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Church: No part in ouster plot

35 SAINTS. Pope Francis celebrates Holy

Mass on October 15, 2017 at St. Peter’s Square, with canonizations of 35 new saints, including 30 martyrs murdered in Brazil in the 17th century by Dutch Calvinists, three Mexican teenagers who died in the 16th century, and Italian Capuchin Angelo d’Acri and the Spanish priest Faustino of the Incarnation. AFP

THE Catholic Church on Sunday denied it was part of efforts to destabilize the government, days after President Rodrigo Duterte warned that he would jail communists and establish a revolutionary government if his opponents—including the religious--tried to undermine his administration. “There is no goal to oust our President from ofﬁce or to undermine our President,” Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines public affairs committee said in Filipino over radio dzMM. “We strongly assert that the Catholic Church will not take steps to undermine the President. The public should not think that we are mounting a People Power, that the Church is heading a uprising,” he added. He said, however, that the Church could not support the killing of thousands of suspects in the government’s anti-drug war. Next page

Bombs rain on Marawi holdouts By Francisco Tuyay and AFP MARAWI—Government troops bombed militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group who have held out for over four months in Marawi City and the military said the conﬂict would be over “very soon”. The army previously set a target of Sunday to end the ﬁghting in Marawi,

which it said has killed more than 1,000 people. Troops have missed previous deadlines to flush out the militants, whom authorities said intended to establish a local IS caliphate. On Sunday FA-50 fighter jets flew over Marawi as soldiers fought the militants house-to-house in an area which Next page

VOL. XXXI • NO. 244 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Strike linked to destab Du30 counsel may ask Transport protest looms; Palace suspends classes, work HE Palace has suspended work SC to stop wealth probe in government offices and classes By Bill Casas A MALACANANG official said Sunday he was reviewing the possibility of asking the Supreme Court to stop the investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman on the alleged hidden wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte. Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo told dzBB radio that Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang violated the law when he revealed that they would be investigating the President on his alleged hidden wealth.

Panelo insisted that Duterte had already executed a bank secrecy waiver that he said proved that his alleged multi-billionpeso wealth did not exist. “Pupunta kami sa Korte Suprema para patigilin sila,” Panelo said. “Alam mo ang nire-react ng Presidente kasi itong si Carandang, kasi ... lumabag siya sa ating batas. Ang batas kasi hindi ka pupwedeng maglabas ng mga investigatory records ‘pag meron kang iniimbestiga, kasi sisirain mo yung chance ng respondent

The Ofﬁce of the Executive Secretary said Oct. 17, Tuesday, was not included in the suspension order, and said work in the private sector was subject to the discretion of employers. The Supreme Court has also suspended work in all courts nationwide.

in all levels of public and private schools nationwide on Monday, Oct. 16, at the start of a two-day transport strike that some ofﬁcials said were aimed at destabilizing the administration.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the suspension of work and classes was aimed at minimizing public inconvenience arising from the planned nationwide transportation strike, which has been called to protest a modernization program that would phase out old

Missing P1k: Drilon dared to come up with proof

after the House of Representatives voted to impeach the Comelec chief. The “legal consequence” of accepting Bautista’s resignation is that he can be

JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Sunday challenged Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to present evidence showing that there is “deliberate attempt” to save former Immigration commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles from plunder. This was after it was revealed during the Senate budget deliberations last week that the bribe money recovered from Argosino and Robles was short of P1,000 to constitute a plunder case, which requires at least P50 million. In a radio dzBB interview, Aguirre shrugged off Drilon’s observation that the moves to spare Argosino

Sara still at it, trains gun on Rody’s critics, ‘Tindig’ By Bill Casas and Macon RamosAraneta THE daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, on Sunday blasted groups who criticized her father, after he threatened to set up a revolutionary government in the face of threats of destabilization. “Power grabbers have made their point, made their presence felt, caught our attention, and we know who

they are,” said Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in a statement released Sunday. “The threat of destabilization is as real as terrorism.” The group Tindig Pilipinas called President Duterte paranoid and insecure in reaction to his statement about setting up a revolutionary government. The mayor dismissed the statement. “How can he insecure when he is the President? Next page

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jeepneys and compel drivers to buy newer, more expensive models. But the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said Sunday it received reports that the transportation strike is meant to destabilize the government.” Next page

FINAL PUSH. Government troops conduct clearing operation in the front line as they make their final push on Sunday October 15, 2017 to liberate the war-torn area from IS-allied jihadists in Marawi City. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., deputy commander of Joint Task Group Ranao said three soldiers were killed in combat while 20 more soldiers, including a battalion commander, were wounded as they tried to retake a portion of this city still in the hands of Maute and Abu Sayyaf gunmen. Mark Navales

As Bautista quits, Palace rules out impeachment trial By Bill Casas THE Palace said Sunday there is no need for Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista to go through an impeach-

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ment trial because President Rodrigo Duterte has already accepted his resignation. “The goal of impeachment is to remove an ofﬁcial from ofﬁce, but if the President has approved his resigna-

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tion, there will no longer be an ofﬁcial to remove,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said in Filipino on radio dzBB. Duterte on Friday accepted Bautista’s resignation

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

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Teens’ slaying no EJK, but common crime—DoJ J USTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Sunday the killing of teenagers Kian Delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo De Guzman could not be considered extra-judicial killings but common crimes.

He said the circumstances of the deaths of the three were not covered by the deﬁnition of EJK under an administrative order creating an inter-agency committee to investigate such incidents. In other developments: • Senator Bam Aquino on Sunday expressed support for the move to strip the Philippine National Police of the P900-million Oplan Tokhang budget and give it to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency as

the lead agency in the war against illegal drugs. “The budget allotted for the PNP’s Oplan Tokhang must be stripped and realigned to the new lead agency on the ﬁght against illegal drugs,” said Aquino, vice chairman of the committee on ﬁnance. “We are supporting the plan of the Senate to transfer the said funds to PDEA,” Aquino said. • Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, head of

Bombs...

Brawner said. The insurgents have withstood a relentless US-backed bombing campaign and intense ground battles with troops that have left large parts of Marawi resembling devastated cities in war-torn Syria and Iraq. Military commanders last week set a target of Oct.15 to end the ﬁghting and President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said the battle was “almost over.” Twenty soldiers were wounded on Saturday in a sign troops were pushing hard to end the battle, Brawner said. He said 40 militants re-

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has now shrunk to about two hectares, a military spokesman said. “We are hoping that we will end this Marawi siege very soon,” Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the task force battling the Maute group militants, told reporters. The Maute group gunmen overran occupied parts of Marawi, the country’s Islamic capital, on May 23. Since then 822 militants, 162 government forces and 47 civilians have been killed,

Missing...

Sara...

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and Robles were intentional. “’Yan ang kwan ni Drilon, pero magpresenta siya [ng ebidensya], hindi yung puro speculations siya,” he said. Drilon had questioned why Argosino and Robles were not charged with plunder over the bribe money they allegedly received from gambling tycoon Jack Lam. During deliberations on the Department of Justice’s budget hearing Tuesday night, it was disclosed that the money recovered only amounted to P49,999,000. Aguirre said it might have been a mistake on the part of the bank or other factors that the bribe money was short of P1,000. “Ewan ko kung naranasan niyo na yan, but kapag yan ay milyon-milyon, daang libo na wini-withdraw mo sa bangko, nagkakaroon talaga yan minsan ng kulang, minsan sobra,” he said. “Sa P50 million, hindi malayong pwedeng mangyari na may nagbawas diyan doon pa lang sa bangko kasi galing yan sa casino e.” Aguirre insisted that he could not have reduced the amount of the bribe money himself. “Pwedeng nagbawas na, pagkakamali ang bangko, pagkakamali ng casino o kaya may nagbawas along the way. Pero kung sasabihin mo na ako ang nagbawas... kalokohan yan. Magpresinta sila ng ebidensya,” he said. Aguirre said there was video footage of their accounting of the bribe money. “Kaya hinahamon ko ang senador na yan. Magimbestiga ka ulit, Drilon, kung gusto at yan ay haharapin ko. Hindi yung dadaanan n’yo sa innuendos,” he said. “Yan ang mahirap diyan sa ibang senador e. Na porke nasa Senado sila, akala nila ay hindi sila magkakamali. Pero hindi ko sila aatrasan kapag ako ang nasa tama.”

When you are the President, there is nothing that will make you feel insecure — not survey results or a person like [Senator Antonio] Trillanes [IV] or a powerhungry group called Tindig Pilipinas,” she said. She added that all the President’s destabilization claims are from intel reports and reliable source from inside the offices of the people identified with the opposition. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar also tore into Tindig Pilipinas. “Tindig is spreading lies to push a selfish agenda but this will not weaken the resolve of the President to carry out what he promised to do. Reduce crime and corruption, provide better services for the poorest of our people, and raise the country’s international reputation by showing it cannot be cowed into accepting agreements against its best interests,” Andanar said in a statement.

As Bautista... From A1

replaced anytime even though his resignation will be effective by the end of the year, Panelo said. “Bautista said it just the other day, I will leave it to the judgement of the President,” Panelo said. The Senate, sitting as an impeachment tribunal, may begin its trial of Bautista by the last week of November, Majority Leader Vicente

Du30... From A1

to a fair trial, nakasisira ka ng imahen.” Panelo said the Ombudsman could not sue a sitting President due to his immunity, though it might affect his efﬁciency in doing his duties. He cited the doctrine on

the House committee on dangerous drugs, said the critics of President Rodrigo Duterte must not blame him for his war on drugs. The President’s detractors should give him the benefit of the doubt and to look at the whole picture objectively, he said. “In the first place, way before the President took office, the drug menace was already spiraling out of control. He alone had the guts to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and declare an all-out war against the problem,” Barbers said. In an interview over dzBB radio interview on Sunday, Aguirre cited the operational definition of EJK under Administrative Order 35 series of 2012, where “the victim was a member of, or affiliated with an organization to

include political, environmental, agrarian, labor or similar causes; or an advocate of above-named causes; or a media practitioner or person(s) apparently mistaken or identified to be so.” “Sila Kian Delos Santos ba, sila Carl Arnaiz at si Kulot, sila ba ay members ng media, sila ba ay members ng cultural minorities? Hindi. Kaya hindi sila pwedeng pumasok sa definition ng EJK,” Aguirre said. Instead, Aguirre said, the killing of the three tcould be considered common crimes and not EJKs, just like what happened during martial law at the time of President Ferdinand Marcos. Aguirre took a swipe at the critics who supposedly wanted to change the definition of EJK, if only to further put a bad

rap on the Rodrigo Duterte administration and its campaign against illegal drugs. “Why change the rules in the middle of the game? Isa lang ang purpose nila, gusto nilang pasamain ang Duterte administration at gusto nilang papasukin yan sa EJK,” he said. Malacañang had used the same deﬁnition to justify the Philippine National Police’s report that there is no EJK under the present administration. “The PNP’s statement that there is no case of extrajudicial killing under the Duterte Administration is based on the operational guidelines stated in Administrative Order (AO) 35,” Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement on Oct. 7. Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rio N. Araja

mained in the conﬂict area including leaders Isnilon Hapilon, who is on America’s list of most wanted terrorists with a $5 million bounty, and Omar Maute, whose group had pledged allegiance to IS. Hapilon is said to be the emir of ISIS in Southeast Asia. The ﬁghting in Marawi started May 23 when government forces tried to arrest Hapilon. The military earlier said the other Maute brothers— Abdullah, Madi, Otto—have already been killed in the clashes. But there were also 100 civilians in the zone including

hostages and families of the militants, Brawner added. “Women and children are now forced to ﬁght together with the Maute-ISIS ﬁghters. These are desperate measures the Maute-ISIS are doing. This is their last defensive stand,” Brawner said, using another acronym for IS. Duterte on Thursday warned against celebrating the eventual liberation of Marawi, citing the deaths and devastation there. “When we leave Marawi, we go quietly. We do not want to show any kind of celebration or happiness,” he said.

On Saturday, five people were abducted by unidentified gunmen in a coastal town in Sulu. Reports identified the victims as Vergel Arquino, 25, resident of Davao City; Joshua Ibanez 23, Emo Pausto, 63; Jonaldo Minalang, 24; and Spriano Sardido, 53, all residents of Pagadian City. They were on board a fishing boat when they were taken. No group has claimed responsibility for the latest kidnapping, which has been on the decline after the military launched a punishing offensive to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf group.

Duterte said Friday that he would declare a revolutionary government instead of seeking congressional approval for martial law, if communists and other opponents tried to destabilize his rule. Tindig Pilipinas said on Saturday that only a “paranoid and insecure little man” would feel the need to issue such a threat. “That’s their opinion and we don’t share it. We have been working closely with the President and we can assure you that his mind is sound. These sorts of comments from his detractors only take away attention from more vital issues of the state,” Andanar said. “We’re confronted with threats all around from possible conﬂict in [North Korea] to terrorism from within in addition to natural calamities and criminality,” he added. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo insisted that Duterte had already executed a bank secrecy waiver, which he said has already proven that he did not have billions of pesos in

hidden wealth. Panelo issued the statement after Tindig Pilipinas lauched a signature campaign urging Duterte to sign a bank secrecy waiver to end doubts about his alleged unexplained wealth. “We, the Filipino people, call on President Duterte to sign the waiver on the secrecy of bank deposits. We deserve a transparent and accountable leader,” Tindig Pilipinas said in its petition. The group held a rally at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City on Saturday afternoon, which was attended by members of the opposition, including Trillanes. Panelo said that the special power of attorney that Duterte issued when he was still a candidate in 2016 was still valid. “He already has a waiver and it’s binding,” he said in Filipino. He added that a decline in the President’s approval rating in the recent Social Weather Stations survey was directed more at the Philippine National Police rather than Duterte himself, over

the death of several teenagers in the anti-drug war. He cited instead the Pulse Asia survey that showed the President still had an 80 percent approval rating as proof that most Filipinos still supported Duterte. Meanwhile, a group calling itself Movement Against Tyranny said Duterte’s “revolutionary government” was nothing but a one-man dictatorship that he had been dreaming of since last year. “Duterte merely wants to concentrate all governmental power to himself as president. He wants to further dismantle whatever little is left of the system of checks and balances provided by a rubber stamp Congress, a Supreme Court dominated by his and former President (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo’s appointees, and easily intimidated constitutional bodies like the Ofﬁce of the Ombudsman and Commission on Human Rights,” the group said. The group said Duterte aims to further intimidate the critical press and overwhelm social media with his fake news-churning troll army.

Sotto III said. Sotto said that the Senate will prepare for an impeachment trial once the articles of impeachment are forwarded to them by the House of Representatives. At least four articles of impeachment were proposed by Deputy Minority Leader and Kabayan party-list Representative Harry Roque. He submitted the draft of the articles of impeachment to the House Committee on Justice. All articles of impeach-

ment support Bautista’s impeachment for graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution. But Sotto also said there is no need for a trial because Duterte has accepted Bautista’s resignation. Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said some of his colleagues consider an impeachment trial against Bautista as “moot.” “I can’t speak for my colleagues right now but I think it will be moot for a

lot of us,” Angara told radio dzMM. “The way I see it, as a practical matter, the senators don’t want to go there. If he resigns, I think most senators will say let’s not push through with the hearing,” he added. Angara, who was a prosecution spokesman in the impeachment case of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, said an impeachment hearing is an “extraordinary process” that should not be used often.

immunity from suit of a sitting President. “Alam mo yung Section 22 ng Republic Act 6770, sinasabi doon na meron silang power to investigate sa mga impeachable ofﬁcers, itong provision na ito ay labag sa doktrina na immunity from suit ng Presidente kasi meron tayong doktrina na you cannot sue a sitting Presidente... because sisirain mo yung

kanyang efﬁciency pati yung oras niya, gagawin niya ipagtatanggol niya yung sarili niya,” Panelo said. “Gaya ng nangyayari ngayon, siniraan nila ang Presidente, ngayon nagpupwersa siya na ipagtanggol ang sarili niya kahit nagkoconcentrate siya sa maraming problema ng bayan.” All these have prompted Duterte’s camp to look into

the possibility of seeking the help of the Supreme Court. Carandang said he had been authorized by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to act on the complaint of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and had already requested the Anti-Money Laundering Council for a ﬁnal validation on the bank transaction records of the ﬁrst family.

Senator casts doubts on Pulse Asia’s survey By Macon RamosAraneta SENATOR Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday raised doubts on the results of the latest Pulse Asia Survey in which President Rodrigo Duterte received 80 percent in both approval and trust ratings. He told dzBB radio it was “impossible” that recent events including the death of teenage boys had little impact on Duterte’s approval and trust ratings. “Perhaps, they committed a mistake―it’s either in the sampling method or in the research work,” said Trillanes, a strong critic of the President. In other developments: • PDP Laban vice chairman and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the latest SWS and Pulse Asia surveys showed the continuing strong support for the ruling party’s platform of change. “When I read the survey, the numbers told me we’re on the right track and we must push harder for genuine reforms. The Filipino people are waiting for us to fulfill our promises,” Cusi said. • Former Leyte representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, president of the Philippine Constitution Association, said Sunday the firm commitment of President Rodrigo Duterte to fight illegal drugs and criminality, promote good governance and justice, and wipe corruption in the pursuit of economic stability would continue to keep his high trust and approval ratings. Trillanes said it was likely that the researchers of Pulse Asia had been compromised. “They could have just been done under the trees,” he said. “It’s impossible there’s no change in opinion since June when there was no issue yet and now that there are several issues.” Trillanes said it would not be the first time that a Pulse Asia Survey would have a discrepancy in its results.

Strike... From A1

“We are receiving reports that the transport strike tomorrow led by Piston will be supported by other leftleaning groups allegedly... to destabilize government. On the part of government we will be providing Kalayaan rides as well as private buses,” LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada said in a text message to reporters. The Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) is set to hold the two-day strike nationwide beginning Monday to oppose the government’s public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program, which they claim is a jeepney phaseout plan that would require the purchase of newer, more expensive models. Among the groups supporting this week’s nationwide transport strike are Kadamay, Migrante, League of Filipino Students, and Kilusang Mayo Uno.

Church:... From A1

A Mass at the EDSA Shrine at 3 p.m. on Nov. 5 would be held for the victims of “extrajudicial killings,” he said. After the Mass, a candlelight procession will be held to the Peo-

“This is not the first time na nangyari ‘yan. Remember nu’ng 2007 na-miss nga ako nu’ng Pulse Asia. Talo daw ako.” The latest Pulse Asia survey results showed that Duterte had an 80-percent approval rating, which was slightly lower than June’s 82 percent. Eighty percent of Filipinos had a “big trust” in him as well. However, a separate survey by SWS showed that the President had a net satisfaction rating of +48, which had slid by 18 points from +66 and was deemed to be the lowest record during his term. Reacting on the decline in the President’s ratings in the SWS survey, Trillanes said Filipinos “are beginning to see the light.” “It’s very encouraging to know that the Filipino people are beginning to see the light. They are now seeing Duterte for who he really is: a lying, rude, amoral, corrupt and oppressive former mayor who is totally incompetent about governance at the national level,” Trillanes said. “Worse, his bloody war on drugs has killed thousands of his own people and created a climate of fear across the country.” Trillanes said he expectd the next survey results “to be worse” as the recent SWS survey conducted Sept. 23 to 27 was done before the Ombudsman said it was investigating the President’s bank accounts. On several occasions, Trillanes has accused Duterte of amassing Illgotten wealth amounting to P2 billion, that he says was stashed in banks from September 2006 to December 2015. He even challenged the President to sign a waiver on the bank secrecy law to disprove his allegations of unexplained wealth. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon attributed the decline in Duterte’s satisfaction and trust ratings to “self-inflicted” issues as he advised the Chief Executive to review his administration’s policies. With Rio N. Araja The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority earlier said that the strike will not paralyze the transport sector. It added that it will deploy trucks, ambulances, and rescue teams on Monday and Tuesday to provide free rides and assistance to stranded commuters. In Manila, Mayor Joseph Estrada placed the city’s emergency units on standby alert to assist commuters and motorists who might be affected by the strike. Estrada said the city government will field trucks, ambulances and rescue teams on the days of the strike, as well as traffic and security personnel to help the public. “While we are confident the transport strikes will not totally paralyze public transportation in the City of Manila, we still have to prepare,” Estrada said. If the situation requires it, Estrada said, city hall and the Manila Police District have available vehicles to ferry stranded commuters. Bill Casas ple Power Monument about a kilometer from the shrine. The Mass and procession mark the start of a 33-day period of praying for the country’s healing. Police data show that 3,800 people have been killed in anti-drug operations, allegedly because they resisted arrest and fought back.

News

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

‘Drones, geotagging to end ‘ghost’ projects’ P UBLIC Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar has made it his commitment to make full use of drone and satellite technology to counter ghost projects.

“All our regional and district offices are now transitioning to a new monitoring system - the Project and Contract Management

Procedures and Application (PCMA), which would have a built-in geotagging feature. When we finish the transition this year, we expect to

detect any ghost project real time,” Villar said. “Drones are already being used in monitoring the project accomplishment of regional projects. We are now mandating our district offices to adopt the same technology,” he added. The full transition to PCMA is expected to finish this year. It would enable geographic identification

of photos, videos, and other posts and provide a more accurate measurement of project accomplishments. “Before Contractor claims could be processed, they would now need to submit geo-tagged photos as well as a geographic-based status report,” Villar said. “When we lessen discretion, we eliminate corruption. The use of technology

would serve as a strong deterrent against any possible future anomalies,” he added. Villar has also ordered the pre-disqualification from future biddings of all contractors, which have incurred negative slippages of 15% or more. “Time suspensions must not be taken lightly. Projects must be delivered in the soonest possible time,” Villar said.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar

SC upholds RII right over Smokey venture By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

SUMMIT DRY RUN. A 14-vehicle convoy of ‘delegates’ to the ASEAN summit makes it’s way through Roxas Boulevard in Manila for the 3rd dry run of ASEAN from Clark Pampanga to Manila Hotel. It is a part of the intensified security preparations for the upcoming 31st ASEAN Summit in November this year. Norman Cruz

THE Supreme Court has affirmed the right of RII Builders, Inc. to institute before the Quezon City regional trial court the recovery from the Home Guaranty Corporation and the National Housing Authority of the more than P4 billion, in connection with the Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation Project (SMDRP) in Manila. In a resolution, the SC’s first division dismissed the petitions filed by HGC and NHA, which challenged the Court of Appeals decision that reversed the ruling of the Quezon City regional trial court in 2012. Petitioners (HGC and NHA) failed to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed reversible error in issuing the assailed decision and resolution,” the SC declared. “We agree with the finding of the CA that based on the allegations in the complaint, as well as the reliefs prayed for therein, the suit instituted by respondent

R-II Builders, Inc. was a personal action because its primary objective was the rescission of certain agreements,” it said. At the same time, the SC junked the claims of both HGC and NHA that the civil case instituted by RII-Builders was the same case the High Court had dismissed in 2011/ The SC noted that in its complaint filed with the Quezon City RTC, R-II Builders submitted three main causes of action (a) rescission of deed of assignment and conveyance executed by the Planters Development Bank in favor of the HGC, in view of the failure of the latter to fulfill its obligation to pay for all unredeemed Regular participation certificates; (b) the resolution of the contract of guaranty on account of the HGC’s refusal to pay for the guarantee coverage with debenture bonds as specifically required in the agreement; and (c) the accounting liquidation of the asset pool as necessary consequence of the rescission of the deed of assignment and conveyance.

Scrap P50-billing fee, Binay urges telecom commission PPP water projects work wonders – exec

WITH a regulatory framework that is clear, transparent and consistent, PublicPrivate Partnership in water projects has worked in Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines. Thus spoke Ferdinand M. Dela Cruz, president of Manila Water who added that PPP “can work in many more places in Asia and Manila Water is a testimony that Asians can solve Asian water issues. “ Dela Cruz, among the resource speakers at the 1st Asia International Water Week held recently in Gyeongju, Korea, affirmed his company’s commitment to push the Asian water agenda to ensure sustainable urban growth and development in tandem with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). Dela Cruz said that Manila Water’s participation in the Asian water conference was through the auspices of MWSS even as he strongly supported the priority program and projects of MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco to ensure Water Security for Metro Manìla by building new and large water sources. “Together with MWSS, we just celebrated in August 2017 our 20 years of successful public-private partnership, now a water PPP model that was able to turnaround a water crisis situation in the mid-90’s to the current excellent service of world class standards which is highly recognized in the global water industry,” said the Manila Water president. For his part, Velasco cited the working Concession Model between the government and the private sector that was to

provide access to affordable potable water and sanitation for the urban poor. “We are fortunate that more than half of the new customers which Manila Water added to its customer base that it inherited from MWSS, or over 1.8 M people, came from the marginalized sector and these customers now enjoy 24/7 piped water and regular sanitation services,” said the MWSS chief. Apart from serving new customers in the Metro Manila East Zone, Manila Water also improved its operating efficiencies by reducing NRW from 63% to 11% and saving about 700 MLD used to cover more areas. Dela Cruz said the plan of MWSS to update the Metro Manìla Water Supply Masterplan is critical to underpin the continued economic development of Metro Manila whose GDP accounts for 37% of National output. Over the last eight years, Manila Water has ventured outside Metro Manìla to replicate the success of the water PPP model in solving urban water issues. According to Dela Cruz, Manila Water now have operations in several parts of the Philippines. “We are one of the largest Foreign Direct Investors in Vietnam where we have a number of Water businesses concentrated in the Ho Chi Minh area. We supply almost 50% of Ho Chi Minh’s treated water requirements. We have pilot projects in Bandung and Yangon for NRW reduction. Our talent base now includes Vietnamese and Indonesian engineers who have become well versed with our capability set and service culture,” Dela Cruz said.

SENATOR Nancy Binay has called for the suspension of the P50.00 fee telecommunications companies charge subscribers for the delivery of their billing statements. In a letter to National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, Binay requested the com-

mission to stop indefinitely the collection of the fee. “This is to request your good office for the indefinite suspension of the P50.00 being charged to postpaid subscribers by telecommunication companies regarding their paperless billing on the ground that it is against R.A. 7394 otherwise known as the

Consumer Act of the Philippines,” Binay said. “Under article 2 of R.A. 7394, it is the duty of the State to protect the interest of the consumer, promote his general welfare and to establish standards of conduct for business and industry,” said Binay. She said the state shall implement measures to

achieve the protection against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts and practices. The senator also urged credit card companies to refrain from charging their customers a fee for paper billing. “We also received reports that credit card companies charged their customers who

1,800 Manila cops to deploy for undas AT LEAST 1,800 policemen will secure the cemeteries in Manila during the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day 9 (undas) , which Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada expected could draw up to two million people. As he tasked the Manila Police District (MPD) to begin its security preparations, Estrada assured the public the city government will utilize all its re-

Manila Water president Ferdinand dela Cruz delivers a speech at the recent Asia Water Week conference in Gyeongju, Korea.

sources to maintain peace and order during the holidays. “As with the previous years, we don’t take any chances when it comes to the safety and convenience of the cemetery-goers,” Estrada said. MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel said deployment of security personnel will begin on October 27 until November 2, focusing on four biggest

cemeteries in Manila. These are the 54-hectare Manila North Cemetery in Sta. Cruz, the largest in Metro Manila; La Loma Catholic Cemetery, Manila Chinese Cemetery, and Manila South Cemetery, which is located in Makati City but still part of the territory of Manila. October 31 and November 1 have been declared special non-working holidays nationwide.

want paper billing. I hope they should stop this first while we are looking if this is in consonance with the Consumer Act,” she said. Binay filed Senate Resolution No. 521 calling for an investigation into the additional P50 charged to subscribers who refused to go paperless. Macon Ramos Araneta

Health in need of 25,000 workers By Rio Araja THE government is in need of 25,000 health professionals for deployment in the rural areas next year under its provisional staff augmentation programs, according to Rep. Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur. Pimentel, House committee on good government and public accountability chairperson, said the Department of Health has opened application windows at its regional offices for 20,527 nurses, 3,108 midwives, 446 physicians and 324 dentists, all for deployment to the countryside from Jan. 2, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2018. DoH is accepting applicants for the positions of medical technologists, pharmacists, universal health-care implementers, public health associates and family health associates, too, he added. “We’ve already set aside P9.7 billion to pay for their salaries and benefits next year,” said Pimentel, a member of the House appropriations committee. “Those who join up can use the experience and training that they can gain to later on obtain even better jobs elsewhere.” A nurse will receive a monthly salary of P29,000 plus benefits, while a physician will get P70,000 plus benefits, based on the higher pay rates set to take effect Jan. 1, 2018, in accordance with the third tranche of Salary Standardization Law of 2016.

Opinion

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Burst this trial balloon

HE Metro Manila Development Authority has floated yet another trial balloon aimed at relieving traffic congestion on EDSA by limiting the number of private vehicles on the main thoroughfare. This time, the MMDA wants to ban vehicles with only one driver on board from EDSA from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m, Monday to Friday. Officials seem to be encouraged by the initial lack of a public outcry, but that might be due to the insidious way it soft-pedaled the proposal, saying the measure would be considered “sometime next year.” This is a proposal that must be disavowed now. First, the proposal, much like “number coding,” involves no actual traffic management on the ground, but instead depends on yet another imposition on long-suffering motorists. Like number coding, this proposed ban on single-driver vehicles is a curtailment of a person’s property rights, because it restricts what a person can do with property he has le-

gally purchased. Even worse, it offers the motorist nothing in return for the sacrifice, because it fails to address the main cause of traffic congestion—the lack of discipline on the road. As a preface to the proposed regulation, the MMDA observes that the annual average daily traffic in Metro Manila has more than doubled, from 1.33 million

vehicles in 1996 to 2.63 million in 2016. The document provides no data, however, of the number of vehicles along the main highway that it seeks to regulate further. Nor does the raw statistic take into account the number of vehicles that are already off the roads because of the number coding restrictions. Under the proposal: • A public or private vehicle with the driver and one passenger on board is allowed on EDSA subject to number coding. • A public or private vehicle with the driver and two or more passengers on board will be allowed to use EDSA and will be exempted from number coding. The policy will be implemented from Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. except holidays, covering the stretch of EDSA North Avenue in Quezon City until EDSA Magallanes in Makati, both northbound and southbound. These restrictions will adversely af-

fect a certain class of motorist. This includes a parent who must drop off or pick up his or her children from school; a driver who has dropped off his passenger along the affected stretch of EDSA; a taxi or a shared car driver who must drop off a fare—and all other individuals who might be otherwise productive, if only they did not have to find a circuitous route to work simply because of this illconsidered regulation. It is one thing to encourage car pooling; it is something altogether different to bar single-driver vehicles from using the highway. As a final insult, traffic enforcers will be allowed to stop heavily-tinted vehicles to verify the number of occupants. This is an unwarranted violation of privacy--and yet another opportunity for bribery and corruption. This trial balloon must be shot down before it sees the light of day.

Snapshots

Marcos and Cory Aquino, the Supreme Court continued in its functions, although the debate continues to rage about how free (or unfree) the high court was at that time. Marcos did not re-organize the Supreme Court when he declared martial law. (He did, though after the so-called “Ericta scandal”, but accepted the resignation merely of one of their membership.) Ms. Aquino did. She ousted Ramon Aquino who was then Chief Justice and put Claudio Teehankee in his place, although there were others senior to him, among them Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera who could very well have been our first lady chief justice! While threatening crit-

SURVEYS, we are always told, are mere snapshots. They give you an indication of the public mood, the public’s likes and dislikes, the public temper, the public’s favorite, or conversely, it’s “unfriended,” at a given point in time. That given point in time is defined as the date or dates when the field research for the announced results was taken. Field research begins with the so-called research design, which is the questionnaire the field researchers ask the randomly-sampled interviewee’s positions or opinions about the subject or object of the survey. This is a tricky part. If the research design is faulty, or biased in order to evince a desired response, or so worded as to influence the results of the survey, then the “snapshot” serves no purpose except to fool the public if it is publicly announced, or fool the client. There are many corpses of so-called polling research firms that litter the political scene. There are so many election corpses of politicians who were fooled by their own commissioned surveys as well. Some politicians design their own surveys; field their own surveyors, and end up fooling themselves. They lose. One will remember that some polling outfits surface during election campaign periods, and then fade away, only to resurrect themselves the next election cycle. Their intention is to fool the public, or to be used as a tool for fooling the public. Media sometimes “buys” their results, but in the end, they are discredited. There are firms which have lasted the test of time. Some are into consumer surveys, done principally for clients who sell products or services to the public, and market research is a very important tool for gauging the probability of a product’s consumer appeal or success. Others do periodic surveys of the public mood, the public temper, and

Turn to A5

A revolutionary government? APPARENTLY miffed by criticism, both domestic and foreign, about his draconian style and method of government, the President has threatened to set a revolutionary government in place. It is a bad idea, and the threat itself is bad. The wiser the ruler, the more earnestly he seeks counsel. And I fervently wish to God that someone who has the President’s ear would advise in no uncertain terms that merely threatening to establish a revolutionary government and, worse, putting one in place, is downright wrong. It can be done of course,

but we have been taught since the elementary grades that there ought to be a difference between “can” and “may”. That is precisely our issue with North Korea: that it seems that it does not draw the line between its capacity to build its nuclear arsenal and to use it! It is not like “revolutionary government” is an option in the scheme of powers bestowed on the President: the “calling out powers”, the suspension of the privilege of the writ and the declaration of martial law, and finally “revolutionary government”. Precisely because it is “revolutionary” there is no constitutional scheme for it; there are no established standards. It is not a constitutional op-

tion. It is a whose dicpolitical retatorship is ality in some consented parts of the to by the It levels world; it is people rethe playing a path some mains a dicﬁeld for all leaders have tator! chosen— In Eswarlords. most of the trada v. time, with Macapagalvery ambivArroyo, the alent results. Supreme And it might be good to Court distinguished beremind ourselves of Rich- tween Ms. Aquino’s asard Posner’s criticism of a sumption to office as common fallacy: the con- “extra-constitutional”— sent of the governed does which is why she exnot make a government punged the 1973 Condemocratic, for while the stitution under which population may consent, Ferdinand Marcos had perhaps even enthusi- been proclaimed the duly astically endorse both elected president of the by cheers and Facebook Philippines. By contrast, “likes”, the institution of Ms. Arroyo’s presidency, a revolutionary govern- following the “departure” ment, that will not make it of President Joseph Esdemocratic. An autocrat trada was intra-constitu-

tional—a matter of constitutional succession. The recognition of that distinction does not legitimize extra-constitutional measures. No doubt, de facto governments can morph into governments de jure, but there is some distance to traverse! It is only the recognition of a fact. But from that decision, we get it that a revolutionary government involves setting aside the Constitution and its institutions and governing by the fiat of only one person. In fact, in terms of government, there was no difference between Marcos’ martial law where laws came into force by presidential decree and Ms. Aquino’s 1986 government that saw her governing by executive order. Both under

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Opinion

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

Diplomacy, reciprocity DIPLOMACY’S raison d’etre is to build bridges of understanding and cooperation among nations based on reciprocity. Before an ambassador is accepted by the host country, he must first secure an agreement from the receiving state If accepted, the ambassadordesignate then presents to the host country his letter of credence signed by the president of the sending state. I went through this protocular process when former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed me ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Hungary with concurrent jurisdiction over Poland, Bosnia-Herzogovina and the former Republic of Yugoslavia now known solely as Serbia. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, however, it seems has a different concept of diplomatic relations among nations. His confrontational and abrasive style instead is destroying diplomatic

bridges that have been built and nurtured over the years. In a ranting speech on the occasion of the Malacanag press room relaunching, Duterte went on a bashing binge of the European Union. He recited a history of Europe’s colonization and oppression of less developed countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In his signature expletive laced speech, Duterte told the ambassadors of the EU here to pack up and go within 24 hours because he would not allow the Philippines to be dictated on by their governments. It was a reaction to the visit of an obscure European group that criticized the administration’s alleged extra-judicial killings of drug suspects. Mr. Duterte obviously does not know that expelling the foreign ambassadors from the country would have serious repercussions of reciprocal action. Based on reciprocity, the 28-member countries of the European Union can also kick out our own ambassadors and shut down our embassies abroad. Can you imagine

the difficulty for Filipinos to secure tourist or working visas from these countries? Duterte will be reaping a storm of protests from our nationals working in EU countries If deported, these displaced overseas Filipino workers would then vent their ire on the President. We wish this President would consult the Department of Foreign Affairs first before he opens his mouth on issues he does not have any inkling of. The EU with 28 affiliated countries has a total population of 510 million and its combined economies makes it a potent global force. But wait , the European group was mistakenly labeled by the local media as an EU parliamentary group, which it was not. It is the responsibility of Martin Andanar’s communications office to verify the visitors status— but he did not. The visitors were actually the International Delegates of the Progressive Alliance which the EU clarified was not an EU mission. Having realized Duterte’s gaffe that led to his scorched-bridge “leave within 24 hours”

statement, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella scrambled to explain and clarify what the President said in context. Abella, in his signature deep and somber tone, as usual sounded like the lone, solitary voice of reason in this government as he explained President’s outbursts. But the damage has been done. The problem is exacerbated when Duterte discards a prepared speech and goes into a no holds-barred mode. Perhaps anger management is in order. Someone close to the President has to tell him the political campaign is over. It’s time for him to moderate his language and practice civility even with those who criticize him and his official policy. There was no immediate reaction by the EU embassies in Manila but we can be sure the ambassadors have already sent their reports to respective home offices on President Duterte’s undiplomatic and belligerent remarks. Duterte even instructed Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez not to accept any more foreign aid money from

the European Union. He said the Philippines can always trade with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He cited China and Russia which recently donated weapons without any conditions in the Philippine military’s fight against foreign terrorists. What is it about Digong’s diplomacy of alienation? The President wishes to pursue an independent foreign policy. But as anyone with an iota of international relations knows, there is no such thing. Nations are interdependent on each other, be it in the field of global politics, economy, tourism and culture. In another disturbing statement, President Duterte threatened to set up a revolutionary government and have detractors and those allegedly destabilizing his government under arrest. The civil liberty group Tindig Pilipinas reacted strongly to Duterte’s revolutionary plan saying it is a sign of a man afraid of losing power and that the move would weaken democratic institutions.

Facebook is ubiquitous, but will it be trusted? By Conor Sen THIS has been the year of Facebook. Its stock price has increased by around 50 percent as it continues to assert its dominance in user activity and digital ad revenue. It undercut one of the companies trying to catch up with it, Snap, by adding a similar feature, Stories, to its increasingly dominant Instagram service. And scrutiny surrounding its role in the 2016 presidential election continues to grow, as politicians seek more information about Russia’s involvement on Facebook in the weeks and months leading up to last November. How should Facebook respond to its moment? To think about where the company might go from here, consider the history of television and how its

identity evolved with the culture. As a news medium, television came of age in the 1960s. If the 2016 was the first “Facebook election,” 1960 might have been the first television election, with the aesthetic contrast between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon helping to put Kennedy in the White House. Asked about the influence of television on politics in the early 1960s, someone might have said that it made our leaders look better and strengthened our institutions. The period from Kennedy’s inauguration to his assassination might have been the high point for American institutions. But those were early days for television as a news medium, and as institutional trust began to wane, television adapted. Video footage of the

A revolutionary... From A4

ics with a revolutionary government can make for very powerful rhetoric (except that the President has made so many ominous threats that the hapless Secretary Abella had later to “clarify” and “contextualize” that it is now not clear what is a dud and what is not!), it runs smack against the oath the President takes at the inauguration of his term, for he swears to uphold and to defend

Snapshots... From A4

as such are regarded as “political” surveys. Two which have stood out for decades in the Philippine scene are Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia. Media often publishes their findings, politicians and their advisers look to them as some kind of bell weather of the public mood. Which is why the recent discordant findings of the two have become a matter of curiosity, if not national concern. The period when the field research was made happened on the same period—the last week of September. A matter of a few days difference makes little if any difference at all.

Vietnam War and protests back at home shocked Americans and helped create some of the cultural divisions in the country that persist to this day. The investigative journalism show “60 Minutes” debuted in 1968, and its formative years were during the tumultuous Nixon administration. In his book, “How We Got Here: The 70’s: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life,” David Frum noted that television was the only American institution to show a rise in confidence during this period, garnering credibility by attacking the credibility of everyone else. The cultural roots of Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show,” which mocked American leaders during the 2000s, or the “takedown journalism” of the present day’s “Last

the Constitution! And there can be no more blatant culpable violation of the Constitution than to threaten to reduce it (now borrowing from lawyers’ favorite phraseology) to a useless scrap of paper! But of course, impeachment is also out of the question because a revolutionary government dismantles the mechanisms of impeachment and of accountability. What is most disturbing about a revolutionary government is its conflation of “facticity” and “validity”: the fact that it is in power

Unlike a real photo snapshot, where one can smile and then frown in the next shot, the public mood does not change so easily. A recent example is the Duterte victory in 2016. Towards the end of April, it was clear the man would be elected president. The trend was established, and no amount of mudslinging, and there were tons of that, would change the public mood. On the other hand, the numbers for the vice-presidential contest were so close, between Leni and Bongbong, that up to the closing of the precincts, it was anybody’s game. So why were two public opinion polls, done in about the same period in time, with basically the same questionnaire or research design they had employed over so many

Week Tonight With John Oliver,” were formed decades ago. Facebook is coming of age in a much different environment. Institutional trust is at a nadir. That’s presumably one reason that Facebook calls itself a technology company or a “platform,” rather than a news company. The problem with that “platform” claim comes when groups beyond the pale, like white supremacists, use the medium for hate, or when nefarious foreign governments use it in an attempt to sway American elections. A recent study of college undergraduates showed that only 29 percent believe Facebook has a positive impact on political discourse, compared to 57 percent who believe it has a negative impact. Ultimately, if Facebook

and has a monopoly of force validates its exercise of power and its use of force. When you have undone the legitimizing framework of the Constitution, what is to halt the importuning and the usurping of other power-brokers and power-centers, such as the military, or the organized and militarized Left? A revolutionary governments levels the playing field for all warlords. Under a constitutional order, this dangerous equation is avoided by the mediation of the Constitution—written or unwritten. We

years, differ starkly in the results? One said there was a steep decline in the President’s approval ratings, as well as trust in the person himself. The other said there was virtually no change from the June results, which posted a spectacular approval and trust rating. The answer could be in the sampling method. The Philippines is such a huge place, with so many disparate islands, that capturing a general picture of a particular region becomes such a difficult task. So, when for instance, a research firm says these are the results for Visayas, that does not necessarily mean they polled respondents from the Waray, the Cebuano, or the Hiligaynon communities, depending on the population

wants to be more influential and more valuable, it has to be a platform that garners the trust of its users and advertisers. It can’t be seen as being a den for hate groups and scam artists. It’s slowly making moves in this direction, trying to help users see where content comes from in order to build trust on the platform. St rengthening institutions is impossible without a concerted effort from the public, voters, politicians and news mediums. Television’s ratings are in decline, and Facebook’s influence continues to grow. Its legacy does not have to be fake news and Russian influence. But those will be dominant themes unless Facebook takes control of its platform and earns the trust of the public. Bloomberg

will not forget the striking argument of the defendants at the Nuremberg War Trials: Our acts could not have been in violation of law, as the commands and their execution were the law at the time. While it remains a political— (non-legal) option, it is something we should entertain only in extremis and about which every thoughtful Filipino should be doubly reticent! rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

size. Because the total respondent base is 1,200 samples, one can hardly expect the research firm to divide the 250 to 300 samples for Visayas in all the three principal ethnolinguistic regions. All the more impossible is it to have a picture of every province in the Visayas using 250 to 300 sample size. The research firm “rotates” the area of coverage in its periodic surveys, then the results are crosstested by its analysts, weighted accordingly as to come out with a fairly accurate reading of the entire Visayas using the limited number of respondents. So, did SWS use Negros or the abolished Negros Island Region for its Visayas picture-taking? And did Pulse use Cebu, which is the home-province of the

President? Perhaps. We do not expect the two to explain, much less identify their sampling areas. These are supposed to be trade secrets, and we have to respect that. Take their results at face value. Believe if you want to; dispute if you are not happy. Thus, the gloating of the anti-Duterte sectors when SWS announced a steep decline became an overnight phenomenon. The Pulse “re-affirmation” was a chastening, as in cold water doused upon the gloating. The best way for policymakers and program implementors to take these surveys is, as Duterte himself says, “just do your job as you see fit”. It’s akin to the oft-quoted statement, “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.” The problem of the Pres-

Yellow alerts! IT IS not summer—when demand for electricity is usually at its peak—but the series of yellow alerts raised in Luzon shows just how vulnerable the country’s energy supply is, a situation that government agencies should act on, and quickly. It is little wonder then how, weeks after the House of Representatives approved a symbolic P1,000 budget for the embattled Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), House Minority Leader and Quezon representative Danilo Suarez asked the agency to keep up the pace in its approval of a P102-billion plant that can add a crucial 1,000 megawatts (MW) into the grid. Time, as Suarez perhaps knows too well, is of the essence when it comes to a complex, critical, and investment-heavy industry like power. The application of this coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon, was filed in 2012. Five years later and it remains under evaluation by ERC. Suarez made the statement during a House energy committee hearing, which also echoed the town residents’ calls, adding that the power plant will create jobs and thus much-needed development in the first-class municipality. Suarez added: “Remember the dark days when we had to buy and commission gas-powered barges? It is crucial for the energy body to give the green light to applicants that complied with the regulatory requirements the authority to construct their power plants.” The country’s power supWe need ply had long been plagued by insufficient base load to build these and thinning power repower plants serves, which the six yelnow. low alerts—when reserve power falls below the required level—should bring into fore. More importantly, the yellow alerts should serve as dire warning for all electric consumers. From experience, power shortages—especially at a traditionally offpeak time of the year—had been followed by a sharp spike in rates from power generation companies, and brownouts had been not just inconvenient—with many aspects of peoples’ lives today run by gadgets—becomes more expensive when forced to fire up fuel powered generators. This is only on the consumer side. On a macro level, the Philippine economy can ill afford any disruption in its power situation. An energy crisis will be no less than disastrous for all industries, triggering a domino effect that will undermine the country’s competitiveness and unprecedented growth. As it is, Foreign Direct Investments are already at a nose dive and the government has had to fend off one political scandal after another. The failure of ERC to act fast in approving pending power supply agreements can potentially aggravate this already dire situation and even lead to economic instability. In the same hearing, for instance, Committee on Energy Chairperson Rep. Lord Velasco from the lone district of Marinduque cited the 4.9-percent growth in energy demand, which is equivalent to some 600 MW of additional capacity per year. In fact, while over 1,000 MW of power output was added last year, the rise in demand has effectively soaked it up. To make matters worse, a fifth of the country’s power plants today, he said, are more than 30 years old and thus are increasingly less reliable and dependable. True enough, the yellow alerts were partly attributed to unexpected shutdowns of some plants. “We cannot keep delaying these projects as we need stability of energy supply,” he said. “If there are shutdowns by these old plants, that will mean a spike in prices. We need to stop pointing fingers and putting malice, and already start these new projects.” He must have been alluding, at least in part, to allegations of so-called “midnight deals” raised by Bayan Muna representative Carlos Zarate between ERC and Meralco, which supposedly benefited from the extension of the competitive selection process for new supply contracts from November 2015 to April 2016. ERC Commissioner Alfredo J. Non had explained elsewhere that the extended deadline had not been intended for parties to negotiate and sign new supply contracts but only for the filing of the contracts already signed on or before the original deadline. For its part, Meralco had told the committee that more than 90 applications had been filed by other distribution utilities and electric cooperatives during the extension. “Our assurance when we conduct and contract these power supply agreements [is] we always ensure that we follow our mandate to get the least-cost power for our consumers,” said William Pamintuan, Head of Legal & Corporate Governance for Meralco. Being a non-nuclear country, we need to depend on coal and expensive diesel power plants to reliably supply the fast-growing demand for electricity. The government’s promotion of renewable energy and its ‘green’ appeal is still very expensive and unreliable. We need to build these power plants now and ERC must step up and start approving long delayed Power Supply Agreements. ident, if I may so opine, is he is always “damn the torpedoes,” but the “full steam” that is supposed to be provided by his administrative engine is not “ahead” enough. Whether you take SWS or Pulse as your political North Star, the truth is, the President must demand more from his team. More “CSW” or complete staff work, more derring-do, as in a “change” mood,

and more decisiveness to do what must be done, in contra-distinction to the previous government’s “teka-teka” attitude also called derisively by the same critics then and now, as “noynoying.” The results of the 2016 elections, where Rodrigo Roa Duterte trounced his closest opponent by a mile with 16 million votes, was a clear message for change.

News

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

CA upholds Army and Navy Club conversion

TRICK OR TREAT. Mall workers arrange their Halloween costumes in preparation for All Saint’s Day celebration on Nov. 1. Lino Santos

Caap closes Iloilo airport as plane veers off runway

ir transport authorities have temporarily shut down the Iloilo International Airport after a Cebu Paciﬁc plane overshot the runway Friday night.

Tragic wedding: bride’s father shot dead, groom hurt By Nash B. Maulana COTABATO CITY – A lone gunman killed the father of a bride in a Muslim wedding ceremony inside the mosque of a popular commercial complex in this province over the weekend. The imam was reading the traditional marriage sermons when a man wielding a 9-mm pistol suddenly entered the mosque and shot the victim before shooting the groom as well. Police identiﬁed the fatality as Hadji Nasif Sampiano, 52 of Maguindanao; and the wounded groom as Abil Gampong Balindong, 35, of Malabang, Lanao del Sur. The gunman and a cohort casually escaped on a motorcycle, past the mall’s blue guards. Sampiano died on the spot, while Balindong was rushed to an undisclosed hospital.

LRMC leads clean up of MM’s longest creek THE Light Rail Manila Corp., the operator of LRT-1, has lead the clean up of Metro Manila’s longest creek, the Estero de Tripa de Gallina. The company tapped 800 volunteers to help clean up the creek through its Live for the Rivers Movement Coalition launched last year. “The Estero de Tripa de Gallina can no longer sustain life,” said LRMC president Rogelio Singson. “Worse, it flows out to Manila Bay through Pasig River, thereby, contaminating the two large bodies of water that provide food for the population,” he added. On September 16, a total of 546 volunteers, on foot and on the boats led by Singson, hauled a total of 4,172 kilogram of non-biodegradable wastes, installed 16 Vetiver grass pontoons and dropped 220 Mabuhay Balls into the creek. Vetiver grass is used worldwide to treat effluents in wastewater. “Over the next few months we are going to float more vetiver pontoons which will be maintained by the communities and from which they can derive livelihood from its applications in handicrafts and in preventing soil erosion,” Singson said. The Mabuhay Ball is a tennis ball-sized agent made of beneficial micro-organisms that can break down the toxins and food waste in 1,000 liters of polluted water. “This estero is everyone’s responsibility. We are glad to see that our efforts have set more actions from the residents who are most affected by the environmental dangers brought about by waste materials and other pollutants in the estero,” Singson said.

The airport was closed until 7 p.m. on Sunday, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said in its Notice to Airmen. “Caap is doing its best to extract the aircraft so that ﬂights will be normalized soon. We ask the public for understanding as ensuring passengers safety and security is paramount in maintain-

ing our airports and skies safe for travel.” “Removal efforts are ongoing,” Cebu Paciﬁc spokesperson Charo Logarda Lagamon said in a television interview. “However, as seen from the video and seen from images posted, weather has not been favorable and this is, of course, causing some delay with regards to removing the aircraft from the runway,” she added. Cebu Paciﬁc 5J 461, an Airbus A320 with 180 passengers and six crew members onboard, overshot the

runway and veered into a nearby rice field due to heavy rains that brought strong winds. All the passengers and crew members on the plane were evacuated and are safe. Cebu Pacific also deployed flights and provided transportation to and from Roxas City, some 110 km away from Iloilo, to accommodate passengers. On Sunday, Cebu Pacific cancelled the following flights: 5J164 (Cebu-Iloilo), 5J462 (Iloilo-Manila) and 5J 461 (Manila-Iloilo).

“CEB Customer Care agents are contacting passengers on the canelled flights to apprise them of the new schedule. They will also receive a free round-trip travel voucher to any domestic Cebu Pacific destination,” the airline said in a statement. The airline added that guests with concerns regarding their flights may call the Cebu Pacific hotline at (+632) 702-0886, or message the official Cebu Pacific pages on Facebook (https://www.facebook. com/cebupacificair), or Twitter (@CebuPacificAir).

THE Court of Appeals upheld its ruling in favor of the conversion of the historic Army and Navy Club in Manila into a boutique hotel and casino. In a two-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Ramon Ramon Garcia, the appellate court dismissed with finality the motion for reconsideration and petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption seeking to stop the conversion of the facility on issues of technicality for violating the principle on hierarchy of courts. The CA ruled that “neither certiorari nor prohibition is the remedy in the present case.” “Accordingly, this case is considered closed and terminated,” the CA said. The ruling gave the green light to Oceanville Hotel and Spa Corp. to continue the conversion of the former Army and Navy Club in Manila into a boutique hotel and a casino gaming facility. The appellate court also noted that the decision of the Manila City government to enter into an agreement with private entities for the development of the Army and Navy Club and the approval of the development by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines cannot be considered a judicial, quasijudicial or ministerial action that can be a subject of a petition for certiorari. The Army and Navy Club, founded in 1898, is considered to be the first American social club in the Philippines. During World War II, the club was occupied by Japanese forces and was heavily damaged. It was liberated by the Filipino soldiers and American troops in 1945. On April 26, 1991, the National Historical Institute declared the 12,705.30 square meter club as a national historical landmark because it is considered as a “living monument of FilipinoAmerican friendship and cooperation.” PNA

Malabon piooneers cashless transactions with new K-Card MALABON City has started cashless transactions with the launch of the K-Card, debit card powered by PayMaya and Visa that all Malabon residents can use. The K-Card was the result of a public-private partnership entered into by the local government with the Awesome Group Foundation. “We want the beneﬁts to go directly to our citizens,” Malabon City Mayor Antolin Oreta III said as he underscored the importance of technology to further boost growth of the city and improve the welfare of Malabon residents. Aside from functioning as a debit card for local and online transactions, the K-Card will also serve as a government ID. It also has a wide array of

exclusive perks such as free rides for the K-Trike electronic tricycles, fast access lanes in Malabon City hospitals and health centers, and discounts in select K-Card partners, to name a few. Ultimately, the implementation of K-Cards was made to bring accessibility and convenience to everyone – especially the disadvantaged, said AGF Vice President Bullet Todiño. “If you have the K-Card, you can go to the hospital of Malabon and you could just swipe it,” said Todiño. “You don’t have to go through the tedious process of ﬁlling up forms. You have a card that allows you easy access and makes everything efﬁcient.”

CASHLESS SOCIETY. Malabon Mayor Antolin Oreta III (third from right) led the launching of the city’s K-Card together with (L-R) PayMaya Enterprise Manager Tisha Quinitio, PayMaya Issuing Head Raymond Villanueva, PayMaya COO Paolo Azzola, AGF president Carmencita Garcia and AGF vice president Leonorio Trino Todiño.

Valenzuela wins 3rd Galing Pook By Jun David

STARS SHINING BRIGHT ABOVE YOU. Stall owner Baby Tagala rolls out her inventory of Christmas decorations at the Mega Q-Mart in Quezon City on Sunday. Preparations for the yuletide season are underway with barely 70 days left before Christmas Day. Manny Palmero

VALENZUELA City received its third Galing Pook Award for its housing project – Disiplina Village – that will put 4,594 informal settler families living along the waterways into safer and more dignified communities by early 2018. The recognition was earned following the successful presentation of Mayor Rex Gatchalian to the 2017 Galing Pook Awards National Selection Committee of the innovativeness of the project. The presentation and awarding ceremony was the highlight of the Galing Pook Foundation’s 2017 Festival of Best Practices held at the Novotel Manila, Araneta Center, Quezon City. Each winning LGU received P100,000 to further improve their initiative and a marker of Galing Pook. The first site of Disiplina Village in Barangay Ugong started in 2009 for Typhoon Ondoy victims. It benefitted 892 ISFs living along the dangerous banks of Tullahan River.

Sports

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Racing revenues increase by P8m R EAPING the beneﬁts of its innovations and membership in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), the Philippine Racing Commission arrested the decline of horse-racing revenues for the past three years with a marked increase in sales of P8 million after the ﬁrst nine and a half months of the year.

As of October 11, 2017, horse-racing revenues have increased by P8,002,595 (0.14%) to P5,653,542,572 from the P5,645,539,977 of the same time last year. “This is very signiﬁcant consider-

ing the dwindling revenues the past three years. The Philracom not only arrested the free fall, it also bettered last year’s revenues, with less racing days at that,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez. “The ﬁgure is still bound to increase further

as we still have the big races coming in the last two months, like the Amb. Danding Cojuangco Cup, Chairman’s Cup, Presidential Gold Cup, Philracom Juvenile Championship and the MARHO and Philtobo Racing Days to name a few.” The Philracom’s P22,170,755 average sales per raceday in 2017 is also marked improvement from the P21,303,924 average sales ﬁgure from last year. Its P2,510,454 average sales per race this year is also better than the P2,450,321. average in 2016. “Increasing our prizes and implementing a new rating-based handi-

capping system as a result of our recent membership with IFHA, together with our marketing campaign have contributed to the steady increase in racing revenues,” added Sanchez, whose commission adopted IFHA’s mission to promote good regulation and best practices on international matters pertaining to the sport. “ Only last month, the Philracom ﬁnalized its rating-based handicapping system based on IFHA standards with the help of international expert Michael Wanklin. It was the third time this year that the Philracom has brought experts from abroad to improve the level of

horse-racing in the country. In April, the Philracom welcomed Japanese Racing Association Facilities Co. LTD. Director Kazuhiro Youfu and JRA Facilities Co. LTD. Adviser Sadamichi Imabayashi to help raise the standards of the Philippines’ three premier racetracks. A month before, the Philracom hosted International racing consultant Ciaran Kennelly to review the current structure of the Philracom’s Racing Programme. “Racing aﬁcionados are now more conﬁdent to place their bets in our races because of the innovations that we are now implementing,” said Sanchez.

Meanwhile, the Philracom also released its nominated entries to its 2017 Philracom Sampaguita Races to be held on Oct. 22, at the Saddle & Clubs Leisure Park, Naic Cavite at a distance of 1,800 meters. The entries are Heiress of Hope and Song of Songs of owner Banjamin C. Abalos Jr. and trainers Melvin R. Villegas Ruben Tupas; Marinx of Narciso O. Morales and Nelson A. Lorica; Pinay Pharaoh of Herminio S. Esguerra and Tupas; Pradera Verde of Dennis G. Pineda and Tupas; and Trust My Luck of owner Christian Daniel L. Velasco and trainer Jose Mario Paulo S. Jacob.

National Duathlon tilt slated

WITH the strong prospect of duathlon being included in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games to be hosted by the Philippines, the stage is set for the ﬁrst event in the long selection process for the ﬁrst event in the national team composition. This is the National Duathlon Championships 2017 which will commence at 6 a.m. of Nov. 12 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. Organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines in partnership with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, the race will have a Standard Distance course of 10 Km running – 40 Km biking – and 5 Km running for the Elite and Age-Grouper participants. The Sprint Distance course of 5 Km run – 20 Km bike – 2.5 Km run is available for participants aged 16-19 and 20-years and older. Remy Field will serve as the main venue while the bike legs will cover stretches of Rizal Avenue, Argonaut Highway and the National Container Terminal road. At stake in the event sponsored by SBMA Tourism Department, Philippine Sports Commission, Standard Insurance, Gatorade and Asian Center for Insulation are medals as well as gift packs for the Top 3 Male & Female agegroup winners and Top 3 Male & Female winners for Sprint 16 to 19 and 20-above categories. Also at stake are qualifying slots into the Developmental Pool of the Philippine Team that new and upcoming talents can achieve. Favored to contend in this year’s edition are Jarwyn Banatao, Emmanuel Comendador, 2017 SEA Games Triathlon silver medalist John Chicano, Joey delos Reyes and Carlo Pedregosa. For the women, 2 Philippine Air Force WACs Mirasol Abad and Miscelle Gilbuena are considered solid prospects to win. Jarwyn Banatao is the NDC defending champion while Comendador is the 2017 ASTC Asian Middle Distance Duathlon Champion and Miscelle Gilbuena finished 1st in the women’s elite in the recently held Powerman Pilipinas. Sprint distance champion Jelsie Sabado aims to defend her title.

Bulldogs complete badminton 4-peat

World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Jeff Horn of Australia, shown here displaying his belt during a press conference in Brisbane, one day after defeating Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao, wants a megafight with MMA superstar Conor McGregor in the future..

Horn fights Corcoran, aims for McGregor next SYDNEY—Australia’s Jeff Horn will defend his WBO welterweight title against England’s Gary Corcoran in December before a potential blockbuster bout with UFC star Conor McGregor, reports said Sunday. Horn stunned Manny Pacquiao in a unanimous 12-round points decision in July, with the Filipino great pulling out of a planned rematch later this year. This has opened the door to Corcoran, with the bout set for December 13 in Brisbane as part of a two-ﬁght deal inked with the Queensland state government, the Brisbane Couri-

er-Mail said. “Corcoran is 26, so he’s three years younger than me -- he’s very fit, strong and hungry,” Horn told the newspaper. “He’s a dangerous guy. I know what it’s like to be a determined underdog just like he is going into this fight. “This is his golden opportunity to do what I did against Pacquiao but there are millions of dollars on offer for me with big fights in 2018 so I can’t let this guy come to my home town and wreck all my good work.” Known as “Hell Raiser”, Corcoran has 17 wins and one

Gregor performed creditably and said afterwards he was open to boxing again, potentially placing him on a collision course with his Ultimate Fighting Championship paymasters. Promoter Dean Lonergan told state broadcaster ABC he was working on a second event in Brisbane before June 30 next year. AFP “We’d love to have Manny Pacquiao down here (again), he’s certainly one of the guys on the table,” he said. “There’s been some murmurings and rumblings that perhaps we could get Conor McGregor down here. AFP

Top ladies join National Pro-Am hunt

Tagaytay regains WGAP title

TAGAYTAY Highlands bucked a pair of mediocre finishes with a runner-up effort in Class C as it edged Villamor in their spirited battle for the overall crown in the WGAP Circuit, which closed out its 2017 season at Sta. Elena Golf Club in Laguna recently. Drawing two crucial points from their gutsy Class C squad, the Highlanders finished the eightleg circuit organized by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines with 30 points, nipping the Villamor ladies by one to reclaim the overall crown they last won in 2014. Just one point behind Tagaytay after seven legs, Villamor could only churn out a pair of third place finishes in Class B and C and ended up with 29 points while Forest Hills wound up with 22 for third, Sta. Elena placed fourth with 19 points and last year’s champion Alabang struggled to finish fifth with 16 points. The top five will also dispute the WGAP Cup crown. Sharing the spotlight were individual winners Kayla Nocum of Valley (41 points-Class A), Forest Hills’ Bebilyn Lobrin (40 points-Class B) and Cathy Yulo of Villamor (38 points-Class C).

defeat to Horn’s 17 wins and one draw. He told World Boxing News earlier this month he was keen to face Horn in the biggest fight of his career. “Horn is there to beat, I can beat him. I’ve sparred with some world class ﬁghters in this country, I can win a world title,” Corcoran said. If he wins, Horn then hopes to ﬁght mixed martial arts champion McGregor, who made his boxing debut in a money-spinning defeat to Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in August. Charismatic Irishman Mc-

Pauline Del Rosario is brimming with confidence after becoming the first Filipina to win on the Taiwan LPGA last month.

PAULINE del Rosario, Chichio Ikeda and Sarah Ababa, all winners on the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, hope to provide a tough challenge for the fancied men of the PGT as they join the chase in the ICTSI National Pro-Am Open beginning Tuesday at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa City, Batangas. Del Rosario, for one is brimming with conﬁdence heading to the inaugural 54-hole championship sponsored by ICTSI, having become the ﬁrst Filipina to win on the Taiwan LPGA last month on top of winning three titles in her rookie season on the LPGT, including the Pradera Verde

crown last August where she beat Symetra Tour campaigner Princess Superal by seven. Del Rosario will be pairing with young Annyka Cayabyag in the P2 million foursomes (alternat shot) format event which offers P360,000 to the winning pro and trophy and prizes for the top amateur. Ikeda, also a former SEA Games gold medalist, will team up with Quintin Singson while Ababa will partner with Alrey Ceniza in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. to further the growth of Philippine golf and help produce world-class players. It is also held in recogni-

tion of the amateurs’ role in boosting Philippine golf. Other LPGT campaigners seeing action are Apple Fudolin, with Jimmy Dy; Eva Minoza, with Mel Cubillo; Gretchen Villacencio, with Rene Policarpio; and Sheryl Villasencio, with Ikuko Kito. Heading the men’s cast are top pros Clyde Mondilla, the newly crowned PGT Order of Merit winner, Jay Bayron, Jobim Carlos, Jhonnel Ababa, Ira Alido, Ferdie Aunzo. Ruﬁno Bayron, Marvin Dumandan, Mhark Fernando, Zanieboy Gialon, Keanu Jahns, Mars Pucay, Justin Quiban, Gerald Rosales, Elmer Salvador and Orlan Sumcad.

PSC, education commission join efforts to boost school sports OFFICIALS of the Commission on Higher Education, led by secretary Patricia Licuanan, will go into discussions with the Philippine Sports Commission this week and be part of efforts to help strengthen the devel-

opment of school sports. Licuanan will attend the the National Consultative Meeting for Collegiate Sports that will be held at the Philsports Multipurpose Arena in Pasig City from Oct. 17 to 18.

The meeting serves as a followup to the previous gathering with school-based athletic associations held in November last year. Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez

said it is hoped that from the ﬁrst meeting last year, positive developments have opened up to allow more partnership between universities, colleges, athletic associations and the PSC. Peter Atencio

Oklahoma’s Westbrook seeks ultimate team prize

LOS ANGELES—Russell Westbrook, a singular force of nature in his historic 201617 campaign, now must ﬁnd a way to thrive as a part of the re-balanced ecosystem of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Stung by a Western Conference finals exit in June of 2016 -- quickly followed by teammate Kevin Durant’s de-

fection to the team that ousted the Thunder, the Golden State Warriors -- Oklahoma City point guard Westbrook responded with a season for the ages. He averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists, joining Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double over an

entire season. With 42 triple-doubles, he broke Robertson’s 55-year-old season record in a display of remarkable all-around excellence, the pinnacle achievement that double-digit totals in three of five key statistical categories has come to represent. The six-time all-star won

his second scoring crown and scored 40 or more points in 18 games on his way to NBA Most Valuable Player honors. Despite the gaudy individual numbers, the Thunder ﬁnished sixth in the Western Conference standings and were ousted in the ﬁrst round of the playoffs by his MVP rival, James Harden, and the Houston Rockets. AFP

NATIONAL University annexed its fourth consecutive men’s crown with a 3-0 win over University of the Philippines in the UAAP Season 80 badminton tournament yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall. Registering another perfect season with their 35th straight win, the Bulldogs have tied the Fighting Maroons for the most number of championships with ﬁve. Tournament MVP Alvin Morada and Alem Palmares sealed the crown for NU with a 21-17, 21-14 conquest of JM Bernardo and CK Clemente in the ﬁrst doubles. Morada also won his second singles’ match against Vinci Manuel, 2112, 21-16, right after Mike Minuluan opened the tie with a come-from-behind 13-21, 21-17, 21-10 victory over Bernardo. No one is graduating after this tournament, as last year’s MVP Leeward Pedrosa will be back next season to banner the Bulldogs’ foray for another crown. “Siguro, mas kakayanin namin kasi mas malakas kami next year. Tingin namin kaya pa,” said the 20year old Morada. UP’s Carmelo Joseph Lunod Jr. went home with the Rookie of the Year.

Scribes win

TIEBREAKER Times’ Arnold Cagang hit the buzzerbeater as UAAP Media edged Stats, 104-102, in the UAAP Season 80 Goodwill Games opener Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Manila Bulletin/Tempo’s Jerome Lagunzad led the Scribes with 30 points, 10 rebounds and three assists while Inquirer’s Cedelf Tupas added 26 points, eight assists and four boards. Cagang also contributed a double-double effort of 24 points and 12 rebounds on top of four assists while Spin.ph’s Christian Jacinto had 15 points and nine boards. The Manila Times’ Joel Orellana, Tribune’s Brian Ulanday and Inquirer.net’s Bong Lozada also provided signiﬁcant contributions for UAAP Media. Also participating are ABS-CBN Sports and season host Far Eastern University.

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

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

Lady Bulldogs favored in UAAP wars

Sports

WITH a Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference crown in the bag, National University has its sights on the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, where it has a six-decade title drought. Coach Babes Castillo said he will add a couple more players to his already formidable squad, making the Lady Bulldogs one of the early favorites when the UAAP women’s volleyball is fired off The NU Lady Bulldogs celebrate their conference and title sweep over the FEU Lady Tams. early next year. “There will be additional players to join the team for the UAAP,” said Castillo, moments after steering the Lady Bulldogs past the FEU Lady Tams and to a historic nine-game sweep of the PVL title late Saturday. NU has won the UAAP women’s volley crown only twice, but the last was way back in 1956-57. But given the team’s form and strength, not to mention confidence, the Lady Bulldogs will surely be dan Sta. Ana, who hurt his right the Tams’ game with Adam- commit 23 turnovers, 14 comone of the teams to beat in Season By Peter Atencio shoulder during practice, and son, added 13 points for FEU, ing in the first half when FEU 80, aside from reigning back-to-back big man Steve Akomo, who which earned its fifth win in moved away, 29-16, and with champion La Salle and former winJasper Parker canning in seven was sick with the flu. nine games. HE Far Eastern University Tamaraws ner Ateneo U. “It’s just too bad for UST. The Tams’ 26-point victory of his 10 points in the opening Adamson also looms as a team to added to the University of Santo Wala iyung top two players is considered as the second big- 10 minutes. watch, along with UP and UST, but foTomas Growling Tigers’ list of Tolentino’s driving shot nila. I kept reminding the play- gest winning margin this seacus will surely be on the Lady Bulldogs with 6:05 left allowed FEU ers na iyung losses ng UST son. with Jaja Santiago also raring to nail the misfortunes this season. were very close games. Siguro It also put them ahead of the to move up by 30, 66-36 and only crown missing in her vast collection sinuwerte lang kami wala sila. Adamson Falcons at third spot. later taste their biggest edge UST played without two key The Arena in San Juan. of championships. Interestingly, UST also ex- of 66-30, with 7:27 left in It’s a good win for us,” said players and FEU took advanKen Tuffi n played above par But for now, the Lady Bulldogs would perienced the season’s biggest the third. Tams’ coach Nash Racela. tage to post a 96-70 win, one of his norm of 7.8 points, making want to savor the sweet taste of a triumFEU, which also recorded Arvin Tolentino, back from blowout loss at 29 points, an the season’s biggest blowouts 14 as he led the Tams past the phant sweep in the PVL. a one-game suspension after 86-115 setback to La Salle last a season-high 27 assists, also “For me, winning a championship in the 80th University Athletic still winless Tigers (0-9). drew nine points from Jasper The Growling Tigers missed he was penalized for his un- Sept. 30. is always unexpected since we went Association of the Philippines The Tigers were forced to Parker. sportsmanlike behavior during men’s basketball tournament at one of their top scorers in Jorthrough a lot. We always go back to the rebuilding stage,” said Santiago, who also bagged the MVP trophy. “But despite that, I saw how we grew stronger. We became more intact as a team because of what we went through so I am happy that we won again this his team that he thinks will help Ginebra lead against Meralco as of this report as conference. Game Wednesday in its title-retention bid moving forward. the two protagonists are doing battle once She also took notice of how the Lady (Araneta Coliseum) The defending champions showed re- again in Game 2. Bulldogs have adjusted well under the The Bolts, on the other hand, are doing 7 p.m. Ginebra vs Meralco siliency and championship poise despite system of their new mentor. their best to avoid a 0-2 hole and square several attempted rallies by the Bolts to Santiago finished with 23 and 22 the series right away. stand its ground and start the series with points in their sweep of the Lady Tams There’s still a lot of basketball to be a bang. and drew solid backup from Jorelle By Jeric Lopez “We did what we’re supposed to do to played in the series and this week ahead Singh, Aiko Urdas, Risa Sato, PrinTHE Le Tour de Filipinas IT’S still very early in the 2017 Philippine start the series. We didn’t go into panic will certainly be critical as Games 3 and cess Robles, Audrey Paran and libero returns with its ninth ediBasketball Association Governors’ Cup mode,” said Cone of his wards’ compo- 4 are slated on Wednesday and Thursday. Gayle Valdez. tion in February next year Cone doesn’t expect any less from the Jasmine Nabor also came through finals, but Barangay Ginebra coach Tim sure. “We did a good job settling in and with the island province Bolts and he knows that there will still be Cone is already giving his wards a pat on I hope we continue doing that because we with six points on top of 45 excellent of Catanduanes hosting a long way to go. the back. expect Meralco to never stop coming at sets and though she lost the Best Setter the first two stages—a “We expect them to continue making adIn the Gin Kings’ resounding 102-87 us.” award to Arellano University’s Rhea first in the International With that confidence-boosting opening justments and runs throughout the series Ramirez, the ace playmaker was more victory in Game 1 of the best-of-five finals Cycling Union Asia Tour and it’s important for us to stay true to our Friday night against Meralco to draw fi rst win and with momentum on its side, Ginethan happy to have won the crown that race. game to be fi ne,” said Cone. blood, Cone appreciated something about bra is currently gunning for a 2-0 series mattered most. The Category 2.2 event

FEU Tamaraws demolish undermanned UST Tigers T

Cone gives Ginebra Gin Kings pat on the back

Sharapova wins 1st title since drug ban

Maria Sharapova of Russia hits a return during the women’s singles final against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus at the Tianjin Open tennis tournament in Tianjin. AFP

TIANJIN—Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova was made to fight by 102ndranked teenager Aryna Sabalenka before winning her first title since her 15-month doping ban at the Tianjin Open on Sunday. The Russian former world number one, who returned to action in April, came from behind in both sets and needed four match points in the tie-breaker before beating the 19-year-old 7-5, 7-6 (10/8). Sharapova clasped her hands to her chest in delight at winning her 36th tour title and the first in more than two years since the 2015 Italian Open. Sharapova, 30, was contesting the seventh tournament of what has been an injury-plagued and controversial comeback since testing positive for the banned substance meldonium in early 2016.

She exchanged 11 breaks of serve with Sabalenka, who has yet to win a WTA trophy, before ﬁnally clinching it in the tiebreaker when the teenager put a forehand return long. Meanwhile, a typhoon cast a major cloud over Sunday’s WTA Hong Kong Open ﬁnal between Russia’s sixth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Daria Gavrilova, the seventh seed from Australia. Severe Typhoon Khanun, packing winds of 155 kilometres per hour (97 miles per hour) and heavy rain, was passing close to the southern Chinese city on Sunday. The Hong Kong Observatory raised a ‘T8’ typhoon warning at 8:40 am (0040 GMT), bringing much of the city’s infrastructure to a standstill. Organizers released a statement saying that if the typhoon signal was lifted before 8:00 pm

(1200 GMT) then every effort would be made to play the singles final on Sunday. There is also the doubles final, featuring Chinese pair Lu Jiajing and Wang Qiang against Taiwanese duo Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan. “If typhoon signal No. 8 is lowered prior to 8pm today, the matches will be rescheduled to start as soon as possible at the tennis stadium of Victoria Park,” said the statement. “Owing to safety reasons, ticket holders who do not make use of the tickets today, whether the matches are held or not, can arrange for full refund.” The WTA will be desperate to complete the tournament on time as both singles finalists are due to take a 10-hour flight late on Sunday to Moscow, where they are seeded to play first-round matches in the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday. AFP

LeBron counting on revamped roster to keep Cavs contending WASHINGTON—LeBron James will have an overhauled Cleveland Cavaliers supporting cast this season as he tries to reach an eighth consecutive NBA Finals and again dethrone Golden State as champion. Four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James won two titles in four seasons with the Miami Heat and begins his quest to match the feat with Cleveland on Tuesday when the 2017-18 campaign opens against visiting Boston and ex-Cavs teammate Kyrie Irving. The Cavs lost to Golden State in the 2015 ﬁnals but took revenge by winning the 2016

crown, James fulfilling his vow to bring a title to Cleveland, only to watch Golden State add Kevin Durant and roll to the title last season with a 16-1 playoff mark. Several clubs made roster changes designed to challenge the Warriors, with the Cavs adding experience and talent at the risk of becoming an older team with injury concerns. But in the end, they remain powered by “King” James, whose finals streak is unlike anything seen in the NBA in half a century. “We all know who the big dog is, so everybody else has got to get in where they fit

in,” Cavs guard J.R. Smith said. “If you’re going to come in here with an ego, you shouldn’t have signed here.” New Cavs guard Dwyane Wade, 35, was the 2006 NBA Most Valuable Player and is an ex-Heat teammate and long-time James pal while new backcourt partner Derrick Rose, 29, was the 2011 MVP but has been nagged by knee injuries for years. Wade averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists with Chicago last season. “I think he brings another championship DNA, championship pedigree,” James said of Wade. “He brings another playmaker

who can get guys involved and make plays and also just has a great basketball mind.” Former Cavs guard Irving, who averaged 25.2 points and 5.8 assists last season, was traded to Boston in a deal that brought over starting forward Jae Crowder and guard Isaiah Thomas, who isn’t expected to play before January due to an injured right hip. - Everyone must sacriﬁce Shifting roles have meant Kevin Love taking a center spot rather than serving as a forward and two more returning standouts, Smith and forward Tristan Thompson, have been relegated to reserves. AFP

Le Tour de Filipinas returns in February

is scheduled Feb. 18 to 21, 2018, with 15 squads, mostly foreign-based Continental Teams, again seeing action. Stages One (Feb. 18) and Two (Feb. 19) will be raced in two out-andback courses in Catanduanes’s capital of Virac—the first on a hilly 158.97-kilometer route in the provinces eastern side marked with three King of the Mountain points and the second a winding 134.95-km distance on the western side. The next two stages will again traverse Albay and Sorsogon. Stage Three on February 20 will cover 166.85 kms from Legaspi City to Sorsogon City passing through Bulusan and Stage Four on February 21 will be a long 209.17 kms grind that will see the riders pedaling around the perimeter of Mayon Volcano. Catanduanes is the birth place of the late Jose Sumalde, one of only four Filipino cyclists who won the fabled Philippine Tour for consecutive years in 1964-65. Race organizer Ube Media Inc. said the 400-strong race entourage will either ﬂy directly to Virac or Legaspi City where they will travel by land to Tabaco City to take a ferry across the Maqueda Channel to San Andres in Catanduanes.

Stock market index set to test 8,500-point mark B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

Peza to take over Diwalwal mine IN BRIEF

By Othel V. Campos

HE Philippine Economic Zone Authority is set to sign an agreement with Philippine Mining Development Corp. to convert some 8,000 hectares mostly in Mount Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostella Valley province into a mineral processing industrial zone.

Bounty Fresh bullish on egg industry

BOUNTY Fresh, the country’s top egg producer, is optimistic about the egg industry in the Philippines amid the rising number of Filipino consumers. “I have been always bullish in egg industry because of the growing number of our population and the Philippine consumption of eggs is among the lowest in Asia. That is why we want to create awareness that eggs are good to our health,” Edwin Chen, managing director of Bounty Farms Inc., said over the weekend. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the country’s population reached 100.98 million as of August 2015. Chen said the annual per capita egg consumption in the country remained low at about 100 eggs. “We want to correct the misconception that eggs are bad for the health because of the cholesterol,” Chen said. He said that an egg has 187 mg of cholesterol, way below the recommended limit of 300 mg per day, or only 200 mg if one has diabetes or heart disease. Chen said the company was looking at increasing its production in the next few years by helping small layer farms nationwide. Darwin G. Amojelar

TV5 cuts net losses by half

TV5 Network Inc. said it expects to cut losses by half this year mostly because of lower production and operating expenses. “We are still not proﬁtable, we are still in the red. But the loss from last year to this year has been cut in half,” TV5 president Vincent Reyes said. Reyes attributed the company’s ﬁnancial improvement to the lower program and operating expenses such as electricity and personnel costs. “So next year, we are looking at 66 percent cut in losses and break even by 2019,” he said. “We are no longer doing that we used to do before. There’s a need to restructure and reorganize,” Reyes said. TV5 ended its partnership with Viva Communications last year. Viva used to handle the network’s entertainment programs in a bid to overhaul its programming strategy. The network also terminated about 200 employees in December last year. When asked if the company plans to cut more employees, Reyes said, “ there’s nothing off the table, but anything is possible.” TV5 currently has 700 employees, down from 1,400 three years ago. Darwin G. Amojelar

Agri journ contest adds special award

THE Philippine Agricultural Journalists Inc., the country’s second oldest professional media organization, teamed up with San Miguel Corp. again to hold the 2017 Binhi Awards for agricultural journalism. PAJ president and former Philippine Star business editor Roman Floresca thanked SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang for his continuing support to the PAJ and Binhi Awards, which was first launched in 1978. SMC media affairs group head Mary Jane Oconer Llanes said: “We believe the Binhi Awards is an effective avenue to honor the efforts of our colleagues to share with the general public the struggles, triumphs and breakthroughs of our farmers, fishers, countryside entrepreneurs,” she said. Llanes said in addition to the regular contest categories, “this year, we will grant a special award on the best ‘water sustainability’ story.” The story should delve on successful efforts of individuals or a community to employ water harvesting or conservation technologies for irrigation or potable water system, or other sustainable water projects. The winning entry will receive a P20,000 cash and a special prize from SMC. The 2017 PAJ-SMC Binhi Awards features 17 individual and institutional contest categories, said contest chairperson Noel Reyes, PAJ vice president for internal affairs. The three major categories are the year’s best agricultural journalist, agri-beat reporter and environment journalist, where the first, second and third place winners will receive P50,000, P25,000 and P15,000 cash prizes, respectively. Contestants can also vie for other five minor individual categories, namely: agri news story, agri feature story, environment story, climate story, and agri photojournalist of the year. Only one winner per category will be proclaimed, who will receive P20,000 cash prize and trophy. All entries should be published, shown, aired or implemented during the 12-month contest period, from Nov. 1, 2016 to Oct. 31, 2017, and submitted on or before Dec. 15, 2017 to The 2017 PAJSMC Binhi Awards Committee, c/o Filipino Inventors Society Producer Cooperative, ground floor, Delta Bldg., West Ave. corner Quezon Ave., Quezon City.

PH EXPLORES E-COMMERCE. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez (center) meets with Alibaba Group president Michael Evans (third from left) and Lazada Philippines co-founder and chief executive Inanc Balci (right) to explore online retailing opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises. Lopez discussed the possibility of using online platform such as Lazada as a marketing venue for products of local entrepreneurs. With Lopez are (from left) Lazada Group chief operating officer Pierre Poignant, Romulo Law Firm’s Marie Antonette Quiogue, Alibaba Group vice president Eric Pelletier and Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado.

Govt targets more firms in crackdown vs tax evaders THE Philippine government plans to target additional companies in its crackdown on tax evasion, said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. “We are on a roll, and this is part of the president’s program to make our country more law abiding,” Dominguez told Bloomberg Television’s Kathleen Hays in an interview in Washington on Friday. “Tax evasion is a really serious violation and we are going after” evaders. Dominguez said he ex-

pected a tax reform bill to receive lawmaker approval. The bill is among the first of five tax packages proposed under President Rodrigo Duterte to raise taxes to pay for infrastructure projects. The plan has been approved by the lower house and awaits Senate approval. “They have promised the bill will be passed,” he said. “I am 100 percent confident. The legislature will deliver what the president needs.” Duterte, who’s facing renewed criticism about his

drug war, is under pressure to sustain growth above 6 percent to maintain investor conﬁdence amid a weakening currency. The Philippines also needs billions of pesos to rebuild Marawi City in the south, where government forces have been battling Islamic militants. Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings have the Philippines on their second-lowest investment-grade score, while Fitch Ratings has the

nation’s sovereign debt just one notch away from junk. On plans for fundraising, Dominguez said the government will sell debt in China―a so-called Panda bond―over coming months. “We are just awaiting ﬁnal approval of authorities in China,” he said. Dominguez III said the Duterte administration’s economic reforms and public governance would attract more investors from the United States. Bloomberg, with Julito G. Rada

Peza director-general Charito Plaza said a draft of the agreement was sent to the government-owned and control corporation for signing as soon as possible. “We will sign the MOA and a usufruct agreement with PMDC. This means the all these mining areas under PMDC, which are mostly the Diwalwal area, will be declared mineral processing industrial zones,” Plaza said. The Diwalwal gold mining area had been inactive since its development was halted by a tailings accident two decades ago. The site, however, was populated by illegal miners and settlers who were digging for gold. “Once we bring a gold mine processing plant or a gold processing plant, to which many investors have expressed keen interest, we will be able to put a stop to the illegal extraction of our minerals and smuggling, especially of gold. We heard that most of our gold is being smuggled to Hong Kong and other countries,” Plaza said. Peza is encouraging mining companies in the Philippines to upgrade operations by putting up mineral processing plants. Plaza said the mineral processing zones were expected to create more jobs and industries relevant to mining. Peza aims to fast-track

Italpinas set to start Batangas project

Infrastructure spending increased 18% in August By Julito G. Rada INFRASTRUCTURE spending increased 18 percent in August to P40.1 billion from P34 billion a year ago, bolstering the total government spending for the month, data from the Budget Department show. “The amount includes payments for completed infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways [road improvement works, repair and rehabilitation, including ﬂood control projects, construction/improvement of pumping stations, dike and drainage systems],” the agency said in a statement. The amount also covered capital outlay projects of the Education Department, such as repair and rehabilitation of school facilities and those of the Health Department, including land outlays for health facilities and purchase of hospital equipment. The P40-billion infrastruc-

ture and other capital outlays spending in August, however, was slower by 17.1 percent than P48.4 billion in July. This brought infrastructure and other capital outlays spending in the ﬁrst eight months to P337.6 billion, up 12 percent from P301.7 billion in the same period last year. Total government spending in August grew 13.9 percent to P201.6 billion from P177 billion a year earlier. Other major sources of spending growth were maintenance expenditures (P29.6 billion) which went up by P4.6 billion or 18.4 percent year-on-year; personnel services (P55.1 billion) which rose P4.4 billion or 8.7 percent; and allotment to local government units (P32.6 billion) which climbed P4 billion or 13.8 percent. Total government spending in January to August also increased 9.8 percent P1.777 billion from P1.619 billion in the same eight-month period last year.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

UNREGISTERED PRODUCTS. The Food and Drug Administration confiscates unregistered and misbranded food, cosmetics and health products at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Parañaque City. FDA agents and Philippine National Police operatives inspect the seized products valued at nearly P1 million. The operation is in line with the directive of FDA director-general Nela Charade Puno to ensure the safety, efficacy and quality of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and health products being used by the Filipino public.

Cusi studying how to resolve Petron-PNOC row on property rent By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Energy Department is studying how to resolve the controversial rental issue between Petron Corp. and state-run Philippine National Oil Co. “I still have to study it,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who also sits as chairman of PNOC, said. Petron has existing lease agreements with PNOC on the sites of the $3-billion oil reﬁnery in Bataan, 24 bulk plants and 67 gasoline stations. Petron president Ramon Ang said he was mulling

over legal remedies against PNOC for breach of three lease contracts in seeking to nullify alleged “disadvantageous” clauses. “If they don’t want to negotiate and waive binding renewal clauses of the agreement, then we have no choice but to see legal redress to protect our rights and the interest of our shareholders,” Ang said. Ang did not elaborate on the issue, but earlier said Petron was ready to go into arbitration if needed. Ang said PNOC president and chief executive Reuben Lista was respon-

the signing of the agreement so the agency can officially launch by November the Philippine Economic Zone Map which will make it easier for investors to determine the most viable location for their investments. The map will serve as a guide for the government to determine the suitable sites for the different types of economic zones. The Philippines currently hosts industrial, agro-industrial, manufacturing, agro-industrial, bio-fuel manufacturing, IT parks, export manufacturing, military and defense, island development, tourism and medical tourism zones. Peza is also putting up at least two public economic zones per region or a total of 36 over the next five years. The additional economic zones will be on top of the four public economic zones located in Baguio, Cavite, Cebu and Pampanga. There were 366 operating economic zones nationwide as of March 2017. Of the total, 74 were industrial and export processing zones, 250 IT parks and centers, 21 agro-industrial economic zones, 19 tourism economic zones and two medical tourism zones. Private investors are also developing 29 new zones for industry and firm-specific requirements.

sible for the breach of the agreements for insisting on the removal of a clause in the said agreements. “For now, we reiterate he has caused PNOC to breach its agreements with Petron,” Ang said. PNOC wants Petron to nullify a section of the lease agreement which states that “in case the parties fail to come to an agreement, the same terms and conditions shall apply except the initial rental rate for the renewal period shall be the rental rate at the time of expiration plus two percent thereof and subsequent rental rate

shall be escalating by two percent per annum.” Petron said last week PNOC was in breach of the lease contracts when it told the oil reﬁner in a letter to nullify binding renewal clauses ahead of expiration, threatening to jeopardize the oil company’s operations and the interest of small shareholders and other partners. “It is Petron’s position that the lease agreements for the three properties and the renewal clauses therein are valid and binding. They are not in violation of any law nor manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to

the government,” Petron general counsel Joel Angelo Cruz said in a letter to Lista. Cruz said Lista’s letter “den[ied] without legal causes Petron’s contractual right to renew [and] constitute[d] fundamental breach of the three lease agreements.” Petron was responding to Lista’s letter asking the oil company to waive certain provisions of the lease agreements or submit remediation plans “so that the abandonment and clean-up of the sites may already be discussed and completed” before the expiration of the lease agreements in August next year.

ITALPINAS Development Corp., a listed property developer based in Cagayan de Oro City, said it expects to raise P1.4 billion in sales from a new residential development in Batangas province. Italpinas said in a statement it earmarked P780 million to develop phase one of Miramonti, its first project in Luzon, in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. “We already have secured permits and other documents. We are now awaiting only the license to sell before launching the Miramonti project,“ said Italpinas chairman and chief executive Romolo Nati. “We chose Batangas because the place is booming. It is one of the most progressive provinces in the country. The strategic location of Sto. Tomas is one thing also that attracted us. It is near industrial parks,” he said. Miramonti is the property firm’s third project after Primavera Residences and Primavera City in Uptown Cagayan de Oro. It will also be company’s the biggest project. “We are looking forward to serving Luzon for the first time. We have met with the brokers and they are excited as well to market the project,“ Italpinas president Jojo Leviste said.

Business

MONDAY,OCTOBER 16, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Bourse taps First Metro, BDO to handle share sale THE Philippine Stock Exchange has tapped two banks to handle a planned share sale that could potentially raise as much as P2.76 billion in proceeds. PSE chief operating ofﬁcer Roel Refran said the exchange hired BDO Capital and Investments Corp. and First Metro Investments Corp. as domestic underwriters for the follow onoffering. Refran said the exchange was hoping to conduct the follow-on offering before the end of the year. The PSE in July said it planned to sell up to 11.5 million common shares through a follow-on offering as part of the company’s move to reduce brokers’ ownership in the stock exchange to 20 percent as prescribed under the Securities Regulation Code.

The shares will come from the unissued portion of the company’s authorized capital stock. The exchange based on the stock’s closing price of P240 per share on Friday could raise as much as P2.76 billion from the sale of 11.5 million common shares. The local bourse said it would use the proceeds from the fundraising activity to ﬁnance the acquisition of PDS Holdings Corp. and working capital requirements of the exchange. The PSE wants to acquire a majority stake in PDS Holdings, which serves as the holding company for ﬁxed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp., Philippine Depositary and Trust Corp. and Philippine Securities Settlement Corp. Jenniffer B. Austria

Stock market index set to test 8,500-point mark By Jenniffer B. Austria

HARE prices are expected to test the 8,500-point mark this week as the overall domestic economic picture remains rosy, specially with the likely implementation of the tax reform program of the Duterte administration.

Investors are also positioning their portfolio ahead of the release of third-quarter earnings report of listed companies. “Chartwise, the week’s close at 8,447.94 highlights the market is on track to test the 8,500/8,600 levels in the near-term. Immediate support and resistance is seen at 8,000 and 8,500 levels, respectively,” BDO

Unibank chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said. BDO Capital and Investments Corp. president Eduardo Francisco said investors were anticipating the approval of the tax reform program pending with the Congress. Francisco said the tax reform program was programmed to fund the government’s infrastructure

projects, with investors expecting the bill to be passed before the end of the month. Francisco said local firms also remained remain positive with domestic economy as many of them were still looking to raise funds through the bonds and equities markets before the end of the year. The PSEi last week climbed 1.65 percent to close at an all-time high of 8,447.94, while the All Shares Index gained one percent to 4,938.11 despite external and local developments. The financials index led gainers, climbing 7.27 percent, while the property and holding firms rose 2.55 percent and 2.12 per-

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS WEEKLY STOCKS REVIEW STOCKS

OCTOBER 9-13, 2017 Close Volume

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. First Abacus I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp. PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank Philippine trust Co. PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

4.52 59.75 143.30 99.90 35.9 4.00 2.33 16.1 32.25 8.26 0.7 1.75 960.00 0.690 90.55 0.84 12.86 25.00 58.25 89.9 109 240 57.45 259.8 1935.00 86.80 1.31

207,000 132,550 9,923,900 7,152,570 1,321,500 19,000 19,627,000 1,188,300 6,353,700 2,500 329,000 684,000 710 10,404,000 9,512,040 1,255,000 223,600 2,100 771,610 1,210 4,260 4,430 5,681,800 2,370,050 900 361,940 80,000

Aboitiz Power Corp. Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons. Asiabest Group Basic Energy Corp. Bogo Medelin C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Eagle Cement Emperador Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) EEI Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp. First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp. Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Macay Holdings Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide Mla. Elect. Co À’ MG Holdings Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. Petron Corporation Petroenergy Res. Corp. Phil H2O Pilipinas Shell Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils. Pryce Corp. À’ RFM Corporation Roxas Holdings San Miguel ‘Pure Foods À’ SFA Semicon Shakeys Pizza SPC Power Corp. Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp. Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp. Vulcan Ind’l.

42 10.86 0.77 1.38 19.2 0.221 118 19.10 5.01 15.3 180 73 42.3 64.05 1.94 6.22 11.68 10.060 14.84 7.05 5.71 12.90 1.61 18.54 66.5 17.12 12.32 20.35 1.860 247.00 60.60 4.98 3.24 22.75 31.45 19.86 16.44 289.60 0.219 10.50 2.99 9.99 6.67 6.15 66 10.00 1.77 11.30 6.5 4.70 4.42 308 2.48 13.5 4.6 0.141 1.27 149 3.47 2.13 0.97

3,834,100 6,844,700 873,000 5,639,000 41,300 11,380,000 2,150 24,800 54,614,400 47,916,200 400 3,030 2,637,200 500,770 1,053,000 2,485,200 106,100 23,892,000 7,789,600 3,307,300 147,754,300 6,627,900 58,000 8,843,000 460,020 2,395,200 145,400 19,246,600 1,197,000 2,068,720 3,050 24,857,500 91,000 97,000 6,724,900 1,011,400 17,405,800 3,471,990 12,920,000 670,600 1,965,000 9,510,300 348,900 179,100 2,588,480 26,100 3,541,000 4,540,100 1,528,900 27,638,000 140,000 10,970 2,740,000 3,826,900 213,000 2,510,000 1,903,000 7,143,030 185,000 11,618,000 560,000

Abacus Cons. À’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor À’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp À’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ F&J Prince ‘B’ Filinvest Dev. Corp. GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings À’ Lopez Holdings Corp. Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. LT Group Mabuhay Holdings À’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. Pacifica À’ Prime Media Hldg Prime Orion Republic Glass ‘A’ San Miguel Corp À’ Seafront À’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.345 74.80 16.44 1.10 6.95 0.405 0.400 1071 8.45 16.00 4.9 5.7 7.60 1220 7.99 75.75 4.76 5.2 5.73 0.85 17.5 0.400 6.85 0.0500 1.280 2.110 2.71 101.00 2.61 952.00 1.43 0.86 299.000 0.2750 0.1900 0.212

2,210,000 3,044,500 39,558,300 346,860 31,800 144,070,000 32,990,000 3,835,985 19,831,800 35,619,700 221,600 7,600 385,100 482,800 341,300 4,625,020 6,900 2,000 6,383,000 2,922,000 10,700,800 200,000 106,489,100 268,690,000 3,686,000 3,690,000 34,000 2,891,230 11,000 2,079,030 3,400,000 6,000 29,060 1,152,000 1,640,000 3,460,000

8990 HLDG Anchor Land Holdings Inc. A. Brown Co., Inc. Araneta Prop À’ Arthaland Corp. Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. À’ Cebu Holdings CEB Landmasters Cebu Prop. À’ Cebu Prop. `B’ Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. À’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp. Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport À’ Keppel Properties Megaworld

4.930 8.81 1.13 2.450 1.060 43.350 3.82 5.25 4.9 5.81 5.9 0.520 1.27 1.290 0.223 0.475 41.95 0.700 0.144 1.60 2.03 0.90 4.16 5.45

1,584,000 37,900 85,874,000 1,869,000 23,657,000 82,823,500 12,088,000 321,500 14,397,300 500 12,600 27,910,500 1,113,000 22,897,000 154,592,000 4,640,000 883,900 4,744,000 3,420,000 34,481,000 26,422,000 1,648,000 2,000 106,921,900

Value FINANCIAL 953,610.00 7,890,992.00 1,372,234,005.00 719,267,343.00 47,556,055.00 76,760.00 84,295,650.00 19,124,720.00 201,706,765.00 20,834.00 219,800.00 1,218,650.00 680,450.00 7,179,350.00 846,582,470.50 1,049,010.00 2,890,478.00 52,500.00 44,348,533.00 108,563.50 472,753.00 1,063,890.00 318,592,861.50 600,002,140.00 1,741,675.00 31,383,945.50 105,200.00 INDUSTRIAL 160,654,670.00 72,362,896.00 682,760.00 7,772,880.00 798,594.00 2,547,110.00 250,595.00 478,722.00 282,827,895.00 754,541,870.00 70,830.00 221,119.00 111,105,020.00 33,051,740.50 2,019,770.00 16,128,268.00 1,218,158.00 242,201,074.00 116,469,772.00 23,519,794.00 837,612,481.00 88,436,532.00 98,510.00 166,640,940.00 30,864,504.00 37,632,674.00 1,798,926.00 379,523,392.00 2,212,780.00 507,763,204.00 184,585.50 134,545,920.00 290,800.00 736,815.00 212,038,135.00 20,129,196.00 294,100,052.00 999,754,436.00 2,815,750.00 7,232,672.00 5,884,350.00 95,622,663.00 2,353,697.00 1,098,335.00 172,669,483.50 257,566.00 6,289,360.00 52,531,192.00 9,612,290.00 125,890,870.00 627,030.00 3,382,266.00 6,820,550.00 51,892,956.00 988,550.00 357,150.00 2,530,920.00 1,056,359,223.00 636,170.00 24,391,610.00 541,570.00 HOLDING FIRMS 765,300.00 228,491,126.50 663,220,392.00 369,540.00 219,798.00 56,224,250.00 12,962,200.00 4,056,400,095.00 167,707,697.00 575,884,196.00 1,095,336.00 42,320.00 2,936,085.00 584,259,310.00 2,715,244.00 357,420,740.00 35,345.00 10,300.00 36,507,422.00 2,486,430.00 193,594,834.00 80,050.00 726,717,205.00 14,521,480.00 4,932,880.00 8,041,910.00 90,160.00 292,211,968.50 28,470.00 1,946,953,595.00 4,887,280.00 5,200.00 8,621,400.00 317,050.00 312,640.00 740,260.00 PROPERTY 7,831,760.00 326,798.00 56,048,920.00 4,568,650.00 25,127,860.00 3,560,364,250.00 45,500,640.00 1,696,789.00 72,112,673.00 2,905.00 69,590.00 16,561,810.00 1,427,000.00 29,493,170.00 39,066,570.00 2,215,300.00 37,239,975.00 3,282,790.00 493,440.00 55,030,110.00 54,168,380.00 1,483,640.00 8,320.00 573,814,842.00

OCTOBER 2-6, 2017 Close Volume Value 4.55 59.75 133.30 101.60 36 4.02 2.77 15.98 32.2 9.00 0.68 1.71 945.00 0.700 89 0.86 13 25.00 57.40 88 115 240 48 248.2 1900.00 86.60 1.34

436,000 82,850 14,563,370 5,868,950 1,000,800 2,873,000 20,881,000 90,700 8,569,100 10,700 310,000 218,000 1,800 9,031,000 8,589,120 870,000 138,900 9,900 372,580 12,610 22,730 10,850 440,400 1,961,130 1,710 531,030 2,504,000

1,988,630.00 4,941,158.50 1,945,868,732.00 596,061,144.00 35,843,805.00 11,312,130.00 58,947,190.00 1,447,016.00 282,979,565.00 90,591.00 201,710.00 373,210.00 1,712,750.00 6,234,780.00 763,293,292.00 736,440.00 1,808,840.00 246,775.00 21,676,183.00 1,109,065.00 2,605,822.00 2,593,970.00 21,455,990.00 487,458,118.00 3,247,395.00 45,951,082.50 3,314,780.00

41.5 10.32 0.78 1.39 19.82 0.230 127 20.20 5.45 16 165.2 74 42 68 1.92 7 11.5 10.040 15.02 7.26 5.67 13.80 1.6 19.02 66.95 14.30 12.40 18.88 1.890 242.20 57.05 6 3.1 21.25 31.65 19.92 17.76 285.20 0.222 11.50 3 10.24 6.80 6.05 68 9.88 1.78 12.04 6.56 4.62 4.4 308 2.66 13.5 4.68 0.143 1.27 150.9 3.5 2.09 0.97

7,768,000 10,661,500 4,588,000 4,334,000 19,900 11,330,000 3,000 23,200 36,269,400 9,668,600 90 6,110 3,133,000 1,392,890 1,770,000 5,071,200 298,600 39,755,300 2,322,500 2,760,200 163,852,600 2,366,800 575,000 14,806,500 1,690,310 3,838,400 526,400 14,137,300 4,994,000 3,861,200 400 7,429,900 211,000 15,200 11,644,300 939,000 31,539,200 2,503,190 2,080,000 1,989,100 12,067,000 5,224,100 301,100 270,100 4,754,650 187,300 7,540,000 2,530,200 740,200 858,000 109,000 29,610 1,776,000 5,375,000 103,000 1,330,000 1,453,000 4,296,460 229,000 9,884,000 1,769,000

329,892,615.00 109,128,073.00 3,540,450.00 6,059,940.00 391,092.00 2,620,040.00 347,527.00 465,642.00 176,143,777.00 159,007,924.00 14,980.00 448,185.00 130,720,865.00 90,653,078.50 3,455,570.00 34,879,367.00 3,420,484.00 401,762,690.00 34,966,888.00 19,924,842.00 924,334,092.00 32,310,198.00 925,700.00 284,939,678.00 114,042,845.00 54,888,878.00 6,528,298.00 273,322,151.00 9,524,720.00 935,295,176.00 23,869.50 94,848,675.00 663,300.00 354,710.00 359,834,400.00 18,775,603.00 534,295,888.00 713,356,742.00 464,530.00 23,385,216.00 36,186,240.00 53,924,146.00 2,046,639.00 1,599,844.00 317,193,546.00 1,840,083.00 13,375,240.00 30,345,638.00 4,853,430.00 3,904,680.00 479,710.00 9,670,070.00 4,775,030.00 71,795,660.00 472,320.00 188,190.00 1,768,130.00 656,258,675.00 798,800.00 20,771,670.00 1,722,360.00

0.345 73.50 16.90 1.11 6.99 0.350 0.355 1015 8.45 15.80 5.03

1,680,000 5,545,230 51,615,100 722,000 390,300 86,460,000 4,820,000 1,473,890 14,925,200 46,904,500 391,800

587,100.00 412,950,696.50 859,761,120.00 748,630.00 2,728,745.00 7,025,750.00 1,736,800.00 1,469,789,205.00 125,909,238.00 737,659,376.00 1,975,682.00

7.80 1218 7.64 76.70 5.69 5.06 5.73 0.87 17.94 0.405 6.88 0.0560 1.330 2.100

205,300 736,185 59,300 4,892,700 11,000 4,900 5,525,100 2,987,000 9,477,900 10,000 91,316,300 424,790,000 2,629,000 479,000

1,593,578.00 894,391,260.00 462,028.00 377,325,639.00 54,380.00 24,739.00 32,727,631.00 2,574,590.00 168,803,556.00 4,050.00 628,973,929.00 23,406,780.00 3,538,040.00 1,008,030.00

100.00 2.59 911.00 1.43 0.90 295.400 0.2700 0.1910 0.227

3,745,370 196,000 2,163,000 1,319,000 331,000 36,790 1,810,000 5,160,000 4,180,000

212,027,768.50 510,860.00 1,957,024,405.00 1,884,300.00 284,300.00 10,788,928.00 490,000.00 989,520.00 914,030.00

4.950 9.00 1.10 2.390 1.120 42.900 3.79 5.4 5.03

2,954,900 247,600 79,143,000 848,000 61,580,000 59,066,000 5,606,000 118,400 10,779,400

14,695,761.00 2,163,806.00 86,528,330.00 2,002,330.00 69,795,920.00 2,567,712,240.00 21,438,080.00 630,054.00 54,725,213.00

0.510 1.31 1.300 0.223 0.480 43.65 0.700 0.144 1.56 2.01 0.90 4.16 5.28

109,673,000 2,635,000 5,486,000 287,820,000 4,960,000 3,918,100 38,195,000 6,830,000 34,736,000 88,236,600 2,302,000 7,000 101,487,900

56,973,190.00 3,593,260.00 7,427,130.00 66,114,380.00 2,330,100.00 168,249,910.00 26,069,670.00 991,560.00 54,189,380.00 201,522,030.00 2,080,670.00 29,110.00 539,217,923.00

STOCKS

OCTOBER 9-13, 2017 Close Volume

MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Estates Corp. Phil. Realty `A’ Primex Corp. Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

0.330 0.3950 0.530 6.41 26.80 1.82 3.19 36.50 1.05 7.44 0.890 6.090

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ. Chelsea Discovery World DFNN Inc. Easy Call “Common” FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. À’ IPeople Inc. À’ IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp. Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp. Pacific Online Sys. Corp. PAL Holdings Inc. Phil. Seven Corp. Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp. SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils. Wilcon Depot

19.8 40.1 1.65 0.550 0.052 11 5.23 10.30 0.0720 111.6 8.98 9.56 2.16 7.25 3.26 960 2040 6.02 20.30 13.30 2.30 104.5 2.79 11.86 8.39 0.157 1.3600 3.3 15.68 4.19 1.26 17.18 17.02 0.610 2.81 7.1 4.19 2.310 11.08 5.08 172.00 9.19 1641.00 0.395 1.440 52.80 97.90 6.28 4.10 1.620 2.17 4.01 1.060 8.110

Abra Mining Apex À’ Atlas Cons. À’ Atok-Big Wedge À’ Benguet Corp À’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto À’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining À’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. À’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Philex À’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. À’ Phinma Petro Semirara Corp. United Paragon

0.0026 1.84 5.08 16.42 1.9000 1.9900 1.55 0.375 8.29 2.560 0.260 0.187 0.200 0.011 0.0110 1.85 7.03 1.73 0.5100 1.0200 0.0120 0.0120 7.94 9.17 0.0120 2.5300 44.25 0.0079

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ Alco Preferred B DD PREF First Gen F First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred A PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I Swift Pref

39.2 539.5 530 107.5 106.5 107.9 115.3 541 5.72 1050 1049 1.06 108 1066 1146 1018 105.1 112.8 75.5 81.25 76 78.1 81.5 77.1 79.5 79.5 1.96

LR Warrant

2.490

Italpinas Philab Holdings Xurpas EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS First Metro ETF

5.1 4.51 5.62 127.9

USD DMPL A1

10.9

OCTOBER 2-6, 2017 Close Volume Value

Value

236,080,000 31,690,000 29,760,000 25,277,000 10,176,200 1,335,000 126,000 49,606,000 4,064,000 1,800 780,000 10,871,200

78,977,800.00 13,821,450.00 14,966,850.00 167,546,547.00 271,700,855.00 2,430,160.00 401,020.00 1,767,568,910.00 4,272,430.00 12,563.00 691,900.00 66,631,791.00 SERVICES 311,300 6,188,098.00 228,400 9,214,055.00 1,667,000 2,789,850.00 10,349,000 5,730,230.00 1,082,200,000 58,847,600.00 8,800 96,932.00 1,600 8,391.00 43,680,000 449,177,578.00 75,360,000 5,362,410.00 1,323,420 145,958,004.00 46,800 418,574.00 11,009,700 106,669,587.00 53,000 119,590.00 442,300 3,345,599.00 1,000 3,260.00 220 211,200.00 155,040 321,297,860.00 3,957,900 23,921,531.00 1,914,600 37,107,742.00 400 5,320.00 40,598,000 101,764,300.00 4,733,630 498,503,595.00 239,000 682,790.00 23,200 275,504.00 1,376,900 11,560,994.00 19,620,000 3,144,400.00 835,000 1,136,110.00 4,552,000 15,297,410.00 11,000 172,578.00 4,006,000 16,569,980.00 1,823,000 2,303,570.00 43,327,000 704,250,630.00 70,600 1,208,994.00 4,135,000 2,510,210.00 4,074,000 11,613,980.00 34,199,300 253,399,913.00 3,838,000 16,247,500.00 3,468,000 8,097,520.00 42,000 463,620.00 20,900 106,184.00 2,516,250 427,766,782.00 3,921,700 37,021,940.00 440,275 740,151,205.00 11,920,000 4,703,950.00 19,125,000 28,321,390.00 12,146,640 649,102,802.50 6,842,980 682,337,574.00 3,605,400 22,371,560.00 47,287,000 194,141,070.00 63,645,000 102,035,450.00 8,000 17,550.00 30,145,000 126,913,780.00 75,045,000 84,108,090.00 26,860,500 222,383,300.00 MINING & OIL 2,668,000,000 6,736,600.00 63,011,000 117,590,610.00 1,460,000 7,180,740.00 15,500 239,776.00 502,000 928,440.00 114,000 216,850.00 19,324,000 30,348,490.00 21,000,579,800 192,300.00 140,400 1,150,698.00 21,099,000 55,795,170.00 1,130,000 285,900.00 54,700,000 10,051,830.00 6,750,000 1,346,190.00 169,700,000 1,716,600.00 12,500,000 137,500.00 4,050,000 7,667,470.00 18,326,500 126,910,860.00 190,000 324,400.00 715,000 370,430.00 1,450,000 1,480,270.00 365,800,000 4,569,000.00 84,900,000 1,086,800.00 6,654,700 53,460,809.00 93,731,400 836,651,372.00 290,100,000 3,275,100.00 162,000 406,200.00 8,175,800 367,133,715.00 15,000,000 117,600.00 PREFERRED 1,319,000 52,821,745.00 39,390 21,255,890.00 99,740 51,833,625.00 12,500 1,343,750.00 13,820 1,463,550.00 14,260 1,506,351.00 10,230 1,179,619.00 2,770 1,497,220.00 1,912,300 10,996,492.00 4,960 5,184,925.00 13,060 13,631,850.00 610,000 646,170.00 9,610 1,047,580.00 575 612,950.00 965 1,106,480.00 1,410 1,433,220.00 1,990 208,844.00 200 22,560.00 151,240 11,391,095.00 250,800 20,344,010.00 31,010 2,356,760.00 19,500 1,523,045.00 112,020 9,068,594.00 48,450 3,778,853.00 373,460 29,497,485.00 351,880 28,084,883.50 5,000 9,800.00 WARRANTS & BONDS 1,452,000 3,539,870.00 SME 6,654,600 34,291,798.00 213,000 984,160.00 2,826,700 15,990,910.00

0.350 0.4800 0.490 6.61 26.10 1.81 3.19 34.65 1.06 7.45 0.880 6.320

191,210,000 31,540,000 11,680,000 16,062,500 11,634,700 1,181,100 671,000 40,482,400 17,159,000 17,600 790,000 6,768,400

67,955,450.00 14,837,900.00 5,713,700.00 105,810,475.00 304,766,560.00 2,911,060.00 2,125,010.00 1,415,372,010.00 18,273,640.00 131,104.00 685,910.00 42,825,465.00

19.92 40.6 1.71 0.550 0.051 11 5.09 10.50 0.0720 107 9 9.94 2.2 8.00

246,000 148,900 1,228,000 14,095,000 1,567,500,000 120,600 16,500 45,890,500 122,870,000 807,350 45,500 4,653,500 50,000 655,300

4,919,898.00 6,047,620.00 2,128,730.00 9,399,990.00 76,087,100.00 1,329,404.00 83,880.00 490,975,740.00 8,912,930.00 84,910,808.00 407,384.00 46,554,508.00 112,560.00 5,174,208.00

1000 2070 6.05 18.90 2.52 2.49 105.8 2.98 11.84 8.36 0.162 1.3700 3.22 15.98 4.30 1.28 15.28 18.60 0.560 3.1 7.5 4.25 2.450 11.02 5.10 170.00 9.50 1705.00 0.395 1.500 54.55 106.00 6.30 4.18 1.550 2.2 4.1 1.220 8.600

25 171,345 1,881,700 559,600 1,223,000 5,427,000 6,731,510 1,946,680 82,300 1,727,600 15,610,000 3,326,000 170,000 49,600 1,939,000 5,868,000 18,379,400 7,800 333,000 6,550,000 41,686,000 11,225,000 3,042,000 7,700 32,400 14,360 4,909,800 447,835 1,480,000 74,758,320 11,463,670 7,137,810 6,446,500 13,666,000 13,357,500 53,000 33,112,000 54,962,000 13,675,000

25,000.00 353,761,030.00 11,363,354.00 10,009,376.00 3,058,070.00 13,050,180.00 707,188,911.00 190,625,274.00 981,196.00 14,490,802.00 2,505,330.00 4,659,950.00 529,370.00 778,338.00 8,195,810.00 7,855,190.00 277,103,310.00 140,580.00 186,190.00 19,777,100.00 321,263,698.00 47,411,360.00 7,276,300.00 85,340.00 164,535.00 2,430,860.00 47,386,762.00 755,916,915.00 585,700.00 55,696,820.00 620,674,672.50 734,683,966.50 40,023,294.00 57,773,020.00 23,674,330.00 110,450.00 136,397,190.00 66,079,450.00 119,264,414.00

0.0025 1.85 4.94 15.98 1.9500 1.9900 1.6 0.380 8.57 2.800 0.255 0.192 0.202 0.011 0.0110 1.94 7 1.72 0.5200 1.0400 0.0130 0.0130 8.05 8.08 0.0120 2.6000 46.00 0.0075

1,436,000,000 97,851,000 3,408,000 102,400 471,000 720,000 18,907,000 3,830,000 44,400 97,989,000 5,590,000 137,660,000 23,620,000 169,800,000 129,600,000 1,749,000 12,094,500 360,000 527,000 2,282,000 237,800,000 145,800,000 3,999,900 118,387,500 310,600,000 403,000 5,930,000 46,000,000

3,715,600.00 182,557,970.00 16,821,770.00 1,677,666.00 922,890.00 1,359,420.00 29,556,060.00 1,463,700.00 373,453.00 277,422,000.00 1,425,600.00 26,539,200.00 4,730,540.00 1,715,000.00 1,425,600.00 3,476,410.00 82,838,804.00 605,510.00 272,260.00 2,338,200.00 3,018,800.00 1,794,500.00 32,598,348.00 909,326,158.00 3,727,300.00 1,041,010.00 272,658,935.00 353,600.00

40.45 530 530 107 106 108 118.7 540.5 5.75 1040 1030 1.06 110 1065 1175 1014 105 109.5 75.5 80.5 76 78.1 80.25 78.2 78.5 80 1.96

323,100 3,180 3,830 25,100 80,660 10,320 80,020 10,150 1,269,200 10,510 3,840 95,000 5,510 4,720 40 10,180 2,640 1,580 139,460 426,570 40,960 55,410 175,670 25,170 2,078,050 206,300 1,000

13,073,980.00 1,679,940.00 2,014,505.00 2,680,700.00 8,560,162.00 1,118,658.00 9,442,374.00 5,482,455.00 7,313,434.00 10,930,370.00 3,955,200.00 100,210.00 595,130.00 5,027,380.00 47,045.00 10,325,440.00 275,010.00 172,686.00 10,467,341.50 34,343,661.50 3,115,825.00 4,327,407.00 14,150,097.00 1,975,861.00 162,578,120.00 16,387,500.00 1,960.00

2.550

1,024,000

2,580,400.00

4.98 4.7 5.66

12,619,200 273,000 3,727,800

63,425,770.00 1,274,540.00 21,632,231.00

54,360 6,895,010.00 DOLLAR DENONIMATED SEC. 14,830 159,047.00

126.3

84,640

10,644,922.00

10.9

3,900

43,010.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS Coal Asia Abra Mining Apollo Global Oriental Pet. À’ Philodrill Corp. À’ Pacifica À’ MRC Allied Ind. Manila Mining À’ Crown Equities Inc. Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC)

VOLUME 21,000,579,800 2,668,000,000 1,082,200,000 365,800,000 290,100,000 268,690,000 236,080,000 169,700,000 154,592,000 147,754,300

STOCKS Ayala Corp `A’ Ayala Land `B’ SM Investments Inc. SM Prime Holdings Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Universal Robina Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Metrobank Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) PhilexPetroleum

VALUE 4,056,400,095.00 3,560,364,250.00 1,946,953,595.00 1,767,568,910.00 1,372,234,005.00 1,056,359,223.00 999,754,436.00 846,582,470.50 837,612,481.00 836,651,372.00

cent, respectively. Services, meanwhile, declined 2.7 percent, while the mining and industrials dropped 2.2 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively. The market’s continued ascent, however, would not be sustained without the support of foreign funds. Overseas investors were net sellers for the week by P150.7 million. The average daily value traded stood at P8.5 billion from the previous week’s average of P7.07 billion. Weekly top gainers include Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., which climbed 19.7 percent to P57.45; Ayala Corp. which advanced 5.52 percent to a record high of P1,071; and SM Prime Holdings Inc, which rose 5.3 percent to P36.50 per share. Weekly top price losers were Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., which declined 7.6 percent to P97.90; Megawide Construction Corp., which dropped 7.4 percent to P16.44; and EEI Corp., which lost 6.5 percent to P12.90 apiece. Wall Street stocks, meanwhile, ﬁnished higher Friday, with the Nasdaq edging to a fresh record, following data showing strong US retail sales in September. US retail sales jumped 1.6 percent last month due to strong trade in cars, car parts and fuel following US hurricanes, Commerce Department data showed.

2 firms postpone IPOs for next year PURE Energy Energy Holdings Corp. and Bermaz Auto Philippines Inc. have moved their planned initial public offerings to 2018, according to the underwriter handling both deals. Abacus Capital & Investment Corp. director of corporate finance Manuel Ocampo said both IPOs had been deferred to next year as the companies were still complying with some of the additional requirements of the Philippine Stock Exchange. “Both firms are still complying with the requirements from the PSE. So we will have to move the IPOs to next year,” Ocampo said. Ocampo said the two companies were still keen on pushing through with their IPO plans. Pure Energy, an investment holding company with interests in renewable power and bulk water supply and distribution projects, plans to raise as much as P1.58 billion from IPO. It plans to offer 930 million common shares with an option to sell another 46.5 million in allotment shares at a price of up to P1.62 apiece. The shares represent 15.6 percent of the company’s authorized capital stock. Pure Energy plans to use proceeds from the maiden share offering to finance several hydropower projects as well as the acquisition of similar stations. Bermaz Auto, the exclusive distributor of Mazda vehicles in the country, meanwhile, plans to raise as much as P1.24 billion. It intends to sell 155 million primary and secondary shares at price of up to P8 apiece. The offered shares represent 15.6 percent of the company’s total outstanding capital stock after the IPO. Jenniffer B. Austria

Business/World

Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. vice president Dr. Rolando Dy, Senator Cynthia Villar and former Agriculture secretary & Inang Lupa Foundation president Dr. William Dar.

THE ASEAN AGRICULTURE SUMMIT 2017 TWO weeks ago, the Philippines, as part of its hosting of the 50th ASEAN Anniversary, held the ASEAN Agriculture Summit 2017 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. The theme for the Summit was “Agripreneurship: Uplifting Lives Towards Prosperity for All”.

ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC) chairman Joey Concepcion

Agripreneur is, of course, a play on Agriculture and Entrepreneur. Where entrepreneurship is involved, trust that Joey Concepcion, the GO NEGOSYO founder and presidential adviser on Entrepreneurship, won’t be far behind. Indeed, this Summit is but another feather in Joey’s cap, and with the sheer number of feathers that Joey has accumulated, so to speak, that cap is starting to look like the headdress of an American Indian chieftain. Uplifting lives towards prosperity for all is not just anchored on the Asean thrust, but also on the economic development and poverty reduction agenda of the Duterte administration. The Summit is “a ﬁrst step forward to bring together and mobilize key ecosystem stakeholders into crafting and actualizing an integrated framework for Agripreneurship as integral to prosperous Philippine agriculture.”

According to the ASEAN Summit website, the summit “will focus on informing, inspiring and connecting Asean AgriEcosystem Stakeholders toward adopting and supporting the modernization and Industrialization of agriculture thru Agripreneurship as a sustainable strategy for poverty alleviation, growth, rural development.“ Aside from Joey Concepcion, who also chairs the Asean Business Advisory Council, other keynote speakers include Senator Cynthia Villar, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and a known advocate for the sector; Dr. William Dar, President of the Inang Lupa Foundation, who once served with me in the Estrada administration as Agriculture Secretary and presidential adviser on Rural Development; and, of course, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol, a trueblooded Mindanaoan who once served as Governor and Representative of Cotabato province. Secretary Piñol is optimistic on the overall performance of agriculture this year. He expects the local farm sector to grow by 6.2 percent due to improved crop output, a far cry from last year’s 1.4 percent agri output which was wrought by extreme weather conditions. Agripreneurship is in good hands with Joey Concepcion and Manny Piñol at the helm. Both men are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty. With their hands, of course. I wish them all the best.

Islamic State fighters end up in mass graves D HULUIYAH, Iraq―The Islamic State group once drew recruits from near and far with promises of paradise, but now bodies of jihadists lie in mass graves or at the mercy of wild dogs as its “caliphate” collapses.

Flies buzz around human remains poking through the dusty earth in the Iraqi town of Dhuluiyah, 90 kilometers north of Baghdad, at a hastily dug pit containing the bodies of dozens of IS ﬁghters killed in 2015. “They should have ended up in the stomachs of stray dogs,” local police ofﬁcer Mohammed al-Juburi told AFP. “We buried them here not out of love but because we

wanted to avoid diseases.” At one stage, IS ruthlessly wielded power over a vast swathe of territory straddling Iraq and Syria, but a military onslaught on multiple fronts has seen its ﬁefdom shrink to a last few pockets. Since the launch in 2014 of air strikes in Iraq and Syria against the group, a US-led coalition says around 80,000 jihadists have been killed. The overall number of

RAIN. A couple uses an umbrella to shield themselves from the rain in Hong Kong on October 15 as Typhoon Khanun moves across the northern part of the South China sea. AFP

From left are: Quintin Pastrana, Ginggay HontiverosMalvar, Gigi Gatti (Grameen Foundation USA), Dante Delima (ATISCO Philippines), Undersectary Ariel Cayanan (Department of Agriculture), Joey Concepcion, Representative Arthur Yap and Oudet Souvannavong (Greater Mekong Sub-Region Business Council).

refused to honor them with Islamic rites. “We buried them with bulldozers. Even in the ground they are still mired in their own ﬁlth,” said farmer Shalan al-Juburi. “They said that they would go to paradise to enjoy the gardens of delights, but this is how they ended up.” The desolate site is in stark contrast to a nearby graveyard surrounded by a red-brick wall a few hundred meters away. There the “martyrs” who died helping to stop the jihadist advance lie in well-tended tombs adorned with their portraits and shaded by trees. Elsewhere, in western Iraq’s Anbar province, the

luckiest among the IS dead appear to be those killed during its offensives against the army in 2015. In the center of Fallujah, the first major city captured by the group in 2014, hundreds of memorials in a makeshift cemetery bear the noms de guerre of foreign fighters buried by their comrades. But as Iraqi forces in Anbar now look to oust the jihadists from their final footholds, operation commander Mahmoud al-Fellahi insisted any jihadists killed will end up in mass graves. A similar fate befell IS members in the city of Mosul, the group’s largest urban stronghold in Iraq that it lost in July. AFP

LOS ANGELES―The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Harvey Weinstein on Saturday, vowing that the era of “shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior” in the movie industry was over. An emergency meeting of its 54-member board of governors, which includes stars such as Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Laura Dern, voted “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority,” it said in a statement. “We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is

over,” the statement read. An avalanche of sexual harassment, assault and rape accusations against Weinstein have surfaced since the publication last week of an explosive New York Times report alleging a history of abusive behavior by the Hollywood mogul dating back decades. On Thursday, American actress Rose McGowan became the fourth woman to accuse the 65-year-old of raping her. “What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society,” said the Academy, which organizes the Oscars. “The board continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all Academy members will be expected to exemplify.” AFP

California wildfire toll rises to 38 even as100,000 are evacuated LOS ANGELES―The death toll from California’s raging wildfires rose to 38 on Saturday, with more than 10,000 firefighters battling 16 large blazes and 100,000 people evacuated, the state’s fire service said. Around 864 square kilometers of residential neighborhoods, forests and other property have been burned since Sunday, according to the California Department of Forestry

and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). “These ﬁres have been extremely destructive, with 5,700 structures estimated to have been destroyed,” the service said in a statement. Cal Fire later announced on its Twitter account that the death toll had risen from 35 in the morning to 38, with 20 of the fatalities occurring in Sonoma County alone, where more than 200 people are still missing.

GREEN LIGHT

From left are: Zulkarnain Bin Md. Eusope (FELCRA BerhadMalaysia), Saran Song (Amru Rice-Cambodia) Alex Buenaventura (Land Bank-Philippines) and Pablito Sandoval (Active Batangas Integrated Multipurpose Cooperative ).

dead is higher if you include those targeted by Russian and Syrian strikes. In agricultural Dhuluiyah on the banks of the Tigris river, residents faced a common dilemma over what to do with the corpses of IS fighters after local Sunni militiamen beat back the jihadists in fierce clashes. “We could have thrown them into the water, but we love the river too much to pollute it,” said the local policeman, who lost his own brother in the violence. “The people here as well as their animals drink from the Tigris.” Local finally decided to dig a mass grave for the fighters―but they said they

Motion picture Academy expels Harvey Weinstein

DR. FLORENZ C. TUGAS

From left are: Ginggay Hontiveros-Malvar (Go Negosyo adviser for Agripreneurship), Dato’ Dzulfilki ADB Wahab (FELDA, Technoplant Sdn Bhd. - Malaysia), ASEAN BAC chairman Joey Concepcion, Henry Lim Bon Liong (SL Agritech), DoST Secretary Fortunato dela Peña, Dr. Hengky Novarianto (Indonesia Palm Crops Research Institute), Karen Davila (moderator) and Winston Uy (Universal Leaf Philippines).

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

TO OUR guest speaker, Hon. Acting Vice Mayor and Councilor Juan Miguel Flores, our dean, Dr. Brian Gozun, our associate dean, Dr. Hilario Caraan, our associate dean for research and graduate studies, Dr. Emilina Sarreal, administrators, fellow teachers, academic personnel, parents, fellow graduates, guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to start this response by praising and thanking God for making this milestone possible for us. I know the journey coming here has been a roller-coaster ride and has established all-time highs and lows in our lives. But beyond them all, God enabled us to emerge victorious by graciously walking with us in every step of the way. For that, congratulations to us and to our dear parents, guardians and benefactors! I would like also to mention my dissertation mentor, Prof. Dr. Tereso Tullao Jr. My sincerest thank you, sir, for guiding me in coming up with a dissertation that puts humanity and ethics at the forefront of the fast and agile technological

Pre-dawn winds in Santa Rosa have complicated the effort, pushing a blaze known as the Nuns Fire in two separate directions and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes near Oakmont and northeast of the city of Sonoma, Cal Fire said. Numerous churches across the region―in Santa Rosa, Napa, Sonoma, Petaluma and Novato―were housing victims of the wildﬁres and

serving as resting places for ﬁreﬁghters, according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper. California Governor Jerry Brown announced the White House had approved a request for direct aid for families in four counties, adding to emergency funds promised to the devastated winemaking areas of Napa and Sonoma. Brown and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala

Harris met community leaders and emergency management ofﬁcials in Santa Rosa later Saturday, with nine counties still under a state of emergency. “Nothing has been this bad that I’ve ever seen in this state,” Brown was quoted as saying by the Bee. “The devastation, the horror, the displacement, is truly something that none of us will ever forget.” AFP

Learnings from higher learning (Part 1)

innovations that take place in today’s Fourth Industrial Revolution. On behalf of the graduates in this hall, the same gratitude I am also extending to the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, its administrators, faculty, and staff, our panelists in thesis and dissertation, our friends, our families and to everyone who contributed to where we are today, thank you for the prayers, support, and understanding. Thank you, big time, to De La Salle University for not only providing us a place to learn but also a space to commit mistakes and grow from them. From my end, through its faculty development program, I was able to experience Lasallian education both at the masters and doctoral levels. And for that, my heartfelt thank you, De La Salle University. You have not only provided me employment but also gave me security. This afternoon I will be sharing with you two nuggets of wisdom to reﬂect on as we immerse ourselves into the bigger world. These are: (1) keep going,

live God’s purpose in your life; and (2) embrace your being a work-in-progress, do not settle. Nugget of Wisdom #1 I ﬁrst came to De La Salle University not to be a student but to be a teacher. I was a CPA with a promising career in commerce and industry then but I felt that I wanted something more. Turning a blind eye on the future value of my career in that sector, I pursued the academe. I became a full-time faculty member of the Accountancy department in 2005 and from then on I never left teaching. Just like a new-found love, I enjoyed the honeymoon days, months, and even years in the academe. But this started to fade when it dawned on me that I needed to pursue a PhD. Yes, being a student again! After several encouragements and bombardments, I yielded and obeyed. I just thought that all I had to do was to switch hats from time to time. I could be a teacher at day and a student at night. It went so well. The terms went by with a steady mix of expected ups and downs. Ups happening

during the first three weeks of the term, plateauing weeks after that, and taking its dip as the week of final exams and term paper submission came near. Everything was manageable not until the term where we needed to write our dissertation came. I held and reflected for a while. No, let me rephrase that. I froze, I thought of alibis, and took my “while,” a long while. Running out of reasons, I decided to face it because eventually I still would. After what I went through, I am glad I took the leap of faith. If I had not, I would not have found that technological innovations would always be sensitive to human dimensions of teamwork and ethical conduct, that full replacement of humans with technology in the workplace would never happen, and that a person who does not use technology could easily be replaced by a person who does. That’s my dissertation. Indeed, I was able to find nobler intentions as I sought for higher learning. It made me reach the depths of my thoughts and come to terms with my

heart. I was transformed not only intellectually but also spiritually. Realizing that, I was able to redefine my sense of purpose and gained a better perspective of God, of others, and of myself. (To be continued next week.) Dr. Tugas graduated October 14, 2017 with a degree of Doctor of Philosphy in Business. This was his response, given on behalf of graduating masteral and doctoral students, during the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business Recognition Rites. He is a full-time faculty member of the Accountancy Department of the Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University. He specializes in Auditing and Assurance, Taxation, and Management of Information Technology courses. He can be reached at florenz.tugas@ dlsu.edu.ph. The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

LGUs

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

monday, october 16, 2017

Farm tourism pioneers feted in DoT awards

LocaL government units

ART TURNOVER. As part of Pilipinas Shell’s 50th anniversary celebration, more than 200 winning masterpieces of the Shell art program were turned over to the Ayala Foundation and is now part of the Ayala Museum collection. Photo shows (from left) Pilipinas Shell President CEO Cesar Romero, Ramon D. Del Rosario of Pilipinas Shell, Ayala Corp. President and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala, and Ayala Foundation President Ruel Maranan at the turnover at the Ayala Museum in Makati City. Manny Palmero

Valenzuela bags twin governance trophies By Jun David THE City Government of Valenzuela recently garnered two Development Academy of the Philippines Government Best Practice Recognition 2017 trophies during the sidelights of the International Conference on Public Sector Productivity held at the DAP Conference Center in Tagaytay City. Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the city government was cited for its outstanding initiative in delivering excellent public services and programs to its constituents. Among the 13 finalists this year, Valenzuela City’s Disiplina Village: Bagong Bahay, Bagong Buhay (Complete In-City Housing Package for Disaster Preparedness and Resiliency) and the Education 360 Degrees Investment Program were among the five government practices recognized as successful and validated government practices that provide citizens with the best and utmost services. The Disiplina Village, with a total land area of 13 hectares for its two sites in Barangays Ugong and Bignay, is the country’s biggest in-city housing project. It is complete with facilities such as the 3S Center or satellite city hall, health station, daycare center, police community precinct, fire sub-station, multipurpose hall, basketball courts, elementary and high schools, livelihood facilities, such as, community fishpond and vegetable farm, tofu production mini-plant, and bag sewing and shirt printing shop.

Subic biz backs Eisma

By Butch Gunio

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Business locators in this premier freeport have expressed their support of the recent appointment of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Wilma T. Eisma as chairperson of the agency.

In a statement, the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce congratulated Eisma and reiterated their cooperation to help improve Subic’s business environment.

“Moving forward, the locators of Subic Bay expect many great things from Atty. Eisma, which is both a compliment and a heavy burden on her shoulders,”

the SBFCC statement said. “Being the Chamber and the voice of the business community, we are here to support her endeavors that will improve the business environment of Subic. In the same breadth, we are also here so that her leadership and policies will be fair to all the stakeholders of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone,” it added. The SBFCC, headed by businesswoman Rose Baldeo, issued the statement following the appointment of Eisma as SBMA chair-

person. President Duterte issued Executive Order No. 42 that expressly revoked the separation of the positions of chairman and administrator of SBMA under EO 340 signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004. Duterte repealed the Arroyo order after a leadership row erupted between Eisma and former SBMA Chairman Martin Diño, who tried to assume the powers of the administrator. The conflict, Subic stakeholders noted, put

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald M. Dela Rosa (center) walks with (from left) Vice Mayor Angelo Alonte, Binan Rep. Marlyn B. Alonte-Naguiat, Binan Mayor Arman Dimaguila Jr., and Rommel L. Dicdican, ABC chairman, as they walk to the commencement exercises of the PNP Simula ng Pag-Asa or SIPAG program at Splash Island Southwood in Barangay San Francisco, Binan, Laguna. Roy Tomandao

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—A Vizcayana Overseas Foreign Worker has been chosen by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to represent Cagayan Valley region in the national search for Model OFW Family. The family of Marcela

unteers also participated in giving out packs containing food and water in communities devastated by torrential rains and floods. The initiative is in keeping with the disaster response advocacy of BDO Foundation, which organizes disaster relief operations in calamity-stricken communities with the support of more than 1,000 BDO branches, head office and satellite units all over the country.

both parties for the sake of the investors of Subic Bay; if not, then to choose one that would lead the SBMA, to avoid further confusion among the locators and even within the ranks of the SBMA,” the SBFCC said. The statement also thanked Diño for the assistance he gave the locators during his few months in Subic. “We are confident that Mr. Diño is more than capable of handling the next government position that the President will assign to him,” it added.

Qc warns overcharging, abusive tricycle drivers TRICYCLE drivers and operators in Quezon City who charge more than the official fare rate may face six months’ imprisonment or a fine of P5,000. The stern warning came from the Tricycle Regulation Division of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety following rampant complaints received by City hall from commuters. “They were also sternly warned not to allow minors and unlicensed drivers to operate tricycle units and reminded them to strictly follow traffic rules and regulations to avoid accidents, loss of lives and damage to properties,” Elmo DG San Diego, head of DPOS, said in his memo to the QC Public Affairs and Information Services Office. The city’s information office had relayed complaints from commuters that tricycle drivers overcharge passengers at Veterans Village in Barangay Pasong Tamo. Rio N. Araja

gentri-DFa mobile passport filing Nov. 11

Vizcayana OFW is CagVal bet for OWWA search By Ben Moses Ebreo

much strain on the agency and the freeport itself. The SBFCC recalled that Subic locators had urged for a clear definition of the leadership roles in the government-owned and controlled corporation to resolve the issue. “Like what we said during the height of the recent leadership row, we requested the House of Representatives and Malacañang to step in and make the necessary decisions that would clarify the roles of

In BrIEf

‘SIPAG’ WALK.

Echevere Valdez of barangay Nagbitin in Villaverde town was recently awarded as MOFYA in September 21 at Crown Pavilion, Tuguegarao City. JudyMae Adalin, OWWA family welfare officer said the family of Valdez remains united and continues to practice charity and sharing

despite their physical separation when she worked as domestic helper in Malaysia for five years. Adalin added that seven of Valdez’s eight children managed to finish college. One of them graduated cum laude in a theological school and is now a priest at the diocese of Bayombong, while her

youngest child is now in senior high school in their town. “At present, Marcela is now the chairperson of Villaverde Development Cooperative, while her husband Gabriel, a former Sangguniang Barangay member, is the current president of Villaverde Spring Water Association,” Adalin added.

BDO lends Laguna aid VOLUNTEERS from BDO bank branches in Laguna province have mounted relief operations for victims of typhoon “Lannie” and tropical depression “Maring” as part of efforts organized by BDO Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank. Led by branch head Wilda Solis, employees of the BDO Calamba-Paseo Uno branch distributed relief goods to help residents cope with the calamities. Non-BDO vol-

THE Department of Tourism and the International School of Sustainable Tourism have feted the country’s farm tourism pioneers through the Lakbay Bukid Awards in the recent 5th Farm Tourism Conference and Festival. The prestigious annual award is given to individuals, institutions and groups who have made significant contributions to the development of the Philippines’s farm tourism industry. This year’s awardees are AAMBISOWA party-list Rep. Sharon Garin, who co-authored the Farm Tourism Act of 2016 (Republic Act 10816); Lomboy Farms proprietor and “Grape King” Avelino Lomboy; Refmad Farms and “Dragonfruit Queen” Edith Dacuycuy, and DOT region director for Calabarzon Rebecca Labit, who has the most number of accredited farm tourism sites under her jurisdiction. Held in Iloilo City, the confab was themed “Improving Farm Tourism through Enrichment of Local Products and Culture” and focused on the growing country’s farm tourism sector as driver of inclusive economic growth. Attended by agricultural entrepreneurs, local authorities and tourism officials, the three-day conference focused on the unique fusion of farming and tourism that empowers local communities, provide diversified income for farmers, and encourage sustainable practices for food security.

GENERAL TRIAS CITY—The City Government, in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs Consular Affairs Department and Robinson’s Place GenTri, will be holding a Mobile Passport Service on November 11, Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Robinson’s Place GenTri Activity Center in Barangay Tejero here. Passport applicants were required to submit their requirements to the Investment and Promotion Office, 4th Floor, City Hall Building not later than October 15. Only 600 slots were allotted for the purpose. Walk-in and lost passport claimants are not allowed to apply. For more inquiries please call (046) 509-5053 or 0917-5448982 for more details. Meanwhile, in Noveleta town, around 289 walk-in applicants availed the NBI Clearance and NSO certificate on wheels program at its town plaza during the ‘Walang Tamad sa Noveleta’ Job Fair program’ of Mayor Dino Reyes Chua.

Bataan distributes 16 carabaos, cattle

Officers and staff of the BDO Calamba-Paseo Uno branch volunteered to distribute relief goods to Laguna residents affected by Typhoon ‘Lannie’ and tropical depression ‘Maring.’

BALANGA CITY, Bataan—The provincial government of Bataan has distributed 16 carabaos and nine Brahman cattle to residents of three coastal villages of Bagac and in an upland sitio of Morong to help them with their livelihood. The distribution, facilitated by the Provincial Veterinary Office at the capitol compound, was spearheaded by Vice Governor Cris Garcia, who represented Governor Abet Garcia. “The provincial government of Bataan is expanding the animal dispersal program. We want you to feel what the government is doing for you,” the vice governor told the beneficiaries and their barangay officials. Butch Gunio

Life

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

FOOD

Celebrity chef Donita Rose presents her Ginataan with Luyang Dilaw dish made using Jolly Heart Mate Canola oil

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

Chef Donita

shares heart-healthy

TUNA RECIPE T

HE rewarding experience of sharing a feast is just one of the many perks of cooking especially for Filipinos, and Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil Ambassador Chef Donita Rose happily shares her passion for cooking among Filipinos by doing her rounds at the country’s top festivals, such as the recent General Santos City’s 19th Food Festival.

The annual Tuna Festival not only celebrates the city’s leading tuna industry, it’s also a venue to relish some of its tastefully prepared local dishes with family, friends, and revelers. During the weeklong annual festivity, one of the highlights is the cooking demo of celebrity chef Donita, with the island’s abundant marine resources on center stage with tuna as one of its star ingredients. “As a food-centric city, it’s important for every household to look for ingredients and learn cooking techniques that are beneficial both for health and satisfaction of the whole family,” said Donita. Additionally, it’s a fun-filled treat to General Santos City’s local moms and foodies who were able to sample Chef Donita’s own rendition of a tuna dish using Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil. Heart-healthy and budget-friendly, it’s an oil that’s highly versatile, imparts a neutral taste to almost all types of dishes, contains Vitamin A, and clocks in lowest for saturated fat. “We must always be conscious that the ingredients we use should be good for the heart, like Jolly Heart Mate Canola oil which contains

the lowest amount of bad fats (saturated fats) but packs in the good kind like omega 3 and 6,” Donita shared. Tuna is well loved for its flexibility, whether baked, broiled, grilled or fried. That’s why in perfecting dishes using tuna as the main ingredient, Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil is a credulous pair for almost all types of cooking techniques because it’s also packed with heart-friendly omega 3 and 6. As someone who believes that food preparation and ingredients play a pivotal role in eating healthfully, chef Donita imparts tips and tricks that will make any dish irresistible, less sinful, but still tastes good. “We are very happy that Donita continues to be the brand ambassador of Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil; she easily connects well with her audience given her lively personality. Her passion for cooking can be easily seen, and we believe that she can inspire others to live a healthy lifestyle by using a healthy oil like Jolly Heart Mate Canola Oil in all the dishes we cook at home and especially in festivals such as the Tuna Festival,” added Zen Prudentino, Fly Ace Corporation Group Category manager for Jolly Heart Mate Canola oil. Chef Donita will be in the Ilocos Region for the Raniag Festival in Vigan for another round of live recipe demo and inspiring kitchen tips that moms and home cooks will love.

Experience a new level of cool with Teavana Frozen Teas

TEA is one of the oldest beverages known to man, it is even regarded as the second most consumed drink after water. Only last year, we were treated to something new when Teavana finally came to the Philippines and brought with it a new and exciting way to enjoy tea. This year, Teavana brings two new beverages that will redefine the word cool as it introduces Teavana Frozen Chamomile Tea with Kyoho Grape and Aloe and Teavana Frozen Hibiscus Tea with Pomegranate Pearls to tea lovers. These two new handcrafted beverages will excite your taste buds because these are prepared icy-smooth and with the finest Teavana teas and premium ingredients like Kyoho grapes and pomegranate pearls, making for a compelling and delectable treat any time of the day. Starbucks Teavana Frozen Chamomile Tea with Kyoho Grape and

Golden Fiesta Canola Oil’s phytosterol content helps reduce body’s cholesterol level by 15 percent

Rich source of cholesterol-reducing Starbucks Anniversary Blend

Starbucks Reserve East Timor Peaberry

Starbucks Reserve Sun-Dried Brazil Serra Do Bone

Aloe delivers a visual and textural distinction, especially with its honey white grape puree with bits of aloe. Meanwhile, Teavana Frozen Hibiscus Tea with Pomegranate Pearls is defined by flavors of hibiscus, tropical papaya and mango, and hints of cinnamon and lemongrass and complemented with lightly sweet and tart pomegranate pearls that are made with real pomegranate juice. Aside from being served frozen, these two handcrafted beverages will also be available in iced shaken format. “The ingredients in each beverage were carefully selected to ensure that they deliver on both the Starbucks Teavana modernized tea experience, and appeal to culinary cultures in Asia. Each beverage features popular ingredients such as Kyoho grapes and hibiscus tea.” said Keith Cole, Starbucks Philippines head of marketing. Both drinks will go perfectly with new sandwiches from Starbucks. You can have it with the Tuna Melt on Croissant Baguette, a savory treat made with cheesy tuna on croissant baguette and made more scrumptious by topping it off with melted cheese, or Teavana Frozen Hibiscus Tea with Pomegranate pearls and Teavana Frozen Chamomile Tea with Kyoho Grape and Aloe

Turn to C2

‘PHYTOSTEROL’

HEART-FRIENDLY is probably the last thing on your mind when you reach for the cooking oil in your kitchen shelf, with health buffs giving it a bad rap all these years. It’s time, then, to set things straight: while some cooking oils put your cardiovascular health at risk, others provide essential good fats that our bodies need. In fact, did you know that some cooking oils reduce your risk of having coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular ailments? One of the healthiest oils in the market that nutrition experts recommend is canola oil, which contains heart-healthy nutrients called phytosterols, and which is now being offered by leading oil brand Golden Fiesta by NutriAsia. Golden Fiesta Canola Oil is a rich source of the cholesterol-reducing phytosterols, an all-natural plant extract that can reduce your body’s cholesterol level by up to 15 percent. Scientific studies and trials show that consumption of two grams of phytosterols per day has the potential of diminishing the risk of coronary heart disease, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to the 7th DOST-ENRI Nutrition Survey, Filipinos become

vulnerable to heart disease as early as age 20 due to unhealthy diets and an increasingly stressful work environment. The claim that phytosterol-containing food may reduce the risk of heart disease, as sanctioned by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), bolsters the benefits of consuming Golden Fiesta Canola Oil, the substantial phytosterol contents of which help ease the intestinal absorption of dietary cholesterol and facilitate the excretion of biliary cholesterol in the feces. Made from the seeds of canola flowers, Golden Fiesta Canola Oil is also rich in Omega 3 and Omega 6, which are also beneficial in lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some types of cancer when combined with a healthy diet and exercise. Compared to other vegetable oils, canola oil has a low level of uric acid, glucosinolates, and saturated fatty acids and bad fats, making it one of the healthiest and more widely used oils in the market. NutriAsia Golden Fiesta Canola Oil is a good source of phytosterols. Two grams of phytosterols per day may potentially reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Life

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017 C2 Standard TODAY Manila

isahred@gmail.com

PLATO WRAPS

is all about bold, exciting flavors P

LATO Wraps celebrates 16 years in the business. Starting out as Tony and Kamela Seen’s labor of love, Plato Wraps has grown over the years to become a true Filipino favorite— wraps that are deliciously familiar and comforting. To mark their 16th year, the mother-daughter team of Kamela and Kreme Seen-Sumayao rolled up their kitchen sleeves and has come up with something really special after launching a fresh look for the brand last year, and many months of research and long hours in the kitchen. Plato Wraps has added two new exciting flavors to their menu—Peri-Peri Latino Wrap and Crabby Rappu initially available in their branches at SM Megamall, Robinson’s Galleria, Glorietta 4, and Shangri-la Mall. Kamela and Kreme decided to add these new items to their menu of time-tested favorites because they wanted to provide a new experience for their customers. They know that a person’s tastes and preferences are always evolving given that every time they experience new cuisines, they begin to enjoy a much wider world of flavor. Experience and taste your favorites to-go meals at @ PlatoWraps and @PlatoWrapsOfficial or visit www.platowraps.com.ph

Crabby Rappu

PlatoWraps all-time favorites: Beef Gyro, Ham and Cheese, Yummy Tuna, Chunky Chicken and Very Veggie

Make gatherings healthy and delicious – the Mediterranean way

Republic of the Philippines CITY OF PARAÑAQUE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR COMPARATIVE PROPOSAL (SWISS CHALLENGE) Public notice is hereby given that the City Government of Parañaque, through its Public-Private Partnership Selection Committee, received and accepted the Unsolicited Proposal of Eastland Printink, Inc., the original proponent for the development, management and operation of the “Development and Installation of an Automated System for the Processing, Issuance and Verification of Various Health and Sanitation Related Certificates and Clearances”. After completing detailed negotiations, the City is now ready to accept comparative proposals This project is being undertaken by the City under a joint venture arrangement, which is a modality under Ordinance No. 13- 06, Series of 2013, otherwise known as City of Parañaque Integrated PPP Code.

Peri-Peri Latino Wrap

WITH the arrival of the ‘ber’ months, a lot of gatherings, meeting and family reunions will take place. You don’t have to be harassed with all the preparations. In fact, you can make food on your own and be proud to let everyone know that you have prepared something that is delicious yet healthy at the same time. When we say “healthy and delicious,” one cuisine that comes into mind is Mediterranean food. Now, if you don’t have much time, try these two treats: Shrimp Puttanesca Rice Bowl with Capers & Tomatoes and the Fusilli with Anchovy Caper Sauce. Following these easy-to-follow recipes courtesy of Doña Elena,

you’re sure to hit the yum spot with this hearty and healthy onebowl dish and pasta favorite. Don’t forget to take these flavor-packed dishes to the next level using Doña Elena Premium Mediterranean line of products. With its wide array of Mediterranean products—Black and Green Olives, Capers, Olive Oil, Flat Fillets in Anchovies, Spanish Sardines and Canned Tomatoes—confidently re-create the authentic gourmet flavor of any Spanish Mediterranean dish right in the comforts of any kitchen, whether it is at your home or the office to mark the celebrations this coming ‘ber’ months.

SHRIMP PUTTANESCA RICE BOWL WITH CAPERS AND TOMATOES

FUSILLI WITH ANCHOVY CAPER SAUCE

Interested bidders must submit their notarized expression of interest to submit comparative proposals on or before November 2, 2017 at the Office of the City Administrator, 4th Floor, City Hall, Parañaque City. The notarized expression of interest with supporting documents must contain the following: 1.

5. 6.

The challenger is a Filipino citizen, or a corporation, duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and owned up to least sixty percent (60%) by Filipinos, or a joint venture or consortium, presently existing, in which Filipinos have at least sixty per cent (60%) interest. The challenger must possess the equipment and the operational capabilities for the development and installation of an automated system for the processing, issuance and verification of various health and sanitation related certificates and clearances. Appropriate documents must be presented to provide proof thereof. The challenger must have an existing contract with a Local Government Unit in the Philippines for the processing, issuance and verification of various government related certificates and clearances. The challenger must have technical staff with established expertise and technical competence to implement and supervise the operation and management of an automated system for the processing, issuance and verification of government related certificates and clearances. For the foregoing purpose, it shall submit the curriculum vitae of its key personnel. Proof of employment of these personnel with the challenger and their respective relevant experience to the required provision of services must be submitted The challenger must be able to comply with the terms and conditions stated in the Terms of Reference (TOR). The challenger shall not in any manner prevent the Award of the Project and the carrying out the project.

Those who filed their notarized expression of interest on or before November 2, 2017 may obtain from the Office of the City Administrator the Terms of Reference upon payment of a non-refundable fee of P22,000.00. Only those who filed their NEOI on time and purchased copies of the Terms of Reference shall be allowed to participate in this competitive selection procedure. The following schedule of activities shall be strictly observed: 1.

Publication of Notice of Invitation for Comparative Proposals in newspapers of general circulation (broadsheet and tabloid) : October 16, 2017. 2. On the first date of publication of the invitation for comparative proposal, the Private Sector Proponent (PSP) or Original Proponent (OP) shall post the proposal security or bid security equivalent to 2% of the development cost of the project – in cash, manager’s check or bank draft or 5% if surety bond. 3. Posting of Notice of Invitation at the City Government’s website (www.parañaquecity.gov.ph) and in conspicuous places within the City : October 16, 2017. 4. Submission of Notarized Expression of Interest at the Office of the City Administrator : on or before November 2, 2017. 5. Eligibility Check to short list qualified Private Sector Proponent (PSP) : November 6-7, 2017. 6. Sending notice of eligibility or non-eligibility to PSP : November 8, 2017. 7. Release of Terms of Reference – November 9 – 14, 2017 upon payment of the amount of P22,000.00 in cash, manager’s check or bank draft. 8. Pre-Selection Conference conducted by the PPP-SC at Room 310, 3rd Floor, Legislative Building, Parañaque City Hall : November 20, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. 9. Submission of Comparative Proposals (CP) at the Office of the City Administrator : on or before December 5, 2017 at 9:00 A.M. 10. Opening and Evaluation of Comparative Proposals (CP) : December 6, 2017 at Room 310, 3rd Floor, Legislative Building, Parañaque City Hall. 11. Within five (5) days from Opening and Evaluation of Comparative Proposals, the Original Proponent (OP) can exercise the Right to MATCH the superior or more advantageous comparative proposal. 12. Issuance of NOTICE OF AWARD. If no notarized expression of interest or comparative proposal is submitted, the Project shall be awarded to the Original Proponent (OP). Further, pursuant to the above-mentioned Ordinance, the Original Proponent (OP) shall be given the right to match the superior offer or more advantageous offer to the City. Finally, the PPP-SC reserves the right to (1) reject any and all applications for qualification and eligibility found not in conformity with aforesaid Ordinance or with the requirements above-mentioned without incurring any liability to the affected Private-Sector Proponent; (2) waive any minor defect therein; and (3) accept the offer it deems most advantageous to the City Government. CONTACT INFORMATION: PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP-SELECTION COMMITTEE (PPP-SC) c/o Atty. Rommel A. Frias PPP-SC Secretary & City Legal Officer

INGREDIENTS: 1 tbsp. Doña Elena Pure Olive Oil 3 cloves Garlic, minced 3 fillets Doña Elena Anchovies, chopped ¼ tsp. Red pepper flakes 800g Doña Elena Diced Tomatoes 2 tbsp. Doña Elena Capers, drained ¼ cup Doña Elena Sliced Black Olives 1 lb. Shrimp, shelled and deveined ¼ cup Italian parsley, minced 2 cups White rice, cooked PROCEDURE: Heat Doña Elena Pure Olive Oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the garlic, Doña Elena anchovy fillets and red pepper flakes. Break the anchovies using a wooden spoon. Cook for 2 minutes. Add Doña Elena Diced Tomatoes, Capers and Sliced Black Olives. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the sauce slightly thickens. Add the shrimp and simmer until REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES TYPE: 2BR the shrimp are just REGIONAL TRIAL COURT AREA: 57.5 SQ.M. cooked through, turnNATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION % PARTICIPATION: 0.125% OFFICE OF THE EX-OFFICIO SHERRIF ing partway through, in the diagrammatic floor QUEZON CITY plan appended to the enabling about 3 minutes. Stir or master deed of the PHILIPPINE SAVINGS BANK, condominium project annotated Mortgagee, in the parsley. on TRANSFER CERTIFICATE Divide the rice -versusFRE NO. 11740 OF TITLE N-165131-33 which embraces and describes the land located at B. SERRANO between 4 bowls. SPS. DONNY DEL PRADO AND AVE., CUBAO, Q.C. with an IVY E. DEL PRADO rep by LILIA Top each porarea of (10,444; 200 & 200) DEL PRADO as Attorney-In-Fact. Square, Meter, xxx xxx Mortgagor/s tion with ¼ of the All sealed bids must be x-----------------------------------x Shrimp Puttanesca. NOTICE OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL submitted to the undersigned at the aforesaid office on the above SALE OF REAL PROPERTY stated date and time. UNDER ACT 3135 Interested parties are hereby (AS AMENDED) enjoined to investigate for themselves the title to the UPON extra-judicial petition under ACT 3135, as amended said property/ies and the encumbrances thereon, if any by ACT 4118 and pursuant to the terms and conditions of the there be. Deed of Real Estate Mortgage In the event that public auction executed on October 13, 2016 should not take place on said by SPS. DONNY DEL PRADO date due to fortuitous event or AND IVY E. DEL PRADO if the same be declared a nonrep by LILIA DEL PRADO working holiday, it shall be held as Attorney-in-Fact. –5F on November 29, 2017 at the Cluster 7, Greenhills Garden same time and place without Sqno.297, Boni Serrano Ave., further notice. Quezon City, Mortgagors in Quezon City, Metro Manila, favor of PHILIPPINE SAVINGS October 4, 2017. BANK, Mortgagee, to satisfy the mortgage debt in the amount of Php 2,118,218.79 as of June (Sgd.) MICHAEL T. IN SAME 21, 2017 plus accruing interest, Sheriff IV and penalty and other charges together with all the lawful fees and expenses of foreclosure (Sgd.) GREGORIO C . TALLUD Clerk of Court VII and sale, the Ex-Officio Sheriff of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon Ex-Officio Sheriff City and/or his duly authorized Deputy Sheriff, hereby WARNING: It is absolutely prohibannounces that on November ited to remove, deface or Destroy 22, 2017 between the hours of this Notice of Sheriff’s Sale on or 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at the Before the date of the auction sale Office of the Clerk of Court & under penalty of the law. Ex-Officio Sheriff, Regional Trial Court, Hall of Justice Copy Furnished: Bldg., Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City, will sell thru public ATTY. CONSTANTINO L. REYES auction to the highest bidder for 4th Floor PSBank Centre Bldg., cash, in Philippine Currency, No. 777 Paseo de Roxas Ave., the following described real cor. Sedeño St., Makati City property/ies with all the SPS. DONNY DEL PRADO AND improvements existing thereon, IVY E. DEL PRADO rep by LILIA to wit: DEL PRADO as Attorney-in-Fact. CONDOMINIUM CERTIFICATE 5F Cluster 7, Greenhills Garden OF TITLE NO. N-004-2014027187 Sqno, 297, Boni Serrano Ave., Registry of Deeds-Quezon City Quezon City GREENHILLS GARDEN SQUARE Unit 5F Greenhills Garden Square 7 Cluster 7, No. 297 Col. Boni 5F Serrano Ave., Quezon City.

(SGD) FERNANDO C. SORIANO PPP-SC Chairman

CLUSTER: LEVEL: UNIT: (MS-OCT. 16, 2017)

(MS-Oct. 16, 23 & 30, 2017)

INGREDIENTS: 1 pack Doña Elena Al Dente Fusilli pasta, cooked 8 fillets Doña Elena Anchovies, mashed 1/2 stick Butter 1 tbsp. Doña Elena Pure Olive Oil 1/2 pc. White onion, thinly sliced 2 tbsp. Doña Elena Capers, drained 1 cup Cherry tomatoes, cut in half 1/2 pc. Lemon, juiced 1/2 cup Parsley, chopped 1/2 tsp. Dry tarragon 1 clove Garlic, thinly sliced To t aste Salt and pepper Pasta water (from boiling pasta) Doña Elena Extra Virgin Olive Oil PROCEDURE: Heat pan to medium low. Add a drizzle of Doña Elena pure olive oil and butter. When butter melts, add onion, garlic, 1/2 of the parsley (set aside other 1/2 of it for topping), tarragon and mashed anchovies and combine. (If using fillets, add them first and allow them to break apart in the butter before adding onions, garlic and herbs.) Cover and cook until onions become somewhat soft. Add Doña Elena Capers, cherry tomatoes, pepper and about 1/2 teaspoon salt, continue cooking uncovered. When the sauce begins to thicken, squeeze a little lemon juice on it and add a ladle of starchy pasta water from the pot and stir it in. Stir in the cooked fusilli pasta and drizzle of Doña Elena extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle the remaining parsley, then toss until well combined.

Experience... From C1

New Guinea. Another option is the Starbucks Single Origin Coffee East Timor Tatamailau which captures f lavors that are smooth with herbal notes and cocoa finish. This is because of the way it is grown in Timor where it is cultivated on small plots of land built into the forest landscape, under huge canopy trees. This mimics the effect of growing coffee at much higher altitudes resulting in resilience and complexity of f lavor. For the Starbucks experience wherever, try the Starbucks VIA Decaf House Blend, which gives any coffee lover a wonderfully balanced Decaf House Blend without compromising flavor. Starbucks also launched a new design for its Starbucks Card. Available for an initial activation amount of ₱1,000, the Maple Leaf Starbucks Card comes in four colorful options. This new design is now available in all Starbucks stores in the Philippines

with Ham and Cheese on Dutch Crepe, a delicious marriage of different flavors brought by the soft, chewy, and sweet Dutch Crepe filled with ham and cheese. A sweeter alternative is the Mango Float Cake which is made with moist and buttery cake then layered with creamy mango mousse and meringue, then finished with mango buttercream icing. Chocoholics will be delighted with the chewy and seriously chocolaty Triple Chocolate Cookie, which has dark, milk, white, and Belgian chocolate chunks. Another great accompaniment for these treats are coffee that you’ll surely love. For those searching for coffee with herbal f lavors and a distinctive spice, Starbucks Anniversary Blend is the one you’re looking for. Inspired by the Starbucks muse, it is a combination of cedary aged Sumatra and the lush full- For more information about these new prodbodied coffees of Indonesia and Papua ucts log on to www.starbucks.ph.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

TODAY

StarWorld is now FOX life

OX Networks Group Asia’s (FNGA) popular StarWorld rebrands as FOX life, becoming a truly global brand. The new look – unveiled on Oct. 1 – incorporates a new name, identity, brand tagline and logo designed to deliver an innovative, entertaining and commercial channel brand, with a programming mix designed to appeal to a broad cross section of females and to provide co-viewing opportunities.

Since launching StarWorld in 1995, FNGA has been committed to its mission of providing the very best of entertainment in the region and providing audiences with exclusive access to premium dramas, comedy, reality TV shows, global award shows and exciting original productions. As a sub brand of our bigger FOX entertainment brand, FOX life will deliver audiences a slate of watch-together content that includes an eclectic mix of Miley Cyrus and Adam Lavine, two of the US dramas and comedies judges in the current season of "The Voice," including Empire, New which airs on Fox life, formerly known as Girl and Grey’s Anatomy StarWorld and locally produced series, including Asia’s Next Top Model and Bolt of Talent as well as US awards shows such as The Emmy Awards among many other popular shows such as Masterchef US. The name change will be supported with fresh, new graphics, an exciting on air and digital look and the catchy new tagline: Turn On, delivering a premium channel and natural evolution from the StarWorld consumers know to FOX Life, a brand with global scale. In celebration of the rebrand and amplifying the new Turn On tagline, Fox life will launch an exciting regional social media campaign, incorporating digital ads and a competition aimed at engaging with Fox life fans. On the rebrand, Dean Dezius, vice president, Entertainment Channels, Content and Communication said, “We are operating in a very competitive market and it is important that our channel along with every part of our entertainment output evolves and innovates to keep pace with our audience. The change to FOX Life bolsters the FNGA portfolio and matures the brand, allowing for future growth in the rapidly changing media landscape. “We have incredibly strong content coming through over the next year, and our mission will be to ensure the content is linked to FOX Life and the global FNGA brand encouraging a re-appraisal of the brand. The new brand will promote our desired state of high quality entertainment across various genres across the region.”

BONIFACIO DRIVE, SOUTH HARBOR, PORT AREA, MANILA 1018, PHILIPPINES, P.O. BOX 436, MANILA, PHILIPPINES TEL. NO. (0632) 527-8356, FAX NO. (0632) 527-4855 HTTP://WWW.PPA.COM.PH

INVITATION TO BID

FOR THE PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION AND OFFSHORE INSTALLATION OF AIDS TO MARINE NAVIGATION AT PORTS OF LUCENA, LUCENA CITY AND STA. CRUZ, MARINDUQUE The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2017, intends to apply the sum of P 168,044,982.93 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Proposed Construction and Offshore Installation of Aids to Marine Navigation at Ports of Lucena, Lucena City and Sta. Cruz, Marinduque (LFP MRQ 033-2017). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Construction, Delivery and Offshore Installation of Aids to Marine Navigation System B. Supply, Construct and Delivery at Staging Area of Solar-Powered Lighted Buoy Assembly C. Offshore Commissioning, Testing and Observation of Aids to Marine Navigation. Completion of the Works is required in 120 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, cooperatives, and partnerships or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for Engineering Projects and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 16 October 2017 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P 50,000.00). It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Philippine Ports Authority, provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. The Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 26 October 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the PPA Function Room, 7th Floor, PPA Bldg., Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila, which shall be open to all prospective bidders. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 1:00 p.m. of 03 November 2017. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents. Bid opening shall be on 03 November 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted. •

Required PCAB Registration: Medium B – Port, Harbor and Offshore Engineering

For further information, please refer to:

INVITATION TO BID

FOR THE PROPOSED DREDGING OF ILIGAN PORT, ILIGAN CITY, LANAO DEL NORTE

The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2017, intends to apply the sum of P 21,544,833.95 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Proposed Dredging of Iligan Port, Iligan City, Lanao del Norte, (LFP LNI No. 034-2017). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Dredging along the berths and maneuvering areas of the Port to a designed depths of 5.50, 8.00 and 11.00 meters below Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) B. Total Volume to be dredged = 40,000.00 cu. m. C. Disposal of dredged soil materials 16.00 kms. away from the project site. Completion of the Works is required in 75 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, cooperatives, and partnerships or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for Engineering Projects and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 16 October 2017 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS (P 25,000.00). It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Philippine Ports Authority, provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. The Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 26 October 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the PPA Function Room, 7th Floor, PPA Bldg., Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila, which shall be open to all prospective bidders. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:00 a.m. of 07 November 2017. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents. Bid opening shall be on 07 November 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted. •

Required PCAB Registration: Medium A – Port, Harbor and Offshore Engineering

The Philippine Ports Authority reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat, Philippine Ports Authority 5th Floor, PPA Bldg., A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila

BAC Secretariat, Philippine Ports Authority 5th Floor, PPA Bldg., A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila

Telephone/Fax No. 527-47-35 527-83-56 to 83 loc. 539

PPA Website: www.ppa.com.ph

ADRIAN FERDINAND S. SUGAY Chairperson, PPA Head Office Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects (HO-BAC-EP)

ADRIAN FERDINAND S. SUGAY Chairperson, PPA Head Office Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects (HO-BAC-EP) Standard – Oct. 16, 2017

Standard – Oct. 16, 2017

BONIFACIO DRIVE, SOUTH HARBOR, PORT AREA, MANILA 1018, PHILIPPINES, P.O. BOX 436, MANILA, PHILIPPINES TEL. NO. (0632) 527-8356, FAX NO. (0632) 527-4855 HTTP://WWW.PPA.COM.PH

BONIFACIO DRIVE, SOUTH HARBOR, PORT AREA, MANILA 1018, PHILIPPINES P.O. BOX 436, MANILA, PHILIPPINES Tel. No. (0632) 527-8356, Fax. No. (0632) 527-4855 HTTP://WWW.PPA.COM.PH

INVITATION TO BID

FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PASSENGER TERMINAL BUILDING, PORT OF TAGBILARAN, BOHOL

FOR THE PROPOSED DREDGING OF DAPITAN PORT, DAPITAN CITY, ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE

FOR THE PROPOSED DREDGING OF SURIGAO PORT, SURIGAO CITY, SURIGAO DEL NORTE

The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2017, intends to apply the sum of P 23,693,204.75 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Proposed Dredging of Dapitan Port, Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte (LFP ZDN No. 035-2017). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2017, intends to apply the sum of P 26,792,082.70 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Proposed Dredging of Surigao Port, Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, (LFP SUG No. 036-2017). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Dredging along the berths and maneuvering areas of the Port to a designed depth of 6.00 and 8.00 meters below Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) B. Total Volume to be dredged = 45,000.00 cu. m. C. Disposal of dredged soil materials 16.00 kms. away from the project site. Completion of the Works is required in 75 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Dredging along the berths and maneuvering areas of the Port to a designed depths of 8.00 and 10.00 meters below Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) B. Total Volume to be dredged = 50,000.00 cu. m. C. Disposal of dredged soil materials 16.00 kms. away from the project site. Completion of the Works is required in 90 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.”

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

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for Engineering Projects and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 16 October 2017 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS (P 25,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Philippine Ports Authority, provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

The Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 26 October 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the PPA Function Room, 7th Floor, PPA Bldg., Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila, which shall be open to all prospective bidders.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 1:00 p.m. of 07 November 2017. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:00 a.m. of 08 November 2017. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 1:00 p.m. of 08 November 2017. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents.

Bid opening shall be on 07 November 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Bid opening shall be on 08 November 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Bid opening shall be on 08 November 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

•

Required PCAB Registration: Medium A – Port, Harbor and Offshore Engineering

•

Required PCAB Registration: Medium A – Port, Harbor and Offshore Engineering

For further information, please refer to:

BAC Secretariat, Philippine Ports Authority 5th Floor, PPA Bldg., A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila

Telephone/Fax No. 527-47-35 527-83-56 to 83 loc. 539

M. Standard – Oct. 16, 2017

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, cooperatives, and partnerships or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for Engineering Projects and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 16 October 2017 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P 50,000.00). It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Philippine Ports Authority, provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. The Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 26 October 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the PPA Function Room, 7th Floor, PPA Bldg., Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila, which shall be open to all prospective bidders.

•

Required PCAB Registration: Medium A – Building and Industrial Plant

The Philippine Ports Authority reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. BAC Secretariat, Philippine Ports Authority 5th Floor, PPA Bldg., A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila Telephone/Fax No. 527-47-35 527-83-56 to 83 loc. 539 PPA Website: www.ppa.com.ph ADRIAN FERDINAND S. SUGAY Chairperson, PPA Head Office Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects (HO-BAC-EP)

ADRIAN FERDINAND S. SUGAY Chairperson, PPA Head Office Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects (HO-BAC-EP)

The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Demolition and Removal Works B. Construction of Passenger Terminal Building. Completion of the Works is required in 420 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

For further information, please refer to:

PPA Website: www.ppa.com.ph

The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2017, intends to apply the sum of P 70,414,112.12 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Construction of Passenger Terminal Building, Port of Tagbilaran, Bohol, (LFP BHL No. 0372017). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

M. Standard – Oct. 16, 2017

Standard – Oct. 16, 2017

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017

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Renz Lou Lagria

Chekhov Agayo

THE top 10 finalists of R U Tough Enough?, the nationwide search for the toughest Pinoy has been announced. This time, five male and five female finalists will face one another in the final showdown on Oct. 20 (5 p.m.) at SM Mall of Asia for the title of Toughest Pinoy or Pinay and the grand prize of P250,000. This year’s R U Tough Enough? final showdown will be a first of its kind with an exciting battle of man versus woman. This is also the first year that R U Tough Enough? has a male and female ambassadors, Arnold Aninion and Aubrey Miles. Miles, a fitness aficionado will lead the extraordinary women contestants. Under #TeamAudrey, the finalists are: “The Girl Boss” Quisha Mediatrix Baterna, “The Relentless Challenger” Maria Rachelle Gallmann, “The Comeback Queen” Mary Jane Garner, “The Doubt Buster” Alys Andrea Serdenia, and “The Love Warrior” Joanna Marie Tantoco. Aninion, a rugby player and body builder, has the job of leading the male contestants. Under #TeamArnold, the impressive lineup of male contestants are: “The Goal Getter” Chekhov Agayo, Baterna, “The Fitness Fighter” Ronald Jay-R Bolando, “The Public Protector” Christopher Dulagan, “The Fit-fluencer” Renz Lou Lagria, and “The Mighty Bro” Mark Anthony Jay Refugio. R U Tough Enough? Philippines is sponsored by Fisherman’s Friend, the Powerful adult candy with added benefits, supported by venue partner SM Mall of Asia, gym partner Gold’s Gym, supporting partner Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation, as well as cable partners Cablelink, Cignal TV, Destiny Cable, Gsat and SKYcable; and media partners Philstar, Philstar global, WhenInManila.com and Action Asia. KIX is available on Cablelink Ch.54, Cignal TV Ch. 133, Destiny Cable Ch.63, Gsat Ch. 18 and SKYcable Ch.63.

Quisha Mediatrix Baterna

Kean Cip riano and Chynna Ortaleza prove being in two different networks is not reason to not have a harmonious relationship. Apart from that, they are looked up to for being able to keep their private life away from the spotlight. With their civil wedding kept intimate, the couple has now decided to be a bit generous on their church wedding. Chynna gave a sneak peek of their pre-nuptial photoshoot on her Instagram account, which featured her artworks. Her prime objective is to translate in photos the effect that Kean had on her art. “I started drawing again when Kean came into my life. I stopped creating for some time. I was constantly making art when I was a child. So he helped me bring her out again—that inner child that I missed so much,” shares the Kapuso star. Through the photos and the short ﬁlm they conceptualized together, Chynna and Kean hopes to inspire others through their art and show how empowering their love is for one another. “Our art says a lot about how we feel. Somehow Kean became my muse, and vice versa. You’ll see the story unfold through our video that we made together with the help of Direk Jewels Sison & Team Niceprint,” Chynna concludes.

ABS-CBN continues to earn the trust and approval of the academe as it won outstanding TV station award and nine other awards at the Eastern Visayas State UniversityOrmoc’s 3rd Students’ Choice Mass Media Awards. TV Patrol, the country’s most watched news program, was honored as the Most Trusted News Program; Jeff Canoy the new host of Red Alert, was conferred the Most Trusted Field Reporter award; morning news program Umagang Kay Ganda won Best Morning Show, while the public affairs show Salamat Dok was cited as Best Medical Program.

The Kapamilya network also proved again that it is home to hit, quality shows that resonate with Filipinos as it raked in awards including Best Primetime Series (FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano), Best Variety Show (It’s Showtime), Best Drama Anthology (Maalaala Mo Kaya), and Best Daytime Series (The Greatest Love). Meanwhile, Kapamilya star Vice Ganda continues to charm Filipinos as he was recognized as Best Comedian. Like other student award-giving bodies, the Eastern Visayas State University Ormoc’s Students’ Choice Mass Media Awards honors excellent programs and personalities chosen by the university’s students and faculty.

‘La Luna Sangre’universe expands with ‘Youtopia’web series Mary Jane Garner

Ronald Jay-R Bolando

Mark Anthony Jay Refugio

Christopher Dulagan

FANS of ABS-CBN’s Imortal saga, that includes hit shows Lobo, Imortal, and the currently airing La Luna Sangre, will get to experience a whole new adventure via the spinoff Youtopia, a web series exclusively available on iWant TV. The show centers on Ryan, played by former Pinoy Big Brother housemate Axel Torres Torres, whose life changes when four out of eight in his barkada mysteriously disappear for three months, only to come back very different. Ryan meets La Luna Sangre Sangre’s Tristan (Daniel Padilla) Padilla in an online community for vampire-hunters called “Moonchasers” as they both search for answers on encounters with vampires and lobos. Youtopia serves as Ryan’s vlog on “Moonchasers” which tells his and his friends’ story and adventures. As they delve deeper into the world of vampires, Ryan and his friends start to realize that their friends who had disappeared are in fact vampires who were already recruited by their master Sandrino (played by Richard Gutierrez Gutierrez). Costarring with Torres are actors Kate Alejandrino (Respeto, Baka Bukas Bukas, and Lila), Mary

Joy Apostol (Birdshot and Unawa), and newcomers Gabby Padilla, Jal Galang, and Larissa Alivio. The series is directed by Pam Reyes, who also produced Birdshot, the Philippines’ ofﬁcial entry into the 2018 Academy Awards. An original web series produced by ABS-CBN’s iWant TV, Youtopia is part of the Moonstone Universe, an online community which allows fans to experience the La Luna Sangre in the digital space. Fans of the Imortal series can access the community via moonchasers. ph and interact with each other, as well as the characters of the series by participating in forums, creating blog entries, and sharing videos and photos. Members can join missions and help Tristan and Ryan by being their “online support.” Every week will bring a new mission that fans can join as they help Tristan and Ryan ﬁnd answers and ultimately defeat the vampire Sandrino. The site also delves deeper into the Imortal Trilogy to explore back-stories and details that the show doesn’t reveal on TV.

“iWant TV is the ﬁrst and only content OTT of its kind in the Philippines. With the evolving digital landscape, we want to be able to offer original local content that’s only available online. “Youtopia jumps off from La Luna S a n g re a n d

instead of the usual behindthe-scenes footage, we want to be able to offer a whole other storyline anchored on the La Luna Sangre universe,” said Anna Rodriguez, head of content for iWant TV. Along with the Moonchasers site and Youtopia, fans can also join The Hack. Available only for ABS-CBN mobile users, it allows fans to be deep cover operatives of the Moonchasers organization. Members of The Hack are assigned secret missions that only they can participate in, without divulging their identities to other Moonchasers. YouTopia is on iWantTV after La Luna Sangre every Thursday with weekly missions that fans can join. The ﬁrst episode is available for free on iWant TV, while the succeeding episodes will be available for premium access. To register for a premium account, visit iwantv.com. ph. Simply log-on using your email address or mobile numbers. iWant TV is open to ABS-CBN Mobile, Smart, Sun Cellular, TNT, and PLDT Home subscribers.