Manila Standard - 2017 December 25 - Monday

DEATHS TEAR CHRISTMAS

VOL. XXXI • NO. 311 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

‘Vinta’ toll: Over 200 dead, thousands displaced

SOME 200 people have been killed in the southern Philippines after a tropical storm battered the archipelago nation’s second-largest island, triggering heavy flooding and landslides that have ravaged towns and displaced tens of thousands.

Tropical Storm “Vinta” (international name Tembin) lashed Mindanao island, home to 20-million people, on Friday with gusts of 125 kilometers an hour and torrential rain, wiping out at least one mountain village and prompting a mas-

sive rescue operation over the weekend.

Police said 144 people remained missing while more than 40,000 had fled to evacuation camps as Tembin roared out into the South China Sea early Sunday.

A total of 70,000 have been displaced or affected by the storm according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which warned that continued heavy rain could hamper the search for surNext page vivors.

ARMAGEDDON. This is a general view of the flooded municipality of Kabacan in North Cotabato after Tropical Storm ‘Tembin’—local name ‘Vinta’—dumped torrential rain across Mindanao. Inset photo shows people looking at the bodies of Vinta’s victims in Lanao del Norte. AFP

INFERNO. Firefighters train their hoses in the still burning Davao City Mall. Bong Go

Davao mall fire kills 37

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera

D

AVAO—At least 37 people, including call center staff from an American firm, are believed to have perished in a fire that tore through a shopping mall in Davao City, local authorities said on Sunday.

TRAGEDY. President Rodrigo

Duterte consoles a relative of one of the victims of the Davao City Mall, and then weeps upon hearing news that the people trapped inside the mall might have no chance of survival as the fire continued to rage. Presidential photos

President Rodrigo Duterte, himself a Davao native, visited distraught relatives outside the burning building overnight Saturday but told them there was “zero” chance their loved ones had survived,

witnesses said.

The fire brought fresh misery after a tropical storm killed at least 182 people and displaced tens of thousands in recent days, also mainly in the country’s south. Next page

XMAS TIDINGS

Duterte asks citizens to aid those in need

By John Paolo Bencito

‘Restrict use DoJ orders lookout bulletin vs Aquino of Dengvaxia By Rey E. Requejo or face risks’ Andanar: Tax reform to hike prices

By John Paolo Bencito COMMUNICATIONS Secretary Martin Andanar said the newly-signed TRAIN would lead to higher commodity prices but would result in higher government revenues.

“The prices of commodities will increase but don’t they realize that because of TRAIN, the revenue collection of our government will also increase, and

that means we will have more funds for programs,” Andanar said in a radio interview over the weekend.

Andanar said that would be a good thing since there would be more money to spend and more jobs to be created.

“Yes, for the big infrastructure projects of the government like highways, footbridges, subways, everything―including airports,” Andanar said.

Next page

twitter.com/ MlaStandard

By John Paolo Bencito THE world’s only licensed dengue vaccine should be restricted only to those with a documented past dengue infection, since the drug increases the risk of severe disease in people who have never had it before, World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest position paper.

The WHO also recommended that patients who have

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S

THE Justice department has issued an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order against former President Benigno Aquino III, former Health secretary Janette Garin and six other officials of the pre-

vious administration who approved the P3.5-billion dengue immunization program in 2015.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II issued the lookout order against Aquino even as he revealed that a government official has

surfaced to testify on the alleged irregularities in the deal with French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur.

Aguirre said the official has volunteered to cooperate with the factfinding investigation Next page

NoKor hits UN over ‘act of war’ sanctions SEOUL―North Korea slammed the fresh UN sanctions imposed over its missile tests as an “act of war” on Sunday, its first response to the latest diplomatic move

manilastandard.net

to punish Pyongyang’s ever-accelerating weapons drive.

Tension has been high on the flash-point peninsula as the isolated but nuclear-armed regime

has staged a series of atomic and intercontinental ballistic missile tests―most recently on Nov. 29.

The latest launch of Next page

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has told Filipinos to serve as instruments for the betterment of those in need as the Christian faithful celebrate Christmas.

“In the midst of all the revelry and festivity, may we also remember our brothers and sisters who are in need so that we can become instruments for the betterment of their lives,” Duterte said in his Christmas message dated Dec. 25.

He acknowledged the importance of the birth of Jesus Christ who fulfilled God’s promise of a savior “who will deliver mankind from sin and bring us closer to the Lord Almighty.”

“That is why we Filipinos celebrate this Next page

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News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Davao...

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The blaze started at the four-story NCCC Mall on Saturday morning sending thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky over Davao.

The inferno was finally brought under control early Sunday but fire officials said they had yet to enter the section where the missing were believed to be trapped.

The building’s top floor housed a 24-hour call center for US multinational SSI, a market research company.

Jimmy Quimsing, a retired seaman, was one of the relatives desperately waiting for news.

His 25-year-old son Jim Benedict worked at the call center and had not been in contact since the fire broke out.

Quimsing said he spoke to President Duterte and had been told to prepare for the worst.

“He told us zero, no one would survive under these circumstances,” he said.

Duterte’s special assistant Christopher Go confirmed the bulk of the conversation.

Paolo Duterte, the President’s son and the vice mayor of Davao, also wrote on Facebook that fire officials had told him there was “zero” chance of anyone trapped surviving the blaze.

In a statement on its local Facebook page SSI Philippines Davao said it would set up a “command center” for relatives of those missing.

“Please continue to pray for everyone’s safety,” the firm added.

Davao fire marshal Honeyfritz Alagano said the blaze may have started with a spark on the third floor of the mall, which boasted a furniture section.

“One of our firemen here has a kid who is a [call center] agent in there. He told us some of them went to collect their stuff at their lockers and were trapped,” Alagano said.

“The mall is an enclosed space with no ventilation.

When our firemen tried to enter they were pushed back by smoke and fire,” she said.

“It’s possible that while they were working, they did not immediately notice

‘Vinta’...

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“People left everything behind when they fled for their lives,” the IFRC’s Philippines operations and programs manager Patrick Elliott said in a statement.

The Philippines is pummeled by major storms every year, many of them deadly, but Mindanao tends to be less affected.

Footage shows vast tracks of land on the island is now under brown water, often waste deep as locals try to flee to safer ground.

Local police said 135 people were killed and 72 were missing in the northern section of Mindanao, while 47 were dead and 72 missing in the impoverished Zamboanga peninsula on its western side.

Another 18 people perished in the province of Lanao del Sur in the center of the island.

One of the places hit hardest by the storm was the mountain village of Dalama, which was virtually erased from the map.

Footage filmed by Filipino television network ABS-CBN showed houses destroyed or engulfed by floodwaters there and rescuers retrieving the body of a dead girl buried in a landslide.

Police, soldiers and volunteers used shovels and their bare hands to dig through mud and debris in their search for survivors.

“The flood was already close and the people were not able to get out from their homes,” Armando Sangcopan, an elderly male survivor, told the station.

the fire spreading,” Davao police officer Ralph Canoy said, referring to the call center workers.

Authorities recovered one charred body inside the comfort room of the fourth floor of the NCCC mall more than 24 hours after fire engulfed the building.

Mayor Sara Duterte said firefighters were unable to enter the fourth floor call center because of the scorching heat from the flames.

“They were just meters away from the SSI office, but they could not enter because of the heat,” she said.

The Palace on Sunday condoled with the families of the fire victims.

President Duterte and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Archbishop Romulo Valles visited the relatives of the victims on Sunday.

The President assured the relatives that the government would extend them help.

“Our thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of the 37 missing persons of the New City Commercial Center [NCCC] fire in Davao City,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.

“Let us include them in our prayers in this moment of grief,” Roque said.

The Bureau of Fire Protection is still determining the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage, Roque said.

The President served as mayor of Davao for more than two decades and continues to go home there on weekends from his work at the presidential palace in Manila.

There have also been horrific fires in bigger buildings and factories, where corruption and exploitation mean supposedly strict standards are often not enforced.

Seventy-two people were killed in 2015 when a fire tore through a footwear factory in Manila. Survivors of that blaze blamed barred windows and other sweatshop conditions for trapping people inside the factory.

In the deadliest fire in the Philippines in recent times, 162 people were killed in a huge blaze that gutted a Manila disco in 1996. With John Paolo Bencito and AFP Rescuers said a total of 103 houses were carried off by rampaging floodwaters in Dalama.

The storm approached the western island of Palawan, a popular tourist draw, late Saturday and swept into the South China Sea before dawn, the state weather service said.

“So far zero casualties, but we have accounts of some people missing,” Palawan civil defense chief Zaldy Ablana told dzMM radio in an interview on Sunday.

But in a Palawan fishing village, a 53-year-old man was killed by a crocodile while securing his boat in a river.

Vinta struck less than a week after Tropical Storm “Urduja” left scores dead and more than 20 missing in the central Philippines, straining the disasterprone nation’s already stretched resources.

The deadliest typhoon to hit the country is still “Yolanda,” which killed thousands and destroyed entire towns in heavily populated areas of the central Philippines in November 2013.

The weather bureau reported Sunday that Vinta had left the Philippine area of responsibility, but said sea travel over the western seaboard of Palawan remained risky.

It said scattered to widespread moderate to occasionally heavy rains would prevail over Palawan, and advised residents to take precautions against flooding and landslides and coordinate with local disaster risk reduction and management offices. AFP

Judiciary wants to be gold standard in public service And with the continuation of the Supreme Court’s reform agenda, the judicial branch says it is seeing brighter years ahead.

Even embattled Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno sees 2018 as another “fantastic year” as the judicial programs for transparency and efficiency remain on track in attaining their ultimate objective: To make the judiciary the’’gold standard for public service.

“The people can be proud of our judiciary. We work with pride, with honor, with dignity,” Sereno told her colleagues in the high court during their Christmas party on Dec. 8.

Despite the impeachment process against her in the House of Representatives,

Sereno vowed to continue the reform efforts aimed at speed uping the trial system in the country and to make the courts transparent and closer to the public.

“We look forward to more things to report to the nation,” Sereno said.

She believes that the formula to improve the services of the judiciary and address corruption in courts have already been laid down by the high court and all that’s left is to make sure the programs will be implemented well.

“The judiciary will continue with the implementation of its different judicial reform programs, ultimately shifting to automating its processes with the end in view of transforming the judiciary into the gold standard

of public service,” Sereno said.

To speed up the resolution of cases and declog the court dockets, Sereno cited the phase-by-phase rollout of electronic courts or eCourts and automated hearing, the implementation of the continuous trial in the criminal courts, and the 2016 Revised Rules of Procedure for Small Claims Cases that raised the ceiling for claims that will be handled through summary procedure.

She says there are 298 courts that will benefit from the eCourt program, where judges receive pleadings via email. The high court targets to establish eCourts in all courts by 2020.

The continuous trial, on the other hand, is being applied in many high-profile cases, including the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case, to expedite their resolution.

Sereno likewise cited the “Hustisyeah”, a case- decongestion program launched in 2013 participated in by law students that led to the removal of 62 percent or 32,060 of the 51,825 priority

DoJ...

dum, Aguirre issued on Saturday an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order against Aquino and Garin, who already appeared before a Senate inquiry on the matter.

Also covered by the lookout order are former Budget secretary Florencio Abad, former executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Sanofi Pasteur vice president of dengue vaccine Guillaume Leroy, Sanofi chief executive officer Oliver Brandicourt, Sanofi Pasteur medical doctor Ruby Dizon, Sanofi Pasteur representative Thomas Triomphe and Sanofi-Adventis Philippines country chair Carlito Realuyo.

“Considering the gravity of the possible offenses which may have been committed, there is a strong probability that they may attempt to place themselves beyond the reach of the legal processes of the government by leaving the country. Thus, we deem the issuance of an ILBO against the subject persons prudent in order to at least monitor the itineraries of their flight, travel, and whereabouts,” Aguirre said,

in directing Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente to implement his lookout bulletin order.

Aguirre issued the LBO, which requires the subjects to secure a permit from his office for foreign trips, following the filing of a complaint against Aquino and others before the Office of the Ombudsman by the Gabriela party list and parents of children who were given the vaccine.

The respondents were specifically charged with violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for approving the program that was allegedly “grossly disadvantageous to the government and detrimental to the health and welfare of its recipients, due to the lack of comprehensive study on the effectivity and risks of the vaccines.”

Parents of two school children who supposedly died after getting the vaccine— Christine Mae De Guzman and Anjielica Pestilos—also surfaced last week and demanded justice.

Assisted by the Public Attorneys’ Office and Vol-

unteers Against Crime and Corruption, the parents of De Guzman and Pestilos sought accountability of officials and personalities behind the vaccine.

De Guzman received Dengvaxia vaccine on April 16, 2016 through a school vaccination program at Sisiman Elementary School in Bataan.

After six months or on Oct. 11, 2016, Christine Mae complained of headache and had high fever. After two days, she was taken to the Mariveles Health Service Cooperative Hospital where she was diagnosed with severe dengue.

The girl died of severe dengue on Oct. 15 last year.

Pestilos, on the other hand, died just last Dec. 15, three months after receiving the vaccine also through an anti-vaccination program in school last September.

While her death certificate indicated that she died of systemic lupus erythematosus or an auto immune disease, PAO forensic expert Erwin Erfe believes that it was also a case of death by severe dengue.

cine—if it is administered to a population that had largely been exposed to the disease.

However, “programatic and communication issues” should be taken into consideration in deciding on the continuation of a vaccination program, the WHO said.

The government suspended a massive school-based anti-dengue vaccination program in early December after the French manufacturer of the Dengvaxia vaccine, Sanofi Pasteur, said those who had no history of dengue faced the risk of more severe forms of the disease if they were inoculated.

Dengvaxia was introduced in the Philippines mainly through school-based pro-

grams and had a seroprevalence of 85 percent—he WHO said that “every one excess case within a fiveyear period of hospitalized dengue in vaccinated seronegatives [those who did not had a previous dengue infection]” will be offset by 18 cases prevented in vaccinated seropositives [those who had a previous dengue infection].”

Health Secretary Francisco Duque, who said the government would sue Sanofi, has yet to comment on the WHO statement.

The WHO position paper on the dengue vaccine replaces a question-andanswer document posted on Nov. 30.

But an independent panel of external experts is set to review the data in detail in April 2018.

Sanofi said it has asked drug regulators in all countries where Dengvaxia is either licensed or under evaluation for licensure to update the product’s label to instruct health care professionals to assess the likelihood of prior dengue infection before giving the vaccine.

The Health department had officially stopped the distribution of Dengvaxia after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur revealed that its use needed to be limited as it could cause severe illness in individuals who have not had dengue prior to inocula-

Pyongyang’s bellicose reply came a day after the UN Security Council unanimously passed new, USdrafted sanctions that will restrict oil supplies vital for the impoverished state.

The third raft of sanctions imposed on the North this year, sparked by last month’s ICBM test, also received the backing of China―the North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline.

The sanctions also order the repatriation of North Korean workers sent abroad to earn much needed revenue for Kim Jong-Un’s regime.

The country’s weapons

programs have made significant progress since Kim took power in 2011.

The North has defended its missile and nuclear weapons programs as measures for self-defense against the “hostile” US policies towards Pyongyang.

And a defiant Pyongyang vowed on Sunday that the country would continue its weapons push “more vigorously” to “form a balance of power with the US”.

“If you think that those toothless ‘sanctions’ could stop the victorious march of our people who have... achieved the historic goal of building the national nuclear

weapons, there would not be a bigger mistake than that,” the foreign ministry said.

“The US and its puppet followers should never forget the newly-upgraded status of our nation as a nation that could pose a real nuclear threat to the US mainland,” it added.

The North claimed last month that its ICBM could deliver a “super-large heavy [nuclear] warhead” to anywhere in the US mainland.

But experts believe that Pyongyang has yet to develop the advanced technology to allow its rockets to survive re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. AFP

By Rey E. Requejo

F

ROM an institution historically afflicted by corruption and inefficiency, the judiciary now hopes to set the highest standards in public service.

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being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation aimed at determining the civil and criminal liabilities of officials behind the Dengvaxia vaccine mess.

“This government official is a very, very important witness who knows the transaction from the beginning to end,” the Justice secretary said in an interview.

However, Aguirre did not name the official yet so as not to jeopardize or preempt the testimony.

Earlier, Aguirre ordered the NBI to investigate and build cases against those involved in the dengue vaccine immunization project after pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, which produced Dengvaxia, advised the public that the vaccine is effective for people who have had dengue prior to immunization but creates a risk of a “severe” case of dengue for people who have not yet had dengue.

In a three-page memoran-

‘Restrict...

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received incomplete doses of Dengvaxia continue getting the vaccine shots because most of the population was likely to have already been exposed to dengue.

The agency also allayed fears of the severity of the dengue that would be contracted by those who had never had the disease before, saying all those who got the disease during the clinical trials survived.

It said there was “a significant benefit” in terms of reducing severe dengue and hospitalizations due to dengue with the use of the vac-

NoKor...

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the Hwasong-15 ICBM, seen capable of hitting all major US cities, further heightened global alarm over the rapid advance in the country’s weapons technology.

“We fully reject the latest UN sanctions... as a violent breach of our republic’s sovereignty and an act of war that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and a wider region,” Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

cases targeted for disposition from the dockets.

Sereno says similar programs like the formulation of rules for commercial courts, including financial rehabilitation and insolvency, as well as the action plan to address the infrastructure problems of the courts have likewise led to positive developments.

For the transparency program, Sereno cited the high tribunal’s move to release the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of justices to the public since the impeachment and ouster of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 due to the misdeclared assets in his SALN. She also recalled several cases where the high c ourt cracked its whip on erring judges and court personnel this year.

Sereno says the Court also gives priority to modernization through infrastructure projects, citing as an example the transfer of the high court complex from Padre Faura, Manila, to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig set for 2019 via a P1.28-billion project.

The high court building along Padre Faura Street belongs to the University of the Philippines.

“The high court should have a building that is modern, disaster-resilient, technology-enabled and that will stand as the symbol of the Filipino sense of justice,” Sereno said.

In August, she also revealed the high court’s P1billion project to build a judicial complex in Cebu City.

She says measures have also been taken to develop effective and efficient human resources.

“In order to produce efficient and effective delivery of justice, we must intently look into the qualifications of the required personnel through an intelligent inputoutput analysis,” Sereno said.

“Included in this analysis is the definition of the terms of reference of many personnel in the judiciary; an effective system of rewards and punishment, training and standardized and manualized operating procedures. These are the game changers needed to professionalize our ranks.”

Andanar:...

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“So if many projects would be implemented in 2018, more jobs would be created.

With more jobs, people would have higher spending power, the economy will thrive.”

While Filipinos will get a higher take-home pay, that will just be spent on more expensive fuel and other products, critics of the new taxreform law say.

Recently, Duterte vetoed five provisions of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, the first phase of his administration’s comprehensive tax reform package.

With the veto, government revenues should be closer to P90 billion in the first year of TRAIN instead of the projected P82.3 billion, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said.

Under the new law, Filipinos earning P21,000 and below would be exempt from paying income tax starting Jan. 1, 2018.

Higher excise taxes, however, would be imposed on fuel, sugar-sweetened beverages, coal and cars, which critics say will consequently raise the cost of other commodities and transportation.

Duterte...

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occasion with so much joy and happiness. We set aside our daily routine to spend more time with our families.

We share our blessings by giving gifts to our friends and loved ones and holding feasts in our homes and our communities,” Duterte said.

“Today, let us celebrate Christ’s life by finding in our hearts the true meaning of His birth and becoming the personification of the Almighty’s grace and love.”

Vice President Leni Robredo, meanwhile, called on Filipinos to remember those in Marawi who are still on the road to recovery.

She likewise appealed for prayers who those who might have lost a loved one.

In the Gospels of both Matthew and Luke, Jesus Christ was believed to have been born in a manger “because there was no place for them in the inn.”

The earliest source stating Dec. 25 as the date of the birth of Jesus Christ was Hippolytus of Rome (170–236), who wrote it very early in the third century based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring Equinox, which he placed on March 25, and then added nine months.

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MoNday, deceMber 25, 2017

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Duterte hits ‘commie’ media

By John Paolo Bencito

P

ReSIDenT Rodrigo Duterte accused some members of the media of aiding the cause of communists rebels but did not provide proof to substantiate his claim.

This prompted condemnation from a media advocacy group who warned that the chief executive’s red-tagging makes the situ-

ation even more perilous for journalists in the Philippines.

The country last week was ranked as the deadliest

place for media workers in Asia by the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders.

“Who’s a member of the nPA [new People’s Army] here?” Duterte asked reporters covering him during a wake visit in Pasig City. “no one is raising his hand now, but when I turn my back, there’s plenty of you. Don’t be shy. I know of some journalists who belong to the left, or even became a cadre in Cordillera,”

the President said.

Duterte recently branded the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the nPA, as a terrorist group. Pending a court ruling to legally tag the CPP-nPA as terrorists under the human Security Act, the President deemed it wise to declare a staggered holiday ceasefire with the rebel group.

On Sunday, the national Union of Journalists of the Philippines said Duterte’s

“sweeping” and “unsubstantiated claim” was a “potential death warrant” against journalists covering the communist insurgency.

“Apologists may again try to make light of Mr. Duterte’s latest drivel, but in a country that remains one of the deadliest in the world for journalists, there is cause to worry about the consequences of this irresponsible claim from the highest elected official of the land,” the group said in

a statement.

“At best, it is bound to cast a chilling effect on journalists who intend to cover the communist rebels in continuing efforts to better explain the roots and directions of the close to half-a-century old civil strife, at worst it would embolden those, including state agents, who seek to silence us by giving them the convenient cover of counterinsurgency,” they added.

The nUJP stressed there

is “nothing wrong” to have links with all sectors, groups and personalities in and out of government, including the nPA, as news sources.

“With this penchant for such wild and dangerous claims added to his wellknown aversion to those who do not agree with him, we fear it will not be long until Duterte directly targets the critical media in his government’s efforts to stamp out dissent,” the group said.

DoTr orders probe on maritime mishap

By Darwin G Amojelar

BLUE CHRISTMAS. Residents wade through floodwaters as they evacuate to a safer place in Kabacan, North Cotabato on Dec. 23 after tropical storm ‘Vinta’ dumped torrential rains across the island. AFP

The Department of Transportation has directed maritime authorities to investigate the sea mishap involving m/v Mercraft 3 which sank between the waters of Quezon and Polilio Island on Dec. 21.

Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade likewise instructed the Maritime Industry Authority and the Philippine Coast Guard to implement measures to prevent similar incidents.

“We want this latest incident of sea mishap be investigated as quickly as possible so we can immediately implement safety nets and preventive measures. ensuring the safety and security of travellers must be our priority,” Tugade said.

Based on initial reports from Marina, the vessel sank due to heavy rains and strong winds caused by bad weather.

Meanwhile, PCG Commodore Joel Garcia said there was no overloading of the capsized vessel, which has an authorized capacity of 286 passengers.

There were 251 passengers and seven crew members on board the vessel when it sank.

Of the 251 passengers, 243 survived the

incident, and were immediately brought to the Barangay Dinahican Village hall in Quezon for medical attention.

Six bodies were recovered while three more passengers remain missing.

Garcia said there was no breach of PCG circulars or protocol.

“There was no typhoon signal issued by Pagasa that may prompt the PCG to hold the departure of the vessel. The sea was moderately calm when the vessel left the port,” he said. ”Investigators coming from our enforcement Service were dispatched to conduct in-depth investigation to determine the root causes of the accident so we can prevent the same to happen in the future. We follow the international maritime accident investigation model― one that is done without prejudice, does not apportion blame, and does not establish liability. This investigation does not establish legal or economic liability,” Marina administrator Al Amaro said.

Amaro said burial assistance and hospital bills were already shouldered by the owner of the ill-fated vessel on top of the insurance claim of the victims.

Missing girl turns up Crocodile kills fisherman in typhoon-hit Palawan in Laguna coffee shop

By Joel E. Zurbano The power of social media made it possible to reunite 17-year-old Ica Policarpio with her family on Christmas eve.

The Grade 12 student of San Beda School, who has gone missing after staying at a coffee shop late Thursday night in Muntilupa City, was found safe in San Pablo City Sunday morning.

Concerned residents tweeted and posted on social media the photo and the location of Policarpio who was found around 6 a.m. sitting and crying at a local eatery in Leon Guinto Street in Barangay II-B of the said city in Laguna.

Community leaders in the area immediately called up Policarpio’s parents and the police.

In a press briefing in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila police director Oscar Albayalde ruled out the possibility that the girl was kidnapped.

“Based on our investigation, there was no sign of kidnapping. What we’re looking at is if there was someone who persuaded her [to leave],” Albayalde said.

Policarpio’s father Rufino thanked Facebook and Twitter users for their help and support to locate his daughter, saying barangay

officials would not have recognized Ica if her picture had not been shared online.

But he appealed to members of the media not to ask about Ica’s ordeal and talk about the reason why she disappeared Thursday night.

“We respect her privacy, her state and psychological condition. We are happy now that she’s with us. We appealed to the public’s understanding,” he said.

In a Facebook post, Policarpio’s sister Bea said her family was overjoyed that Ica has been found.

“We found Ica. Words cannot express our joy in this moment. Our family can never thank you enough, each and every one of you, for storming the heavens so we could be given a second chance to be complete,” said Bea. “Investigation is still ongoing, but be assured we will be verifying relevant facts via official media sites. Kindly wait for that and respect our family’s privacy at this time. In [the] meantime we just wanted to ease everyone’s worry and let you all know that she is okay, she is unharmed, and she is with us. Thank you Lord. Thank you everyone for helping us #FindIca,” she added.

A CROCODILe killed a fisherman who was securing his boat as a tropical storm bore down on the western island of Palawan, police said Saturday.

Abdulsalam Binang Amerhasan, 53, went to the river in driving rain on Thursday to tie up his boat, with waters rising as tropical storm “Vinta” closed in,

a police report said.

When Amerhasan failed to return home after an hour, his worried wife sought help from neighbors who launched an overnight search, believing he had an accident, it added.

“The community responded and conduct[ed] a search along the river un-

til they found out that the lifeless body of the victim was still [being] tumultuously bitten by a crocodile,” it added.

Police did not say what happened to the crocodile.

The attack in the fishing town of Bataraza was the third reported since October in Palawan, often called the Philippines’

“last frontier” and one of the few areas in the country where crocodiles are still common. hunting and habitat loss have seen crocodile numbers plummet in other parts of the archipelago.

Last month a 12-year-old girl was fetching water in a forested area elsewhere on the island when she was

dragged away by a crocodile in front of her horrified siblings. Police said the girl has not been found.

In October a Palawan woman also fetching water was bitten by a crocodile but survived when her niece threw rocks at the huge reptile, successfully driving it away, police said. AFP

Solon seeks probe on STL ‘anomalies’

By Rio N. Araja

FOR NOCHE BUENA. Workers pile up ‘lechon’ in La Loma, Quezon City. According to stall owners, orders can reach up to 300 to 400 a day for roasted pig, especially during the holiday season. Manny Palmero

CAMARIneS Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte has called on the Palace to investigate the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for its alleged inaction on numerous complaints regarding anomalies in the operation of small town lotteries. he said Malacañang should make the PCSO explain why it continues to ignore issues on violations committed by several STL operators or authorized agent corporations despite well-documented pieces of evidence proving such infractions.

These include allowing minors to place bets and the nonremittance of monthly dues to host-local government units. he cited as example the evenchance Gaming Corp.— an authorized agent corporation—in his province, saying it has been violating some

provisions of the law.

“Malacañang’s plan to look into the P6 million spent by the PCSO on its Christmas party alone this year is a good opportunity to open the lid on the alleged irregularities tolerated by the PCSO, which runs counter to President Rodrigo Duterte’s tough anti-corruption policy,” Villafuerte said.

“It should explain why a charity agency tasked to raise and provide funds for the country’s poorest of the poor had to spend P6 million by its own admission for an occasion that could have been celebrated in a simple manner. It should also explain why, for a long time now, it has been deliberately ignoring complaints about the illegal gambling practices and other violations committed by STL operators nationwide,” Villafuerte added.

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Opinion

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Peace to men of goodwill

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FTER much posturing, the communist rebels last week declared a unilateral Christmas ceasefire, matching the government’s own suspension of military operations that they mocked as “a farce.”

The Communist Party of the Philippines said the unilateral ceasefire would celebrate not only the Christmas season, but also its 49th anniversary.

The temporary ceasefire will be in effect from 6 p.m. of Dec. 23 to 6 p.m. of Dec. 26; and 6 p.m. of Dec. 30 to 6 p.m. of Jan. 2, 2018, a spokesman for the

CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army said.

“During this period, all NPA units and people’s militias shall cease and desist from carrying out offensive military campaigns and operations against the uniformed armed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its paramilitaries, and the Philippine National Police,” the NPA statement read.

But the NPA announcement was accompanied, not by goodwill, but by rancor and suspicion.

Despite the government’s own temporary truce, the communist rebels said they are “only too aware of the AFP’s treachery, attacks and deception.”

We welcome any opportunity to silence the guns, even temporarily, and to halt the killing but we do wonder what is the point of celebrating an organization that has espoused a dogmatic ideology that has failed to achieve its goals of a proletariat revolution in 49 years. Nor do we see any merit in celebrating Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency that has killed more than 43,000 Filipinos since 1969, and that has brutalized extorted people in the name of a political system that has failed in so many other countries.

When the CPP founder declared from his comfortable home in The Netherlands that the government ceasefire was a farce, we need to temper his views in

the knowledge that this is a septuagenarian who has spent more than a third of his life outside the country, in a First World nation, while the rest of us wrestle with the day-to-day task of pulling ourselves out of poverty, even as the NPA destroy productive assets and extorted money in the form of “revolutionary taxes” from legitimate businesses.

The biblical quotation from Luke is often misstated as “Peace on earth and good will to men.” The correct phrase, however, is “on earth peace to men of good will.” Try as we might, it is increasingly difficult to see any good will on the communist side of the long-drawn-out war in the countryside.

Economists lose credibility when they’re too certain

By Noah Smith

The politics of Christmas

IF THERE is anything that most would want farthest removed from Christmas, it would be politics.

Christmas is not time to wear one’s political stripes, and the divisive talk that goes with partisan allegiances does not make for polite much less congenial conversation at Christmas.

Whatever liberals and agnostics, progressives or “free thinkers” might think, the fact that Christmas is a Christian celebration by origin and by nature. If other religions and cultures also celebrate it, all the better. Joy is not meant to be

shared begrudgingly. And the Gospel accounts as well as the prophecies accompanying them are shot through and through by politics.

We are told of a census ordered by Augustus Caesar at the time that Quirinius was governor of Syria—and we are therefore reminded of the subjugated state of God’s People when his Son was born in their midst. It is this census that sends Mary and Joseph off to Joseph’s city —Bethlehem, allowing the evangelist to trace Jesus’ lineage, if only by way of his foster father to the Davidic dynasty, and the fulfillment of a political prophecy that the scepter would never depart from Judah!

Despite the

power dom that God of Rome himself had and the established, a r r o with David Joy is not gance at its head. meant to of its “Lord” was be shared minions, the way the God was Jews reverbegrudgingly. bringently referred ing his to God, not promises daring to utto pass. ter the name “I bring revealed to to you Moses on news of exceedingly great Mount Sinai, but it also joy: Today, in the City of meant that only the Lord David is born the Savior, could claim their absolute who is Messiah and Lord”. allegiance, and only a king This was political dyna- who ruled by the Lord’s mite: City of David—so, will and mandate had the after all despite that all that right to their fealty. And the Jews had been through, in those troubled days, conquest, exile, servitude, “Messiah” was not always and colonization, it was not thought of in apocalyptic the kingdoms of men that terms—the great chamwould prevail but the King- pion of the Last Days who

would bring God’s Kingdom on earth, but one who would lead a victorious uprising against the despised Romans.

The visit of the Magi upsets Herod, a vassal king. whose utter discomfiture at the mention of a “new-born King of the Jews” is exactly the measure of the tenuousness of his claim to kingship.

It is the confrontation of wisdom—which the Magi represent—and raw power, or a pretense at it, that is pathetically portrayed

by Herod’s erratic behavior. The Magi are guided by portents of earth and sky. Their view is cosmic.

Herod can see no farther than his throne and is wary of the shadows that lurk behind, lest a usurper

seize it from him. The violence of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents would be repeated several times in history by persons in Herod’s same mold: so fearful of any diminution in power, so full of dread about losing their grip on the throne. And sacred history writes the inevitable conclusion: Violence never prevails!

But it is the prophecy of Isaiah that is read at the Christmas Liturgy that is most potent, politically, for it sets forth God’s demands for any ruler: “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding; a spirit of counsel and of strength; a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his Turn to A5

EVERY society runs on trust. This is even more true of complex, scientific modern societies than it is of tiny huntergatherer bands. Whenever you drive over a bridge, you trust that the engineers who designed based it on sound principles. When you take an antibiotic, you trust that the doctor who prescribed it did so for sound medical reasons.

There are a million ways in which we trust the unseen expertise of people we’ve never met.

Science, too, relies crucially on trust.

Physicists dutifully use the accepted value for the mass of the electron or Planck’s constant in their calculations, without ever bothering to set up new experiments to check these values themselves. Drug researchers trust the molecular structures they read about in chemistry papers. If scientists didn’t trust each other, science couldn’t function at all.

Because trust in experts is so crucial to a complex society, one of the scariest phrases to hear is “the experts have lied to you.” This is why conspiracy theories are so arresting. Theories that the moon landing was faked, or that Sept.

11 was an inside government job, are alarming because they strike at the glue that keeps modernity from falling apart.

Fortunately, real cases of scientific conspiracies are vanishingly rare.

In the social sciences, however, where there are many fewer certainties, it’s a lot easier for experts to sound more confident than they really should be. So the most persistent claims of expert dishonesty and conspiracy tend to focus on economics and sociology.

For example, Eric Weinstein, a managing director at venturecapital firm Thiel Capital, recently leveled Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher can be accessed at: manilastandard.net Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www. manilastandard.net

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Con-Ass or con us?

WHAT is the biggest challenge confronting Filipinos in the year 2018? Is it the threat of ISIS terrorism or an escalation of attacks from the communist New People’s Army?

Buhay Party-List Rep. Lito Atienza thinks that ISIS terrorism nor a stepped- up NPA insurgency is not as dangerous than Congress arrogating unto sitself the power to amend the 1987 Constitution.

“The Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police can deal with terrorism and communist insurgency but the people cannot cope with a Congress that wants to convene itself into a constituent assembly or ConAss for Charter Change,” said House Deputy Minority Leader Atienza.

Indeed a Con-Ass is an enemy working within the system to undermine the very foundation of the Con-

stitution. It is not often that a country changes its Constitution. The 1987 Constitution has been the fundamental law of the land for 30 years. Its amendment has to be done by a diverse and knowledgeable delegates elected by the people.

Atienza did not say it himself but the prevailing sense is that a Con-Ass is actually a ”con us” when lawmakers elected by the people would also be the ones to amend the Constitution. He does not share the claim of the supermajority in the House that convening Congress into a Constituent Assembly would save the government money..

“What is P10 billion, the estimated cost for holding a Constitutional Convention or Con Con? The government wasted more than that in the funds spent on the dangerous Dengvaxia vaccine, the anomalous maintenance service contract of the Metro Rail Transit, the non implementation dredging of Laguna de Bay with a

Belgian company and the North Rail project with China,” said Atienza.

The election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention, Atienza said, would reflect the true sentiments of the people on charter amendments that will govern their lives for years to come. A Constitutional Assembly on the other hand, would allow congressmen with their self-vested agenda to hijack the drafting of a new charter, he said. He urged President Rodrigo Duterte not to squander his political capital and his legacy by allowing Con- Ass to happen.

What if the supermajority in Congress is able to adopt a Con-Ass to draft a new Charter? Atienza said he will take the opposition to a Con-Ass charter to the next level by mounting a nationwide campaign to have it rejected in a referendum or a plebiscite .

Atienza quoted President Duterte who said he will “fire officials at the slightest whiff of corruption.”

The problem here is that the President cannot fire publicly elected officials. But he can withdraw or deny them funds for their public works projects.

“A Con-Ass is more than a whiff, its stench stinks to the high heavens,” said Atienza. Con-Ass could be used by the congressmen to extend their term and shelve elections for 2019 . He also opposes a Bangsamoro Basic Law if it allows the Muslims in Mindanao to have their own police force, their own Department of the Interior and Local Government and own Commission on Audit. This, Atienza said, is like creating a state within a state. He added this would give rise to minorities like the lumad and the indigenous people of Cordillera and Mountain Province to demand the same concessions given to the Muslims.

Atienza said he would favor a constitutional amendment to have the President and the Vice President elected together like in the United States set-up wherein the VP is not

given a Cabinet position but is automatically the Senate president. The Veep as presiding officer would be ideal under a parliamentary or national assembly form of government, according to Atienza, adding the arrangement of having the two highest officials come from the same party would make them work together and strengthen the two-party system.

A Pac-U tandem in 2022?

At the recent birthday celebration of Senator Manny Pacquiao attended by President Duterte, the boxing icon was urged by Digong to seek the presidency in 2022. Duterte’s endorsement of the senator immediately drew several proposed tandems, one of which was for Pacquiao to team up with social media queen and Communications Undersecretary Mocha Uson.

The idea seemed like the making of a power tandem until someone quipped yes, the team can be called “Pac U.” That was the end of the bright idea.

Christmas is really about gifts and lights and guests

By Rick Hamlin WHEN I taught Sunday school to a precocious bunch of fifth and sixth graders, I used to ask, “What about Christmas is not in the Bible?”

They were quick to go for the obvious: Santa, the reindeer, Rudolph, stockings, the sleigh.

“OK,” I’d say, “but what about the three kings, the innkeeper, the stable and the animals?

Where do they come from? Let’s look at the text.”

That’s not something most of my students would readily do unless there was the possibility of one-upping their parents. I liked to think that was possible after we were finished.

There are only two accounts of Jesus’s birth in the Bible. The first one is in the gospel of Matthew. Here were the magi or “wise men from the East” coming to Bethlehem to see the newborn king, but they are not called kings themselves.

In fact, you can’t even

tell how many of them there were. Maybe two wise men, maybe a dozen. Tradition has settled on the number three because they brought with them three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Because they gave gifts, we give gifts. We even get gift-wrapping— their presents came in treasure chests. But their story is infused with something I’ve never seen dramatized in any Christmas pageant or shown in a departmentstore window. On their way to Bethlehem the wise men visited King Herod in Jerusalem, promising to tell him what they found. Warned in a dream not to return to him, they went home a different way, bypassing Jerusalem.

Herod, enraged and jealous, orders that every male child 2 years old or younger in and near Bethlehem be killed. The slaughter of the innocents, as it’s called. Did it really happen? There’s no telling. But the historical King Herod was

The politics... Economists...

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delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” That, in the wisdom of the Prophet, is what makes a champion of a ruler: one who goes by wisdom and understanding, one who heeds wise counsel and draws strength from it, and one who bends in reverence at the Lord’s name and humbles himself in God’s sight.

By these standards, many of Israel and Judah’s leaders were failures—as were the conquerors who had annexed the land that God had promised his people as their provinces. But it remains the gold standard of all leadership, no matter that the workings of resentment may lead clear moral and political insolvents to denigrate and spite them. They, after all, remain the deepest and the noblest aspirations of all people for their government and their leaders.

Merry Christmas to all.

accusations of dishonesty against economists on several subjects, including trade, immigration and mortgage-backed securities. His thread was widely retweeted, showing how much alarm this kind of accusation can generate.

Is Weinstein right?

Have cartels of economists been hoodwinking the public? On some of these issues, Weinstein’s alarm is overblown.

For example, on immigration, there isn’t even an appearance of expert consensus. University of California-Berkeley’s David Card and Harvard’s George Borjas, two of the most prominent and widely cited immigration researchers, are on opposite sides of the issue.

Meta-analyses of immigration, like the recent and frequently cited report by the National Academy of Sciences, make sure to include results by economists from both sides of the dispute. Even if it turns out that some individual immigration researchers are dishonest, there is clearly not a firm consen-

rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

truly monstrous and violent enough to do such a thing.

I hate to lose that edge to the Christmas story.

We have witnessed horrible violence in our own times, and we know the dangers of capricious leaders. We yearn for peace badly right now.

Also from Matthew, we get the star the wise men followed, and for that reason we get our Christmas lights. They set the right mood, even if they appear as early as Halloween or Labor Day. The wise men were clearly foreigners, outof-towners. Nice to think that this bit of good news was meant for them, too.

On to the gospel of Luke, the other source for our Christmas celebration. Here are the angels, the one who appeared to Mary and told her that she would have a baby and name him Jesus, and the ones who appeared to the shepherd.

Here too is the baby in the manger, “wrapped in swaddling clothes.”

But note, there’s no

sus in the expert community, which laypeople can easily see for themselves.

Mortgage-backed securities are a more troubling case, because so few people were sounding the alarm about the models used to determine the risk of these assets in the years before 2008. But because the banks that issued these mortgage-backed bonds ended up holding so many of them—putting them in danger of bankruptcy in 2008—it seems very likely that the mispricing of these bonds was mostly a genuine mistake rather than a conspiracy. Human stupidity and groupthink is far more likely culprit than a sinister expert cartel.

But on at least one issue, Weinstein’s accusation contains a grain of truth. That issue is trade.

For many years, there was a public consensus among economists that trade restrictions were bad.

It was exceedingly hard to find an academic economist willing to declare in public that the benefits of trade liberalization might not always be worth the costs. Answers to polls about free trade traditionally found near-universal support for the idea:

stable mentioned or ox or ass mooning over the child. No drummer boy, no innkeeper.

What is shown in Luke—and this feels really crucial —is that the first people to be told about Jesus were shepherds “out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.”

Shepherds were about as low on the totem pole as you could get back then. Their work was hard and lonely. They didn’t even have a decent place to sleep. And because of their contact with the sheep, they were dirty and probably considered ritually impure, unable to visit the temple.

But in Luke’s gospel, God’s messengers came to them, “bearing good news of great joy which will come to all people.”

Not only did they get the news first but they were urged to see the newborn baby. They rushed off— did they leave anybody behind with the sheep?— and found Mary and Joseph and the baby in the

manger.

So there is our celebration, much of it biblically inspired, even if not always footnoted.

Angels, stars, gifts, singing (the angels must have sung), out-of-town guests, one holy family and the poorest of the poor being honored.

That makes sense when you think of all the fundraising for worthy causes that goes on just now.

When somebody asks me about putting Christ into Christmas, I’m tempted to say he’s already there—perhaps keeping his presence anonymous. And when I get bent out of shape about all the shopping, I sing to myself that last haunting verse from “In the Bleak Midwinter,” the lyrics by 19th century poet Christina Rossetti. “What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.” Bloomberg

The justification economists usually gave (and still often give) for free trade was 19th-century economist David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage—a simple idea taught in every introductory economics course.

Behind closed doors, however, economists tended to take a much more nuanced attitude.

Economists knew that even under the simplest theory, trade liberalization could hurt most of the people in a country while enriching a select few. Paul Samuelson, one of the founders of modern economics, noted that multilateral free-trade agreements can hurt those they were intended to help if comparative advantages shift. Other economists realized that trade barriers could be used as a bargaining chip to force international conformity to environmental standards.

And by the 1990s, most economists knew that Ricardo’s theory wasn’t a very good description of how or why countries trade in the real world.

In his 2016 book “Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science,” Harvard’s Dani

Rodrik wrote: “Economists’ contributions in public can ... look radically different from their discussions in the seminar room ... in public, the tendency is to close ranks and support ... free trade ... [For example,] the most vociferous advocate of free trade in the profession, Jagdish Bhagwati, owes his academic reputation to a series of models that showed how free trade could leave a nation worse off.”

The public has never bought into economists’ public arguments about the benefits of free trade.

The experts’ continued blithe insistence that the public was ignorant and misguided began to feel like a form of gaslighting.

Nowadays, more economists are giving voice to public skepticism about the wisdom of unrestricted free trade. Rodrik is one example. Another is Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist David Autor, whose work with David Dorn and Gordon Hanson showed how many workers were hurt when the U.S. opened up trade with China.

But it may be too late to restore public trust in the

Christmas 2016 vs 2017 THERE is nothing like the Christmas break to take stock of the year that is about to end. After the crazy holiday rush, the countdown to the new year inevitably invites some sort of introspection. For a country so used to a dizzying frenzy of news, this leads us to ask: what changed in 2017? What stayed the same? What got better? What got worse?

This evaluation is especially timely since the Duterte administration’s campaign promise prior to its term was pretty much anchored on change. “Change is coming,” it vowed, something that 16 million voters believed. As things went, as is often the case in politics, over the months, the same campaign slogan was parodied to death after some things, well, did not change. “Change is coming?” some asked. “Change scamming, more like.” For a quick rundown of how things went in 2017 compared to how things were a year earlier, read on.

As said, Duterte entered the presidency with perhaps one of the strongest, most convincing mandates in recent memWhat stayed ory. A year later, his trust the same? What ratings were lower—as got better? What forecast—though still high, all things considgot worse? ered. In 2017, net public satisfaction with the first Mindanaon president did plunge 18 points from +66 to +48 year-on-year, according to the Social Weather Stations. Meanwhile his net trust rating similarly fell 15 points from +75 to +60 in June year-onyear.

Predictably, the decimated opposition declared that the so-called honeymoon stage is over for the country’s chief executive. Following the wayward and violent drug war and other scandals, many observers agree that the two-digit decline in Duterte’s net satisfaction rating meant that the president, like many others before him, was given a chance to prove himself— to prove that change was indeed coming—and has, at least for the time being, fell short.

A big chunk of people’s displeasure for millions of mega-Manila commuters is the everyday agony in traffic. Traffic in the country’s major cities had been terrible for the longest time, but there is no denying that it is getting even worse.

Manila today ranks among the worst cities in Asia when it comes to the time wasted on traffic gridlock, according to a study commissioned by ride-sharing company Uber. Residents of the Philippine capital, the study found, spent an average of 66 minutes every day stuck in traffic, behind only Bangkok (72 minutes) and Jakarta (68 minutes).

The stress level this everyday reality creates is obviously enormous and surely affects the well-being of the already harassed Manileño.

And who was that unfortunate government official who said that traffic was at least an indicator that the economy was booming? The Philippine economy has so far grown faster than expected in 2017, with GDP growing at 6.9 percent, marginally higher than the 6.8 percent recorded in 2016, an election year.

In particular—and what might also explain the traffic situation—a continuing bright spot in the domestic economy is the automotive industry, continuing its already robust performance in 2016. Sales rose 15.9 percent in the nine months to September while local production jumped 30.1 percent during the same period. This represents the second fastest growth among automotive markets in the region behind Myanmar, a relatively smaller market.

A different sort of mayhem sadly occupies down south as Mindanao remains under martial law. Following the siege and subsequent liberation of the Islamic city of Marawi, Congress approved the extension of martial law on the entire island of Mindanao, 240 to 27.

The Senate voted 14-4 while the House voted 22623 in what was, for all intents and purposes, a lopsided battle.

Fears of martial law being declared for the rest of the country meanwhile invokes the already grisly human rights situation hereabouts. According to the Philippine National Police, more than 2,500 drug suspects were killed and more than 53,000 were arrested in legitimate police operations from July 1 2016 to January 31, 2017. Unable to bear the uproar, the anti-drug campaign was transferred to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which indeed saw a dramatic decline in killings.

So how do you feel today compared to last year?

I sincerely hope you’re a little better and feeling the Christmas cheer. Being an observer, our stage as a nation can be very frustrating and even confusing when barraged by an overload of information from media.

As citizens, I believe we should all just keep doing what’s right and things will slowly get better. The Christmas season never fails to induce some healing effect despite all the troubles and stress. If only, for a change, we focus on uplifting the real message of the season: peace and goodwill to all. Merry Christmas! experts.

Economists committed a grave mistake when they expressed more confidence in free trade than their own research warranted. Admitting that

mistake is a necessary first step in the long, hard process economists must make to convince the public that they aren’t being duped.

Bloomberg

News

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Senate warns of ERC ‘vacuum’

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

T

HE chairman of the Senate committee on energy has warned against a vacuum of leadership at the Energy Regulatory Commission that could likely result in a standstill if no commissioner sits on the collegial body.

“This will in turn have an effect on our future power supply, resulting in the possibility of blackouts,” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said.

In this light, Gatchalian said he is urging Malacañang

to appoint acting commissioners to perform the duties of the suspended ERC commissioners as soon as possible.

The ERC is the electric power industry regulator, and is composed of four commis-

sioners and one chairperson.

The collegial body requires the presence of three members to issue orders, decisions, and resolutions.

In this situation, according to Gatchalian, the absence of four of its members leaves the body “powerless in making decisions critical to the energy sector.”

Its chairman, Agnes Devanadera, was just appointed last month, and will serve the unexpired term of Jose Vicente Salazar until July 2022.

According to Executive

Order No. 292 or the Administrative Code of 1987, the President has the power “to temporarily designate a competent person or any official currently in active government service to perform the functions of an official working in the Executive branch who is unable to perform his duties.” The President’s temporary designation should not exceed a period of one year, it adds.

Similarly, the Supreme Court in a 2011 case (General v. Urro) ruled that President has the power to make acting

or temporary appointments if he is not prohibited by the Constitution or by the law, to prevent a hiatus in the discharge of official functions.

“We want to ensure that ERC would continue its service despite the suspension ordered on most of its Commissioners.

At present, the total value of all pending applications for ERC approval is 1.5 trillion pesos,” Gatchalian said.

On Dec. 11, ERC Commissioners Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Alfredo Non, Josefina Patricia Magpala-Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana were

suspended, as they were held administratively liable for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, aggravated by simple misconduct and simple neglect of duty.

This stemmed from a complaint filed by members of Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas on November 2016 that questioned the deferment of the Competitive Selection Process in early 2016 and for granting seven Power Supply Agreements of Manila Electric Co., despite the period of suspension of the CSPs.

SLIP AND SLIDE. Children enjoy the colorful slides at the Luneta Park during their Christmas break. For most children, school resumes in the first week of January. Norman Cruz

US solons thanked for passing PH veterans’ bill

By Rio N. Araja CONGRESS has adopted House Resolution 1411 to express its appreciation, on behalf of the Filipino veterans of World War II, to the United States Congress for enacting a law conferring the US Congressional Gold Medal to the veterans for their dedicated service during the great war.

"Their enactment into law as Public Law 114-265, or the Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act, finally recognizes the efforts and sacrifice of the Filipino veterans in the war effort and restores their dignity and honor by awarding them with the highest expression of gratitude by the United States government,” the local Congress resolution read.

The 114th US Congress approved S 1555 and HR 2737, which would award the Congressional Gold Medal collectively to Filipino World War II veterans.

Public Law 114-265, enacted on Dec. 14, 2016, defines "Filipino Veterans of World War II" to include an individual who served honorably at any time from July 26, 1941, to Dec. 31, 1946; in an active-duty status under the command of the US Armed Forces in the Far East; and within the Philippine Commonwealth Army, the Philippine Scouts, the Philippine Constabulary, “Recognized Guerrilla” units, the New Philippine Scouts, the First Filipino Infantry Regiment, the Second Filipino Infantry Battalion (Separate), or the First Reconnaissance Battalion; or commanding or serving in such a unit as a US military officer or enlisted soldier.

‘3rd telco player must invest in fixed services first’

By John Paolo Bencito and Macon RamosAraneta THE possible third player in the local telecommunications industry should invest in “fixed services” to thoroughly compete with the existing duopoly, which is marred by complaints of problematic reception and slow internet service, a senior official said Sunday.

In a Facebook post, Department of Information and Communications Technology officer-in-charge Usec.

Eliseo Rio dismissed concerns that the third player “is doomed to fail” should the government fail to reallocate

radio frequencies from the duopoly led by PLDT-Smart and Globe Telecom.

“What I am saying is that instead of starting to compete with the duopoly in mobile services, where they are already strong with two decades of infrastructure building and more than 105 million subscribers, the third player compete initially in the fixed services, where the duopoly is weak, with only 17 percent [of] establishments, homes, and offices having internet access,” Rio said.

“Why would we insist in being connected to mobile access services when we are at

home, offices and establishments where we spend around 80 percent of our daily activities? Why not use a fixed access when this can be faster and less expensive than mobile access?” he added.

The proposal, he said, will also give his department time to focus on creating more equitable frequency allocation policies for fair competition among three or more service providers.

Meanwhile, with the possible third telco player next year, Senator Win Gatchalian called on Malacañang to certify as urgent his bill that would allow users to "easily transfer network providers without

changing their preferred mobile numbers."

Gatchalian is the principal author of the Lifetime Cellphone Number Act, or Senate Bill 1636, a substitute bill to his earlier Senate Bill 1237.

Under the measure, mobile subscribers are given the preference to move to other network providers while retaining their existing mobile numbers.

“This would actually reinforce the government’s campaign to break the existing duopoly in the telco industry.

If it’s really the government’s priority to fix the telecommunications industry in the country, the President would need to certify this bill first,” Gatch-

alian explained.

However, Rio admitted the dominant market players “will not give up the frequencies that are allocated to [them] or even share these, without a fight that will bring us to courts.”

“This will take years, time that the third player doesn't have,” the DICT OIC said.

The third player can also use “last mile infra[structure] of electric companies” and “technologies that offer residential customers high-speed Internet access through the air” as a fast and affordable alternative to cables and fixed lines, that can give symmetrical 100 megabits per second download and upload speeds to homes.

PNP leaving cops’guns unsealed for holidays THE Philippine National Police trusts its members enough not to seal the muzzles of their guns ahead of Christmas, when firearms are fired indiscriminately in celebration.

PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Sunday that like in 2016, policemen’s guns will remain unsealed because his wards haven’t fired their weapons as noisemakers for several years now.

“I think it’s OK to leave them open. We won’t tape the muzzles of their guns anymore,” Dela Rosa confirmed in a radio interview, adding policemen are required to report for duty during the holidays anyway.

Director Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, head of the PNP Directorate for Operations, last year said leaving guns open was meant to show the discipline of the national police.

“It’s a directive from the chief PNP [Dela Rosa] in our last command conference. This is to show the people that the PNP is a disciplined and trusted organization.

In that case, it does not need muzzle taping,” he said.

“How can you fire a muzzled gun if you’re in uniform and on duty?

We require that 100 percent, all our policemen are accounted for during Christmas Eve at New Year's Eve," Dela Rosa added.

The PNP chief instructed the police to break into homes and establishments where gunfire is heard during the New Year revelry. He also advised the public against using dangerous firecrackers in welcoming the New Year, instead encouraging them to use drums, horns and other musical instruments or noisemakers to prevent firecracker-related injuries.

"I advise them not to use firecrackers. Look at Davao: Every Christmas, every New Year, no fireworks [means] no injury.

Zero injury, zero casualty always. No fires, no air pollution," Dela Rosa said. “Drums and horns will do to create noise and welcome the New Year and to chase away the evil spirits.”

Villar bats for protection of turtles and PH marine life

SEASONAL SIGHT. A family of Aetas receives alms from motorists plying United Nations Avenue in Manila on Sunday, Christmas Eve. Norman Cruz

STRESSING that the death of marine creatures like the endangered turtles or “pawikan” will threaten the entire ecosystem, Senator Cynthia A. Villar urged the public to protect and maintain the cleanliness of their habitat— the oceans.

Villar, chairman of the Senate environment committee, said the death of marine creatures will also have adverse effects on human livelihood and food sources. She said one of the ways to protect our oceans is to avoid throwing plastic garbage in our bodies of water.

As Senate environment committee chairman, Villar said she is working on amending the 17-year-old Ecological Solid Waste Management law to hold accountable manufacturers that dump plastic wastes in rivers and seas.

Last month, Villar said she attended a panel discussion in Singapore, organized by the European Union, which dealt on ensuring a plastic-

free ocean.

She said among the concerns raised in the discussion was the amount of wastes that reach the oceans and eventually damage the ecosystem and marine biodiversity.

Villar noted that those wastes kill marine creatures, including endangered turtles, which are integral to the ecosystem, as they keep sea grass beds healthy.

Based on a University of Georgia study, the Philippines ranked third—next to China and Indonesia—among 192 countries surveyed in terms of volume of plastic wastes produced by the population that could potentially enter the seas and oceans.

“That truly alarmed me because marine plastic wastes pose an extreme danger to our country’s marine natural resources,” said Villar, adding that it is already among the common cause of the disease and death of animals.

Sports

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Tanauan batters capture U-18 national softball championship

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ANAUAN A finally realized its long-awaited dream of winning a national softball championship as it fashioned out a dramatic come- frombehind 3-2 victory over Sta. Maria, Bulacan at the recent 2017 Cebuana Lhuillier-ASAPHIL U-18 Women’s Softball Championship in Sto.Nino in Marikina City.

In a game that was only decided to the very end, Tanauan pounced on a fielding and throwing error by Sta. Maria in the upper half of the 7th inning, resulting to two runs by Angel Bedano

and Kathy Nueva, who scooted to the home plate to reverse the 2-1 lead of the Bulacan-based team and retook the lead at 3-2, putting heavy pressure on Sta. Maria at their last turn on the bat.

Most Valuable Player awardee Royavel Palma from Tanauan and a rookie member of the Blu Girls, helped preserve the lead in the bottom half of the final inning of the weeklong tournament organized by ASAPHIL as part of its grassroots developmental program and backed by the Cebuana Lhuillier Group of Companies.

“I was confident about winning this time, we prepared for this for a year and our motivation came from losing to Bacolod last year and we were the ones who were waiting in the finals. We

joined a lot of tournaments to give the girls more exposure,” said Tanauan head coach and barangay captain Ramil Mercado, whose team received P25,000 as incentive.

Sta, Maria got P15,000, while third-place Rizal received P10,000. Tanauan’s victory also avenged its only loss in the tournament against Sta. Maria, which beat them, 1-0, in the quarterfinals.

“We are very pleased with this event. We had the most number of teams ever at 27 and from the players here, we will select the members of our

U-16, U-18 and U-19 team.

We need to sustain the gains made this year that has resulted to an improvement in our world ranking from number 17 to number 15,” said softball president Jean Henri Lhuillier, President/CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier.

Aside from Palma, other individual awardees of the tournament sponsored by Cebuana Microloans, Cebuana Pera Padala, Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Cebuana Savings Bank, Cebuana Micro Inc., Le Soleil de Boracay, Palm Rock, Just Jewels, and One Hagdan,

were her team mate May Langa as Best Hit ter, Best Pitcher Alma Tauli from Sta. Maria, Most Runs Batted In for another Sta. Maria player Giselle Villarubia, Best Slugger Leica Blanco, Most Stolen Bases by Cleofe Magsayo also from Rizal, and Charlotte Sales of Makati for Most Home Runs.

ASAPHILofficials Randy Dizer and Kiko Diaz alternated with presenting the awards, while Atty.

Rolly Rivera emceed the awarding ceremonies.

The event was hosted

by Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro.

Quid Pro Quo wins Predator tilt PH leg ASIA Pacific Predator League 2018, Predator Gaming’s brand new DOTA:2 league and the most anticipated eSports competition, recently concluded its Philippine Leg at the High Grounds Café, with Quid Pro Quo taking home the title and P50,000.00 and will be flying to Indonesia to represent the Philippines in the finals.

Setting the mood for an intense competition, the High Grounds Café was adorned with black stone boulders, crystals, snow, and grass to create an ice dungeon representative of Predator Gaming’s frostforged vibe. This set-up served as the backdrop for the Philippine finals, putting a dramatic end to the national leg.

Following around 6 hours of DOTA:2 action, Quid Pro Quo emerged as the victor of the Philippine finals, besting Alpha Gaming on the 3rd round. Prior to succeeding in the national finals, Quid Pro Quo had previously competed and won in the North Luzon leg of the competition.

Quid Pro Quo took

home P50,000.00 from the P220,000.00 Philippine eliminations prize pool, while Alpha Gaming received P30,000.00.

Vigggo.Net and NCGC.Davao pocketed P10,000.00 each.

Quid Pro Quo will be moving on to compete in the final round to be held in Indonesia. Vying for the $150,000.00 prize pool, Quid Pro Quo will be competing against the national winners of six other countries in Asia Pacific, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

Predator Gaming established Predator League as a means to empower amateur gamers to showcase their skills and talent on a global scene. Endeavoring to discover and put the spotlight on both professional and non-professional gamers, Predator League aims to capture fresh talent from the Philippines and the Pan Asia Pacific region’s bustling amateur eSports scene, particularly for DOTA:2.

“The Philippine leg of Asia Pacific Predator

Jockey Patricio “Patty” Dilema raises his hand in victory following Dewey Boulevard’s wire-to-wire victory in the recent PCSO Presidential Gold Cup Race at the Metroturf in Malvar, Batangas.

League 2018 has come to a momentous end, and we could not be any happier with the level of skill and sportsmanship we have witnessed here in the Philippines,” said Andrew Hou, President of Predator Gaming Pan Asia Pacific Region.

“Still, we see potential for tremendous growth. We are excited to unearth what we

know for sure are incredible gaming talents in the Philippines. More than that, we are hopeful that we will be able to recruit more people to summon their strength and to discover the wonderful world of Predator Gaming.”

In the Philippines, the Predator League 2018 eliminations saw the participation of 127 registered teams. All

elimination legs were done in partnership with THENET. COM, the gaming company’s eSports partner. Predator League also supports the Philippine DotA pride, TNC Pro Team-DotA 2.

“The astounding reception we have enjoyed in this year’s competition has confirmed that the eSports scene in the country is booming,”

shares Eric Redulfin, General Manager of TNC. “The gaming community can rest assured that TNC and Predator will continue to work towards elevating gaming in the Philippines.”

For further information about the Asia Pacific Predator League 2018 campaign, visit https://predatorleague.com/.

Jr NBA PH tips off Jan. 13, concludes May 2018 JR NBA Philippines 2018 presented by Alaska tips off Jan. 13 at Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati and runs through May 2018 as part of the league’s effort to encourage youth basketball participation.

This year’s program is set to reach more than 250,000 participants and 900 coaches across the country.

Online registration is open now at www.jrnba.asia/philippines.

Jr. NBA, the league’s global youth basketball participation program for boys and girls, teaches the fundamental skills and core values of the game at the grassroots level in an effort to enhance the youth basketball experience for players, parents and coaches.

During the 2017-18 season, the NBA will reach more than 26 million youth in 71 countries through a variety of camps, clinics, skills challenges, league play and outreach events.

The program remains free and open to boys and girls ages 10-14 throughout its four stages: skills clinics in schools and communities, Regional Selection Camps, a National Training Camp and an NBA experience trip.

Since its launch in 2007, Jr. NBA clinics have been implemented in 110 cities and municipalities across the country and the 2018 program will return to key provinces including Agusan Del Norte, Batangas, Benguet, Cavite,

Misamis Oriental, and Negros Occidental.

Regional Selection Camps will be held in Bacolod (Feb. 10-11), Butuan (Feb. 24-25), Baguio (March 17-18) and Metro Manila (April 7-8), with the top 37 boys and 37 girls advancing for the National Training Camp in Manila in May 2018, which will feature an NBA and WNBA player or legend.

The program will culminate with the selection of 16 Jr. NBA All-Stars, comprised of eight boys and eight girls, who will embark on an overseas NBA experience trip with fellow Jr. NBA All-Stars from Southeast Asia.

Prior editions of the Jr. NBA Philippines program have

featured notable alumni including Aljon Mariano, Kobe Paras, Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena, Ricci Rivero, and Kai Sotto.

“For the past 10 years, Jr. NBA Philippines has established itself as a platform to improve the youth basketball experience and promote an active and healthy lifestyle among the Filipino youth,” said NBA Philippines Managing Director Carlo Singson.

“Together with Alaska, we are committed to providing proper guidelines to how the game should be played and taught to more youth, coaches and parents in the country.”

“As part of our long-standing partnership with the NBA, Alaska Milk Corporation is

proud to play an active role in shaping the basketball players of tomorrow through good nutrition and proper life values,” said Alaska Milk Corporation Marketing Director Blen Fernando. “We look forward to making a lasting impact on the lives of aspiring athletes on and off the court through the Jr. NBA program.”

The 2018 edition of Jr. NBA Philippines will also include the Jr. NBA Coach of the Year program, led by Jr. NBA Head Coaches Carlos Barroca and Alaska Power Camp Coach Jeff Cariaso, to provide training for 14 Jr. NBA coaches during the National Training Camp, with two Jr. NBA Coaches of the Year awarded with an NBA experience trip.

WANG NAMED LETRAN TEAM MANAGER.

Sportsman-businessman Alex Wang, Chairman of the Letran Alumni Association, Director and Concurrent Sports Committee Chairman, has assumed the role of Team Manager of the San Juan de Letran varsity basketball team that will compete in the PBA-DLeague under Wangs Ballclub as part of the school’s preparation for next year’s National Collegiate Athletic Association season. Letran finished fifth this year in NCAA, but Wang is looking forward to a Final 4 finish in 2018. The team, together with its head coach Jeff Napa, graced the annual Christmas party tendered by Wang for his ball club and former players, a lot of whom eventually played in the PBA. Photo shows the team with Wang.

Velez, Abarquez clinch net titles JOHN David Velez and Elizabeth Abarquez each carved out a pair of victories in varying fashions to dominate their respective sides in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Naga City regional age-group tennis tournament at the City of Naga tennis courts recently.

Velez repulsed Andrei Padao, 6-3, 6-4, in a duel of fancied bets to nail the boys’ 14-and-under crown then the rising Davao star stopped Mark Albarracin, 6-1, 6-2, to annex the 16-U diadem in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

The top seeded Abarquez from Carcar, Cebu also held off young Alexa Milliam, 6-3, 6-4, in the girls’ 16-U finals then repeated over the Smapi, Ponte Vedra bet, 6-2, 0-6, 10-5, for the 18-U plum as she shared the MVP honors with Velez in the event hosted by Naga City Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong and the various LGUs. Milliam earlier dominated Ashley McKenzie, 6-1, 6-2, but fell short twice of her upset bid against Abarquez in the tournament backed by the Unified Tennis Philippines, including PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg. “While Velez and Abarquez have established themselves as forces to reckon with in the circuit, fresh faces continue to emerge, thus inspiring us more to put up more and more tournaments to widen the base of our talent-search,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/ CEO Bobby Castro.

Unranked local bet Vince Canete downed Gio Manito, 4-0, 5-3, to snatch the 10-unisex crown; Ormoc City’s Corazon Lambonao outlasted Kimberly McKenzie in a marathon duel, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9, for the girls’ 12-U title; Andrei Lago from Sogod, Leyte trounced Mitch Laygo, 6-2, 6-3, for the boys’ 12-U\\\\\\\\\; and top local entry Vhon Tudtud overpowered Lemuel Garbosa, 6-3, 6-2, in the boys’ 18-U finals.

UCLA players detained in China to miss season LOS ANGELES—Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, two of the US college basketball players detained in China for shoplifting last month, will be suspended the rest of the season, UCLA university said Friday.

Riley and Hill had been suspended indefinitely along with a third player involved—LiAngelo Ball.

Ball was then withdrawn from the university by his father, LaVar Ball, who has since announced plans to start a basketball league for high school graduates who don’t want to attend college before launching an NBA career.

Riley and Hill will be allowed to practice with the team and participate in meetings beginning on December 26, but coach Steve Alford said they won’t be allowed to suit up for home games or travel with the squad.

“Since returning from China, they have done everything asked of them and continued to work hard in the classroom and in their own personal workouts,” Alford said in a statement. “I’ve told our players all along that actions have consequences, and the season-long suspension shows how seriously we take their misconduct.”

The shoplifting escapade created an international incident that eventually included President Donald Trump, who said he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene on the players’ behalf. AFP

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

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

PBA to hold Christmas spectacle

By Jeric Lopez A BLOCKBUSTER clash and an evenly-matched tiff are featured in the Christmas presentation of the 2017-18 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. Governors’ Cup champion Barangay Ginebra makes its season debut and it faces an acid test right away as the Magnolia Hotshots (formerly Star) stand in its way as the two teams resume their rivalry at 5:15 p.m. at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

Preceding that is the appetizer pitting the NLEX Road Warriors (1-0) making their debut against the GlobalPort Batang Pier.

After listing wins right away in their opening outings, Magnolia and NLEX both shoot for a second straight win and a piece of the early tournament lead against their respective foes.

This will be third straight year that the Gin Kings and the Hotshots face each other on Christmas day with the former earning victories on both occasions.

Ginebra, obviously, wants to keep its mastery of Magnolia going while the Hotshots are hoping for a reversal.

The core of both teams remain intact as they will continue to be spearheaded by their veterans from last season.

Both teams though will miss the services of several players due to injuries.

Ginebra will be minus Joe Devance and Art Dela Cruz while Magnolia will be playing without Rafi Reavis, Jio Jalalon and Marc Pingris.

In its initial assignment, the Hotshots impressed as they easily stopped Alaska, 108-95, in a one-sided affair last Wednesday.

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) protects the basketball against Denver Nuggets defender Malik Beasley (25) during their game on December 23, 2017 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. AFP

Denver Nuggets snap Warriors’ win streak

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OS ANGELES—The Denver Nuggets stunned the Golden State Warriors 96-81 on Saturday, holding the NBA champions to a season-low in points and snapping their 11-game winning streak.

The Warriors high-octane offense – which they’ve maintained despite a spate of injuries that include twotime NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry’s sprained ankle – sputtered all night.

“It was frustrating for sure,” said Kevin Durant, who led the Warriors with 18 points, but connected on just six of 17 shots from the field and couldn’t get any of his five three-point attempts to drop.

He wasn’t the only one suffering.

Klay Thompson was six-of-21 from the field, and one-of-10 from three-

point range in producing 15 points.

Elsewhere, the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics warmed up for their Christmas tilt against the Washington Wizards with a 117-92 romp past the Chicago Bulls.

The Celtics outscored the Bulls 38-18 in the third quarter to pull away, avenging a humbling defeat in Chicago two weeks ago in which Boston scored a season-low 85 points.

Boston guard Kyrie Irving scored 25 points and handed out seven

of their 83 shots from the floor, and just three of 27 from threepoint range as they produced their season-low in points.

They missed from beyond the arc, they missed layups – Andre Iguodala was stunned to miss a dunk.

All those misses took a toll, Durant said.

“It’s a feel-good game,” he said.

“You want to make shots, that’s what gets us going, that’s what gets the crowd going. So you can feel the energy – after every miss Denver was just taking it away from us as far as energy was concerned.”

The Nuggets took full advantage, with Gary Harris scoring 19 points to lead a balanced attack that saw five Denver players score in double figures. AFP

MMA experience helped Ishige overcome bullying

Ravens continue march LOS ANGELES—The Baltimore Ravens continued their march towards their first NFL playoff berth since 2014 with a 23-16 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday.

The Ravens’ workmanlike performance may have been short on aesthetics, but was effective and allowed them to maintain control of their post-season destiny.

The Ravens improved to 9-6 and overtook the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills in the AFC wild card race.

Buffalo take on Super Bowl champions New England on Sunday and the Titans host the Los Angeles Rams.

Regardless of other results, the Ravens can clinch a wild card berth with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals in their regular-season finale next week.

“Next week will be a test too,” said Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. “The Bengals play us tough all the time.”

Flacco tossed a pair of touchdowns and was 29 of 38 for 237 yards for the Ravens, who seized the sixth playoff spot in the American Football Conference.

assists as the Celtics bounced back from a loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday.

In Salt Lake City, reigning NBA MVP Russell Westbrook posted his 11th triple-double of the season to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 100-89 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Westbrook scored 27 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Paul George added 26 points and Carmelo Anthony scored 16 for the Thunder, who beat Utah for a third straight time.

“We wanted to come out and set the tone early,” Anthony said.

“Defensively, we did that. Once we set the tone early, we had the momentum going throughout the whole game.”

Overall, the Warriors made 32

MMA fighter Rika Ishige connects with a left straight to the face of Rome Trinidad. ONE Championship

RIKA “Tinydoll” Ishige may be a burgeoning ONE Championship superstar, and a leading women’s athlete in Thailand’s martial arts scene, but she did not always have a reputation for her combat talents.

In fact, before she equipped herself with martial arts, she had been a target for bullies.

During her childhood, Ishige was frequently picked on because of her appearance. “Tinydoll,” who is of Thai and Japanese descent, always sported a genuine smile with friendly eyes and was petite in stature.

The local bullies took notice, and made Ishige’s teenage life a nightmare. She often fell victim to mental abuse and physical attacks. All of that led her into the world of martial arts.

“I do not remember the first time I got bullied because I used to get bullied since I was young,” Ishige reveals, as she reflects on her adolescent years.

“When I was a junior in high school, I was bullied by the seniors because I am only half Thai.”

So, as a tiny teenage girl, hence the nickname “Tinydoll,” she stepped

through the doors of her local martial arts school, and has never looked back.

“I did not learn martial arts to hurt people, just for self-defense,” she said.

“I decided to start practicing aikido and karate.”

The bullies started to bother her less and less, until eventually, they faded away. Arming herself with martial arts and its accompanying benefits helped her to fight back, even if most of the fighting was done in her mind.

Ishige regained control of her situation, and has her training to thank.

That is why she actively advocates martial arts to any young person having a difficult time. After all, she has been through it, and already learnt the lessons.

“You cannot change others, only yourself. Get ready to deal with every situation,” she asserts. “You should get physical strength by working out or practicing martial arts to protect yourself from physical or sexual bullying. Also, you will build mental strength for dealing with verbal bullying, including cyberbullying.”

Doping, bribery hound sports PARIS—Russia being banned from the Winter Olympics stole the headlines but may also have overshadowed an otherwise sorry year for sport in terms of scandals.

It was a particularly damaging year for sporting officials, not least from the world of football and FIFA in particular.

Former Guam football federation president Richard Lai pleaded guilty in April to taking bribes worth almost $1 million while Costa Rican Eduardo Li, Guatemala’s Brayan Jimenez, Venezuela’s Rafael Esquivel and Julio Rocha of Nicaragua all received lifetime bans, with Nigeria’s Amos Adamu handed a two-year ban.

Hector Trujillo of Guatemala, the former general secretary of his country’s football federation, was the first person brought down in the widespread FIFA corruption scandal to be sentenced to jail, given eight months by a judge in New York in October.

Two more, Jose Maria Marin, former head of Brazil’s Football Confederation and Juan Angel Napout, former head of Paraguayan football, were convicted of corruption earlier this month for accepting more than $17 million in bribes between them.

The likes of Michel Platini, the former UEFA president, and Jerome Valcke, the former FIFA general secretary, both failed in their appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have their FIFA bans overturned while other prominent figures were embroiled in the ever-widening scandal.

Cablitas wants unity among tennis stakeholders

By Peter Atencio PUTTING things in order within the tennis community and coming up with as many tournaments as possible will be the thrust of lawyer Antonio Cablitas in the coming year.

Cablitas, who is President Rodrigo Duterte’s adviser on investments, will do so as the new president of the Philippine Tennis Association.

The 68-year-old Cablitas got the go-signal following talks this week with Salva-

dor Andrada, who turned the reins over to him following elections held last June 9.

“For the next year, I will hold tournaments all over the country in the age group level,” said Cablitas, who hopes that this will get the ball rolling in their quest for unity within the tennis community.

As much as possible, Cablitas hopes that there will be 12 tournaments each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

After that competitions can be planned out in the

summer.

Cablitas discussed his plans with members of the board, which includes Andrada, and secretary general Romeo Magat.

The road to recognition from the International Tennis Federation is now in the works after Cablitas met with ITF president David Haggerty last November in Ho Chi Minh City.

The International Tennis Federation said it has informed the board of trustees of the Philta and the Philip-

pine Olympic Committee of their decision last Oct. 20 that they are still recognizing Paranaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez as president.

Since Olivarez resigned in 2016, the leadership of Philta has been bitterly disputed by the groups of Col. Salvador Andrada and businessman-sportsman Jean Henri Lhuillier.

The hand of reconciliation has also been offered to Lhuillier, who has continuously questioned the ongoing leadership of Philta.

COMELY CLEANERS. Members of the Knights Crew clean the ice during the Vegas Golden Knights’ game against the Washington Capitals at T-Mobile Arena on December 23, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights won 3-0. AFP

Stock market attempts to climb to 8,500 points

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Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

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Ayala Land to open 3 malls in 2018

By Jenniffer B. Austria

IN BRIEF

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AJOR property developer Ayala Land Inc. plans to open at least three regional shopping malls in 2018 as it continues to expand its commercial leasing business.

Meralco invites power producers

MANILA Electric Co. asked other power suppliers to match the P2.9887 per kilowatt-hour price offer of Pilipinas Newton Energy Corp. from a 50-megawatt solar power plant.

Meralco, in a published invitation for price challenge, sought offers from other power developers to supply 50 MW of capacity from a solar plant.

“An offer made by the price challenger should be under the same terms and conditions of the power supply agreement provided by Meralco, except for the financial proposal,” Meralco said.

Pilipinas Newton’s offer is so far the lowest received by Meralco for solar supply to date. The previous lowest offer was P2.9999 per kWh from Solar Philippines for 85 megawatts of solar capacity.

Pilipinas Newton proposed to start supplying Meralco beginning December 31, 2018, or eight months after the issuance of a final approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission. The contract period covers 20 years from the date of commercial operations.

Meralco said interested bidders must submit offers on or before January 2, 2018. Alena Mae S. Flores

BSP set to launch Instapay BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas will roll out in the first quarter of 2018 Instapay, another automated clearing house that will be useful for e-commerce payments in which people can just use a card or phone in paying any transactions.

Instapay will follow the successful launch on November 2017 of PESO Net, the first clearing house under the National Retail Payment System, as part of efforts to establish a safe, efficient and reliable payment framework in the country.

“We are working on it... Hopefully we can launch it late in the first quarter of 2018,” Bangko Sentral deputy director and National Retail Payment System project head Raymond Estioko told reporters.

Estioko said the only remaining issues before the regulator could launch Instapay were the clearing rules and agreements. “... We would like to make sure that the clearing rules and agreements are aligned with the NRPS framework issued under Circular 980,” he said.

Estioko said the agreements between banks included how the money would be transferred from one institution to another. Julito G. Rada

AMLC okays report on risk assessment

THE Anti-Money Laundering Council approved the second national risk assessment report on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing on Dec. 20 in a bid to further reinforce the country’s fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.

In 40 recommendations, the Financial Action Task Force requires countries to identify, assess and understand money laundering and terrorism financing risks, and take action in mitigating those risks.

FATF, an international standardsetting body, develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The 40 FATF recommendations set out a comprehensive framework of measures which countries should then implement.

As the country’s financial intelligence unit, the AMLC led the second national risk assessment, which covered 2015 and 2016.

Participants included stakeholders from government and law enforcement agencies, and private sector institutions. The first assessment in 2016 covered 2011 to 2014. Julito G. Rada

Non-taxpayers to also benefit from TRAIN

EVEN non-taxpayers will benefit from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act through more job creations and better infrastructure that will lower the transport and distribution costs of goods and improved services, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said over the weekend.

Dominguez said even those not paying taxes would benefit from the first package of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program because of higher spending for education, health care and other forms of human capital development that would help set the foundation to lift themselves out of the poverty trap.

Also, up to 30 percent of the incremental revenues from the TRAIN will help fund a targeted cash transfer program for the country’s poorest 10 million households to aid the bottom 50 percent of the population in coping with the initial effects of the tax reform law on the prices of basic necessities. Julito G. Rada

ANTI-TRUST PARTNERS. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Nestor Espenilla Jr. (second from left) and Philippine Competition Commission chairman Arsenio Balisacan (second from right) sign an agreement on rules on mergers, acquisitions and other competition-related issues. Mergers and acquisitions of supervised financial institutions under financial distress will be subject to specific rules on prior notification and review requirements of the Philippine Competition Act to facilitate expeditious action. With Espenilla and Balisacan during the signing ceremony are (from left) Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier and PCC dhief of staff Mel Pana. Story on B2.

Govt prefers ‘bundling’ of small assets for sale

By Julito G. Rada FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government is considering “bundling together” smallticket assets for privatization to avoid waste of time and focus instead on bigticket items.

Dominguez said in an interview over the weekend several smaller assets were programmed for privatization next year, aside from the controversial Mile Long property in Makati City and

those of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

“We have a range of assets, we are spending an inordinate amount of time in the small stuff because of their numbers,” Dominguez said, citing a number of lots in Silawan, Davao del Sur measuring 100 square meters.

“So we are spending 80 percent of our manpower to generate 10 percent of our revenue. So why don’t we just bundle those small assets together and sell them

as one to a group and really use our time to spend on the big-ticket items,” Dominguez said.

He said grouping the smaller assets into one was better than chasing around appraisals for small lots.

“Let the private sector deal with that if they are better than us,” he said.

He said the DoF asked state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. to do the same thing after inheriting small assets from closed rural banks.

“By the way the central bank, do you know how many titles it has of foreclosed properties? 26,000.

So I told them why don’t they look at that also. So let’s not waste our time and be concentrated on the bigticket items,” he said.

Dominguez in September said the government was planning to privatize the controversial Mile Long property in Makati City next year to raise more funds to be used for development projects.

Ayala Land head of malls group Rowena Tomeldan said in a chance interview over the weekend the three malls included a huge shopping complex at the Aseana City complex adjacent to Pagcor Entertainment City.

The new mall will give Ayala Land a presence in Pagcor City, which is being developed as the Las Vegas-style gaming strip along Manila Bay. “We will soft open Ayala Malls Bay Area late next year,” Tomeldan said. “The mall will have more than 200,000 square meters of leasable space. However, we will only open phase 1 one of the mall which is about 17,000 square meters and a big portion of the mall will open in 2019.”

The mall is located within a nine-hectare complex being leased from the Wenceslao Group. Aside from the huge mall, other developments within the complex include an office building for business process outsourcing companies and a 12-story hotel with at least 325 rooms.

The other malls slated for opening in 2018 are in Circuit Makati and Bacolod City.

Ayala Mall Capital Central, situated on the provincial capital of Bacolod, will have roughly 50,000 sq. m. of leasable space.

Meanwhile, the new mall in Circuit Makati, an estate development where the former Santa Ana racetrack used to operate, will have 50,000 sq. m. of leasable space.

Ayala Land this month opened Ayala Malls Feliz, a 79,000-sq. m. mall along Marcos Highway, Cainta, and Ayala Malls Marikina Heights, a 13,000-sq. m. community center.

Other malls that Ayala Land opened in 2017 were Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, a 39,000-sq. m. shopping center in Balintawak, Quezon City, Ayala Malls Vertis North in Quezon City and Ayala Mall The 30th in Ortigas Center, Pasig.

The property company has been building up recurringincome sources, including hotels, and office developments to account for 50 percent of earnings over the next couple of years.

Early this month, Ayala Mall, in partnership with Zalora Group, Asia’s online fashion store, said it would roll out ‘pop-up’ stores in January 2018 in a bid to attract online shoppers.

A ‘pop-up’ store is a short-term sales space operated by an online merchant.

Ayala Land registered a net income of P17.8 billion in the first nine months of the year, up 18 percent year-onyear, boosted by record-high sales and steady growth in leasing income.

PH upbeat on extending GSP+ status

Inoperative ERC damaging to the energy sector—PIPPA

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc., the country’s association of power generators, warned that the absence of a functioning Energy Regulatory Commission will be devastating to the energy sector.

“PIPPA would like to stress that the energy industry needs a fully functional commission in order to effectively implement their mandate in accordance with EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act),” PIPPA said in a statement.

The Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 called for reforms in the power industry and tasked the ERC to regulate the industry.

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered a one-year suspension on all four commissioners of the ERC—Josefina Patricia Asirit, Alfredo Non, Geronimo Sta. Ana and Gloria Yap-Taruc last week—for allegedly giving the Manila

Electric Co. an undue advantage when it exempted it from the competitive selection process on power supply agreements.

“Without a working commission and putting a pause on the important work of the ERC, we will find ourselves without the needed approvals for PSAs, connection agreements, price determination regulation, compliance certificates and licenses,” PIPPA said.

PIPPA, an association of around 28 companies engaged in power generation, said the regulatory requirements were dependent on the ERC and “will negatively impact everyone from the generators, distribution utilities and ultimately to the consumers.”

PIPPA’s members collectively have about 13,549.4 megawatts of grid installed capacity, or 82.8 percent of the country’s total, and serve millions of Filipinos in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

By Othel V. Campos

HALL OF FAME. Holcim Philippines’s Bulacan Plant is elevated to the Hall of Fame of the Don Emilio Abello Energy Efficiency Award after winning its third straight Outstanding Award for energy efficiency and conservation. Holcim Bulacan production manager Eric Simpao (from left), environment officer Mark Anthony Torres and shift operations manager Danny Buluran display their awards during a ceremony on December 7, 2017 at the Passion Restaurant, Maxims Hotel in Pasay City.

PLDT confident of 2018 profit outlook amid weak mobile business

By Darwin G Amojelar PLDT Inc. said it is optimistic about its profit outlook in 2018 amid weak earnings from its mobile and international businesses.

“It was a challenging year. It’s a good year for fixed. Mobile, we still have some ways to go. Some signs of recovery but we are not out of the woods yet,” PLDT president and chairman Manuel Pangilinan said over the weekend.

“So, hopefully, 2018 will be better. It really depends on how well the wireless side performs, given (the) decline in international

voice. But I think the decline will be smaller this year compared to previous year. I mean next year, compared to 2016, 2017. So it would depend whether wireless can recover,” he added PLDT’s net income rose 38 percent to P21.87 billion in the first nine months of the year, mostly because of the proceeds from the sale of its shares in Beacon Electric Asset Holdings Inc and SPi Global Holdings Inc. PLDT’s consolidated revenues amounted P119.07 billion in the January-to-September period, down 5 precent from P125.37 billion.

Sales of PLDT Home revenues grew 12 percent to P24.3 billion, while Enterprise business posted an 11-percent increase in revenues to P25.3 billion.

The Wireless Individual Business posted P44.2 billion in service revenues, down 14 percent on year.

Home and Enterprise combined now account for 47 percent of revenues, surpassing the 41 percent contribution of the wireless individual business.

Pangilinan earlier said PLDT would spend over P50 billion in 2018 for mobile and fixed-

broadband networks expansion in preparation for the entry of a third player.

“We will announce a historic high in capex [capital expenditure] next year, north of P50 billion. We want to make a statement as well,” he said.

PLDT has programmed P38 billion in capex this year to build an unparalleled integrated fixed and wireless network that will provide customers with a superior data experience PLDT has spent P11 billion to improve its infrastructure as of end-September this year.

THE Philippines is optimistic the European Union will soon engage Manila in negotiations for the anticipated continuation of the EU Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade program for the Philippines.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the negotiations were promising after meeting EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom during the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“The dialogue was a bit on the general side. The last time we spoke, we agreed to continue our engagement,” he said.

The Philippine delegation said the EU now had less concerns unlike before, raising the likelihood of a “better probability” for the continuation of the program.

The EU has been raising many concerns, the issue of human rights situation in the country.

“Part of the monitoring they conduct include labor, compliance... and many aspects per issue that are also reviewed.

Even on the aid, they are working it out on how our participation will be acceptable. Their tone is ‘how can we help’,” Lopez said.

The EU GSP+ is a preferential trade scheme that will be in force until 2023 but will subject all nin beneficiary countries, including the Philippines, to annual review.

B2

Business

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Anti-trust body seeks more partners in govt

By Julito G. Rada THE Philippine Competition Commission, mandated under the Philippine Competition Act to review mergers and acquisitions, is seeking more partnerships with other government agencies next year.

Chairman Arsenio Balisacan, in a briefing at the sidelines of the signing of an agreement with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, said the partnerships would foster competition among businesses.

“We have partnered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commission on Audit, Philippine Statistics Authority and now the BSP. There

are still a number of agencies lined up for next year,” Balisacan said.

He said the tie-up with Bangko Sentral would foster competition amid the changing landscape of the banking industry. Balisacan and BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. signed the agreement.

“The PCC and BSP have common interests in the regulation of bank and non-bank financial institutions. In regulating banks, the PCC acknowledges that while financial institutions serve as the intermediary for money, banking and credit that businesses rely on, they themselves operate as businesses, too,” Balisacan said.

Stock market attempts to climb to 8,500 points

By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

HARE prices are expected to move higher in the last trading week of the year as the market attempts to close the year at the 8,500-point level.

Analysts said the index might attempt to hit the 8,500 mark, the year-end target of investment companies, on the overall positive outlook on the economy for next year after the passage of the Tax Reform on Acceleration and Inclusion, an important element aimed at funding the infrastructure program of the

Duterte administration.

“Chartwise, the week’s close at 8,432.31 highlights the market still has some gas to try the 8,500 levels,” BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said.

Seasonal window dressing could also be big factor that would boost the market during the last three

trading days.

“Spot for good entry windows by seizing on weakness to position in shares that provide dividend play and promising capital appreciation,” F. Yap Securities said.

The PSEi last week rose 1.1 percent to 8,432.31 the from previous week’s close after President Rodrigo Duterte finally signed into law the fist package of the tax reform agenda.

The broader All Shares Index also climbed 1 percent to 4,921.4, led by holding firms which gained 1.86, property which rose 1.8

percent, and mining and oil which increased 1.7 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers by P1.43 billion, while average daily value traded stood at P6.8 billion, down from the previous week’s average of P7.4 billion.

Weekly top price gainers include Jolliville Holdings Corp., which advanced 17.3 percent to P6.10 after the company reported it sold its combined 62-percent stake in Philippine H2O Ventures Corp. to Dennis Uyled Udenna Development Corp. for P327.7 million.

Other weekly top gain-

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS WEEKLY STOCKS REVIEW STOCKS

DECEMBER 18-22, 2017 Close Volume

Value

DECEMBER 11-15, 2017 Close Volume Value

MEDCO Holdings Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

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

Sun Life Financial

0.590 0.92 1.21 1.76 1.95 3.4 3.84 7.67 12 15.72 25.00 32 33.25 55.4 56.95 59.75 87.00 88 98 100 106.00 153.60 235 252 930.00 1950.00

2,743,000 10,488,000 1,449,000 3,882,000 2,296,000 436,000 53,000 6,200 188,700 1,181,300 2,900 4,394,100 1,650,400 2,474,460 183,620 38,230 95,110 2,700 11,557,400 1,540 5,787,550 9,948,250 8,660 3,215,340 50 2,695

FINANCIAL 1,584,900.00 10,132,480.00 1,775,950.00 7,152,320.00 4,461,340.00 1,446,260.00 199,420.00 47,598.00 2,220,804.00 18,553,486.00 70,375.00 141,502,740.00 54,919,625.00 138,092,948.00 10,462,711.00 2,267,216.00 8,246,730.00 236,976.00 1,139,902,438.00 153,990.00 606,870,134.00 1,509,746,865.00 2,033,560.00 811,635,122.00 46,500.00 5,150,050.00

0.600 0.92 1.26 1.88 2.02 3.38 3.88 7.62 12 15.4 25.00 32.45 33.25 55.1 59.90 59.95 86.65 89.6 98.3 96.1 103.00 157.00 237.8 255 925.00 1924.00

6,000,000 9,850,000 318,000 8,573,000 4,594,000 344,543,000 4,000 2,100 28,500 16,000 52,600 4,634,800 1,497,700 4,076,700 948,100 63,790 199,050 2,210 12,745,120 840 8,790,960 10,448,910 127,030 2,279,920 1,700 74,580

3,657,880.00 8,966,930.00 399,790.00 16,795,970.00 9,224,290.00 2,972,700.00 15,540.00 15,978.00 337,210.00 248,266.00 1,315,000.00 153,706,845.00 49,624,360.00 221,313,167.50 54,105,582.00 3,812,845.50 17,267,708.50 198,260.00 1,255,768,123.50 80,650.00 917,802,934.00 1,598,025,135.00 30,190,096.00 575,085,224.00 1,585,050.00 143,566,490.00

Swift Foods, Inc. MG Holdings Basic Energy Corp.

Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Vulcan Ind’l.

TKC Steel Corp.

Alsons Cons.

Phinma Energy Euro-Med Lab Vitarich Corp.

SFA Semicon Crown Asia Roxas and Co. Ionics Inc Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Victorias Milling Mabuhay Vinyl LMG Chemicals Roxas Holdings Cemex Holdings RFM Corporation SPC Power Corp.

Da Vinci Capital Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Phil H2O Pryce Corp. `A’ Emperador Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Phinma Corporation Petron Corporation Holcim Philippines Inc. DNL Industries Inc. Del Monte EEI Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Agrinurture Inc. Shakeys Pizza Eagle Cement Century Food First Gen Corp.

Asiabest Group Megawide Maxs Group Integ. Micro-Electronics C. Azuc De Tarlac Macay Holdings Vivant Corp.

Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Manila Water Co. Inc. Aboitiz Power Corp.

Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Pilipinas Shell Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ First Holdings ‘A’ Concepcion Liberty Flour Bogo Medelin Universal Robina Chemphil Jollibee Foods Corp.

Mla. Elect. Co `A’ San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’

0.138 0.205 0.215 0.65 0.77 1.20 1.37 1.55 1.74 1.9 1.93 1.95 2.06 2.260 2.28 2.9 3.1 4.1 4.3 4.93 4.98 5.4 5.63 5.67 6.00 6.05 6.55 7.25 8.10 8.35 9.38 10.84 11.100 11.2 11.68 12.44 12.5 13.3 14.4 16.08 17 17.9 17.96 18.18 18.4 19.78 20.85 24.90 26.80 27.9 40.9 45 60.3 62.2 62.8 65 69.00 130 151 193 247.00 320.80 534

387,580,000 9,670,000 6,910,000 9,499,000 1,248,000 1,233,000 931,000 2,111,000 117,000 38,134,000 1,854,000 721,000 1,000 15,502,000 5,409,000 243,000 125,000 2,071,000 42,000 18,314,800 1,181,000 579,600 648,100 44,557,700 1,616,100 9,283,400 3,131,500 2,803,000 139,800 248,400 6,512,500 360,400 20,545,600 11,800 4,448,600 6,609,100 4,575,900 3,949,800 7,454,900 3,031,200 6,225,600 204,800 11,357,200 717,400 3,470,600 66,900 24,200 400 4,659,600 8,510,100 5,587,100 2,693,700 7,619,340 16,400 219,520 1,088,510 37,020 7,130 4,964,700 1,320 2,817,270 1,641,070 215,050

INDUSTRIAL 62,005,500.00 2,010,210.00 1,512,500.00 5,925,650.00 987,800.00 1,513,820.00 1,257,690.00 3,257,100.00 202,840.00 69,583,850.00 3,662,390.00 1,390,360.00 2,060.00 35,565,880.00 12,659,180.00 643,430.00 398,610.00 8,624,950.00 184,070.00 91,509,914.00 5,816,910.00 3,139,156.00 3,619,702.00 250,141,867.00 9,728,128.00 72,893,436.00 20,514,115.00 20,319,087.00 1,193,868.00 2,088,211.00 61,041,996.00 3,951,742.00 228,930,846.00 132,444.00 50,895,102.00 84,245,976.00 57,091,554.00 52,897,568.00 108,954,262.00 48,681,586.00 105,972,092.00 3,578,694.00 205,452,142.00 13,078,348.00 62,317,036.00 1,374,937.00 492,465.00 9,945.00 127,904,585.00 238,755,525.00 223,417,600.00 120,151,640.00 467,014,372.00 1,132,038.00 13,751,917.50 69,675,358.00 1,225,450.00 1,004,835.00 751,589,265.00 247,838.00 695,493,320.00 531,746,776.00 115,562,920.00

0.135 0.198 0.218 0.64 0.78 1.20 1.39 1.54 1.54 1.87 2.09 1.92 2.06 2.400 2.4 2.9 3.18 4.05 4.66 4.93 4.97 5.4 5.34 5.61 5.85 6.78 6.65 7.17 9.05 8.45 9.30 11.00 11.400 11.24 11.52 12.30 12.34 13.1 14.76 16.18 17.52 17.18 17.7 17.92 18.1 19.08 22.00 24.05 25.20 28.2 39.4 45 61 61.9 63 63.7 59.00 113.7 151 163 246.00 325.00 540

3,370,000 1,560,000 10,970,000 3,671,000 10,438,000 2,249,000 2,697,000 4,425,000 1,000 12,704,000 1,102,000 564,000 4,000 58,546,000 8,156,000 190,000 144,000 5,481,000 38,000 32,038,000 2,743,600 1,173,100 126,500 40,853,600 1,013,400 8,624,100 231,100 12,923,700 58,300 295,000 11,435,700 357,500 19,360,600 59,400 11,636,600 1,464,700 5,835,300 1,878,700 2,311,500 4,688,700 4,452,700 234,600 13,316,900 915,200 2,509,500 80,500 9,000 37,100 986,700 8,505,300 10,561,800 2,748,000 1,313,850 310 891,840 2,793,250 5,540 110 7,536,410 930 5,934,200 3,128,620 119,640

463,230.00 303,110.00 2,469,520.00 2,383,740.00 8,333,850.00 2,757,210.00 3,716,540.00 6,836,690.00 1,540.00 24,083,070.00 2,294,790.00 1,074,370.00 8,240.00 563,529,706.00 20,196,210.00 584,260.00 479,670.00 24,019,730.00 182,460.00 154,557,030.00 13,711,359.00 6,268,137.00 689,474.00 233,793,484.00 5,965,381.00 59,914,531.00 1,527,411.00 92,867,002.00 519,074.00 2,489,913.00 106,313,775.00 4,016,942.00 222,039,994.00 648,504.00 133,932,356.00 17,668,126.00 73,318,768.00 24,657,192.00 34,150,876.00 75,353,890.00 93,979,230.00 4,175,256.00 233,254,518.00 17,203,992.00 46,730,356.00 1,606,805.00 185,775.00 892,695.00 24,456,445.00 239,217,870.00 416,941,270.00 119,371,790.00 79,324,174.50 20,353.00 55,758,932.50 175,071,973.50 329,642.50 12,171.00 1,124,433,561.00 163,898.00 1,464,749,316.00 1,006,124,186.00 65,548,625.00

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings Filinvest Dev. Corp.

Forum Pacific GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings `A’ Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

Lopez Holdings Corp.

LT Group Mabuhay Holdings `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

MJCI Investments Inc. Pacifica `A’ Prime Media Hldg Prime Orion Republic Glass ‘A’ San Miguel Corp `A’ Seafront `A’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.305 72.70 15.94 1.02 7.04 0.425 0.460 1010 7.72 14.28 7.80 0.181 1268 7.76 73.80 6.1 5.4 0.71 5.6 19.2 0.340 6.73 3.33 0.0440 1.140 2.060 2.66 111.90 2.83 984.50 1.57 0.79 285.000 0.2200 0.1840 0.206

2,680,000 2,673,610 10,935,400 437,000 33,000 63,990,000 54,350,000 796,900 54,383,300 15,589,800 222,100 2,130,000 536,595 191,600 3,565,140 704,600 1,500 2,252,000 1,470,900 4,298,400 900,000 88,524,800 414,000 20,700,000 2,677,000 520,000 1,882,000 796,010 581,000 1,282,890 12,073,000 83,000 29,310 2,800,000 140,000 460,000

HOLDING FIRMS 811,400.00 186,119,468.00 174,960,546.00 423,270.00 231,576.00 27,038,300.00 24,157,350.00 803,831,637.50 411,547,431.00 220,860,620.00 1,731,255.00 389,380.00 687,897,960.00 1,415,519.00 257,477,594.50 4,541,412.00 8,086.00 1,549,820.00 8,349,796.00 80,746,472.00 289,250.00 592,962,563.00 1,421,520.00 930,500.00 3,237,930.00 1,066,690.00 7,277,790.00 88,006,205.00 1,681,780.00 1,248,893,530.00 19,257,410.00 64,910.00 8,240,228.00 620,460.00 25,680.00 89,900.00

0.315 67.50 15.96 0.98 7.02 0.390 0.400 1006 7.45 13.86 7.79 0.182 1271 7.39 72.85 5.2 5.5 0.7 5.88 18.24 0.330 6.53 3.53 0.0460 1.050 2.070

5,690,000 6,394,480 23,568,900 145,000 122,900 36,820,000 7,910,000 2,097,560 26,862,400 43,532,800 91,900 10,000 945,700 174,900 7,365,760 3,000 5,100 10,186,000 4,023,200 11,291,318 32,870,000 133,733,600 771,000 65,300,000 621,000 1,212,000

1,730,050.00 437,248,198.50 375,673,590.00 133,780.00 858,651.00 14,095,650.00 3,135,200.00 2,136,225,810.00 199,996,493.00 617,570,694.00 714,265.00 1,820.00 1,178,004,280.00 1,293,287.00 525,476,121.00 15,160.00 26,203.00 7,183,980.00 23,123,694.00 209,617,614.00 10,327,100.00 741,158,724.00 2,830,850.00 2,919,900.00 663,340.00 2,493,590.00

110.20 3 974.50 1.70 0.78 279.000 0.2400 0.1940 0.188

1,760,100 1,762,000 2,308,390 33,376,000 198,000 9,570 440,000 90,000 510,000

194,100,382.00 5,345,370.00 2,267,531,850.00 60,844,150.00 157,210.00 2,684,796.00 100,740.00 16,830.00 96,800.00

16,495,100 15,964,000 3,276,700 172,000 4,421,000 31,095,700 3,602,000 9,936,000 684,800 1,200 4,700 15,300,000 207,000 276,000 27,540,000 1,290,000 1,100,100 5,766,000 4,430,000 63,723,000 11,742,000 1,785,000 82,819,900 180,950,000 5,860,000 68,253,000 8,000 8,583,400 6,108,400

PROPERTY 104,470,615.00 15,957,520.00 73,406,650.00 389,740.00 3,865,280.00 1,341,147,430.00 13,875,010.00 46,070,870.00 3,884,390.00 7,200.00 28,737.00 7,384,450.00 231,150.00 324,820.00 5,793,840.00 584,600.00 42,432,240.00 3,755,960.00 668,800.00 119,670,810.00 16,632,160.00 1,340,510.00 426,209,336.00 62,423,200.00 2,132,900.00 41,780,570.00 278,595.00 48,450,706.00 130,625,755.00

5.760 1.04 13.00 2.270 0.890 42.400 3.98 4.71 5.48 6 6 0.490 1.15 1.210 0.212 0.465 38.6 0.650 0.137 1.84 1.43 0.73 5.19 0.345 0.3700 0.580 34.25 6.1 21.25

1,999,400 32,093,000 138,100 1,214,000 13,556,000 59,136,700 5,215,000 3,392,000 522,100 200 400 29,850,000 110,000 425,000 23,930,000 610,000 983,500 5,112,000 3,330,000 52,277,000 18,850,000 1,646,000 139,228,400 226,720,000 8,310,000 38,372,000 300 9,317,800 6,608,300

11,399,596.00 33,931,860.00 1,631,344.00 2,749,910.00 12,526,030.00 2,557,700,185.00 19,856,780.00 15,998,650.00 2,834,278.00 1,182.00 2,388.00 14,429,350.00 128,430.00 511,050.00 4,976,180.00 283,800.00 38,069,230.00 3,365,490.00 466,620.00 97,491,150.00 26,779,690.00 1,243,190.00 724,280,678.00 80,602,100.00 3,115,050.00 22,233,670.00 10,305.00 57,842,985.00 142,896,350.00

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Anchor Land Holdings Inc. Araneta Prop `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. `A’ CEB Landmasters Cebu Holdings Cebu Prop. `A’ Cebu Prop. `B’ Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Filinvest Land,Inc. Global-Estate Interport `A’ Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Estates Corp.

Phil. Realty `A’ Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’

6.380 1.00 13.98 2.300 0.890 43.250 3.79 4.69 5.79 6 6.19 0.475 1.14 1.160 0.215 0.450 39.8 0.640 0.150 1.90 1.42 0.77 5.11 0.345 0.3650 0.610 35.00 5.6 21.20

STOCKS

DECEMBER 18-22, 2017 Close Volume

DECEMBER 11-15, 2017 Close Volume Value

Value

Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

2.12 3.13 37.00 1.01 9.39 0.870 6.000

12,989,000 730,000 22,042,500 2,686,000 366,600 355,000 10,858,100

28,219,420.00 2,310,590.00 810,872,995.00 2,742,130.00 4,670,002.00 298,350.00 64,454,952.00

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 DFNN Inc. Discovery World Easy Call “Common” FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IPeople Inc. `A’ 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. Paxys Inc. Phil. Racing Club 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

20.05 34.65 1.45 0.470 0.041 11.52 5.29 10.86 0.0700 98.6 9.38 9.01 7.00 2.46 17.50 960 1854 5.76 18.26 14.90 4.40 105 2.60 12.92 8.34 0.144 1.4100 3.14 15.46 4.14 1.22 22.00 15.50 0.550 4.2 7.29 3.81 2.860 11.1 5.20 2.86 8.8 115.00 7.65 1470.00 0.355 1.290 49.70 93.95 5.65 3.17 1.640 2.85 4.05 1.000 8.140

815,800 132,800 1,136,000 7,540,000 81,100,000 41,900 4,632,000 18,022,800 56,780,000 4,055,970 2,000 5,203,900 269,900 2,765,000 4,608,200 80 194,910 995,200 51,500 147,100 38,962,000 2,576,010 616,000 543,600 1,699,800 35,970,000 14,488,000 2,847,000 174,700 9,617,000 1,189,000 7,517,700 6,000 164,000 17,091,000 13,371,900 6,447,000 43,744,000 2,310,800 501,900 8,951,000 10,500 63,020 3,673,900 547,770 8,100,000 8,475,000 2,984,180 832,610 349,400 6,142,000 42,768,000 119,421,000 4,998,000 22,055,000 21,142,800

SERVICES 16,486,071.00 4,620,675.00 1,642,180.00 3,582,900.00 3,408,800.00 510,020.00 24,781,560.00 197,437,474.00 3,979,750.00 394,720,494.00 18,760.00 46,567,809.00 1,885,040.00 7,537,010.00 95,392,684.00 76,800.00 351,294,415.00 5,695,199.00 927,642.00 2,532,419.00 175,543,060.00 271,470,998.00 1,631,250.00 7,160,318.00 14,166,313.00 5,102,760.00 20,089,860.00 9,539,830.00 2,620,636.00 39,299,520.00 1,424,780.00 166,101,795.00 93,110.00 88,040.00 71,782,760.00 100,370,728.00 24,672,550.00 119,967,610.00 25,649,880.00 2,675,111.00 32,715,090.00 93,972.00 7,396,669.00 28,582,227.00 712,642,710.00 2,685,150.00 10,916,160.00 180,923,771.50 77,580,682.00 2,009,896.00 19,694,440.00 70,416,630.00 472,989,200.00 20,497,330.00 21,531,940.00 171,507,615.00

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

United Paragon

0.0022 1.49 4.55 15.00 1.7300 1.8000 1.56 0.325 7.31 2.620 0.216 0.153 0.153 0.009 0.0100 1.75 6.22 1.59 0.4500 0.9200 0.0120 0.0130 5.68 7.89 0.0120 2.0100 36.80 0.0069

652,740,000 25,174,000 867,000 1,600 695,000 1,039,000 5,453,000 1,380,000 27,700 5,566,000 520,000 63,600,000 26,210,000 68,000,000 2,000,000 827,000 3,361,500 293,000 836,000 547,000 67,000,000 397,000,000 4,841,100 18,392,100 75,800,000 153,000 12,311,500 9,000,000

MINING & OIL 3,131,900.00 37,485,610.00 3,841,710.00 22,560.00 1,265,770.00 1,892,170.00 8,624,200.00 431,400.00 199,661.00 14,490,620.00 114,540.00 9,645,270.00 4,001,870.00 653,100.00 19,360.00 1,406,540.00 20,682,674.00 451,080.00 376,365.00 500,400.00 805,700.00 4,963,100.00 27,439,096.00 143,467,759.00 859,700.00 311,400.00 444,319,495.00 57,900.00

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Alco Preferred B Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ DD PREF First Gen F First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B House Preferred Leisure and Resort 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

34.45 108 537.5 522 106.5 113.9 115.5 523 5.67 1030 1035 102.2 1.04 1060 1140 1000 103 115 76 80 75.2 76.5 82.2 76.6 77.5 77.4 2.16

590,200 3,000 6,060 30 81,750 2,550 22,200 1,050 399,700 130 3,155 65,890 4,012,000 1,010 100 10,005 1,280 160 11,460 93,470 65,900 1,083,200 42,000 59,100 40,050 102,440 1,200,000

LR Warrant

2.490

WARRANTS & BONDS 3,039,000 7,786,820.00

PREFERRED 20,501,530.00 324,000.00 3,128,950.00 15,650.00 8,708,744.00 289,323.00 2,564,100.00 549,150.00 2,182,852.00 133,900.00 3,258,270.00 6,703,833.00 4,267,040.00 1,070,545.00 114,000.00 10,024,115.00 132,020.00 18,400.00 871,622.00 7,478,620.00 5,004,430.00 82,598,050.00 3,448,300.00 4,522,375.00 3,173,662.00 8,061,829.00 3,815,160.00

SME 4,412,150.00 32,220,398.00 1,101,580.00 151,751,647.00

2.24 3.2 36.00 1.04 8.9 0.880 5.990

43,943,000 1,609,000 61,430,100 4,679,000 98,200 333,000 15,235,400

112,918,300.00 5,144,460.00 2,250,792,480.00 4,795,020.00 910,314.00 287,220.00 87,555,755.00

19.2 34.55 1.44 0.480 0.043 11.2 4.8 11.00 0.0710 98 9.38 8.99 6.65 3.24 18.32 980 1763 5.72 18.18 1014.00 4.81 105 2.88 12.98 8.35 0.145 1.5000 3.22 14.8 4.42 1.19 22.15 16.50 0.520 4.42 7.35 3.88 2.700 11.08 4.82

1,248,300 519,500 2,084,000 4,680,000 132,500,000 27,900 35,627,200 74,060,600 72,870,000 1,332,550 12,900 5,504,100 103,300 10,576,000 4,964,300 10,230 403,135 1,793,000 23,400 100 63,745,700 6,102,570 4,635,000 2,500 1,713,400 221,510,000 52,717,000 389,000 93,600 25,401,000 1,752,000 13,188,000 19,200 282,000 31,499,600 43,747,200 1,593,000 23,567,000 18,200 37,000

24,980,831.00 18,077,855.00 3,128,840.00 2,213,800.00 5,636,700.00 310,116.00 181,034,467.00 798,821,886.00 5,299,310.00 133,152,797.00 118,982.00 48,722,898.00 697,135.00 38,320,540.00 55,304,140.00 10,149,200.00 692,478,750.00 10,316,609.00 423,592.00 1,014.00 319,147,098.00 636,993,015.00 15,640,470.00 31,610.00 14,324,005.00 34,352,570.00 89,409,630.00 1,216,280.00 1,405,498.00 115,521,940.00 2,094,480.00 294,771,205.00 310,074.00 148,020.00 168,316,869.00 321,863,398.00 6,144,090.00 64,516,620.00 201,284.00 179,875.00

8.36 123.00 8.02 1500.00 0.355 1.280 49.20 92.25 5.80 3.21 1.660 3.85 3.98 0.970 8.200

2,300 56,830 13,745,700 663,455 4,120,000 3,503,000 3,832,600 1,727,010 115,500 15,155,000 24,134,000 62,227,000 7,527,000 47,114,000 10,668,200

20,025.00 7,444,921.00 110,516,980.00 973,899,115.00 1,492,800.00 4,522,020.00 190,147,920.00 160,114,583.50 676,238.00 49,621,070.00 40,286,920.00 232,791,070.00 29,320,440.00 48,185,940.00 88,263,442.00

0.0022 1.54 4.43 15.00 1.7000 1.9500 1.6 0.310 7.23 2.640 0.241 0.157 0.164 0.010 0.0100 1.79 6.16 1.59 0.4350 0.8800 0.0120 0.0120 5.75 7.90 0.0120 2.1300 35.10 0.0065 28

1,346,000,000 18,439,000 2,159,000 7,300 189,000 260,000 16,495,000 3,390,000 39,000 7,169,000 110,000 39,550,000 16,890,000 34,600,000 18,000,000 308,000 6,485,400 1,004,000 90,000 747,000 24,300,000 261,500,000 3,524,300 21,317,700 606,000,000 82,000 23,576,900 22,000,000

2,971,000.00 28,963,700.00 9,689,120.00 104,448.00 313,390.00 451,960.00 26,344,080.00 1,052,050.00 286,602.00 18,922,340.00 24,890.00 6,253,880.00 2,680,620.00 338,290.00 179,900.00 538,950.00 40,885,571.00 1,514,340.00 39,850.00 682,340.00 309,800.00 3,148,000.00 20,565,411.00 175,242,629.00 6,849,600.00 172,140.00 1,371,364,285.00 143,600.00

35 108 540 521 106.5 109.8 115.5 523.5 5.442895

172,957,820.00 824,440.00 30,521,770.00 333,895.00 41,182,863.00 79,056.00 2,333,120.00 1,637,055.00 12,193,918.00

1030 101.9 1.1 1050 1142 1004 103.2 108.4 77 82.1 76 77.8 82.7 79.2 79.35 80.1

5,028,400 7,630 58,530 640 392,570 720 20,200 3,130 3,812,389 930 4,930 29,780 2,066,000 2,470 2,700 2,985 4,600 10,550 89,910 55,670 33,810 21,590 250,410 22,820 62,210 170,640

5,040,015.00 3,032,959.00 2,253,350.00 2,592,900.00 3,083,400.00 1,238,850.00 474,683.00 1,143,620.00 6,918,810.00 4,490,536.50 2,579,999.50 2,098,045.00 20,426,410.00 1,750,811.00 4,908,373.50 13,339,059.00

2.840

9,088,000

27,111,700.00

3 7.85 4.17 5.29

167,000 8,089,500 2,395,000 54,787,000

500,970.00 71,781,247.00 9,600,660.00 260,204,730.00

Makati Fin. Corp.

Italpinas Philab Holdings Xurpas

2.99 7.78 3.88 5.73

1,309,000 3,997,800 281,000 28,634,700

First Metro ETF

127.6

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 11,890 1,511,580.00

126.8

105,450

13,393,396.00

USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2 USD TECH B2

10.4 10.2 1

DOLLAR DENONIMATED SEC. 16,590 168,031.00 32,200 327,660.00 100,000 100,000.00

10 10.3

10,000 22,470

100,000.00 230,862.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS Abra Mining Oriental Pet. `B’ Swift Foods, Inc. MRC Allied Ind. Transpacific Broadcast Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

Megaworld Apollo Global Philodrill Corp. `A’ Phil. Realty `A’

VOLUME 652,740,000 397,000,000 387,580,000 180,950,000 119,421,000 88,524,800 82,819,900 81,100,000 75,800,000 68,253,000

STOCKS Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Ayala Land `B’ SM Investments Inc. Metrobank Security Bank SM Prime Holdings Ayala Corp `A’ Universal Robina PLDT Common Jollibee Foods Corp.

VALUE 1,509,746,865.00 1,341,147,430.00 1,248,893,530.00 1,139,902,438.00 811,635,122.00 810,872,995.00 803,831,637.50 751,589,265.00 712,642,710.00 695,493,320.00

ers were PAL Holdings Inc., which rose 7.88 percent to P5.20 percent, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., which gained 7.7 percent to P72.70 after the company reported that it would spend P50 billion in capital expenditures for 2018.

Weekly top price losers were H2O, which dropped 10.7 percent to P6.05 after Udenna bared plans to conduct a tender offer for the minority shareholders at P2.17 apiece, and Leisure & Resort World Corp., which dipped 6.3 percent to P4.14.

Wall Street stocks, meanwhile, dipped Friday as President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited tax cut into law ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Trump moved up a bill signing originally slated for January to fulfill a promise to deliver tax cuts by Christmas. US stocks had risen to repeat records earlier in the month in anticipation of the measure, but began to sag this week as the proposal cleared the final hurdles in Washington.

“It’s a case of ‘buy the rumor, sell the news,’” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Annuities.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1 percent to end the week at 24,754.06.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to close at 2,683.34, and the techrich Nasdaq Composite Index also shed 0.1 percent to 6,959.96. With AFP

DBP eyes 20% loan expansion next year STATE-owned Development Bank of the Philippines plans to bolster its lending programs to core markets in 2018 under a new organizational structure that will take effect in January next year.

DBP president and chief executive officer Cecilia Borromeo said under the reorganized structure, a new lending sector would be established to speed up the processing of loans to key clients and prospective borrowers especially in the branches.

“DBP will be adopting a new organizational structure that will enable us to significantly reduce credit processing time. We will also continue to innovate our processes, enhance our products and update our policies to make us more responsive to the needs of our stakeholders,” Borromeo said over the weekend.

She said DBP would establish lending centers in 22 provinces with over half located in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. The lending centers will be empowered to approve loans at a certain level so that processing time is reduced.

DBP is the eighth largest bank in the country with assets totaling P557.84-billion as of the end of third quarter of 2017, with its programs focused on four core areas, namely infrastructure and logistics, social services, environment and small and medium enterprises.

DBP In October was recognized as SME Bank of the Year by The Asian Banker Philippines Country Awards.

Borromeo said DBP would aim for “at least a 20 percent growth in its loan portfolio,” as the bank primed itself as the premier policy and infrastructure bank in the country.

DBP’s gross loan portfolio as of September 30, 2017 stood at P276.46 billion, up 36 from the P203.48 billion year-on-year.

Business/World

B3

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Tensions cast shadow over Holy Land X-mas

COMP Chairman Gerard Brimo (3rd from left) and MAC President and CEO Pierre Gratton (3rd from right), witnessed by Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines HE John Holmes (2nd from right) and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu (2ndfrom left). Also in photo are: COMP TSM Committee Chairman Eulalio Austin Jr. (leftmost); MAC VP Ben Chalmers (rightmost); (standing, from left) COMP Trustee Isidro Consunji; COMP Communications Chairman Atty. Michael Toledo; COMP Trustees Jose Leviste Jr., Isidro Alcantara Jr., Joaquin Lagonera, Martin Zamora, and Higo Toru.

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE MINING AND THE BAGUIO DECLARATION DECEMBER 19 will go down in history as a “watershed moment” for the mining industry, as this was the day that gave witness to the signing of two very important documents: one, between the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) and the Mining Association of Canada (MAC); and, the other, between the COMP and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu

A week after then-Davao Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte won the Presidency in the 2016 national elections, our Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and I met him in Davao where, among other things, he iterated his challenge to the mining industry to adhere to strict international standards, particularly that of Australia and Canada.

Thus, Philex Mining Corporation embarked on this crusade to search for what these other strict international standards were, as a response to President Duterte’s challenge.

Not that Philex was inadequate in this regard. On the contrary, Philex had already clearly established itself as a responsible mining company. It already had its Integrated Management System (IMS) certification, which incorporated both ISO 14001:2004 on environmental management system and OHSAS 18001:2007 for occupational health and safety management, way before the DENR requirement for ISO certification.

Its Silangan Mindanao mining project already got ISO 14001: 2004 certification even before it commenced actual mining operations.

Philex had also garnered numerous awards in corporate governance and leadership here and abroad, like the ASEAN Good Governance Award where it was #1 in the Philippines, including the Philippine Stock Exchange Bell Awards where it has consistently been part of the country’s Top 50 publicly-listed corporations (PLCs) – one of the few, if not the only, mining companies to have achieved such feat.

Despite all these, however, Philex wanted to seek out other strict standards to comply with, to leave no stone unturned (no pun intended) where excellence in mining was concerned.

Philex came across the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative of the Mining Association of Canada which the latter launched in 2004. It was mandatory for all MAC members to their respective Canadian operations, but many of them also applied it to their international projects.

But because TSM can only be adopted as a standard by a national mining association such as the COMP – as was the case in Finland, Argentina, and Botswana – Philex President and CEO Euls Austin Jr. proposed it to the then-COMP Board of Directors. The COMP Board approved it, and the move-

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu and COMP Chairman Gerard Brimo

ment towards its adoption started and snowballed.

On December 19, the COMP under its new Chairman, Nickel Asia Corporation President and CEO Jerry Brimo, signed the mutual cooperation and licensing agreement with the MAC as represented by its President and CEO Pierre Gratton who, together with MAC VP Ben Chalmers, flew all the way to Manila from Canada not just to sign the agreement but to also conduct a two-day training to select representatives from COMP member companies on the TSM. The signing was also witnessed by my good friend, the Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines, His Excellency John Holmes. In Canada, as I have seen for myself, mining, tourism and agriculture are not mutually exclusive. They thrive together. In fact, it was mining that developed Canada into a powerhouse economy.

If the Canadians and the Australians can do it, then so can we.

In the same breath last November, at the Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference in Baguio City, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu delivered a keynote speech that challenged the mining industry to be a greater contributor to national development, to “go beyond responsible mining”. In response, the COMP has issued this manifesto called the Baguio Declaration which is its commitment to responsible minerals development and, thus, national development in the country.

Thus, on the same day as the TSM agreement signing, representatives of COMP member companies came forward and signed the Baguio Declaration which consists of five main elements of responsible minerals development: that of being people-oriented; protecting and enhancing the environment; respecting the rights and welfare of indigenous peoples; contributing its fair share to the national economy; and of being efficient, competitive, compliant with international standards.

Make no mistake about it, though. Many COMP members, like Philex Mining, have already incorporated these key principles into their operations since way back.

In fact, just recently, both Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation and Oceana Gold (Philippines) Inc. won the 1st ASEAN Mineral Awards, once again proving that the Philippines is tops in mineral development.

What the Baguio Declaration does is formalize these key principles into a manifesto and institutionalize them in the Chamber.

With these two documents the COMP is well on the right track towards going beyond responsible mining and policing its ranks. Mining is a serious and scientific business, and should be treated with the level of seriousness and science that it deserves. Given the opportunity, it can still be a driver in economic development that contributes substantially towards nation-building under the Duterte administration.

On that very positive note, I greet one and all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

With COMP TSM Committee Chairman Eulalio Austin Jr., Philex Mining Corporation’s Vice-President for Legal and Data Protection Officer Atty. Joan De Venecia and COMP’s Jo Mendoza MAC President and CEO Pierre Gratton

With COMP TSM Committee Chairman and Philex Mining Corporation’s CEO Eulalio Austin Jr. and Canadian Ambassador John Holmes

B

ETLEHEM-Preparations were under way in Bethlehem on Sunday for Christmas, with tensions still simmering in the city and the region following Washington’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The controversial December 6 announcement by President Donald Trump unleashed demonstrations and clashes, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city Bethlehem, where Christians will mark the birth of Jesus in a midnight mass.

Bethlehem is normally flooded by tourists at this time of year, but has at times appeared almost empty of visitors as nearby clashes between Palestinian protesters

and the Israeli army keep people away.

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said “dozens” of groups had pulled out of planned visits after being scared off by the announcement and subsequent violence.

“Of course this created a tension around Jerusalem and this diverted attention from Christmas,” the Catholic church’s top official

in Jerusalem said of Trump’s announcement, but stressing that Christmas celebrations would go ahead as planned.

Perhaps as few as 50,000 Palestinian Christians make up just around two percent of the predominantly Muslim population of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel’s tourism ministry has said that Christmas preparations have not been affected and that it expects a 20 percent increase in the number of Christian pilgrims this year compared with 2016.

The ministry plans to operate a free shuttle service for the short distance between Jerusalem and Bethlehem for mass.

An Israeli police spokesman said that extra units will be deployed in Jerusalem and at the

crossings to Bethlehem to ease the travel and access for the “thousands of tourists and visitors”.

The annual scouts parade in Bethlehem will march through Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity, built over the spot where tradition says Mary gave birth to Jesus and where celebrations will culminate with midnight mass.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, in moves never recognized by the international community.

Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and interpreted Trump’s statement as rejecting their right to a capital in east Jerusalem, although the Americans deny this. AFP

Frenchman invents lemony oysters MARENNES, France-A French seafood farmer is proposing lemon-flavored oysters this holiday season, a delicacy he perfected after four years of trial-and-error experiments in his garage.

Joffrey Dubault, 29, also offers oysters flavored with shallots, another perennial accompaniment usually served finely chopped and floating in vinegar.

“It was pretty discouraging at first when I had to throw out 90 percent,” the lanky oyster farmer says, a baseball cap shielding his blue eyes. “Now I have a 95-percent success rate.”

The process, which Dubault has patented, involves plunging the oysters into a tank of sea water laced with lemon extract for between two and 12 hours.

The oysters naturally pump the water through sieve-like gills, becoming impregnated with the flavor.

The technique may seem simple but “there are 16 steps to the process, and if any one of them isn’t done correctly the result is failure,” says Dubault, who farms some 40 tonnes of the bivalves each year off Marennes, France’s oyster capital on the west coast.

Dubault, who says he got the idea from customers at his market stall constantly asking him to throw in a lemon along with their purchase, began marketing the pre-flavored oysters in October and has found buyers from Belgium to Hong Kong.

He won recognition for his invention at a seafood trade fair in Brussels last April when he said Chinese visitors congratulated him, saying they had been attempting a similar feat for seven years. AFP

REAL CARPIO SO

GREEN LIGHT

The rope “When we see elephants held by only a small rope tied to their front legs, we wonder why they don’t break away from what they are tied to…”

IT started about 200 years ago. The West has since become the center of the world’s economy, culture and politics. Scottish historian and Harvard professor Niall Campbell Ferguson attributes this to six reasons: competition, science, property rights, medicine, a consumer society and work ethic. British historian and Stanford professor Ian Morris, on the other hand, claims that western dominance can be partly attributed to geography. In the 1870’s, when coal was being burned and railroads were being built, an abundant supply of iron, technology and labor was instrumental to America’s economic ascendancy.

One historian quipped, according to a BBC report, that Western dominance might be seen as the “rise to dominance of the new capitalist economic system.” Although this system “unleashed tremendous

SCHOOL’S OUT. In this photograph taken on December 23, 2017, Afghan school children take part in a lesson at an open-air school at the Gambiri Refugee Camp in Laghman province. Millions of dollars have been spent on the education sector in Afghanistan, but there are countless schools across the country that are in the same predicament: schools that are either in tents or in the open air. AFP

Ad firms are using tools to read your mind NEW YORK―Why did you splurge on that new pair of shoes?

Or that pricey smartphone? More and more advertisers are trying to tap into the unconscious to divine the invisible forces that drive those spending decisions.

Using gadgets to track eye movements, computer maps of faces to capture a momentary grin (approval) or squinting (anger), and sensors to measure perspiration or monitor brain activity, companies are mining consumers’ raw emotions for information.

Traditionally, ad firms have measured the success of their campaigns through consumer surveys, but that technique has its limits.

“It’s not that people won’t tell you, they actually can’t tell you why they’re making the decision they’re making,” said Jessica Azoulay, vice president of the market intelligence practice at Isobar, a digital marketing agency.

The new techniques recognize that our purchase decisions are driven by both rational and emotional factors, and reflect research showing the brain takes in information on different levels.

They “enable us to capture many different types of emotions and to be able to profile the emotions that are happening very granularly on a second by second basis,” said Elissa Moses, chief

productive forces on the world, it was based on the global exploitation of the majority of the world’s people by a few.” Other historians claim that Western dominance since the 1800s is an accident, an aberration. Since the start of human civilization, Asia has been in the lead for most of the time, both economically and technologically.

Western dominance started during the Industrial Revolution. And the time is about to end.

In 2009, Kishore Mahbubani, now Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National Singapore University (NUS), made a prediction. According to him, after embracing the “pillars of Western Wisdom,” Asia shall overtake the West in the 21st century. In his book The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East, Mabubhani observed that there is “a seeming unwillingness of the West to share the power. “Morris strongly supports this prediction. In his book Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future, he echoed that “with nations such as China and India flexing their economic muscles, it seems inevitable that global dominance will move east by the end of this century.”

According to a 2016 article in The Economist, western management theories are organized around four basic ideas. These ideas are

repeated “ad nauseam in every business book or business conference.” Ironically, these ideas are dead, bearing almost no relation to reality.

One, competition. The most striking business trend today is not competition but consolidation.

Since 2008, there has been an average of 30,000 deals a year. A quick browse on the web reveals an increase in mergers and acquisitions in the technology industry.

Ironically, in an industry with the most startups, it is dominated by a handful of behemoths. Two, entrepreneurship. Truth is, more companies die than they are born. Based on figures, continued survival is probable only if the company is able to hurdle the first five years.

Three, business is getting faster.

While information gets around faster, the corresponding increase in bureaucracy and processes negates the momentum gained. And four, globalization. Despite being preached as irreversible, there is a reverse turn as countries like the US, Britain, and China are taking a more nationalist stance.

In most parts of Asia, business school curricula are designed or copied from textbooks written by Western authors. White lecturers and visiting professors are preferred over their Asian counterparts. Citations from US or European journals are given more credence. ISO accreditations are accepted as confirmations of quality. It is seldom

executive of the neuro and behavioral science business at Ipsos, a consultancy and market research firm.

“People won’t be able to tell you that something irritated them in scene three or thrilled them in scene seven, but we’ll know from looking at the facial coding,” Moses said.

The technologies can help track if brands are maintaining their edge over competitors, and make ads more effective by determining what to highlight, for example whether to emphasize the distress of allergy symptoms or the relief of treatment when pitching medications. AFP questioned if the Western-based curricula and examples fit the local context. No one asks why students have to be herded to attend the lethargic lectures. It is a resignation that research in Asia does not measure up to those done in the West.

By accepting western notions of academic standards, we tacitly admit that we have none. … and the elephant trainer explains, “Well, when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

[Note: Most of the information used in this article were culled from dominant Western sources.]

Real Carpio So lectures on strategy and human resource management at the Management and Organization Department of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University.

He is also an entrepreneur and a management consultant. He welcomes comments at realwalksonwater@gmail.com. Archives can be accessed at realwalksonwater. wordpress.com.

The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

21k migratory birds roost in Pampanga

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor lgu@manilastandard.net editor.lgustandard@gmail.com

B4

By Romeo Dizon

monday, december 25, 2017

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga— A total of 21,565 long-distance migrator y water birds have landed in the three sanctuaries in Pampanga, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Off ice reported Sunday.

The Asian Waterbirds Census conducted by PENRO Pampanga showed that 15,068 waterbirds composed of 22 species arrived in the two sanctuaries of Sasmuan, while 6,467 waterbirds with 37 species roosted in the 50-hectare Candaba swamp from August to December this year.

Engineer Rommel M. Santiago, chief of the Technical Service Division of PENRO Pampanga, said the annual census was conducted in cooperation with the local and barangay units, experts, birds’ enthusiasts and the Wild Birds Club of the Philippines.

During a media forum here, Santiago said the census was conducted with the use of technology that s effective even from a distance and uses high definition cameras.

“Migratory birds were sighted, identified, noted, captured using writing materials, high definition camera, binoculars, and spotting scope,” Santiago said.

LGUs LocaL government units

Mayor Zam Ampatuan joins Lt. Gen Carlito Galvez, Brig. Gen Cirilito Sobejana, and Brig. Gen. Ariel Dela Vega in the ceremonial fast-hold of the kampilan to symbolize peace and unity. Later, Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu joins Ampatuan in holding the kampilan as descendants of Rajah Silongan. Nash B. Maulana

2 new chapters for Du30 group STA. ROSA, Nueva Ecija— The Solid Duterte Supporters Group, which supports President Rodrigo Duterte’s reforms towards good governance, has boosted its growing membership in Luzon with two new chapters—the Cordillera Autonomous Region and the Nueva Ecija provincial chapter.

Its new chapter members were sworn in separate ceremonies in Baguio City and Santa Rosa town, Nueva Ecija, on Dec. 15 and 16, respectively.

Games and Amusement Board Commissioner Mar Masanguid, SDSG founder and chairman, and Secretary General Greg Conde jointly presided over the induction rites.

Masanguid said SDSG, also called the “D’ Original,” supports the President’s proposal for a shift to a federal government system, as well as his antiillegal drugs campaign.

The movement was among the first groups to support Duterte’s declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao.

He said the two new chapters boast of about 2,000 initial members combined, on top of SDSG’s present membership of 10,000 across the entire country.

The CAR chapter members, led by Douglas Rufino and Gilbert Mojica as regional chair and vice chairman respectively, were inducted at the Melvin Jones Grandstand in Burnham Park, Baguio City.

Also present at the rites were Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan, Vice Mayor Edison Bilog, and the entire city council. Rufino is CAR regional director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Ancient sword found

By Nash B. Maulana

A

“KAMPILAN” that was used to kill the fleet commander of the first Spanish expedition to Mindanao in 1596 has been presented to the leaders of Maguindanao province, by heirs of the family that kept the native sword.

The kampilan, which the heirs said was used to slay Capitan Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa in the historic Battle of Tampakan in Maguindanao 421 years ago, was received by Mayor Zamzamin Ampatuan of Rajah Buayan and Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu.

Ampatuan mentioned the recovery of the kampilan to this writer, after his previous article traced national hero Dr. Jose Rizal’s writing in defense of Moro natives from a Spanish historian’s bigotry in colonial views.

Rizal annotated “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas” (Events in the Philippine Islands), a history book written by Spanish chronicler Antonio Morga, who wrote that Figueroa’s killing in Maguindanao was a “treachery of the highest degree” on the part of the Moros under Rajah Silongan.

The national hero refuted this in his annotation of Morga’s book at the London Museum Library in 1892.

Curiously, Rizal, in his trial, was accused of three counts of subversion: 1) the writing and publication of “Noli Me Tan-

gere” (Touch Me Not); 2) the annotation of De Morga’s History of the Philippines, and 2) the writing El Filibusterismo, among others, as noted in the book The Trial and Execution of Dr. Jose Rizal.

Still sharp but apparently old, the kampilan made of hard black metal (similar but thicker than an old-model wood saw) only has small spots of rust stains—despite having been unsharpened for a long time.

“If this kampilan was used in that war more than 400 years ago in defense of Rajah Buayan (now part of Maguindanao), the same sword will now become a symbol of unity in our common quest for peace,” Ampatuan said, as he, Governor Mangudadatu, other local leaders and key military officials held the sword’s blade wrapped with various colors of inaul royal malong.

Ampatuan acknowledged that Rajah Silongan was the an-

cestor of the Mangudadatus.

Also present were Maguindanao Assemblyman Khadafe Mangudadatu of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; Mayor Freddie Mangudadatu of Mangudadatu town, and their cousin, Sultan Kudarat Rep. Suharto Mangudadatu.

The two families have famously severed ties following the Maguindanao Massacre on Nov. 23, 2009. But the Mangudadatus also spared other members of the rival clan, including Mayor Ampatuan, as those not involved in the gruesome killings.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, commanding general of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command; Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana of the Joint Task Force Sulu, and Brig. Gen. Ariel Dela Vega, commander of the 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao, attended the recent public presentation of the kampilan in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.

Ampatuan said he wrote the British Ambassador in Manila to seek his government’s assistance for an independent carbon-testing of the sword’s blade to determine its approximate age from hammering.

Its original handle and cover might have been replaced, but are obviously antiquated, too, the mayor noted.

He said the last recorded generational transfer of the kampilan was made to Datu Mustapha Maslamama of Taviran, alias, Datu Tapagay in the 1800s— before its current custodians got hold of the antique sword and brought it to him.

Silongan, an uncle of Philippine Muslim hero Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, had a brother named Datu Ubal— who the historian Morga said, in the presence of other natives, vowed to kill Figueroa upon his return to Mindanao from Brunei, where he was summoned to

135 farmers finish ‘Kabalikat’ training in Cagayan de Oro CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Participants in the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training Program Batch 154 recently finished their training in Barangay Balubal here.

About 135 participants graduated from the 12-week program run by Harbest Agribusiness Field Instructor Celes Alla.

The participants were farmers and 4Ps beneficiaries from the city’s barangays Balubal, Puerto, Bugo, Indahag, and Tablon. Their graduation ceremony was held at SM CDO Downtown Premier.

Guests who attended the Harvest Festival and graduation ceremonies were Virgilio Deriquito, Agriculturist II of the City Agriculture office; Dr. Hector San Juan, City Agriculture Office Head;

Participants of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training Program Batch 154 proudly show off their produce as they finished their training in Barangay Balubal, Cagayan de Oro City.

Teddy Sabuga-a, City So- of Social Welfare and Decial Welfare Department velopment Region 10 ofHead; Jeffrey Ojeda, PDO fice; II SLP of the Department Hazel Yap, SM Down-

town Premier Asst. Mall Manager; Rosita Rico, SM CDO Supermarket Store Manager; Ivy Guantero, PR

Manager; and Cristie Angeles, AVP for Outreach, SM Foundation. Sheryl Macale hosted the event.

Christmas for QC child lawbreakers

By Rio N. Araja THE Quezon City government has allowed relatives of children in conflict with the law—housed at its 41-yearold Molave Youth Home— to spend Christmas Day together in an open house Christmas party today.

At least 212 children in conflict with the law will spend Christmas Day with their families at the youth center under the Social Services Development Department’s Residential and

Rehabilitation Division.

“This is part of our program. If we celebrate Christmas outside, we also celebrate Christmas inside [the facility]. Last Dec. 14, the special education program held a Christmas party for the children. There were others, too,” Residential and Rehabilitation Division acting head Maris Casabuena said.

She said a lot of non-governmental organizations had already conducted outreach programs for the child offenders early this

month.

Today’s open house Christmas party at the activity area will see the children’s immediate family members, other relatives and friends.

The Molave Youth Home houses 12 and 200 boys, 70 percent of which have cases pending in court.

Since 1976, the city government has been compliant with Presidential Decree 603 in facilitating the care of children in conflict with the law.

a military meeting by GovernorGeneral Francisco de Sande.

Figueroa and many Spaniard members of his naval fleet and Christianized native militias were killed in the Battle of Tampakan in April 1596.

Spanish sources cited by Rizal revealed that the Tampakan conflict was triggered by a 1578 conspiracy between Sande and Figueroa on the abduction of a young Moro prince, a nephew of Sulu Sultan Batara Tenga, and son of Sultan Sarikula of Maguindanao, who was married to the sister of the Sulu sultan.

The abduction of the prince in 1578 formed part of the Spanish strategy in Figueroa’s missions to Brunei and Sulu, to force the Sultan to pay tribute to the Crown King of Spain; seek easy terms on pearl trading; free Christianized captives taken to Brunei; and to reduce Sulu naval presence in the Sulu Sea,” Morga wrote.

In BrIef Kin of navotas inmates get early christmas gifts CHRISTMAS arrived early for the families of the inmates of the Navotas City Jail, as Mayor John Rey Tiangco and the Manila Chinatown Lions’ Club gave them gifts.

Around 1,200 families received gift packs containing rice, canned goods, toiletries, clothes and slippers.

Tiangco thanked the Lions’ Club for sharing their blessings with the families of the Navotas inmates. He also encouraged the beneficiaries to remain grateful despite their difficult situation.

“I know you are observing Christmas with a tinge of sadness because someone in your family will not be with you during the celebrations.

But we hope that through the gifts we have given you, you will feel the warmth and joy that Christmas brings,” Tiangco said. Jun David

Homegrown brand opens san Pablo shop

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT. Chief Supt. Gilberto dela Cruz Cruz, Police Regional Office 8 Regional

Director, personally hands a new dress to a girl during the distribution of relief goods in Barangay Sto. Nino, Naval, Biliran in the aftermath of Typhoon ‘Urduja’ on Saturday. Roy Tomandao

SAN PABLO CITY, Laguna—ORYSPA, the homegrown maker of the finest all-natural Rice Bran products, has opened an outlet in SM City San Pablo here.

Laguna native Sherill Quintana, the founding president of Oryspa, graced the event with Marian Macatula and Rodelio Macatula, Brand Ambassadors, and SM City San Pablo’s Mall Manager Eve Verzola. Roy Tomandao

Life

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

food

monday, decemBeR 25, 2017

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Italian all-day

dining, drinking now in Manila ALL DAY DINING AND DRINKING. Newly opened Italian restaurant, Mamma Mia lets diners experience the Italian dining culture where they stay to dine and drink for a long time.

W

HEN you’re eating and drinking and basically having a great time, don’t you wish you can spend the whole day just like that?

Mamma Mia is the newest Italian restaurant in town that promises just that: a delicious dining experience with authentic Italian dishes, and loads of fun drinking moments from morning until the wee hours.

A typical practice in Italy, it is Mamma Mia’s mission to introduce this Italian dining culture to Filipinos whose idea of fun moments with loved ones, center primarily on having good food and drinks.

“Not your ordinary Italian-themed restaurant, Mamma Mia welcomes diners who stay as long as they want, while enjoying good food and drinks all day and all night.

“We want our clients not only to savor our well-loved Italian dishes, but also to experience the typical dining practice in Italy, in which eating and drinking can extend to very long hours,” enthuses Giulius Iapino, president of Rigatoni Corporation, the company behind Mamma Mia. “Since I was a kid, I have always been fond of such scenes in Italy, wherein patrons practically stay in a restaurant from morning until nighttime. For breakfast, they would sip their espresso for hours, then for lunch, they would have fresh pasta, and then come night-

time, they would have drinks while listening to some music. That is something I have not seen yet in the country; the Italian restaurants here offer either food or drinks only. We want to introduce that kind of Italian dining culture to the Filipinos; that kind of set up where you can stay, eat and drink for a long time and that is perfectly okay,” adds Iapino.

Fettuccine Con Funghi Porcini

Agnello Alla Scottadito

Mamma’s Roasted Chicken

Brie with Balsamic Honey Reduction Al Forno

‘Coz mother loves a party’

To get Filipinos acquainted with the Italian way of eating and drinking, Mamma Mia delivers the concept with motherly warmth and hospitality.

“Mamma Mia will take care of her clients just like a cool mom, holding a spatula on one hand and a bottle of wine on the other. She’s the mom who is the life of the party, while providing good food and good company.

Mamma Mia warmly welcomes diners, especially families, and those in big groups, who are out looking for great food to eat, share a few drinks, and generally, have a great time under a mother’s care and service.

When you enter our premises, it’s as if you have stepped inside an Italian home with a mother figure ready to welcome you in her house and serve you and your loved ones with her spe-

cialties and provide you good company and wholesome fun any time of the day. That is exactly the scene and feels we want to recreate in Mamma Mia, something I know Filipino diners would love, and can get used to, easily,” shares Iapino.

Mamma Mia embraces the all day and all night service concept by combining the restaurant and bar in a single venue seamlessly. And true to its word, Mamma Mia carries a wide range of menu items for lunch and dinner (pasta, pizza, anti-pasti, bar chow, fish and meat

dishes), complemented with a long list of Italian wines, liquors, Italian beers and special cocktails. And for that added enjoyment of patrons, Mamma Mia offers these dishes in family sizes that are perfect for sharing with friends and Turn to C2

Biggest star in champagne world in Cove Manila ONE of the world’s biggest stars now calls the Philippines its “home.”

True to its identity, this famed celebrity has rubbed elbows and even had countless tête-à-têtes with the world’s finest men and women. From the most celebrated multi-billionaires to the biggest and the brightest names in Hollywood, this global icon has had the distinct privilege of having dined and toasted with them all. What’s even more splendid was the fact that he earned their admiration with nothing but his exquisite taste and charm.

The newest star of Cove Manila— Okada’s sprawling indoor beach club

and nightclub touted to be the most exciting entertainment and nightlife destination in Southeast Asia—is none other than the Ace of Spade itself, the luxurious Armand de Brignac, touted as the world’s most expensive champagne.

In a league of its own “Armand de Brignac is known for its distinctive taste and iconic bottle, and has successfully gained a global following among celebrities and personalities with an affinity for luxury and glamour,” says Armand de Brignac CEO Sebastien Besson, who flew to Manila in November to grace the official uncorking with Cove Manila executives. “The

Champagne leaves an impression in the Southeast Asian nightlife scene by continuing to deliver its promise of superb craftsmanship and exceptional quality.”

Armand de Brignac, produced by 13th generation wine growers and whose colloquial nickname was inspired by its iconic logo, has been the champagne of choice for icons like football superstar David Beckham, American actor and producer George Clooney, and reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Now, the brand stands as the fitting choice of premium champagne at Cove Manila.

This became possible after Cove Manila was recently bestowed the privilege

Cove Manila Beach Club is a 9,000-square meter entertainment destination offering panoramic bayside view and luxurious amenities

Armand De Brignac CEO Sebastien Besson with VP for Entertainment at Cove Manila Maxwell Zetlin

to be the exclusive carrier of the big bottle of Armand de Brignac, particularly the Gold Brut cuvee, in the Philippines.

“We are very happy that the world’s finest champagne has now found its home in Southeast Asia through us at Cove Manila,” shares Maxwell Zetlin, VP for Entertainment at Cove Manila.

“As a globally acclaimed brand, we are more than pleased to finally have the opportunity to introduce the elegant and unforgettable taste of the prestige cuvee Armand de Brignac to discriminating champagne connoisseurs.”

In addition to the Gold Brut, there are four other cuvees in the Armand de Brignac collection that are distributed in various parts of the world: Rosé, DemiSec, Blanc de Blancs, and Blanc de Noirs.

Each champagne blend uses the traditional Champagne grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier), with the Blanc de Blancs consisting of 100 percent Chardonnay and the Blanc de Noirs comprised of 100 percent Pinot Noir.

“We like to take time to nurture our champagne,”” Besson shared in a recent interview. “We have a long- term generational objective in everything we do.

We want to innovate; we want to bring new things to the market. At the same time, we won’t compromise our ‘classic’ style and quality, so you can say, we take the time to do things right, always.”

Armand de Brignac has enjoyed a huge distinction among wine critics and connoisseurs worldwide, especially after its Brut Gold cuvee was hailed as the “no. 1 champagne in the world” following a blind tasting of 1,000 champagne brands. Its bottles debuted in Asia and the Philippines in January 2017 during the Miss Universe after-party at Cove Manila. Featured during the event was the incredibly rare and made-to-order 30-liter “Ace of Spades” Brut Gold Midas, one of the most expensive champagne varieties in the world that comes with a P7.5 million price tag.

Turn to C2

Life

C2

monday, december 25, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

When local goes global

T

hE names may sound a tad cheesy, bordering on tongue-in-cheek “hugot” even – Tamarind My Bell (tamarind), Pomelong & Lasting Love (pomelo), Save the Best for Siniguelast (siniguelas), Calamansi’z the Day (calamansi), Guyabano-Body But You (guyabano), Mangosteenie Minie Mo (mangosteen), and You’ve Dalandan It Again (dalandan).

But these indigenous fruit juices – fittingly branded “Locally” – made their debut in such a grand way, showcasing the best of homegrown goodness during the recently concluded 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Manila, with no less than the Philippines as chairman of the regional bloc.

“There was no more fitting venue to promote something that’s uniquely and locally Filipino than a gathering of friends and allies from different parts of the world,” said Gretchen King, group product manager-specialty F&B at NutriAsia.

“We are not just marketing a brand.

We are also putting Filipino culture and identity in the front row of the global stage and showcasing the fruits of Filipino hard work and innovation,” she added.

Asean Summit participants – including 21 heads of states (including our own President Rodrigo Duterte), members of their delegation, and the thousands-strong journalists from different parts of the globe who covered the event – were the first to taste the proudly Filipino flavors of Locally.

“We wanted their brief stay in our sunny country to be sweet and flavorful, with more than a little help from a quirky juice drink that is truly Filipino in every drop, and we would like to

believe that we were able to do that,” King said.

Aside from being environmentfriendly – all Locally blended juice drinks come in either eco-friendly bottles or recyclable cans – NutriAsia also supports local farmers with its belief that great-tasting indigenous flavors should be good not just for consumers but for the community, too.

“Locally stands for three things: responsible goodness, indigenous/local and Pinoy humor. We are helping Filipino farmers and communities by raising awareness and appreciation of our local fruits. Through Locally, more Filipinos are able to support our farmers and the farming community by patronizing local produce and products,” King said.

Tamarind is sourced from Cavite, Bulacan, Batangas, Zambales, Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija; dalandan from Batangas, Laguna, and Mindoro; mangosteen from Davao; calamansi from Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Tarlac; guyabano from Cebu and Misamis Occidental; sineguelas from Pangasinan; and pomelo from Davao and Quezon. Locally also offers the first eco-certified and purely organic coconut water in the country, Merci Buco, which also comes in buko pandan and buko lychee variants.

For NutriAsia’s Gretchen King, ‘Locally’ is not just a brand. ‘We are also putting Filipino culture and identity in the front row of the global stage.’

Locally blended juice drinks come in either eco-friendly bottles or recyclable cans.

“Our flavors are a far cry from your usual orange and mango-flavored juice drinks,” King said.

Locally may have encapsulated the spirit of irreverent Filipino humor with its quirky puns, but it means serious business when it comes to promoting world-class local fruit juices. And, in a

bid to promote traceability and to educate consumers about the product, both Locally cans and bottles feature a Philippine map on it to identify where the fruits were harvested from.

“There has been a resurgent advocacy for promoting homegrown brands and products. Loving local is definitely in

right now, and it’s a good thing because it enables us to support our own communities and promote Filipino pride, which is exactly what Locally is all about,” King said.

For feedback, send comments to joyce.panares@gmail.com

Make Christmas special with Baskin-Robbins MAKE the holidays sweeter with a delicious Christmas ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins, the world’s most loved ice cream brand.

Choose from a variety of cute Christmas cake designs: a freezing snowman, a delightful ice cream cake shaped like a hot cocoa mug, a pretty ice cream cake present or a design of your choice.

Available in different shapes and sizes, you can also customize your Christmas ice cream cake with your favorite ice cream flavor and add a personalized message. Celebrate a wonderful Christmas with BaskinRobbins ice cream cakes available in branches near you.

Every bite of Mang Inasal’s well-loved chicken inasal, lumpia, palabok, and halo-halo is sure to bring back fond memories of Filipino Christmas

Celebrate ‘Paskong Pilipino’ with Mang Inasal FILIPINOS are passionate about the Christmas season– it is the best time for gift-giving, merry-making, and dining in the company of loved ones. One thing that Pinoys look forward to in celebrating Paskong Pilipino is the noche buena and media noche where households get together to indulge over a grand feast of traditional and wellloved Filipino dishes.

For most families, it is a wonderful opportunity to bond in the kitchen, with each member contributing their favorite dishes to the noche buena and media noche spread. But not all households have the luxury of time to prepare the meals. So they resort to the next best thing: either to dine out or to buy cooked food. Luckily, Mang Inasal offers families a delightful menu of great-tasting local comfort food to make their holiday feast truly special.

Those who are rushing home from work on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve can

still provide a dinner for the family by visiting Mang Inasal and taking home servings of its juicy Chicken Inasal meal. They can also grab an additional Palabok Party Pan filled with its flavorful sauce combined with seasonings of shrimp, egg slices, chicharon bits, pork chunks, and spring onions.

Organizers of small gatherings with relatives or school buddies, especially those with balikbayans who have missed Filipino food, can hold them in any Mang Inasal store for the kaing Pinoy experience. The nuot sa ihaw sarap of the grilled chicken inasal, eaten with their choice condiments and unlimited rice, will surely bring back fond memories.

People who need to work through Christmas or New Year holidays can delight in Mang Inasal fiesta meals to celebrate with their officemates. Take a break and enjoy an order of Fiesta Inasal Meal that is packed with one-piece chicken inasal with rice, one-

piece lumpiang togue, and a hearty serving of delicious palabok to experience homecooked meal even while staying in the office.

Another Christmas tradition is watching movies in the local film festival that forms part of the itinerary of barkadas as they catch up with each other. Dissecting the film and sharing hugot moments are best done while enjoying Mang Inasal paborito meals and unlimited rice. Everyone can pick their choice of ulam from the tasty pork barbecue, sizzling pork or bangus sisig, and specially marinated chicken inasal – pecho or paa. They can even indulge in a Christmas merienda with the cool, creamy Pinoy Halo-Halo and sweet leche flan.

With its savory food offerings that capture the distinct Filipino taste, Mang Inasal gives families an authentic eating experience, making the Paskong Pilipino salu-salo more memorable.

Itallian...

may love coffee, but not necessarily into wines or beers, those who chill out with friends, and those who are bonding with family members while having some drinks, all in the name of fun and having a good time,” says Cyrus Cruz, Mamma Mia’s marketing head.

“As for our menu, we will be offering those well-loved Italian coffee, mouth-watering dishes and alcoholic drinks just enough to tickle your senses the whole day, but as the day ends, some items will be shortlisted to match the changing ambiance while the busy dining area slips into a more sober mode for chilling, talking and relaxing,” adds Cruz.

With the activation of a listening station, complete with a deejay, and a series of in-

house events, Mamma Mia hopes to be the coolest Italian restaurant, happening in BGC. “We’re very accessible in this part of BGC, where the Uptown Mall is located.

Mamma Mia is the only Italian restaurant in the area that has al fresco dining that segue into the dining room seamlessly, and vibrant interiors that combine traditional arches and tile mosaic with a touch of modern accents. We can accommodate around 70 people in the dining area and another 30 people at the tables just outside the restaurant. Even parking is not a problem here. The mall provides 24-hour parking while the Uptown Parade also has parking spaces available for diners.”

From C1

family members.

Chill, be cool and enjoy your time

With its first branch at the Uptown Mall in BGC, Mamma Mia opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 1 a.m., but operations will be extended as long as diners are still around.

“Just like the restaurants in Italy, Mamma Mia will transform its service as the day progresses, offering light to heavy meals and drinks to keep patrons to their tables. We would like to cater and get different kinds of people together; those who

Baskin-Robbins Christmas ice cream cake designs

biggest star...

From C1

Signature excellence in every bottle

Armand de Brignac is owned by business and media mogul Sean “Jay-Z” Carter. The Champagne’s distinction comes from a meticulous winemaking process, producing a range of signature blends with hints of baked pastry and vanilla, along with vibrant fruit character, soft texture, and balanced acidity.

Each bottle of Armand de Brignac goes through a rigorous crafting process. Just 18 people touch a bottle from pressing the fruit to the champagne’s departure from France, and the small, highly skilled team finishes each bottle by hand.

Like a sip of bubbly champagne, Cove Manila sets the mood for world-class celebrations by bringing life to the party.

Situated inside Okada Manila—the biggest integrated resort in the Philippines occupying 44 hectares of the booming Entertainment City in Parañaque—Cove Manila is a 9,000-square-meter entertainment destination with panoramic bayside views, luxurious amenities, and vibrant atmosphere. Enclosed in a 30-meter-tall, UV-protected glass dome, Cove Manila seamlessly incorporates the most advanced sound and lighting equipment such as Tony Andrews’ Funktion-One high resolution sound system and a unique six-ring kinetic chandelier which can produce up to 10,000 special effects and choreographed LED video mapping, allowing guests and partyphiles to enjoy a multi-sensory and immersive experience.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Former

Q&A (Interview by Eton Concepcion)

F

ORMER actress, print model, and producer Ina Alegre, Jennifer Cruz in real life, has been showing her mettle as an outstanding public servant in her capacity as Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Pola, Oriental Mindoro. Now a mother of four and wife to Eastern Visayas Police Regional Office director Police Chief Supt. Gilbert Cruz, the 42-year-old Ina maybe well be following in the footsteps of Congressman Vilma Santos.

Vice Mayor Ina’s life is a fine example of success story growing up with so little in life (she was born into a poor family) and overcame poverty when she became a celebrity.

Now, she is a politician.

Ina, still looking lovely, also had the opportunity to represent the country at the Mrs. Universe 2015 pageant in Minsk, Belarus and won the Mrs. Superstar title. She was also one of the finalists.

Her daughter, Patricia Angela, who has the makings of a future star and beauty queen, won at the 2015 Princess Universe pageant, held in Bulgaria.

Ina, who took her oath of office in Malacañang as secretary general of the Lady Local Legislators League (4L) of the Philippines in June 2017, has been awarded the Emma Cordero World Class Beauty Queen and Public Servant 2017 and the Japan Excellence World Class 2017 Award.

A former publisher of OffCam magazine and host of Thumbs Up, a magazine show on ANC, Ina wants to return to showbiz as a TV host.

How do you divide your time between being a mother, a wife and as a public servant?

From the very beginning, I always believe and rely in proper time management, especially, for the things I love and to the people that have a soft place in my heart. Being a public servant is indeed a tough job, that’s why I always see to it that I am available for my constituents all the time. However, being a mom is my

Mrs. Universe Philippines

INA ALEGRE as public servant

As Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Pola, Oriental Mindoro, Ina Alegre strives hard to achieve her goals for her constinuets most especially those who belong from the marginalized sector

top priority. I always see to it that I spend quality time with my kids, a day or two, even if it takes for me to travel from Mindoro to Manila and vice versa. I am thankful that my kids understand my responsibilities as public servant. They even join me and take part in my activities. I am very lucky to have a very generous and supportive husband. Since, he also loves to help

people, he fully understands my passion to make a difference in other people’s lives.

What do you consider your most important achievement so far as vice mayor of Pola?

Every program that we are doing in Pola is an achievement coming from the heart. Though we are on th legislative side, we’re able to build more homes in the community, covered courts in the barangays, provide assistance to senior citizens and those who are in need. To sum it up, being able to share my blessings, being able to care and love to people of Pol, 24/7, without expecting anything in return (doon po talaga tumitibok yung puso ko sa pagtulong).

Do you see yourself following in Congresswoman Vilma Santos’ footsteps?

Hon. Vilma Santos is really an icon; I idolize her since I was a kid. And now we’re taking the same path, which is serving people, it’s really good to look up to her as a model. But of course, I wanted to create my own name and own tag in this field. Yes, it is fulfilling to help and acknowledgement is just a bonus.

Can you tell us about the I.N.A. (Institusyong Nag-aangat sa Antas ng Pamumuhay Foundation INA Foundation)?

I consider INA as one of my biggest achievements.

It started as a dream for me, from someone who came from a not so well-of family, who strived hard to reach for her own dreams. I have always wanted to help the poor, to teach them to

Kapamilya fans score ‘ABS-CBN Christmas’Special tickets online ABS-CBN’s Just Love Christmas Special was attended once more by avid fans who enjoyed all-out performances of Kapamilya stars after they scored live show tickets with just a few clicks via the Kapamilya Tickets online portal or KTX. For the first time, tickets to the annual ABS-CBN Christmas Special was made available through KTX (Kapamilya Tickets), the ultimate online portal that gives Filipinos easy access to ABS-CBN shows and events, as well as a way to get tickets to Kidzania.

Among the thousands who witnessed the Christmas Special at the big dome because of KTX was Belinda Bautista, a first time viewer of the annual event. According to Belinda who learned about KTX through a TV commercial, the ticketing portal made it possible for her to watch the show live minus the hassle.

“It was faster to get a ticket for the Christmas Special because KTX made it convenient for me to get access to the show. We didn’t have to line up to score tickets,” she said.

Another Kapamilya fan that liked her KTX experience was Cecile Espenila, a Joshlia fan who hails from Laguna.

Instead of commuting all the way to Manila just to avail of the tickets, Cecile got to book slots for her and her fellow Joshlia fans through KTX, saving her time and money.

“The website is easy to use because of its simple instructions.

The people at the counter where we claimed our Christmas Special tickets were also smiling,” she explained.

Armed with posters and LED letter lights that were seen brightly from the stage, Belinda, Cecile, and their fellow fans had a fun

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Monday, December 25, 2017

ACROSS 1 Dutch airline 4 Tusked animal 8 Bank no.

12 Lady of the haus 13 Cathedral part 14 Of the Arctic 16 Jar tops 17 Spouse (2 wds.)

19 Turn into bone 21 Bow shape 22 Felt grateful 23 A — for news 25 Electrical units 27 Trekkers to Holy Places 31 Western movies 35 — day now 36 Cornered (2 wds.)

38 Come clean 39 Happy rumble 41 George of “Blume in Love” 43 Mr. Arnaz 44 Tunes from an opera 46 Fix up a house 48 Beatty or Rorem 49 Zone 51 Casino wheel 53 Mon. follower 55 Pointed arch 56 Mr. Ducommun 59 PD dispatch 61 Shelled, as corn

65 Travel bug?

68 Franc’s replacer 69 Misprint 70 — fixe 71 Sudden foray 72 Hideaways 73 Autocrat of yore 74 Seek damages DOWN 1 — Kringle 2 Highland youths 3 Woolgathering 4 Minds a kid (hyph.)

5 Unbar, in poetry 6 Nick and Nora’s dog 7 Of an earlier style 8 IRS time 9 Like Sajak and Vanna did 10 Crab appendage 11 Bedtime story 12 “Alice” waitress 15 P.O. service 18 Canyon reply 20 Town meetings 24 Grill remnant 26 Bad prefix 27 Hemingway and others 28 Accustom 29 Songlike 30 Less ignorant

Former modelactress and now public official Ina Alegre wants to follow in Vilma Santos' footsteps

32 Contest 33 Odometer button 34 Lose traction 37 Brutish one 40 Played the fink (2 wds.)

42 Merriment 45 —’wester 47 Salad-dressing cheese 50 Nurture 52 Conger catchers 54 Leave, slangily 56 Farm animal

57 Hog fat 58 About, in memos (2 wds.)

60 Leafs out 62 Oahu cookout 63 Canal of song 64 Pentagon grp.

66 RN stations 67 Octopus abode

experience as they cheered wildly for their favorite stars.

Winter Erguiza, ABSCBN OIC head of customer relationship management said that KTX gives the public a chance to make their dream of watching their favorite ABSCBN shows and idols live in a convenient manner.

“Solid Kapamilya fans always go the extra mile to show their love for ABS-CBN and its stars. It’s about time we make the Kapamilya experience of watching our live shows and events special and convenient for them,” he elaborated.

ABS-CBN, which is transitioning into a digital company, is the first among TV networks in the Philippines to launch its very own online ticketing portal.

Meanwhile, “Kapamilya Thank You” customer loyalty program members can enjoy a single sign-on Kapamilya Name to access the KTX website (ktx. abs-cbn.comktx.abs-cbn.com), which is accessible using any device anywhere.

strive harder for their future, inspire and educate the youth, to teach them how to fish, and not just by giving them the fish.

I established the foundation before I entered politics. Now on its 8th year, we already have 14 programs for the youth, senior citizens, women, and even for the Mangyan minority where we could see, it’s very productive and helpful in uplifting their lives.

How do you help your husband in the campaign against illegal drugs in Pola?

Now that I am the town’s Vice Mayor, together with the members of Sangguniang Bayan, we are working hand in hand to monitor illegal drug activities, and implement the law in the town. I’m proud to say that we have attained many drug free barangays in Pola and we’re aiming that the whole town will be drug free.

You have maintained your former looks and body, is a movie comeback possible even when you are busy with your life as a politician?

Thank you. Uhm, I’m always open to TV projects as soon as I can find time to them. As I’ve said earlier, my family and constituents are my priority but a movie comeback is always possible. Acting is still in my heart and if we can get the right role and movie… why not?

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

M

erry Christmas!

If you’re not entertaining friends and family with a Christmas lunch or dinner, you must be thinking of passing the day in a cinema and watching one of the eight movies (all in Tagalog) showing perhaps nationwide (except in Imax screens and 4Dx theaters nationwide) until Jan. 2 next year.

Like in Christmases past, I did spend time in a cinema watching a movie that I thought warranted my attention, if not interest.

Well, this year here’s how I plan to watch the movies (in sequence, based on my personal standards and I am not imposing upon you, dear readers, as I know you have your own personal reasons for preferring to watch a movie and ignoring the others.

First, I’ll find time to watch Ang Larawan, not because it’s the best movie in the lot (or perhaps it is), but as I had written in my column last Friday, it will complete my A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino experience. I also like to see how Joanna Ampil sing the part of Candida Marasigan as she is being flaunted as a shoo-in for the Best Actress trophy.

If I hadn’t seen this film during it’s premiere last Wednesday at a cinema in Trinoma, it would be the second movie I’d watch. Deadma Walking by freshman director Julius Alfonso is an engaging film about two male homosexuals, the best of friends (beshies as the millenials call them). No, this isn’t a comedy, but Alfonso and his screenwriter Eric Cabahug who based it on his Palanca-winning screenplay) managed to inject contemporary gay humor that let you crack out in laughter when you hear how two gay men talk in gay sub-dialect. What is more important is the film is not didactic, but it is more like mirroring a reality in the sub-culture of homosexuals. Fortunately, Alfonso and Cabahug avoid the call to romanticize the film, dodging the lure to be camp. You should watch how Edgar Allan Guzman owned the film, he should win the Best Actor award, if I may, and how he overshadowed Joross Gamboa who played the lead as the gay man who wanted to experience his own death.

After Deadma Walking, I’ll probably take a peek on All of You, the Dan Villegas romantic drama with English Only, Please (2014) stars Jennylyn Mercado and Derek Ramsay. The film seems to have varied reactions among those who had seen it in previews. But, I want to watch it to make sure that my observation of Villegas as a filmmaker is validated. While I liked English Only, Please up to a certain point in the film (until the narrative becomes higgledy-piggledy towards the end), he should have realized that films need strong climax and resolutions. And I should be able to see that in this film.

The fourth film that I won’t miss during the festival is Paul Soriano’s Siargao, about how three people found and lost themselves in an island now famous for the huge waves and has become the surfing capital of the country. Soriano won Best Director in the Film Academy of the Philippines’ 2012 awards for Thelma. Can Siargao validate this award for Soriano as a filmmaker? I want to find out for myself.

Now, after these four films, I needn’t have to join the exasperating lines at the box office for films like Ang Panday, Gandarrapido: The Revengers, Meant to Beh, and Haunted Forest. These are the films being predicted to fight it out as top grossers of the festival.

I had seen Panday during its press preview, well, it’s

From left: Joanna Ampil, Paulo Avelino and Rachel Alejandro lead the cast of the musical movie,"Ang Larawan" directed by Loy Arcenas

CHRISTMAS GUIDE to the movies ISAH V. RED

Jericho Rosales and Erich Gonzales on the set of “Siargao,” a romantic film by Paul Soriano

Derek Ramsay and Jennylyn Mercado in their second film outing “All of You,” directed by Dan Villegas

meant for kids, and perhaps to those who still wish FPJ were alive. And as for the rest, just read the titles and you’d know what kind of movies they are. *** Tonight, GMA Network premieres an inspiring story of a legendary doctor named Daniel Boo also known as Master Kim, who sacrificed fame and stature to serve his purpose in a province in the drama The Romantic Doctor.

Master Kim (Han S u Kyung) does not only lead, but also inspires people in giving importance t o

“Pantasya ng Bayan” Kim Domingo shows off her seductive and classy side in a recent photo shoot

Joross Gamboa and Edgar Allan Guzman as gay BFFs in Julius Alfonso's “Deadma Walking”

service above anything else.

He was once a famous surgeon in Seoul but he decided to follow his passion in Doldam Hospital in Gangwon Province. Here he encounters a vengeful intern named Marcus (Yoo Yeon Seok), whose father died in the hands of irresponsible doctors.

Master Kim will teach him the right ways to avenge his father’s death and the values of a real doctor. He will also meet a strong-headed Abby (Seo Hyun Jin), who is willing to do anything just to be acknowledged for her skills.

Follow their story as they face different challenges Monday to Thursday, after My Korean Jagiya. *** In time for the festive season, Asia’s Sexy Fantasy Kim Domingo charmed Kapuso fans overseas with the perfect mix of naughty and nice as she turned the heat up in the Kim and Queen in Dubai.

Kim’s recent Dubai trip was definitely one for the books as she successfully headlined her first international show. Kim was overwhelmed by the support of Pinoys who came in full force at the Boracay Bar Aseana Hotel despite the rainy weather.

Prior to her flight to Dubai, the Bubble Gang mainstay mentioned that she had been receiving a lot of messages from her Middle East fans telling her how excited they were to see her for the first time.

Kim, who looked really chic on the day of the event, was not afraid to goof around in public and shared the stage with comedian Kim Idol. The two Kims joined forces to entertain the crowd through song and music.

Following the fun-filled night with our Kapuso abroad, the GMA actress brought out her inner supermodel on the second day of “Breaking Barriers”, a two-day photography clinic with master lens man Raymund Isaac, which was held at the Burjuman Tower. Kim showed off three gorgeous outfits that emphasized her voluptuous figure and natural beauty.

“Very happy ako dahil sobrang daming Pinoy na nanood sa show namin,” said Kim who is back in Manila. “First time ko sa Dubai at ngayon naexperience ko na rin kung paano mag-show abroad with the help of GMA Pinoy TV. Thank you sa lahat ng mga Kapuso abroad at sana ma-meet ko ulit kayo soon,” she added. *** I watch Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin if I could (meaning I am in the house when it airs on ABS-CBN) and I heaved a sigh of relief when Carlos’ (Jake Cuenca) hand in the sabotage of Vega Pacifico (the airline company owned by the De La Vega empire) had been exosed.

Carlo’s fall from grace has been sealed and the revelation came after Carlos’ accomplice admitted to carrying out his order to contaminate the products of Vega Pacifico – a move meant to destroy the reputation of Carlos’ foster brother Gabriel (Gerald Anderson), who runs the company.

Apart from being humiliated by the scandal and being disowned by his own father, Carlos has to deal with his crumbling marriage with Isabel (Coleen Garcia), his gambling addiction, and his mounting debt.

BEAUTY PAGEANT 2017 YEAR-ENDER

Winwyn Marquez 2017 Top Newsmaker

By Eton Concepcion TERESITA Ssen Winwyn Marquez winning the Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 title and Karen Ibasco’s as Miss Earth 2017 topped the beauty pageant news this year.

Marquez and Ibasco’s twin kill on Nov. 4 and 5 saved the Philippines from getting shut out in international beauty competitions after losses in Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International pageants.

Marquez, the 25-year-old Kapuso star, daughter of Alma Moreno and Joey Marquez and niece of former Miss International Melanie Marquez, made history by being the first Filipina and Asian to compete and win in the LatinAmerican pageant held in Sta. Cruz, Bolivia.

Ibasco, a 26-year-old licensed physicist and UST instructor, bested 83 candidates to snag the Philippines’ fourth Miss Earth title.

Mutya ng Pilipinas Jannie Loudette Alipo-on also put the country in the winning column when she was proclaimed Miss Tourism International 2017 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, becoming the fourth Filipina to win the title.

As they say, you can’t win them all. Some Filipino beauty pageant candidates finished below expectations.

Miss Universe 2017 Philippine bet Rachel Peters failed be among the top 10 candidates where Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach was one of the judges.

TWIN WIN. Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 Teresita “Winwyn” Marquez (left) and Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco (right)

Laura Lehmann also failed to move beyond the Top 40 candidates in Miss World in Sanya, China.

Maria Angelica de Leon, the 24-year-old daughter of Christopher de Leon and Sandy Andolong, was a big failure at the Miss International pageant, and was later bashed by fellow Filipinos for her unsolicited remarks about the Duterte presidency.

Other Bb. Pilipinas titleholders did pretty okay. Nelda Ibe, a 24-year-old cadet pilot finished first runner-up at the Miss Globe 2017 beauty in Tirana, Albania.

Elizabeth Clenci, a 26-year-old Fil-Romanian musician, was named second runner-up in Miss Grand International 2017 in Phu Quoc, Vietnam.

Chanel Olive Thomas finished among the Top 10 at the Miss Supranational 2017 pageant held in Krynica Zdroj in Poland. The 26-year-old Fil-Australian model took home the Miss Friendship special award.

Other Mutya ng Pilipinas beauties finished as runners up: Hannah Khayle Ildefonso Iglesia was 2nd runnerup at the 2017 Asian International Super Model search; and Mary Eve Adeline Escoto, a 23-year-old physical therapist from Guimaras, was crowned Miss Asia Global 2017 in Kerala, India.

Filipino German Maureen Wroblewitz won Asia’s Next Top Model season 5 reality show. The 19-year-old, 5-foot-6 Wroblewitz became the first Filipina to win the popular modeling search.