Manila Standard - 2018 February 04 - Sunday

REDS' FINANCE MAN FALLS IN OZAMIZ CITY

By Francisco Tuyay VOL. XXXI • NO. 352 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

A FINANCE officer of the communist movement in Mindanao was arrested by police and soldiers Friday, bringing to three the number of rebel personalities in the communist hierarchy to be arrested following the collapse recently of the peace talks between the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and the government.

Leonida Guao, also known as “Ligaya and Leah”—alleged finance officer of Komisyon Mindanao (Kommid) of the Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee—was arrested by police and military intelligence operatives at Barangay Bading, Butuan City at about 2 p.m. Friday.

Authorities said Guao was arrested by virtue of warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 7 in Agusan del Sur for the crime of murder.

On Wednesday, Rafael Baylosis, one of the NDF’s consultants in the peace talks, and Guillermo Roque, said to be an NPA member, were arrested by police and military operatives at the corner of Katipunan Turn to A2

NOTHING ILLEGAL IN SANCTIONS ON STUDES—ROQUE RABBIT’S FOOT. A huge Pomeranian—breed of very small compact long-haired dogs of the spitz type—display, a Chinese Lucky charm, greets visitors at the Manila Hotel on Thursday. Made from paper and styrofoam, the display is a symbol of loyalty and honesty. Norman Cruz

REFUND MRT DEAL, CHINESE FIRM TOLD

By Joel E. Zurbano

S

ENATE President Aquilino Pimentel III on Saturday demanded a refund of the P3.8 billion spent by the government to acquire 48 light rail coaches of the Metro Rail TransitLine 3 System.

Pimentel also wanted the supplier and manufacturer—Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stocks Co.— to be blacklisted from all future contracts with the government.

“Canceling the contract and returning the coaches is not enough.

What we have here is a supplier who knowingly supplied equipment that is not suitable for the MRT. We can’t just let them get away with it with no penalties whatsoever,” said Pimentel in a statement posted on his Facebook

account.

Dalian supplied the light rail vehicles to the MRT-3 during the time of then Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya who served under the leadership of President Benigno Aquino III. Pimentel said the train coaches were delivered in 2016, but could not be used due to incompatibilities with the system, including being too heavy for the rails.

Last month, the Department of Transportation tapped a German

company to evaluate and make recommendations on the 48 light rail vehicles (LRVs).

DoTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said the DoTrMRT 3 team met with TUV Rheinland, the winning independent audit and assessment consultant for the new LRVs. “We will not in any way try to influence their independent assessment of the 48 cars from Dalian, and we would decide based on their recommendation. If they said the LRVs could be immediately deployed, we will consider,” Batan said.

He added “If they said the LRVs could be deployed with necessary adjustments, we will consider, of course, [but] not at our expense. And if they said the LRVs should be returned, then we would return them.”

Concerns were earlier raised on the compatibility with the MRT 3

system of the 48 LRVs procured by the Aquino administration for P3.8 billion.

Not a single LRV from Dalian was put into operation so far.

The Chinese LRVs, weighing 49,700 kilograms each, exceeded the weight prescribed in the terms of reference at 46,300 kg.

Compatibility with the MRT-3’s maintenance facilities and signaling system also became an issue.

Batan said that with the current fleet of Czech-made trains, MRT-3 could operate up to 20 three-car trains.

If the 48 LRVs were cleared to run, the number could be increased to 20 four-car trains.

“The original design capacity of MRT 3 at peak hours is 20 three-car trains, running at 60-kph, with a 3-minute headway,” Batan said.

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LOW CRIME COUNT SHOWS RODY'S WAR GAINS—PALACE

By Joel E. Zurbano

FULL ATTENTION. President Rodrigo Duterte takes time off from his Malacañang functions and shares quality time with his daughter Kitty in Davao City. Honeylet Avanceña twitter.com/ MlaStandard

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

THE 2017 “record-low” common crime victimization average in the latest survey pollster SWS demonstrates the success of the Duterte administration’s campaign against crime and illegal drugs, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Saturday.

A dip of 3.7 percent in June resulted in the plunge of the annual average of people victimized by common crimes to an estimated 1.4 million, according to the survey.

“These survey findings, which reflect the sentiment of the public, is a clear validation of the success of the Duterte administration’s anti-crime and anti-drug campaign where residents of Metro Manila feel safer in the streets because of fewer addicts in the neighbor-

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hoods. This survey is thus a big boost to the morale of our policemen,” Roque told a news briefing.

Roque mentioned that the previous record-low annual average, 6.8 percent, was registered in 2015.

Meanwhile, the public satisfaction and trust rating in the performance of policemen in Metro Manila increased in 2017, according to a survey conducted by the National Police Commission.

The result of the Napolcom survey, conducted on Oct. 30 and Nov. 2, 3, 6 and 10, 2017, also showed that residents of Metro Manila highly agreed that the National Capital Region Police Office under the leadership of its director Oscar Albayalde was respected and trusted.

The survey was answered by 570 randomly selected respondents aged 16 to Turn to A2

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to delist state university students who walk out of their classes to hold protests does not violate the freedoms of expression and assembly, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Saturday.

Speaking in Filipino, he told a news conference in Ilocos Norte that the freedoms were not being stifled but the walkout and the protest rallies because that would be wasting the taxes of the ordinary people which subsidize the students.

But Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao immediately brushed off Duterte’s remarks that he would give the slots of protesting University of the Philippines students to deserving lumads.

“How can they go to college when, at the start of their elementary schooling their schools established by private or religious groups are being bombed, [are] being militarized?” Casilao told a forum in Quezon City.

Casilao said before making promises to the lumads, Duterte should first be aware of the real situation of the indigenous peoples.

Duterte on Thursday said UP students might lose their slots to deserving lumads if they kept on joining protect rallies.

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METRO SUBWAY READY BY 2022, DOTR PLEDGES TRANSPORTATION Secretary Arturo Tugade said Saturday at least three stations of a subway to be built from Quezon City to Pasay City would operate “partially” in four years.

In an interview on private radio, Tugade said construction of the subway would begin before the end of 2018.

The three projected stations would be able to accommodate up to 120,000 passengers daily.

All 14 stations of the railway are expected to be completed by 2023.

The subway from Mindanao Avenue to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport will be constructed alongside the MRT 7 extension and common stations in the metro, Tugade said.

All projects are part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s massive infrastructure program, which aims to improve mobility in the country.

“This early I would have to admit there would be inconvennience but I hope the commuting public would understand. What do we want, inconvenience for three years or inconvenience for 30 years?” Tugade asked in Filipino.

Tugade’s announcement came as government took steps to address worsening traffic in Metro Manila and the deterioration of the MRT-3 on Edsa, a critical mass transport line.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

MAYON QUIET, LAVA FLOW SUBSIDES RESTIVE Mayon Volcano is still in danger of an imminent hazardous eruption despite showing a decrease in gas and lava emissions, state volcanologist Ed Laguerta said Saturday.

The country’s most active volcano was placed under alert level 4, the second highest in a five-level warning system, on Jan. 22 after it emitted a 10-kilometer ash column.

On Saturday, gas levels emitted

by Mayon fell to 1,583 tons per day from the estimated “3,000-plus two days ago,” said Laguerta of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in a press briefing in Albay.

The volcano, which has continued to spew lava and ash over nearly two weeks, had also deflated by 1 millimeter, he added.

“For the meantime, lava flow is continuous but nothing significant is happening,” said the volcanologist.

The quieting of volcanic activity is no assurance that Mayon will no longer erupt, Laguerta said.

“Even if the lava and gas stop flowing, we still need to look at it if it’s just blocked. If there’s pressure remaining underneath, it’s still dangerous,” he added.

The alert level will only be downgraded when there are “no additional extrusions” and when a continuous decline in emission levels for at least 7 days will be observed, Laguerta said.

Meanwhile, once Mayon is placed under alert level 2, residents evacuated from communities near the volcano will be ordered to decamp, said Cedric Daep, action officer at the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office.

Daep said the government is spending about P4 million a day to provide for thousands of evacuees in Albay who fled their homes after Mayon started to rumble in mid-January.

Authorities placed the number of evacuees at 79,282 as of Saturday, down from 84,000 earlier in the week.

The government has been preparing for a three-month-long Mayon emergency as it continued to spew ash and lava, causing at least P160 million in damage to farms and crops.

REFUND...

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“At the same time, MRT 3 was also designed to be expandable to 20 fourcar trains, running with a 2-minutes headway. That is our target,” he said.

Batan said though that regardless of what would happen to the Dalian LTVs, improvements on the system’s power supply and pocket tracks were ongoing and expected to be completed by April.

At present, the MRT 3 management was able to operate only eight to 10 trains daily following the series of technical glitches and other serious service interruptions.

The Transportation department has recorded at least 25 problems that confronted the MRT last month.

Recently, a southbound-train emitted smoke forcing it to stop between GMA-Kamuning and Araneta-Cubao stations.

Commuters group Train Riders Network cited a study by Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, which showed that MRT 3 appears to be five times more dangerous than the United States’ light rail.

TREN also reported that the MRT trains and railways were vulnerable to breakdown which causes injuries, delays and long lines due to inadequate preventive maintenance, absence of regular inspection, lack of spare parts replacement and readiness in times of accidents and risks.

The MRT 3 line serves 13 stations starting at North Avenue and ending at Taft Avenue, serving the cities that Epifanio de los Santos Avenue passes through: Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Pasay.

It caters to more than 400,000 passengers daily.

It started its operation in 1999 as the country’s second rapid transit line in Metro Manila.

It forms part of the rail transport infrastructure, including the Manila Light Rail Transit System composed of two lines which are the LRT 1 and MRT 2, and the Metro Commuter Line of the Philippine National Railways.

SINO GROUPS BLAMED FOR SHABU AVALANCHE

M

OST illegal drugs smuggled into the country are still coming from China, with Mexican drug cartels managing to bring their goods in, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Saturday.

FILIPINO CULTURE. The visibly conspicuous Filipino custom of Bayanihan—from the word bayan—or tagnawa in northern Philippines goes on wheels along busy Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. The custom translates into helping each other in the community, seen often in the moving of a nipa hut to another place with residents having bamboo poles on their shoulders to carry the hut—thus achieving communal unity and strong cooperation. Manny Palmero

PINOYS TOLD: NO THREAT ON PANATAG

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan FILIPINO fishermen may continue catching fish near Panatag Shoal as there are no apparent threat from China, the country’s territorial enemy, an international security expert said in a radio interview.

Saying that the Philippines’ relationship with China has improved tremendously, professor Rommel Banlaoi said he sees no threat from Chinese vessels of harassing Filipino fishermen who fish in the disputed Panatag shoal.

“Overall, walang intensyon on the part of the Chinese vessels to harass

LOW...

From A1 56 years old, including students, professionals, teachers, employees, street workers, drivers, vendors and members of religious sectors.

As compared to the previous year’s data, the recent survey results showed that the level of public safety in Metro Manila increased by 11.4 percent; public support and cooperation increased by 11.2 percent; lifestyle, moral and ethics rose by 8.2 percent, and the quality of public response is up by 7.4 percent.

The Napolcom stated the positive outlook of the respondents on the lifestyle, moral and ethics of police officers in Metro Manila affirmed that “they can be trusted to perform their duties with-

NOTHING...

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Save Our Schools Network, a child-focused non-government organization, had claimed 89 schools were attacked during the first year of the Duterte administration.

At a press conference after his second State of the Nation Address last year, Duterte said he would bomb schools operated by lumads, alleging these institutions were teaching rebellion to students.

Apart from supposedly being attacked by the military, Casilao said lumad schools could not operate because of the strict measures imposed by the Department of Education such as the requirement of at least 20 computer sets for each learning institution, which he said

Filipino fishermen there, at kung meron man ay nakakabahala ‘yan sa pagitan ng dalawang bansa dahil may understanding na ‘yung dalawa na they will respect each other’s activities in the area,” said BanIaoi in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB. He made the remarks following reports of decreasing number of Filipino fishermen in the disputed sea due to the recent tension between Beijing and Manila.

He said that the government needs to exert effort on “confidence building” measure and to inform local fishermen that it is safe to fish and catch fish in the area.

Proof that it was safe to fish in the

area, Banloi said recent air patrols

by Philippine troops over the area were not harassed by the Chinese.

“Kaya nga ipaliwanag natin sa mga fishermen natin na kung anuman yung kanilang ginagawa sa area na yun, kung sila ay nangingisda doon, ay dapat business as usual, walang dapat mangamba dahil ako bilang tumututok sa isyu na ‘to, wala akong nakikitang bantang nanggagaling sa China,” he said.

Manila and Beijing have resumed high-level defense talks after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, which President Rodrigo Duterte hosted last year, he said.

in the bounds of law.”

The Commission said on the level of public safety, respondents unanimously conveyed their perception that their community was safe from crimes.

It added the public “agreed that it is safe to walk the streets at night time, which on the whole attest to their feeling of safety when there are police visible in the area.”

On Crime Reporting by the Public, the respondents highly agreed that the police ensure the safety and protection of a person who reports a crime.

The people, however, believe that victims are commonly afraid to report any violation of law and the presence of criminal elements in their community.

On Public Support to the Police, the respondents affirmed their willingness to support the undertakings of the police, which they believe can provide a

was impossible in far-flung areas.

On Thursday, Duterte warned students from state-funded University of the Philippines that their enrollment slots would be given to “bright Lumads” if they continued to skip classes to protest against his administration’s policies.

The President issued the warning after UP students joined the National Day of Walkout and Protest for Democracy on Thursday, assailing the administration’s perceived assault on democratic institutions.

Roque, a long-time professor at the UP College of Law, noted that this was the first year that the government was subsidizing tuition of all students enrolled in state colleges and universities after Duterte signed the free tuition bill into law in 2017.

Previously, state tertiary schools offered subsidized tuition rates.

The Chinese are involved in largescale drug smuggling, PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon said in a radio interview, and continue to set up laboratories to make the illegal drug methamphetamine or shabu.

“That’s typical for Chinese drug trafficking organizations, large-scale smuggling and setting up shabu labs,” Carreon said.

Mexican cartels, led by the notorious Sinaloa group, meanwhile, bring drugs into the country through mail and parcels, he told radio station dzBB. PDEA agents arrested two men in Trece Martirez, Cavite who received two packages of suspected shabu from California, allegedly from the Sinaloa cartel, last Jan. 24, Carreon noted.

It’s one reason why the agency has asked the Philippine National Police to help its campaign against streellevel drug personalities, he said.

Carreon noted this is separate from PNP’s Oplan Tokhang, which targets mostly drug users.

In another development, PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. John Bulalacao said 821 drug personalities surrendered through Oplan Tokhang from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, as a total of 2,127 operations were conducted during the four-day period.

No deaths have been recorded so far since the police relaunched Oplan Tokhang last week, Bulalacao said.

The PNP leadership has released guidelines for policemen, dubbed as “tokhangers,” who have been chosen to conduct these operations.

They are required to be in proper uniform during Tokhang operations, which can only be done during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

good avenue to solve peace and order and public safety problems in the community.

Albayalde thanked residents of Metro Manila for giving their trust and confidence in the NCRPO. “The NCRPO will take this result as our guide and inspiration to continuously perform our duty at our best,” he said.

Albayalde announced recently that crime rates in Metro Manila went down in 2017.

The NCRPO’s accomplishments on arrests, he said, have exceeded that of the previous year (2016) with crimes against person decreasing by 13.87 percent from 8,841 to 7,305 and crime against properties by 20.58 percent from 13, 200 to 10,483.

Albayalde also said the Crime Clearance Efficiency increased by 4.27 percent

REDS'...

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Ave. and Aurora Boulevard in Metro Manila.

A day after the arrest of Baylosis, local police and troops from the 10th Infantry Battalion collared Rommel Dorango Salinas, said to be the secretary of the Communist Party of the Philippines in Ozamis City.

Guao was reportedly responsible in the synchronization and distribution of extortion money derived from revolutionary tax in Mindanao.

The suspect is currently under the custody at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headquarters undergoing tactical interrogation.

Guao’s arrest came after two months of extensive police and military surveillance that started November and December last

from 82.88 percent to 86.42 percent.

“The 8-Focused Crimes have also shown significant decrease comparing 2016 and 2017,” said Albayalde.

He said cases of murder went down by 23.38 percent from 1,976 to 1,514; homicide by 26.69 percent from 577 to 423 incidents, while physical injury decreased by 7.62 percent from 4,830 to 4,462, and rape cases down by 17.49 percent from 1,098 to 906 incidents.

The NCRPO also recorded 3,025 incidents of robbery in 2017, 16.04 percent lower than the 3,603 incidents in 2016 while crime against property decreased by 19.92 percent from 8,059 to 6,454 incidents.

Car theft cases also decreased by 48.90 percent from 317 to 162 incidents while incidents of stolen motorcycle went down by 31.04 percent from 1,221 to 842.

year.

More prominent personalities in the CPP-NPA would soon be arrested following the cancellation of the Joint Agreement on Safety Immunity Guarantees and the temporary bail for all those who participated in the peace talks, security officials said.

At least 17 high-profile CPP-NDF-NPA consultants have been accommodated by the government in the Jasig, a protection from possible arrest during the peace talks.

President Rodrigo Duterte has canceled the peace talks with the CPP-NPA due to series of violations committed by the communist movement at the height of the ongoing peace negotiations and branded them as “terrorists.”

Military and police intelligence operatives already launched countrywide hunt against NDF consultants, particularly Benito Tiamzon and wife Wilma who went into hiding after arriving from Norway prior to the termination of the peace talks.

News

PH DROPS 18 RUNGS IN ‘RULE OF LAW INDEX’

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By Vito Barcelo

HE Philippines dropped significantly in the recent World Justice 2017-2018 Project Rule of Law Index, falling 18 places to 88th out of 113 countries, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.

However, the Malacañang spokesperson said the drop in the world ranking on the adherence to the rule of law was a perception not based on reality.

The WJP Rule of Law Index measures rule of law adherence in 113 countries worldwide based on more than 110,000 household and 3,000 expert surveys.

It measures the countries’ rule of law performance across eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.

The Philippines saw the most significant drop in Constraints on Government Powers, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, and Criminal Justice. In contrast, Burkina Faso, Kazakhstan, and Sri Lanka showed the biggest improvements in overall rank, each of which improved by nine positions over their 2016 overall rule of law ranking, the WJP index showed.

“The Philippines places at 13 out of 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region and 17 out of 30 among lower-middle income countries,” the organization said.

However, Roque reiterated that the report is

merely based on views and observations and not on reality.

“I am not saying that our criminal justice system is perfect. It is really weak, the cases run slow, victims of human rights violations and crimes wait for a long time before they get justice,” he said in Filipino.

The ranking, however, “reinforces the fact” that the government needs to implement reforms on the criminal justice system, Roque said.

“We are hoping that this would be addressed because our President is a former fiscal and exhibits political will, maybe we can raise the quality of justice in the country,” he said.

“That is something that I think is a reflection of the need to have further reforms in our justice system. But that has been there not just during the administration of the Duterte administration,” the Palace official said.

HOUSE OKS CREATION OF NEW HOUSING DEPT

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives has passed a measure seeking to create a Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development to address the basic housing needs and requirements of Filipino families.

House Bill 6775, which was approved on second reading, proposed to consolidate the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte, principal author of the bill, said the measure’s approval on third and final reading will be a step towards providing decent and affordable housing to every Filipino family at the soonest possible time and in the least cumbersome manner as mandated under the 1987 Constitution.

Another author, Rep. Winston Castelo, also of Quezon City, said the country needs to develop a holistic approach to the housing sector.

“Decent, affordable housing— one of the people’s most basic of needs but unfortunately, rarely cheap and mostly unavailable,” Castelo said.

Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon said that at present, there is an estimated housing backlog of around three to four million housing units in the country.

“While we face a huge housing backlog, it is ironic that there are government housing units that remain unoccupied to this day,” he, also an author of HB6775, said.

The bill’s authors also include Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, chairman of the House committee on housing and urban development.

The bill mandates the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development to act as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement and urban development.

‘REPLACE TRUCKS WITH BARGES AS MOVERS’

BARGES and tugboats will soon replace trucks as movers of high-value imports as well as exports between Manila and Cavite, thus cutting significantly the line of trucks on Metro Manila’s roads every day, an opposition leader in the House of Representatives said on Saturday.

Citing a Department of Transportation report to Congress, House deputy minoroty leader and Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said the Cavite Gateway Terminal, which is set for completion this March, will enable the faster transfer of shipments and ease traffic congestion for all road users.

“On a daily basis, the line of container trucks on our roads is expected to recede by around two kilometers once the CGT is up and running,” Campos, an ex-officio member of the House transportation committee, said.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte, in his 2018 Budget Message to Congress, has cited the CGT. “My administration is proud to announce that our six-hectare Cavite Gateway Terminal Project in Tanza, Cavite is expected to be completed by the start of 2018. This will enable cargo transfer through barges and will dramatically reduce truck trips on city roads by 140,000 in a year,” the President said.

The country’s first roll-on roll-off (RORO) barge terminal is expected to expedite the off-the-road seabornetransport of containers between the Port of Manila and Cavite special ceconomic zone locators by way of the Manila Bay. “The project demonstrates that public-private cooperation can pave the way for sensible and practical solutions,” Campos said. Maricel V. Cruz

SOLON HITS PASSING OF ‘FAKE’ SECURITY OF TENURE BILL

SURRENDERED. Photo shows the firearms and ammunition that were surrendered by Mayor Anton Burahan of Pata, Sulu and his barangay heads to the Joint Task Force Sulu on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Standing are officials of the JTFS and of the island municipality of Pata. Joint Task Force Photo

COMELEC DOWN TO FOUR COMMISSIONERS

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Commission on Elections is reduced to a four-man collegial body in the absence of a permanent chairman and two commissioners following the retirement of acting chairman Christian Robert Lim and commissioner Arthur Lim on Friday.

“The women and men of the Comelec extend our sincerest thanks and wish them the greatest success in their future endeavors” said Comelec spokesman and Education and Information chief James Arthur Jimenez.

Commissioner Lim headed the poll body’s Office for Filipino Overseas Voting and the Project Management Office of two automated national and local elections in 2013 and 2016.

Jimenez said under the leadership of Commissioner Lim, and “owing to his dedication, the roll of overseas voters breached the 1 million mark in time for the 2016 National and Local Elections.”

Chairperson Lim, on the other hand, was named acting chairman first, following the retirement of then chairman Sixto Brillantes, and then again after the resignation of former chairman

Andres Bautista, according to Jimenez.

“Both Chairperson Lim and Commissioner Lim are highly respected and much admired, not just within the Comelec, but also by the broader Elections community. Their exemplary service to the nation will always stand as an inspiration to those who follow,” Jimenez said.

At present, the poll body has four active members—Sheriff Abas, Rowena Guanzon, Luie Tito Guia and Al Parreño, who was designated chairman in an acting capacity by the Commission en banc.

Abas was appointed Comelec chairman in November to replace Andres Bautista and reappointed on Jan. 16 after the Commission on Appointments failed to act on his nomination last year.

The CA must first approve his nomination before he can assume office as poll chief.

President Rodrigo Duterte needs to appoint new members to complete the 7-man election body.

The Comelec is optimistic that a permanent chairman and new poll commissioners will be appointed before the start of the campaign period for

barangay and youth council elections this year, or 2019 mid-term polls.

“The concern with an incomplete complement of commissioners is that there will be a lot of pressure on the remaining to always constitute a quorum,” said Jimenez.

“The work of the Comelec is not just confined in Intramuros. So to get a quorum, it might pose some problem at work. As a general, the most ideal situation would be for vacancies to be filled up as soon as possible earlier rather than later,” he added.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian called on President Duterte to immediately appoint new members of the Comelec to ensure undisrupted preparations for the upcoming elections.

“The Commission can’t afford to lose precious time as we are nearing the Baranggay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in May and the midterm national polls next year. It is only through a complete and functioning election body that the rigorous demands of its preparations can be eased,” said Gatchalian. “I believe the speedy appointment of new commissioners is critically needed here.”

Makilala town Mayor Rudy Caoagdan was represented by Lito Canedo who lauded DAR for the milestone it achieved at the start of 2018.

Canedo said agriculture is among the priorities of the municipal government of Makilala and land ownership is among the factors that will help farmers develop the agriculture sector in the area.

Bello, on the other hand, underscored the mandate of President Rodrigo Duterte to help the farmers in the country emancipate themselves from poverty.

Bello also paid tribute to the efforts of DAR officials and employees in North Cotabato for the processing and the actual distribution of CLOAs to the beneficiaries.

“Serving the farmers justice by installing them to the lands they till is a process of eliminating the feudal system of land ownership in the country,” said Villareal.

A MEMBER of the Makabayan Bloc on Saturday condemned the passing of the supposed Security of Tenure bill even as he warned that the measure will lead to systematic and mass terminaton of current regular employees.

“The little concessions the House SOT bill gives to labor will be dwarfed by the legitimization and expected proliferation of job contractors and job contracting schemes and the deletion of performing desirable or necessary jobs in the definition of regular employment,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said.

Zarate was referring to House Bill 6908 which seeks to strengthen the security of tenure of employees in the private sector by prohibiting labor-only contracting and “endo” (end of contract).

The bill was passed by a 197-7 vote.

The bill seeks to amend several provisions of President Decree 442, as amended, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, to fulfill its objectives.

It also seeks to amend Article 106 of PD 44 titled “Contractor” so that whenever an employer enters into a contract with a person for the performance of the former’s work, the employees of the contractor shall be paid in accordance with the Labor Code and other laws.

Zarate said instead of eradicating, the bill legitimizes, encourages and further opens the floodgates for all forms of job contracting schemes even on desirable or necessary jobs being performed by regular employees.

“Capitalists can now contract out bigger parts of their production or services from job contractors, terminate and replace their current regular employees performing desirable or necessary jobs with more cheap labor, be they “permanent or seasonal” supplied by job contractors,” Zarate said. Maricel V. Cruz

NBI FILES CASE VS ERRING DOJ EMPLOYEES

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

DAR HANDS OUT LAND CERTIFICATES TO 545 FARMERS IN N. COTABATO MAKILALA, North Cotabato—The Department of Agrarian Reform remains steadfast in carrying on its thrusts and programs as it continues to install farmers to farmlands they till for years.

A total of 545 farmers from seven municipalities in the province of North Cotabato received their respective certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) in a distribution ceremony held at the Municipal Hall here on Friday, Feb. 2.

Last Friday’s event was part of the series of CLOA distribution facilitated by DAR nationwide since the start of 2018 under the leadership of Secretary John R. Castriciones.

The distribution was led by Undersecretary Karlo S. Bello of Field Operations Office, Director Leomides R. Villareal of Public Assistance and Media Relations Service of DAR Central Office, DAR Region 12 Director Nasser M. Musali and OIC-PARPO Cenon Original.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

MANILA VENDOR. A vendor selling car and mobile phone accessories displays his merchandise for passing motorists along Finance Road in Manila. Lino Santos

THE National Bureau of Investigation has filed complaints against three employees of the Department of Justice who have been sacked for alleged anomalous processing of visas at the Bureau of Immigration, an official from the agency confirmed.

In a text message sent to reporters, Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said employees Cyruz Morata, Abvic Ryan Maghirang and Shigred Erigbuagas are facing a case of violation of Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code.

“I have been told that the NBI has filed a case before the DoJ for the terminated DoJ employees for falsification,” he said.

This week, DoJ chief Vitaliano Aguirre II released an order firing the three employees after they allegedly confessed to their participation in the illegal processing of visas at the BI. The agency said that Morata was a job order employee while Maghirang was an executive assistant and Erigbuagas was an administrative aide.

All three have also been placed under the immigration lookout order.

A4

Opinion

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

DRASTIC MEASURES

38 MINUTES

I

N FEBRUARY 1918—100 years ago this week— women in Britain finally won the right to vote through the passage of the Representation of the People Bill. This was not the first in the world. New Zealand was first in 1893, followed by Australia in 1902, Finland in 1906 and Norway in 1913.

It did not come easily. The milestone in Britain was preceded by sustained militant action by a group of women known as the suffragettes, who resorted to violent and drastic measures to prove their point. The suffragettes “chained themselves to railings, broke shop windows, blew up mailboxes, cut electricity lines, disrupted meetings and even bombed the house of a government minister,” according to Agence France Presse. One woman threw herself under the king’s horse.

When they were thrown into jail, they protested some more by refusing to eat.

The wisdom of the suffragettes’ actions are still debated. Many say the drastic measures only showed that women were emotional and irresponsible, and therefore not fit to vote. Some, however, believe the manner was essential in moving the cause forward, since it was preceded by a 50-year peaceful campaign “that really hadn’t done anything,” said Krista Cowman, a history professor.

We take women’s voting rights for granted now—our own women only won this right in 1936, after numerous legislative attempts—but there was a time when it did not exist.

IMAGINE spending 38 minutes believing the end is near.

Shortly after 8 in the morning on Saturday, January 13, people in Hawaii got a message on their phones that read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” There should have been accompanying sirens, but with such a text message, and given the knowledge that North Korea was in fact developing missiles and threatening the world with them, nobody thought to stop and wonder why the sirens were not sounding.

In his speech upon signing the law, the late President Manuel Quezon said this was “…their [women’s] opportunity to wield a very important weapon to defend their right to secure for themselves and those to follow them their well-being and happiness.”

The prudence of resorting to desperate measures to achieve a cause is always debatable. We have seen how extreme solutions brought about change indeed, but at some great price. Often, the drastic acts come after numerous attempts at peaceful solutions.

These days we try to be calm as we watch our government leaders do their jobs. Sometimes ordinary people make their opinion heard on social media, some take to traditional forms to convey their concern. We observe them abandoning reason and embracing brazenness—House members insisting they can change the constitution all by themselves, for instance, or cops implementing a war on drugs at all costs.

And we wonder whether how drastically, or dramatically, we should express ourselves so they would stop and truly listen instead of dismissing us as noisy critics.

A missile is headed this way. Or not.

The Internet is rife with stories about how residents and tourists reacted to the announcement. A couple on vacation, for instance, just started crying when they heard the emergency warning. There seemed to be no other option. “What could we do? There was nothing we can do with a missile,” Michael Sterling, a law firm employee in Los Angeles, told Reuters.

A 39-year-old father gathered his young children, grabbed some food and headed for a room with a rock wall.

The Hawaii state representative and his family crammed themselves into a bathtub, uttering prayers.

Frantic text messages were sent, telling families, friends, partners to seek shelter, to take care, and that they were loved.

On the road, people caught in traffic got out of their cars, running and looking at the sky. Some checked their devices looking for guidance on what to do in such a situation.

One father thought of driving to all the separate locations where his family members were, hoping to reach them in time, eventually deciding to go home to “the two little ones... I figured it was the largest grouping of my family.”

Thirty-eight minutes later, another message came through—it was a false alarm. *** An investigation found that the confusion was caused by an employee at Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency. Employee 1—as the worker is named in the reports— pushed the wrong button during a change in shifts. It appeared the worker believed the threat was real.

The midnight shift supervisor did say “EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE,” which was proper, but also said “THIS IS NOT A DRILL” which was not in the script.

Other personnel did understand it was a drill, but not Employee 1 who was stationed at the alert originaTurn to A5

PENIS WHITENING FAD WORRIES SURGEONS

By Mariëtte Le Roux PLASTIC surgeons raised red flags this week about a penis whitening fad in skin color-fixated Thailand, dismissing the procedure as a phallic “fashion” with uncertain benefits and many risks.

Requiring the use of lasers, acid, or chemicals, the latest craze in genital beautification can leave men with burns, scars, taut skin, or the exact opposite of what they were after in the first place—a darker penis or a

spotted one, the experts warned.

“I think it should not be done in a patient that doesn’t need it,” Milanese plastic surgeon Massimiliano Brambilla, who specializes in genital procedures, told AFP. “Most of the substances that are used to whiten... are quite aggressive. Whitening is one of those things that I am very careful of.”

Earlier this month, a Bangkok clinic said 100 men a month were making use of its penis whitening service just six months after it started offer-

ing the procedure. The clinic charged about $650 (520 euros) for five laser sessions.

According to global statistics produced by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Thailand ranked 21st in terms of the number of cosmetic procedures performed in 2016. The data also showed a massive rise in genital beautification procedures globally.

Labiaplasty, which involves trimming the inner vaginal “lips” or labia minoria, was by far the fastest-grow-

ing surgery sector in 2016, with a 45-percent rise from 2015, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

‘Pornographization’ Genital whitening was not listed among the data, but industry experts say demand is growing.

“I think it’s linked to the pornographization of society,” said plastic surgeon Fabien Boucher from Lyon, France, another practitioner of “intimate” procedures.

“What people see is... a genital aes-

thetic that in my view is not realistic,” he explained, with sex organs shaved and otherwise manipulated to represent those of very young people— hairless, smooth, and pink.

It is normal for the privates to be more darkly colored than the rest of the skin, said Boucher.

“I do sex-change surgeries, constructing penises for female-to-male transformations, and these patients want exactly the opposite” of genital whitening—many opting for color-in Turn to A5

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Opinion 38...

From A4 tion terminal. According to the report, this worker had a reputation for ineptitude, and did not appear willing to correct his mistake. “Employee 1 was sitting and seemed confused. Employee 3 took control of Employee 1’s mouse and sent the cancel message. At no point did Employee 1 assist in the process of correcting the False Alert,” the report said.

EMA’s administrator, Vern Miyagi, has quit. Another worker has resigned, and a fourth has been suspended without pay. *** Some residents reported feeling angry after the correction was announced, because it was announced too long after the mistake was committed, or because there was even a mistake in the first place.

We can imagine the horrors that went through people’s minds during those 38 harrowing minutes. What would we have done, when faced with the possibility that a missile would strike, and we could be gone in minutes?

Perhaps it’s a good whack-on-thehead exercise once in a while, to put us back in our place especially when we feel invincible and arrogant and self-important.

Perhaps then we would take a moment to stop and ask ourselves what we truly value, and what we are only distracted with.

We would also be reminded that in the end, everything passes, and even the things we think are monumental—overhearing an unkind remark, for instance, or missing a meeting because of heavy traffic, or being served the wrong dish at a restaurant, or even not getting enough likes for a social media post—are insignificant and do not really define us.

When we hear the announcement that the scare was only just that, a false alarm, and we can proceed with life as we know it, then we can begin to focus on the things that do matter, and that do define us. And, much later, when the equivalent of a legitimate missile alert does come, we will no longer fret we have not done enough, have left things unsaid, or that we have mess to sort out, or loose ends to tie. We can just sit back and embrace the horror—no, the peace—that is bound to come.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PRESERVED IN TIME: WWII BUNKER HIDDEN UNDER PARIS TRAIN STATION

By Jean Liou IT LIES hidden deep beneath Paris’ bustling Gare de l’Est railway station, its sprawling subterranean rooms and sparse furniture pristinely preserved if a little dusty.

Originally built a few years before World War II for luggage storage, the underground bunker was repurposed after war broke out.

French railway historian Clive Lamming said its 1939 overhaul was to provide “a place to retreat in case of an air attack” so staff could keep the trains running east towards Germany.

Leading this AFP reporter through a concrete air lock and heavy door to the shelter, he said: “The concern was gas.”

“We remembered World War I—a perfectly airtight place was

needed,” he added.

With its three-meter (10-foot) thick concrete ceiling, it was designed for about 70 people to be able to take refuge in the small rooms of the 120-square-meter (1,300-square-foot) shelter.

But, in the end, the bunker never really saw any action—Paris was largely spared from air attacks during WWII, and there was little danger of poison gas.

After France’s defeat in 1940 and Nazi occupation, the bunker was requisitioned by the Germans and traces of their presence remain, including a sign that reads “Notausgang” (emergency exit).

“In my opinion, it hasn’t been finished,” said Lamming, as a highspeed TGV train loudly rumbled overhead.

‘Sleeping Beauty’ Today, few of the thousands of

travelers passing through the busy central Paris station will likely have any inkling of the time capsule under their feet.

Just a discreet trapdoor on the platform opens up to reveal a staircase leading down to the bunker, which is not publicly accessible except on certain occasions.

“For 80 years, it has been ‘Sleeping Beauty,’” Lamming said.

“Everything is in mint condition from 1939.”

Entering the machine room is like stepping back into the 1930s, with the old contraptions, dials, copper piping and Bakelite handles only in need of a good polish.

The room also has two bicycles.

If the power went out, ventilation would have been provided by batteries—if they failed, anyone

sheltering in the bunker was to hop on the bikes and pedal to circulate fresh air.

Other rooms also feel frozen in time, like the telephone exchange with its tangle of wires, but most are more spartan, furnished with a few period tables and chairs where staff could have directed the train traffic above.

The shelter was designed to host 72 workstations, and some yellowing documents remain.

There is even a bed.

Post-war, with its purpose now passed, it gradually took on an almost mythic status among employees of SNCF, France’s national train operator.

“The aim is to preserve it,” especially as the shelters built in other stations at the time have all disappeared, said the SNCF branch in charge of stations. AFP

KEY FIGURES IN THE PROBE INTO ALLEGED RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN THE 2016 US PRESIDENTIAL POLLS

adellechua@gmail.com

PENIS...

From A4

tattoos, he added. “A key defect of our penile reconstruction procedure is that we end up with white penises which are visibly not natural.”

Another reason for the Thai trend is cultural. The Asia-Pacific region is a major market for skin lighteners.

Boucher stressed there has been little scientific research into the use of lasers and chemicals for penis-whitening, and no bleaching techniques or products have been developed uniquely for use in this sensitive area.

“The skin of the penis is different” to that of the face or body, for which the existing products were conceived, said Boucher. “It is a thin skin... and we do not yet fully understand how it will react.”

Satisfaction not guaranteed The Thai health ministry has also warned against the procedure, saying it may cause irritation or infection, even presents a threat to sexual pleasure and reproduction.

“Honestly, I don’t think they should be doing it,” echoed Boucher, who said he wouldn’t perform the procedure until the science shows it is safe.

Brambilla said he has turned down about three whitening requests in his 15-year career. “If the color is uniform, I really see no need,” he explained.

“But even if there is a reason for intervention, such as an accident, the instruments that we have now to do it, they cannot guarantee first of all the satisfaction, secondly a realistic result, and thirdly the safety of what you’re doing,” he said.

Penis enlargement, meanwhile, dropped by 28 percent in 2016, according to the ISAPS, likely due to the rise of new, less-invasive booster techniques. AFP

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Wray on Friday told his staff to shrug off the attack on the agency’s independence

by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, and pledged to defend his agents. “Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure,” Wray told the 35,000 FBI staff in an internal letter. “You’ve all been through a lot in the past nine months and I know it’s often been unsettling, to say the least. And the past few days haven’t done much to calm those waters,” he said. Earlier Friday, Trump approved the release of a memo by congressional Republicans alleging abuse of power by the FBI and Department of Justice in their handling of an investigation of Trump’s election campaign’s ties to Russia.Trump wrote on Twitter ahead of the memo’s release: “The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans—something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago.” The memo’s release raised concerns that Wray could be forced out of the FBI just six months after being appointed by Trump, who fired Wray’s predecessor James Comey last May. AFP

CHEATING ENCOURAGED IN NEW MONOPOLY VERSION DO NOT pass Go. Do not collect $200: Just steal it.

A new version of the decades-old board game Monopoly encourages players to cheat, but plastic handcuffs will leave them “locked up” if they are caught.

The aim of the game remains as it has been since its creation in 1935: to become the richest player through buying properties and collecting rent.

But a recent study “revealed that nearly half of game players attempt to cheat during Monopoly games, so in 2018, Hasbro decided it was time to give fans what they’ve been craving all along,” a statement from Monopoly’s manufacturer said.

The “Cheaters Edition” will be available this autumn.

It adds 15 cheat cards covering the most common types of traditionally unsportsmanlike play such as moving tokens more spaces than

allowed by the dice, avoiding rent, or stealing money from the bank.

If they can get away with it before the next players’ turn, the “cheaters” will be rewarded with Monopoly money, a hotel, or $200 from the bank.

“But get caught and you’ll pay the consequences! Pretend handcuffs will leave offenders “chained” to the board until they are released,” Hasbro says.

In another change, there is no longer a designated banker. Each

player controls the central money pool during his or her turn—making it easier to pull off a heist.

While Hasbro says it “has finally decided to embrace our less-thanhonest fans by encouraging them to partake in those iconic [yet sometimes unspoken] Monopoly moments,” the new version has its detractors.

“Monopoly is a horrible game,” and a cheaters’ monopoly would be even more so, Edward Castronova, a specialist in media and games at the University of Indiana, told AFP. More broadly, the game “is a completely inaccurate simulation of real economies. If Monopoly’s model were accurate, there would only be one company in the world, instead of billions and billions.”

More than 275 million copies of Monopoly, in various versions, have been distributed in 114 countries.

AFP

World

A6

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor

MYANMAR DENIES RAKHINE MASS GRAVES YANGON, Myanmar—Myanmar on Saturday denied that there were five mass graves of Rohingya Muslims in a village in crisis-hit Rakhine state, saying that 19 “terrorists” had been killed and buried in the area.

The Associated Press used testimony from dozens of Rohingya refugees and time-stamped cell phone videos to describe a massacre by soldiers and at least five previously unreported mass graves in Rakhine’s Gu Dar Pyin village.

The Myanmar government’s Information Committee said in a statement posted on its Facebook page that a government inspection team had gone to the village to probe the AP report and found it to be false.

“The inspection team systematically investigated the AP’s report on the Gu Dar Pyin village case, including interviewing villagers, and found it not to be true,” the statement said.

The AP report, which AFP could not independently verify, described grisly violence at the hands of soldiers and Buddhist vigilantes, who allegedly attacked villagers with guns, knives, rocket launchers and grenades before dumping bodies into pits and dousing them with acid. AFP

NOKOR EARNING $200M FROM BANNED EXPORTS NEW YORK—North Korea is flouting sanctions by exporting coal, iron, steel and other banned commodities, earning nearly $200 million in revenue last year, a United Nations report said Friday.

A UN panel of experts also found evidence of military cooperation by North Korea to develop Syria’s chemical weapons programs and to provide Myanmar with ballistic missiles.

North Korea “continued to export almost all the commodities prohibited in the resolutions, generating nearly $200 million in revenue between January and September 2017,” said the report by the experts seen by AFP. Coal shipments were delivered to China, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam by ships using “a combination of multiple evasion techniques, routes and deceptive tactics,” said the report.

The Security Council last year adopted a series of resolutions to tighten and expand exports bans aimed at cutting off revenue to North Korea’s military programs.

The United States led the push for tough economic sanctions after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches that raised fears that the US mainland could soon be within reach.

Seven ships have been barred from ports worldwide for violating UN sanctions with coal and petroleum transfers, but the experts said much more must be done to confront “these rampant illicit activities.” AFP

MARSHALL IS. BRACES FOR TIDAL FLOODS MAJURO, Marshall Islands—Emergency services were put on standby Saturday in Majuro, as rising king tides threatened to flood the capital of the low-lying Marshall Islands.

King tides, which are extremely high tides, are a natural phenomenon early in the year in the Marshall Islands caused by the strong gravitational pull from a new or full moon when the moon is at its closest to the earth.

The national weather service warned “major inundation” was possible from Saturday evening through to Tuesday at peak tide periods in the Pacific island nation, highlighting its vulnerability to rising sea levels.

“We’re on stand-by through Tuesday,” Public Works Minister Tony Muller said Saturday as the 30,000 population of Majuro Atoll braced for the expected floods.

Heavy equipment, including bulldozers, was being positioned at critical locations around Majuro so emergency crews can respond quickly in the event of flooding, he said.

Majuro is barely a meter above sea level and the single road along the 30mile (50-kilometer) length of the coral atoll is often blocked during serious flooding by coral, rocks, sand and garbage tossed up by waves.

The National Disaster Management Office has been placed on high alert and used its mass text messaging system for the first time Friday to issue a high tide advisory. AFP

DOGS DRESS UP. An owner pats his dachshunds while taking part in Hong Kong’s first “Sausage Walk” on Saturday. In a city that likes to dress up its dogs, 50 dachshunds gathered in Hong Kong wearing everything from patterned winter jumpers to dapper tweed. AFP

MEMO UNDERMINES FBI’S RUSSIA PROBE

W

ASHINGTON—Donald Trump and his Republican allies unleashed a controversial memo accusing the FBI of bias and abuse of power Friday, intensifying a high-stakes fight between the White House and prosecutors investigating the president’s campaign team.

Trump defied his own FBI director and the Justice Department to declassify the four-page Republican document, which implies malfeasance and partisanship at the very top of American law enforcement.

“I think it’s a disgrace. What’s going on in this country, I think it’s a disgrace,” a visibly tense Trump said as he announced his decision to release the memo. “A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that.”

Democrats and some Republicans have cried foul over the document, dismissing its release as little more than a stunt, and another thinly veiled effort to undermine the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia.

They claim the document -- draft-

ed by Devin Nunes, a Trump transition official, Congressman and House Intelligence Committee chairman -- has glaring holes. The FBI itself said it had “grave concerns” over its accuracy.

The memo claims that Democratfunded research prompted the FBI to spy on a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.

In a subsequent statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the document “raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI.” Trump’s son Don Jr tweeted that it should be “game over” for the Russia investigation.

Trump’s one-year-old presidency has been dominated by allegations

that multiple aides, including Don Jr and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, may have coordinated with the Kremlin to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has already indicted two officials including Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and two more campaign officials have admitted lying to investigators -- including onetime national security advisor Michael Flynn.

The 71-year-old president has decried the allegations as fake news and a Democratic plot. Mueller is soon expected to ask him to testify under oath about what he knows.

The memo’s release sent shockwaves across Washington, calling into question the future of Trump’s hand-picked FBI Director Christopher Wray.

But he shrugged off attacks on the FBI’s independence and pledged to defend his agents in an internal letter sent to staff on Friday and obtained by AFP. “Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure,” Wray wrote.

“Let me be clear: I stand fully com-

mitted to our mission... I stand with you.”

The FBI had previously issued an extraordinary public warning against the memo’s release, saying it contained “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

But perhaps the biggest question hung over deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.

Rosenstein oversees the Russia investigation and has the power to fire special counsel Mueller, because his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recused himself.

He was the only law enforcement official named in the memo who has not already been fired by Trump or moved from their post.

Trump, when asked if he has confidence in Rosenstein, told journalists in the Oval Office: “You figure that one out.”

But the president faced intense pushback from Democrats in Congress, who warned that any attempt to fire Rosenstein or Mueller would be seen as obstruction. AFP

DOW FALLS, US STOCKS DIVE AMID RATE HIKE FEARS

AT THE READY. Sri Lankan military personnel take part in an Independence Day parade rehearsal in Colombo on Saturday. Sri Lanka is preparing to mark the 70th anniversary of independence from Britain on Sunday. AFP

NEW YORK—The Dow suffered its worst drop in more than a year and a half Friday as US stocks plunged on disappointing earnings from big companies and worries about higher interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial sank 2.5 percent, 665 points, to 25,520.96, its worst drop in percentage terms since June 2016. All 30 companies of the index ended in the red.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.1 percent to 2,762.13, while the techrich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.0 percent to 7,240.95.

Analysts have been eyeing an increase in US bond yields that accelerated further on Friday after a strongerthan-expected US jobs report raised expectations more Federal Reserve interest rate increases could be coming.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed again Friday to 2.85 percent.

“What’s been bothering the market is the speed with which they’re going up,” Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said of higher Treasury yields.

“Everyone has to remember we had a very over-extended market,” O’Hare said. “You now have group think driving things the other way as the trading trends shifts.”

O’Hare said disappointing earnings

added to the selling momentum.

Troublesome headlines from Washington over the disputed release of Republican memo about investigations of Donald Trump’s election campaign were “another negative news item,” but not the driver of Friday’s selling, O’Hare said.

ExxonMobil slumped 5.1 percent after reporting a huge increase in fourthquarter profits due to one-time benefits from US tax reform.

But the excluding tax reform bonus, earnings translated to 88 cents a share, below the $1.04 expected by financial analysts.

Chevron, another big oil company in the Dow that reported disappointing results, fell 5.6 percent.

Google-parent Alphabet fell 4.8 percent after reporting a $3 billion quarterly loss to set aside funds to pay taxes on repatriated profits.

Apple fell 4.3 percent after reporting a record $20 billion profit in the fourth quarter on higher revenues. However, the tech giant said iPhone sales in the quarter of 77.3 million were about a million fewer than the same period a year earlier.

An exception was Amazon, which jumped 2.9 percent after reporting quarterly profits more than doubled to $1.9 billion. AFP

Sports

A7

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 randyproject@yahoo.com

GO SIZZLES WITH 62, TOPS PGT Q-SCHOOL

Tournament winners with celebrity sportsman Vince Hizon (fifth from left) and James Aguila (extreme right), CEO and president of the organizing Sta. Lucia Global Land Marketing Inc., pose with their trophies.

STA. LUCIA GLOBAL

A GOLF EVENT WITH A HEART

By Randy Caluag

J

AMES Aguila CEO and President of Sta. Lucia Global Marketing Inc., has been thinking of ways to treat the company’s partners and friends to a day of fun and camaraderie.

But he wanted something meaningful.

And since Sta. Lucia is in the business of middle to high-end real estate, including building of golf resorts, he thought that a day of golf would be a perfect event, and at the same time, could also serve as a fund-raiser for his chosen beneficiary, Tahanang Walang Hagdan in Cainta, Rizal.

He proved himself right.

James Aguila tees off to lead nearly a hundred participants

On a windy, cold Saturday morning at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Laurel, Batangas, the first Sta. Lucia Global Golf Tournament came off the wraps with nearly a hundred players hitting the fairways.

“Considering that it was our first time to organize such kind of event, we felt it was very successful,” said Aguila.

“But more than the promotional aspect and our treat to partners, suppliers and friends, our main focus really is to help our brothers who are in need. Our first Global Golf tournament was a good start,” he added.

The main beneficiary, Tahanang Walang Hagdan, is home to those who are physically challenged, some of them could no longer be taken care of by their families.

“Sila ang prime beneficiaries ng aming tournament. Meron pa rin naman others like may staff kami na cancer-stricken and gusto naming tulungan sa kanyang medication. Even sa education ng ibang employees naming na nangangailangan talaga.”

In the first edition of the tournament, weekend golfers had fun in the sun, especially those who won the fun categories like accurate drive, nearest to the fun and the like.

Celebrity player Vince Hizon, a former Ginebra player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) player Vince Hizon,was among those who shone, emerging as the Lowest Net Overall Champion.

Hizon attacked the hazardladen layout of Splendido with high precision driving off the tees for a tournament-best nine

Aguila awards the grand prize of 55-inch smart led TV to raffle winner Roel Mismanos. Also in photo is Dang Gozum Navarro of Trizach events.

par-finishes.

Sharing the limelight with Hizon was Martin Guiang, who emerged the lowest gross champion with a total of 79. Rachel Lachica was the overall ladies champion.

Winning the Division A was Cavinti, Laguna Mayor Wilbert Oliveros via countback. Placing runner-up was Luis Harder and 2nd runner up Rex Armada.

Topping the Division B was Atty.

Dy, followed by Joey Esplana and Ed Abesamis at 2nd and 3rd place.

Gabriel Mahalasan finished with 78 to bag the Division C honors while Ronald Tan and Eddie Reseba came in at second and third. Tan and Reseba both had scores of 80 total but the former had better number of pars with two.

Of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without a sumptuous lunch and raffles with lots of prizes

in the tournament held in cooperation with Trizach Events and JAKA Investments Corporation and sponsored by The Turf Company, distributor of Texas Eagle golf carts, Sta. Lucia Land, Inc., and Readycon Trading and Construction Corporation, Centro Fitness, RECE and RCTC. Due to the success of the inaugural event, Aguila has already set the second edition in January next year.

This should be bigger, better.

The venue would definitely be at a Sta. Lucia golf course. “We have 15 courses like the Orchard, Eagle Ridge and Summit Point. Siyempre kailangan accessible dahil karamihan ng players right now are from Metro Manila.”

For Aguila, there’s no way but grow big. “Palaki rin ng palaki nang gusto namin mangyari. Para mas marami pa kaming matututulungan.”

BINANGONAN RACE OPENS PH DOWNHILL MTB SERIES HARDCORE downhill mountain bike racing is making a big comeback this year.

One of the most exciting battles in mountain bike racing, the 2018 Philippine Downhill League, opened shop yesterday with the first leg at the Antenna Hill in Binangonan, Rizal.

The Downhill Riders Organization of the Philippines along with industry brands Commencal and Fox Racing Philippines hope to keep the veteran downhillers’ love for the event going while trying to discover new talents.

“This is our share in making the local scene alive. We want to have fun and at the same time retain the respect and recognition our sport has built in the scene,” said 2018 Downhill League initiator Jong Narciso.

With that, the country’s first Downhill World Masters Championship campaigner Parabanne Mendoza of Manila and Sultan Kudarat’s feared downhiller, Mitchel Beatriz are seeing action in the battle under the open category against fresher legs

like Gabriel Amigo also on Mindanao’s Surigao Del Sur, and Iloilo’s Nino Martin Eday and Batangas’ Sean Cura and a bunch of downhillers all over the country.

Aside from the open class, there will also be a national age group but no special classes for bike types.

“We also wanted to continue the right path for the scene through the categories which are normally through age groups. There are no special categories for bike type since downhill is a small community in itself. It is a downhill race and anyone has the option to choose their equipment as long as it is within the regulations,” added Narciso.

The revival outing will have a total of eight legs. After Rizal, participants will be traveling to Mt. Samat in Bataan on March 4 then Tagaytay on April 14, Guimaras Island on May 19, Baler on June 30-Jul 1, Iligan on Sept. 16, La Union on Oct. 27 and the finale on Nov.10-11 in Tabango Leyte.

Most of the venues are also new ones in this series making this year’s event a

more exciting and challenging.

Edri Ocampo, one of the top officials of Enduro Alliance said they are making a comeback this year, following a yearlong absence from the scene.

Ocampo, along with Narciso, discussed their race series during their launch last Wednesday at the ROX. ROX and Primer Group of Companies are among the proud supporters of this year’s most exciting bike events.

Fox Racing Apparel will also be around for the Enduro Race 2018 where bike enthusiasts and athletes from varying backgrounds and disciplines converge to compete in a series of Bike events spread in the country’s most challenging bike trails.

Interest in the sport, according to Ocampo, has compelled organizers to continue organizing events.

“Dati kung mag-organize ng race, paisa-isa. But, now we made it a series,” said Ocampo, who said they have been staging a lot of endure races from 2011 to 2016. With Peter Atencio

Athena Beltran Mendoza (middle), with co-organizers, facilitates the launch of the 2018 Philippine Downhill League at the R.O.X., Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

FORMER national champion Lloyd Go closed out with a solid eaglespiked 10-under 62 to dominate the 72-hole Philippine Golf Tour Qualifying School by nine at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Tagaytay Friday.

Go, a former Seton Hall standout who shared the third round lead with Dino Villanueva, razed the upand-down layout with four straight birdies to start his final round drive then kept firing away birdies on Nos. 8, 10, 13 and 16 to complete a pair of 31 cards spiked by an eagle on the par-5 11th.

With earlier rounds of 71, 73 and 68, the Cebuano ace, who beat Jobim Carlos and Jerome Ng of Singapore in the 2014 Philippine Amateur Open at Wack Wack, pooled a 274 and led 49 others to this year’s PGT season, which gets going March 7 for the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Championship.

Villanueva failed to match Go’s sizzling start and strong finish, carding a 71 for second at 283 while Elmer Saban placed third at 289 after a 74.

Anthony Fernando, also a former national champion, rallied with closing 34 to save a 74 as he shared fourth place with Randy Garalde, who also shot a 74, at 290 while Artemio Murakami, the youngest national champion at 16 in 1999 at Wack Wack, also secured his Tour card with a 68 as he ended up tied for sixth with Jelbert Gamolo, who hobbled with a 76, at 291.

Jama Reyes and Gene Villaruz, who shot identical 74s, and Angelo Anzuris, who skied with a 79, all pooled 313s to clinch the last three spots in the top 50 players who gained their cards in the evergrowing circuit sponsored by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. Others who made the grade were Ebarra Quiachon and Rolando Marabe Jr., who assembled 292s after identical 76s, Rey Pagunsan (72295) and Robert Pactolerin (73-295), Marvin Dumandan (71-296) and recent National Doubles winner Tonlits Asistio (81-310).

Meanwhile, the 72-hole QSchool for foreign players seeking PGT cards will be held on Feb. 2023, also at Splendido, while the PGT Asia Q-School is set April 4-7 at Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac.

UAAP TENNIS: UE STARTS TITLE DEFENSE VS. ATENEO UNIVERSITY of the East begins its bid for a second men’s straight championship as it clashes with Ateneo today (Sunday) in the UAAP Season 80 lawn tennis tournament at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

But the Red Warriors will go to war at 12 noon without reigning MVP AJ Lim, who is currently playing for the Philippine Davis Cup team against Indonesia in Jakarta.

Dolfo Barquin and Rogelio Estaño hope to end their collegiate careers with UE as champions, and once Lim returns to action next weekend, the Warriors will look formidable once again.

The Blue Eagles, meanwhile, are playing their second tie of the season. In yesterday’s opener, Ateneo suffered a 1-4 defeat to De La Salle.

University of Santo Tomas, which lost to UE in last year’s championship, bested University of the Philippines, 3-2, in the other tie.

Women’s division action opens today with last season’s second placers UST taking on De La Salle at 8 a.m., followed by the UP-Ateneo tie at 12 noon.

National University, which dominated the lawn tennis competition in the previous seasons, is not fielding men’s and women’s teams for this year’s tournament.

Most affected are the Lady Bulldogs, who will not able to defend their championship this season.

Prior to this year, MVPs Tin and Clarice Patrimonio led NU to four consecutive crowns.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor

Sports

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

FOLAYANG PREPARES TO REGAIN CROWN

DUARD Folayang lost the ONE Lightweight World Championship to Martin Nguyen last November but he’s now ready to bounce back from that devastating loss and move forward in his career.

His biggest motivation for a comeback remains his family and his hope to provide them all the comforts as well as security in life.

“It is my family, 100 percent. I live for them, my wife and my daughter. It is a humbling experience to come from being a husband, and now also a father. Before, when it was just me, I was just competing for myself. But now, I compete for them, to give them a better life and to be a better provider. With the grace of God, I have been able to reach the pinnacle of this sport. I know what it takes to reach the top, and I understand all the work that goes into it. With the motivation I receive from my family, nothing can stop me,” said Folayang.

He said that he is not fighting for pride or for his legacy. He said he is fighting to become the best martial artist that he could be.

“It has never been about proving anything to anyone for me.

It has always just been about improving as a martial artist. I learned my lessons, and now it is time again to fix all the things I mismanaged. One of the things I take great pride in as a martial artist is owning up to my own faults and shortcomings. I know what happened and where I lacked in training, and now I have been able to identify those with the help of my team. Now it is about moving forward and applying the lessons I have learned to my training,” said Folayang.

The Team Lakay fighter faces the year with optimism. And at the top of his list of priorities is regaining his ONE Championship crown.

“Of course, I am aiming to get another shot at the ONE Lightweight World Championship. Becoming world champion was an amazing achievement for me, and having that belt strapped around my waist inspired many people to be the best they can be, and to work hard. More than just being world champion, I want to continue to be an inspiration to others.

If this is by giving my all each and every time I step into the cage, then that is how it’s going to be.

I will gladly share my talents with the world,” said Folayang.

Despite the decisive loss to Nguyen, Folayang is confident that he could beat his rival in a rematch and regain his belt.

“I was not focused at all on the match-up, and my strategy was severely lacking. I was not

Atty. Narciso Morales

MORALES IS HORSE OWNER OF THE YEAR

Former ONE Lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang punishes the heavy bag during his workout as he plans his return to the ONE Championship cage. ONE Championship

Former ONE Lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang (right) misses with a swinging head kick against opponent Martin Nguyen. ONE Championship

able to stick to the game plan me and my team had come up with, and as a result, I got caught. I had overlooked where Martin would be able to capitalize. It was my mistake, but it is what it is,” said Folayang.

He remains confident that he could move forward after that devastating knockout.

“We cannot live in the past, but it is important that we learn the lessons. I know where I went wrong, and I am working extremely hard to make sure that does not happen again. It is a tough lesson to learn, but one that ultimately makes me a better martial artist,” said Folayang.

He understands the nature of the sport. You either win or you lose. You cannot win all the time and fighters must accept the fact that they may lose.

“It is martial arts, and this is a sport. As an athlete, I understand there are seasons that come into my life. You win some, and you lose some. It is part of being an athlete. Despite the losses, however, I remain as motivated and as determined as ever. One loss will not stop me from reaching for the stars and chasing my dreams. I am working harder than ever to get back to championship form. A different ‘Landslide’ is ready to emerge from the rubble,” said Folayang.

Former ONE Lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang jogs around the track oval during one of his training sessions.

ONE Championship

IN ANOTHER unprecedented feat in local racing history, lawyer Narciso Morales emerged No. 1 in winnings for the fifth straight year as he shared the spotlight with the other prominent players in the industry feted recently by the local horse racing body.

Winning a race practically every single day last year, Morales was awarded the Top Earning Horse Owner of the Year plum by the Philracom during awards rites after finishing as the winningest horseowner again with 270 victories to sustain a triumphant streak that started in 2013.

Based on gross earnings, Morales totaled a whopping P66,438, 950 in a memorable year that also saw his stable post another first in local races—win seven races, including five straight, in a 13-race program in mid-2017.

“I am humbled by the recognition given to me by Philracom and I am thankful to my team who prepare my horses and the fans who have faith in our runners,” said Morales The bulk of his victories came in the regular races, where his runners competing in the C and D divisions repeatedly triumphed in the first few months of last year to plant the seeds of the runaway overall triumph.

The long-time horseowner didn’t make it to the awards night, but he was represented by son Kennedy Morales who’s also into horse racing with several horses listed under his name.

Morales also acknowledged the time and efforts given by the other horseowners and other players in the industry, saying “they’re all doing their share to make the sport alive despite the hard times”.

“My hats off to the horseowners, jockeys, trainers and the many others who really made the last season a big one,” he said.

Signs of another overall victory in the present season are emerging.

Last month, the Morales stable posted 30 wins, including three in a special racing day at the Santa Ana Park, to take the early lead among owners.

In the simple Philracom rties, the businessman-lawyer shared the limelight with Jojo Velasquez (Horse Breeder of the Year), SC Stockfarm (Stakes Race Horse Owner of the Year), 0Ruben Tupas (Top Earning Trainer of the Year Award), O’Neal Cortez (Top Earning Jockey of the Year), 9th Mayor Bagatsing Cup (Most Successful Racing Festival), and Metroturf (Racing Club of the Year).

MAYWEATHER DROPS HINT AT MMA FIGHT LOS ANGELES—MMA fighter Conor McGregor switched to the boxing ring to make one of the richest professional fights in history possible and now Floyd Mayweather hints he might return the favor.

Mayweather, who hasn’t fought since knocking out McGregor in that boxing match last year, teased fans Friday night by posting a picture on his Twitter page of himself wearing mixed martial arts gloves and standing in an UFC cage.

“Billion Dollar Man,” Mayweather said in the tweet.

Mayweather and McGregor’s crosscombat fight in August failed to live up to the hype in the ring as veteran Mayweather easily outpunched the inexperienced McGregor, but it did well at the box office.

The contest generated 4.3 million payper-view buys in North America, trailing only Mayweather’s 2015 world title

boxing match with Filipino Manny Pacquiao that generated 4.6 million buys and earned $600 million.

It is the second time this week Mayweather has teased his fans with the idea. Earlier this week he posted video on Twitter and Instagram of himself shadow boxing in a cage.

He said “Come at the king, you best not miss...”

Mayweather’s August fight with the Irishman was supposed to be his last as it secured his perfect 50-0 record. But the American has retired several times only to negotiate “comeback” fights for bigger paydays.

After the knockout loss McGregor has repeatedly challenged Mayweather to face him in an MMA fight. Mayweather has so far not taken the bait. That may soon change.

An MMA fight between the pair would spark a frenzy of interest and generate a

boatload of money.

It is estimated that Mayweather earned $300 million from his fight with McGregor, who earned about $100 million.

Another meeting, this time on McGregor’s terms inside a cage, would surely rival the gate of the first fight. Although, the outcome would undoubtedly be vastly different. Fighting inside an MMA cage— where fighters can kick, elbow and grapple their opponents—would be a vastly different environment from a boxing ring. Mayweather will likely experience a thorough beating in a no-holds-barred environment inside the cage.

Mayweather even created a hashtag as he continues to raise the interest of the public at another fight this time in the MMA cage.

Last year he posted an image from his win over McGregor with the a caption: #MCM Mayweather Crushes McGregor. AFP

Floyd Mayweather sits courtside during the game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AFP

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@manilastandard.net

FILIPINO-MADE APP READY TO GO GLOBAL

quadzip, a mobile enterprise solution developed by two Filipinos in 2014 to help the sales teams of companies perform better and improve productivity, is now ready to conquer international markets after capturing the interest of local businesses.

“Squadzip is really unique. It is Filipino developed.

Many thought that Digital Space Explorer which is our corporate name was a distributor of Squadzip.

They thought that Squadzip is an entity from abroad that we just got the reseller license for,” says Roman Mercado, the 38-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Digital Space Explorer Inc., the Makati City-based company that developed Squadzip, a software-as-a-service that brings together a simpler and powerful customer data management.

“We signed two reseller agreements late last year—one with Globe Telecom Inc. and the other with an Indonesian company called Tandika Learning Institute. They are our first international reseller,” Mercado says.

“This was not a premeditated move by Squadzip.

Basically, Tankdika sells to financial organizations.

They teach sales and productivity. They sought us out, as they felt we could be a tool to promote and reinforce the things they teach to their clients. At the moment, we are also evaluating reseller agreements with a few other countries in Asia. There are offers from resellers that want to push within Korea, Malaysia,” says Mercado.

Mercado, who developed the solution with Joaquin Barandino, the 32-year-old co-founder and chief technology officer, describes Squadzip as a productivity platform that is as easy as using social media. “It is a business development platform to help companies manage sales and operations better and more effectively,” he says.

Mercado says data are captured through a tagging system called ziptags. “SquadZip captures the time and location tags. Our users are able to post anywhere in the world even when they are offline or have no internet. They are able to capture the exact time and location, even though they are indoors or in the basement of a building through GPS, WiFi and cellular triangulation,” he says.

Squadzip is also used for sales funnel management and project pipeline management, leveraging its ziptagging system to deliver dashboards and analytic tools. The solution is hosted on multiple redundant servers on the Amazon Web Services Cloud. Squadzip offers a 30-day trial for the service and thereafter charges $30 per user per month.

With Squadzip, field sales personnel or frontliners of companies such as medical equipment distributors, pharmaceutical companies, technical equipment providers, fast moving consumer good sellers, construction firms, agriculture companies, software distributors, insurers, real estate developers and financial companies use their mobile phones to report their location and activities with customers real-time to the head office.

“They way I describe Squadzip is that if the key interaction of your frontliners happen outside the office, meaning face-to-face in a remote location, then SquadZip is a great tool for you. We are good

Digital transformation and growing the agency force are the top priorities for new Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. president Alex Narciso as he leads the company towards maintaining its leadership in the industry.

Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. president Alex Narciso

Squadzip co-founders Roman Mercado (left) and Joaquin Barandino

in managing, monitoring and supporting frontliners that work remotely,” says Mercado.

Meracado and Barandino were working for a technology company four years ago, when they decided to go on their own. “When we started in 2014, I and Joaquin were working together for about two years in another tech company.

We left to pursue building a product in another related field. Joaquin is a developer, while I handle the business side,” says Mercado.

“Our first customer is an interesting story.

I was doing consultancy for them. They were in the process of implementing customer

relationship management tool to help manage their sales. At that time, they asked me to look at different vendors because with the tool they purchased, they were having a hard time with compliance issues,” he says.

“Their chief complaints were three things.

Data entry had to go through a lengthy form with multiple required fields. Second was there was a huge training hurdle. They wanted something that did not require that much training and that every employee could use with little training. The last one was there was no monitoring component,” says Mercado. Turn to B2

CEBUANA LHUILLIER, AXA TEAM UP FOR MICROINSURANCE

By Othel V. Campos GONE are the days when insurance privileges are enjoyed only by people who can afford high premiums. Axa Charter Ping An and Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions teamed up to offer a comprehensive micro disaster risk insurance for Philippine micro, small and medium enterprises.

“We hope to be able to arrange with our insurer a very comprehensive coverage for MSMEs, not only for personal accident, disablement or dismemberment of the micro entrepreneurs themselves but also coverage for their properties from fire and natural disaster for their livelihood. If they have micro loans, we also want to bundle credit life to that, and hopefully come up with a viable microinsurance product with Axa,” said PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies first vice president and group head Jonathan Batangan.

CLIS is the Philippines’ leading and largest non-bank financial services provider specializing in pawning, remittance and microinsurance.

Batangan said the company’s dominance in microinsurance can be attributed to innovation, a robust network of local and international partners and commitment to serve the growing clientele.

Axa Charter Ping An emerging customers director Marc Gorospe

SUNLIFE PH’S NEW PRESIDENT FOCUSES ON DIGITAL SHIFT

Development cooperation agency GIZ Philippines teams up with Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions, Axa Charter Ping An and the Department of Trade and Industry to provide a micro disaster risk insurance product that could protect micro, small, and medium enterprises against natural calamities. Shown are (from left) GIZ senior adviser Jimmy Loro, PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies first vice president and group head Jonathan Batangan, PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies president and chief executive Jean Henri Lhuillier, GIZ RFPI Asia II program director Dr. Antonis Malagardis, Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, Insurance Commission deputy commissioner Dorothy Calimag and Axa Charter Ping An emerging customers director Marc Gorospe.

said the company’s presence across 60 economies provided the volume of experience from very big accounts to personal coverages to handle the unique case of insuring Philippine MSMEs. “ We have large experience in handling large scale of capacity in terms of insurance. We believe the Philippines is a high potential country.

We have experts analyze satellite images flood typhoon, therefore we are capable to design and translate data

into real products,” he said.

The M icroDRI produc t under development will be formally launched and introduced to MSMEs through the assistance of the Trade Department.

Axa will design the micro SME insurance product and will serve as insurer of the product, which will then be made available to the public through Cebuana Lhuillier’s wide network.

The microDRI program was initiated

by GIZ Philippines in cooperation with the Trade Department to help MSMEs improve their financial literacy and develop financial resiliency in the wake of disasters and calamities.

MSMEs make up more than 99 percent of all industries in the Philippines, accounting for 65 percent of the labor force, and are a major source of government income through taxes with an economic value of 35.7 percent, of which small industries make up 20.5 percent of all goods and services produced.

The Philippines is usually visited by 26 to 30 typhoons yearly, a host to active volcanoes and falls prey to earthquakes and flood, as well as large-scale fire incidents. MSMEs are at risk of losing their livelihood and without financial support in case of these incidents.

A latest GIZ study shows that 25 percent of MSMEs do not reopen once hit by a major disaster. In 2009, following typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, damages cost MSMEs a total of $4.4 billion, or about 2.7 percent of that year’s GDP. GIZ Philippines has been at the forefront of implementing economic, ecological and social development in the Philippines since 1970, through the assistance provided by the German government.

Serving as the gateway to reach across MSMEs is Cebuana Lhuillier,

“Part of my mandate is to ensure that Sun Life remains at the forefront of the changing landscape of the insurance industry amidst changing consumer preferences, a more volatile environment, and new business models emerging,” Narciso said in a recent media briefing.

“To begin with, we want to drive digital transformation to adapt to the changing needs of our clients. At the same time, this is an opportunity for us to leverage on the power of data and technology. We want to enhance customer experiences across all channels and lines of business by simplifying processes and reducing customer effort,” Narciso said.

In the past few years, Sun Life has been boosting its offerings via the said platform by creating the first ever mobile app in the insurance industry with account management capability, launching massive open online courses on financial topics, and creating an automated leads conversion program that allows its advisors to quickly respond to inquiries of potential clients.

Among its initial offerings in 2018 are the new tools that will now be embedded on the Sun Life website (sunlife.com.ph), such as the Online Financial Assessment, Life Insurance Calculator, Investment Calculator and the Advisor Match.

But as it boosts its digital capabilities, Sun Life will also continue to grow its agency force, which is now 11,000-strong. “Recruitment is definitely a priority, because the agency force remains to be a significant component of our business.

They bring in the personal touch, which is very important because the topic of money is very personal,” Narciso said. “We aim to have more Sun Life advisors nationwide in order to reach more Filipinos.”

The executive, who also acts as the company’s chief agency distribution officer, said that with these two components, Sun Life is confident that it would accomplish its goal of serving 5 million Filipinos by year 2020 under the company’s long-term growth plan dubbed “RI5E PH.” “We gave ourselves five years to accomplish this, and halfway through it, we are already at 3 million clients. That means we have nearly doubled our client base in just two years, and we are definitely on track to complete this goal,” Narciso said.

“We will continue to anchor our efforts on financial literacy to help Filipinos become more savvy and empowered when it comes to managing their money and utilizing financial instruments,” he said.

currently the country ’s leading microinsurance distribution channel.

The company is leveraging on the network of Cebuana Lhuillier’s network of 2,300 branches nationwide and 4,000 partners. “ When we sell this produc t nationwide, we make sure we reach the maximum number of MSMEs. We make use of our networks to settle claims. In the next few years, hopefully, we’ll be adding more partners including sari- sari stores as remittance agents whereby they can sell this product to their fellow MSMEs,” Batangan said.

Business

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 business@manilastandard.net

FILIPINO-...

LAW FIRM HELPS FILIPINOS OBTAIN GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

From B1

In April 2014, Mercado asked Barandino to join him in a sales pitch. “I prepared some mockups of a tool that we had not yet built, which included a way to enter data into a social feed. Instead of going through forms, we used tagging system. This is now called zigtags. On top of that, there is a monitoring component.

A person can clock in from the customer location, instead of coming to the office and doing a biometrics scan. They go on Squadzip and they clock in, and Squadzip starts counting the number of hours they are working. Throughout the day, they just post these reports and Squadzip organizes those information,” says Mercado.

“We built Squadzip with those three features. So it looks like a social media platform. Training is a non-issue. Data entry is faster and easier. And it has a monitoring component. That company [MicroLab] agreed to do a pilot and our agreement was they would pay us six months in advance if they liked the system. Initially, we built for that organization. They agreed to the pilot and they are still our client today,”he says.

“MicroLab became our first client.

Within three months, there were a few more companies that signed up and became our customers. At that time, we still did not know that Squadzip would be this big. We thought we would remain a small company. In our third month and we had four enterprises on Squadzip. But one of the challenges during those days was how we could manage the servers ourselves,” says Mercado.

“During those early days, when it was peak hours and people would clock in the morning, there were times we would have downtime. What kept us going, before AWS, was in those five-minute downtimes, we would get a lot of customer complaints. So those complaints reinforced us to think they really needed our system. They took the time to call us and complain to us because of five-minute downtimes.

That sort of sent us a message. We felt these companies needed our system or service. So from there, we worked to get on a platform that would allow us to compete with the service levels of the giants. We are now hosted on Amazon Web Services Cloud,” he says.

“In 2015, when we moved to Amazon Web Services, it gave us confidence that we could scale this. AWS allowed us to deliver the same service level as the enterprise platform. In late 2015, we already had seven organizations on Squadzip. We received funding from KickStart Ventures Inc., which was owned

by Globe Telecom and SingTel [Singapore Telecom] and Plug and Play Tech Center, a Silicon Valley-based global accelerator.

We are their first core investment in the Philippines. They now own some equity in Squadzip,” says Mercado.

The next two years marked a period of further expansion for the company which now has 15 employees. “A few things happened last year. The number of enterprises on Squadzip more than doubled in 2017 compared to 2016. We also signed two reseller agreements.

As of 2017, we had about 30 paying enterprises,” says Mercado.

Mercado expects 2018 to be a year of further growth. “It is only in November 2017 that we decided to build a sales team. This year is supposedly a year for growth. We have reseller agreements in Indonesia and the Philippines. Prior to this, a lot of our efforts were spent on building our product and developing it,” he says. Roderick T. dela Cruz

AMENITIES WELCOME AMAIA UNIT OWNERS AFFORDABLE real estate provider Amaia Land Corp. welcomes new homeowners at Amaia Skies Sta. Mesa and Amaia Skies Cubao with recently completed first-rate amenities.

At Amaia Skies Sta. Mesa, these include a swimming pool where residents can take a refreshing dip, a function room for private gatherings and events, a andscaped garden, and a play area.

Located at the heart of the Sta. Mesa district in Manila, Amaia Skies Sta. Mesa is near major roads and highways that lead to Quezon City, Mandaluyong and Makati.

Amaia Skies Cubao, a three-tower development along Edsa, boasts of premier features like a retail arcade, a swimming pool, landscaped gardens with reading nooks, and a playground.

Its prime residential units are among Amaia’s best-selling projects because of its proximity to business and commercial establishments and transport hubs.

Amaia Skies Cubao Tower 2 is set to launch its own array of facilities, which include a multipurpose hall, a swimming pool and a half-basketball court.

“Amaia Land’s amenities stand out because these have been conceived for their functionality, which complements their sleek, homey vibe,” Raizel Matibag of Amaia Land says, equating these facilities to a lifestyle upgrade for hardworking professionals, startup families, and young students.

Amaia Land offers easy and flexible payment schemes to prospective homeowners: cash, deferred cas, and bank financing.

Ready-for-occupancy units are now available for buyers.

Harvey Law Group founder and worldwide managing director Jean Francois Harvey (right) and country manager for the Philippines Dr. Paul Boldy.

A

CANADIAN law firm offers to help Filipinos widen their travel options around the world by acquiring a second citizenship and passport that comes with more mobility and greater ease of travel.

“Global citizenship is all about freedom of movement. That’s what it is. It is to permit people pretty much to go to where they want, when they want and how they want,” says Jean Francois Harvey, the founder and worldwide managing director of Harvey Law Group, an immigration and business law firm based in Montreal. The company is present in several Asian cities where they offer residence and citizenship-by-investment programs in over 20 jurisdictions.

HLG says not all passports are created equal, with a Philippine passport having an access to only 62 countries, compared to 150 countries within the reach of a Cyprus citizen or 127 countries of St. Kitts and Nevis citizen.

“Philippine passport is not an easy passport to travel with. Of course, by getting a second citizenship, it gives you a full freedom of movement.

By example, St. Kitts and Nevis will give you a free access to over 120 countries without visa. You can do a lot of business. That is the biggest advantage.

There is of course a big advantage tax-wise, because it permits you to divide a few of your assets into tax jurisdictions that will give you advantage,” Harvey says in an interview at Discovery Primea in Makati City during the company’s first anniversary in the Philippines on Jan. 30.

HLG’s residency and citizenship-by-investment programs allow successful investors to travel to a minimum of 115 countries without having to apply for visas. Investors can also purchase homes, retirement lodges and beachfront properties in countries such as Cyprus, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Grenada and Vanuatu.

“If you’re an investor who spends a lot of leisure time traveling, pursuing a residency or citizenship program can set you up with property in strategic locations, which you can develop into a home away from home. If you’re a parent, these programs allow you to expose your children to a variety of

cultures early. If you’re an entrepreneur, you will have more opportunities to widen your network and connect with potential business partners and industry leaders,” says HLG country manager for the Philippines Paul Boldy.

Loralee Baron-Soong, a Philippine passport holder and managing director of SoFA Design Institute, says she had to apply for a visa five times in 2017 to travel overseas. Filipinos are required to obtain visa to travel to the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, the UK, Japan and other most developed economies.

On the other hand, Rhiza Pascua, chief executive of concert promoter Music Management International Corp., says she is able to travel to different countries with ease because she carries Philippine and US passports. Pascua says her friends who have only Philippine passport suffer the inconvenience of obtaining a visa and incurring additional costs when they travel abroad.

Stephen Ku, the founder of event management agency Eventscape Manila, says being a Filipino passport holder, he usually gets stopped at immigration counters in Singapore.

Harvey says his company aims to help Filipinos attain a second nationality or passport that will allow them to travel to more countries without the need of a visa. He says this is particularly important for Filipino investors who have business dealings in different countries.

Harvey says acquiring a second citizenship is no longer an issue of nationalism. “It is 2018 now. This thing is less and less in people’s mind. It is nothing against your own nationality to acquire another one. The best example I can give you is China. One of the successes of China is they let people out for many, many years. People immigrated to other countries, got the ideas and brought them back to China. To acquire another citizenship for Chinese is a great thing for the Chinese economy,” he says.

HLG is now looking at the Philippines as an emerging market with a growing middle-income population. “The market is just starting right now in the Philippines. That is why we are here now to make sure that we don’t miss it. The challenge is we have to educate the market,” he says.

Harvey says their services are valuable to people who need mobility. “Of course, it is for people with some assets. But you don’t have to be a millionaire to apply for a second citizenship. Higher middle

class or even middle class people can qualify now for second citizenship,” he says.

“One of the most affordable options costs about $100,000. On the other hand, Cyprus will ask you to invest 2 million euros worth of real estate, but that is your money. It is a pure investment in real estate which is very safe. In my view, the most expensive one is Malta. Pretty much you have to give away 1 million euros, without any chance to have it back.

That for me is very, very expensive,” says Harvey.

HLG aims to provide services to 100 Filipinos in the first half of 2018. “We believe that it is an emerging market for global citizenship in Manila.

Easily for the first six months of 2018, we can easily reach 100 families,” he says.

Harvey says pursuing permanent residency or citizenship-by-investment programs can help Filipinos attain key personal goals, from experiencing comfortable, hassle-free travel; gaining access to quality education and health services; creating and managing businesses; to growing and maximizing wealth across borders.

Harvey, however, says not all applicants qualify for a second citizenship. “One of the reasons why we screen applicants is because jurisdictions will screen them too. Granda and Cyprus do full diligence. If we think that the client is not proper, then we just pay back the client and say sorry we cannot take your case,” he says.

He says conducting due diligence also addresses the issue of money laundering. “Different jurisdictions for second citizenship are very, very straightforward and very strict on money laundering. That is why we have to do a full AML [anti-money laundering] report on each client,” he says.

Boldy says a second citizenship also offers second- and third-generation family members the opportunity to study in European universities at a more favorable cost.

“Having access to a wider variety of degree programs and potential internship and employment opportunities will allow future entrepreneurs and executives, particularly those with family-run businesses, to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to take their businesses to the next level,” he says.

“In addition, their parents and grandparents get access to health services and treatments in these advanced economies,” Boldy says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

COMPANY DEVELOPS A NEW CROP OF FILIPINO EDUCATORS A PROFESSIONAL training company aims to take learning to greater heights by developing the skills of 21st century Filipino educators.

The Resource for Educators and Academic Professionals or Reap is now geared to spread its programs to the rest of the Philippines. It was first launched in 2016.

“The main drive of Reap is teacher development because as we all know, the success of the students of the nation depends on them. We want Reap to be the partners of educators in nation building,” said Reap co-founder Danda Crimelda Buhain. “ B e fo re, e d u c ato r s, w i t h t h e support of their sponsor schools, have to go abroad to the United States, Canada or Europe to undergo further training. With REAP, we are making training opportunities accessible for teachers to learn more about their craft. Now they won’t need to go overseas,” Buhain said.

To help produce high caliber educators with contemporary teaching concepts, a modern Reap center in Quezon City was set up. It is complete with facilities so that educators

Resource for Educators and Academic Professionals co-founder Danda Crimelda Buhain

from the teaching industry, local governments and public and private school organizations can undergo customized training.

“Early on, most of our clients comes from the private schools. Now, we are looking to expand further to public schools because that’s where majority of Filipino students are enrolled. We also hope to get the support of LGU

units to make Reap more successful, by sponsoring public school educators avail of our programs,” said Buhain.

A team composed of highly-qualified resource persons with vast experiences in various fields of education are employed by Reap to facilitate teaching courses. These include Creative Teaching Strategies, Classroom Management for the 21st Century Educator, Integrating Technology in Teaching, Basic Concepts of Differentiated Instruction, Design Thinking for Educators, Outcomes Based Education with Spady (Father of OBE) and Uy, a partner of Reap.

Through these specialized courses,

Reap visualizes a creation of a nation founded firmly on quality.

“These set of trainings will certainly help our teachers, especially now, with the implementation of the K to 12 program. We need to plug the holes in the teaching methodologies. Our real objective is to help the teachers, so they can maximize their potentials in teaching our kids and better prepare them to build tomorrow’s nation” said Buhain.

Reap is in partnership with Rex Publishing and Spady and Uy, the ground breaker of outcome-based education.

Tech & Gadgets

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

PINOY APP FOR DISASTERS NOMINATED FOR AWARD

JL Javier

Aaron Quinto

#SHOTONiPHONE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

The #ShotoniPhone worldwide campaign is Apple’s way of showcasing the creativity and diversity of its users with only the powerful cameras on the iPhone as their instrument.

Y

OU’VE seen how photos inspired ideas, sparked debates, or moved people to action especially in this social media age. You may even have shared some of them yourself.

This time, premium Apple partner Power Mac Center is inviting you to let your visual voice be heard and show the world that #ThisIsManila through the lens of your iPhone, the perfect tool for mobile photography.

The #ShotoniPhone worldwide campaign is Apple’s way of showcasing the creativity and diversity of its users with only the powerful cameras on the iPhone as their instrument. Power Mac Center hopes

to put the spotlight on Manila by inspiring users to show the beauty of the city via fresh perspectives.

To participate, just take your iPhone around Metro Manila and shoot what inspires you or piques your interest. You may focus on what the place is like, what the people are like, or what life looks like in this corner of the world. Upload it to your Instagram account, tag @powermaccenter and include the hashtags #ThisIsManila and #ShotoniPhone.

For inspiration, you may look at the works of Power Mac Center’s featured photographers Aaron Quinto (@aieos), Aly Mananquil (@alleyttle), JC Gellidon (@jcgellidon), Je Villaroman (@jevillaroman), JL Javier (@jljavier), Koji Arboleda (@kojiarboleda), Regine David (@reginedavid), Renzo Navarro (@_renzonavarro), Ryle Uy (@rylejustinuy), and Tristan Tamayo (@tamayotristan).

“We want to show that there’s beauty and art in the simplicity or chaos of Manila. We want users to capture these images using their iPhone and share them with the world in the hope of preserving moments that could have easily faded away. Who

knows what extraordinary things we can discover in the process,” said Marketing Director Joey Alvarez.

The campaign is powered by Polaroid, OtterBox, DJI, Leef, Pictar, ANKER, and UAG. As the first of a series of iPhone photography activities for the year, Power Mac Center will be featuring #ShotoniPhone photos on their social media accounts and in a photo exhibit to be held at the SM Mall of Asia Level 1 Main Mall from Feb. 16 to 22.

Help put Manila in the global campaign of Apple #ShotoniPhone!

For more information, follow @powermaccenter on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.

OPPO A83 AT 0% INTEREST RATE THRU HOME CREDIT OPPO competes again in the entry-mid range category with its fourth member of the A.I. Beauty family, the A83.

Welcoming 2018 with a new model, OPPO once again surprises us with its low-budget, highperforming smartphone. A83, which was officially launched this January, is now available in OPPO stores nationwide.

OPPO users will be amazed with just how much this Php9,990-priced smartphone can do—and with Home Credit’s 0% interest rate promo until April 30, you can get your hands on an A83 in 6-month installments!

No need for a credit card if you have none. Simply approach a Home Credit sales associate from any participating store and submit your filled-out application form, together with your two (2) valid IDs. It only

takes 20 minutes of your time, then voila—an OPPO A83 in your hands!

So what do you get by “best value” below 10k?

OPPO A83 features a 5.7inch HD+ full screen display. It runs on a 3GB RAM and—like the famous F5 series—it has a powerful 2.5GHz octa-core processor which is perfect for multitaskers. Imagine how well this combo can keep up with your performance!

Designed delicately to fit the palm of your hand, A83 is easy to carry around – which makes it a suitable personal companion for those who like to keep everything in one little device.

With its snappy performance, it can effortlessly handle the latest games in the market, giving you the entertainment you deserve. All in one slim device.

OPPO takes pride of its A.I. Beauty technology—and A83, being one of the phones who live up to its Selfie Expert handle, stays true to its promise to deliver natural-looking selfies. The 8MP front camera that can recognize more than 200 faces can perfectly capture personalized self-portraits without the hassle of adjusting camera settings.

More than just games and

selfies, A83 also values your privacy and security. The speedy Facial Unlock will keep your phone secured, and only your unique facial features can grant you access whenever you need it. On top of all that, A83 can last up to 13.5 hours of normal usage, giving you an all-day dependable smartphone experience.

“Our OPPO A83 brings the best value any smartphone

user can ever have—at an affordable price of P9,990, the A83 offers the latest 18:9 Full Screen, a powerful processor, facial unlock, and the famous A.I. Beauty Technology for natural-looking selfies. For less than ten thousand pesos, we are confident that the A83 will surely make a mark in the entry-mid range smartphone market,”said Eason de Guzman, OPPO Philippines’ Public Relations Manager.

If you’re still curious of how the best value smartphone fits a low price, get your hands on an OPPO A83 for only Php9,990 in all OPPO stores. Or try Home Credit’s 6-month installment until April 30—at 0% interest rate!

You may visit www.homecredit.ph for more information on Home Credit’s promos for OPPO, store locations, and loans.

WELCOME TO YEAR OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

IF THE history of human advancement has taught us one thing it is this: genuine stepchange progress does not occur because of a single technology breakthrough, but a combination of multiple complementary factors coming together at the same time.

The Industrial Revolution, which began around 1760, was driven by an amalgamation of steam power, improvements in iron production and the development of the first machine tools.

Similarly, the PC revolution of the early 1970’s was the outcome of simultaneous advancements in micro-processing, memory storage, software programming and other factors.

Now, as we enter 2018, we are at the cusp of a new revolution, one that will ultimately transform every organization, every industry and every public service across the world.

The year 2018 is the year of Artificial Intelligence—or AI—as it will be the year that it will start to become mainstream, to begin to impact many aspects of our lives in a truly ubiquitous and meaningful way.

AI: Over 65 Years In The Making The concept of AI is not new. In fact, it stretches back to 1950 when early comput-

ing pioneer Alan Turing famously posed the question “Can Machines Think?” and it would be another 6 years, in 1956, before the term “artificial intelligence” was first used.

So it has taken nearly 70 years for the right combination of factors to come together to move AI from concept to an increasingly ubiquitous reality. And there are three innovation trends driving its acceleration and adoption right now.

The first is Big Data. The explosion of Internet-connected devices, sensors and objects has expanded exponentially the amount of data the world is now producing.

In this increasingly digital era, data is the “new oil”– a source of value and sustainable competitive advantage.

The second factor is ubiquitous and powerful Cloud computing. Today, anyone with an idea and a credit card can access the same computing power that, traditionally, only global multinationals or governments have possessed.

Cloud computing is democratizing technology and accelerating innovation on a global scale.

The third factor driving AI capabilities is

breakthroughs in software algorithms and Machine Learning that can identify sophisticated patterns implicit within the data itself.

If data is the new oil, Machine Learning is, perhaps, the new combustion engine.

So, it is this combination of powerful industry trends, all maturing at the same time, that is accelerating—and democratizing—AI today.

AI Everywhere Industry experts refer to the way in which AI will impact our lives as an “invisible revolution”. This refers to its ubiquity. AI will be everywhere—powering your online recommendation engine, acting as a virtual assistant chatbot for your bank account or travel agent, personalizing your newsfeed or guarding your credit card against fraud. AI will be more pervasive—and yet less invasive—than any previous technology revolution.

In particular, AI will be embedded seamlessly into existing, well-established products and services to enhance their capabilities. For example, with a small piece of AI tech called Microsoft Presentation Translator, anyone can help overcome any language barriers as PowerPoint can

show real-time subtitles in more than 60 languages, simultaneously as they speak, during their presentations.

In business, AI will be used by most companies for at least some part of the value chain either in research and development, design, logistics, manufacturing, servicing or customer engagement. In fact, leading IT industry analyst IDC believes that by next year, 40% of digital transformation initiatives globally will be supported by AI capabilities[1].

And you do not need to be a start-up or hi-tech company to embrace the possibilities of AI, just have the vision and commitment to make it happen. Take, for example, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), an 85-year-old Japanese auto manufacturer, which has given itself just two years to become a “100% digital operation”—complete with cloud-based capabilities in AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Mixed Reality (MR).

One of the initiatives they have recently implemented is an AI-powered chatbot where all its 10,000 employees can access information and assistance they need in a faster, more intuitive and reliable way.

A FILIPINO-MADE app that turns mobile phones into safety tools during disasters has been shortlisted at the prestigious GSMA Global Mobile Awards, which is dubbed the Oscars of the mobile industry.

The Batingaw (Filipino for “siren”) app developed by Smart Communications, Cebu-based startup Tudlo Innovations Solutions, and the Office of Civil Defense-National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (OCD-NDRRMC) is nominated as the world’s Best Mobile Innovation Supporting Emergency or Humanitarian Situations.

The mobile application provides government agencies, organizations, and individuals with immediate access to disaster warnings, advisories, location data, and disaster mappings.

It features step-by-step instructions that can guide users to safety during disasters. The app also enables users to contribute information to emergency agencies more easily and quickly.

Also in the running for the award are projects from Ericsson, the United Nations World Food Programme, the Government of Bangladesh, and Turkcell. The winner will be announced in late February during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

In 2013, Smart won in this category for its quick network restoration and emergency response efforts in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda.

“As always, the calibre of entries is extremely high, so to be shortlisted for the GLOMOs today is quite an achievement in itself,” said Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer of GSMA, a trade body that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.

Because the Philippines is one of the countries that are most vulnerable to extreme weather events, Smart created the Batingaw app to enable users to get and share information in times of emergencies. It has an offline section that contains disaster preparedness information and a phone directory of significant government agencies. Those with internet connection can receive tweets and reports from government and disaster-related agencies through the app.

The Batingaw app also has a reporting tool that enables users to send messages and photographs like they would do on social networking sites. Their posts are immediately geo-tagged and added as pins on the Philippine map so that other users concerned about a certain location could tap the pins for themselves.

Moreover, the app has a radio that users can listen to for news updates; survival tools such as a siren, strobe light, flashlight, and compass to help facilitate rescue; and an “I am Safe” button that will enable users to inform family and friends of their location and situation.The app uses the phone’s Global Positioning System to pinpoint the location of users and help rescuers track precisely where assistance is needed.

The Batingaw app can be downloaded for free on iOS and Android devices. A lite version of the app is also available under FreeBasics, a Facebook program that makes access to selected websites available for free, without data charges.

Because of the many uses of the Batingaw app, the OCD-NDRRMC adopted the program and mandated council members to download the app and use it for reporting. It has also been tapped as a tool for building resilience in the Horn of Africa and renamed as REACT-HOA, also downloadable on Android and IOS.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

TECH & Gadgets

INFINIX ZERO 5: A PLEASANT SURPRISE

UICK, take a look at the photos. Nice ain’t it? Now, what camera do you think those were taken from?

Samsung? Huawei? Iphone? Oppo? Vivo?

All wrong.

Those were taken using the Infinix Zero 5, a relatively new smartphone brand in the Philippines, but is slowly making strides with its power-packed features and relatively competitive price.

Taking photos with vivid colors and sharp tones and lines, the Infinix Zero 5 doesn’t disappoint and is a pleasant surprise to customers looking for something different.

Don’t expect your selfies though to obliterate all the lines, wrinkles and imperfections of your face, making you look like a wax figure straight out of a Maddam Tussauds’ Museum.

Selfies using the Zero 5 are just right, nothing dramatic, which is nice.

But its photos aren’t even the Infinix Zero 5’s strongest suit. Its battery is.

Boasting of a 4,350 mAh battery, the Infinix Zero 5 lasted nearly two days of light surfing, a couple of calls and text messages and a sprinkling of camera use.

The Zero 5 was launched in the Philippines last November by Infinix Mobility.

Sporting a 5.98-inch display, MediaTek Helio P25 chipset, 6GB RAM, dual-rear cameras, the Infinix Zero 5 is a little bigger than your usual smartphone, making it quite difficult to do one-hand navigation.

But while the size may be a turn off to some, especially those with little hands, it is however a welcome feature to those who want their screens bigger, all 166.38 mm tall and 82.38 mm wide of it.

Watching youtube videos or NBA games is nice experience, what with its almost 6-inch display and IPS panel and Full HD resolution, with a pixel density of 368ppi, which is still acceptable for its size. Sound quality is also topnotch.

A screen protector is pre-installed on top of the Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Displayed above are the earpiece, sensor,

Taking photos with vivid colors and sharp tones and lines, the Infinix Zero 5 doesn’t disappoint and is a pleasant surprise to customers looking for something different.

the 16MP selfie camera, LED flash, and notifications light.

On the left is the dedicated microSD card slot and tray, while situated on the right is the volume control, power/lock button, and dual microSIM card slots. At

the bottom is the loudspeaker (trust us, it’s loud), USB-C port, main microphone, and 3.5mm audio port.

At the back are the dual rear cameras consisting of a 12MP primary and a 13MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom, the LED flash, and the fingerprint scanner.

Despite the large size, the Zero 5 looks and feels premium. It is also nice to hold thanks to the metal body, with tapered sides, chamfered edges, and 2.5D curved glass. The matte finish repels fingerprints and smudges.

Powering the Zero 5 is a MediaTek Helio P25 octa-core chipset, Mali-T880 MP2 GPU, 6GB RAM, and XOS 3.0 Hummingbird based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Its score of 66,297 at AnTuTu’s benchmark ain’t bad at all for a mid-range smartphone.

The Infinix Zero 5, of course, isn’t a perfect phone. No phone is, by the way.

The phone book could use a little more extra space for long names. And it is quite heavy at 197g due to the big battery, although the phone feels solid and nice to hold with its metal body, tapered sides and 2.5D curved glass.

But that’s just about it. The Infinix Zero 5 is a solid, mid-ranged smartphone for customers looking for something different.

And these days, different is a good thing. ( The Infinix Zero 5 is priced at P13,999 and is now available for purchase at Lazada and it comes with noise cancelling earphone.”

Infinix Zero 5 specs: 5.98-inch 16:9 aspect ratio Full HD IPS display @ 1080 x 1920 pixels; Corning Gorilla Glass 3; MediaTek Helio P25 MT6757 2.6GHz Octa-Core; Mali T880 MP2 GPU; 6GB LPDDR4X RAM; 64GB Internal Storage; expandable up to 128GB via microSD; 12MP Sony IMX386, f/2.0 aperture + 13MP telephoto, f/2.6 aperture, 2x optical zoom rear cameras, with dual-tone LED flash; 16MP f/2.0 aperture front camera with LED flash; Dual-SIM4G VoLTE; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.2; GPS; Fingerprint Scanner; USB Type-C; Android 7.0 Nougat with XOS 3.0; 4,350mAh battery with fast charging; 166.38 x 82.38 x 7.95mm; 197g; Champagne Gold, Bordeaux Red, and Sandstone Black. Riera U. Mallari

SAMSUNG LAUNCHES GALAXY J7+, J7 PRO IN PINK AFTER launching the Samsung Galaxy J7+ and J7 Pro last year, Samsung Electronic Philippines Corporation brings a new variant of its J7 duo—in pink!

Samsung also introduced actress Michelle Vito as its newest brand ambassador of the smartphone’s pink variant. She now joins her real-life BFF Liza Soberano, a fellow J7 series ambassador.

Just like Liza and Michelle, the J7+ and J7 Pro in pink are perfect for best friends who love to declare their friend-

ship through their style and hobbies.

Now, with the J7+ and J7 Pro in pink, you can also express your personality through your favorite color and share the experience with your BFF! Sporting the Galaxy J-Series’ famous night camera, the J7+ and J7 Pro in pink allows users to capture the night in exceptional quality, regardless of the lighting condition.

Top that with its signature 5.5” FHD Super AMOLED Display that lets you view each photo in the best quality

possible. The J7+’s 13MP+5MP rear cameras with LED flash and 16MP front camera with LED Flash and J7 Pro’s 13MP rear autofocus camera with LED flash and 13MP front-facing camera with LED flash also lets you capture all your picture-perfect moments with your BFF vibrantly and in style!

The Galaxy J7+ and J7 Pro in pink are now available in the Philippines for PHP 19,990 and PHP 15,990, respectively. To Galaxy Studio located in Taguig City, or know more about the new Samsung go online and visit facebook.com/SamGalaxy J7+ and J7 Pro, visit the Samsung sungPH or samsung.com/ph.

RCBC, eCURRENCY LAUNCH DIGITAL CASH IN PH RIZAL Commercial Banking Corporation announced recently that it has partnered with eCurrency Mint Limited (eCurrency) to launch its digital money product.

RCBC’s digital money is the organization’s latest innovative product to deliver accessible and affordable digital financial services in the country. In implementing this solution on eCurrency’s technology, RCBC is the leader in the Philippines taking the first step towards implementing a digital fiat currency.

In support of the regulatory sandbox initiative introduced

by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the launch of RCBC Cash establishes the capability to transac t bet ween existing payments platforms and will be available to hold in all e -money wallets.

Recently, the BSP released the results of a survey that showed that 86 percent of Filipino households do not have bank accounts. Designed to promote and facilitate financial inclusion, RCBC’s digital money product will give the Philippine population a way to save and transact using a secure digital payment instrument.

RCBC’s digital money will be based on eCurrency technology, which enables secure and efficient digital transactions. The eCurrency solution brings an unprecedented level of consumer protection that exemplifies RCBC as a trusted financial service provider, amid the increasingly stringent regulatory environment. The digital instrument uses high-security technology to ensure that the digital payment instrument cannot be counter feited or compromised. Furthermore, the degree of transparency required by the solution’s interoperability promotes greater governance and effective regulation.

“This launch demonstrates our commitment to bringing progressive and trusted financial services to the Philippines,” said Gil Buenaventura, President and CEO of RCBC. “eCurrency’s solution enables RCBC to launch resilient and innovative digital wallet services through RCBC’s own and partner channels. We are very happy to lead the effort to make digital financial services truly secure and affordable for all Filipinos.”

“By adopting the eCurrency solution, RCBC is creating a highlysecured digital payment instrument and e-money ecosystem,” said Jonathan Dharmapalan, founder and CEO of eCurrency.

“Our mission is to offer a digital solution that preserves the secure and inclusive characteristics of physical fiat currency and provides enhanced protection for RCBC’s partners and customers.” eCurrency and the RCBC will work with the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas in making RCBC’s digital money available as early as Q2 2018.

TRUEMONEY NOW SERVES OVER 2M FILIPINOS

TrueMoney Philippines founder and president, Xavier Marzan

JUST a short four months after achieving its 1 million unique transacting customers, TrueMoney Philippines has now reached 2 million transacting customers by the end of 2017.

The Fintech challenger only started commercial operations in late-2016, but has now grown into one of the largest payments and financial services players in the local scene.

“We are moving full speed ahead with our mission of providing the unbanked and underserved sectors with efficient access to payments and financial services,” said TrueMoney Philippines Founder and President, Xavier Marzan. “In a very short amount of time, we have built a strong base that is highly engaged with our services and transacts

regularly in our channels.”

Marzan attributes this growth to several factors, including an increase in remittance transactions, with its “TrueMoney Padala” service rates being one of the lowest in the market, as well as growth in the number of its payments and remittance centers nationwide.

Opening up new locations and tapping more opportunities to expand its network base, TrueMoney is in full throttle at the start of 2018 to provide easier access to financial services among underbanked Pinoys. “There are now close to 7,000 TrueMoney Centers all over the Philippines and we continue to expand our presence in other greenfield areas,” Mr. Marzan said.

As part of their ever-growing network of

partners, TrueMoney also recently entered into a partnership with bills payment aggregator Bayad Center to give its customers access to new billers. It currently accepts

payment for most local billers in different areas today.

TrueMoney is a digital finance venture of the C.P. Group from Thailand and Jack Ma’s Ant Financial from China. Regionally, it is the largest and fastest growing financial life platform in Southeast Asia, with over 50,000 TrueMoney agents across different countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines.

In the country, it is also regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pililinas.

To know more about TrueMoney and how to become a TrueMoney partner agent, visit www.truemoney.com.ph or call (02) 7189999.

You may also text them at 09778063775 (Globe) or 0998565999 (Smart).

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Young Life sunday, february 4, 2018

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor

manilastandardlife@gmail.com

@manilastandardlife

@MStandardLIFE

nadine lustre

Captures treasured moments A s DeMoNsTRATeD by her Instagram feed and validated by her more than 4.6 million followers, Nadine Lustre possesses an eye for photography. Many look up to how she styles, takes, and curates her images on social media, fans and professionals alike.

Nadine, who got the username @nadine from Instagram last year, fills her feed with photos of her travels and daily life activities—usually with family, friends, and her significant other James Reid.

“I just love looking at great pictures,” says Nadine. “Through social media, you see a lot of nice, well-curated feeds.” her love for beautiful photographs has driven her to browse Pinterest feeds, read books, and look at how stunning photographs are composed—much like James. This has led her to experiment with the way she takes photos.

“The more you learn to appreciate photographs, the more you understand the process of composing good ones,” avers Nadine. she advises to take photos and seek inspiration everywhere, may it be in a stunning getaway destination or on the street. “soon, you’ll be framing subjects with balance of imagery in mind and know how to take them with the light available.”

In her recent travels, Nadine captures her treasured moments using sony a5100. The digital rangefinder-type mirrorless camera lets the 24-year-old actress/singer elevate her photography with the help of its Fast hybrid AF system with 179 points and intuitive focus which give every shot a professional polish.

The a5100 also has 180-degree adjustable LCD screen, helpful in taking those perfect selfies. And at 283g (with battery and media), the camera is easy to carry along wherever she goes.

The Sony a5100 is available in Sony stores nationwide for P34,999. Go to www.sony.com.ph to read the camera’s full technical specifications.

BEHIND THE CAMERA. Nadine Lustre is an expert in taking, styling, and curating her Instagram feed, which shows her love of traveling and enjoying life with her loved ones.

Colorful night run returns The country’s number one fun-run organizer, ColorManila, which welcomed 2018 with its successful CM Paradise Run last month, is gearing up for another massive "concept fun-run" on Feb. 24 at McKinley West in Taguig City.

The much-anticipated night run, CM Blacklight Run, co-presented by Brother International Philippines, invites night runners to join in on the fun.

“Night runs are perfect for people who are working and need to cap their week with a bit of a workout, which they can do with their family and friends.

It will also be held at McKinley West, so those who just stay at BGC, Makati, Pasay, or other parts of the Metro, can easily join the event,” says ColorManila vice president Justine Cordero.

The CM Blacklight Run is ColorManila’s first night run for 2018, and the first in a series this year which

will be held in various cities nationwide.

Registration for this unique running event is ongoing. Participants can choose from three race distances: 3k, 5k, and 6.5k; and three race categories or kits: Deluxe, Rockstar, and VIP. The Deluxe kit is priced at P950 and includes a drifit shirt, headlamp, race bib, color packet, and a finisher’s medal. The P1,500 Rockstar kit, on the other hand, comes with a dri-fit shirt, headlamp, race bib, color packet, finisher’s medal, drawstring bag, and a foldable water bottle. Finally, the VIP kit, priced at P2,500 comes with the same inclusions in Rockstar kit plus a finisher’s pillow, P1,000 worth of CM Merchandise GCs, and a VIP pass.

Lucky for kids below 7 years old, as they get to run for free, according to Cordero.

Visit www.colormanila.com for more information.

The CM Blacklight Run will light up McKinley West on Feb. 24

young Life y

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sunday, february 4, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

brylle Li, a culinary student in benilde

Filipino student-cheF competes in int’l culinary tilt

buddIng culinary student-chef brylle Callano Li represented the philippines in the young Chefs Olympiad (yCO) in India on feb. 2, it is considered the biggest cooking battle against contestants from more than 50 countries.

Li, a culinary student from the school of Hotel, restaurant and Institution Management of the de La salle-College of saint benilde, serves as the college’s third consecutive annual entry in the competition.

the understated elegance of brylle Li represents the country in yCO '18

Originally held in 2015 as a countrywide tilt and eventually transformed into a global event in 2016, the yCO tests the participant’s mastery of skills, innovation, and speed in two pre-qualifying rounds across various key cities in India. the top 10 contestants then competed for the finals where the winner earned the title and a $10,000 cash prize. this year’s chef judges is led by prof. david foskett (Obe), author of the bestselling book Practical Cookery & Theory of Catering and an emeritus professor at the London school of Hospitality and tourism, university of West London. Other sterling Michelin-starred and celebrity chefs who are on the jury include Chris galvin, John Wood, enzo Oliveri, Zenobia nadirshaw, ron scott, shaun Kenworthy, udo Leick, andreas Mueller, and Karl guggenmos.

Organized by India’s International Institute of Hotel Management, the yCO likewise provides young culinarians a chance to develop a worldwide network of celebrity chefs and industry professionals.

W

selena gomez

ItH her hair in high, 50s-style ponytail, nude-brown lips and sharp eyebrows, and a Coach leather bag in her hand, selena gomez exudes a vibe that is cool and sophisticated.

the 25-year-old singer/actress stars in Coach’s latest campaign, featuring the key bags from the spring 2018 collection. the campaign pictures gomez resting on a window ledge in a loft with a quintessential pre-war fire escape and the iconic empire state building in the background. “the Coach girl is real—she’s riding the subway or, this season, hanging out in her cool nyC apartment. selena has a warmth that’s special—

there is also an authenticity and realness to her that brings the campaign to life,” explains the campaign’s creative director, stuart Vevers. to achieve this vision, Coach brought together its long-time team of collaborators: photographer steven Meisel, stylist Karl templer, creative director fabien baron, makeup artist pat Mcgrath, and hair stylist guido palau.

selena’s makeup, according to Mcgrath, accentuates her natural beauty and her innate sweet, down-to-earth personality. While palau had a great time styling selena's “gorgeous hair.” the campaign consists of five images with selena carrying key bags from the spring 2018 collection, including the parker, an all-new silhouette with handles that convert to a shoulder strap. the lightweight style is crafted in quilted nappa leather with bold colorblocking and rivets for a graphic touch. the parker bag launches this month. a version in Coach’s signature Canvas and smooth leather with a tea rose turnlock closure will launch later in the season.

SOPHISTICATED SELENA.

selena gomez stars in Coach's spring 2018 campaign that features a gorgeous lady sitting on a window ledge in her apartment in new york.

empowering millennial shoppers

from left: aLtus digital Capital vice president and chief operating officer Liam Mendoza, unilever philippines head of Media dennis perez, and unilever philippines head of e-Commerce Kay Veloso

as part of its commitment to empower transformations of young filipino females through great products, iamClaire.com, a new website geared towards digital-savvy millennials, brings unilever products to its platform. “as an evolutionary digital platform, we are very happy to have one of the world’s biggest and most trusted consumer product group with us,” says Liam Mendoza, chief operating officer of aLtus digital Capital, the parent company of iamClaire.

Launched last year, iamClaire is an online community that seamlessly brings together lifestyle content, e-commerce, and social media sharing, where community members can shop straight from an article to their digital shopping cart. It is dubbed as a “sisterhood of millennials in southeast

asia” that aims to inspire, motivate, and empower women on their journey to selfand world discovery.

“It is an online community where women can share and celebrate their own unique stories, with content covering everything from beauty, fitness and Wellness, and Lifestyle,” according to iamClaire website.

Meanwhile, the collaboration with the social commerce platform is a testament to unilever’s continued push for digital innovations.

“We are at the brink of a retail evolution. More and more filipinos are now going online to browse, shop, and share. e-Commerce is only going to get bigger, and wherever our shoppers are, we need to be there,” says Kay Veloso, head of e-Commerce for unilever philippines.

Showbiz

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018

SPOTTED

MYRTLE

HOT

SARROSA

CARWASH BOY

ALERT

PAINTSTHE TOWN RED

r Myrtle

s and cosplaye

DESS. Actres issue.

COSPLAY GOD she covers FHM February

Up-and-coming singer-actor Lance Edward surprises the Internet with a set of stolen shots of him doing the dirty job at his car wash shop.

t as Sarrosa is red ho

By Nickie Wang

A

CTRESS and cosplayer Myrtle Sarrosa embraces her sensuality and shows off her sensational curves as she dons something fit for the love month.

The rising star graces the cover of a popular men’s magazine and proves everyone that she’s one of the faces people should watch out for this 2018.

Myrtle Sarrosa is a certified eye candy in numerous shots for the cover story where she shows off her sensational figure.

Described by FHM as the “New Myrtle,” the 23-yearold puts on a revealing red two-piece matched with faux fur coat falling off her shoulders.

The popular men’s glossy noted, “She’s also back to show you that she has more in store. This is just the tip of the iceberg, gents. She was just starting last year—marking the year with a Cum Laude finish and an epic Ginebra Calendar gig. This time

around, she promises that nothing’s going to stop her from blossoming.”

In an article on FHM website, the magazine also added that the Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition 4 Big Winner has “come into her own after many changes from previous year embraced her innate sexiness to eventually project a more confident version of herself.”

Before entering show business, Myrtle, at age 14, started participating in Cosplay Conventions and had won several awards for representing numerous characters inspired by animé , cartoons, comic books, live-action films, television series and video games.

In 2012, she joined the teen edition of Pinoy Big Brother and eventually emerged as the season’s Big Winner. Thereafter, she launched her acting and recording career being cast in television series like Kahit Puso’y Masugatan, Moon of Desire, Forevermore, and My Super D.

She’s been recently cast in La Luna Sangre, The Good Son, and FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.

As a recording artist, she collaborated with Young JV in releasing a digital single entitled, “Your Name,” which ranked Number 1 on MYX’s Myx Mobile Top Picks. She has released two CDs, a self-titled album, and a sophomore record that was certified Gold by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry in October 2016.

She’s also ventured into songwriting and was able to pen a few songs for Maja Salvador and Jennylyn Mercado.

On the big screen, she debuted in the Cinemalaya entry Lola in 2014. In the same year, she was cast in Star Cinema’s Once A Princess.

Later, she joined the cast of another Star Cinema movie Just The Way You Are in 2015, and in Regal Entertainment’s MMFF 2017 entry, Haunted Forest.

KIM CHIU, RYAN BANG

UNLIKELY PAIR IN NEW ROMCOM KAPAMILYA stars Kim Chiu and Ryan Bang are teaming up for the first time to headline a Star Cinema movie to be directed by Tony Reyes.

In an ABS-CBN news report on Wednesday, Reyes revealed that Kim already started filming but a release date is yet to be announced.

He added that the new team-up will be joined by Moi Bien, Pepe Herrera, and Lassy Marquez.

“Siyempre, sikat ngayon ang mga Korean hearthrob, at isa na po siya doon,” Kim said is jest referring to her leading man.

In a separate interview, Ryan said he feels fortunate to be paired with Kim, “Kasi si Kim Chiu ang pinaka crush ng mga Korean dito sa Pilipinas.”

“May mga hindi kilala kay Ryan Bang, pero kilala si Kim Chiu ng lahat. Lahat ng kaibigan ko nababaliw na. Promise!” Ryan added, triggering laughter among some members of the press.

Kim’s latest film was the horror flick The Ghost Bride while Ryan was part of the 2017 romantic comedy film Loving in Tandem, which starred Maymay Entrata, Edward Barber, Kisses Delavin, and Marco Gallo.

Kim and Ryan both rose to prominence after joining the teen editions of Pinoy Big Brother in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

C3

Nickie Wang, Issue Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com

Former 'Pinoy Big Brother' housemates Kim Chiu and Ryan Bang team up in a new Star Cinema flick.

WHEN you first see his half naked photos, one cannot help but immediately wonder who this young man is. And it’s easy to understand why.

He seems oblivious of the fact that his body attracts attention.

It can be best described as lean and mean, with a torso adorned with proud man nipples, and when you scrutinize the body in display, he has a happy trail, that ooohlala set of hair growth below the belly button.

He is hot! Definitely, anyone who gets to see his three set of photos for posterity, feels his man meat heat. But what is more striking though, is the expression on his face; he is committed to do the tasks, of cleaning and taking good care of an automobile.

Seriously, are all car technicians or car wash boys this delicious and responsible? Is he for real or this is just one of those photo stunts?

Well, the dude in the photo is Lance Edward. No, he is not a cousin of the hunky vampire Edward Cullen nor distantly related to Johnny Depp’s Edward Scissorhands. He does not mind getting dirty so as to finish the job at hand.

He is also a singer, dancer, actor and just recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Manila University.

He shares the story behind the photos, “Yes, it is me. I believe the photo was taken when I was helping my carwash boys during our peak hours. I was not aware that a friend of mine took a picture while working. I was topless! My friend loves to make fun of me. You know, nobody was in the basement that time so I decided to take off my shirt, it was just too hot.”

He has a home service carwash business around the Bonifacio Global City area. He says, “I decided to create a home service carwash business to serve the people who are busy.”

Well, Lance Edward, you can wash all our cars any time, just make sure you take off your top. You are just too sexy for your shirt.

C4

sunday, february 4, 2018

Desiree Carlos, Editor

Pets

daycarlos28@yahoo.com

Myths aBout dogs cognitive dysfunction (which is basically senility) and will not be able to retain new information well. Perhaps the saying should be ‘you can't teach a senile dog new tricks.’”

Myth #7: A dog is happy when he wags his tail.

Not totally true!

A happy dog does wag his tail, yes. But stregowski warned that there are other reasons why a dog wags his tail: FeAR, ANXieTY OR ANOTheR POssiBLe PReCURsOR TO AGGRessiON. so it is best to be careful when approaching a dog with a wagging tail.

FACT: “Canine body language can get pretty complex. Tail wagging is just one of the many ways dogs communicate. While it is true that tail wagging is often an indication of happiness, it can sometimes be a sign of fear, anxiety or another potential precursor to aggression.

Rather than looking just at the tail, it is best to pay attention to a dog's overall body language to determine its mood,” stregowski stressed.

pet tales

By desiree carlos

Myth #8: A female dog must give birth once before being spayed.

silver, a senior rescued dog, enjoys a car ride. Part of her daily routine is walking. she is still active at age 15.

pet tales

By desiree carlos

T

(Part 2)

heRe are more myths about dogs that are causing—unconsciously or consciously—stress or anxiety among pet owners. here are five more myths debunked by Jenna stregowski in her article in The spruce entitled,” What are the biggest dog myths (Common Misconceptions About Dogs).

Myth #5: A dog’s age is equivalent to seven human years.

False!

When you believe this and say that a one-year-old dog is seven years old in human years, then you will also say a 15-year-old dog is 105 years old in human years. if you will follow this logic, that will make the dog as old as humans also in terms of physical health.

But that is not the case, stregowski said.

For one, a dog can reproduce before the age of one (or seven years old based on the myth) while humans can reproduce after the first menstruation or at 10 years old at the earliest.

For another, a lot of dogs live up to 15 years old or 105 in human years based on the myth. But there are a lot of active senior dogs unlike human seniors. Also, not many humans reach 105 years old.

There are even dogs who live beyond 15 years old. i personally know a pet owner whose asong Pinoy or aspin lived up to 21 years old. “someone probably looked at the average lifespan of people versus the average lifespan of dogs and made the estimate of seven dog years for every human year. it's really just an over-simplified way of describing the rate at which a dog ages,” stregowski said.

FACT: stregowski explained that a dog ages faster than humans early in life. But the rate of aging in dogs gets slower later in life.

“For instance, a one-year-old dog is basically like a human teenager, but an eight-year-old dog is like a middle-aged human (the latter matches up more closely with the seven-year theory),” stregowski said. she added that a dog’s size and breed are also factors in a dog’s aging rate and life span.

A number of small breed dogs live for 15-20 years while many large or giant breed dogs live for 7-10 years.

My Furry Bestie

This corner features pets of animal lovers every week. We hope new owners and those thinking of getting a pet will be encouraged to be responsible “furparents” through these features. We also hope more people will be moved to be kind to animals when they read about the great relationship that can be created between humans and animals.

For contributions, please email to daycarlos28@yahoo.com and put My Furry Bestie as subject.

sam and Kulet (with curly brown hair), have been desexed to prevent pregnancy. Their rescuer and custodian save Animals of Love and Light (save ALL) believes in helping control animal population through spaying and neutering. To save ALL, this is the best way to lessen the number dogs who end up as strays, abused, or even killed for their meat. “in a strange twist, young giant breed dogs tend to reach adulthood more slowly than the average dog, despite their shorter lifespans, “stregowski said.

Myth #6: An old dog can not be taught new tricks.

False!

We have heard it many times: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

They say this referring to a person’s stubbornness. But humans do learn at any age if they want to.

The same goes with dogs. stregowski said,”People probably noticed that their older dogs had less interest in new activities and were less responsive to training.

The saying also refers to adults who are ‘set in their ways.’"

FACT: Old dogs can be taught something new. it may not be easy but it can be done.

For one, dogs experience old-age sensory changes and may thus not see or hear like he used to.

For another, he is likely to have less energy than a young dog.

To re-train an old dog, you are advised to: 1. Get his attention.

2. Make sure the activity is not too physically demanding for a senior dog.

3. Keep the training interesting by using his favorite toys or treats.

But stregowski stressed, “be aware that some senior dogs experience

MisAY was seen by Juvy Gojo Cruz in a canal when she was just days old. she was bottlefed by her new mommy and survived. she is now a fivemonth-old furbaby who is showered with love

by Juvy.

Misay thinks the other pets in their home are her siblings, Juvy says.

Misay also prefers being fed by hand, but she never goes up the table to eat the food there, Juvy adds.. she may be spoiled by mommy but she is a good girl, Juvy proudly says.

False!

There is no need to have a dog bred before spaying.

With the number of stray dogs and abandoned or neglected dogs increasing all over the world, it is more urgent to control animal population.

Too many dogs are left to fend for themselves in the streets because owners abandoned them when they could not pay for medical treatment. Too many dogs are killed in pounds every week because they were surrendered by irresponsible owners or caught in the streets. Too many dogs are killed for their meat.

We do not need to hear of more dogs being abused, hurt, abandoned, neglected, and killed. if you are a true animal lover, we encourage you to have your dog spayed ( the female dog’s cervix is removed) or neutered (the balls of male dogs are removed).

Please help put an end to cruelty and abandonment. Please help control animal population in the country.

Be a responsible pet owner.

FACT: “it may come as a surprise to some that dogs do not think like humans. They will not feel ‘empty’ because they never had puppies. in fact, some dogs are not even good mothers, “ stregowski said. she added, ”Breeding your female dog and helping to raise puppies can turn out to be a big job for you. is it worth it? in reality, it contributes to pet overpopulation.”

There is also no evidence that there are health benefits for dogs if a dog is bred after the first heat.

Myth #9: Tug-of-war is one possible cause of aggression.

False!

Many have advised against playing tug-of-war with one’s dog, arguing that this causes aggression in dogs or results in dominant behavior in them. it would only appear that the game reinforces aggressive behavior in dogs because dogs tend to growl and snarl when they play the game, stregowski said.

FACT: But stregowski said the dogs are actually just enjoying the game and would not hurt anyone in the process.

Professional dog trainers actually observed a decrease in aggressive and dominant behavior among dogs who played the game. it became an outlet for their emotions, she said. “it is a healthy display of their predatory nature and an excellent mental and physical workout. Tug-of-war is also a great way to reinforce the human-canine bond,”she said. “some experts say the human should always win the game, while others say the dog should always win. in reality, it probably depends on the dog. Winning tug-of-war boosts your dog's confidence while losing might humble him. if your dog has no behavior problems, you can probably switch up the winning and losing. if you are in doubt, find a dog trainer and ask for advice, “she added.

During the game, stregowski advised owners to remember: “if your dog's teeth ever touch your flesh, the game is over for the time being.”

There are other dog myths out there. We will discuss the other myths at another time to help dog owners enjoy their time with their furbabies. have a blessed week ahead, everyone!

RAiN loves to walk in Luneta Park in Manila, says owner Wenna Redaniel Tapican. she is a very approachable, sweet dog who makes friends with other dogs while strolling, Wenna says.