Manila Standard - 2018 February 16 - Friday

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Source: YourChineseAstrology.com

No year of the cat? Here’s why WHY isn’t there a Year of the Cat in the Chinese astrological calendar?

Feline fanatics may have wondered about that for centuries now, as the Chinese Lunar New Year dawns today, Feb. 16, with the first day of the Year of the Dog. The Philippines has declared it a special non-working holiday.

The Dog is the 11th of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, but it could have been the cat’s place, if one Chinese legend about these animals is to be believed.

As posted on the website YourChineseAstrology.com, the story goes that all the animals wanted to be part of the zodiac when the Jade Emperor decreed he would select the zodiac signs.

However, according to the emperor’s standard, only animals helpful to human beings could be selected. All the animals then sought to prove their worth as good helpers to humans to the emperor.

The legend goes that both Cat and Dog had a close relationship with humans.

The Cat thought the Dog ate too much

VOL. XXXII • NO. 5 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

PH ignores Chinese names on Benham

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Palace sees no bad faith involved

By Vito Barcelo and Francisco Tuyay

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ALACAÑANG said Thursday it is not alarmed over China’s move to tag five underwater features of Philippine Rise with Chinese names, saying there was no bad faith involved and that bilateral relations remain intact.

17 LIVES LOST. People are brought out of the Marjory

Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida (left) after a shooting incident there where at least 17 people were killed after a former student—identified as Nikolas cruz, 19, who had been expelled for ‘disciplinary reasons’— armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fire earlier in the day.

Police are continuing with their investigation. AFP

Source: EveryTown for Gun Safety.US media / AFP

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Philippines will assert its sovereign rights over the Philippine Rise and would give Filipino names to each underwater feature found there.

“Giving names does not mean they are claiming it. China recognizes that they have no rights at the Philippine Rise and they recognize our sovereign rights,” Roque said.

“The naming does not entail sovereign rights because sovereign rights [are the] exclusive right to explore and exploit, conduct scientific research, lay submarine cables and build artificial islands,” he added.

Roque said the Philippines would not use the Chinese names and use Filipino ones instead.

China had earlier named four seamounts Jinghao, Tianbao, Haidonquing, and Jujiu; and the Cuiqiao Hill. The Cuiqiao Hill and Jujiu Seamount form

Florida rampage:

Hornet fighter jet—a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft— prepares to take off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on Wednesday as the carrier strike group takes part in a routine deployment mission in the South China Sea, an hour away from Manila.

With a deafening roar and earthshaking vibrations, fighter jets zoomed off the carrier as it navigated in the waters of the disputed South China Sea in what its admiral said was a tangible sign of American presence in the region. AFP

school, 17 dead

Pastor held in Honolulu

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan A RELIGIOUS leader from Davao, Kingdom of Jesus Christ pastor Apollo Quiboloy, was arrested and detained—but later released—in Honolulu, Hawaii, after United States federal agents found $350,000 in cash and unassembled military-style rifles, according to the online Hawaii News.

Quiboloy arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 on board Philippine Airlines flight PR113 from Los Angeles Thursday evening.

The KoJC administration said in an earlier statement: “We cannot comment on the issue at the moment. We will just inform everyone on a possible press con when pastor ACQ is ready. He is still on his way [home] to the country.”

The Hawaii News report said Next page

PARKLAND, Florida—Authorities in Florida could offer no explanation Wednesday night as to why a former student armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fire at a high school earlier that day, killing at least 17 people.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel identified the gunman as Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who had been expelled for “disciplinary reasons,” but was currently enrolled in Broward County Public Schools.

Cruz, whose fellow students

‘‘

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US warship sets mission in disputed sea Rody ups bounty

By Ayee Macaraig on Reds: P25k @ USS Carl Vinson. “I think it’s very clear that we are in the South China Sea. We are operating.”

The Carl Vinson, one of the US Navy’s longest-serving active carriers, is conducting what officials say is a routine mission through the hotly contested waters where years of island reclamation and military construction by Beijing have rattled regional nerves.

How well we ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON— a deafening roar, the fighter jets adapt to change With catapulted off the US aircraft carrier and above the disputed South China will determine soared Sea, as its admiral vowed that the ship’s presence was proof America still had rehow good the gional clout. presence matters,” Rear Adm. year comes out John“USFuller told reporters on board the for us.

— Graft court puts Aquino trial on hold Princess Lim Fernandez, feng shui expert

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READY FOR TAKEOFF. An F-18

Teener fires at

APOLLO QUIBOLOY

the central peaks of the Philippine Rise undersea geological province.

China was one of the countries that conducted scientific research at the Philippine Rise, known internationally as Benham Rise, before President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a stop to all foreign activities in the area.

Roque expressed hope that China will not take it against the Philippines if the Filipinos will not use the Chinese names.

“It is clear that Philippine Rise is under our sovereign rights. We don’t see basis for China to be alarmed with our position that we will insist on our naming rights,” Roque said.

Roque also believed that the issue will not affect the improving relations between China and the Philippines under the Duterte administration.

Roque said the Department of Foreign Affairs is now nominating a Filipino

By Maricel V. Cruz THE Sandiganbayan has suspended the arraignment of former President Benigno Aquino III, former police chief Alan Purisima, and former Special Action Force director Getulio Napeñas on charges of graft and usurpation of authority to comply with a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court.

By Vito Barcelo

The three were supposed to be arraigned Thursday for their roles in the January 2015 Mamasapano massacre in which 44 police commandos were killed in a covert anti-terrorist operation.

The TRO was issued in response to a petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General, which asked the Court to compel the Office of the Ombudsman to

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is willing to pay a reward of P25,000 for every New People’s Army member killed by non-communists, raising the previous bounty of P20,000.

The President declared this Tuesday in front of a crowd, including city and municipal mayors and military personnel at the Brigadier General Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu City.

Speaking in the Sugbuhanon language, Duterte asked why these people—the New People’s Army members—follow Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison who was living a comfortable life in The Netherlands while his armed rebels were in the mountains starving and fighting the government for what he called a pointless ideology.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Ombudsman explains case of missing probe results

Kuwait accused of neglect in Filipino workers’ case

By Rio N. Araja

HE Philippines called Kuwait’s failure to protect Filipino workers a breach of the latter’s international obligations which amount to an outrage, bad faith or willful neglect of duty.

THE Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday finally broke its silence over the reports of the termination of an investigation into the plunder complaint of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV against President Rodrigo Duterte in November last year.

The agency said the probe on the complaint filed against Aquino was terminated on Nov. 29 after the Anti-Money Laundering Council declined to provide a report on requested vital data.

But it said “[a] closed and terminated field investigation is without prejudice to the refiling of a complaint with new or additional evidence.”

“It has come to the knowledge of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales from the press briefing of Solicitor General Jose Calida that he has been informed of the closure and termination of the investigation, through a 12 February 2018 letterresponse to his letter-inquiry dated 8 February 2018 addressed to Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang,” the agency said in a statement Morales defended the Ombudsman’s silence when Calida “raised certain questions which may be answered by his own declarations.”

“He asked why the Ombudsman kept quiet about the matter. Oddly, he himself pointed out that the Ombudsman had inhibited herself from the investigation,” Carpio-Morales said.

“The Solicitor General might want to consider whether it is proper for an official who inhibited from an investigation to remain involved therein. The Ombudsman posits that it is not. In keeping therewith, the investigation was given free rein and proceeded without her intervention.

In fact, the Ombudsman learned about such closure and termination only on Jan. 29, 2018, upon an inquiry on the status thereof after learning that Overall Deputy Ombudsman Carandang was formally charged and placed under preventive suspension by the Office of the President.

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and slept in front of the human’s door all day, while the Dog thought the Cat only ate good food and did nothing but scare the Rat all day.

They argued, and asked the Jade Emperor to decide who between them was right.

The Jade Emperor asked the Dog: “How much do you eat for a meal?” The Dog replied honestly: “I watch the door and guard the house every day, and I eat a bowl of food for a meal.”

Turning to the Cat, the Jade Emperor asked: “What about you?” The Cat said slyly: “I can chant scriptures and catch rats, and I eat every meal off an oil lamp of food.”

The Cat figured that since an oil lamp was smaller than a bowl, its contribution to humans was bigger than the Dog’s.

The Jade Emperor believed the Cat, which made the Dog very angry because the Cat lied.

The Dog then chased after the Cat, trying to bite it. The Cat knew it was in the wrong, so it kept running and dared not show up in the human’s home, hiding from place to place.

However, the story continues that the heavenly officers didn’t follow the Jade Emperor’s decree and changed the rule: the first animals to arrive at the Heavenly Palace would make up the Chinese zodiac signs.

The Dog heard this news, so it came to the palace with the Rooster, while the Cat was still hiding. The Rooster flew in the front of the Dog, and thus became the 10th symbol in the zodiac.

The Cat also learned this new rule and tried to beat the other animals to the palace, especially the Rooster.

But it was tricked by the Rat, who hid in the Ox’s horn and thus became the first animal in the zodiac, edging out the Cat. From then on, the Chinese legend goes, the Cat hated the Rat and killed rats whenever it found one. Meanwhile, the Dog never forgave the Cat, despite making it to the zodiac.

Cat lovers probably found solace that their favorite animal still made it to another zodiac―the Vietnamese zodiac, which is almost identical to the Chinese one except the feline is the fourth animal, replacing the Rabbit, and the second one is the Water Buffalo instead of the Ox. The most common explanation for that switch, Vietnamese say, is that their ancient word for rabbit (Mao) sounds like the word for cat (Meo).

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In an official translated transcript forwarded to the media Thursday, Duterte said the new offer to members of indigenous communities was in response to Sison’s threat that the NPA could kill one soldier a day to force the resumption of peace talks.

“I’m placing a premium of P25,000. If you work really hard to crawl across the forest, you’ll surely be able to shoot even just one. If you can shoot a bird above you, then how much more about an [NPA] whose head is so big?” Duterte said.

The President said the method of counter-insurgency would be much cheaper because in four yours time, the military could save at least 47 percent in the campaign against terrorism.

By Vito Barcelo

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“I’d like to remind Kuwait authorities of the standards by which aliens should be treated in their territory. And under international law, each country is bound to give to the nationals of another country in its territory the benefit of the same laws, the same administration, the same protection and the same redress for injury which gives its own citizens neither more or less provided the protection which the country gives to its own citizens conforms to the established standard of civilization,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a

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Following criticism that the Trump administration’s commitment to the Asian region has been distracted by North Korea, reporters were flown onto the ship Wednesday as it sailed through the sea.

In a rapid series of take-offs and landings, F18 fighter jets roared off the deck, traveling from zero to 290 kilometres (180 miles) per hour in a dizzying two seconds.

Fuller, commander of the Carl Vinson Strike Group, said the 333-meter ship’s presence was a way to reassure allies.

“The nations in the Pacific are maritime nations,” he said. “They value stability ...

That’s exactly what we are here for. This is a very visible and tangible presence. The United States is here again.”

But the location of the strike group— which includes a carrier air wing and a guided-missile cruiser -- is also a very direct message to China, whether US officials admit it or not.

Its voyage comes just a month after the Pentagon’s national defense strategy labelled China a “strategic competitor” that bullies its neighbors while militarizing features in the South China Sea. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea—believed to hold vast oil and gas deposits and through which $5 trillion in trade passes annually—and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims in the sea.

Compared to the 11 active aircraft carriers in the US Navy, China currently boasts just one carrier.

But the rising Asian superpower has made no secret of its desire to build up its naval forces and become much more regionally assertive.

Last month Beijing said it had dispatched a warship to drive away a US missile destroyer which had “violated” its sovereignty by sailing close to a shoal in the South China Sea. Major naval nations like the US, Britain and Australia are determined not to let China dictate who can enter the strategic waters.

They have pushed “freedom of navigation” operations in which naval vessels sail close to Chinese-claimed militarised islets in the South China Sea. “We will follow what international rule says and we will respect [it], even if there are disputes there,” Fuller said.

The nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson—the ship that took Osama Bin Laden’s body for burial at sea -- began a regular deployment in the Western Pacific last month.

The carrier is home to 5,300 sailors, pilots, and other crew members as well as 72 aircraft.

Washington has announced plans for it to dock in Vietnam—a first for the communist nation which is rattled by China’s expansionism in the sea and has forged a growing alliance with its former foe the US. Britain said on Tuesday it will sail its own warship from Australia through the South China Sea next month to assert freedom of navigation rights in support of the US approach.

But alliances are shifting.

The Philippines, a US treaty ally, was once the strongest critic of Beijing’s expansionism in the South China Sea, successfully winning a tribunal case in The Hague over their claims.

But it has changed course under President Rodrigo Duterte in a bid for billions of dollars worth of Chinese investment.

Duterte last week said it was not time to fight China over the row, adding the Philippines should “not meddle” with Washington and Beijing’s competition for superpower status.

In Wednesday’s trip, the USS Carl Vinson hosted top Duterte aides and key Philippine military officers.

Duterte’s communications secretary Martin Andanar described the carrier as “very impressive” and its equipment “massive.”

Asked if Manila welcomed US patrols in the disputed area, Andanar told reporters: “The United States has been a big brother of the Philippines, a military ally.”

AFP

press briefing Thursday.

He said the basis for state liability when it fails to protect aliens in its territory was that they would be recognized in international standards as an insufficient government in protecting foreign migrants.

However, Roque declined to react on the condemnation by the Iraqi Foreign Minister, saying the secretary of Foreign Affairs was the right agency to react on such matter.

“We can only hope that pursuant to established international standards, the Kuwaiti government will accord the victims the same rights enjoyed by its nationals.

Meaning, they will conduct an investigation, a speedy and honest investigation, they will prosecute and punish the perpetrators,” Roque added.

In related developments: • The remains of domestic helper Joanna Daniela Demafelis, murdered and her body stuffed in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait, will arrive today at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

In its advisory sent to members of the

media Thursday, the Manila International Airport Authority-Media Affairs Division said Demafelis’ remains would be carried from Kuwait to Manila via Gulf Air flight GF 154 and scheduled to arrive at Naia Terminal 1 around 10 a.m.

Demafelis’ death triggered the Philippine government to declare the total ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait.

The decision, as instructed by President Rodrigo Duterte, was made official by Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III during a press conference last Monday.

Late last month, the agency suspended the deployment to Kuwait on the heels of reports that seven Filipino workers there died for alleged maltreatment.

• In the Senate, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon believes the total ban on the deployment of OFWs in Kuwait was a remedy necessary due to the abuses committed on migrant Filipino workers.

With Joel Zurbano and Macon Ramos-Araneta

Condom use ineffective—CBCP

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE increasing number of people with the human immune deficiency virus proves that pushing for condom use is ineffective, a Catholic priest said Thursday.

Dan Cancino, Commission on Health Care executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, called on health advocates to reconsider their ways of addressing the increase in the spread of the virus among Filipinos.

“As we can see, the number of HIV cases is still rising. You distribute condoms and yet the numbers are still on the rise,” Cancino told the Church-run Radio Veritas.

“Maybe we should reconsider this matter as being the solution to the HIV menace. It appears that the goal of the intervention is far from the results.”

Cancino made his statement even as Senator Risa Hontiveros said President Rodrigo Duterte “should stop making thoughtless, reckless and irresponsible statements at the expense of public health.”

She was reacting to Duterte’s comments on family planning and contraception, arguing against the use of condoms as a fam-

ily planning option because it is “not pleasurable.”

“It’s not delicious if there’s a condom?”

Hontiveros said.

“President Duterte seems to be overly concerned with pleasure. There is nothing pleasurable or funny about the rise in our cases of HIV and teen pregnancy.”

By disapproving of condoms as a safe and reliable form of contraception, Hontiveros said, the President was denying the public the widest array of options to plan their families, protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and curb the growing number of teenage pregnancies.

Hontiveros, head of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, family Relations and Gender Equality, said Duterte’s public disapproval of condoms also put the burden of family planning on women.

“The President’s statement is a virtual insistence that women should continue to carry the burden of family planning alone,” Hontiveros said.

Cancino said the HIV problem would be solved through the provision of proper education, awareness based on gospel values, strengthening family ties and respecting life.

SANBA'S FURY. Rescuers guide a resident across a swollen river following heavy rains in Carrascal town in Surigao del Sur province in Mindanao on Feb. 14, 2018, a day after Tropical Storm 'Sanba' hit the province. The death toll from a tropical storm that struck the Philippines has risen to nine, officials said, as some of the thousands of displaced residents returned home with floods receding. AFP

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ownership of the suitcase.

She was arrested and detained for failing to declare the full amount of money she was bringing but was released after paying the bail bond of $25,000.

Salinas only declared that she would be bringing $40,000.

She was charged with attempted bulk cash smuggling and was ordered to face the Hawaiian Court on February 27.

Quibuloy, who claimed to be the “appointed Son of God,” on the other hand was detained for almost a day, but was released and was returning to the Philippines via commercial flight.

Under federal law, individuals have to declare amounts of more than $10,000, if the money is being taken out of the country.

Quiboloy has six million followers and a long time friend of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Pastor owned a 2015 Cessna Citation Sovereign Plus and a Bell 429 helicopter.

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imprudence, however, is a wanton disregard of the sufficiency of evidence to form a belief that a crime for reckless imprudence has been committed,” Calida said.

The chief state lawyer said Aquino allowed Napeñas to push through with the operation under Purisima, who was suspended at the time.

“As the PNP [Philippine National Police] is under the DILG, the President, as the Chief Executive, exercises supervision and control over it. Thus, given that the President gave the policy direction to arrest Marwan and Usman, and that he approved Oplan Exodus with full knowledge of its operational details, the Chief Executive is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the mission,” Calida said.

The 44 SAF members were killed in an operation to neutralize Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan and his righthand Abdul Basit Usman on Jan. 25, 2015.

Marwan, a Malaysian bomb maker with a bounty from the US government, was killed during the operation, but a fierce encounter ensued, killing 44 SAF members.

Quiboloy was among six other individuals on board the Cessna Citation Sovereign.

The News said before the plane departed for Philippine soil, Customs and Border Enforcement agents even boarded the private jet.

The American authorities then found 350,000 in $100 bills neatly folded and stuffed inside the socks in a suitcase.

They also found on the plane parts to assemble military-style rifles, it added.

The US Embassy in Manila refused to provide information and referred questioners to the authorities in Hawaii.

“I recommend you contact ‎ the authorities in Hawaii for information on any reports of arrest there,” US Embassy spokesperson Molly Koscina said.

Felina Salinas, the only American citizen on board the plane, allegedly claimed

file more serious charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide against Aquino, Purisima and Napeñas.

Solicitor General Jose Calida had asked the Court to order the anti-graft body to charge Aquino with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide for the for the death of 44 members of the SAF in the bloody Mamasapano clash three years ago.

Calida expressed his support for the petition filed by two relatives of the slain commandos.

Calida also sought the inclusion of Purisima and Napeñas as accused in 44 counts of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

Earlier, the Ombudsman had charged Aquino, Purisima and Napeñas with usurpation of official functions and violation of the Anti-Graft Law, but the anti-graft body dismissed the case for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

“The act of public respondent Ombudsman in the case of dismissing the case for reckless

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expert to become a member of the UN body which names undersea features.

The Philippine Rise, located on the east side of the country, is a 13-million hectare underwater territory that the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf awarded to the Philippines as part of the country’s extended continental shelf in 2012.

While Roque appeared conciliatory, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said the country will never recognized the Chinese names that have been registered by China.

“We do not recognize the Chinese names given to these undersea features in the Philippine Rise,” Esperon said.

Esperon maintained that the decision of the Sub-Committee On Undersea Feature Names was made without any consultation with the Philippine government.

“As a matter of procedure, the approval of proposals for the naming of undersea features are decided upon solely by the 12-member SCUFN composed of Germany (Chair), China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Italy and Russia. Decisions by the SCUFN are deemed as final and non-appealable,” he said.

Esperon said the Philippines has alerted SCUFN against any future applications in Philippine waters.

He said the registration of the seamounts was brought up during the PhilippinesChina Bilateral Consultative Mechanism meeting held Tuesday.

The opposition Liberal Party said Thursday the government “can’t simply be dismissive” about China’s naming of five features within the Philippine Rise.

In a statement, LP president Senator Francis Pangilinan said the Philippine Rise was within the country’s territory and it is Filipinos that should label the parts of it. With Macon Ramos-Araneta, PNA

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described him as “troubled,” was arrested without incident in the nearby town of Coral Springs after the Valentine’s Day rampage and taken to hospital with minor injuries, the sheriff said.

“We have already begun to dissect his websites and things on social media that he was on and some of the things... are very, very disturbing,” Israel said.

“If a person is predisposed to commit such a horrific event by going to a school and shooting people ... there’s not anybody or not a lot law enforcement can do about it.”

Israel said both students and adults had been killed, 12 of whom have now been identified.

He said at least 14 were taken to hospital and two had died there of their wounds.

He added one of those killed was a football coach, and one student injured was a deputy sheriff’s son.

“This is a terrible day for Parkland,” Israel said, speaking of the city of about 30,000 people, located 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Miami.

A teacher at the school said Cruz had been identified previously as a potential threat to his classmates. AFP

Pag-IBIG holds mass wedding in 16 venues MORE than 2,000 couples were expected to participate in 16 venues nationwide this year during the Pag-IBIG Fund’s seventh “I Do, I Do! Araw ng Pag-IBIG,” a mass wedding of couples who are Pag-IBIG members, on Feb. 14.

Almost 400 couples were expected to say “I Do!” at the Philippine International Convention Center’s Forum Tent in Pasay City, The 15 other venues were in Davao City, Antipolo City, Angeles City, Malolos City, Luna in La Union, Ilagan in Isabela, Diffun in Quirino, Calamba City, San Pablo City, Calapan City, Naga City, Cebu City, San Jose in Antique, General Santos City and Zamboanga City.

“This is how we celebrate Araw ng Pag-IBIG on Valentine’s Day. The mass wedding is our way of helping couples formalize their marriage at the same time enjoy the benefits of Pag-IBIG Fund membership,” said the chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Pag-IBIG Fund board, secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario.

“We are one with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive of helping Filipino families utilize the social benefits provided by government institutions like the Pag-IBIG Fund.

“Through this event, we help members who do not have the financial means to formalize their union. This is Pag-IBIG Fund’s way of showing that it is not only a savings institution and provider of housing finance, but is also a supporter in building happy families,” Pag-IBIG Fund chief executive Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said.

Since its start in 2012, Pag-IBIG Fund has helped wed more than 18,000 couples nationwide.

Pag-IBIG Fund deputy CEO for Member Services Cluster, Alexander Hilario G. Aguilar, said kabuhayan packages, household items and appliances, and cash gifts were to be raffled off at the venues.

The “I Do, I Do! Araw ng Pag-IBIG” has won several awards in the past years, including the first Philippine Quill for a Government Communication Program from the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines in 2013.

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Surigao del Norte town mayor suspended

Family of OFW quake victim in Taiwan gets P2.8-m aid

By Rio N. Araja THE Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday said the Sandiganbayan has issued a 60-day preventive suspension order on a Surigao del Norte mayor for graft for appointing his sister as his consultant.

As posted on its official website, the Ombudsman said San Benito Mayor Rushford Dedumo violated Section 13 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019.

In January last year, the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao found probable cause to charge Dedumo and his sister Flordeliza Coro, a former judge, for allegedly giving the latter unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference through her appointment as a consultant at the office of the mayor.

The Supreme Court earlier issued a dismissal order on Dedumo’s sister from being a municipal judge in Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte.

Dedumo is facing trial for graft before the Sandiganbayan.

The Ombudsman said Coro was able to obtain a P22,760 cash advance for travel expenses in Manila despite not being an employee of the municipal government.

Coro returned the money to the municipal government, but the Ombudsman claimed the act does not erase her culpability under the law.

According to the Ombudsman, the Sandiganbayan has directed Secretary Eduardo Año of the Department of Interior and Local Government to implement the suspension order.

Shift to federal form of govt gains support —group UP TO 20,000 to 25,000 delegates will gather on Saturday at the Quezon Memorial Circle at the vanguard of a movement pushing for a federal form of government to “right the historical inequities and injustice that have been perpetuated in a unitary and highly centralized government.”

IConform-Federal Phils., which made the announcment, is a coalition of diverse multi-sectoral groups headed by long-time federalism advocate, Secretary Raul L. Lambino, who is the group’s lead convenor.

“This is clearly a choice of our longsuffering people. We can no longer delay its coming,” Lambino said as the ranks of IConform-Federal Phils. begin to swell with multi-sectoral support.

“It is because our entire experience with a highly centralized system has created two nations in our country—a nation of the “haves,” which is the super-rich tip of the economic pyramid, and a nation of the “have-nots,” which is its impoverished base that has suffered from decades of government inaction and neglect,” said Lambino.

“The shift to a federal form is about making the lives of millions of Filipinos better,” Lambino said.

IConform-Federal Phils. predicts that at the pace it is gathering mass support for federalism, the movement will reach a critical peak faster than could be expected, because, it said, “people who have welcomed change are going to embrace it too.” Macon Ramos-Araneta

LUCKY FRUITS. Vendors sell ‘lucky’ round fruits for the Chinese New Year, which officially starts today, Jan. 16. Lino Santos

Du30 dares TRAIN critics: ‘So? Don’t pay your taxes’

By Vito Barcelo

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte dared opponents of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law not to pay their taxes.

“If you’re against the government’s new tax reform law, just don’t pay the taxes,” President Duterte said in a meeting with municipal and city mayors in Cebu last Tuesday.

But at the same time, the president said that those who would refuse to pay their taxes face a stringent audit from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“If you don’t want TRAIN, so be it.

It’s simple as that You’re against the taxes? O, do not pay,” the President said.

The government has continuously touted the benefits of the TRAIN law, which provides income tax cuts for the

majority of Filipino taxpayers while raising excise taxes on petroleum products, cars, coal, sugary drinks, and tobacco to help support the government’s accelerated spending on its infrastructure and social services programs.

The President last December has promised Filipinos higher take-home pay through the reduction of personal income taxes. It also simplified estate and donor’s tax as well as expanded the value added tax base.

Over 10-million Filipino households will also receive P200 a month this year to offset the slight increase in prices due to the higher

excise taxes imposed by TRAIN. Duterte ‘s warning was sparked by a protest action against the controversial new tax law that has been blamed for the rising cost of consumer goods and services.

The law’s constitutionality has since been challenged by two groups before the Supreme Court.

Two separate petitions were filed by militant lawmakers and Laban Konsyumer Inc., through its president, former Trade Undersecretary Victor Dimagiba.

Both petitions argued that the law should be declared unconstitutional since the House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference committee report—the harmonized version of the TRAIN bill prepared by the House and the Senate—on Dec. 13, 2017 despite the lack of quorum needed to carry the vote to pass the measure.

House oks bill penalizing conversion of irrigated lands

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives has passed on second reading a bill seeking to penalize the conversion or causing the conversion of irrigated and irrigable lands.

Authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, House Bill 7115 seeks to amend Republic Act 6657, as amended, otherwise known as the “Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.”

The bill defines irrigated lands as “lands serviced by natural irrigation or irrigation facilities, as delineated by the Department of Agriculture or the National Irrigation Administration which includes lands where water is not readily available as existing irrigation facilities need rehabilitation or upgrading, or where irrigation water is not available yearround.”

Irrigable lands, meanwhile, are those lands “suitable for the conduct of agricultural activities which require irrigation and display physical features

justifying the operation of an irrigation system.”

Under the bill, actual physical or legal conversion or causing the physical or legal conversion of irrigated and irrigable lands are committed by the following circumstances.

First, any person who directly and indirectly participates in the conversion of irrigated and irrigable land.

Second, any person who directly or indirectly induces the landowner or farmworker in the conversion of irrigated and irrigable land.

Third, any person who applies for and facilitates the application for conversion Fourth, any person who facilitates the application and issuance of clearances and other documents necessary for conversion.

Fifth, any person who approves and cause for the approval of the application for conversion.

Lastly, any person who directly and indirectly benefited from the conversion.

Alvarez, a lawyer, said the bill amends

Section 74 of RA 6657 so that any person who knowingly or willfully violates the provisions of the Act shall be punished by imprisonment of one month to three years or a fine of P1,000 to P15,000, or both, at the discretion of the court.

HB 7115 carries a penalty for violators: imprisonment of six years and one day to 12 years, or fine of P200,000 to P1,000,000 or both, at the discretion of the court.

The bill also provides that if the offender is a public officer, he shall suffer the additional penalties of removal from office and perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public office.

As this developed, Deputy Speaker and AAMBIS-OWA party-list Rep. Sharon Garin is urging the Senate to consider the passage of a bill which seeks to establish the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Trust Fund.

Garin, one of the principal authors of House Bill 5745, said the trust fund’s return to its rightful owners is long over-due.

committed the enumerated crimes.

According to the police, the younger Manalos and their companions indiscriminately fired at a law enforcement team validly serving a search warrant in an area covered by the INC property in Quezon City last March.

Authorities confiscated 26 shotguns, seven caliber .22 guns, two M-16 rifles and one M1 carbine, all loaded with live ammunition, immediately after last year’s incident.

Two of the younger Manalos’ coaccused, Jonathan Ledesma and Joseph Sabbacula, are also facing frustrated murder and direct assault charges for shooting and wounding two members of a Special Weapons and Tactics team.

A veteran QC-based litigator who spoke on the condition of anonymity lamented how friends and supporters of the accused have used the press and social media to malign those prosecuting the case, including the trial court judge.

DENR to put up satellite office in resource-rich Dinagat Islands

By Rio N. Araja THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources is putting up a satellite office of its Mines and Geosciences Bureau in the resource-rich Dinagat Islands in northeast Mindanao.

Nearly 80 years since it was declared as a mineral reservation area in 1939, Dinagat Islands will now have a monitoring office that would strengthen the enforcement of mining laws and regulations in the area.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu issued Administrative Order No. 201801 order the establishment of an MGB satellite office in Dinagat Islands, Caraga region’s newest province.

The islands, formerly part of Surigao del Norte, has abundant mineral deposits, particularly nickel and chromite, and is blessed with a rich biological diversity.

“We have to prevent or totally stop degradation of Dinagat Islands which may have been caused by mining operations in the area,” Cimatu said.

“Establishing a satellite office there would help ensure that we protect the richness of its biodiversity from the mountains to the sea, benefitting more of its inhabitants,” he added.

Pope appoints Lazo as new Jaro archbishop

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Expelled INC members on BI watchlist A QUEZON City trial court has issued a “watch list” order against 24 expelled members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo currently facing criminal charges for illegal possession of firearms and ordered the Bureau of Immigration not to allow all the accused from leaving the country unless permitted by a court order.

In a Jan. 23, 2018 Order, Judge Luisito G. Cortez of RTC Quezon City Branch 84 also ordered the BI to submit reports of past and present travel itineraries of former-INC members facing criminal raps.

Those criminally charged include Felix Nathaniel “Angel” Manalo and Lolita Manalo-Hemedez, younger brother and sister of INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo, plus 22 others who were recommended to be prosecuted by the QC Prosecutor’s Office before a court of justice after finding probable cause that they “wilfully, unlawfully and knowingly”

THE family of Melody Albano Castro, the Filipina caregiver who died in the earthquake that struck Hualien, Taiwan recently, will receive around P2.8 million in financial assistance from Taiwan.

According to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, the total amount of 1.79 million new Taiwan dollars or about PHP2.8 million came from Taiwan’s consolation compensation, insurance claims, and voluntary donations.

Apart from the P2.8 million, Teco said the Taiwanese community in the Philippines also raised some P250,000 to be handed to the victim’s bereaved family.

Taiwan Representative in the Philippines, Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin, together with representatives of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, witnessed the arrival of Castro’s remains at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The Filipina’s remains is scheduled to arrive in Tuguegarao City Thursday.

Lin, who paid his respects to Castro, extended his “sincere condolences and deep sympathy” to her family on behalf of Taiwan.

Aside from providing “all the assistance” the bereaved family would need, Lin noted that Taiwan is also exploring the possibility of extending medical assistance to Castro’s husband who was injured in a recent motorcycle accident.

RESERVE LIEUTENANT. This handout photo taken on Feb. 14, 2018 and

released by the Department of National Defense shows Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (right) donning an epaulet to reserve lieutenant colonel and congresswoman, Geraldine Roman (center). Lorenzana was assisted by General Rey Leonardo Guerrero (back row, left), military chief and Roman’s mother, Herminia Roman (left), during a ceremony at the defense office at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, suburban Manila. Geraldine Roman became the first transgender politician to win a congressional seat in the predominantly Catholic Philippines in 2016. AFP PHOTO

POPE Francis has appointed San Jose De Antique Bishop Jose Romeo Lazo as new Jaro archbishop following the resignation of Angel Lagdameo, who was Jaro’s archbishop since 2000.

The Pope announced on Thursday that he was accepting Lagdameo’s resignation.

Lagdameo was Jaro’s archbishop since 2000 and is also a former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

“Archbishop Lagdameo is 77, exceeding for two years the age at which the Canon Law requires bishops to turn their resignation to the Pope,” the CBCP stated in a report posted in its official website.

After accepting his resignation, the Pontiff immediately appointed Lazo as the incoming archbishop of Jaro.

“Archbishop-elect Lazo, who just turned 69 last month, will be the 13th archbishop of one of the largest archdioceses in the country with more than three million Catholic population,” the CBCPNews said.

A4

Opinion

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Kosovo’s guerrilla ‘heroes’ fear war crimes court

By Ismet Hajdari and Nicolas Gaudichet IN KOSOVO, the guerrillas who fought for independence from Serbia a decade ago are revered as heroes.

However, with the 10th anniversary of Kosovo’s independence declaration on Feb. 17, they fear a new international court is preparing to indict them for war crimes.

Kosovo’s war veterans association boasts 40,000 members, although the actual numbers who battled Serbian forces during the 1998-99 conflict were undoubtedly lower.

But they wield considerable political clout, with streets and squares named after their fallen comrades across the territory, whose independence has been recognised by more than 110 countries, but not by Belgrade or Moscow.

The association maintains links with the ruling parties, the PDK of President Hashim Thaci and AAK of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

The veterans are behind a petition that gathered 15,000 signatures urging lawmakers to abolish Kosovo’s own 2015 legislation that established the Hague-based tribunal.

With the EU-backed court poised to issue indictments, ruling coalition MPs have twice attempted to repeal the law since December.

Western firmness “MPs who support this initiative and the politicians who lead it despite their denials will be the subject of specific and harsh consequences,” said US ambassador to Pristina Greg Delawie.

“They know this, we have told them.”

His strong words were noted in the country of 1.8 million people, which depends heavily on the international community.

The court will work under Kosovo’s legal system but sit in the Hague for the sake of witness protection. It will investigate accusations of war crimes allegedly committed by the members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement.

Speculation abounds that President Thaci, the former head of the KLA’s political wing, and parliamentary speaker Kadri Veseli, ex-chief of the guerrilla secret services, could be among those facing prosecution for war crimes against civilians.

The prime minister’s brother Daut Haradinaj, 39—a member of parliament and also a former KLA commander—is also said to be among potential suspects.

“I have no fear,” he told AFP. The court, composed of foreign judges, “violates the sovereignty of the Republic of Kosovo,” said the MP, who lost two other brothers in the war.

The tribunal was created following a 2011 Council of Europe report that accused the KLA of the kidnapping and disappearance of 500 civilians, mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma but also ethnic Albanian political opponents.

The Kosovo war—the last conflict in the former Yugoslavia—claimed more than 13,000 lives. It ended after a NATO air campaign forced out the Serbs and put Kosovo under UN protection.

More than 10,000 of the dead were ethnic Albanians, almost 2,300 were Serbs and Montenegrins and the remainder included a few hundred Romas.

Just war Veteran association leader Hysni Gucati, 59, said he was offended by the “injustice” of a tribunal aimed at trying “only KLA members”, although the court’s chief, Bulgarian Ekaterina Trendafilova, denied the charge.

“We waged a just war for the liberation of our country,” the veteran said, showing photographs of atrocities committed by Serbs.

“We have opposed the court and will continue to do so,” said Xhevded Qeriqi, 43, chief of the Council for Defence of former KLA fighters, another association.

Turn to A5

W

A world-class airport

HEN seven of the country’s biggest conglomerates agree to pool their resources and modernize the country’s premier gateway, they mean serious business and the government must respond correspondingly.

The seven companies that formally submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation to rehabilitate and expand the capacity of Ninoy Aquino International Airport at a cost of P350 billion are owned by the who’s who of Philippine business—the Aboitizes, Ayalas, Andrew Tan of Megaworld Corp., Lucio Tan, the Gotianun Group, John Gokongwei and the PLDT Group of Indonesia’s Anthoni Salim.

The seven conglomerates plan to build an additional run-

way that will ensure the ability of Naia to serve as Manila’s gateway for years to come, and bring the potential capacity up to 100 million passengers a year from over 40 million passengers in 2017.

The ambitious project and the upgrade of the existing airport is timely and badly needed.

The Philippines lags in foreign tourist arrivals compared with those of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, not to mention tiny Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Tourism draws big foreign exchange revenues to hotels, transportation systems and the local communities. It fuels the economy and generates jobs.

But the Philippine tourism industry needs a modern airport as the main anchor to lure foreign tourists. Naia’s upgrade will hopefully correct the sector’s weakness.

The super consortium is tap-

PENSEES

ping the services of global premier airport operator Changi Airports International Pte. Ltd., which runs the main Singapore airport, to provide technical support in the areas of master planning, operations optimization and commercial development.

Critical to the success of the project is the link of Naia’s three terminals to the existing mass transport system in Metro Manila and an option for a third runway. When completed, the project will elevate Naia to the level of major regional airports such as Changi in Singapore and Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok and make it a viable transit hub in Southeast Asia.

The Naia modernization is one infrastructure project that the government of President Rodrigo Duterte must fast-track. It will mirror the county’s economic development and test the determination of the present regime to move forward.

FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN AQUINO

I am not ashamed to cry THE day I have long dreaded has come.

Al (Dr. Pablo Narag), my faithful friend of 17 years, TaTa, his daughter—my “baby,”—and his youngest daughter, Baby Pam, are leaving for Australia.

It hurts, and it hurts a lot. Al kept me company in moments of loneliness, went from office to office to get me my Pag-IBIG loan so that I could build my house, supervised the laborers each day, tried to keep trouble-makers at bay, stood by me in my disappointment six years ago that I did not get the appointment to the university presidency, and has helped me immensely in my work both at the Cagayan State University and at San Beda College. And this is what I wrote about TaTa not too long ago: She loved me without expecting any recompense; she held me in such warm regard not because of my titles, degrees and positions, but simply because I was her “Fr. Rannie”; she believed in me even when I did not believe in myself—and really thought that I could solve her problems. She taught me to see things that, as an adult, were unworthy of my attention. She left me the precious lesson that often, what is truly significant is invisible to the eye!

And she really drew me out of my obsession with my wants and desires—to be concerned about her aching tooth, a wart that had to be singed, having a bath in a rubber pool, taking pleasure in a simple snack of waffles and iced tea.

She was the paragon of humanity as God meant us to be before we were afflicted by our own selfishness, cruelty, and inhumanity.

From people who have mattered to me and who will always matter to me, there should be no moving on.

Rape on the Rise BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO WE ARE not talking of rape of the carnal kind here. The title of this column deals with the most recent violation committed by China on Philippine territorial sovereignty.

Not content with its encroachment into the Philippine Sea, China’s tentacles are now reaching out to Benham Rise, renamed Philippine Rise when the United Nations declared it in 2012 as part of the country’s continental shelf. China has renamed five of the seabed features in The Rise with Chinese names. Are they feeling lucky because it’s the Chinese Year of the Dog ?

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, like other Duterte officials, said

there is nothing to be alarmed about China’s latest violation of Philippine territorial sovereignty. Earlier, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque also allayed Beijing’s aggression by saying

Are the Chinese feeling lucky because it’s the Year of the Dog?

“we have to trust in the good faith of China” in the territorial dispute. Yeah right, it’s like telling a woman already being disrobed by an intruder in her bedroom to relax and not make a sound.

Pimentel, however, explained his

calm remark. “We were not afraid when American explorer Andrew Benham and his expedition team discovered the Rise in 1933 and named it Benham Rise. Yes, Koko, but then in 1933 the Philippines was still an American colony and didn’t know the difference between a Rise and rice. Roque, on the other hand, told Filipino reporters the Philippine Embassy in Beijing has already protested the Chinese renaming of undersea features in the Rise.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the arch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, took matters more stridently with his statement “ we are already being raped and our officials are still laid back.” He was joined by Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano and lawyer Camilo Sabio who urged the government to be more vigilant against Chinese transgressions.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, in a sepaTurn to A5

Of course, life will go on without Al, TaTa and Pam, but it will be very different, impoverished in fact. I do not regret that I am allowing this to happen to me—because the alternative is to keep relations superficial, to keep free of intimacy and to be ensconced in the lonely splendor of oneself. That, I have realized after all this time with Al and TaTa is not too worthwhile a life. It is safe — because one does not allow oneself the vagaries of emotion: of empathy and affection, of the pain of separation and the and the sorrow of parting. And when one professes stoicism of this kind, one is devoted to the apotheosis of an unrelated, unaffected self—which is definitely not the human self!

So I will cry, and I will allow myself to go through the throes of the pain of separation. Psychologists call this separation anxiety. I call it “missing people I love” and “grieving over the separation.” But these trying times have also brought forth so much beauty: the sympathy of friends and their promise to keep me company and the comfort of those who understand what it is to go through this heart-breaking experience with assurances to me that I will pull through.

Soon, I will get over it. That might be true—because even those who lose loved ones to death learn to smile again. And yes, one day I shall smile and laugh again. But I pray that I shall never stop missing Al and TaTa and Pam who have become part of my life —beautiful chapters in the narrative by which I identify myself. They are woven into my story, and mine, into theirs. From the tears and the depth of despair, there can be moving on.

But from people who have mattered to me and who will always matter to me, there should be no moving on! rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher ManilaStandard

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

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Opinion

By Eric Jurado

the War in Iraq, during which Iran did little to disguise the fact that it supplied anti-American militias with sophisticated, armor-piercing munitions responsible for the maiming and death of hundreds of US soldiers.

A nuclear Iran could greatly expand its efforts to harm American interests, secure in the knowledge that its possession of nuclear weapons would make any military retaliation extremely unlikely.

And over time, and not much time, a nuclear Iran could develop the sort of intercontinental ballistic missiles that would bring American and European cities within range of its weapons.

A second enemy of Iran, which is a Shiite Muslim nation, are the Sunni Muslim nations of the Middle East. An Iranian bomb would instantly spark a nuclear arms race in the region as Arab states—nearly all of which have majority Sunni populations—move to defend themselves against aggression from Iran.

As these regimes and dictatorships race to become nuclear powers, the chances that nuclear weapons might be used, either directly or through terrorist proxies, grow exponentially.

And the third and ultimate enemy of Iran is Israel.

Only around a thousand miles separate the Islamic Republic from The Jewish State. Iranian leaders have called Israel “a rabid dog,” “a cancerous tumor that needs to be cut away,” and have called publicly and repeatedly for Israel’s “annihilation.”

They wage a continuous terrorist war against Israel through their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani—a man often described as a moderate and a pragmatist in the Western press—articulated the Iranian position this way: “If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists’ strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything.

However, one bomb will only harm the Islamic world.”

He’s right.

That’s why the civilized and sensible leaders of the world cannot allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Because once the Iranians do, they will pose a severe threat to the security of America and Europe, spark a regional arms race that could see the world’s worst players acquire the world’s worst weapons, and threaten the Jews with extermination for the second time in a century.

Or to put it more simply: Iran cannot be allowed to get the bomb because they might actually use it.

ISRAEL recently launched raids against Iranian targets after saying it had intercepted an Iranian drone crossing the Syria-Israel border.

Iran denies the allegation.

During the offensive an Israeli F-16 fighter jet was shot down by Syria air defenses, crashing in northern Israel.

It is believed to be the first time Israel has lost a jet in combat since 2006.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s policy to defend itself against “any attempt to harm our sovereignty” was “absolutely clear.”

“Iran brazenly violated Israel’s sovereignty,” he said, adding: “They dispatched an Iranian drone from Syrian territory into Israel... Israel holds Iran and its Syrian hosts responsible.”

Mr. Netanyahu said Israel would oppose any attempt by Iran to entrench itself militarily in Syria.

In other news, Iran has warned that it could have enriched uranium within days if the US pulls out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Why are so many people with so many different perspectives—from the Prime Minister of Israel, to the King of Saudi Arabia—so worried that Iran might build a deliverable nuclear weapon? Or to put it even more simply: why do we have to stop Iran from getting the bomb?

The reason is painfully obvious: They might actually use it.

France has nuclear weapons. So does the United Kingdom. But nobody worries that they will use them. It’s not nuclear weapons that are the problem. It’s who has them and what they might do with them.

“We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah,” said Iranian Leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980. “I say let this land burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam remains triumphant in the rest of the world.”

A militant nation that does not fear its own destruction is a sure threat to its enemies. And that threat is taken to a whole new level if the militant nation arms itself with nuclear weapons.

Who are the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran?

There are three: The first enemy of Iran is the United States of America.

A common slogan chanted by Iranians at public rallies is “Death to America.” But it’s not just a slogan. Iran has been committing actual acts of war against what it calls “The Great Satan” for over three decades.

There was Iran’s seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American serEric Jurado covers economic and vicemen, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed political issues with liberty as his another 19 Americans—not to mention guiding star.

Rape...

From A4

rate statement, said the government should be wary against the Chinese building artificial islands in the area which they could convert again into military installations, alluding to what Beijing did in the Spratlys and the Paracels.

On another front, the Kuwaiti government condemned the offensive language of President Duterte and his order to stop the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to the oil-rich country. This is an instance I would have to agree Digong’s actions. It’s the Kuwaitis who should be condemned for their cruel treatment of Filipinos at the hands of their employers.

The Kuwaiti government has been been hedging in signing an agreement with Manila to protect and safeguard Filipino workers there.

Metro subway Finally, Metro Manila will have its first underground mass railway system even as the decades old Metro Railway Transit Line 3 has yet to be fixed. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez announced the P356-billion loan agree-

Kosovo’s...

From A4

But the parliamentary rearguard action seems to be failing.

Describing the court as a “historical injustice”, Thaci nevertheless insisted Kosovo would respect “all its international obligations.”

He told AFP he was willing to assist investigators “at any moment, under any circumstances, at any time, with all my capacity.”

Will the people of Kosovo support the veterans?

There are no opinion polls, but Arben Hajrullahu, professor of political

ment with Japan for the landmark project. The first tranche of the loan will be signed and delivered this March.

The subway will be partially operational by 2022, at the end of President Duterte’s term.

That’s the good news. But the bad news is more diggings along the route of the subway system will certainly make Metro Manila’s monster traffic problem even nightmarish. Previous administrations didn’t think it could be done because the metro area, particularly Manila, is below sea level and flooding in the underground tunnel is a dreaded possibility.

But then, other cities have done it including Hong Kong with Victoria Bay alongside it.

The underground train running across the English Channel connecting London to Paris is a reality and has since taken the romance out of the ferry crossing from Dover to Calais. I used to take this when I was a young press attache assigned to the Philippine embassy in London. I would load my Mercedes Benz into the ferry load the Benz in to the ferry and then from the deck watched the white cliffs of Dover disappear from the distance. science at the University of Pristina, has doubts.

“We will not have a rebellion of a majority of citizens, who will be happy that all this is cleared up once and for all,” he said.

An MP from the opposition LDK party, Doruntina Maloku, 35, is pleased with this new chance to hold to account the assassins of her father, Enver Maloku, killed in January 1999 in Pristina.

The slain journalist was close to the “father of the nation” Ibrahim Rugova, a political opponent of the KLA. For Maloku, “an entire population should not be afraid of the accusations of crimes brought against certain people.” AFP

A5

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Myths

EVERYMAN

Israel, Iran, and the bomb

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018

FORMATION GARY OLIVAR MYTHS are what come out of people’s imaginations when they start running out of meaningful things to say—as in the case of Duterte’s motley critics, who aren’t making a dent in his ratings well after his honeymoon period should have expired.

Perhaps all that banging of heads against the invincible wall of Duterte’s popularity dislodges the brain a little bit and causes the neurons to misfire, producing delusions and hallucinations that his poor critics take to be rational thought.

Consider, for example, the motley crew who came together the other day to launch something called the “No to ChaCha” coalition at the UP College of Law. They were led by the venerable former CJ Hilario Davide, who seems stuck in a time warp of his own making, and former Comelec chair Chris Monsod, who’s come to believe all those flattering stories about himself.

Both of them were stalwarts of the 1987 Con-Con which produced the “Cory Constitution”—apparently the Holy Grail of constitutionalism.

Among many choice remarks, CJ Davide it was who said that adopting federalism would be “a descent into hell.” Tell that to the crowds of Filipinos wanting to leave for hellish federal countries like the United States and many European states.

Not to be outdone, this crew proudly brandished placards reading “I love freedom/democracy/sovereignty/the Philippines [take your pick]. No to Cha-Cha!” So this means those of us who want charter change are enemies of freedom, democracy, etc?

Tell that to Tatay Nene Pimentel, a pioneer of the federalist movement, who’s put a lot more on the line for his country than any of the above. Or to Gat Jose Rizal, for that matter, who once wrote that a federal state would be most appropriate for his country.

Those placards were probably produced by the NDF, whose affiliates comprise most of the new coalition.

That would explain the belligerent self-righteousness. Though if you took a poll and asked the average citizen what he thinks of the NDF’s commitment to freedom or democracy, I doubt that you’d find a lot of support—not surprisingly, because, as Duterte loves to point out, these people haven’t won even a single barangay election. *** Here’s a second myth: that “fake news” was born in our country only after Duterte took power. This at least

was the spiel being spun at the recent “democracy and disinformation” conference in Ateneo, organized by mainstays of yellow journalism like the Inquirer’s John Nery.

Now how did a technical and factual problem like fake news all of a sudden become an anti-Duterte slogan? Simple: it’s the only reason all those wallbashing yellow heads can think of to explain the enduring popularity of our profane, misogynistic, unfashionable, bad-mannered President.

But let’s listen to what the experts have to say about fake news: specifically, a report titled “Architects of Networked Disinformation: Behind the Scenes of Troll Accounts and Fake News in the Philippines,” written by Jonathan Ong at University of Massachusetts and Jason Cabanes at University of Leeds.

Let’s talk about three, plus a heart-breaking story!

is responsible for the recent uptick in prices, with January inflation of 3.95 percent year on year already pushing up against the ceiling of government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.

As usual, the best antidote to ideological hysteria is plain simple facts, this time from the Department of Finance: TRAIN is not a likely suspect behind January inflation, since retailers (e.g. gas stations, groceries) would still be unloading old inventory from 2017 that wasn’t subject yet to the new excise taxes.

Prices didn’t rise that much for those products most subject to the new taxes.

Sugary beverages went up by only 2.8 percent, while YOY oil inflation of 7.2 percent was the result of peso depreciation (1.5 percent) and higher crude oil prices abroad (19.6 percent).

A bit of history may help. From Jan 2016 to Jan 2017, diesel increased by almost P14, or 76 percent. But general inflation remained stable (2.7 percent), while price increases for specific items were modest: food (3.4 percent), transport (2.4 percent), housing and utilities (1.8 percent).

This isn’t to deny, of course, that longterm inflationary pressures are building up, mainly from continued growth in our country (compounded by large infrastructure spending commitments) and economic recovery abroad. But these are pressures that can still be managed by BSP’s monetary policy, and certainly are no excuse to blame TRAIN. *** Since we celebrated Valentine’s Day this week, let me close with the political equivalent of a heartwarming story: Customs Commissioner Sid Lapena’s recent decision to fire officials at five ports who missed their January 2018 revenue collection targets.

Because of those five ports—including Naia and the Manila seaports—Customs missed its January target by 12 percent. On the other hand, though, the BOC did exceed its performance a year earlier, in January 2017, by 14 percent.

One demerit, one merit. In our forgiving Filipino culture, no one would have faulted Lapena for splitting the difference in favor of his people. But no, the redoubtable former police general went ahead to enforce the “one strike and you’re out” rule that’s become the fashion under our unforgiving President.

It’s a question, not only of strictly enforcing the rules, but also of demanding the very best from government workers, simply because you believe that our people deserve to have the very best service. Now what could be more heartwarming than that?

Here are some of the findings from this Anglo-American Filipino duo: “The use of fake accounts and paid influencers on Facebook and Twitter for political operations is widespread” although “previous reports have spotlighted only Duterte’s PDP-Laban as hiring fake account operators”.

“Politicians often employ campaign strategists from local ‘boutique’ advertising and PR agencies as chief architects of networked disinformation campaigns.”

“While nobody really admits to being a troll, everyone in the disinformation hierarchy seems to be engaged in various degrees of trolling.”

Unscrupulous PR campaigns are an old and dirty secret among Philippine political operators and media practitioners. But it’s only now, with viral social media, that the dirty linen is finally being aired.

By the way, one of the solutions suggested by the authors is “political campaign finance regulation.” This just happens to be one of the reforms put forward by the guys who wrote PDPLaban’s version of a new constitution.

Will this be acknowledged by the likes of Davide and Monsod? Don’t hold your breath. *** Here’s a third myth, being peddled mostly by the same NDF types who’re opposing Cha-Cha: That the adminReaders can write me at gboliistration’s tax reform law (TRAIN) var1952@yahoo.com.

Back on track: Trains to return to historic Istanbul station

By Fulya Ozerkan and Stuart Williams BUILT in the first decade of the 20th century as Europe’s gateway to the east, Istanbul Haydarpasa railway station stands proudly on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, its gothic towers looming over the waters.

The imposing facade has witnessed and survived more than a century of turbulent and sometimes tragic history; the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, World War I, the deportation of Armenians, military coups and a devastating November 2010 fire that destroyed the roof.

But this most historic of railway stations now lacks its most fundamental component—trains.

Since 2013, the celebrated terminus has not seen any train traffic after being shut for restoration work and a major upgrade of Turkey’s railway network.

With the refurbishment stalling, top local officials openly spoke of plans to sell off the station, possibly turning it into a hotel, shopping centre or entertainment complex.

The situation sparked alarm among Turkish architecture and heritage activists, who staged weekly demonstrations to salvage its future.

In 2012, when the number of trains pulling in and out of the station had already dropped off, Haydarpasa—pronounced Haydarpasha and named after the neighborhood where it is located —was placed on the watch list of endangered heritage by the World Monuments Fund NGO. ‘Trains to come back’ However, Turkish architecture activists, local officials and Turkish State Railways (TCDD) told AFP that the station’s future as a railway terminus was now assured after a period of uncertainty.

“It will remain in public ownership. There were debates but right now there is no such danger (of privatizing) the train station,” Aykurt Nuhoglu, the mayor of the Istanbul district of

Kadikoy where the station is located, told AFP. “The trains will begin to arrive as of 2019.”

An official from TCDD added, asking not to be named: “It is being restored as a train station, nothing else is being considered.”

Once the station is reopened, it should be the terminus for the new high-speed trains from Ankara which are currently stopping in Pendik, well outside the centre, as well as again being a hub for commuter trains.

Murder on the Orient Express Haydarpasa station—designed by two German architects—was inaugurated in its current form in 1909, five years before the outbreak of World War I. It was a symbol of the friendship between the Ottoman Empire and imperial Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II, who yearned to expand Berlin’s influence deep into the Middle East and had sealed a strong relationship with Sultan Abdulhamid II. The station was to be the key hub of the kaiser’s dream of a Berlin to Baghdad railway passing through Constantinople, Aleppo and Mosul, with a branchline south to Damascus.

One of the darkest moments in its history came on April 24, 1915 when Haydarpasa was used as the start point for the deportation of the first convoy of Armenians rounded up in Istanbul.

Turkey denies Armenian assertions that the ensuing mass slaughter amounted to genocide.

Until its closure five years ago, Haydarpasa was a busy station, with commuter trains but also overnight services to towns in eastern Turkey like Kars and Van, as well as a service going as far as Tehran.

It was also the starting point of the Istanbul-Baghdad train service—the Taurus Express—which features in the opening chapter of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” but is now indefinitely suspended.

Historic solidarity “Haydarpasa is not just a building of

architectural importance but is at a critical point for the railways,” said Ishak Kocabiyik, a former general secretary of Turkey’s United Transport Workers’ Union.

“There were attempts to turn this land into a trade centre and a cruise port. We have so far stopped such attempts by using our right to opposition,” he added.

Activists insist that it was only due to pressure from civil society that plans to transform the station into a hotel or shopping complex were thwarted.

“Our solidarity was a mission that will go down in history,” said lawyer Ersin Albuz, a key force in the campaign. “We will keep going until all trains stop here and when that happens, only then will we end our campaign.”

Some architects accuse the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former mayor of Istanbul, of trampling on heritage in a drive to modernize the city, but the government insists it is merely implementing muchneeded infrastructure improvements.

Like back in the old days These include a major revamp of Turkey’s railway network, which at the start of the millennium had barely changed from its pre-WW I layout, meaning most Turks took the bus or plane.

But what activists now want is the entire area around Haydarpasa to be revitalised and the terminus to become as bustling as any station in Europe.

“We want commuter trains and regional trains to stop there, just like back in the old days,” said Kocabiyik, indicating a degree of scepticism about the authorities’ assurances for the station’s future.

The head of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects, Sami Yilmazturk, who has been bitterly critical of the government’s infrastructure drive, described the station as a “gate of Istanbul on Europe”.

Vowing to keep watch on the government’s plans, he said: “Today it is being restored as a train station but I am concerned that might change two days later.” AFP

A6

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News

PAL: Stricter measures set for US flights

By Joel E. Zurbano

P

HILIPPINE Airlines will start implementing on Thursday enhanced security measures for its United States-bound flights, specifically those from Manila to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Guam, as well as its flights from Vancouver to New York (JFK Airport).

PAL spokesperson Ma. Cielo Villaluna said this is in compliance with the regulatory requirements of the US Department of Homeland Security for all flights operating from the last point of departure to their country.

“PAL advised passengers of US-bound flights to expect a slightly different check-in setup and to allot extra time to arrive early at the airport, preferably three to four hours before flight departure,” said Villaluna.

The airline is also seeking the understanding and kind cooperation of passengers, as it strives to find ways to offer the riding public better, safer and more efficient service.

Late last year, PAL simulated the expanded check-in procedures and heightened security measures at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for all USbound passengers.

In July, PAL subjected all portable electronic devices—

gadgets larger than a cellphone—of passengers bound for the United States to additional airport screening.

Villaluna said electronic devices that exceed the size limit must be surrendered by passengers to the airline for additional screening at the Redundancy Screening Checkpoint. However, she said necessary medical devices are exempted from additional screening.

Examples of large electronic devices that will be subjected to additional screening are, but not limited to: laptops, tablets, e-readers, cameras, portable DVD players, electronic game units larger than a smartphone, and travel printers and scanners.

Villaluna said passengers must ensure that their large PEDs have sufficient battery charge to power up the device during the additional screening process, and remove their electronic protective casing during inspection.

IBP condemns failed slay try on Cabatbat

By Rey E. Requejo THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines has condemned the “treacherous attack” on lawyer Argel Joseph Cabatbat, who was able to kill one of the assassins after ramming his Mitsubishi Montero into the motorcycles-riding gunmen who attempted to ambush him on Edsa Wednesday night.

The IBP lamented that many other lawyers, judges and court officers have been targeted with “pinpoint accuracy and swelling impunity,” which in turn creates “an environment of fear” in the justice system.

“Lawyers must be able to advocate their clients’ causes free from the corrupting elements of fear and intimidation. This ensures that disputes are resolved only within the confines of the law, the evidence, and an impartial tribunal,” the group said in a statement Thursday.

“Hired killers and their masterminds have no place in civilized society. Regardless of the overwhelming merit a cause of action may present, violence directed against the actors in the legal theater must never be countenanced,” the IBP pointed out.

The national lawyers’ organization appealed to law enforcers, including the National Bureau of Investigation, to thoroughly investigate the incident.

“We thus call on our brothers in the NBI, the Philippine National Police, and other government enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of this incident and the other unsolved incidents that seriously impinge upon the rule of law,” it said.

Cabatbat was riding his sport-utility vehicle on the northbound lane of Edsa when three gunmen, two on one motorcycle and one on another, fired at him.

After surviving the ambush, Cabatbat chased his attackers and managed to ram the two motorcycles with his SUV at Edsa’s northbound lane near Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.

The slain gunman was identified as PO1 Mark Boquela Ayeras through his PNP ID. The other assassins were injured —one was taken to the East Avenue Medical Center, while the other managed to escape.

Don’t fall for ‘Fancy’ recruiter in Macau, POEA warns OFWs

By Vito Barcelo THE Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration warned Filipino workers against jobs being offered by a Macau-based recruitment agency for supposed employment in mainland China.

The warning was issued after the POEA received an endorsement from the Department of Foreign Affairs on the case of a Filipina household service worker in Macau who was allegedly recruited by another Filipina named Pia Ciabacal.

According to the DFA, the OFW, whose name was withheld, went to Macau as a tourist and was able to land a job as a housemaid.

Ciabacal allegedly offered the woman a job in Beijing for the same position with a monthly salary of 7,500 yuan (about P62,000) a month. The domestic worker was able to enter and work in China, but her employer refused to pay her any salary. They even con-

fiscated her passport and cellular phone, the DFA reported.

The POEA warned that Ciabacal and other Filipinos in Macau work as agents for a certain Chinese recruiter known only as “Fancy.”

“Fancy allegedly owns an establishment called MMC Enterprises, located at Beleno Shop, Red Market in Macau. The Beleno shop acts as a front for MMC, which clandestinely operates as a recruitment agency targeting unsuspecting Filipinos and Indonesians,” the agency said.

The POEA has also received reports of Filipino househelp in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Cyprus who were lured into transferring to another country like Dubai, Mongolia, Turkey, and Russia.

The OFWs later found out the conditions of employment were deplorable or non-existent. Their recruiters were mostly foreign nationals who have Filipino partners in their illegal activities, the agency said.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

StandardRepublic of the Philippines TODAY

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS OFFICE OF CITY ELECTION OFFICER Puerto Princesa City

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO RECALL LUIS M. MARCAIDA III AS VICE MAYOR OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 69 OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE, R.A. NO. 7160, AND COMELEC RESOLUTION NO. 7505 FOR LOSS OF CONFIDENCE.

chance to elect a vice mayor who is competent and able to LEAD the City of Puerto Princesa, MEET their necessities, and MOVE forward.

14. Facing circumstance of disappointment and frustration, “The best cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy.” Ergo, it is but a truism that a recall election is designed to afford relief from popular dissatisfaction with the conduct of a public officer, whom they want to be removed, thus, a valid revocation of the people’s embodiment of their will to the subject public official.

65

Tanglaw

208

2443-2461

19

66

Tiniguiban

1758

2462-2583

121

67A

Assorted I

4595

2584-2942

360

67B

Tagburos II

351

2943-2966

24

67C

Assorted II

777

2967-3019

53

TOTAL

39,768

15. On this note, the effects are inevitable leading to an overwhelming dearth of hope and trust on the public official’s leadership. Verily, the sole ground for recall is LOSS OF CONFIDENCE, in accordance with R.A. No. 7160, which states that: CHAPTER 5: RECALL

PRC NO.

COMES NOW, Main Petitioner, Oscar D. Lapida Jr. by himself, together with the supporting petitioners, unto this Honorable Office, most respectfully alleges THAT: PREFATORY STATEMENT 1. The right to recall is complementary to the right to elect or appoint. It is included in the right of suffrage. It is based on the theory that the electorate must maintain a direct and elastic control over public functionaries. It is also predicated upon the idea that a public office is “burdened” with public interests and that the representatives of the people holding public offices are simply agents or servants of the people with definite powers and specific duties to perform and to follow if they wish to remain in their respective offices.1 2. The power of recall for loss of confidence shall be exercised by the registered voters of a local government unit to which the local elective official subject to such recall belongs.2 3. Loss of confidence is the formal withdrawal by an electorate of their trust in a person’s ability to discharge his office previously bestowed on him by the same electorate.3

17. Section 6 of COMELEC Resolution No. 75057 provides:

SEC. 69: By Whom Exercised. – The power of recall FOR LOSS OF CONFIDENCE shall be exercised by the registered voters of a local government unit to which the local elective official subject to such recall belongs.

OSCAR D. LAPIDA JR. Main Petitioner

PETITION

COMPLIANCE WITH PERCENTAGE REQUIREMENTS SUFFICIENT TO RECALL

Section 6. Supporting petitioners in a petition for recall.

– the supporting petitioners in a petition for recall shall be the registered voters of the local government unit concerned, who are registered as such during the election in which the local official sought to be recalled was elected, and whose total number shall comply with the following percentage requirements:

16. In view of the foregoing, the people were compelled and left with no choice but to oust and recall Vice Mayor Luis M. Marcaida III of the City of Puerto Princesa due to loss of confidence. Taking into account the significant number of signatories that DIVULGED the support of residents of Puerto Princesa in effectively recalling their incompetent Vice Mayor, below is the summary of the number of supporting Petitioners6 on a per Barangay basis and reflecting likewise the number of corresponding page number and number of pages:

NO.

BARANGAY

NO. OF SUPPORTING PETITIONERS WHO HAVE AFFIXED THEIR SIGNATURE and/or THUMBMARK FOR THIS PETITION FOR RECALL AGAINST VICE MAYOR MARCAIDA

PAGE NUMBER

NUMBER OF PAGES

Voting Population of Local Government Units Concerned

Required Percentage or Minimum Number of Petitioners

Not more than 20,000

At least twenty·flve per cent (25%)

At least 20,000 but not more than 75,000

At least twenty per cent (20%) But not less than 5,000

At least 75,000 but not more than 300,000

Atleastftfteen percent (15%] But not less than 15,000

Over 300,000

At least ten per cent (10%) But not less than 45,000

18. In the instant case, the main and the supporting Petitioners have complied with the above percentage requirement, thus:

1

Babuyan

495

1-35

35

2

Bacungan

803

36-90

55

3

Bagong Bayan

234

91-108

18

4

Bagong Pag-Asa

49

109-112

4

5

Bagong Sikat

1056

113-191

79

6

Bagong Silang

808

192-251

60

7

Bahile

417

252-284

33

8

Bancao–Bancao

1653

285-416

132

9

Binduyan

289

417-440

24

10

Buenavista

254

441-458

18

11

Cabayugan

571

459-507

49

THE PARTIES

12

Concepcion

197

508-523

16

6. The main Petitioner of this case is OSCAR D. LAPIDA JR. who is of legal age, Filipino, married, and a resident of Barangay Irawan, Puerto Princesa City. He is a registered voter of said Barangay in Precinct No. 0181A as evidenced by the hereto attached certification and voter’s records duly issued by Mangombaya S. Madale, Acting City Election Officer, Puerto Princesa City, herein marked as ANNEXES “A” to “A-1” hereof.

13

Inagawan

90

524-530

7

14

Inagawan–Sub

1062

531-607

77

15

Irawan

951

608-676

69

16

Iwahig

138

677-687

11

7. The supporting Petitioners are also all of legal ages, residents and registered voters in their respective precincts from barangays of Puerto Princesa City as indicated in the attached FOLDERS (per Volume) containing the signatures and/or thumb marks in the COMELEC prescribed form with their addresses marked as ANNEXES “B” to “B-66C” to form an integral part of this Petition.

17

Kalipay

101

688-694

7

18

Kamuning

498

695-729

35

19

Langogan

292

730-753

24

20

Liwanag

291

754-782

23

21

Lucbuan

316

783-805

23

22

Luzviminda

775

806-859

54

23

Mabuhay

278

860-878

19

GROUNDS FOR RECALL

24

Macarascas

484

879-917

39

9. As the famous dictum states, “Salus populi est supreme lex” –the will of the people is the supreme law—this Petition is in the nature of upholding the paramount will of the people, particularly, the residents of Puerto Princesa City.

25

Magkakaibigan

75

918-922

5

22. In view of the foregoing, it is respectfully prayed that this Honorable Office cause the submission of the instant Petition together with all the supporting documents appended thereto with the Honorable Commission for appropriate action.

26

Maligaya

36

923-925

3

PRAYER

27

Manalo

459

926-959

34

28

Mandaragat

1602

960-1083

123

29

Manggahan

107

1084-1091

8

30

Mangingisda

1167

1092-1176

85

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully prayed of this Honorable Office that after verification of the Petitioners’ names, addresses and signatures and FINDING the same to be in order and sufficient in form and substance, a favorable recommendation be SUBMITTED to the Honorable Commission seeking its concurrence and fixing the date of the recall election.

31

Maningning

85

1194-1200

7

32

Maoyon

270

1201-1223

23

33

Marufinas

110

1224-1233

10

34

Maruyugon

178

1234-1248

15

35

Masigla

95

1249-1255

7

36

Masikap

80

1256-1262

7

37

Masipag

445

1263-1292

30

38

Matahimik

700

1293-1342

50

What is more, Vice Mayor Marcaida just recently was tagged as one of the HIGH VALUE TARGETS in the city per report of the Puerto Princesa City Police Office to the Philippine National Police-Regional Office for MIMAROPA as shown in the herein document marked as ANNEXES “C” to “C-1.” All of which are punishable under the Revised Penal Code and other related laws. Truly, these misdeeds affect the entire peace and order in Puerto Princesa City, as evidenced by drastic increase in crimes related to illegal drugs within the locality.

39

Matiyaga

74

1343-1348

6

40

Maunlad

598

1394-1395

47

41

Milagrosa

401

1397-1428

32

42

Model

30

1430-1431

2

43

Montible

75

1432-1438

7

Vice Mayor Marcaida’s involvement in illegal drugs is not only disturbing but also puts the lives of his constituencies in danger.

44

Napsan

241

1439-1457

19

45

New Panggangan

139

1468-1478

11

46

Pagkakaisa

389

1479-1508

30

47

Princesa

99

1511-1517

7

48

Salvacion

222

1522-1541

20

49

San Isidro

262

1542-1559

18

4.

Moreover, as held in Dunham vs. Ardery 4:

“We understand that the principle underlying the recall of public officers means that the people may have an effective and speedy remedy to remove an official who is not giving satisfaction – one who they do not want to continue in office, regardless of whether or not he is discharging his full duty to best of his ability and as his conscience dictates. If the policies pursued do not meet the approval of a majority of the people, it is the underlying principle of the recall doctrine to permit them to expeditiously recall the official, without form or ceremony, as provided for in the charter.”

NATURE OF THE ACTION 5. The instant petition is filed pursuant to the provision of Local Government Code of 1991 (R.A. No. 7160) and the implementing guidelines promulgated by the Honorable Commission on Elections through Resolution No. 75055 dated June 6, 2005.

8. The name of the official sought to be recalled is VICE MAYOR LUIS M. MARCAIDA III (“Vice Mayor Marcaida”), the Vice Mayor of Puerto Princesa City. Vice Mayor Marcaida was elected during the May 9, 2016 elections and had assumed office on June 30, 2016. He may be served summons and other processes of this Honorable Office at the Office of the Vice Mayor, New City Hall Complex, Bgy. Sta. Monica, Puerto Princesa City.

10. Vice Mayor Marcaida is subjected to recall for LOSS OF CONFIDENCE. The people of Puerto Princesa City clamor for a change of leadership in the Office of the Vice Mayor owing to the following reasons: Vice Mayor Marcaida has not proven himself commendable to be the vice mayor of Puerto Princesa City.

He has not shown any sign of competence, transparency and integrity as the people of Puerto Princesa has been expecting from him Worse, the public is well aware that he is involved in drugs and once tried to facilitate the release of an arrested drug pusher (Arvin Clavecilla) in Puerto Princesa City. He is also involved in corruption when he, without any authority from the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Puerto Princesa, allowed the employees under him to accept donations through checks given by a private foundation, which checks were not remitted to the City Treasurer of Puerto Princesa. These are clear manifestations of his lack of moral integrity and fiber to govern and lead by example, to the detriment of the constituents of Puerto Princesa City..

11. In addition, Vice Mayor Marcaida has not made, at the very least, any commendable projects and programs for his constituents, to date, as he is hounded by (a) corruption and greed to grab political power which work against public interest and the general welfare; (b) lack of respect for the clamor of the people of Puerto Princesa who hate illegal drugs; (c) lack of regard for the laws and public officials like the President who is a known enemy of drug lords and anyone who peddles illegal drugs, which is conduct unbecoming of a public official and speaks of his lack of integrity and ascendancy to lead.

50

San Jose

1874

1560-1694

134

12. Provided hereunder are the manifestation of Vice Mayor Marcaida’s lack of integrity and ascendancy to lead and stay as vice mayor of Puerto Princesa City:

51

San Manuel

1402

1695-1796

102

52

San Miguel

964

1797-1867

71

PEACE AND ORDER

53

San Pedro

1654

1868-1986

119

For not helping the authorities in their campaign against illegal drugs and instead, it was he who tried to protect and coddle drug pushers by attempting to facilitate their release from the hands of the PDEA/police officers who arrested them; even worse is the fact that Vice Mayor Marcaida himself is a HIGH VALUE TARGET, hence the proliferation of illegal drugs and illegal drug trade in Puerto Princesa City;

54

San Rafael

353

1987-2013

27

55

Sicsican

1466

2014-2116

103

56

Simpocan

226

2117-2133

17

57

Sta. Cruz

264

2134-2151

18

PUBLIC OFFICE IS A PUBLIC TRUST

58

Sta. Lourdes

868

2152-2214

63

For closing his eyes to corruption committed by his employees or even consenting to such corruption when he allowed them to accept checks which proceeds were not remitted to the City Treasurer of Puerto Princesa, which acts he did not bother to investigate, revoke, or censure thus robbing the City Government of Puerto Princesa of money that rightfully belongs to it

59

Sta. Lucia

89

2215-2220

6

60

Sta. Monica

1165

2221-2331

111

61

Tagabinet

438

2332-2361

30

62

Tagburos

952

2362-2419

58

13. All of the foregoing recitals indubitably show that Vice Mayor Marcaida is remiss in the performance of his sworn duties and responsibilities which eventually resulted to LOSS OF CONFIDENCE by the constituency of the City of Puerto Princesa. Perforce, Petitioners are constrained to initiate the instant Petition so as to give the people another

Total Voting Population of the City of Puerto Princesa based on the 2015 census (18 years old and above) 8 Percentage required per the rules.

Tagumpay

125

2420-2428

9

64

Tanabag

198

2429-2442

14

15% required

24,113

Total number of main and supporting Petitioners in this Petition for Recall.

39,768

Total number of equivalent to 15%

Petitioners

Undoubtedly, with the total number of 39,768 Petitioners, this Petition is, therefore, OVERWHELMINGLY supported by more than what is required by law.

19. Moreover and in compliance with Section 10 of the same rules, the Provincial Statistics Office of Palawan through its Supervising Statistical Specialist (Officer-in-Charge), Ms. Evelyn O. Apellido, issued a LetterReply/Certification dated August 10, 2017, attaching therein the latest TOTAL POPULATION BY AGE GROUP AND SEX in the City of Puerto Princesa based on the 2015 Census of Population (POPCEN 2015) which shows that the latest number of voting population thereat (18 years old and above) is 160,747. Copy of the said Letter-Reply/Certification with the attached 2015 Census are hereto appended and marked as Annexes “D” to “D-1”.

20. With regard to the date of assumption to office of Vice Mayor Marcaida, it is shown that he took his oath of office as vice mayor on June 30, 2016 and assumed said position the next day or on July 1, 2016. Copy of the letter issued by the City-DILG of Puerto Princesa, dated August 25, 2017, with the attached Oath of Office, and the Service Record issued

by Human Resource Management Office of Puerto Princesa are hereto appended and marked as ANNEXES “E” to “E-2”.

21. Penultimately, herein Petitioners have tendered the requisite filing fee of THIRTY THOUSAND PESOS (PhP 30,000.00)9 in the form of Manager’s Check (Check No. MC 0000009618) payable to the Cash Division of this Commission in compliance with Section 9 of the same rules before the City Election Officer of Puerto Princesa City who is tasked by law to remit said sum to the Cash Division of the Commission on Elections at Palacio del Gobernador, Intramuros, Manila.

OTHER RELIEFS, which this Honorable Office may deem just and equitable, are likewise prayed for.

Puerto Princesa City, August 30, 2017.

OSCAR D. LAPIDA JR. Petitioner Barangay Irawan, Puerto Princesa City

VERIFICATION and CERTIFICATION of NON-FORUM SHOPPING Republic of the Philippines) CITY OF PUERTO PRINCESA) Ss. I, OSCAR D. LAPIDA JR., Filipino, of legal age and a resident of Barangay Irawan, Puerto Princesa City, after having been sworn to in accordance with law, hereby depose and state that: 1.

I am the PRINCIPAL PETITIONER in the above-captioned case;

2. I have caused the preparation of the foregoing PETITION FOR RECALL, the contents thereof and the facts stated therein are true based on our own personal knowledge and on authentic records/documents; 3. Pursuant to and in compliance with Supreme Court Administrative Circular No. 04-94, we hereby certify that we have not commenced any other action or proceeding involving the same issues in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, or different Divisions thereof, or any other tribunal or agency; that to the best of our knowledge, no such action or proceeding is pending with the Supreme Court, the Court of appeals, or different Divisions thereof, or any other tribunal or agency; and that if we should thereafter learn that a similar action or proceeding has been filed or is pending before the above tribunals or agency, we hereby undertake to report that fact within five (5) days therefrom to the Court or agency wherein the original pleading and sworn certification contemplated herein have been filed.

AFFIANT FURTHERSAYETH NAUGHT.

OSCAR D. LAPIDA JR. Affiant Barangay Irawan, Puerto Princesa City SSS ID No. 03-9786893-9 SUBSCRIBED and SWORN to before me this 30th day of August 2017 at Puerto Princesa City, Philippines. Affiant personally appeared and exhibited to me his SSS ID No. 03-9786893-9/Voter’s Identification Certificate with VIN: 5316-0181A-K1162ODL10000-2. He is the same person who personally signed before me the foregoing Verification and acknowledged that he executed the same. I hereby certify that I have personally examined the affiant and I am satisfied that he voluntarily executed and understood his Affidavit.

MANGOMBAYA S. MADALE Acting City Election Officer Commission on Elections Puerto Princesa City 1 2 3

63

160,747

4 5 6 7 8 9

Evardone vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 94010 December 2, 1991 Section 69, Chapter 5, R.A. 7160 Supra note 1 43 Okl. 619, 143 P. 331 Rules and Regulations for the Recall of Elective Local Government Officials as Provided for Under the Local Government Code, as Amended.

Please see Annex “B” and series Supra note 5 Please refer to Annex “C”.

Please see attached Acknowledgment Receipt issued by the Election Officer of Caramoan, herein marked as Annex “E” hereof.

(MS-FEB. 2 / 9 / 16, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018

Miguel Tabuena hacks an approach shot on No. 12

Magnolia guns for 1st berth in quarterfinals

By Jeric Lopez

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ECOND-RUNNING Magnolia looks to be the first team to punch a ticket in the quarterfinals as it resumes play in the homestretch of the eliminations of the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. The Hotshots (6-3) go for their seventh win, but capable GlobalPort (4-4) stands in their way as they lock horns at 7 p.m. today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in a pivotal contest.

In the appetizer at 4:30 p.m., rejuvenated Blackwater (3-5) hopes to continue fighting its way in the mix as it battles lowly Kia (1-7).

Magnolia can clinch a berth in the quarters and be the first team there

Perpetual tossers close in on title sweep Games today

(Filoil Flying V Center) 10 a.m.- Letran vs EAC (jrs semis) 1 p.m.- Arellano U vs Perpetual Help (men’s finals) 3:30 p.m.- Awarding Ceremonies 4 p.m.- Arellano U vs San Beda (women’s finals)

UNIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta tries to close in on a title sweep as it clashes with Arellano University today in the finals of the 93rd NCAA men’s volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.

The Altas swept the elimination round with nine wins and would need to win two more in their best-of-three title showdown with the Chiefs, who made it this far by edging the St. Benilde Blazers, 25-22, 28-26, 25-23, in the stepladder semis Tuesday, to complete a title sweep.

Joebert Almodiel, who will be awarded as the Rookie MVP and first best outside spiker in the rites set at 3:30 p.m., will be at the forefront of the Las Pinas-based school’s bid to snare its 11th championship, which will put it as the second most titled school behind Letran’s 14 crowns.

“We’re happy to be back in the finals and we’ll do our best to give the school another championship,” said Perpetual Help coach Sammy Acaylar.

Warren Catipay and Jack Kalingking should also draw some of the attention after being named Best Setter and Best Libero, respectively.

In the women’s division, AU seeks to inch closer to a second straight title as it collides with San Beda at 4 p.m.

The Lady Chiefs advanced to the bestof-three finals by trouncing the Jose Rizal Lady Bombers, 25-13, 25-20, 25-17, while the Lady Red Spikers downed the Perpetual Help Lady Altas, 25-21, 2515, 25-23, to book the other berth.

should it list a win.

However, momentum might not be on the side of the Hotshots as they have lost two in a row, the last one against Rain or Shine, 95-101, in Pangasinan last Saturday.

On the contrary, the Batang Pier notched a big win the last time out and hopes for another one, this time against Magnolia.

GlobalPort impressed last

Wednesday, putting down TNT KaTropa, 99-84, as it notched a much-needed win.

While Magnolia is already on the brink of securing a place in the top eight, GlobalPort is still in need of wins to stabilize its chances.

After a long dry spell, the Blackwater Elite emphatically got back on track, catching a big fish after upsetting defending champion San Miguel Beer, 106-96, last week in a stunner.

Blackwater is looking to ride its momentum against Kia to help its chances of making the next phase.

On the other hand, the Picanto is in a win-or-go-home situation as a loss will officially kick it out of contention.

By Peter Atencio THREE more international races that will test the skills of junior cyclist Luis Rex Krog are the next challenges that await him.

And the 17-year-old new cycling sensation vows to be ready, with the backing of sponsor Go for Gold.

“Talagang pinaghahandaan naming kung ano ang gagawin sa laro,” said Krog after he was Krog feted yesterday by his teammates at the Go for Gold Cycling Team’s presentation at the Kabisera Restaurant in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City.

Krog will be in another junior race in Brunei this April and then in Sri Lanka this May. After that, he will be in the Le Tour de Filipinas, which was moved tentatively this May after it was scrapped early this month.

Krog, a student from Kalookan City, started off the year on a high note as he bagged a silver medal in the mass start event of the junior men’s division of the Asian Cycling Championships in Naypyidaw, Myanmar.

It was the best finish by a Filipino in an Asian tournament.

Players and coaches of the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix are presented to the media. Roman Prospero

In 2011, Rustom Lim brought home the bronze after joining the Asian meet in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

PhilCycling president Tagaytay Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino was around when Krog presented his medal to him.

The son of national rider Marita Lucas, Krog said the specialized training that he had before the race in Myanmar really helped him achieve greatness.

Jeremy Go, who is supporting Go for Gold through Powerball Marketing, said their support will not end with the one race that Krog joined.

“We believe in continuing the development. That’s why we support different athletes. From national road bike, to mountain bikes and junior athletes,” said Go. With Krog’s achievements, Go said they are inspired to form a better squad in the Asian championships the next time they join it.

“We believe that we should not stop there. Madaming suporta ang dapat sa pag-angat. That’s why we are investing in young athletes,” said Go.

All set for 1st leg of 3YO Local Fillies, Colts race

soldiers inspect a visitor at a security checkpoint as they replace security guards showing symptoms of the norovirus at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The norovirus outbreak at the Winter Olympics jumped to 232 cases after 33 new patients were diagnosed in areas away from the previous hotspot, officials said on Thursday. Most of the earlier cases were at a youth centre where staff are housed, but the new patients are in staff accommodation in Pyeongchang and Gangneung, the main Games hubs.

Norovirus is highly contagious and causes diarrhoea and vomiting. No athletes have been reported as affected, an organising committee official said, adding that water contamination has been traced as the source of the outbreak at the Horeb youth center. AFP

THE road back to the finals This is the first time for Games Tomorrow gets more difficult for F2 Lothe league to open its season (Ynares Sports Center) gistics as seven other teams 2 p.m. – Sta. Lucia Realty vs Foton with the import-flavored are to come up with a serious 4 p.m. – Generika-Ayala vs Petron conference, while the Beach fight in the Chooks to GoVolleyball Challenge Cup, Philippine Superliga Grand All-Filipino Conference Prix starting this Saturday at the Ynares and Invitational Conference will follow in Sports Center in Pasig City. the latter part of the year.

Petron, Cocolife and Generika-Ayala PSL president Ramon “Tats” Suzara loom as heavy favorites while Cignal, Fo- said this major change was done to sync the ton, Sta. Lucia Realty and new team Smart league calendar with that of Asian Volleyball Prepaid are also expected to spring a lot Confederation and the International Volleyof surprises in this prestigious club tour- ball Federation. ney bankrolled by Asics, Mikasa, Senoh, PSL chairman Philip Ella Juico expressed Grand Sport and UCPB Gen with ESPN5 his gratitude to the teams who agreed to comas official broadcast partner. pete in the Grand Prix early in the year.

STA. ROSA, Laguna—Miguel Tabuena birdied the tricky par-3 No. 17 from long range for a crucial two-shot swing that pulled him from one-down to oneup over erstwhile leader Guido Van der Valk halfway through the rich The Country Club Invitational at the TCC here yesterday.

Tabuena overcame an early struggle off the mound in the first flight with Frankie Miñoza and worked his way up from three down with three birdies against two bogeys after 16 holes before rolling in a 20-footer for birdie on the 17th to finish with a two-under 70 for a 141.

Five flights behind, Van der Valk held sway despite a 38 start as he birdied two of the first three holes at the back and kept a one-stroke lead despite another bogey on No. 13. But he pulled his tee-shot to the left of the 161-yard No. 17 and flubbed a 15-foot par save bid, enabling Tabuena to seize control heading to the last 36 holes of the P5 million event sponsored by ICTSI president and chairman Ricky Razon.

After a superb 68, Van der Valk stumbled with a 74, his second round bid marred by poor putting. He pooled a 142 but fell just by one behind the defending champion, who emerged the lone player to submit back-to-back under par rounds on a course that continued to bedevil the games of the rest of the elite 30-player field with its sheer length (7,300 yards) and dreaded winds.

Wary of his wobbly driving in the early going, Tabuena headed straight to the range for a quick swing check with coach J3 Altea.

Go for Gold backs Krog

NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK AT WINTER GAMES. South Korean

Petron, Cocolife, Generika favored

Tabuena grabs TCC golf lead

Pague, Coderos banner net cast JOMA Pague and Bless Coderos brace for a tough outing against a slew of rivals as they headline the huge field in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Ozamiz leg age-group tennis tournament, which gets going at the Ozamiz City Tennis Club today (Friday).

Pague will be joined by Steven Sonsona, Nilo Ledama and Andrei Cuevas in the boys’ 18-and-under class while Coderos braces for a duel with Janmarie Anghag, Rovie Baulete or Carmeville Gervacio in the girls’ side of the premier division in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

More than 200 entries are vying for top honors and ranking points in the fourth leg of this year’s PPS-PEPP circuit backed by Asiatraders Corp. and Dunlop as official ball with Coderos and Baulete also leading the 16-U cast.

“It’s inspiring to note that we’ve been drawing huge number of participants weekin and week-out in our nationwide circuit.

There are just lots of talents out there, waiting to be tapped and developed through our year-long tennis program,” said Palawan Pawnshop president Bobby Castro.

A CRACK seven-horse field will fight it out for the title and the prizes at stake as the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) presents the 1st leg of the 3YO Local Fillies and Colts Stakes Race on Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

Aiming for bragging rights as the best three-year-old local in the country today are Aphrodisiac of multi-titled owner Hermie Esguerra; Misha of Leonardo M. Javier Jr.; Probinsyano of Napoleon M. Magno; Smell My Tail of Antonio V. Tan Jr.; coupled entry Sotogrande and The Barrister of Dennis C. Tan; and Yosemite of Stony Road Horse Farm Inc. “These are among the best three-yearold horses around and are slowly carving a name for themselves in the business. I’m sure our racing aficionados will be in for another good racing treat,” said Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez.

Many eyes will be trained on Aphrodisiac, sired by Quaker Ridge out of Bourbon St. Blues, and Misha, with Zap and Syrinx as parents, as they are the only fillies in the field and the lightest too at 52 kilograms, with all the colts weighing 54 kilograms.

The rest of the field are just as impressive as their bloodlines.

Probinsyano has Fantasticat and Destiny’s Gold as parents, while Smell My Tail Male came from Prize Cat and Constatic. Sotogrande was sired by Cat Brulay out of Baranawa; while The Barrister was also fathered by Cat Brulay with K Mister Vee as its mother. On the other hand, Yosemite boasts of Borobudur and Tereshkove as its parents.

The race will be run over the short distance of 1,400 meters.

The Philracom is slowly reaping the benefits of its innovations and membership in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities as it arrested the decline of horse-racing revenues for the past three years.

IN BRIEF

PAL interested in Airbus 350-1000

PHILIPPINE Airlines said Thursday it is keen to acquire the latest Airbus 350-1000 aircraft for its long-haul operations. “ It’s a bigger version of the A350-900. If we take delivery of this [A350-1000], the engine is the same. A little bit bigger but there is commonality, like the spare parts. So, in terms of pilot training, cabin crew training, it’s the same,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista told reporters at the sidelines of the A350-1000 test flight in Manila.

The list price of A350-1000 is $366.5 million, according to Airbus.

“I’m sure Airbus will be happy if we convert those to 350-1000,” Bautista said, when asked if PAL plans to convert its option to acquire six A350-900s to A350-1000s.

PAL earlier acquired six A350-900 at at list price of $317.4 million each.

Bautista said the first A350-900s would start arriving in June, allowing PAL to deploy non-stop flights to the US East Coast through the Polar region, along with more routes to European cities.

“We expect the second delivery of A350 in August, September and December and the remaining two in 2019,” he said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

Cuisia named FWD Life chair

FORMER Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. has been appointed chairman of the board of insurance company FWD Life Philippines.

Cuisia, whose appointment took effect on Jan. 24, served as the ambassador to the United States from 2010-2016. He was also the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from 1990 to 1993, and the administrator of the Social Security System from 1986 to 1990.

His career included several key positions with leading Philippine banks and financial institutions.

Cuisia is replacing Julian Lipman who has stepped down as chairman to assume a new role as FWD Group chief of staff, in addition to being the chief operating officer at the group.

“We are truly honored that Ambassador Cuisia has taken on the role as chairman of the board. This is another step toward strengthening our game-changer position in the insurance industry,” said FWD Life president and chief executive Peter Grimes.

“We want to continue our rapid expansion, with our customer-led approach, making insurance easier to understand for Filipinos, relevant to their lifestyles and providing the financial protection that they need,” Grimes said.

Business Remittances rise 4% to hit record $28.06b

By Julito G. Rada

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ONEY sent home by Filipinos working overseas rose 4.3 percent in 2017 to hit a record $28.06 billion from $26.90 billion in 2016 and exceeded the government’s 4-percent growth target, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said Thursday.

“Notwithstanding pockets of political uncertainties across the globe, cash remittances in 2017 remained resilient,” Espenilla said in a statement.

“The higher cash remittances in 2017 was supported by the increase in transfers from both land-based and seabased workers by 4 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively,” he said.

Data showed that in December alone, cash remittances climbed 7.1 percent to $2.741 billion from $2.559 billion a year ago. The countries that contributed to the increase in cash remittances in

December were the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

The Bangko Sentral said for the whole year, remittances from the Middle East increased 3.4 percent, driven by growth in remittances from the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. Remittances from Asia grew 7.3 percent, boosted by transfers from Singapore, Japan and Taiwan.

For the Americas, which increased 5.8 percent, the major contributor was the 5.5-percent growth in remittances from the US. Despite the decrease in remittances from the United Kingdom

due to the depreciation of the pound against the dollar, remittances from Europe still went up by 1.5 percent.

Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also jumped to a record-high of $31.288 billion in 2017, up 5.3 percent from $29.706 billion in 2016. In December alone, personal remittances went up 7.9 percent to $3.046 billion from $2.823 billion a year ago.

“The sustained growth in personal remittances during the year was steered by the increase in remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more [by 4.1 percent] and from sea-based and landbased workers with work contracts of less than one year [by 5.3 percent],” the Bangko Sentral said.

It said the growth in remittances continued to provide support to the country’s economy as a major driver of domestic demand.

Bangko Sentral seen hiking rates

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is expected to hike interest rates this year on rising inflationary pressures, widening trade deficit and the expected hawkish policy stance of the US Federal Reserve, Business Monitor International, a unit of Fitch Group, said Thursday.

BMI cited the 3.3-percent inflation in December 2017 which picked up from 2.6 percent in December 2016, saying this trend would continue for several reasons.

“Firstly, energy prices have been on an upswing with our oil and gas team forecasting 2018 average Brent crude price to rise by 14 percent from $57 per barrel in 2017 to $65/bbl in 2018.

Secondly, household consumption loans have been picking up, with the latest figure in October 2017 from the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas coming in at 23.4 percent y-o-y, compared with 20 percent in September 2017,” BMI said.

It said as the government’s aggressive infrastructure-spending plans gained further momentum and slowdown in investment continues, this could lead to a wider fiscal deficit.

“Taken together, these factors inform our forecast for inflation to rise to 4 percent by the end of 2018, up from 3.3 percent in 2017. As inflationary pressures mount, we expect the BSP to hike its benchmark overnight repurchase rate by 50 bps to 3.5 percent by the end of 2018,” it said. Julito G. Rada

BSP cuts required reserves of banks from 20% to 19% The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, said Thursday it approved a one-percentage-point cut in the reserve requirement ratio of banks from 20 percent to 19 percent.

Bangko Sentral managing director for monetary policy Francisco Dakila Jr. said about P80 billion would be freed up to the domestic financial system because of the RRR reduction.

The reserve requirement is a central bank regulation that sets the minimum amount of reserves that must be left untouched by a bank.

The Bangko Sentral said in a statement the RRR reduction would support the shift toward a more marketbased implementation of monetary policy and its broad financial market reform agenda.

“The reduction will apply to the reservable liabilities of all banks and non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions with reserve requirement currently at 20 percent,” it said.

“In deciding to reduce the reserve requirement ratios, the Monetary Board reaffirms the BSP’s commitment to gradually lessen its reliance on reserve requirements for managing liquidity in the financial system,” the Bangko Sentral said said.

The board, in a resolution on Feb. 8, approved the 100-basis-point reduction in RR of universal/commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions.

The Monetary Board said the BSP attained sufficient progress in its shift towards the use of market-based monetary instruments since the adoption of the interest rate corridor framework in June 2016.

“Even as the BSP continues to refine its instruments and operations under the IRC, the Monetary Board observed that the BSP now has ample scope to mitigate the potential liquidity impact of a phased reduction in the reserve requirement via offsetting auction-based monetary operations,” it said.

Julito G. Rada

SOLAR CHARGING STATION. TeaM Energy Foundation executive director Ricky De Castro (third from left), together with Mayor Arnold Celeste of Bolinao, Pangasinan (left), pose in front of the solar battery charging station in Silaki Island, Bolinao during the facility’s ceremonial switch-on. The 6.4 kilowatt charging station is being utilized by residents of Silaki Island to charge their car batteries that they use to power the lights and small appliances in their homes. Also shown are (from left) Yang Hee Won, president of Electronic Life Technology; Grace Yeneza and Fely Arriola of Asian Development Bank-Energy for All Initiative; Tomas Camelo, ADB youth for Asia; Pangasinan Electric Cooperative area manager Fredericto Aquino; TeaM Energy Foundation program manager Dianne Maningding; and Gigi Quimson of ADB-Energy for All Initiative.

Govt plans to redevelop portion of Mile Long property THE government plans to sell a portion of the Mile Long property in Makati City and redevelop the other portion, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said in a news briefing Thursday.

“I told the president already [that] I don’t plan to sell the whole thing. I’ll sell a portion of it. And I explained to him why. Once the development starts there, the prices will go up. So why shouldn’t we benefit from it anyway. We don’t need the cash,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said he wanted to divide the controversial property into “three or four lots” and probably sell two lots and keep two lots.

“I just want to wait for the price to go up. Once the development starts there,

POWER PROTEST. Groups belonging to the Power for People Coalition (P4P) gather outside the Senate building to protest against the alleged collusion between power corporations and the Energy Regulatory Commission. They also denounced the Court of Appeals’ lifting of the Ombudsman’s suspension order against four ERC commissioners and called on President Rodrigo Duterte to implement the suspension and appoint their replacements.

The rally was held to coincide with the Senate committee on energy’s hearing on Senate Bill No. 1490 or Energy Regulatory Commission Governance Act.

prices will go up…,” he said.

Dominguez said the valuation procedures for the property would start next month and the government was on track to selling or privatizing it by the middle of 2018.

Dominguez said last year the government would privatize the controversial Mile Long property in Makati City as a part of efforts to raise more funds for development projects.

“Mile Long, that is the new asset that we received which we should be privatizing by the middle of next year,” Dominguez told reporters in a briefing in September.

Dominguez said the government’s plan was to speed up the privatization

of more state assets, starting out with the “big ones” including the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and Mile Long.

The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 141 ordered Sunvar Realty Development Corp. in August 2017 to vacate the Mile Long property following the Aug. 14 resolution of the Court of Appeals. The order was served by Solicitor General Jose Calida and the court sheriff on Sunvar and other tenants of Mile Long.

The Mile Long property has been the subject of a long battle between the government and Sunvar, a company owned by the Rufino and Prieto families since the early 2000s. Julito G. Rada

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018

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Mitsubishi PH opens stamping plant in Laguna

By Othel V. Campos MITSUBISHI Motor Philippines Corp. on Thursday opened the company’s first press stamping facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna that will produce body panels of vehicles.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, who was the guest speaker during the inauguration of the P2-billion facility, said the 2,000-ton stamping machine would allow Mitsubishi to produce bulky automotive parts such as vehicle body side outer panels, roof panels, floor panels and door panels.

“This is the first time in more than half a century of producing quality automobiles that Mitsubishi will have their own stamping facility,” Lopez said.

“This stamping plant facility will not only enable Mitsubishi PH to produce their own metal stamped parts, but will also help them comply with the CARS [Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy] program’s requirement that they manufacture at least 50 percent of the vehicle’s assembly weight,” Lopez said.

He said aside from cutting down the delivery lead time of metal stamped parts, the operation of the new stamping shop will also generate hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.

MMPC submitted for review to the inter-agency committee of the Board of Investments P4.27 billion worth of investment projects in anticipation of the release of incentives.

Lopez said MMPC made known its concern and the department and the BoI were willing to immediately review the company’s proposal.

“These IP proposals will be taken up when the CARS IAC meet again, hopefully, not later than Feb. 27,” he said.

The BoI was asked to review for fiscal incentives MMPC investments including the press plant and weld shop amounting to P2.41 billion and investments in outsourced parts worth P1.85 billion.

The parts are from from seven participating parts makers that the company brought in when it applied for the CARS program.

DPWH allots P30.9b for tourism roads

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Public Works Department said it allocated P30.9 billion to fund the tourism road infrastructure program.

Constante Llanes Jr., the agency’s planning service director, said 1,688 kilometers of tourism roads divided into 677 projects across 16 regions would be built under the 2018 TRIP budget amounting to P30.9 billion.

Llanes said that as a part of the 0+10-point economic agenda of the government, the department would continue to build projects to promote rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural and rural enterprise productivity and rural tourism.

Among the high-impact tourism road projects in the 2018 program are access roads leading to Mapita Tribal Community in Pangasinan; New Clark City; Callao Caves in Tuguegarao City; Buscalan in Kalinga which is also known as the home of the last mambabatok, Apo Whang Od; Seven Cities in Iloilo; and La Paz, Zamboanga City.

Other tourism infrastructure projects are roads in Dahilayan Adventure Park in Bukidnon; Asik-Asik Falls, North Cotabato; and Surigao del Sur leading to the world-famous Hinatuan Enchanted River; and circumferential roads in Taal, Batangas; San Jose, Romblon; and Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte.

Coastal Roads leading to nature and marine reserves in Pasacao-Balatan in Camarines Sur; Gilutongan and Nalusuan Marine Sanctuary in Cebu; and Canopy Forest in Eastern Samar are also part of the priority projects of TRIP. The agency said that over the last five years, the DPWH–DOT convergence program successfully completed over 1,500 tourism roads nationwide.

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Business

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market extends gains; PXP surges

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TOCKS rose for a third day, extending a rebound from last week’s turmoil as investors tracked a strong lead from Wall Street.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, rose 14 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 8,612.44 Thursday. It was also up 0.6 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also picked up 2 points, or 0.06 percent, to settle at 5,075.60, on a value turnover of P10.7 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 147 to 68, while 42 issues were unchanged.

Nine of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by oil explorer PXP Energy Corp. which surged 39.7 percent to P12.32 and Apex Mining Company Inc. which jumped 18.8 percent to P1.77. Conglomerate Ayala Corp. rose 5.3 percent to P1,095, while infrastructure company Metro Pacific Investments Corp. gained 4.5 percent to P5.85.

Meanwhile, most Asian markets advanced in line with the movement of Wall Street. A key US inflation reading showed prices shot up in January, sending Treasury yields rising and fanning expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at a sharper pace then expected a few months ago.

However, while the news initially sent US equities tumbling, they soon recovered and all three main indexes on Wall Street finished at least one percent higher, with dealers soothed by a surprisingly heavy drop in retail sales that eased inflation fears.

Global markets went into a tailspin last week on rising T-bill rates and the prospect of higher borrowing costs caused by a resurgent US economy and

improving wages.

But this week has seen a recovery, though there remains an element of caution as analysts warn of further turmoil after a stellar 2018 and January that saw several record and multi-year highs hit.

As traders headed into the Chinese New Year break, Hong Kong ended 2 percent higher. The index rose 5.6 percent over the past three days, helping it bite into last week’s drop of more than nine percent.

Tokyo ended 1.5 percent higher, despite a surge in the yen against the dollar, which tends to hurt exporters.

Sydney and Singapore each rose 1.2 percent, while Wellington added 0.1 percent. Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta were also up.

Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at Oanda , said: “In seemingly absurd fashion, US equity investors ignored the inflationary signals and focused on weaker-than-expected US retail sales report.

“There is an increasing possibility that [incoming Fed boss Jerome] Powell may blink and the Fed will be more hesitant to guide monetary policy given the waning growth narrative,” Innes said.

On currency markets ,the dollar is taking a hit across the board, with the yen at fresh 15-month highs, while the euro built on Wednesday’s gains that came after figures showed solid German economic growth.

The greenback is coming under the cosh despite the strong inflation print.

“I’m not going to pretend I have a clue this morning,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

“Stocks have surged and the US dollar has been poleaxed. That’s even though the market expectations of a March hike increased,” McKenna said.

The dollar was also sharply down against most high-yielding units, including the Australian dollar, South Korean won, Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht.

With AFP, Bloomberg

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.94 287,000 58.1 40 120 763,780 3.75 27,000 150.3 1,062,970 1.77 758,000 36 225,700 15.5 39,600 26.95 1,480,900 8.56 5,800 0.65 15,000 1.64 6,000 970 60 0.54 1,600,000 96.8 3,535,950 1.57 9,363,000 13.2 40,200 25 200 56.8 39,970 239.8 1,920 103 220 85.05 130 47 138,100 258 307,740 90 4,500 1.19 189,000

1,107,830 2,324 91,650,879 101,190 160,370,458 1,369,640 8,149,685 603,954 40,379,515 49,624 9,750 9,840 58,300 868,280 342,762,822 15,043,630 524,608 5,000 2,274,390.50 459,390 22,660 11,057.50 6,579,910 77,898,680 404,819.50 226,100

-581 34,276,900 -69,525,585 -1,880 5,334,010 -9,382,830 79,079,150 1,272,940 79,001.50 987,205 1,682,838 165,587.50 -

39 12.68 0.58 1.29 18 0.214 3.99 15.4 52 19.16 61 56.5 1.93 5.35 10.2 11.4 14.1 10.72 7.4 5.55 15.6 61.6 28.95 10 19.56 2.01 280 4.08 3.05 19.22 27.25 17.34 18.5 319 0.189 8.2 2.74 4.64 9.25 5.89 8 1.52 12.5 56.5 5.8 618.5 4.88 4.2 3.88 2.19 16.36 5.45 0.131 1.02 152 2.75 1.8 24.05 1.2

INDUSTRIAL 39.4 1,055,500 12.88 1,209,000 0.59 687,000 1.3 771,000 18.26 72,000 0.215 4,310,000 4.01 7,436,000 15.7 538,900 52 611,170 19.98 9,300 61 510 59 20 1.96 214,000 5.6 24,800 10.6 63,100 11.46 1,209,900 14.4 380,500 11.02 1,376,600 7.7 956,200 5.55 1,781,800 15.78 973,600 61.6 41,430 29 237,200 10.06 115,500 19.98 2,549,300 2.07 13,128,000 285 516,060 4.08 217,000 3.12 33,000 19.24 5,500 27.4 798,500 17.4 340,400 19.08 3,283,000 322 67,130 0.194 1,350,000 8.22 24,300 2.75 7,337,000 4.64 236,000 9.35 584,700 6.38 386,000 8.27 200 1.52 399,000 13 10,384,300 56.65 234,150 5.8 104,200 618.5 21,290 4.88 5,000 4.5 3,523,000 3.88 990,000 2.31 21,760,000 16.62 954,800 5.48 326,900 0.131 3,390,000 1.07 1,237,000 153.5 939,150 2.75 10,000 1.9 5,272,000 24.05 400 1.32 15,109,000

41,325,720 15,566,314 405,710 997,680 1,313,270 931,080 29,841,250 1 8,445,210 32,216,607 181,222 31,124 1,155 416,470 137,700 659,990 13,863,112 5,445,342 15,158,342 7,215,207 9,893,791(6, 15,297,830 2,555,146.50 6,878,865 1,155,326 50,837,008 28,501,250 147,488,304 885,480 101,590 105,752 21,887,380 5,927,178 62,464,518 21,533,306 257,410 199,706 20,326,410 1,106,090 5,432,282 2,403,450 1,627 608,720 132,941,220 13,270,405.50 604,692 13,290,375 24,400 15,808,770 4,234,450 57,410,490 15,857,312 1,791,231 445,030 1,399,210 143,984,428 27,980 9,818,290 9,620 19,460,560

-8,315,360 -2,207,476 -3,000 5,200 ,090,910.0004 1,068,272 7,764,865 1,940 9,162,386 1,760,712 -1,191,226 -172,305 969,630.0002) -989,340 -128,214.50 14,500 170,000 9,825,356 84,670 -6,170,086 3,060 3,761,430 -264,630 -10,095,168 -2,780,920 137,890 519,320 -421,054 29,450 800 30,500 851,014 -2,945,014 1,834,695 144,000 -13,430 -75,640 2,383,894 700,219 5,330 -113,226,343 -118,900 47,890

0.305 75 14.96 1.03 7 0.68 0.67 1,095 1,054 7.47 13.96 7.59 4.56 0.185 1,324 75.5 5 5.37 5.38 0.71 5.37 23.05 0.34 5.85 0.039 1.2 3.46 3.1 145.4 2.87 996 1.73 278 0.237 0.18 0.19

0.295 72.35 14.34 0.92 6.87 0.55 0.61 1,030 1,053 7.18 13.7 7.4 4.55 0.185 1,289 73.3 4.96 5.32 5.38 0.67 5.27 22.45 0.31 5.36 0.037 1.16 3.05 2.5 141.2 2.69 970 1.63 276 0.235 0.18 0.19

HOLDING FIRMS 0.295 210,000 75 763,540 14.34 21,149,200 0.96 806,000 6.87 11,300 0.56 62,355,000 0.63 17,948,000 1,095 341,655 1,054 25 7.3 472,900 13.8 1,848,100 7.59 1,700 4.55 3,000 0.185 100,000 1,324 52,040 75.5 1,526,890 4.96 3,200 5.32 1,300 5.38 300 0.68 1,082,000 5.28 132,300 22.95 3,246,400 0.34 140,000 5.85 101,906,800 0.039 29,200,000 1.17 445,000 3.05 15,372,000 2.55 121,000 145.1 557,190 2.69 60,000 989 294,830 1.64 1,773,000 278 1,920 0.235 430,000 0.18 180,000 0.19 150,000

62,350 56,501,222.50 305,805,844 775,650 77,706 38,410,160 11,436,910 367,126,650 26,330 3,419,695 25,484,782 12,808 13,670 18,500 68,074,125 114,215,348 15,896 6,936 1,614 734,550 701,547 73,882,500 45,450 581,474,579 1,110,500 525,980 48,838,310 340,420 80,578,307 165,830 291,510,490 2,954,680 532,546 101,720 32,400 28,500

-11,261,459 9,873,350 -4,122 -1,654,620 -15,885,230 -66,753 11,889,360 4,554 -21,493,545 -51,179,166 -238,219 -30,579,005 -88,741,173 3,000 1,509,543 -58,296,835 -63,080 -27,800 1,800 -

7.32 1.09 17.6 2.18 0.89 45.7 3.73 4.55 5.76 0.445 1.08 1.09 0.242 0.51 36.5 0.65 0.136 1.8 1.33 0.73 4.89 0.335

7.05 0.93 15 2.15 0.84 43.5 3.67 4.4 5.76 0.425 1.08 1.06 0.228 0.49 35 0.63 0.135 1.78 1.31 0.69 4.77 0.315

25,305,141 41,371,950 2,068,640 260,270 4,343,820 266,215,850 684,430 3,920,670 576 9,623,400 17,280 95,900 8,592,150 3,368,200 19,062,215 84,450 44,740 20,570,640 7,871,090 317,430 93,584,470 25,861,400

518,500 114,370 168,800 42,500 -11,138,275 -74,130 -13,680 -1,141,450 4,387,580 -1,847,595 -5,813,640 -1,768,640 -27,617,020 286,050

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

3.82 58.1 117.9 3.72 153 1.88 36.2 15.3 27.9 8.55 0.65 1.64 980 0.54 97 1.71 12.9 25 56.95 237 103 85.15 49 249 90 1.2

4 58.1 123 3.75 153 1.88 36.25 15.5 27.9 8.56 0.65 1.64 980 0.56 97 1.71 13.2 25 57.45 239.8 103 85.15 49.05 258 90.65 1.21

3.78 58.1 117.8 3.72 150.1 1.76 35.9 15.2 26.7 8.55 0.65 1.64 970 0.54 96.8 1.56 12.9 25 56.7 236.2 103 85.05 47 245.2 89.9 1.19

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

39.35 12.94 0.61 1.29 18.44 0.215 4.06 15.4 52.85 19.3 61.05 56.5 1.99 5.6 10.7 11.5 14.4 11.2 7.4 5.58 15.8 61.7 29 10 20 2.4 281.8 4.08 3.06 19.26 27.4 17.5 18.5 320.2 0.191 8.25 2.82 4.75 9.3 5.9 8 1.53 12.68 56.7 6 627.5 4.88 4.5 4.31 2.8 16.36 5.49 0.132 1.02 156.2 2.82 1.87 24.05 1.4

39.4 12.98 0.61 1.3 18.68 0.22 4.07 15.8 54 19.98 61.05 59 1.99 5.6 10.7 11.54 14.44 11.4 7.7 5.58 15.82 62 29.5 10.08 20.1 2.45 289.8 4.14 3.15 19.26 27.5 17.52 19.24 322 0.194 8.25 2.82 4.8 9.35 6.7 8.27 1.53 13.06 56.95 6 643 4.88 4.5 4.79 2.98 16.8 5.65 0.136 1.24 156.2 2.85 1.9 24.05 1.44

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP BHI HLDG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG KEPPEL HLDG A KEPPEL HLDG B LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.305 74.95 14.9 1.03 6.87 0.67 0.67 1,040 1,053 7.3 13.96 7.4 4.56 0.185 1,297 74.1 5 5.37 5.38 0.68 5.37 22.5 0.31 5.75 0.039 1.2 3.37 2.52 142.2 2.69 995 1.64 277 0.237 0.18 0.19

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

7.05 0.95 17.2 2.15 0.85 45.6 3.67 4.54 5.76 0.44 1.08 1.06 0.242 0.5 36.5 0.63 0.136 1.79 1.32 0.73 4.89 0.33

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP PTFC REDEV CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

0.3 0.51 4 36 20.5 1.97 3.22 36.15 1 18.28 0.82 6.55

0.305 0.52 4.06 36 20.5 1.97 3.24 36.25 1.01 18.5 0.83 6.55

0.3 0.5 3.9 35 19.9 1.93 3.22 35.7 1 15.8 0.8 6.32

0.305 0.51 3.91 35 20 1.95 3.23 36.1 1.01 16.4 0.83 6.55

860,000 9,558,000 1,269,000 3,700 4,949,500 759,000 124,000 5,952,100 326,000 787,600 425,000 8,637,100

258,500 4,832,540 5,027,050 129,700 99,001,833 1,472,520 399,570 214,206,850 326,020 12,888,986 345,050 56,026,654

10,200 -8,000 -26,818,816 427,290 38,790 -26,295,245 47,090 2,458,951

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC DISCOVERY WORLD EASYCALL FAR EASTERN U GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN HAVEN HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA BULLETIN MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHIL RACING PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

18.1 31.75 1.31 0.435 0.051 11.7 4.83 13.8 0.065 101 8.81 8.35 2.54 55.6 965 1,800 6.15 164 5.61 2.95 110 8.31 0.137 1.52 3.4 14.5 3.85 1.03 25.5 0.51 4.65 8.87 3.41 17.3 17.1 10.2 11.8 2.98 8.2 110 6.48 1,555 1.22 0.35 51 94.2 6.01 2.88 1.49 0.59 3.57 0.95 11

18.1 32 1.31 0.435 0.062 11.7 5.33 14.06 0.066 101 8.9 8.4 2.54 55.6 965 1,800 6.16 175 5.84 3 110 8.31 0.137 1.56 3.58 14.58 3.86 1.05 26.1 0.51 4.65 9 3.45 18 20 10.3 12.1 2.98 8.2 110 6.48 1,555 1.22 0.35 51 95.7 6.24 2.9 1.49 0.59 3.57 0.95 11

17.7 31.7 1.31 0.43 0.051 11.58 4.83 13.7 0.063 99.95 8.6 8.2 2.4 42 965 1,745 6.12 157 5.5 2.87 109.2 8.28 0.135 1.52 3.33 14 3.8 1.02 25.25 0.51 4.47 8.55 3.38 17 9 10.2 11.52 2.8 8.2 108 6 1,511 1.2 0.35 50.5 94.2 6.01 2.85 1.44 0.52 3.5 0.91 10.7

SERVICES 17.7 32 1.31 0.43 0.057 11.6 5.33 14 0.066 100.1 8.65 8.4 2.42 44 965 1,800 6.15 167 5.65 2.91 110 8.3 0.135 1.52 3.55 14 3.8 1.05 26 0.51 4.47 8.55 3.38 18 13.98 10.3 12 2.98 8.2 110 6.15 1,515 1.2 0.35 51 95.7 6.2 2.87 1.45 0.53 3.51 0.93 10.84

233,700 58,800 5,000 1,110,000 368,610,000 11,100 5,900 20,094,300 23,270,000 168,240 1,651,200 42,000 132,000 505,220 24,960 19,970 517,300 173,100 6,440,300 138,000 485,660 16,000 16,600,000 1,222,000 18,000 5,100 1,604,000 920,000 2,928,700 50,000 2,074,000 5,130,600 1,750,000 12,200 129,821,900 3,400 152,200 20,000 11,500 303,550 2,904,300 57,650 3,554,000 400,000 161,120 154,580 79,800 896,000 9,609,000 136,596,000 952,000 10,496,000 4,031,900

4,158,276 1,873,065 6,550 481,750 21,018,040 128,760 29,282 280,467,444 1,489,280 16,855,746.50 14,352,488 346,388 320,440 24,153,197 24,086,400 35,510,210 3,173,377 28,517,880 36,533,120 399,850 53,413,173 132,770 2,259,560 1,862,750 62,300 72,970 6,115,990 953,690 75,753,180 25,500 9,316,830 45,290,586 5,956,290 211,080 2,215,389,067 34,970 1,797,126 57,080 94,300 33,141,037 17,974,800 87,623,990 4,276,430 140,000 8,206,936.50 14,736,632.50 483,846 2,571,810 13,976,820 74,419,540 3,370,060 9,729,260 43,565,454

90,622 43,500 1,100 53,370 -5,330 194,954,770 3,597,615.50 70,670 -186,068.50 149,185 124,262 1,301,206 -9,169,018 60,080 -76,000 -1,716,060 30,010,945 4,630 -22,800,520 -27,330 -11,487,948 -22,920 11,200 172,800 286,055 -30,677,385 -38,460 -180,931.50 -9,648,604 422,000 9,692,700 -922,550 21,060 -80,480 3,644,396

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

0.0024 1.5 4.97 13 1.66 1.74 0.315 7.69 2.48 0.195 0.147 0.153 0.0091 1.43 6.48 1.39 0.44 0.86 0.012 0.012 0.011 2.02 6.5 9.31 36 0.0068

0.0024 2.08 5 18 1.76 1.75 0.315 7.8 2.51 0.196 0.15 0.158 0.0093 1.54 6.48 1.39 0.44 0.87 0.013 0.012 0.012 2.03 6.82 13.22 36.25 0.0068

0.0023 1.5 4.91 13 1.66 1.63 0.31 7.35 2.4 0.195 0.146 0.152 0.0091 1.41 6.32 1.35 0.44 0.85 0.012 0.012 0.011 2 6.5 9.3 35.15 0.0068

MINING & OIL 0.0023 299,000,000 1.77 135,119,000 4.96 588,000 17.8 71,400 1.66 57,000 1.7 2,322,000 0.31 1,240,000 7.35 32,700 2.4 5,732,000 0.195 290,000 0.148 7,540,000 0.158 3,200,000 0.0092 9,000,000 1.46 376,000 6.4 1,491,100 1.38 324,000 0.44 10,000 0.86 251,000 0.013 82,200,000 0.012 300,000 0.011 13,400,000 2.03 57,000 6.64 1,537,100 12.32 73,027,400 35.15 1,008,100 0.0068 2,000,000

692,200 244,111,580 2,937,070 1,038,258 94,900 3,925,550 384,500 249,456 14,004,880 56,560 1,117,750 487,170 82,700 548,470 9,516,996 439,510 4,400 215,950 1,062,200 3,600 155,800 115,100 10,341,454 876,849,651 35,731,875 13,600

109,730 -24,820 -413,630 39,400 54,160 474,840 -5,700 1,528,459 5,500 56,840.00 -702,019 -11,943,224 -4,196,210 -

AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR HOUSE PREF A LR PREF MWIDE PREF PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3A SFI PREF SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

510 516 103.7 112 525 6.1 101.3 1.03 105.6 1,000 103 1.95 77.2 81 77.8 78

510 518 104 112 525 6.13 101.8 1.04 108.4 1,000 103 2.18 77.2 81.5 78 78.5

510 512 103.7 110.7 525 6 101.3 1.03 105.5 998 103 1.95 77 80 77.5 78

PREFERRED 510 1,410 512 25,500 104 650 110.7 18,710 525 17,930 6 158,800 101.3 4,430 1.04 24,000 108.4 33,170 998 2,095 103 65,080 2.18 13,000 77 1,770 80 64,530 78 79,220 78 23,000

719,100 13,147,140 67,465 2,071,997 9,413,250 968,554 450,259 24,740 3,500,590 2,092,240 6,703,240 26,730 136,310 5,164,969 6,155,856 1,798,895

915,000 -4,360 -3,022,500 -

LR WARRANT

2.29

2.3

2.25

WARRANTS 2.26 1,096,000

2,479,360

-

18,595,385 14,000 6,575,540 9,793,750

37,736 107,340 -1,103,050

MS

PROPERTY 7.22 1.01 15 2.18 0.85 44.6 3.7 4.49 5.76 0.43 1.08 1.06 0.231 0.495 35 0.63 0.135 1.79 1.31 0.7 4.8 0.335

3,509,600 40,709,000 124,500 121,000 5,078,000 5,949,500 185,000 882,000 100 22,250,000 16,000 90,000 36,600,000 6,700,000 540,700 134,000 330,000 11,513,000 5,984,000 454,000 19,454,000 80,050,000

ITALPINAS MAKATI FINANCE PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

6.2 2.8 4.21 3.75

6.32 2.8 4.21 3.75

5.8 2.8 3.8 3.5

FIRST METRO ETF

129.6

130

129.5

USD TECH B2

1.01

1.01

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

19,893,275

INDUSTRIAL

124,777,142

HOLDING FIRMS

268,200,541

PROPERTY

292,836,152

SERVICES

776,230,159

MINING & OIL

641,387,915

GRAND TOTAL

2,130,936,499

1.01

5.83 2.8 3.94 3.5

SME

3,121,900 5,000 1,684,000 2,780,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 130 10,760 1.01

DDS

460

1,397,598 464.6

45,500 -

VALUE 2,210.29 (down) 0.84 750,968,019.46 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,398.62 (up) 1.75 1,088,941,221.876 HOLDING FIRMS 8,797.05 (up) 87.88 2,131,196,974.714 PROPERTY 3,885.17 (down) 31.03 1,705.47 (down) 13.74 1,279,193,372.545 SERVICES MINING & OIL 11,706.35 (up) 208.31 4,198,304,382.12 PSEI 8,612.44 (up) 14.33 1,204,255,182.5644 All Shares Index 5,075.60 (up) 2.80 10,689,269,854.13 Gainers: 68; Losers: 147; Unchanged: 42; Total: 257

Ayala Land set to launch P125b worth of projects

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. said Thursday it will launch P125 billion worth of real estate projects this year, up 40.7 percent from P88.8 billion worth of projects it launched in 2017.

Ayala Land president and chief executive Bernard Vincent Dy said P100 billion worth of residential and office for sale projects would be offered to the market this year while P25 billion worth of malls, hotels, and office for lease projects would also be unveiled.

Among the company’s mall openings this year are One Bonifacio High Street which has 23,000 square meters of gross leasable area and Vertis North 3 with 38,000 sqm.

The property firm is also set to complete the 19-room Huni Sicogon hotel and the 153-room Seda hotel with Lio Estate in Palawan.

Ayala Land said to finance these project launches, it earmarked P110.8 billion in capital expenditures for 2018, up 21.2 percent from P91.4 billion in 2017.

Dy said 43 percent of programmed spending this year would be for residential, 17 percent for malls, 12 percent for land acquisition and the rest for office, hotels and resorts and estate development.

Dy said the prospects for the property sector remained good as interest rates and mortgage rates were still at low levels while dollar remittances and the business process outsourcing industry remained strong.

Ayala Land said that given these factors, it was on track to hit the net income target of P40 billion by 2020.

“To be able to achieve the P40-billion net income target, from 2018 to 2020, we need to grow by 17 percent annually and we feel that is achievable primarily because the economy continues to grow which continues to support the growth of the property sector,” Dy said.

Ayala Land’s net income grew 21 percent last year to P25.3 billion from P20.9 billion in 2016.

STI Holdings registers 218% income growth STI Holdings Inc. of businessman Eusebio Tanco said net income in October to December surged 218 percent to P258.7 million from P81.4 million a year ago.

STI said in a quarterly report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange gross revenues reached P860.3 million in the three-month period, up from P837.1 million in the same period last year.

The company follows the AprilMarch fiscal year, mirroring that of an academic cycle in the Philippines. The three months ending December 2017 represent the company’s third-quarter period.

The education company said for the entire nine-month period ending December 2017, gross revenues rose 5 percent to P2.2 billion from P2.1 billion a year earlier, while net income slid 86 percent to P88.5 million from P624 million in the same period a year ago.

The company’s subsidiary STI Education Services Group which manages STI-branded schools sold a 20-percent stake in Maestro Holdings in June 2017 to focus on its core business of providing quality educational services.

Equity in net gains/losses of said affiliate was no longer recognized after June 2017.

The company said it continued to expand its business with STI-ESG’s recently acquired parcels of land in Lipa and Legazpi amounting to P99.1 million and P76.4 million, respectively.

Construction of projects were either recently completed or ongoing at STI Malaybalay in Bukidnon, STI Sta. Maria in Bulacan, STI Lipa in Batangas, STI Sta. Mesa in Manila, STI PasayEdsa and STI San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.

These projects are expected to be completed this year, in time for the influx of college freshmen who took up two years of senior high school under the K to 12 program.

Share price of STI closed lower by 2.03 percent Thursday to P1.45.

Jenniffer B. Austria

B3

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

CYAN

Study: Single dads at risk of shortening their lives

P

ARIS—The risk of dying prematurely more than doubles for single fathers compared to single mothers or paired-up dads, according to a study of Canadian families published Thursday.

“Our research highlights that single fathers have higher mortality, and demonstrates the need for public health policies to help identify and support these men,” said lead author Maria Chiu, a scientist at the University of Toronto.

The findings, published in The Lancet Public Health, may apply to wealthy nations with similar ratios of single-parent families to Canada, the researchers said.

Chiu and colleagues tracked nearly 40,500 people across Canada over 11 years. The subjects—who included 4,590 single moms and 871 single dads—were, on average, in their early 40s when study began.

Nearly 700 died by the end of the monitoring period.

Compared to partnered fathers or single moms, the death rate was three times higher among single fathers.

Factoring in that solo dads tended to be older, had higher cancer rates, and were more prone to heart disease, the researchers concluded their mortality risk was still twice as high.

Likely culprits include poor lifestyle choices and stress, Chiu said.

"We did find that single fathers tended to have unhealthier lifestyles," which could include poor diet, lack of exercise, or excessive drinking, she said.

Men parenting on their own were more likely to be separated, divorced or widowed than single mothers—a larger proportion of whom raise babies conceived outside of a relationship, the team found.

Having experienced a breakup is a risk factor for mental ill health.

“These results show that single fathers might be a particularly vulnerable group,” Rachel Simpson, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, commented in the same journal.

Making matters worse, a 2016 study showed that go-it-alone dads—even if they acknowledge being in poor shape, physically and mentally—are less likely

to seek professional help than women.

Single-parent households have become more common across the developed world in recent decades.

In the United States, for example, the percentage of children living with single mothers nearly tripled from eight percent in 1960 to 23 percent in 2016, according to the US Census.

The percentage living with single fathers increased from one to four over the same period.

In Europe, Denmark tops the list of single-parent households which make up 30 percent of the total.

Of those, 23 percent are headed by women and seven percent by men, according to the OECD rich country grouping.

The corresponding percentages are 19 and four for France; 14 and five for Sweden, 17 and two for Germany; 16 and three for Canada.

Rates of single-parenthood are even higher in many low-income nations, especially in Africa, according to Joseph Chamie, former director of the UN Population Division.

Close to 40 percent of children in South Africa, for example, have their mother as the sole parent, and four percent have only a dad. AFP

Australia bans sex between ministers and staff SYDNEY―Australia’s prime minister imposed a formal ban on sex between ministers and their staff on Thursday after his deputy made “a shocking error of judgment” by having an affair that left an aide pregnant and the government reeling.

Malcolm Turnbull announced the amendment to the ministerial code of conduct at an extraordinary press conference during which he slammed deputy Barnaby Joyce for causing “terrible hurt and humiliation” to his wife and four children.

“Barnaby made a shocking error of judgment in having an affair with a young woman working in his office,” he said.

“In doing so, he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us.

“Our hearts go out to them. It has been a dreadful thing for them to go through in the glare of publicity.”

Joyce, 50, has been under immense pressure since his affair with former media advisory Vikki Campion, 33, who is now pregnant with their child, became public last week.

UN reports record number of Afghan civilian casualties in 2017 KABUL―Nearly 2,300 civilians were killed or wounded in suicide bombings and attacks in Afghanistan in 2017, more than any previous year of the conflict on record, a UN report said Thursday.

The figures come as militants ramp up their assaults on urban areas, after US President Donald Trump said last August the American presence in Afghanistan would remain open-ended and Washington stepped up air strikes on rural militant strongholds.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported that civilian deaths across the country dipped by nine percent in 2017, with 10,453 total civilian casualties including 3,438 deaths and 7,015 wounded.

But as the Taliban and the Islamic State group have come under more pressure they have increasingly carried out indiscriminate assaults in cities.

As a result, casualties from suicide bombings and attacks jumped by 17 percent.

“2017 recorded the highest number of civilian casualties from suicide and complex attacks in a single year in Afghanistan,” the report said, with 605 killed and 1,690 wounded from such incidents.

The capital remained a top target, with 16 percent of all casualties during the year―a total of 1,831 people killed and wounded― occurring in Kabul alone.

“Afghan civilians have been killed going about their daily lives―traveling on a bus, praying in a mosque, simply walking past a building that was targeted,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was quoted as saying in the report.

“When we see civilians being deliberately targeted, you wonder how long that this [has] to go on,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN’s special representative in Afghanistan, told a press conference in Kabul Thursday.

Militants claim to represent Afghan interests but are “killing people in the most appalling manner, creating terror and suffering”, he said.

Things have not improved so far in 2018, and he warned the UN is concerned it will see “greater harm this year”.

Since January 20, militants have stormed a luxury hotel, bombed a crowded street and raided a military compound in Kabul, killing more than 130 people.

The majority of the victims in 2017 were killed or wounded by anti-government insurgents, according to the report.

However pro-government forces, including international troops, were responsible for 20 percent of the civilian casualties―a seven percent increase from 2016. AFP

It has led to allegations that he breached ministerial rules, with the crisis dominating the front pages and parliament question time, with calls mounting for him to resign.

Joyce, whose National Party is in a coalition with the prime minister’s Liberals, will take leave next week, allowing him to side-step the role of acting leader while Turnbull is on a visit to the United States.

Turnbull departs for Washington next Wednesday for meetings with US President Donald Trump and is scheduled to be overseas for four days. AFP

N OTICE Notice is hereby given that CEBU AIR, INC. doing business under the names and styles of Cebu Pacific and Cebu Pacific Air [Formerly: CEBU AIR, INC.] with office address at Cebu Pacific Building, Domestic Road, Barangay 191, Zone 20, Pasig City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as a New Operator of Air Transport Services (A321CEO with CAB Registration No. RP-C4111 and Serial No. MSN8190) on a nonpioneer status with project site at Airline Operations Center, Domestic Road, Pasay City.

Any person with valid objections on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(SGD) ANGELlTA F. ARCELLANA Officer-in-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service

(MS-FEB. 16, 2018)

ERRORS & OMISSIONS In Classified Ads section must be brought to our attention the very day the advertisement is published. We will not be responsible for any incorrect ads not reported to us immediately.

Republic of the Philippines) Makati, Metro Manila…….) s.s AFFIDAVIT OF SELF-ADJUDICATION OF SOLE HEIR I, MARIA RINA SANTIAGO SCHOELLEN, of legal age, Filipino-American with dual citizenship and a holder of a Philippine Passport, single parent and a resident of 20 Milestone, Irvine, California, United States of America, and at No. 25 Derby Street, White Plains, Quezon City, after having been sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose and say: That I am the only child and sole and only surviving legal heir of the late VIRGINIA M. SANTIAGO who died on January 25, 2018 at Makati City, Metro Manila leaving without any will or debt that has not been settled up to the present; That to the best of my knowledge the deceased at the time of her death left the following parcels of residential land more particularly described to wit; 1. A parcel of land located in the City of Parañaque covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. (S-36508)) 96182; 2. A parcel of land located in Quezon City covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. RT-76907 (280074); 3. A parcel of land located in City of Parañaque covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. (275497) S-30387 (17042-A) 85534.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, the deceased left the following bank deposits: 1. BPI Family Savings Bank Account No. 005997-2855-75 TD#050411, 35 days, renewable Php 100,000.00 2. BPI Family Savings Bank Account No. S/A No. 005993-3677-63 Php27,802.29 3. Metro Savings Bank Account No. 362-3-362-10541-3 Php3,216,097.15 4. BPI FCDU Account No. 2104-0056-94 US $1629.27 Likewise, to the best of my knowledge, the deceased has certificate of stocks on the following: TELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, INC. (TSI) Stock Certificates 1. Cert. A-11 116,666 shares 2. Cert. B-030/B033 533,812 shares 3. Cert. A-627 32, 369 shares 4. Cert. A-624 83,013,162 shares Total 83,696,009 shares PHILIPPINE TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE CORP. (PT&T) Stock Certificates 1. Cert. A-00010037 729,926 shares 2. Cert. A-00036279 36,666 shares Total 766,592 shares JLS, INC Stock Certificates 4,000 shares PSVSIA Stock Certificates 1. 025-A 2. 045-A 3. 052-A 4. 063-A 5. 067-A 6. 100-A 7. 103-A

SCN FORM NO. 1 (R.A. NO. 9139)

contagious disease. The country of which I am a citizen or subject is not at war with the Philippines and grants to Filipinos the right to be naturalized citizens or subjects thereof.

001177

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NATURALIZATION

6 shares 2 shares 9 shares 4 shares 13 shares 5,593,256 shares 6,796 shares

EL JOVIR Stock Certificates-490-187 shares 1. 0049 490,187 shares Pursuant to SEC. 1 Rule 74 of the Revised Rules of Court of the Philippines, I hereby adjudicate unto myself the above described parcel of lands, bank accounts/investments and stock certificates without judicial proceedings as prescribed by the aforementioned Rules of Court.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of February 2018 at Makati City.

MARIA RINA SANTIAGO SCHOELLEN Affiant SUBSCRIBED SWORN to before me this 1st day of February 2018 at Makati City.

Affiant exhibiting to me her USA Passport No. 559347163 issued on May 11, 2017 at Manila, Philippines

13. It is my true and honest intention to become a citizen of the Philippines and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and, particularly, to CHINA of which at this time I am a citizen or subject. I will reside continuously in the Philippines from the date of the filing of this petition up to the time of my admission to Philippine citizenship.

14. My character witnesses are CLAUDINE JENNIFER TING NG and HEIDY RYANNA GUEVARRA both Filipino citizens, of legal age, and residing at 24 BEECHCRAFT ST., CONCORDE VILLAGE, PARAÑAQUE and 1249 MASANGKAY ST., STA CRUZ, MANILA respectively, who have executed sworn statements attached hereto in support of my instant petition, together with: (a) brief biographical data about themselves; (b) detailed statements on the dates they first came to know me, the circumstances of our initial acquaintance and the reasons and extent of our continuing familiarity; and (c) the number of times they have acted as character witnesses in other petitions for naturalization.

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF DENISE CAI YANG to be naturalized as Filipino citizen pursuant to Republic Act No. 9139.

SCN CASE NO. x------------------ x

PETITION Pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 9139, petitioner hereby submits a petition for naturalization to become a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines and respectfully declares: 1. My full name is DENISE CAI YANG, but I have also been known since childhood as N/A or I have been judicially N/A . authorized to use the alias name(s) 2. My present place of residence is 2673-C RAFAEL ALUNAN ST., INTERIOR ROAD, MALATE City/Municipality of MANILA Province of METRO MANILA and all my former places of residence are (please indicate periods of residence) (1998-2009) GREENEREY TOWER, UNIT 1402, GALERIA DE BINONDO, NUMANCIA ST., BINONDO, MANILA (2009-PRESENT) 2673-C RAFAEL ALUNAN ST., INTERIOR ROAD, MALATE, MANILA 3. I was born on JUNE 4, 1998, in MANILA, Philippines. I have been a resident of the Philippines since birth. At present, I am a citizen or subject of CHINA. 4. My father's name is YANG, HUA HUANG and he was born on SEPTEMBER 14, 1965, in CHINA. He is a citizen or subject of CHINA. My mother's name is CAI, JI RU and she was born on APRIL 21, 1971 in CHINA. She is a citizen or subject of CHINA. 5. My trade, business, profession or lawful occupation is N/A and from which I derive an average annual income of N/A , inclusive of bonuses, commissions and allowances.

My wife's/husband's trade, business, profession or lawful occupation is N/A and from which she derives an average annual income of P N/A .

(Where the above does not apply): I am exempt from the requirement of lucrative trade or occupation and from submitting income tax returns for the past three (3) years because I am a college degree holder [please state (1) degree obtained: N/A,, (2) name of school: N/A and (3) years graduated: N/A who cannot practice my profession (the practice of which requires a government licensure examination) by reason of my citizenship.

6. My civil status is SINGLE,, I was married on N/A in N/A. My wife's/husband's name is N/A and she/he was born on in N/A. She/he is a citizen or subject of N/A and presently resides N/A

15. Attached hereto as annexes and made part of this petition are the duplicate originals or certified photocopies of the following documents (please check the appropriate box): [ / ] a. Petitioner's birth certificate [ / ] b. Petitioner's alien certificate of registration (ACR) [ ] c. Petitioner's native-born certificate of residence (NBCR) [ ] d. Petitioner's marriage certificate, if married [ ] e. Death certificate of his/her spouse, if widowed [ ] f. Court decree annulling his/her marriage or granting legal separation, if such was the fact [ ] g. Birth certificates of petitioner's minor children [ ] h. ACRs of petitioner's minor children [ ] i. NBCRs of petitioner's minor children [ ] j. Affidavits of financial capacity by the petitioner, duly supported by bank certifications, passbooks, stock certificates, or proof of ownership of other properties [ / ] k. Affidavits of at least two (2) credible witnesses who must be Filipino citizens of good reputation in petitioner's place of residence [ / ] l. Medical certificate from a government hospital stating that petitioner is not suffering from mental alienation or a user of prohibited drugs or otherwise a drug dependent and that he/she is not afflicted with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), or any incurable contagious disease. [ / ] m. School diploma and transcript of records of the petitioner from the school/s he or she attended in the Philippines [ ] n. Certifications stating that petitioner's minor children are enrolled in public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the DECS, where Philippine history, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality [ ] o. Petitioner's income tax returns for the past three years [ ] p. Petitioner's receipts of payment of income tax for the past three years 16. Other documents submitted by the petitioner in support of his/her petition: NBI CLEARANCE, OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR CLEARANCE, RTC CLEARANCE, MTC CLEARANCE, POLICE CLEARANCE,BARANGAY CLEARANCE, AFFIDAVIT OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF PARENTS WITH CERTIFICATE OF EMPLOYMENT , INCOME TAX RETURN OF PARENTS

7. I am legally separated from my spouse; my marriage was annulled, per decree of legal separation/annulment dated N/A granted by N/A. (please indicate the particular court which granted the same). I am a widower/widow and my spouse died on N/A in N/A.

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that petitioner be conferred Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No, 9139.

8. I have N/A child/children, whose names, dates and places of birth and residences are as follows:

Dated at Makati City, Metro Manila, this 5th day of DECEMBER, 2017.

Name N/A

Date of Birth N/A

Place of Birth N/A

N/A

9. I received my primary and secondary education from the following public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), where Philippine history, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality:

Name of School UNO HIGH SCHOOL UNO HIGH SCHOOL

Place of School TONDO, MANILA TONDO, MANILA

Dates of Highest Grade Study Completed 2003 to 2010 PRIMARY 2010 to 2014

N/A

Name and Place of School N/A

DENISE CAI YANG Name and Signature of Petitioner Address: 2673-C RAFAEL ALUNAN ST., INTERIOR ROAD, MALATE, MALATE, MANILA Telephone Number: 567-0000 ext. 7007

Right Thumbmark of Petitioner

SECONDARY

11. I have enrolled my minor children of school age in the following public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), where Philipine History, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality:

Name of Child

PRAYER

Residence

10. I am able to read, write and speak Filipino and/or any of the following dialects of the Philippines: TAGALOG

GVM SECURITY AGENCY, INC. Stock Certificates-500 shares 1. 009 250 shares 2. 022 250 shares

Doc. No. 164 Page No.34 Book No.472 Series of 2018

FIRST APPEARANCE. Indonesian armed police escort Indonesian radical cleric Aman Abdurrahman into the South Jakarta courtroom in Jakarta on February 15, 2018, for his first appearance over his role in a 2016 suicide bombing. Abdurrahman, who is considered the de facto leader of all Islamic State supporters in Indonesia, appeared in court for his suspected role in masterminding a suicide bomb attack that killed eight people in Jakarta in 2016 and was claimed by IS. AFP

Date of Enrollment N/A

12. I shall never be a public charge. I am of good moral character. I believe in the principles underlying the Philippine Constitution. I have conducted myself in a proper and irreproachable manner during the entire period of my residence in the Philippines in my relations with the constituted government as well as with the community in which I am living. I mingled socially with Filipinos and have evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions and ideals of the Filipino people. I have all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications under Republic Act No. 9139.

I am not opposed to organized government or affiliated with any association or group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organized governments. I am not defending or teaching the necessity or propriety of violence, personal assault or assassination for the success and predominance of one's ideas. I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy. I have not been convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude. I am not suffering from mental alienation or from any incurable

Petitioner's signature and right thumbmark

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES) CITY/MUNICIPALITY OF QUEZON CITY) S.S. I, DENISE CAI YANG of legal age and a resident of 2673C RAFAEL ALUNAN ST., INTERIOR ROAD, MALATE, MANILA after being duly sworn, depose and say that I am the petitioner herein, that I have read the foregoing petition and know the foregoing petition and known the contents thereof, and that the same is true of my own knowledge.

DENISE CAI YANG Name and Signature of Petitioner

SUBCRIBED AND SWORN to before me at QUEZON CITY, this 05 day of DECEMBER 2017. __________________________________ Official authorized to administrative oaths/ Notary Public

(MS-FEB. 2, 9, & 16, 2018)

CYAN

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

B4

friday, february 16, 2018

LGUs

Health officers in QC to blame for neglecting women—Joy

LocaL government units

EARTHQUAKE DRILL.

Some 1,800 students of Pembo Elementary School wearing hard hats provided by the city government of Makati participate in an earthquake drill on Thursday in line with the 2018 1st Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill, in groups guided by their teachers and other school officials. Mayor Abby Binay earlier led the distribution of hard hats and emergency go bags among the city’s public elementary and high schools.

The project is part of Makati’s continuing efforts to promote disaster readiness among all its constituents, especially schoolchildren who are most vulnerable to disasters, including a strong earthquake.

Lino Santos

Measles shots for 100k kids

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera

D

AVAO CITY―Over 100,000 children were immunized with the measles vaccine following the outbreak declared in January this year, the city health office reported Thursday.

As of Feb. 9, a total of 112,278 children were given the measles vaccine, according to the outbreak response immunization or ORI report of the Davao City Health Office.

The figure represented 56.49 percent of the entire eligible recipients of the vaccine, which totaled 198,747 children.

CHO is still conducting ORI operations across the barangays of the city, being assisted by 100 personnel from the Department of Health.

Part of the operation was giving immunization booster shots for children up to 59 months (4 years and 11 months) and an information and education campaign on measles awareness.

The CHO reminded the public that its services are free.

By Rio N. Araja Quezon City health officials must be held culpable for their neglect to improve health services for their women constituents, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte said.

On Wednesday, Belmonte led QC’s first “women and health” forum at the New Capitol Estate in Barangay Batasan Hills to promote various health programs of the Health department to residents, women health workers and volunteers, and to directly hear their concerns on health issues such as reproductive health.

“When I go to the communities, I’ve been hearing complaints from the women about the lack of (health) services they should have been receiving, and how they can avail them, so I decided to have this health forum,” she lamented.

“It’s important that we do what we are saying, and that we know the other needs of our people,” the vice mayor said.

About 700 women took part in the forum, and were asked to fill out survey forms to enable the city government to gauge their awareness and knowledge about the city’s health programs.

“Now, I want to validate if how many of them were able to avail of the services, and if not, we will have to hold accountable our health officials,” Belmonte warned.

Dipolog airport operations back to normal

By Joel E. Zurbano COMMERCIAl operations have resumed at the Dipolog Airport, nine hours after it was ordered closed to give way to the repair of a Cebu Pacific aircraft that encountered technical problems upon landing at the airport runway on Wednesday.

Authorities said the facility resumed its services at 9:30 p.m. after they declared the runway was usable and safe for aircraft flight operations.

Cebu Pacific Air management reiterated this in a statement, saying the airport in Zamboanga del Norte’s capital was “back to normal operations.”

On Thursday, the airline mounted additional flights to accommodate passengers affected by the three canceled flights to and from Cebu and Manila. All passengers were given free travel vouchers to compensate for the inconvenience.

The plane from Cebu, Flight DG 6603 operated by CEB’s sister airline CebGo, was left in the middle of the runway after experiencing technical problems upon landing around 12:15 p.m.

NV villagers gain DoLE livelihood kits

By Ben moses ebreo BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—At least 25 villagers here will be given with livelihood starter kits from the Department of labor and Employment to earn income for their families.

Engineer Joseph Sales, DolE officer-incharge in the province, said the recipients of the starter kits worth more than P500,000 are members of the informal sector from the various towns of the province.

The assistance is rolled out through the DolE’s

livelihood Emergency Employment Program.

Sales said the beneficiaries will receive a livelihood starter kit that will enable them to manage and operate a livelihood undertaking and become self-employed.

“It aims to engage them in sustainable employment through easy to learn livelihood undertakings,” he said.

The assistance, Sales added, also seeks to address employment needs of unemployed, underemployed, self-employed or displaced workers due to economic problems.

MASS WEDDINGS. Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan officiates a mass wedding held on Valentine’s Day at the city’s sports complex in Bagumbong. According to civil registrar Lucena Flores, the number of couples reached 908. Meanwhile in Mandaluyong City, Luisito and Teresita Pillas (inset) renewed their vows as Mayor Menchie Abalos feted the city’s couples celebrating their silver and golden wedding anniversaries at the Atrium of Mandaluyong’s Executive building. Jun David and Manny Palmero

Life culture and media

2018 Year of the Earth Dog:

A year of change and introspection

By Bernadette lunas l

“T

HERE’S going to be a lot of changes in store this year.” This is the forecast of feng shui expert Princess Lim Fernandez for the 2018 Year of the Earth Dog.

These changes, the Filipino-Chinese geomancer said in an exclusive interview with Manila Standard, could be good or bad, and could affect any aspect of our lives and any part of our environments. This sudden turn is due to the shift of cycle from the hotter seasons, which are fire and wood, to colder seasons, which are water and metal.

In the past four years, wood and fire were the dominant energies (2017 was Fire Rooster, 2016 was Fire Monkey, 2015 was Wooden Goat, and 2014 was Wooden Horse), the Year of the Dog in 2018, however, is governed by the Yang Earth energy, which according to Fernandez marks the turning point of change.

Or as she put it, “It’s like we’re in the autumn season when you start to feel the nip in the air.”

Much like everything in life, those who adapt well to change can make the best of the year.

“How well we adapt to it will determine how good we’ll come out, how good the year comes out for us,” averred Fernandez.

time for contemplation

As changes are expected to happen this year, the feng shui expert suggested that people do some introspection or self evaluation to “determine where they want to be; are they happy where they at, and if they’re not, they can do something about it to start the change for the better.”

While a long hard examination of one’s self can provide answers to underlying issues and problems about to arise, it also tends to drive people into an emotional state.

“With introspection comes a hard view on where you’re at, where you want to be, and what happened along the way,” said Fernandez. This could then lead to sentimentality or too much sensitivity.

Thus she advised everyone to keep a check on their emotions and prevent reacting impulsively to prevent any complication.

But even without intention, the state of introspection comes naturally this year, according to Fernandez, as the energy associated with Earth is “meditation.”

“In general, people will take a step back, be more reflective, be more contemplative,” explained Fernandez.

Feng shui expert Princess Lim Fernandez

Sluggish year

This year’s dominant energy, which is related to Mother Nature, will drive people to go back to basics.

Fernandez explained, “This is the time when we go back to our roots, back to our home; highlighting our home which means our family, loved ones, people close to our heart.”

As opposed to the previous years dominated by fire, wherein people tend to be more driven and upbeat, this year, as we go back to the Earth, so to speak, people will tend to be more sluggish and things tend to go on a slower pace.

This means that “you may not be in the mood too much,” said Fernandez. But to make this work to your advantage as well as to avoid stagnation, she advised taking the sluggish pace as a chance to focus on yourself or explore something new or something you have been putting off for a long time, for instance adopting a healthy lifestyle.

“You have two choices: go with the flow or do something about it so it doesn’t affect you negatively,” she emphasized.

Businesses and finances

As people shift their focus on their well-being, industries related to wellness or feeling of well-being, such as wellness centers, fitness gyms, and insurance companies are expected to thrive well in the Year of the Earth Dog. The lucky day this year to open a business is on Feb. 20.

Meanwhile, the Philippine economy is seen to be rosy this year as the Wealth Star is located on the southeast, exactly where our country is located on the map.

But Fernandez cautioned those with investments to remain vigilant and more conservative despite of the Wealth Star protecting our country, as “there maybe some corrections and changes in the market.”

earth-related disasters

With the Yang Earth energy and too much Earth energy dominating 2018—the Chinese zodiac Dog is also governed by the Earth element— Fernandez forecasted a lot of Earth-related incidents and disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides.

‘We have to be extra careful especially in the months of April and October,” said Fernandez.

Further, those in the northern part of the country have to be alert of such incidents as the inauspicious Disaster Star is in the Northern area.

How well we adapt to change will determine how good the year comes out for us.

– Princess Lim Fernandez

bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLife friday, february 16, 2018

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Life

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friday, february 16, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

AWLFI Year of the Earth Dog forecast to sponsor exhibit

by Princess Lim Fernandez Luck of the animal signs Very good: Goat, Rabbit, Snake, Pig Good: Horse, Rat, Ox Fair: Tiger, Monkey Needs help: Dragon, Dog, Rooster

PIG (1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007)

DOG (1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018) Being in charge of this year or as the Tai Suey or the Grand duke, uke, it is your chance to showcase your talents, abilities, and skills, which could lead to promotion or more responsibilities. But because you’re also on the spotlight, every little thing will be noticed. Thus watch what you do and what you say, not just in public but also in private. You also have a “sort of” an Artistic Star which will be beneficial for dogs ogs in the creative field, such as journalism, literature, the arts, and architecture.

Take care of your health especially in the stomach region. A lot of earth energy means it’s easy for you to gain weight. Focus on your health. Make a conscious effort not to alienate your friends and loved ones.

Keep temperament in check; take mini breaks to clear your mind.

Make the most of your luck this year, because next year is gonna be the year of the earth Pig, which means that it’s not good year for you. Knowing that, preparation is the key.

You have a lot of good stars this year: Happiness Star and Sun Star, those are the most auspicious stars any zodiac can have. These stars will open up a lot of opportunities. It’s your chance to expand your social network, reconnect with old friends, make new friends. Know how to discern which relationship is for keeps and which is superficial. You will have a busy social life this year. But because you’re going to be busy, make a conscious effort to take time to rest and boost your health so that next year you’re in good shape.

You have good money luck, good business luck, good career luck, but don’t complabe compla cent because you have the Robbery Star, which may cost you to lose money or lose something. To preempt this, do Chicharity after Chi nese new Year.

You have a Heavenly Salvation Star, which means you can expect some divine intervention. when you find yourself in a bind or facing a lot of challenges, somehow, someone will help you or you will be able to find a solution to whatever you’re facing. Be introspective to be able to make the right decisions. You have a Promotion Star which is going to benefit your career or business. There’s a chance for business owners to expand or a chance for employees to move up the ladder.

You have a certain version of an emotional Star (“floatsink”), which connotes up and down—you may have a feeling of going up and down, frustration of stagnating. don’t let that emotion affect you otherwise it will block all the good effects the stars can bring you.

Remind yourself that it’s all in your head.

You have to be careful since you’re an earth sign, as overwhelming earth energy is not good. All aspects (career, money, relationships) are okay except health. Pay attention to stomach, because earth element is in the center, that is where the stomach. You have a good star called the Moon Star, which is a gentle energy. Be patient that things will happen, it will just take some time. don’t on’t be in such a hurry. Moon Star will be beneficial to those in femaledominated i n d u s t r ie s , or whose products are geared towards women. You have a gift that lets you see sources of income that other might have missed.

TIGER (1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010)

RABBIT (1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011)

DRAGON (1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012)

RAT (1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008)

OX (1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009)

You’re not in conflict with the dog which is good, but you don’t have much luck this time, in other words, the outcome of the year is what you make of it (“Sariling sikap”).

You have the Star of Accomplishment and sort of a Travel Star, which means you can benefit when you travel or from people who come to see you or those not in your immediate surroundings. To have a better year, think out of the box; go out of your usual area of activities. Think more long term. Look into next four years. Be very particular when handling documents because you have a high chance to have trousome legal trou bles this year.

Be careful before signing anything.

Be careful of what you say because you have a tendency to be m isu nde r st ood or encounter some miscommunication.

This year is better than last year, as you are one of the most compatible with the dog—Single water Rabbits will have a chance to meet someone with whom to start a relationship. Those in business have to be more open to joint ventures, partnerships, collaborations. You have the Combined Star, which means that anything that needs a team or collaborative efforts will have very good outcome. Little by little the conflict with the Rooster will start to fade, so you can breathe a sigh of relief. You have the Star of Kindness, so be generous; remember that the more kindness you show, the more luck you’ll receive. It’s the year to forgive and forget. Resolve grudges carried over from last year. You still have drain but smaller than last year, be conscious about spending.

You have the “sweet and salty” Romance Star: for single Rabbits you have a chance to meet someone but for those in a relationship, you should not give in to temptation, rather use that energy towards your partner.

You are the most affected this year because you are in direct conflict with the dog. This year will be a bit turbulent, a bit chaotic. You’ll feel the change the most. If you’re planning to move house or change office, now is the time to do it because you have the big drain, which can be used in fixing up the new place—at least you’ll see where your money went. do charity or bring the money out to something that will appreciate in value like property or other investments. Pay particular attention to your digestive health.

Treat this year as a lear ning year— le a r n , s t u d y, add a new skill. Money, health, relationship aspects are not so good.

SNAKE (1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013)

HORSE (1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014)

GOAT (1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015)

Make the most out of your good luck this year because next year Snakes are the one in direct conflict with the Pig. enjoy life like prosperous emperor because you have the Phoenix Star, the emperor Star, and two Prosperity Stars.

The past couple years may have been frustrating because the efforts you have been putting in is not commensurate to what you’re getting. This year you will start to reap the reward of all the hard work and all the efforts you’ve been putting in the past years. Single Snakes will take advantage of the Phoenix Star; there’s a high chance for you to find “the one.” Those who are in relationship or are dating from quite some time already, this is a good year to consider leveling up the relationship. Married Snakes need to redirect the romance energy to your partner so that you don’t get tempted. Snakes in industries that have to do with relationships will do quite well. Remember to regu follow rules and regulations, no gray area.

You have a Salvation Star, which means when you’re facing a situation that seems bleak there is always a solution in the end. You also have the Golden Treasure Box Star, meaning you have a treasure but you need the key to access the treasure inside. The “key” is being able to accept or assume responsibility, because it will lead you to more influence, more power, more authority. But make sure you are well equipped to handle that. You may find yourself outside of the norm of what you’re doing, don’t shirk away from it rather rise up to the challenge.

Try to get out of your comfort zone. Push yourself to reach your full potential. Another star you have is the Heavenly Chef Star, which means you’ll be blessed with always having a food on your table; the downside to it is that you may tend to overeat, so do anything in moderation.

It’s easy for you to injure yourself so be more aware of your physical safety.

MONKEY (1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016)

You have a Travel Star which means you will experience some change or movement in your life this year. If you have no plans of moving house, office, or shifting careers, that means you can have more travels in store for you. Consider any opportunity for travel, may it for business or leisure. Traveling keeps the negative energy at bay, it changes the environment. You have an Academic Star, grab this in conjunction with your travel, look for a short course or a seminar.

You have a tendency to have a clouded perception of reality this year, so before doing something, verify, consult other people you trust to give you a different perception be before you jump into conclusions. don’t make rash decisions, don’t act impulsively.

Your luck is much better this year compared to last year.

But as an earth sign, you should pay attention to your health (physical, mental, emotional). This year you may be subjected to more gossips and criticisms—ignore them because the more you pay attention to them, the more they are going to affect you. Having an emotional Star, you may have some difficulty getting your message across; the way you’re saying things will be received in a way you did not mean to. Please be very careful with the words you choose and the reactions you show. Your reactions should be commensurate to the offense or the perceived offense. Before reacting, step back, breathe, hen you and assess. when hear something, go to the source and verify before reacting. You have an Academic Learning Star which will put you on the road to self-improvement that will be beneficial in moving up the ladder in your career. Be open to other avenues of learning.

ROOSTER (1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017)

You don’t have a good health luck this year. Take it easy, prioritize yourself.

Try to put yourself in a good position, meaning take this year as a time to invest in your personal growth, in your health.

THe Association of women Legislators, Inc, and the UP College of Fine Arts Alumni Foundation will sponsor a group exhibit on Feb. 19 to 21 at the north wing of the House of Representatives in Quezon City. entitled “Arts for Hearts Sake,” the exhibit, initiated by Rep. Michaelina Antonio of AGBIAG Party-list, will feature works by 25 artists and alumni from the UP College of Fine Arts.

Featured artists include nestor Vinluan, Ambie Abano, Jeff dizon, Romy Carlos, Menchu Pascual, Hugo Yonzon, neil doloricon, Anna Vergel, Imelda C. endaya and Paul Queaño, among many others. A total of 60 artwork, including oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, etchings, monoprints, and sculptures will be on display.

The proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the scholarship program of the UP CFA. AwLFI president and Bulacan Representative Linabelle Ruth Villarica said the partnership with UP alumni artists aims to showcase the importance of arts and culture in Philippine life and to celebrate the month of love in a unique and meaningful way. “we would like to convey the message that the House of Representatives fully supports the endeavors of Filipino artists, and we are hopeful that through this exhibit, more Filipinos will see the bounty of artistic endeavors in the Philippines and the passion of Filipino artists and cultural workers,” added Rep. Antonio.

Swiss organist Guy Bovet

Guy Bovet plays in 43rd International Bamboo Organ Festival Renowned Swiss organist and composer Guy Bovet is returning to the 43rd International Bamboo organ Festival for the ninth time to play on Feb. 26.

Bovet’s recital is just one of the many musical events happening during the six-day event.

The festival, which celebrates the 19th century bamboo organ in Las Piñas, begins on Feb. 22 with a by-invitationonly Gala night that will highlight Dixit Dominus by G. Fr. Handel and two organ concertos. Performers include Belgian organist Jan Van Mol, Christian Tan (solo violin), sopranos Cristel de Meulder (Belgium) and Stefanie Quintin, altus Kyle Tingzon, tenor ervin Lumauag, bass Mark Abesia, the Villancico Vocal ensemble, and the Manila Baroque ensemble with Armando Salarza at the organ positive and harpsichord, all under the baton of Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng. other audience can catch the repeat of the opening program’s last performance on Feb. 23.

Aside from his recital on Feb. 26, Bovet will also perform during the Festival Mass on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 4:00 p.m. (free admission). The mass will feature the sung eucharistic Prayer (in Tagalog)

by Fr. nic Sengson, SVd with participation of the Assembly Choir. Presiding celebrant is Fr. Jonathan T. Cadiz. It will be followed by a concert at 8:00 p.m.

For the closing program on Feb. 28 at the San ezekiel Moreno oratory, the festival will use the newly installed pipe organ designed by master organ builder Cealwyn Tagle and constructed by the diego Cera organ Builders in 2017. Soloists are Stefanie Quintin and Maria Flores. Special guests are the Las Piñas Boys Choir, directed by Carl Paolo Hernandez. Bovet will also play his organ solo pieces.

Tickets for the concerts at the Bamboo Organ Church (Feb. 23, 25, and 26) are at P600, P400, and P200, and at the SEMO (Feb. 28) at P200 only.

For ticket reservations, call (02) 8257190 or 820-0795, or visit Ticket World, TicketNet, or SM Tickets.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018

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nickie.standard@gmail.com

Nickie Wang, Issue Editor

Alden Richards as award-winning screenwriter Bonifacio Ilagan in ‘Alaala: A Martial Law Special’

Tom Rodriguez and Erich Gonzales, stars of the sexy drama, ‘The Significant Other.’

Tom is a sexy gentleman TOM Rodriguez is one honest actor who treats his leading ladies with utmost respect and professionalism. The actor is paired for the first time with Erich Gonzales, a Kapamilya actress who considers showing some skin as a career move.

In the film The Significant Other, billed as a gathering of millennial sex symbols, human relations takes center stage highlighted by the odds of falling for someone amid already being in a relationship.

Tom describes his leading lady as “very raw, yet daring. She is very secured as a person but in most of our love/sexy scenes, she always tells me to assist her, and I oblige.”

His other significant leading lady is co-Kapuso artist, Lovi Poe, the award-winning actress who is so used to the style of Joel Lamangan.

“Lovi, is an intense actress. She never hesitates to doing a difficult scene as she trusts her director and coactors. Good thing that we are good friends so there’s no wall to break, so to speak. But then again, in those steamy scenes (as they portray as husband and wife), nagkakagulatan pa din kami. One classic sample is that love scene where it was only during the take when direk Joel instructed me to “pump”,” recalls Tom. Both actresses commend Tom for being a very good leading man. They claimed that Tom protects them during the shoot and he is the one that subjects himself to any exposure in case some scenes go awry.

“But thanks, direk Joel is a very decent and careful director. Although he always wants us to be very truthful with our scenes, never, or there’s not even one situation wherein we are compromised,” remarked them.

Released by Star Cinema, The Significant Other premieres on Feb. 21, under CineKo Productions and also stars Dina Bonnevie and Snooky Serna. *** If you are a constant follower of It’s Showtime, you definitely have idea

about the identities of these two Hashtags members, who alleged to have been removed or at least were told to take a break from the group.

The reason? They allegedly impregnated their girlfriends, a clear violation to the contract they signed with the program.

Hashtags has been known for their good dancing abilities, and though some of them are already making names as solo artists, one becomes more recognizable when he is in the group.

According to chismis, these two young members who will soon be fathers, came from different batches.

One is part of the original group and the other one is barely new.

No confirmation or denial is issued on this, but those who religiously follow them, observe, “lagi nga silang hindi kumpleto.” *** According to La Luna Sangre’s production staff, the show is ending in three weeks time beginning this week.

The vampire-wolf inspired soap that made KathNiel the current king and queen of primetime, has reached its peak in telling the stories of Tristan (Daniel Padilla) and Malia (Kathryn Bernardo), and so extending it by putting subplots would mean its deterioration.

“Let’s end it while it is rating highly and while the story sticks to its core,” related an insider who also said both Kathryn and Daniel have shown maturity and displayed versatility with their roles.

When we asked if their being so comfortable with each other brought by their real-life romance has helped them become what they are today as actors, the insider said, “Yes. On and off screen, there’s no stopping their magic. Hindi pa ba talaga nila sinasabing sila na? Ang dami na nga nilang bawal pagdating sa mga male and female friends noh.”

Sarap naman ng Valentine’s Day nila!

Kapuso shows dominate Philippine finalists in New York Festivals G MA Network once again leads the country’s contingent in the 2018 New York Festivals “World’s Best TV and Films” Competition with 12 shortlisted entries out of the 17 contenders from the Philippines, including a nomination for Jessica Soho—the only Filipino broadcast journalist who made it to the list.

Soho, a Peabody-awardee, has been nominated for the Best News Anchor category. Her program, GMA News TV’s flagship newscast State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, meanwhile, was shortlisted for Best Newscast for its Marawi Liberation: War is Over coverage. The newscast documented the liberation of Marawi City after monthslong siege of the city by proIslamic State group militants.

Alaala: A Martial Law Special earned a spot among this year’s finalists for the Docudrama category. The special, which aired in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of President Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law, featured the journey of activist and award-winning screenwriter Bonifacio Ilagan as portrayed by Kapuso actor Alden Richards.

I-Witness, the country’s longest-running documentary program, received two nominations this year: first for Kara David’s “Sundalong Aso (Soldiers with Paws)” for the Human Concerns category; and another for Atom Araullo’s “Silang Kinalimutan (The Forgotten)” for the International Affairs category. “Sundalong Aso” shed light on the life of MWDs or military working dogs of the Philippine Army K9 Battalion after these dogs retire from service. “Silang Kinalimutan,” on the other hand, featured the story of the Rohingya people who had to flee to neighboring Bangladesh after the Myanmar government denied them citizenship.

Documentary program Front Row, meanwhile, was nominated in the Best Public Affairs Program category for its episode “Batang Bomba (Bomb Pick-

Best News Anchor nominee Jessica Soho

ers)”, which is about Aeta children who pick up bomb fragments to earn money.

Investigative program Reporter’s Notebook is aiming for a win as well in the Community Portraits category for its report “Yapak sa Pusod ng Dagat (Footsteps on the Bed)”. The episode saw the story of Filipinos who risk their lives diving into the ocean without proper equipment in the hope of mining gold that they could sell.

Meanwhile, GMA News TV’s Reel Time gave the country two more nominations: one in the Human Concerns category via its “Gutom (Starved)” episode and another in the Health/Medical Information category for “Hawla (The Untold Story of the Village Monster)”. Gutom zeroed in on the story of two-year-old Roel—who, because of extreme malnourishment, could not walk, much less crawl at his age. Hawla, meanwhile, featured the story of Nene, a woman kept in a cage because

of her psychological condition.

Another GMA News TV program, Brigada, was shortlisted in the Current Affairs category for its report on “Combat Camera Team”, which details the operation of Philippine Army’s Scout Ranger Batallion in Marawi City using combat cameras.

Two projects from the Network’s Program Support Department also made it to the list of finalists this year: “Kulayan Natin ang Summer (Colorful Summer)” in the Art Direction: Promotion/Open and IDs category and “EDSA 31st Anniversary Spot” in the Graphic Design: Promotion/Open and IDs category.

Last year, GMA Network received an unprecedented—in the history of Philippine broadcast—three New York Fest gold medals for GMA Public Affairs programs Reporter’s Notebook, Front Row, and Reel Time.

City of Dreams welcomes Chinese New Year with fun festivities

Tigress from the Dreamworks animation Kung Fu Panda

CITY of Dreams Manila welcomes the Year of the Earth Dog with fun and festive activities at The Shops at the Boulevard and DreamPlay, the world’s first Dreamworks-inspired interactive place space.

Weekend Festivities at The Shops at the Boulevard The Lunar New Year festival at The Shops at the Boulevard showcases palm reading and caricature drawing for guests today until Fe. 18, 3:00 to 9:00 p.m., punctuated by three 5-minute Chinese cultural dance performances from 4:20 to 6:00 p.m. The God of Fortune will also be at the retail area and main gaming floor to spread gifts and good cheer.

Kung Fu Panda’s Chinese New Year of Awesomeness at DreamPlay DreamPlay introduces the new character Tigress from the Dreamworks

animation Kung Fu Panda. Tigress together with Master Po and the DreamPlay dancers will have a 5-minute dance showdown to celebrate the “Chinese New Year of Awesomeness” every Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. until Feb. 25.

On all weekends of February, guests can avail of the Chinese New Year package at P1,588 per person consisting of: a VIP pass; photo ops with Tigress and Master Po; Lucky red packet (Ang Pao) with coupons for free popcorn, ice cream, soda, and retail discount or DreamPlay tickets; paint and design your own Chinese lantern session at the Dragon room; viewing of a special featured movie Secret of the Masters at the Dream Theater; participation in the Dragon Warrior Challenge at the Wall of Destiny; and Dragon Warrior Training at Furious 6

Academy for children 119cm and below in height.

With Dragon Warrior Challenge, weekly winners will bring home DreamPlay passes for three and the champion per category in the finals on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. will receive an overnight stay for two persons at Nobu Hotel Manila, including breakfast.

Meanwhile, weekly winners of the Dragon Warrior Training at Furious 6 Academy will be those with the highest score for having the most accurate moves, and will receive DreamPlay passes for two. The grand champion to be named on Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. will be awarded a Master Po cushion, a Tigress tumbler, and a certificate of recognition.

For inquiries and reservations, guests can call 800 8080, e-mail guestservices@cod-manila.com, or visit www.cityofdreamsmanila.com.

Life

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bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLife

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culture and media

friday, february 16, 2018

PUPPY LOVE AND LUCK

AT SM ACCESSORIES KIDS AND TOY KINGDOM

T

This lovable pooch is great to have and to hold during the Year of the Dog.

here’s a lot of puppy love and luck as sM Accessories Kids and Toy Kingdom celebrate Chinese New Year with lovable and adorable plushies for kids of all ages.

Like children born in the Year of the Dog, these plush toys are cheerful, obliging, and a good sport. The Dog, after all, is said to be the most likeable sign in the Chinese Zodiac.

And kids born in the Year of the Dog are said to be honest, intelligent, egalitarian, and super-loyal. These children are playful, friendly, and outgoing, appreciated by peers and adults alike for their warmth, candidness, and sense of humor. A dog is a very good and supportive friend to have indeed. When the chips are down, the Dog will always be at your side.

Bring home hugs, joy, and charm with these adorable little dogs—ranging from huskies to beagles—available at the sM Accessories Kids department of The sM store.

Toy Kingdom, on the other hand, can also fill your homes with good luck with its adorable dog plush toys inspired by Paw Patrol’s well-loved characters skye, Marshall, and Chase, that you can hug and play with all day. There are also cute miniature dog plush toys dressed in birthday, sailor, and baseball costumes.

These are all available at The SM Store and Toy Kingdom.

This Beagle will have tons of playtime fun time with his puppy pal and kids.

Your favorite Paw Patrol inspired plush toys like Skye the Cockapoo dog, Marshall the Dalmatian, and Chase the German shepherd make great Year of the Dog pals.

Husky plush toy and his equally cute buddy

Globe LIVE holds free Valentine concert Spend a romantic evening with the best indie artists and the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra Quartet t’s a date!

Celebrate the season of love with Ensemble, a free Valentine concert by Globe LIVE, featuring Ebe Dancel, Clara Benin, Johnoy Danao, Bullet Dumas, and Reese Lansangan, accompanied by the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra Quartet. On February 17, Globe LIVE will create an intimate space for guests to watch their favorite singers perform their hit love songs at the Globe Iconic Amphitheater.

Ebe Dancel is the former lead vocalist and guitarist of the OPM band Sugarfree. The band achieved widespread fame with their debut album Sa Wakas, which had the top singles

“Telepono,” “Mariposa,” and “Burnout.”

Clara Benin is a singer and songwriter who has independently released two albums. In 2013, she was accepted into the Philippines’ highlyesteemed Elements National Music Camp. The following year, she became the voice of a popular fast food chain jingle, and won the Spinnr People’s Choice Award during the 3rd Philippine Popular Music Festival. After a year-long hiatus, Clara released a new single called “Parallel Universe.”

Johnoy Danao is an independent musician, composer, and singer-songwriter, whose albums Dapithapon and Samo’t Sari have become mainstream hits. He is known for his other creative projects, including providing the soundtrack

of the indie film Senior Year, a series of gigs with guitarist Kakoy Legaspi, and a year-long concert series with fellow performers Dancel and Dumas.

Like Danao, Bullet Dumas is an independent musician, composer, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his folk style of singing which critics have described as “raw” and “earthy.”

By day, he is a high school teacher who uses music to teach math.

Reese Lansangan is a multi-hyphenate who balances singing, writing, songwriting, visual art, graphic design, and fashion design. She takes slices of life and spin them into head-bopping melodies and heart-warming confessionals that became soundtracks to anything from classroom lesson plans to full lengths movies and everything in between.

Lastly, the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra Quartet is part of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the country’s most versatile and applauded orchestras with a robust repertoire of styles, performances, records, tours, and programs.

Together, the singers and the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra Quartet will present a Valentine concert that everyone will enjoy and remember, no matter what your relationship status is.

Globe customers who purchase P2,000 worth of gadget accessories or 0917 apparel from Globe Iconic Store will get tickets for VIP seating.

BGC customers can also get VIP seating tickets when they shop from any Bonifacio High Street Shop amounting to P2,000.00.

For more information call the Globe hotline at 730-1010, or visit Globe Iconic Store.

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