustan’s moves ever forward into a vibrant sapphire-hued future, continuously bringing world-class luxury to the Filipinos.

Rustan’s is located at Ayala Center Makati, Shangri-la Plaza, Alabang Town Center, Gateway Mall Araneta Center, and Ayala Center Cebu.

urbanAthletics gathers sneaker lovers at flagship store relaunch A LEADING street lifestyle retailer known for its meticulous selection of sneakers and apparel from the most sought-after sports brands, kicked off on a high note as it gathered top fashion bloggers and influencers from all over the metro to celebrate the re-opening of its flagship store in Greenbelt 3.

Bloggers and influencers who joined the urbanAthletics family at the launch were David Guison, Vina Guerrero, Cha Ocampo, Deegee Razon, Kerwin King, Bea Benedicto, Ida Anduyan, Gela Munoz, and Janeena Chan.

Other blogger-influencers who graced

the party were Chin Chin Obcena, Patrice Averilla, Kim Cruz, Katt Valdez, Rea Bue, Trish Ramos, Yuki Tansengco, and GMA rising star Lharby Policarpio.

All guests were treated to an evening of good food and good music as they toured the sneaker store’s new modern-industrial interiors and perused its well-curated selection of sneakers and apparel. Guests were also treated to a sneaker cleaning service by Crep Protect.

The relaunch party was a fashion show in its own sense as guests turned

the store into their own catwalk, readily posing for the cameras as they tried on a pair of sneakers after another until they found the ideal shoe for their style.

“The store redesign is part of the brand’s growing commitment to take the customer experience to the next level amid a constantly evolving sneaker market. We thank everyone who made this relaunch possible, especially our guests and all sneaker lovers who showed their support for this project,” said Toby Claudio, president of Quorum International Inc., the parent company of urbanAthletics

David Guison and Rea Bue have their sneakers cleaned by Crep Protect

Filipino bloggers and influencers gather during the re-opening of urbanAthletics’s flagship store at Greenbelt 3

GMA’s rising star Lharby Policarpio poses for the camera with his new pair of shoes from urbanAthletics and gift pack from Crep Protect.

Life

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

Luxury real estate redefined

L

UXURY and design were the topics of conversation when Filigree, the newest luxury real estate brand in the country, was formally introduced to a select group at The Enclave Alabang’s tropical modern clubhouse.

On hand to welcome the distinguished guests that evening—and to lead in the ceremonial toast—was no-less than Josephine Gotianun Yap, one of the top women leaders in the property industry today, who extolled the distinct values that make Filigree unique. “Filigree is my personal pride and joy, a venture that I am most proud of,” Yap beamed. “In creating Filigree, we were inspired by global trends in luxury developments, offering masterpieces that are of low-density, a result of a collaboration of experts—design minds, builders and craftsmen.”

Those world-class consultants – Bill Higgins of Architecture International, Juan Seriña, Jr. and Raymond Hernandez of H1 Architecture, Isabelle Miaja of Miaja Design Group, Armando Casibang of AECOM, Budji Layug and Royal Pineda of BUDJI+ROYAL Architecture+Design — were spotted in an intimate tête-à-tête following the

The artist’s perspective of Botanika Nature Residences main driveway shows the luxurious design of the property

sumptuous dinner with a special bespoke menu prepared by award-winning Chef Margarita Fores.

Filigree’s luxury property portfolio includes luxury high-rise developments such as The Beaufort at Bonifacio Global City; Bristol at Parkway Place and Botanika Nature Residences both at Filinvest City

Alabang; and The Enclave Alabang, the ultimate in low-density, subdivision living.

Simply put, Filigree sets out to be the gold standard in real estate today, forever changing not only the cityscape with its impressive developments but the whole upscale property sector as well.

Josephine Gotianun Yap, Filigree principal

The Noodle Makin’ Mania makes instant noodle strands perfect for little pasta and ramen lovers.

Little chefs can prepare simple snacks with Play Doh’s Shape ‘N Slice Set

Loads of prizes are at stake in PSBank’s Triple Combo Promo HERE’S great news for PSBank Online and PSBank Mobile App users.

PSBank has not only made banking simple and hassle-free for you. Now, banking through PSBank Online and PSBank Mobile App is rewarding you with the PSBank Triple Combo Promo.

Under the PSBank Triple Combo Promo, which runs until Oct. 16, PSBank Online and PSBank Mobile App users can get a chance to win loads of prizes in three promo categories:

Bake your own pies and muffins in Play Doh’s Magic Oven

Love to Lock promo You can earn a raffle entry by simply locking or unlocking your PSBank card or account using either PSBank Online or the PSBank Mobile App with the 15 winners receiving each a very relaxing spa treatment worth P3,000.

Play Doh Kitchen Creations Jr. Chef Competition

PayMe, Pay We promo Every successful PayMe transaction you make with a minimum amount of P500 entitles you to a raffle entry.

For this category, 25 PayMe pairs (reiPad Pro, Want Mo promo For every successful Bills Payment, questor and payor) can win back the Fund Transfer, and PayMe transaction actual value of their winning PayMe worth at least PP1,000 or a Telco Re- transaction or up to P1,000. load of P300, you will get one raffle Not enrolled in PSBank Online or entry. In this category, one winner will bring home a 10.5-inch iPad Pro PSBank Mobile? Simply visit its web(64gb), while 100 lucky winners will site to enroll your PSBank deposit, loans, and PSBank Prepaid Mastereach receive P500 Cash Credits. card accounts to PSBank Online and download the fully loaded PSBank Mobile App for free from Apple Store or Google Play.

All raffle winners will be drawn electronically on Oct. 27, 2017 at the PSBank Head Office in Makati City.

For details, call PSBank’s 24/7 Customer Experience Hotline at (02) 845-8888, visit any branch near you, or go to www.psbank.com. ph>Best Deals> Promos.

KIDS will have the chance to show their kitchen creativity and imagination with Toy Kingdom’s first ever Play Doh Kitchen Creations Junior Chef Competition at SM North Edsa, SM Southmall and SM Mall of Asia.

It’s never too early, after all, to learn to cook and bake, and kids can create their own version of dishes and desserts using the newest Play Doh Kitchen Creations collection. And it’s more fun with the Magic Oven Set, Sizzlin’ Stovetop Set, Noodle Makin’ Mania Set, Breakfast Bakery Set,

Frost ‘N Fun Cakes Set and Shape ‘N Slice Set. With just a minimum purchase of P500 worth Play Doh Kitchen Creations products from any Toy Kingdom store or Toy Kingdom Express outlet inside Metro Manila, kids aged 5 to 10 can already create their own “dessert” and submit their entries at Toy Kingdom’s shortsack website. To learn more about the contest mechanics visit ToyKingdomPH at Facebook.

Chosen candidates have the chance to

participate and compete in the elimination rounds.

Lucky winners will move on in the competition and will have the chance to be crowned as the first ever Play Doh Kitchen Creations Junior Chef at the Grand Finals at the Music Hall, SM Mall of Asia on Oct. 14.

Play Doh Kitchen Creations toys by Hasbro are now available at all Toy Kingdom Express outlets in The SM Store, as well as Toy Kingdom stores in most SM Supermalls. Visit www. toykingdom.ph for more updates.

BLIMS 40th anniversary sale BLIMS Fine Furniture, the most trusted furniture retailer in the industry, is turning home inspirations into reality with its 40th anniversary sale.

Enjoy 40 perent off on all featured collections, which include Tropic, Tempo, and Lush; 50 percent off on all featured mattresses with freebies; and 24 months with 0 percent interest on all regular priced six seater dining sets.

Get a limited edition BLIMS throw pillow blanket for a minimum purchase worth P30,000 in a single receipt.

For more information, go to blimsfurniture.com.ph or visit any BLIMS Fine Furniture branch.

Furniture retailer BLIMS Fine Furniture celebrates its anniversary with a sale

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

I

No Fury like a celebrity scorned

T’S one thing for reporters to ask celebrities about a few sensational tidbits—breakups, pregnancies, maybe some harmless gossip—to drum up interest for a simple promotional story; it’s another when they start asking questions that put the hapless star in a “bad light.”

Many famous personalities, from actor Robert De Niro to pop singer Justin Bieber, have had their share of cringe-worthy interviews that they’ve claimed to have made them feel upset.

While it’s sometimes unclear why celebrities go on an outburst or walk out of an interview, there have been instances when questions got way too personal or were just plain provocative.

Bad celebrity interviews offer a valuable lesson in prudence: the best questions are perceptive, not intrusive. Let’s take a look at a few awkward moments that stars had to endure due to an interview gone astray: Nicki Minaj Hip-hop diva Nicki Minaj shut down an interviewer after the latter suggested that the singer “thrived on drama.” The remark followed the “ghostwriting feud” between co-label Drake and now ex-boyfriend Meek Mill, as well as the growing tension between rappers Lil Wayne and Young Thug.

Minaj was not having it: “What

do the four men you just named have to do with me thriving off drama?” The furious songstress lashed out calling the interviewer “disrespectful” for “put(ting) down a woman for something that men do” before cutting the session short. The interviewer herself acknowledged her mistake: “Even though I had no intention of putting her down as a small-minded or a silly woman, she was right to call me out.”

Robert Downey Jr. A promotional interview for the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron went awry for Robert Downey Jr. when questions started plumbing into the superstar’s supposed “dark periods.”

The reporter cited Downey’s past interviews where the actor had opened up about his relationship with his father as well as his former bout with substance abuse. By then Downey looked quite distressed in his seat, but the interviewer went on: “I just wondered whether you think you’re free of all that, or whether that’s still something…”

Downey didn’t let him finish: “I’m sorry, what are we doing?”

He ended the interview abruptly then walked out saying, “It’s getting a little Diane Sawyer in here,” much to the reporter’s regret.

Cara Delevingne A morning show began an interview on a shaky note with British fashion model and rising star Cara Delevingne after introducing her as “Carla”— twice—during a promotional segment for the movie Paper Towns.

The awkward start got worse after one of the anchors asked her if she had been “too busy” to read the book before taking on the role. Delevingne initially responded with a bite of sarcasm:

“Uh, no I never read the book, or the script. I kind of winged it,” before saying she did read the book and thought it was amazing.

A second host then asked if she would have found it easier to focus if her schedule wasn’t so hectic. Visibly confused, the actress replied: “No, I don’t know where that comes from,” then saying “I love what I do . . .

I’ve wanted to do this since I was young, so it’s not too hard.”

Things soon fell south when the anchors blasted D e l e v i n g n e ’s attitude by saying she looked “more excited” in other interviews and seemed a little

“irritated,” eventually suggesting she “go take a little nap, maybe get a Red Bull.” In the actress words, that just went “too far.”

Balancing curiosity with tact Interviews need not be provocative to spark excitement. Celebrity news like Entertainment Tonight show how this is done by delivering the hottest scoop while maintaining a fun vibe to keep the atmosphere light and the story flowing.

For the latest on the today’s most talked-about celebrities, watch Entertainment Tonight first and exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment, Monday to F r i d a y, 8:30 p.m., express from the U.S.

"Entertainment Tonight" hosts Kevin Frazier and Nancy O'Dell

‘Tawag Ng Tanghalan’ winners are OPM’s new voices ORIGINAL Pilipino music gets a major boost as the respected Organisayon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM) welcomes 12 of the most talented “Tawag ng Tanghalan” singers with world-class voices.

After showcasing their talent and sharing their stories with viewers worldwide, “TNT” grand champion Noven Belleza, along with Eumee, Sam Mangubat, Marielle Montellano, Froilan Canlas, “TNT Divas” Gidget dela Llana, Rachel Gabreza, Pauline Agupitan, and Maricel Callo, and Jex de Castro, Lucky Robles, and Hazelyn Cascaño.

The “TNT” singers were formally inducted as members recently – a first time in the history of OPM – by its president, singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid.

Through their tunes and

Tawag Ng Tanghalan finalists inducted as new members of Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM)

live performance in different parts of the country, the “TNT” singers will continue to inspire every ordinary Filipino to reach their dreams, as well as bolster support for original Pilipino music and continue its legacy.

They will also add new

flavor to the Pinoy music scene through their voices and songs that will exhibit their individual uniqueness as artists.

One of the platforms they use to promote original Pilipino music is “TNT Versions” or “TNTV,” where fans and online

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Thursday, October 12, 2017

ACROSS 1 Cattail 5 Commandeer 10 Need an aspirin 14 “Garfield” dog 15 Cranny 16 Ballad writer 17 Metal strand 18 Champagne bottle 19 Animal skin 20 Grassland 22 Boa 24 Distinct periods 26 Postkindergarten 27 Clearness 30 “Arabian Nights” hero 34 Farm flapper 35 Harmful bacteria 38 Courtyards 39 Special knack 40 Radio parts 42 Invoice no.

43 Bete — 46 Benefit 48 Elf-sized 49 Magnate 51 Got a whiff 53 Tiny insect 55 Mammoth 56 Familiarize 60 Rigged the dice 64 Tien Shan range (var.)

65 City in New York 67 Manicurist’s tool 68 Roof angles 69 Kindled anew 70 Bahrain VIP 71 Junior-to-be 72 Bauer or Murphy 73 Author — Koontz DOWN 1 Loud arguments 2 Check manuscripts 3 Limerick locale 4 Further down 5 Ousted from power 6 Nurse a drink 7 Home of the Bruins 8 River to the North Sea 9 Blossom bits 10 Name for office 11 Film director Joel — 12 Had in one’s hands 13 Blues singer — James 21 Prudish person 23 “Wool” on clay sheep 25 Where

Damascus is 27 Recite mantras 28 Composer — Anderson 29 Prank 31 Noisy fight 32 Actress Anouk — 33 Old hat 36 NBA player 37 Use a machete 41 Make in imitation of 44 Mischievous 45 Ages upon ages 47 Toy-block brand

50 Temperament 52 Turned pages 54 Lugged 56 Sighs of relief 57 Ad award 58 Daisy Mae’s creator 59 Gentle 61 Pocket change 62 Charles Lamb 63 Bruce or Laura 66 Cato’s 102

viewers can enjoy the singers’ refreshing take on the most popular and iconic love songs.

Since June, the YouTube channel has already garnered thousands of subscribers and views. Some of the most viewed renditions are Eumee’s “Kahit Sandali” with 308,000 views, Jex’s “Someone’s Always Saying Goodbye” that hit 295,000 views, and Samuel’s “Sukob Na” with 251,000 views.

“TNT Versions” is just one of the fast-growing YouTube channels in the country under ABS-CBN’s multi-channel network Adober Studios, formerly called Chicken Pork Adobo.

It is one the digital initiatives of ABS-CBN, which is rapidly transitioning into an agile digital company with the biggest online presence among all media companies, and a growing list of digital properties.

ARCI MUÑOZ, JC SANTOS add ‘kilig’ to ‘Ikaw Lang Ang Iibigin’

Arci Muñoz and JC Santos join the cast of the KimErald-starrer late morning series, "Ikaw Lang Ang Iibigin"

MORNINGS are even brighter for viewers nationwide as Kapamilya stars Arci Muñoz and JC Santos join the cast of ABSCBN morning series Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin.

After their breakup, Gabriel (Gerald Anderson) and Bianca (Kim Chiu) face the new chapter of their lives with new people who will help them chase their dreams and change the course of their fate.

The show already introduced Alex (Arci), Gabriel’s free-spirited boss who has a determined heart to achieve her goals in life.

But aside from being a partner at work, she will also become Gabriel’s friend who will help him ease the pain of being away from the love of

his life.

Viewers also got to know JC’s character Percy, the president of the company where Bianca works for.

After an unpleasant first meeting, Bianca and Percy will grow closer together as they learn more about each other’s lives and struggles.

What role will Alex and Percy play in the lives of Gabriel and Bianca?

Meanwhile, the series still ruled its timeslot and won against its new rival show on Sep 25 and Sep 26. According to data from Kantar Media, the series garnered national TV ratings of 17.2 percent and 17.8 percent, respectively, compared to Lola’s the Beautiful Show’s 7.5 and 7.4 percent, respectively.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017

CONVERSATION with a K-pop star ISAH V. RED

W

E SAT down with Alexander Lee, the hotshot K-Pop star who stars now in a Filipino dramedy with a Korean touch, My Korean Jagiya.

We’re interested to know how he has been since he started taping scenes for the show in the Philippines with his Filipino co-stars and crew. The actor gladly answered our questions.

Former K-Pop idol and now "My Korean Jagiya" leading man Alexander Lee

Tawag winner ready for more challenges in life AFTER overcoming controversies, “Tawag ng Tanghalan” grand champion Noven Belleza is ready to leave the past behind, start his life over, and continue building a career in music.

“I want to thank, first of all, the Lord, my family, all the people who support me until now. I want to tell them that I’m very thankful for them and I fully understand my responsibilities to them,” he said.

“I have a lot of inspiration right now. First of all, your family will always be there for you, whatever problems you have, whenever you’re at your lowest and weakest.

There’s no one else you can run to but them. Second of all, my Novenatics,” said Noven.

More inspired than ever, Noven said he will use his experiences to give emotion to the music he will put out – a longtime dream that is now coming true.

The music video for Noven’s first-ever single “Tumahan Ka Na” shows the struggles of families of overseas Filipino workers and soldiers, as well as the brokenhearted. The single has performed well and has remained in radio charts for ten weeks now, peaking at number one.

Noven added that he intends to inspire people through his music in whatever they are going through.

“I think a lot of people will relate to my songs. It will empower those who feel mistreated. If you feel disheartened, my songs may motivate you and give you strength,” he said.

As a newbie in the industry,

Controversial "Tawag ng Tanghalan" grand winner Noven Belleza

Noven intends to sing timeless songs that will make a mark on the hearts of Filipinos, just like his idols did.

“I think many of us miss the old OPM. The songs by April Boy Regino, Martin Nievera, and Rockstar. They resonated and stayed with us. I want to bring them back,” he said.

This week, Star Music will release Noven’s debut album.

When asked about the most important lesson he learned after winning “Tawag ng Tanghalan,” he said, “Whether you are poor, ugly, or have a disability, it won’t hinder you from being successful if you have a dream. You will reach your dreams if you work hard and pray. But don’t just dream, you also have to do the work.”

Below are excerpts from our conversation with Alexander Lee. Any new Tagalog words you learned?

Yes! “Isuko mo ang Bataan.” (laughs) Do you know what that means?

Give me a flower. (laughs) Who taught you that?

It’s one of… it’s actually inside the script. So, the audience could expect me to say something very funny. Hugot.

What made you decide to sign with GMA? Working with them, from the beginning until now, everything’s so good. People here (are) so nice and the working environment (is) really good. So, I’m willing to stay here longer to work.

Koreans are supposed to serve in the military.

I don’t have to, ‘cause I was born in Hong Kong. It’s a very sensitive issue ‘cause a lot of you know, Korean-American. People are like, “you have to go to the military, blah blah blah.” Thank God, I was born in Hong Kong.

How many shows are you

FINGER HEART. (From left) Alexander Lee, Heart Evangelista, and Edgar Allan Guzman show some love to their Kapuso fans in a recent junket in Naga City supposed to do?

I’m happy ‘cause the contract is not too long and I see it as trust, you know. I work for trust and I believe that so far, they’re doing so good for me during this project, My Korean Jagiya. So, I’m sure it’s gonna be good after. But I have to learn Tagalog, that’s the thing I have to.

So you’re staying for a year?

Yeah. I have to.

You go to school. How many years do you still have?

I have two more semesters left.

I’m thinking, maybe if I have to stay here, maybe I’m thinking they might have an exchange program so I could just go to school here and work.

What’s course are you taking?

I am still undergrad actually.

Like the oldest senior in college. (laughs) But I’m doing double major. I don’t know why but, Media Communication and Business Administration. Yeah.

They have good (schools) in here.

‘Cause my school, the Korea University, I think it’s associated with some of the Philippine [University]. I have to check it.

Have you met all your fans?

I didn’t really have a fan meeting yet. But Yeah! Especially the Kapuso Brigade, they have a really close, you know they were close in front, there’s a time that there were those who were crying, (make sob sounds). And I was like, “whooa! I’m not Michael Jackson.” That only happens in

ATLANTIS Theatrical Entertainment Group is thrilled to announce the talented little wonders who will be starring in the critically acclaimed and award-winning musical, Matilda. As Matilda fans eagerly await the show, the kids who will be taking center stage are just as excited about the new roles in store for them.

Brimming with energy, the cast features three of theater’s youngest miracles to take on the title role: Telesa Marie “Esang” De Torres, Uma Naomi Martin, and Felicity Kyle Napuli. Esang’s notable works include ABS-CBN’s The Voice, (where she competed as a finalist for Team Lea) and her performance as Young Cosette in the Asian tour of Les Miserables. Uma, for her part, made her musical theater debut as Lottie in A Little Princess. Not to be outdone, Felicity was recognized as Outstanding Child Performer at the Gawad Musika Awards, and has already starred in a short film titled Duyan ng Alon.

Of course, the show would not be what it is if not for Matilda’s classmates, who team up with her to prove that “even if you’re little, you can do a lot.” To complete the magic, Matilda the Musical also showcases a bevy of wacky and charming characters played by an array of some of the most talented young performers to grace the Philippine stage. Out of nearly two hundred who auditioned, the talents selected to play the revolting children include Gabrielle Aerin Ong and Maria Ericka Peralejo as Lavender; Denise Fidel Arteta and Chi Chi Tan as Amanda; Nicole Chien and Ella Gonzalez as Alice; Alba Berenguer-Testa and Chantel Marie Guinid as Hortensia; Josh Nubla and Miguel Suarez as Bruce; Rhythm Alexander and Ian Albert Magallona

Michael Jackson’s. Like whoa, I was really glad. I mean, that’s how good to show me the kilig, that’s why I’m very, very happy about it.

And they gave me a lot of, like their specialties; like nuts, chocolates, a lot of food, I can’t name all of it.

They let me try different Filipino specialties, food.

The conversation went along fine, drifted to other topics, future project, stars he wants to work with on GMA and a lot other things.

Alexander is a good raconteur, if only he could speak English fluently or can speak passable Tagalog or Filipino.

But, the next time we’d meet him, he promised to speak Tagalog better. That would be the day, Alexander. *** Meanwhile, Philippine TV’s Sweetheart Heart EvangelistaEscudero made her Bicolano fans happy when the My Korean Jagiya lead star flew to Naga City to celebrate Peñafrancia Festival .

Heart, who plays Guadalupe Immaculada Asuncion or “Gia” in the first-ever Filipino-Korean romantic comedy series, was joined by the newest Kapuso oppa Alexander Lee who portrays Kim Jun Ho. Returning Kapuso actor Edgar Allan Guzman, who plays Ryan, added fun to the event.

Those who flocked to SM City Naga were treated to an evening of fun and kilig as cast went on stage to make the Kapusong

MATILDA’s

revolting children

"Matilda the Musical" showcases a bevy of charming characters played by some of the most talented young performers to grace the Philippine stage

Bicolanos’ celebration of this year’s Peñafrancia Festival extra special.

Showing their hospitality, Bicolanos in turn, warmly received Heart, Edgar, and Alexander— screaming their hearts out during the stars’ song and dance numbers.

Some fans even went to the venue with posters and placards confessing their love to their Kapuso idols.

Heart expressed her heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support they got from their fans— an estimated 20,000 crowd—in Naga City.

“Overwhelming,” shares Heart.

“Hindi ako makapaniwala na ganun ‘yung crowd and sobrang appreciative ko and grateful and I hope we can do more mall shows.”

Alexander was also touched by what he witnessed. “They [Bicolano crowd] were really welcoming and I was really happy.

You know when the crowd is good you also feel good like there was a mutual thing and I was very impressed because there were some fans who cried.”

“Nakakataba ng puso kasi solid ‘yung suporta nila sa show,” adds Edgar.

“As one of the country’s most popular and revered religious festivals, GMA Network is happy to be part once more of this year’s celebration of Peñafrancia Festival,” says Oliver Amoroso, Vice President and Head of GMA’s Regional TV Department.

as Eric; Pablo Miguel Palacpac and Gabo Tiongson as Nigel; and John Joseph Miraflores and Teddy Velasco as Tommy.

The cast members may be tiny, but they are big in spirit and talent With the combined talents of these kids, Matilda the Musical tells the story of a group of children who find themselves in a rotten situation with their cruel school headmistress Miss Trunchbull. They decide to take matters into their own hands and fight the injustices of childhood with their wit, bravery, and a whole lot of naughtiness.

Matilda and the gang inspire a little revolution that will change their destinies, with their battle cry being the words, “You mustn’t let a little thing like ‘little’ stop you!”, which rings especially true for the cast, whose months of hard work audiences will get to savor soon. With their high energy singing, dancing, and stomping in defiance, the show is sure to be a treat for children and adults alike.

Presented by Metrobank Card Corporation, Matilda The Musical will make its Philippine debut at the Meralco Theater on Nov.10 ans will run until the 10th of December this year.

Shows will be scheduled on Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays 2 p.m. and 8 p.m..

The show is recommended for children aged 7 and above (children under the age of 4 will not be permitted inside the theater).

Tickets ranging from P1,500 to P4,000 are now available at Ticketworld (call 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld. com.ph). For more information and complete show details, visit http:// atlantistheatrical.com/faq.