Manila Standard - 2018 September 11 - Tuesday

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DUTERTE TO ADDRESS NATION AMID DESTAB, GUT ISSUES

By Nat Mariano PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will address the nation Tuesday, the Palace said after warning Monday about a massive plot to destabilize the administration.

“He announced in Davao that he wants to speak to the nation and if I’m not mistaken, it’s scheduled for tomorrow afternoon,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said, without offering any details on Duterte’s agenda.

VOL. XXXII • NO. 208 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

‘Mangkhut’ to bring rain, super typhoon or not THE weather bureau said Monday the reports that potential super typhoon “Mangkhut” will be packing 240 kilometers-per-hour winds by Thursday and gusts of up to 306

kph by the weekend was a hoax.

In other developments: “It’s a hoax. We don’t know yet • The Palace on Monday asked the how strong the typhoon will be,” public to brace as a potentially powweather forecaster Ezra Bulquerin erful typhoon enters the Philippine told ABS-CBN News. area of responsibility.

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READ MY LIPS.

President Rodrigo Duterte, in power since June 30, 2016, speaks to the nation later today amid Malacañang’s warning of a big destabilization plot against the administration, but Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque is silent on details of the presidential speech. But Roque has identified the group of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the Liberal Party as part of the destabilization movement.

FLORENCE’S BULL’S EYE. Astronaut Ricky Arnold has taken this image of rapidly intensifying Hurricane Florence, as it attempts a dangerous blow anywhere from the Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic region later this week. On Sept. 15, Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite has revelaed that storms north of Florence’s eye (inset) are producing heavy rainfall at a rate of 50 mm/2 inches per hour. Nasa Photo

The President returned over the weekend from state visits to Israel and Jordan last week to growing public dissatisfaction over rising food and fuel prices, which have driven the rate of inflation to a nineyear high.

His administration also became embroiled in a legal battle over the President’s decision to revoke the amnesty granted in Next page

‘All amnesties by PNoy void’ Palace sets review of individual application aside from Trillanes’ Prominent personalities granted amnesty

by Aquino administration: Senator Antonio Trillanes IV Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Nicanor Faeldon Retired Marine colonel Ariel Querubin MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano Retired Major General Renato Miranda Retired colonel Rafael Galvez Retired colonel Jake Malajacan Allan Paje Jaime Regalario Pepe Araneta Albert (civilian) Capt. Milo Maestrecampo Capt. Gerardo Gambala Amnesty Applicants January 4, 2011 Officers 2Lt. Filmore G. Rull Ens. Ronald E. Diso Ens. Arjohn B. Elumba 2Lt. Larry C. Cendana Enlisted Personnel Cpl. Paul P. Paner Cpl. Roderick L Bayubay Cpl. Jollie L Boston Tsg. Noel B Aggalut

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House seeks price council’s plan to cushion inflation

By Nat Mariano, Francisco Tuyay, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey E. Requejo

By Maricel V. Cruz and Nat Mariano

T

HE government will scrutinize other applications for amnesty under the Aquino administration after the President revoked the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a Palace official said Monday.

“Every one of them will have to go through with [the review],” said Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, adding that any impropriety in their applications would be made public.

Panelo said Trillanes’ amnesty was void for two reasons: The noncompliance of the mandatory requirements and the usurpation of authority by then-Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

Though it was not directly mentioned in the President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation No. 57, Panelo said, Gazmin had represented President Benigno Aquino III in granting amnesty to Trillanes, thereby usurping the President’s exclusive power to grant amnesties and pardons.

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HOUSE leaders will ask the National Price Coordinating Council to submit a report on steps it has taken to cushion the impact of rising prices of basic necessities and prime commodities, Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said Monday.

Under the law, the NPCC is mandated to report at least semi-annually to the President and to Congress the status and progress of programs, projects and measures undertaken by implementing departments, agencies or offices, as well as the comprehensive

Fuel prices up anew today by P0.65 per liter

By Alena Mae S. Flores PUMP prices went up by P0.65 per liter effective 6 am today―the fourth consecutive oil price increase―to reflect the movement of world oil prices.

“Phoenix Petroleum Philippines will increase the prices of gasoline and diesel

by P0.65 per liter effective 6am 11 September 2018,” the company said in its advisory. Next page

GAS

SENATOR Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate agriculture committee, on Monday asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to impose a price ceiling on onion in areas where prices are unusually high.

In a hearing attended by Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol, Villar said a price ceiling is different from price control.

“Under price control, you have to declare a state of calamity while in price ceiling you don’t have to ,” she said.

According to the Republic Act No. 7581 or the “Price Act,” if the prevailing price of any basic necessity

By Thomas Urbain president/CEO of ePLDT, addressing the official opening of the annual conference of the Asian Carriers Conference at the plenary session at the Shangri-La Mactan in Cebu last week.

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Villar calls for price ceiling on onion

17 years on, workers still search for 9/11 remains ASIAN CARRIERS. Eric Alberto, chief revenue officer of PLDT and Smart and

strategies developed by the council to stabilize prices.

The NPCC is chaired by the secretary of Trade and Industry, and composed of other Cabinet members from Departments of Agriculture, Health, Environment and Natural Resources, Local Government, Transportation and Communications, Justice, and Energy.

Other members of the Council include the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority and one representative each from consumers, agricultural producers, traders, and manufacturers.

“We want to know from Council

SEVENTEEN years later, more than 1,100 victims of the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center have yet to be identified.

But in a New York lab, a team is still avidly working to identify the remains, with technological progress on its side. Day in, day out, they repeat the same protocol dozens of times.

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is excessive or unreasonable, the implementing agency may recommend to the President the imposition of a price ceiling other than the prevailing price.

Villar said onion was selling at P120 per kilo in some markets.

Piñol said he presented the idea to the economic managers, but they did not agree.

“They rejected the idea. They said it will not work,” he said, noting that similar measures in the past did not help address rising prices.

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Xiamen Air ordered to pay P72m

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

She made the statement after two Senate hearings on the incident in which Xiamen Air slid into the runway and blocked it during heavy rain, preventing thousands of passengers from taking off. The airline has been ordered to pay P72 million for the damage it caused.

Poe said the Chinese airline and the local

airport management had many shortcomings that inconvenienced many passengers.

She said she would include in her committee report the admission of MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal that there were things they should have done but failed to do.

She cited the airport’s failure to convene the crisis management team immediately after the incident. She also cited the delay in the retrieval of the plane and the entry of “uncoordinated flights” in the airport after the incident.

Monreal said from an initial estimate of P33 million, Xiamen’s penalty had more than doubled based on the latest computations.

He said they talked with the airline’s finance officer on Friday and they got an assurance that Xiamen would pay.

He told Poe’s committee that Xiamen air chairman would also go to the Philippines this week to discuss the matter further.

Poe said she would recommend in her committee report a speedy construction of new airports and the expansion of the existing ones to address the congestion in the country’s gateways.

The officials present at the hearing told senators they had accepted proposals to develop Naia, Clark International Airport in Pampanga, Sangley Point in Cavite, a new airport in Bulacan and the development of Subic airport.

Naia, which only has a capacity of 31 million passengers, booked 42.5 million passengers last year.

In Clark, the senators were told that the expansion of Clark airport, which is be-

ing groomed as an alternative to the congested Naia, would be completed in 2020 and would increase its capacity to 12 million passengers while the upgrade of Naia, which will be developed by a “super consortium” composed of seven conglomerates, was scheduled to be initially completed by 2021 and was anticipated to increase capacity to 65 million passengers.

Subic airport is being revived to get it back to international standards. Sangley airport, which is being used by the Philippine military, is proposed by the Cavite provincial government and another private consortium as an international hub to handle some 70 million passengers. And a new airport in Bulacan, Bulacan, by San Miguel Holdings is expected to handle 100 million passengers and may be operational by 2024.

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the Department of Justice’s motion that it issue the arrest warrant for the senator.

A similar request in Branch 148 is also pending.

Judges Elmo Alameda of Branch 150 and Andres Soriano of Branch 148 refused to immediately issue a warrant of arrest against Trillanes, despite the DoJ’s argument that a hearing on its motion was unnecessary.

“The court is not persuaded with the argument of the prosecution that its omnibus motion should not be set for hearing and should be acted by this court ex-parte,” Alameda said.

“While the motion has been denominated as ex-parte, the court after thoroughly considering the grounds and arguments raised therein, is of the view that acting on the motion without setting it for hearing would definitely prejudice the right of the accused to due process,” he added.

Alameda’s sala handled the rebellion case against Trillanes and others over the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege. He dismissed the case in 2011 on the ground of the amnesty granted to the former Navy officer.

Judge Ma. Rita Bascos Sarabia, formerly of Branch 148, dismissed the coup d’etat case against Trillanes over the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny on the same ground.

However, the DoJ insisted that the voiding of Trillanes’ amnesty over an alleged failure to comply with “minimum” requirements effectively removes the basis for their dismissal of the cases.

Last week, Trillanes petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the presidential proclamation that nullified his amnesty.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Monday said the President had not consulted him before revoking Trillanes’ amnesty.

But in a press briefing, he said he recalled that Solicitor General Jose Calida called him up once asking for the amnesty documents of Trillanes and his coup companions.

He said there were more than a hundred

documents, and some of the pages were signed by Gazmin.

Trillanes, who has been holed up in the Senate after receiving reports of his impending arrest, said he did not trust Duterte’s order to the military not to arrest him without a warrant.

“The problem with his statement, he has ‘deniability’ so we validate with the operating units and there is still [the order for my arrest]. Probably, he is just trying to trick me into that trap but I won’t fall for that.

Remember Duterte is notorious for lying to public,” he said.

“It seems he has been getting away with lie after lie after lie so this is just another lie,” Trillanes said.

At the same time, Trillanes denied Duterte’s accusation that he was conspiring with the opposition Liberal Party and the communists to oust him.

“Alright. I don’t expect them to take my word for it. They can validate it but that’s really the truth,” said Trillanes, who led the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula sage to overthrow the Arroyo government.

Also on Monday, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines warned that moves by the Palace to revoke Trillanes’ amnesty would undermine the judicial process and could be considered an attack on the independence of the judiciary.

The IBP, the country’s mandatory organization for lawyers, made the warning even as it called on the courts to remain steadfast against what it called a “creeping incursions” on their independence by the Duterte administration.

“An independent and impartial judiciary remains the most powerful bastion that protects our cherished constitutional rights against the excesses of political power. As the sentinel of the rule of law, the IBP stands ready to come to the defense of the independence and impartiality of our judiciary,” the IBP through its president, Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo, said.

With Joel E. Zurbano

S

ENATOR Grace Poe said Monday there were lapses in the response of airport authorities and Xiamen Air on the runway mishap at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Aug. 16.

Sgt. Monchito O. Lusterio Cpl. Dante L. Santos Pfc. Teddy P. Antonio Cpl. Charlie M. Elegores Cpl. Reymond S. Pastera Cpl. Jerson O. Labilles Cpl. Florante C. Rosete Cpl. Jeffrey G. Bolatin Cpl. Cesar A. Padilla Cpl. Christopher C. Perez Pfc. Gerry B. Calingacion Amnesty Applicants, January 5, 2011 Officers 2Lt. Edgard R. Aguilar 2lt. Leopold D. Apillanes Jr. Ltjg. Arturo S. Pascua, Jr. Ltjg. Ceferino M. Checa III 2Lt. Jonnell P. Sangalang Ens. Cesar Carmel P. Tamba 2Lt. Jeoffrey C. Tacio 2Lt. Norman Spencer O. Lo Ltsg. Andy O. Torrato Ltsg. Manuel O. Cabochan.

Lt. Norberto E. Santiago, Jr 2lt. Jeveehboy N. Macarubbo Lt. Billy S. Pascua lLt. Francisco Ashley L. Acedillo lLt. Jonathan D. Costales Cpt. Segundino P. Orfiano Jr Lt Eugene Louie P. Gonzalez Enlisted Personnel Cpl. Edgar B. Velasco Cpl. Joey I. Membreve SSg. Francisco N. Bosi Jr Cpl Bonifacio B. Barrion Cpl Berting C. Cabana Cpl. Dennis P. Lopez Cpl. Danilo C. Butial Cpl. Leo C. Gapayao Sgt. Jigger S. Paculba CpI. Lorenzo V. Caranzo Sgt. German M. Linde Cpl. Walter M. Manalansan Cpl. Roel C. Molina Pfc. Abraham P. Apostol Sgt. Ronald B. Reyes Cpl. Ruel S. Espenillia Pvt. Jocil B. Regulacion Cpl. Emmanuel C. Tirador Cpl. Filomeno J. Ramirez Cpl. Carlo P. Pillos

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Instead, Piñol ordered the importation of additional supplies to bring down commodity prices.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

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Phoenix aside, PTT Philippines and Seaoil Philippines also announced an increase in their prices, and the other oil companies were expected to do the same.

The oil firms also raised the price of diesel by P1.20 per liter and gasoline and kerosene prices by P0.95 per liter effective 6am on Sept. 4.

World oil prices reacted to reports that oil rigs were being evacuated in preparation for a hurricane that would affect the Gulf of Mexico.

Prices also went up amid concerns of possible supply problems starting 2019 due to the US sanctions against Iran.

On Aug. 28, the oil firms also raised pump prices by P0.60 per liter of diesel, P0.45 per liter of kerosene and P0.10 per liter of gasoline.

The oil firms also raised diesel and gasoline prices by P0.25 and P0.15 per liter, respectively, on Aug. 14.

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From A1 At first, they examine a bone fragment found in the wreckage of the Twin Towers.

It has yet to be matched to DNA. Cut and ground to a fine dust, the remains are then mixed with two chemical products that can expose and then extract DNA. But success is not guaranteed.

“The bone is the hardest biological material to work with,” said Mark Desire, assistant director of forensic biology at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in New York.

“And, on top of that, when they’re exposed to things that were present at Ground Zero, fire, mold, bacteria, sunlight, jet fuel, diesel fuel, all these destroy DNA. So you could physically have a sample with very very small amounts of DNA there.”

The 22,000 pieces of human remains found at the site since the attacks have all been tested—some 10 or 15 times already.

So far, only 1,642 of the 2,753 people who died in the attacks in New York have been formally identified. The 1,111 others have

“You cannot delegate that power to any alter ego. So, that makes the grant of amnesty void from the very beginning,” said Panelo.

This, he added, meant that all amnesties granted by the previous administration were “theoretically” void.

“Unless they can show me that then-President [Aquino], signed a grant of amnesty to all those enumerated in the letter submitted to him by Secretary Voltaire Gazmin,” said Gazmin.

Asked about the effect of Gazmin’s representation of Aquino, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said, “Similarly situated individuals will have similar amnesties which could be declared as being null and void ab initio.”

“But right now, the only one being invoked as being null and void ab initio is that of Senator Trillanes,” Roque said.

Roque did not rule out the possibility of prosecuting the former Defense secretary.

“Well, that’s possible. The point of the President is not only the lack of requirement to grant Senator Trillanes an amnesty, but also the non-authority of the person who gave him the amnesty,” said Roque in a radio interview with radio dzRH. The Palace official, however, later clarified in his press briefing that he was unaware whether the government will take actions against Gazmin.

Roque said Trillanes should stop the “gibberish” and just present to the public his receiving copy of the sign amnesty application form.

“The Palace position is that document is very important... We are talking about three counts of coup d’état here. They should have hidden it somewhere, he said.

The administration on Monday failed to obtain an arrest warrant against Trillanes from the Makati regional trial court Branch 150.

Instead, the court scheduled a hearing on

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2011 to one of his harshest critics, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who had led two coup attempts against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The President on Saturday accused Trillanes of conspiring with the opposition Liberal Party and communist rebels to overthrow him.

The Liberal Party has denied the accusation, but Roque echoed the warning Monday.

“I know they have been organizing to have a large destabilization movement in time for [46th] martial law anniversary.

So, the President said it would be in high gear when October comes,” he said.

“But I think, with the large mandate given by the people to the President, their plots will be useless amid their threats. It is evident that the yellows cannot accept their defeat [in the 2016 elections],” Roque said, insisting that the LP has been plotting Duterte’s ouster since he took office.

The President ruled out the need for a loyalty check among the military.

“Do not bring me the armor or anything. Just tell me. We can have coffee. I’ll invite you and I will administer the oath to anybody who is interested [to become the President],” he said. “Now, what will follow is not my problem.”

The country this month marks the 46th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos on Sept. 21, 1972. yet to yield identifiable information.

Several years have sometimes passed without the lab adding a name. But no one is giving up.

“These are all the same protocol that we had in 2001, but we were able to improve the process for each of the steps, out of necessity,” Desire said.

He refused to confirm the program’s budget, but it is the best equipped and advanced lab in North America.

Emotion In July, almost a year after the last identification, the lab added another name to the list—Scott Michael Johnson, a 26-year-old financial analyst who had been working on the 89th floor of the South Tower.

“I felt really good about it,” said Veronica Cano, one of the team’s criminalists.

“We are trained to not be affected, but we do get affected by it because it’s something that affects everyone in some way. But I try to be professional and try to bring closure to the families.”

The lab only dedicates part of its work to 9/11 identification and handles other deaths and disappearances.

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members if there is really widespread hoarding and illegal price manipulation taking place,” Andaya said. “We are interested in knowing if the suggested retail price is being enforced. What do we do about those who violate the SRP?” “If hoarding and profiteering are really behind the unreasonable price increases, the Price Coordinating Council may recommend that the Executive Department resort to drastic measures to protect our consumers,” he added.

In Mindanao, for instance, where martial law is still enforced, Section 6 of the Price Act mandates that “the prices of basic necessities shall automatically be frozen at their prevailing prices or placed under automatic price control.”

In Luzon and Visayas, Andaya said, the Council may invoke Section 7 which states that “the President, upon the recommendation of the implementing agency or the Price Coordinating Council, may impose a price ceiling on any basic necessity or prime commodity” in cases of “prevalence or widespread acts of illegal price manipulation” and “whenever the prevailing price of any basic necessity or prime commodity has risen to unreasonable levels.”

“In some places, inflation is higher than the national average. Rice and gas prices have shot through the roof in many provinces where the cost of transporting them is expensive,” Andaya said.

“A national price picture will give us an idea on where enforcement should be toughThe team’s work takes place in separate offices located about 1.3 miles (two kilometers) from what was once known as Ground Zero.

Families of victims sometimes stop by the lab.

“It’s hard not to be emotional because of the hugs and the thank yous,” said Cano.

“It’s very rewarding for me that I’m doing something for someone.”

The role of relatives is critical in technical terms because only comparison of the DNA of the remains with a sample provided by the families can allow identification.

The forensic examiner’s office holds about 17,000 samples, but none for about 100 victims, which makes it a vain effort to pursue identification for those remains.

A very precise procedure allows relatives to decide if and how they will be informed of the identification of the loved one they lost.

“When you’re notified, it brings you back to that day, the horrific way that they died,” said Mary Fetchet, who lost her 24-year-old son Brad when the towers that once dotted New York’s skyline came crashing down. AFP

Congress defers filing of CoCs to Oct. 11-17

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives on Monday adopted House Concurrent Resolution 20 resetting the date of the filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 13 midterm elections to Oct. 11 to 17, 2018.

The resolution, authored by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is intended to allow lawmakers to focus on their legislative work.

The start of the filing of the certificates as scheduled by the Commission on Elections on Oct. 1 to 5 will be held while Congress is still in session.

Congress will adjourn session beginning Oct. 12 to give way for the filing of the certificates.

Arroyo’s resolution “[urges] the Commission on Elections to reset to October 11 to 17, 2018 from October 1 to 5, 2018 the filing of the Certificates of Candidacy in connection with the May 13, 2019 national and local elections.”

The reason for the postponement: “to enable the Members of Congress to fully attend to their legislative duties and meet the deadline for the filing of the certificates of candidacy for the 2019 national and local elections.”

Arroyo said “the House of Representatives is currently deliberating on the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019, and other priority measures that require their utmost and undivided attention.”

The House will transmit the resolution to the Senate for action.

The House is expected to pass the 2019 national budget bill on third and final reading before Congress adjourns on Oct. 12, along with several other priority bills.

Before the measure’s adoption, Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu said the House would continue to perform its legislative functions even if many lawmakers would file their certificates of candidacy and prepare for the midterms elections next year.

Abu made the statement following the Comelec’s announcement of the filing of certificates of candidacy for senator, member of the House of Representatives, provincial, city, municipal or Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao regional official from Oct. 1 to 5.

er, and where stocks should be rushed,” he added.

Meanwhile, Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting, member of the House majority bloc, said the economy remains strong despite the rise in the rate of inflation.

“I believe the inflation rate can be attributed to more money circulating in our economy as a result of lower taxes for many of our countrymen. I do not believe any drastic measures need to be taken as of the moment to tame inflation.

The economy remains strong and growing in spite of the inflation rate. More jobs are being created and investors are still coming in,” said Tambunting in a text message.

House deputy speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu admitted that the public will continue to suffer from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law as its socalled social protection will trickle down in a few months time.

Abu said it will take few more months to polish the system aimed at cushioning the impact of the rising commodity prices.

“The improved execution of the social benefits card, unconditional cash transfers, and fuel vouchers of the Republic Act [RA] 10963 or the TRAIN Law available to poor beneficiaries will still need some refinements,” Abu said.

He added “the Duterte administration is doing everything to address the inflation, adding that the gains of TRAIN 1 are being felt nationwide through programs that are being implemented nationwide which create job opportunities for Filipinos.”

But citing a study conducted by the Asian Development Bank, Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo lamented how millions are now

poorer due to the unabated rise in prices in 2018. He reiterated his call to urgently pass House Bill 8171, which provides for a moratorium on excise taxes on fuel under TRAIN and return to zero the excise taxes on kerosene and diesel.

“While we debate endlessly on the technicalities of inflation, we cannot gloss over the fact that the poor agonize over every peso increase in the price of basic necessities,” Quimbo said.

In the Senate, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said there is enough rice in the country to meet current needs, but hoarders could be keeping the grain out of the market.

“In spite of the reported shortage, there was actually no shortage of rice,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino. “Speculation took place.”

Piñol said the Department of Agriculture was not involved in importation or the distribution of rice.

The rising prices could have been caused by delays in the importation or in the release of the imported rice, he said.

“Maybe some people hoarded the rice, and the late importation also affected the market,” he said.

The Philippines has imported 250,000 metric tons of rice to beef up the supply, and announced an additional 250,000 MT in imports by private traders.

But the NFA said the shipments have yet to be fully released to retailers because of bad weather.

The Palace on Monday reiterated President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark blaming US President Donald Trump for the growing inflation.

‘Mangkhut’...

water but would need to have maximum sustained winds of over 220 kph to be classified as a super typhoon.

“We are expecting on Thursday cloudy skies and scattered rain showers and thunderstorms over the whole of Luzon,” he told ANC. “The western sections of the Visayas and Mindanao will also have the effect of the enhanced southwest monsoon, which could bring to moderate to occasionally heavy rain.”

ABS-CBN News said “Mangkhut” will come in packing sustained winds of 215 kph but could develop into a super typhoon within the next 12 to 24 hours.

Pagasa categorizes a weather system with maximum sustained winds of 220 kph as a super typhoon, but Ompong can carry winds of up to 250 kph before it leaves the Philippines as it approaches extreme northern Luzon, said ABS-CBN resident weather specialist Nilo Millanes.

Typhoon “Maymay” (international name: “Jebi”) also packed winds of 250 kph, he said. Nat Mariano, Rio N. Araja and Macon Ramos-Araneta

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“I encourage the people to be prepared. Ready your emergency kits in

your houses, prepare buckets of water and canned goods,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.

• A low pressure area has developed into a tropical depression named “Neneng” on Monday morning, and was estimated 120 kilometers north of Basco, Batanes.

Neneng, the 14th tropical cyclone to visit the country, is expected to enter PAR but to exit today, Tuesday.

• Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said Monday the government should brace for “Neneng” instead of being focused on political storms.

“It should be able to distinguish between a tempest in a teacup involving a few and a Category 5 storm which may put millions in harm’s way,” he said.

Bulquerin said “Mangkhut,” which will be named “Ompong” once inside the Philippine area of responsibility, could still strengthen while in the

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

SC junks plea for reward by Marcos’wealth ‘informer’

House okays TRABAHO bill, (TRAIN 2) on final reading

THE Supreme Court has dismissed the petition filed by tax informer Danilo Lihaylihay, which seeks to compel the government to pay him close to P12 trillion representing his 25 percent reward for his role in the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and their cronies.

In a 22-page decision dated July 23 and penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC’s Third Division dismissed Lihaylihay’s petition for mandamus for lack of merit.

The respondents in the case were former Treasurer of the Philippines Roberto C. Tan, former Secretary of Finance Margarito B. Teves, the governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The SC ruled that the grant of informers’ reward depend on the considerations by the appropriate government officers under Republic Act 2338, also known as An Act to Provide for Reward to Informers of Violations of the Internal Revenue and Customs Laws.

Under the law, the Court noted that the information supplied must be new or not yet known to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

It added that it (information) must not pertain to a pending or previously investigated case, and must have actually led to or was the actual cause for discovering fraud upon tax laws.

It added that the information must have actually led to the recovery of sums relating to the fraud, as well as the conviction and/or punishment of the liable persons.

Lihaylihay, who identified himself as a confidential informant of the state (CIS), based his claim on the two letters dated March 11, 1987 which he sent to lawyer Eliseo Pitargue, the former head of the BIR-Presidential Commission on Good Government Task Force, concerning the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth. PNA

By Maricel V. Cruz

Trillanes to file ‘reso’vs SAP Go’s public works deals

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday said that he would seek for a Senate investigation on the multi-billion-peso public works contracts allegedly awarded to firms owned by the family of Special Assistant to the President Bong Go. In a news briefing, Trillanes said he will file a resolution for a Senate probe later that same day, but later decided to defer the said resolution.

Trillanes’ resolution that will look into the contracts cornered by the company reportedly owned by Go’s father and half-brother would be filed today.

“This afternoon, I will be filing a resolution calling for an investigation on the projects acquired by Bong Go from the goverment amounting to billions of pesos,” Trillanes said.

“These were construction projects his company and his family. So that is clear corruption.

Told that he can be accused of vendetta, Trillanes said he has been doing this thing—conducting investigations on graft and corruptions.

Mayor Sara backs Universal Health Care measure DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio expressed support for the immediate passage of the bill on Universal Health Coverage and the bill that will increase tobacco taxes.

“It is always our responsibility as public servants to ensure that the people are able to live in a clean and livable environment. We should continue in our commitment to give our constituents a smoke-free environment,” said DuterteCarpio during a summit attended by local chief executives who are champions in the anti-smoking campaign of the Office of the President and the Department of Health.

The summit for local government units held in Davao City, the cradle of smoke-free campaign in the Philippines, was attended by the Red Orchid Awards for 100% Tobacco Free Environment Hall of Famers.

This means that the LGUs were awarded three times for implementing the ordinances compliant with the obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Macon Ramos-Araneta

TIMELY MEASURE. Committee on Accounts Chairman and Leyte (1st District) Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez delivers her sponsorship speech on her bill, the Department of Disaster Resilience, at the plenary of the House of Representatives. Romualdez said that it is high time that the government create a Department of Disaster Resilience that will effectively reduce our vulnerability to natural hazards and bolster our resilience to the impact of natural disasters and climate change. Ver Noveno

PNP arrests 8 suspects in Lamitan bombing

By Francisco Tuyay

T

HE Philippine National Police on Monday arrested eight suspects reportedly involved in the bloody bombing incident in Lamitan, Basilan last July 31 that left 11 people killed and wounded seven.

PNP Chief Oscar Abayalde said that aside from the eight arrested suspects, 10 more direct accomplices, namely Furuji Indama, alias Boy Sopek and Abu Jhovel, one of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Group and principal architect in the bombing, are the object of a massive manhunt.

Albayalde identified the eight bombing suspects as Musa Jallaha, Hadji Hurang, alias Nura Narimin, Nsir Nuruddin, alias Battuh Murah, Al Basir Ahmad, Abdurahim Lijal, alias Mike Lijal, Ammar Indama, alias Ammar Matahul Mohammad, Julamin Arundoh, alias Mammin Totong and Saad Tedie, alias Boga Tedie.

He said that the eight suspects participated in the transport, planning, and assembly of IED components to the bombing site which exploded prematurely minutes after the van carrying the explosive cargo was intercepted at a checkpoint which went off minutes later. Albayalde added that Musa acted as middleman for

the purchase of the van and helped in loading the IEDs into the vehicle; while Julamin, a bomb expert, assembled and rigged the IED. Saad, meanwhile, took part in the planning that assisted in the preparation of the explosive.

The PNP has identified and charged 25 members of a breaking faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and several accomplices in the Aug. 28, Isulan, Kudarat bombing that left three persons killed and 36 others wounded.

Albayalde said an information was filed over the weekend before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Sultan Kudarat against the suspects.

Two separate criminal cases for murder and multiple frustrated murder were filed before the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 of Isabela City, Basilan against the 18 suspects.

Following the bombing incidents in Basilan and Sultan Kudarat, Albayalde

said terrorism remains on top of the security concerns of the national police, particularly in the Asean region.

He said terrorism was among the top issues discussed during the 38th Asean National Police Conference hosted by the Royal Brunei Police Force in Bander Seri Begawan.

“The PNP delegation had the honor to present the Philippines’ country paper on Terrorism wherein the PNP recognized the significant contribution of international initiatives and cooperation in addressing terrorism,” Albayalde said.

The PNP has presented the backdrop of the infamous five-month Marawi City siege in 2017 which Albayalde said recognized the close coordination between Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia through the Police Attache’ that helped in the identification, accounting and neutralization of foreign terrorist fighters who took part in the Islamic City.

“Against the backdrop of the infamous five-month siege of Marawi City in 2017, the PNP recognized the close coordination between Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia through the Police Attachés that helped in the identification, accounting and neutralization of foreign terrorist fighters who took part in the Marawi City siege and are still staying in Southern Philippines,” Albayalde said.

Solon seeks ‘responsive’ budget for vaccine victims THE chairman of the House of Representatives on Monday called on his colleagues to help assuage the fears of parents of children administered with the controversial Dengvaxia anti-dengue vaccine by adopting the House’s version of the P1.161-billion supplemental budget for the 800,000-plus schoolchildren vaccinated in 2016.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the panel’s chairman, said the House version was “more responsive to the needs of the children vaccinated with Dengvaxia.”

Nograles met with parents of Dengvaxia-administered children on Saturday in Quezon City to update them on the latest developments on the supplemental budget bill, which parents hoped would allow TOP DOGS. Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Aaron N. Aquino led the recognition of 100 K9 dogs total of 14 narcotics detection dogs which were cited for their accomplishment in detecting illegal drugs worth billions of pesos held at Zemog K9 training center in Antipolo City.

Manny Palmero

them to obtain medical care for their children if they get sick.

Rachel Abian, a single mother whose child was administered the vaccine in June 2016, said that she recently had her child admitted in a private hospital after he displayed symptoms of dengue, and was initially confident about receiving financial support from the government after she learned that the Senate had passed its version of the supplemental budget bill.

In response, Nograles said that the mother’s concerns were warranted given a crucial difference between the Senate and House versions of the measure.

The Senate version, he said, indicates that beneficiaries of the supplemental budget would be “dengue patients, while the

House version identifies the beneficiaries of the supplemental budget as “Dengvaxia vaccinees,” a distinction that would be problematic for parents like Rachel.

“If we adopt the Senate version that says the beneficiaries should be children with dengue, then if doctors later learn that the child of Rachel is not suffering from dengue but another illness, Rachel’s child will be ineligible for government support,” said Nograles.

“This is unfair to her child, and the other children who received Dengvaxia, because they are forced to take precautions like going to hospitals and clinics at the onset of any illness only because they were vaccinated. Di naman tama yan, we have an obligation to these kids,” Nograles added. Maricel V. Cruz

VOTING 187-14-3, the House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading the proposed “Tax Reform for Attracting Better and HighQuality Opportunities” or TRABAHO which proposes to encourage investments by bringing down the corporate income tax rate from 30 percent to 20 percent and modernize investment tax incentives to enhance fairness, improve competitiveness, plug tax leakages and attain fiscal sustainability.

House Bill 8083 or the TRABAHO Bill, the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, also aims to ensure that the grant of fiscal incentives helps bring in the greatest benefits, such as higher and more dispersed investments, more jobs, and better technology.

One of the bill’s oppositors, Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado said he was saddened by the bill’s passage in light of the rising inflation and increasing prices of basic commodities.

“This is the irony of all ironies,” he said.

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, member of the Makabayan Bloc, for her part, said the Lower House has turned its back again on the people by approving the pro-rich sequel of TRAIN 1—TRABAHO bill.

“Instead of heeding the mounting calls of women and the people for thejunking of the highly regressive TRAIN 1, this chamber heeded the proposal of the World Bank and the IMF to continue the anti-poor reforms in the country’s tax system with the approval of TRAIN 2,” Brosas, who voted against the bill’s passage, said.

She added that HB 8083” will disproportionately benefit big foreign and local corporations with the reduction of the corporation income taxes.”

The bill, which was authored by House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Dakila Carlo Cua of Quirino, reduces the current 30 percent corporate income tax rate per two years with the following timetable: 28 percent in 2021; 26 percent in 2023; 24 percent in 2025; 22 percent in 2027; and 20 percent in 2029.

It also proposes to grant fiscal incentives to registered activities of exporters and industries listed in the Strategic Investments Priority Plan.

It provides subsidies through school and housing vouchers, as well as allocate funding for universal health care from incremental revenue.

Likewise, it appropriates a structural adjustment fund for displaced workers.

Cua said the TRABAHO bill is a product of six committee hearings of the Committee on Ways and Means, one technical working group (TWG), and numerous meetings with private sector participation.

‘Massacre’ suspect loses in separate case at S’bayan ONE of the principal accused in the 2009 Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao has lost his plea in the Sandiganbayan for a demurrer to evidence not for the killing of 58 people but a separate case for the allegedly anomalous purchase of fuel and lubricants amounting to P22.37 million during the same year.

The motion of former mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao for a demurrer to evidence in connection with the graft case was denied by the anti-graft court to prevent any delays in the trial.

The denial of Ampatuan’s motion was embodied in a resolution dated Sept. 4.

A demurrer to evidence is a motion that seeks outright dismissal of a case on the ground of weak evidence from the prosecution.

“Given the sufficiency of the testimonial and documentary evidence against the accused, leave of court for the accused to file a demurrer to evidence would serve no clear purpose but will only delay the proceedings in these cases,” the Sandiganbayan said.

Ampatuan, his brother former Maguindanao Gov. Datu Sajid Ampatuan, and seven others were charged at the Sandiganbayan last year for allegedly favoring the Shariff Aguak Petron Station for the supply of fuel and lubricants for the road and construction projects in the province without public bidding.

Ampatuan, then a private individual, claimed the charges against him “reek of contradictions,” saying the said transaction was “properly documented.” Maricel V. Cruz

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Opinion

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

What will Duterte say?

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

was the amnesty revoked in the first place? It is clear that Trillanes was being a great pain on the Duterte family with his incessant attacks. Is this a way of silencing him?

In doing this, however, President DuSANTA Banana, the small fire lit by President Duterte when he issued a terte made clear that he is ready to stop proclamation revoking the amnesty dissent.

I have no love lost for Trillanes. He is granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes by former President Benigno Aquino arrogant and abrasive. He makes a lot of noise against the President. I wish III is fast becoming a conflagration!

The President obviously did not re- there would be more outspoken critics alize that when he issued that procla- in the opposition.

Sadly, I do not see signs of a strong, mation and ordered both the military and police to arrest Trillanes, it would viable opposition leader. There are no mean a bigger challenge to the admin- signs of discontent even among the military, and not even with problems in gut istration.

For his part, Trillanes has shown issues like rice. At least, not yet.

However, Malacañang should not documents and footage of the amnesty when he applied for it. He said he had belittle the adverse effects of inflation and looming food crisis. These could fulfilled its terms.

As he admitted, President Duterte just be the tipping point.

I cannot believe relied too much what the President on the alleged resays, that there search of Solicitor is an ouster plot General Jose Caliagainst him. How da, which showed Will he proclaim can this happen that the amnesty martial law or when his trust ratwas null and void a revolutionary ings remain high? from the start.

But if The President government?

Malacañang canhas so much faith not rein in inflain Calida. He tion, the poor will thinks he is bright. get even hungrier.

Calida succeeded in occasioning the ouster of Chief Jus- And when hunger strikes, anything can tice Maria Lourdes Sereno through quo happen.

As this column went to press, the Suwarranto proceedings.

But now Mr. Duterte may discover preme Court had not yet decided on the that Calida is not so smart, after all. temporary restraining order sought by The research was sloppy. It was rushed Trillanes to stop Duterte from revoking when Trillanes started investigating his amnesty.

My sources at the Supreme Court, Calida for alleged conflict of interest given that his security agency has con- however, say that instead of just aptracts with various government agen- proving the TRO petition, the court en banc may just require him and the govcies.

Calida did a sloppy job because the ernment, as respondent, to comment on amnesty given by Aquino to Trillanes the issue.

With all the other problems the nawas through the recommendation of the Defense Department and the help tion is facing, however, who knows of then-Defense Secretary Voltaire what the President will do?

These are indeed interesting—and Gazmin. He failed to show proof that Trillanes was not honorably discharged dangerous times—for the Philippines!

President Duterte should not blame from the military.

President Duterte claims that he has US President for the country’s high the right to revoke that amnesty. But inflation rate. Inflation is within the can he just issue a proclamation to do control of those who need to use their this since the grant of amnesty was coconuts.

I could be wrong, but somehow with done with the concurrence? It is but logical that a revocation should also all these happening, history seems to be repeating itself. have the concurrence of Congress.

We go back to the question—why Turn to A5

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

A brewing storm

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will address the nation this afternoon. We greet the announcement with a mix of hope, trepidation—and realism.

More than two years ago, the Duterte presidency took off on a promising start. The maverick President painted himself as the opposite of the leaders we had been used to in the past. He was honest, irreverent, single-minded. He appeared resolute and able to get things done. Sixteen million Filipinos—a decisive plurality—decided to take a chance on the mayor from Davao City.

The past two years, however, have plunged the nation to divisiveness and discontent. While his trust ratings have remained relatively high according to surveys, Mr. Duterte’s words, actions and decisions especially with regard to the war on drugs

have invited criticism and even condemnation from some sectors both here and abroad.

Promises to stamp out corruption have been marred by a strange habit of reappointing officials whom he has already removed for some irregularity or another.

More importantly, the country is grappling with gut issues of high prices and scarce basic commodities. Filipinos will put up with politics but may not be as tolerant once their quality of life is compromised.

President Duterte must have sensed these rumblings. After all, his own trust ratings have suffered of late.

Palace spokesmen say he will talk about alleged destabilization plots. This is why there is some anxiety over what he would say.

Will he, as he is wont to do, curse at and malign his enemies again?

Will he blame other people, even God, for our woes? Will he make

a declaration about the future of our government, a pronouncement that will confirm what many fear?

What we’d like to hear, however, are the words of a genuine leader.

A good chief executive will acknowledge the problems but will not stop at tough words against his adversaries. Instead, a good leader will outline the steps he would take to solve the nation’s ills. He will inspire confidence among the people because of his firm grasp of the situation, his sound judgment and calm reasoning.

The address comes just before a powerful typhoon that appears headed to Northern Luzon—a very real threat. May the weather not occasion parallels on what is to come. After all, if there were any destabilization attempts present anywhere, it would be a result of this administration’s own unenlightened choices rather than the act of groups with vested interests.

Global solidarity for Leila de Lima rights hero, although circumstances on this occasion do not give us cause to celebrate as we did in 1987. xxx Instead, representatives of our global political family are here today to join hands with millions of Filipinos as we PART II of the Leila de Lima’s latest shine a light into what has become a book Fight for Freedom is a collection shady political atmosphere and a subof three keynote messages delivered by ject of global consternation—some of Emily Lighau, known for champion- the very threats to freedom that we ing press freedom and human rights, warned of when defining the challengJuli Minoves, president of Liberal In- es to liberalism in the 21st century as ternational, and Leni Robredo, vice set out in our Andorra Liberal Manipresident of the Republic of the Philip- festo which we adopted in our 70th pines, during the awarding ceremony Anniversary Congress last year.” of the Liberal International Prize for Liberal International, Minoves Freedom on July 28, 2018. The senator added, is taking seriously Senator De was the principal awardee.

Lima’s incarceration, the unfair and Lau, former member of the Hong the unjust incarceration, who has not Kong Legislative just been unjustly Council, delivdetained for 520 ered a message days that we (the of solidarity. In members of the I know she has her message, Lau o r g a n i z a t io n) recalled her con- faults and excesses, but have traveled to versation with the the Philippines detained senator her heroism in the face from afar to prewhen she (Lau) of what has been done sent this award. visited her in the to her has vindicated According to detention cell tohim, Senator De gether with two her.

Lima’s struggle, other women of her sacrifice, is the Women Caunot solely a Filicus of the Council pino matter, nor of Asian Liberals. is it even an Asian There De Lima expressed her fear for matter. her safety. To the listeners, Lau cited Leila’s cause transcends petty politithe oft-repeated saying: the people get cal rivalries and regional nuances. She the government that they deserve and personifies humanity’s shared aspirachallenged the audience to speak out tion for universal human rights and it because when everyone is scared then is apposite that she is being awarded the tyrants will always get the things the Prize for Freedom in this 70th antheir way. niversary of the Universal Declaration In his message, Minoves, Liberal of Human Rights. He then reminded International President, said: “Twen- the President of the Philippines that ty-one years later, representatives of Human rights are for all or they are the global liberal family are in the for nothing, that the world is indeed Turn to A5 Philippines to honor another human

MAIL MATTERS

Did the Nayong Pilipino board comply with requirements to protect the State’s interests?

I WRITE in response to the statements made by Department of Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin, which were cited in the article of Mr. Julito G. Rada entitled “Nayong Pilipino subject to bidding” and posted on Sept. 7, 2018.

My comments on Mr. Agabin’s statements: That the governing board of the GOCC (I.e, Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s Board) is still required to ensure that contracts are not grossly disadvantageous to the government: This is correct. Regardless of wheth-

er there was public bidding or not, being government officers and employees, the governing board of the GOCC (ie, Nayong Pilipino Foundation) are duty-bound to protect the State’s interests over the corporation’s private interests.

On 9 March 2017 (after the issuance of GCG Memo Circular 2018-02), I, as then Government Corporate Counsel, issued a Contract Review No. 102 Series of 2018 stated that lease can only go so far as twenty five (25) years and not seventy five (75) years, as intended

by Nayong Pilipino Foundation.

I, through said Contract Review, also imposed twelve (12) conditions precedent before Nayong Pilipino Foundation can enter into its intended lease, which conditions include, among others that: a. Nayong Pilipino Foundation should further negotiate the increase of rental rates and ensure that the same is fair, reasonable, and most importantly, not disadvantageous to the government. b. Before executing the Contract of Lease, the lessee, should be compliant Turn to A5

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Opinion

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

‘Trilliling’ FORMATION GARY OLIVAR WHILE the President was away in Israel, the creeping economic malaise in the country pulled off a couple of unpleasant surprises.

Over at the Bangko Sentral, their overall confidence index (CI) of public sentiment went negative for the first time in eight straight quarters, to -7.1 percent from a positive 3.8 percent the previous quarter. This means that the number of pessimists overtook the number of optimists about their personal economic outlook.

The main cause was unexpectedly high inflation in August, which surged above the psychological break-point of 6 percent for the first time in over a decade. Some critics complained that the BSP had delayed too long before raising interest rates, or at least had not “talked down” inflation as vigorously as they should have.

But senior monetary officials point out that much of current inflation is actually supply side-driven, principally by a hefty hike in global oil prices and the one-off effect of higher excise taxes on oil and sweetened beverages under TRAIN-1. Under this scenario, monetary tightening—which in any case takes a while to take effect—would have only limited impact on prices.

Because of inflation, the benchmark risk-free real rate of interest is still negative, despite recent rate hikes. This can only encourage all sorts of speculation—from currency to property to stock market—as investors chase elusive real positive returns.

In addition to higher prices, the drop in BSP’s confidence index was also the result of concerns over low salaries and income. This surprised me, because it was only last July, two months ago, that unemployment dropped to 5.4 percent, the lowest ever recorded for July unemployment in a decade.

Evidently, confidence is more affected by prices you encounter every day than by job numbers you only hear or read about. And in any case, behind the positive aggregate employment stats, unemployment among the young was

EVERYMAN

By Beatrice Tulagan BANGKOK, Thailand—With merely three months away from the Katowice Climate Conference in Poland, tensions were high as governments scrambled to finish the draft text of the Paris Rulebook which lays out the implementation and compliance plans for the accord.

The emergency negotiations for the guidelines of the landmark Paris Agreement concluded Sunday night with a mandate for presiding officers to prepare a joint reflections note by October 8. This means the preparation of negotiating “tools” that can help parties deliberate better come Katowice.

The week started on a hopeful note with Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, the president of the 23rd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change last year, stressing the urgency of the talks and raising climate ambition during his opening statement. “Ambition can be a very gentle word. [But it means] total commitment, throwing ourselves without holding back one ounce of energy.”

Civil society groups, however, have been wary of claims that a well-balanced formal text will be drafted by the end of the negotiations. Mobilizations in front of the United Nations Eco-

Global...

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watching, and Leila de Lima’s unjust detention will not be forgotten.

In her keynote speech entitled “The Indomitable Spirit of a Freedom Fighter,” Robredo said that “this recognition, alongside many notable citations and awards that Senator Leila has received in the recent times, is testament to her fearlessness and indomitable spirit as a freedom fighter.

It proves that fighting for what you know is right and just—no matter where you are and who you are up against—matters deeply in healing our nation’s shattered spirits and hopes.

And that fighting for human rights has become one of the most important struggles of today’s world, affecting with increasing urgency, the everyday lives of our people.”

Robredo lamented the many deaths

still running high at 14.6 percent. Clearly, a lot remains to be done in terms of matching up educational and vocational training with what employers really want from their new hires.

As for the peso, it fell to nearly 54:1 to the dollar last Friday, its lowest level in almost 13 years. This had the effect of magnifying the local impact of global oil price increases. With the peso weakening, the people in charge of Build Build Build should be reevaluating the wisdom of borrowing abroad to finance those projects, or at least triage the pipeline so that projects closest to completion get first dibs on foreign loan funds.

Let’s look at the salient facts in the Trillanes issue.

its new chief justice may have to decide if PNoy’s decision to seek Congress’ approval of his amnesty grant—if such approval was only optional—operates to make it a mandatory requirement before Duterte can revoke that amnesty.

Trillanes is incapable of producing his original amnesty application or any other document where he clearly pleaded guilty to the offenses charged. Obviously, one can’t be amnestied if one was never guilty in the first place.

Evidence is now turning up that PNoy and/or his Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin took some shortcuts with legal procedures in granting Trillanes amnesty.

Former AFP chief of staff and current national security adviser Jun Esperon agrees with Trillanes that he did leave active service before the amnesty.

Nonetheless, Esperon agrees with the Defense Department that Trillanes is still liable for a military court-martial, since he committed his violations of the Articles of War while still in service.

Trillanes has been threatening that the AFP—or some faction of it—will rise up in revolt if his “persecution” continues. As usual, the senator, even if unintentionally, again insults his former comrades in arms--by suggesting that they would condone his repeated mutinies, violations of code of conduct, and defiance of the chain of command all the way up to the commander in chief, not just once but three times--2003 in Oakwood, 2006, and 2007 in the Manila Peninsula.

The target of his mutinies now leads the House after five years in a PNoy jail, while Trillanes now finds himself looking in the opposite direction that she is. Once again, karma’s a bitch. *** Whenever we can, we like to take note of an anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11, 2001. Today is the 17th such commemoration. With ISIS now on the run from the Middle East and Central Asia and increasingly turning their covetous eyes to the Southeast Asian coastline countries—including ours—it’s a good time to remember how this fight started in the first place, and what still needs to be done in order to finish it.

The last fly in the ointment is the increasingly notorious rice crisis we’re going through, with rice supply and quality going down while rice prices go up. The public is already quite familiar with the details and the names of those government officials responsible. What they’re still waiting to see is what the President will do about those names. *** On the brighter side of things, while Duterte was away, his people unveiled a presidential proclamation revoking the amnesty granted years ago by PNoy to Senator Antonio Trillanes, together with a Justice Department request to the courts to issue an “alias warrant of arrest” and hold departure order (HDO) against the surly senator.

This latest development had Trillanes jumping up and down screaming about “political persecution.” He’s been saying he won’t flee or resist arrest, although to date he’s taken care not to vacate the Senate where he thinks he’s arrest-proof.

Let’s look at the salient facts of this issue: Senator Francis Pangilinan claims Duterte can’t revoke Trillanes’ amnesty without the concurrence of both houses Readers can write me at gboliof Congress. The Supreme Court under var1952@yahoo.com.

On the road to Katowice nomic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific greeted negotiators with groups composed of farmers, women, indigenous people and workers joining the activities to call for climate justice for all. In a week full of technical meetings, these served as reminders of the human face of climate change and the unique vulnerabilities of each sector already marginalized by growing inequalities.

“The Paris Agreement Work Program should be informed by the principles of climate justice, human rights, common but differentiated responsibilities, and respective capabilities (CBDR), equity and fairshares in order to genuinely meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, as well as the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goals,” said Sey Peou of the NGO Forum on Cambodia and the Asia Climate Change Consortium.

Climate finance, however, remained the elephant in the room. A coalition of countries led by the United States has reportedly made interventions suggesting change in how climate finance contributions are accounted for.

Under the proposal, loans to developing countries will be counted toward a developed country’s contributions to the $100-billion-a-year fund to be

implemented by 2020. The silence of other developed countries has been deafening in a week that saw climate change-enhanced disasters in at least two countries in Asia.

These proposals were worsened by countries offering to have variable reporting deadlines for the Nationally Determined Contributions. The NDCs are each country’s supposedly progressive emissions reductions target and general plan for climate action. With multiple timeframes for implementation—one suggestion is to set it as long as ten years—it could very well stall efforts needed to keep the temperature degree rise to 1.5 degrees.

Without climate justice in the guidelines taking form in real commitments from historical contributors to climate change through ambitious financing and robust implementation, the Paris Agreement will just be an empty shell void of the opportunity to make real changes on the ground for real people.

The Philippines, for example, has committed to a 70-percent emissions reduction target but it is fully conditional on financing and technology transfer from developed countries.

in the campaign against drugs, saying: “So many lives are on the line in this battlefield. In the past two years, we faced the reality that death and violence have become the preferred means with which to wage the war on illegal drugs—with no end in sight.

The numbers have been contentious, from 3,000 to 25,000, but the reality is that one death is already far too many.”

Yet notwithstanding this reality, she expressed her belief in the Filipino people who are “naturally empathic people, with a depth of love for freedom and their rights that will not be snuffed out by any tyrant.”

In Robredo’s own words: “We have had a long history of bloody struggles in very dark times, and I refuse to believe that we suffered them for nothing. We will prevail. We will keep on keeping on. Celebrated writer Khalil Gibran once wrote, and I could not help but share with you this quote: ‘You shall be free indeed when your

days are not without a care, nor your nights without a want and a grief, but rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.’”

For Senator Leila, according to the vice president, “the fight has also been clear as day, that even in detention, she has shaken ground and inspired fellow advocates of the law, here and abroad.

“We all have roles to play, and it is important that we know where we are placed and what we should do to win,” she added.

With supporters and friends like these, Senator De Lima is assured of respect and admiration. I too think of her in the same way. I know she has faults and excesses, but her heroism in the face of what has been done to her has vindicated her. These testimonies attest to that.

The author is executive director of Climate Stories Philippines.

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Snafu (Situation Normal All Fouled Up) and upward-moving. The GDP (gross domestic product) was within the 6-to8 percent annual growth rate projected by the economic managers—6.8 percent RUDY in the succeeding quarters—inflation ROMERO likewise was within BSP’s 2-to-4 WHENEVER I hear or read about the percent target annual rate, the GIR increasing number of bad things that (gross international reserves) was rising are happening to the economy of this steadily, the budget deficit maintained a country—the decline in business and sound ratio to GDP and the confidence consumer confidence to historically levels of consumers and the business low levels, the historic depreciation of community were high. The ratified with the peso, the inflation rate’s rise to his- its macro-economic condition, the three toric levels, the movement of the basic international credit rating agencies— BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) in- Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s and terest rate to historic highs, etc.—I am Fitch—maintained their investmentreminded of an acronym that was cre- grade ratings for the Philippines. ated by the US military early during In sum, this country’s economic sitWorld War II. uation on July 1, 2016 could be characThe acronym is Snafu. I stands terized as normal. Enter Part 1 of the for “situation normal all fouled up TRAIN (Tax Reform and Inclusion) (I appreciate that, considering con- program bull in a China shop, within temporary lingo, “fouled” is usually weeks of its approval a normal situareplaced by another six-letter word tion into an all-fouled up situation. As beginning with F and with a K in the a result of the higher costs of manumiddle).

Snafu facturing, transwas used most portation and frequently by the electricity genlogistics personnel eration caused of the US military, by the increases Before all these whose responsibilin fuel excise happened, this ity it was to protaxes, the inflavide the means for country’s economic tion rate began moving millions situation was to rise, reaching of troops and tens a nine-year-high of millions of war characterized as 6.4 percent in materiel—posses- normal.

August. Alarmed sions, weaponry, and pressured ammunition and by the steady equipment of all rise in consumer prices—with all kinds—access to the continents in support of America’s of its implication for social and politiwar effort. But the use of the acronym cal stability—the BSP enacted three was not confined to the logistics folk: successive increases in its basic inthe US military’s officialdom in time terest rates, including a rare 50-basic began to use Snafu to describe situa- points increase, between May and tions resulting from the inefficiencies August. The BOP (balance of payand operational shortcomings of their ments), weighed down by a yawning staff. Snafu may not yet have been ad- merchandise trade imbalance, neared mitted into Webster’s Dictionary, but the $1.3 billion mark at end—July, in it assuredly has become a part of the the process aggravating a peso-depreUS military’s lexicon. ciation problem. The peso is now one Why am I reminded of Snafu at this of the worst-performing currencies in juncture in the Philippine economy’s the East-Asia Pacific region, and its journey toward economic maturity? resulting slide has caused consumer Because before it was fouled up, this prices to rise even further. Reflecting country’s economic situation was the disturbed economic environment, characterized as normal.

GDP growth decreased from 6.8 perConsider the national economic cent in the first quarter to 6 percent in picture on July 1, 2016, the start of the April-to-June period.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s term There we have it. On the day that of office. On that day, the nation’s he Rodrigo Duterte and his economic economic managers—both the outgoing managers took assumed their offices, and the incoming team—could speak the situation of the Philippine econocomfortably about the “sound macro- my was normal. Today, almost tweneconomic fundamentals” of the ty-seven months later, the Philippine Philippine economy. With the exception economy is all fouled—the other sixof the merchandise trade component letter verb with a K in it would probof the BOP (balance of payments), ably be more appropriate—up. the fundamentals all were positive A perfect Snafu case.

BUSINESS CLASS

Did...

From A4

bidding should no longer be requirement as a method of procurement for lease contracts of GOCCs: Paragraph 4.1 (b) (i) of the MC 201303 very clearly states that lease agreements exceeding ten (10) years and involving at least one (1) hectare of land should undergo public bidding, thus: “4.1 xxx (b) Lease agreements exceeding ten (10) years entered into pursuant to the business model/primary purpose of the GOCC, subject to the following guidelines: I. Leasing of areas involving at least one (1) hectare shall be bidded out”1 Since Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s intended lease involved an area of 9.5 hectares for more than ten (10) years, I, as the then Government Corporate Counsel (“GCC”) issued a letter legal opinion dated 29 November 2017 requiring Nayong Pilipino Foundation to undergo public bidding.

Because MC 2018-02 revoked (a word which literally means “to put an end to the validity or operation of”) MC 2013-03, it goes without saying that paragraph MC 2013-03’s paragraph 4.1 (b)(i), which required public bidding for intended lease, was likewise revoked.

with relevant laws such as, Republic Act. No. 9593 and Republic Act No. 7652; Ensure that the property or part thereof will be utilized as a cultural park; Value Added Tax is assumed by the lessee; e. To include an annual escalation clause of the monthly rent based on the inflation rate; f. To include a standard lease provision allowing Nayong Pilipino Foundation to repossess the property without the need of judicial suit; g. To require the lessee to pay the correct amount of national and local taxes.

Unfortunately, however, I do not know if the Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s Board complied with these requirements to protect the State’s interests.

With regard to Undersecretary Agabin’s statements that the GCG Memo Circular 2018-02 (“MC 2018-02”) did not revoke GCG Memo Circular (“MC 2013-03”), because (1) the latter did not require public bidding as a mode of procurement (insofar as the Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s intended lease is RUDOLF PHILIP B. JURADO concerned) in the first place; and (2) Former Government Corporate MC 2018-02 never stated that public Counsel

What...

From A4

In fact, I believe Duterte is facing more problems than President Ferdinand Marcos did when he proclaimed martial law in September 1972.

Marcos was then fighting on three fronts—the communist movement, separatism in Mindanao and civil society marching on the streets demanding his ouster.

President Duterte, meanwhile, has the

following: Communism, separatism terrorism and economic problems like inflation and the looming rice crisis.

All these, plus the war on drugs, corruption, and the climate of impunity could compel the President to declare martial law or a revolutionary government.

If this happens, Duterte will be riding a tiger from which he can never get off. If he does, the tiger will devour him. www.emiljurado.weebly.com

News

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

MIAA launches 2 Rapid Exit Taxiways to ease traffic

By Joel E. Zurbano

WHEELCHAIRS FOR PWDS. Navotas City Mayor John Rey Tiangco leads Monday the distribution of wheelchairs to Navoteños with persons with disabilities while Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito watches (to his left) after visiting Navotas City Hall. Andrew Rabulan

Lawmaker slams DoTR decision on car plates

By Maricel V. Cruz A PRO-administration lawmaker on Monday sought a congressional inquiry into the Department of Transportation’s reported decision to revive the P3.6-billion contract entered by the Aquino administration with the Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and J. Knieriem BV Power Plates under the Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program.

Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. made the statement as he warned that Transportation officials must be ready to face the wrath of President Rodrigo Duterte and the millions of disgruntled Filipino motorists should the multibillion-peso car plates production deal previously junked for various irregularities would be resurrected.

“This move by DoTr reeks of unpardonable graft, we can smell it right after Secretary Tugade gave the go signal to reevaluate the highly anomalous deal,” said Teves, member of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety.

Teves said he would file a resolution into the DoTr’s decision to reconsider the allegedly anomalous contract.

“I would strongly advise our officials against resurrecting this controversial deal. Instead, they should help gathering evidence to pin down officials behind this mess of Dengvaxia proportions,” Teves said.

Teves said the alleged questionable car plate deal did not absolve President Benigno Aquino III and former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya from possible criminal liabilities as Abaya, among other Transport officials, were facing facing graft charges for the P3.8 billion worth of license plates during the Aquino administration.

Teves said aside from the company’s alleged clear violation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act, the car plate supplier allegedly committed violations of critical provisions of its multi-billion contract, such as sub-contracting resulting to delivery of sub-standard product output.

PNP forms team to probe killings of local officials T

HE country’s top armed civilian Philippine National Police has said it has formed a special national team to probe the recent killings of local elected officials.

At least six vice mayors and 11 mayors were slain since July 2016.

PNP chief Director Oscar Albayalde announced Monday the Camp Crame-headquartered national police would be headed by Investigation and Detective Management chief, Police Director Elmo Francis Sarona.

According to Albayalde, the group would closely monitor and

coordinate investigations of different PNP units, off ices, and special investigation task groups involved in probing the killing of local off icials.

Albayalde said among the priority concerns of the group were the killings of the following officials: 1. Ronda, Cebu Mayor Mariano Blanco III and Vice Mayor John Ungab;

CoA: Binay et al. culpable

By Rio N. Araja

HUMAN TRAFFICKERS. The National Bureau of Investigation Internation Airport Investigators on Monday presents the three arrested women suspected for human trafficking last Sept. 6. The three are identified as Munera Patag, Aisa Sailila and Samera Makot who were nabbed in a rescue operation in a residential accommodation house building at Brgy. 20 Zone 2, Pasay City maintained by Happy World Human Resource Recruitment Agency. Norman Cruz

MMDA will abide by court ruling on ‘Angkas’ THE Metro Manila Development Authority said Monday it would abide by the preliminary injunction issued by the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court allowing Angkas, the motorcycle ride-hailing app, to resume its operations.

In a text message sent to media, MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia said: “We will abide by the ruling of the court. Our immediate concern is safety of the passengers.”

The Mandaluyong RTC granted the writ of preliminary injunction to Angkas, prohibiting the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the Department of Transportation and anyone acting on behalf of these agencies, from interfering in Angkas’ operations; apprehending Angkas bikers in legitimate pursuit of work and from performing any acts that will impede, obstruct, frustrate or defeat Angkas’ pursuit of its lawful business and trade.

In a congressional hearing of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development,

2. Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili; 3. General Tinio, Nueva Ecija Mayor Ferdinand Bote; 4. Trece Martires City Vice Mayor Alex Lubigan.

In Blanco’s case, Albayalde said the police would look into “other possibilities” behind his slay, “as suggested by strong leads and significant findings” apart from politics as possible motive.

Like Blanco, local officials killed recently were shot by unidentified gunmen. At least six vice mayors and 11 mayors slain since July 2016.

THE Manila International Airport Authority on Monday launched two newly constructed Rapid Exit Taxiways, built to further ease air traffic congestion at the main runway of Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“Without these new RETs, aircraft that landed at the Naia runway 06-24 [would] need to make a 90-degree turn at the end of the runway after they touch down and make a full stop before proceeding to the terminal aprons and the whole process would take about two to three minutes,” said MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal Monreal said the construction of the East and West Rapid Exit Taxiways was carried out simultaneously and was undertaken while the airport remained operational without causing any interruption or danger.

The two rapid exits with both 60 meters wide, according to Monreal, will help reduce the problems of air traffic congestion in the air and ground, and flight delays in Naia.

He added the runway 06-24 with 3,410 meters long would also improve the Runway Occupancy Time and allow the succeeding aircraft to land or depart at a shorter time.

The thickness for the pavement structure for the exit taxi way has been using the aircraft characteristic of the B777-300ER. The main carriage is designed to be concrete pavement and the asphalt concrete on regular sections of the pavement was designed with a 20-year life span.

The new RETs would reduce to at most five seconds the time a plane that just touched down occupies the runway, allowing another aircraft to land.

It allows aircraft to exit the runway at speeds of 65 kilometers per hour to 93 kph and give way to other landing aircraft.

Monreal said a newly landed aircraft would use the runway for two to three minutes and lengthened aircraft occupancy of the runway would cause arrival delays.

committee chairman Rep. Winston Castelo lauded the court order and said that it’s a welcome development for the public, as a critical transportation lifeline reopens to them.

“We know that improvements to mass transport are underway, but people cannot wait any longer for MRT-7 and the subway.

They need Angkas now.”

The court order, which Angkas Operations Head David Medrana presented to the committee during the meeting, enjoins the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Transportation “from interfering, whether directly or indirectly, with the petitioner’s operations; from apprehending Angkas bikers who are in lawful pursuit of their trade or occupation based on petitioner’s Angkas mobile application; and from performing any act or acts that will impede, obstruct, frustrate, or defeat [the] petitioner’s pursuit of its lawful business or trade as owner and operator of the Angkas mobile application.”

Angkas voluntarily suspended its operations last year after they were outlawed by the LTFRB. However, the continued problems in the country’s mass transport system, with the constant breakdown of the MRT and the traffic gridlocks in key thoroughfares, saw the intensifying of the clamor for an alternative mode of transportation in the last few months.

This drove transport advocacy group Transport Watch to lead the clamor for better mobility and wider transport options for the Filipino commuters.

“With the current problems on transportation and mobility hounding the country’s commuters, there is a need for the immediate regulation of motorcycle taxis. It is high time for the government to allow the operation of motorcycle taxis to legitimize their services and provide a faster, more efficient, more convenient, and safer alternative to illegal habal-habals,” Transport Watch lead convenor George Royeca pointed out. Joel Zurbano

THE Commission on Audit has held former Makati City mayor Jejomar Binay Jr. culpable for disallowed use of P45 million in intelligence and confidential fund in 2011 and 2013.

Also held liable were former city budget officer Lorenza Amores and former acting city administrator Marjorie de Veyra for the offense committed in 2011, and ex-city administrator Eleno Mendoza Jr. for a separate offense in 2013.

CoA ordered those accountable to return the money to the city government.

Binay, Amores, De Veyra and Mendoza, however, had been given six months to file their plea upon the receipt of their notices of disallowance.

For failure to do so, the disallowance becomes final and executory, CoA warned.

Last Sept. 5, CoA issued the first notice of disallowance, identifying Binay, Amores and acting De Veyra as the persons responsible for the 2011 transaction.

It issued a second notice of disallowance also on Sept. 5 involving the 2013 intelligence and confidential fund to Binay, Amores and Mendoza.

Binay authorized the disbursement of the fund as cash advances, while the city administrator acted as project accountable officer and special disbursing officer.

Taiwan’s top criminal nabbed in PH

By Vito Barcelo IMMIGRATION authorities arrested Taiwan’s No. 1 most wanted criminal who was being sought by Taipei police for murder of a Canadian teacher who was cut into several pieces and dumped into the river.

Police identified the man as Oren Shlomo Mayer, currently detained at the BI Detention Center in Bicutan, who was nabbed in Cainta, Rizal by members of the Bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit and agents from the Philippine National Police, Intelligence Group, National Capital Region.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Mayer would be deported to Taiwan where he will face charges of homicide for allegedly murdering 43-year-old Canadian teacher, Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan, last Aug. 21.

“We have received information both from US and Taiwan authorities about

Mayer’s crimes, and both request that he be deported to Taiwan,” Morente said.

Mayer, who also goes by the name ‘Oz Diamond,’ reportedly dismembered his victim before dumping his severed body parts in the river.

Mayer has a pending felony warrant from the Taiwan New Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office issued last Aug. 24, and has been charged with offenses of homicide.

Taiwan police said Mayer fled to Manila last Aug. 25, four days after he and two other suspects were implicated in the murder of Ramgahan as the latter was walking his dog along a riverside park near Zhongzheng Bridge in Taipei’s City’s Yonghe District.

Reports reveal that Mayer continuously relocated in the country to evade arrest.

“He is on the list of Taiwan’s most wanted fugitives, and is said to be a bigtime drug personality in that country,” said Morente.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

TODAY the following quantitative performance measures may be employed by the Issuer:

• • • •

A. energy capacity; B. electricity generation; C. greenhouse gas emissions reduced/ avoided;

SEC MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 12 Series of 2018

WHEREAS, in recognition of the importance of green finance in supporting sustainable growth in ASEAN and the increasing amount of global capital seeking green investments, the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum took a lead role in identifying green finance standards that can be applied for the ASEAN region beginning with the ASEAN Green Bond Standards; WHEREAS, the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards was developed based on the International Capital Markets Association’s (ICMA’s) Green Bonds Principles and intended to enhance transparency, consistency, and uniformity of ASEAN Green Bonds which will also contribute to the development of a new asset class, reduce due diligence costs, and help investors to make informed investment decisions; WHEREAS, Section 8 of the SRC provides that securities shall not be sold or offered for sale or distribution within the Philippines, without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the Commission; WHEREAS, Section 12 of the SRC, the relevant provisions of the 2015 Implementing Rules and Regulations of the SRC (2015 SRC IRR) and “Annex C” provides for the procedure for registration of securities and non-financial disclosure requirements; WHEREAS, ASEAN Green Bonds are specific purpose bonds where proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible Green Projects, and that comply with the ASEAN Green Bond Standards; WHEREAS, the requirements under the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards shall be in addition to the applicable requirements under Sections 8 and 12 of the SRC; unless there is an available exemption under Sections 9 or 10 of the SRC, where the Issuer shall submit the requirements as prescribed by the Commission; WHEREAS, to assist issuers of debt instruments to register and issue bonds that are compliant with the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, the Commission deems it necessary to issue the subject guidelines; WHEREAS, the subject Guidelines should be read in conjunction with the “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ), and subsequent amendments/updates whichthe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) may issue from time to time.

NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the foregoing, the Commission hereby adopts and issues the following Guidelines to supplement the requirements under Section 8 and 12 of the SRC. GUIDELINES FOR ISSUANCE OF ASEAN GREEN BONDS ARTICLE ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS CHAPTER ONE: Definitions

E. decrease in water use, reduction in the number of cars required; and/or F. other reasonable performance measures.

Section 24. Form of Annual Reporting and External Review – The Issuer must provide to investors the annual reports and the external review on the annual reports, if any, through an Issuer-designated website and/ or through annual reports throughout the tenure of the ASEAN Green Bonds.

Section 25. Frequency of Reporting – In addition to annual reporting in Sections 21 and 24, Issuers are encouraged to provide morefrequent periodic reporting which would increase transparency on the allocation of proceeds and investor confidence on the ASEAN Green Bonds.

ARTICLE FOUR: EXTERNAL REVIEW

A. ACMF refers to the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum.

B. ASEAN refers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

C. ASEAN GBS refers to the ASEAN Green Bond Standards as applicable and as revised from time to time.

D. ASEAN Green Bonds refers to bonds and sukuk which comply with the ASEAN GBS, where the proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible Green Projects. In the case of Islamic bonds or sukuk, it must also comply with the relevant laws and requirements applicable for the issuance of Islamic bonds or sukuk. In such instances, the Islamic bonds or sukuk may be labelled as ASEAN Green Sukuk.

E. ASEAN Issuer refers to an Issuer that is incorporated in any of the ASEAN countries.

F. Non-ASEAN Issuer refers to an Issuer other than an ASEAN Issuer.

G. Green Bonds Principles (GBP) refers to the voluntary process guidelines issued by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), as revised from time to time, that recommend transparency and disclosure, and promote integrity in the development of the green bond market.

H. Green Projects refer to the broad categories of eligible green projects as listed in the ASEAN GBS. The list of eligible green projects is not an exhaustive list.

I.

Issuer refers to a corporation that issues ASEAN Green Bonds and includes both an ASEAN Issuer and a Non-ASEAN Issuer.

J. Look-back period refers to a maximum period in the past that an Issuer will look back to identify assets/earlier disbursements to such eligible Green Projects that will be included in the green bond reporting.

CHAPTER TWO: Scope of ASEAN Green Bonds Standards Section 3. Coverage of ASEAN Green Bond Standards – The Guidelines for Issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds Standards shall apply to the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds in the Philippines.

Section 4. Suppletory Application of ICMA Green Bond Principles – The ASEAN Green Bonds Standards are aligned with the ICMA Green Bonds Principles. Any guidance issued by ICMA on the GBP should also be considered, where relevant.

ARTICLE TWO: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS CHAPTER ONE: Eligibility of Issuer Section 5. Requirements for Eligible ASEAN Green Bonds Issuer– The Issuer must be an ASEAN Issuer, as defined under these Guidelines. A non-ASEAN Issuer may also issue ASEAN Green Bonds, Provided the eligible Green Projects are located in any of the ASEAN countries.

Section 27. ― Disclosure of External Reviewers’ Expertise and Scope – The external reviewers’ credentials under Section 26 and scope of review conducted must be made publicly accessible from a website designated by the Issuer throughout the tenure of the ASEAN Green Bonds.

CHAPTER TWO: External Review Requirement

Section 29. External Review of the Project Evaluation and Selection Process ― It is recommended that the Issuer’s process for project evaluation and selection under Section13 of these Guidelines be supported by an external review.

Section 30. External Review of the Management of Proceeds ― It is recommended that the Issuer’s management of proceeds under Article III Chapter 3 be supplemented by the use of an auditor, or other third party to verify the internal tracking method and the allocation of funds from the ASEAN Green Bonds proceeds.

D. environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use; E. terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity conservation;

Section 9. Green Projects Covering Two or More Categories– Green Projects may relate to more than one category.

Section 10. Ineligible Green Project – Fossil fuel power generation projects are excluded from the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards.

Section 11. Documentation on the Use of Proceeds– The utilization of proceeds from the ASEAN Green Bonds must be described in the documentation for issuance of the ASEAN Green Bonds. The Issuer must disclose the following information: A. the categories of eligible Green Projects to which the ASEAN Green Bonds proceeds will be allocated; and/or B. the information on specific Green Projects in the case where the Issuer has identified the specific Green Projects to which the ASEAN Green Bonds proceeds will be allocated.

Section 12. Disclosures in Case the Proceeds are Used for Refinancing – In the event that all or a proportion of the proceeds is or may be used for refinancing, it is recommended that Issuers— A. provide an estimate of the share of financing and refinancing;

D. Rating Section 34. Consultant Review ― Consultant Review involvesan Issuer seeking advice from consultants and/or institutions with recognized expertise in environmental sustainability or other aspects of the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds, such as the establishment/review of an Issuer’s ASEAN Green Bonds framework.

Section 35. Verification ― Verification involves an Issuer having its ASEAN Green Bonds, associated ASEAN Green Bonds framework, or underlying assets independently verified by qualified parties, such as auditors. In contrast to certification, verification mayfocus on alignment with internal standards or claims made by the Issuer.

Section 36. Certification ― Certification involves an Issuer having its ASEAN Green Bonds or associated ASEAN Green Bonds framework, or use of proceeds certified against an external green assessment standard. An assessment standard defines criteria, and alignment with such criteria is tested by qualified third parties/ certifiers.

Section 37. Rating ― Rating involves an Issuer having its ASEAN Green Bonds or associated ASEAN Green Bonds framework rated by qualified third parties, such as a specialized research provider or rating agency.

Section 38. Green Bond Ratings Different from Environmental Rating, etc. ― Green bond ratings are separate from an Issuer’s environmental, social and governance rating.

CHAPTER FOUR: External Review Report Section 39. Contents of External Review Report― The External Review Provider must disclose their relevant credentials and expertise, and the scope of the review conducted in the external review report.

Section 40. External Review Report of the Project Evaluation and Selection Process ― The Issuer must make the External Review Report of the project evaluation and selection process, if review is conducted in connection with Section 29 hereunder, publicly available on a website designated by the Issuer at the time of the issuance and throughout the tenure of ASEAN Green Bonds.

Section 41. External Review Report of the Management of Proceeds ―Where the Issuer appoints an auditor or other third party to verify the Issuer’s management of proceeds conducted in connection with Section 30, the Issuer must make the auditor or other third party report publicly available on a website designated by the Issuer at the time of the issuance of the ASEAN Green Bonds.

Section 42. Applicability on Existing Eligible Green Bonds―In certain circumstances, and at the discretion of the Commission, outstanding bonds issued by Philippine-Based issuer and/or in instances where the proceeds were used in the Philippines, will be considered for eligibility under the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Provided the issuance is compliant with the requirements of these Guidelines, and already carries an internationally recognized green label.

ARTICLE SIX: LIMITATIONS ON ASEAN GREEN BOND LABEL

31 August 2018, Pasay City Philippines.

EMILIO B. AQUINO Chairperson 1

Quantitative performance measures as provided by ICMA GBP FAQs for ASEAN Green Bonds

A. the environmental sustainability objectives; B. the process by which the Issuer determines how the projects fit within the eligible Green Projects categories identified under Section 8; and C. the related eligibility criteria, including, if applicable, exclusion criteria or any other process applied to identify and manage potentially material environmental and social risks associated with the Green Projects.

What is the ACMF? The ACMF or the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum is a forum comprised of capital market regulators from ASEAN countries, which is tasked to promote greater integration and connectivity of the regional capital markets. The ACMF developed the ASEAN Green Bond Standards.1

How were the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards developed?

The ASEAN Green Bonds Standards were developed through consultations with ICMA, and capital regulators and industry players in the ASEAN region.4

A. the process for project evaluation; and B. the use of proceeds.

The ICMA Green Bond Principles (GBP) are a set of voluntary process guidelines launched on January 2014 which is intended for broad use by the market in the issuance of green bonds. The GBP recommends transparency and disclosure, and promotes integrity in the development of the green bond market.5 What does the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards aim for?

The ASEAN GBS aim to provide more specific guidance on how the GBP are to be applied across ASEAN in order to assure investors that green bonds labelled as ASEAN Green Bonds have met uniform standards and to guide issuers on best market practices for green bonds, which will ultimately enhance the transparency, consistency and uniformity of ASEAN green bonds.6 In summary, the ASEAN Green Bond Standards will: • • •

contribute in the development of a new asset class, reduce diligence cost, and help investors make informed investment decisions.7

• • • •

use of proceeds, process for project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds, and reporting.8

What unique features were added to the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards?

• • • • •

Overview of ASEAN Green Bonds How are Green Bonds different from traditional bonds?

Green Bonds are similar to traditional bonds in terms of deal structure, but they have different requirements for reporting, auditing and proceeds allocations. These additional requirements also provide marketing and branding value which are absent from traditional bonds.10

ASEAN green bonds are bonds and sukuk which comply with the ASEAN Green Bond Standards.11

A. the process for managing the net proceeds from the ASEAN Green Bonds; and B. the intended types of temporary placement for the balance of unallocated proceeds.

CHAPTER FOUR: Reporting Requirements Section 21. Continuous Reporting on the Use of Proceeds– Issuers must report to investors at least on an annual basis until full allocation, and as necessary thereafter in the event of material developments the following: A. a list of the projects to which the ASEAN Green Bonds proceeds have been allocated; B. brief description of the projects; and C. the amounts allocated and their expected impact.

It is recommended that Issuers use qualitative performance indicators, and where feasible, quantitative performance measures with disclosures of the key underlying methodology and/or assumptions used in the quantitative determination.

Section 22. Documentation in Case of Confidential Agreements, Competitive Considerations, or Large Number of Underlying Projects– Where confidentiality agreements, competitive considerations, or a large number of underlying projects limit the amount of detail that can be made available, the Issuer may present the information in generic terms or on an aggregated portfolio basis.

Section 23. Quantitative Performance Measures – In relation to Section 21 of these Guidelines,

What are the recommended disclosures in case the proceeds or part of the same is used for refinancing?

In the event that all or a proportion of the proceeds is or may be used for refinancing, it is recommended that Issuer: a. provide an estimate of the share of financing and refinancing; b. clarify which investments or project portfolios may be refinanced, where appropriate; and, c. the expected look-back period for refinanced Green Projects, to the extent relevant. 26 What is the look-back period?

“Look-back” refers to a maximum period in the past that an Issuer will look back to identify assets/ earlier disbursements to such eligible Green Projects that will be included in the green bond reporting.27 Core Component: Project Evaluation and Selection What component should the Issuer finalize establish issuing ASEAN Green Bonds?

Before issuing ASEAN green bonds, the Issuer should establish the framework for the project evaluation and selection process.28 What information should be made available by the Issuer at the time of issuance and throughout the tenure of the ASEAN Green Bonds?

The following information should be made publicly available on an Issuer-designated website: • • •

In case of Islamic bonds or sukuk, what laws or framework should apply?

The Islamic bonds or sukuk must comply with both the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards and the relevant laws and requirements applicable for the issuance of Islamic bonds or sukuk.12 Who can issue ASEAN Green Bonds?

The issuer must be incorporated in an ASEAN country. Nonetheless, a corporation not incorporated in an ASEAN country can issue ASEAN Green Bonds, provided the green project to be funded is located in an ASEAN country.13 Should the ASEAN Green Bonds exclusively originate from an ASEAN Member country?

Yes, the ASEAN Green Bonds issuance must originate from an ASEAN member country.14

the process of project evaluation; the use of proceeds; and, external review report on the process, if any. 29

What information should the issuer disclose to investors with regards to the process evaluation and selection of green project?

The issuer should disclose in a clear manner the following: • • •

the environmental sustainability objectives; the process for the issuer to determine if the project fits the identified green project category; and, the related eligibility criteria including, if applicable, exclusion criteria or any other process to identify and manage potentially material environmental and social risks. 30

Core Component: Management of Proceeds Should the net proceeds from the issuance of ASEAN green bonds be applied in full to the eligible green projects simultaneously?

No, the net proceeds from ASEAN green bonds issuance need not be deployed simultaneously for the eligible green projects. 31 How should the net proceeds from the ASEAN Green Bonds be processed?

The net proceeds or an equal amount must be either: The net proceeds or an equal amount must be either: 1. credited to a sub-account; 2. moved to a sub-portfolio; or 3. tracked by the Issuer in an appropriate manner.

The same should be attested to by a formal internal process linked to the Issuer’s lending and investment operations for Green Projects.32 Should the Issuer track the proceeds while the ASEAN Green Bonds are outstanding?

Yes. As long as the ASEAN Green Bonds are outstanding, the balance of tracked proceeds must be periodically adjusted to match allocations to eligible green projects during the period. 33 What are the required disclosures on the management of proceeds during the tenure of ASEAN Green Bonds?

The required disclosures on the management of proceeds during the tenure of ASEAN Green Bonds include: • •

the intended types of temporary placement for the balance of unallocated proceeds;34 and, auditor’s or third party’s report to verify the Issuer’s management of proceeds, if any.35

Core Component: Reporting In what form should the annual reports be provided to investors?

The annual reports should be posted in an Issuer-designated website and/or through annual reports during the tenure of the ASEAN green bonds.36 External Review Is appointment of external review providers required?

No, but Issuers of ASEAN Green Bonds are recommended to appoint external review providers for the ASEAN Green Bonds issuances.37 What are the requirements before one can be eligible as external review provider?

To be eligible, the external review provider must have relevant experience and expertise in the ASEAN Green Bonds components he is reviewing.38 What is the scope of external review?

The external review may either be: •

Partial, which covers only certain aspects of the Issuer’s ASEAN Green Bonds framework; or,

•

Full, which assesses the alignment of the Issuer’s ASEAN Green Bonds with all four core components in the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards.39

What are the types of external review that can be conducted on ASEAN Green Bonds?

The external review may be any of the following:

The requirement of geographic or economic connection with the ASEAN region for ASEAN Green Bonds issuers; Ineligibility of fossil fuel generation projects; Requirement of disclosures of information on use of proceeds, project evaluation and selection, and management of proceeds made publicly accessible to investors through an issuer-designated website throughout the tenure of the ASEAN Green Bonds; Encouragement for more frequent periodic reporting to increase transparency of proceeds allocation and investor confidence; and, Requirement of disclosure of the relevant expertise and experience, credentials and scope of review of external reviewers through publicly accessible Issuer-designated website throughout the tenure of the ASEAN Green Bonds.9

Section 17. Treatment of Net Proceeds –The net proceeds from the ASEAN Green Bonds, or an amount equal to these net proceeds, must be credited into a sub-account, moved to a sub-portfolio,or otherwise tracked by the Issuer in an appropriate manner and attested to by a formal internal process linked to the Issuer’s lending and investment operations for Green Projects.

Section 20. Disclosures on the Management of Proceeds – The Issuer must disclose to investors in the documentation for the issuance of the ASEAN Green Bonds—

In this case, the issuer can present the information in the reports through the use of generic terms or through aggregate portfolio basis (e.g., the percentage allocated to certain project categories)25

The following features were added to the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards:

What are the ASEAN Green Bonds?

Section 19. Periodic Adjustment of Net Proceeds Balance –As long as the ASEAN Green Bonds are outstanding, the balance of tracked proceeds of outstanding ASEAN Green Bonds must be periodically adjusted to match allocations to eligible Green Projects made.

In cases where limited amount of details can be made available because of confidential agreements, competitive considerations or large number of underlying projects, how can the issuer comply with the reporting requirements?

The ICMA Green Bond Principles guided the ASEAN Green Bond Standards in the following core components:

CHAPTER THREE: Management of Proceeds

Section 18. Simultaneous Deployment of Net Proceeds – The total amount deployed fromthe net proceeds for the eligible Green Projects need not occur simultaneously.

The Issuer can also provide information using a combination of the two options.24

What are the ICMA Green Bond Principles from which the ASEAN GBS are modeled?

Issuers are also encouraged to disclose any green standards or certifications referenced in project selection.

Section 16. Disclosures on Project Evaluation and Use of Proceeds– The Issuer must make the following publicly available on an Issuer-designated website at the time of the issuance and throughout the tenure of ASEAN Green Bonds—

energy capacity; electricity generation; greenhouse gas emissions reduced/avoided number of people provided with access to clean power; decrease in water use; and, reduction in number of cars required.

(ii) in specific terms - i.e. the information on specific Green Projects in the case where the Issuer has identified the specific Green Projects to which the ASEAN Green Bonds proceeds will be allocated.

Introduction to the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards

What key features of the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards are modelled after the ICMA Green Bond Principles?

Section 15. Contents of Disclosures on Project Evaluation and Selection Process – In connection with the immediately preceding Section, the Issuer of ASEAN Green Bonds must clearly communicate to investors—

• • • • • •

ARTICLE FIVE: APPLICABILITY ON EXISTING GREEN BONDS

C. state the expected look-back period for refinanced Green Projects, to the extent relevant.

Section 14. Disclosure of the Project Evaluation and Selection Process – The Issuer should disclose the project evaluation and selection process to investors in the documentation for the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds.

The following quantitative performance measures can be applied:

(i) in general terms - i.e. the categories of Eligible Green Projects to which the ASEAN Green Bonds proceeds will be allocated; and/or

C. Certification; and

Key Features of ASEAN Green Bonds Standards

Section 13. Project Evaluation and Selection Process Determination – The Issuer must establish the process for project evaluation and selection prior to the issuance of the ASEAN Green Bonds.Issuers are encouraged to position this information within the context of the Issuers’ overarching objectives, strategy, policy, and/or processes relating to environmental sustainability.

What quantitative performance measures can be used in the disclosures regarding use of proceeds of ASEAN Green Bonds issuance?

The issuer can opt to disclose the use of proceeds either—

B. clarify which investments or project portfolios may be refinanced if appropriate; and CHAPTER TWO: Process for Project Selection and Evaluation

The ASEAN recommends the use of qualitative performance indicators and quantitative performance measures, if feasible, with disclosures of corresponding key underlying methodologies and/or assumptions. 22

B. Verification;

The ASEAN Green Bonds Standards (GBS) governs the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds.2 It is modeled after the International Capital Market Association (ICMA)’s Green Bond Principles (GBP).3

eco-efficient and/or circular economy adapted, production technologies and processes; and

brief description of the projects; the amounts allocated; and, the expected impact.

How specific should the information on the Use of Proceeds be?

G. sustainable water and waste water management;

J. green buildings which meet regional, national, or internationally-recognized standards or certifications.

• • •

A. Consultant Review;

What are the ASEAN Green Bond Standards?

I.

The required disclosures on the use of proceeds include:

Section 33. Types of Review ― External review can fall under the following levels and/or types:

F. clean transportation; H. climate change adaptation;

What are the required disclosures on the use of proceeds at least annually and during the tenure of the ASEAN Green Bonds?

The above list is non-exclusive. 23

Section 44. Effectivity ― These Guidelines shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

C. pollution prevention and control;

the categories of eligible green projects to which the proceeds will be allocated; in case a specific green project, the same must be identified;20 and, the process for managing the net proceeds from the ASEAN green bonds.21

Section 32. Partial or Full Review ― The external review may be Partial, covering only certain aspects of the Issuer’s ASEAN Green Bonds framework or Full, assessing alignment with all four core components as stated in the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards.

CHAPTER ONE: Use of Proceeds

B. energy efficiency;

• • •

CHAPTER THREE: Coverage and Types of Review

ARTICLE SEVEN: EFFECTIVITY

A. renewable energy;

What are the required disclosures on the use of proceeds prior to the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds?

Section 31. External Review of the Use of Proceeds ― It is recommended that the Issuer’s annual reporting on the use of proceeds under Article II Chapter 1 be supplemented by a confirmation of such use of proceeds by an external reviewer along with any relevant updates of the external review.

ARTICLE THREE: CORE COMPONENTS OF THE ASEAN GREEN BONDS STANDARDS

Section 8. Eligible Green Project Categories – There are several broad categories of eligibility for Green Projects that address key areas of environmental concern. The following list is intended to be indicative and captures the most commonly used types of projects supported or expected to be supported by the green bond market. The categories, listed in no specific order, include, but are not limited to:

Other green projects can also be funded by ASEAN green bonds, except fossil fuel power generation projects.19

Section 28. Appointment of External Review Providers― Issuers are recommended to appoint external review providers for their ASEAN Green Bonds issuances.

Section 6. Requirements for Eligible ASEAN Green Bonds Issuance – ASEAN Green Bonds issuances must be originated from any of the ASEAN member countries.

Section 7. Requirements for Eligible Green Projects – All designated Green Projects must provide clear environmental benefits, which will be assessed and, where feasible, quantified by the Issuer.

Can green projects which do not fall under the above mentioned categories be funded by ASEAN Green Bonds?

Section 26. ― Expertise and Experience Requirement –The external review provider must have the relevant expertise and experience in the components of the ASEAN Green Bonds which they are reviewing.

Section 43. Limitation on the Use of ASEAN Green Bond Label ―Consistent with public interest and protection of investors, the call for transparency, as well as to ensure integrity of the ASEAN Green Bonds, the Commission reserves the right to direct any Issuer from using the “ASEAN Green Bond” label.

CHAPTER TWO: Eligibility of Issuance

Yes, ASEAN Green Bonds can support green projects covering two or more categories mentioned above.18

The required disclosures on the use of proceeds prior to the issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds include:

CHAPTER ONE: Qualifications of External Review Providers

Section 1. Applicability – This shall be known as the “Guidelines for Issuance of ASEAN Green Bonds.” It shall primarily govern the issuance of the ASEAN Green Bonds where proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible Green Projects.

Section 2. Definition of Terms – For purposes of these Guidelines, the following definition of terms shall apply, unless the context otherwise requires:

Can ASEAN Green Bonds fund green projects that relate to more than one project category?

D. number of people provided with access to clean power;

SUBJECT: GUIDELINES ON THE ISSUANCE OF GREEN BONDS UNDER THE ASEAN GREEN BONDS STANDARDS IN THE PHILIPPINES

sustainable water and waste water management, climate change adaptation, eco-efficient and/or circular economy adapted production technologies and processes, and green buildings that meet regional, national or internationally recognized standards or certifications.17

•

Consultant Review, where the ASEAN Green Bonds Issuer seeks advise from consultants and/or institutions with recognized expertise in environmental sustainability or other aspects of the ASEAN Green Bonds issuance (e.g., second party opinions);

•

Verification, where the Issuer has its ASEAN Green Bonds, framework or underlying asset independently verified (e.g., evaluation of the environmentally sustainable features of the underlying assets) by qualified parties, such as by auditors;

•

Certification, where the Issuer has its ASEAN Green Bonds, framework or use of proceeds certified against certain external assessment standards by a qualified third party (certifiers); and,

•

Rating, where an Issuer can have its ASEAN Green Bonds or framework rated by qualified third parties (e.g., specialized research providers, rating agencies).40

What is the difference between verification and certification?

Verification may focus on alignment with internal standards or Issuer claims. On the other hand, certification always involves alignment with external green bond assessment standards. 41 Are Green Bond Ratings the same as Environmental, Social or Governance Ratings?

No, green bond ratings are separate and typically apply to individual securities or ASEAN Green Bonds framework or programs.42 A security may involve a green project with a framework that satisfy the requirements of the ASEAN Green Bond Standards, even if the issuer is not formed for solely environmental purposes; hence, the bonds or the framework may be subjected to ASEAN Green Bonds Ratings under the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards even if the issuer is not subjected to Environmental, Social or Governance Ratings.

Vice versa, a company built for environmental protection or sustainability objectives may issue securities, the proceeds of which are not applied for green projects nor the framework satisfy the ASEAN Green Bonds Standards; hence, the securities or framework may not be subjected to ASEAN Green Bonds ratings although the issuer may be subjected to Environmental, Social or Governance Ratings.

What should the external review providers disclose in his external review report?

The external review provider should disclose the following: • •

Core Component: Use of Proceeds

his relevant credentials and expertise; and, the scope of the review conducted.43

Where should the proceeds of ASEAN Green Bonds be applied?

The proceeds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing eligible Green Projects.15 What factors determine the eligibility of a green project?

The designated green project must have clear environmental benefits. These environmental benefits should be assessed and quantified, if feasible, by the Issuer.16 What are the eligible green projects that can be funded by ASEAN Green Bonds?

ASEAN Green Bonds support projects on categories of: • • • • • •

renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention and control, environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use, terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity conservation, clean transportation,

ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Introduction ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Key additional features ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Introduction 4 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Key additional features 5 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Introduction 6 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Introduction 7 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Introduction 8 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Key additional features 9 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Key additional features 10 Research 11 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Definitions 12 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Definitions 13 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 3.1 14 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 3.2 15 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, Definitions 16 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.3 17 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.5 18 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.5 19 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.6 20 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.2 21 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.3.1 22 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.4.3 1 2 3

23ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.4.3 Sec 16, MC 25 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.4.2 26 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.4 27 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.1.4 28 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.2.2 29 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.2.5 30 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.2.1 31 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.3.2 32 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.3.2 33 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.3.3 34 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.3.4 35 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.3.6 36 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 4.4.5 37 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.1 38 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.3 39 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.2 40 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.5 41 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.5 42 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.5 43 ASEAN Green Bonds Standards, 5.4 24

(MS-SEPT. 11, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates his victory over Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina during their 2018 US Open men’s singles final match in New York .AFP

Lions, Knights rekindle rivalry Games today

(Filoil Flying V Centre, San Juan) 10 a.m.- Letran vs San Beda (jrs) 12 nn.- CSB vs SSCR (jrs) 2 p.m.- Letran vs San Beda (srs) 4 p.m.- CSB vs SSCR (srs)

SAN Beda and Letran renew one of collegiate basketball’s fiercest rivalries with the former eyeing to fortify its grip oN the No. 2 spot and the latter hoping to continue to draw inspiration from a fallen teammate Jerrick Balanza today in the 94th NCAA basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

The Lions will come into their 2 p.m. showdown as the favorites having secured having comfortably occupied a place in the top two with a 10-1 (win-loss) mark behind the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates (11-0) and having beaten the Knights, 80-76, in overtime on Aug. 10.

Robert Bolick and Donald Tankoua were instrumental in San Beda’s first-round win over Letran, while AC Soberano had his share of heroism by burying a pair of three-pointers in OT. “We expect it to be tougher for us because we know Letran is a strong team and is always a contender,” said San Beda University coach Boyet Fernandez.

For Letran, it seeks to ride the crest of its 99-82 win over Arellano University on Thursday for a win it dedicated to Balanza, who recently had a surgery that removed a tumor on his brain.

“We will dedicate all our remaining games to Jerrick,” said Napa.

CSB, meanwhile, takes on San Sebastian at 4 p.m.

The Blazers lost to the Stags in their first-round duel, but the league forfeited it after San Sebastian’s RK Ilagan was caught to have played in other leagues outside the NCAA.

Novak: From sicknote Serb to ‘Slam’ winner N

EW YORK—Novak Djokovic was once the sick-note Serb whose undoubted promise was at the mercy of a variety of frustrating aches, pains and assorted strains.

But with a third US Open title to go with the Wimbledon crown he secured in July he has matched American Pete Sampras on 14 Grand Slam titles and there is little doubt that the 31-year-old is one of the sport’s greats.

Djokovic, playing in his eighth US Open final, delivered a businesslike 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 victory over third-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

Since a quarter-final exit at Roland Garros left him threatening to skip Wimbledon, he has lost just one match, claiming not only a third title at the AllEngland Club but also a first Cincinnati Masters title in the build-up to the US Open.

From his lowest ranking in 12 years, he continues to rise. Sixth coming into the Open he is projected to rise to three in the world.

Now, Djokovic is three behind Rafael Nadal’s total of 17 Slams, six shy of Roger Federer’s record of 20.

But he has time on his side -- Federer has already celebrated his 37th birthday.

“Of course he can,” said Del Potro when asked if Djokovic can claim the record over Federer.

“He has 14 already. He won two Grand Slams in one year. He’s healthy. He has a great team working with him.

“Novak has everything to make records in this sport.”

Djokovic’s ability to thrive amongst the greats has never been in doubt, but

the size of his heart led to questions in his early days.

At Wimbledon in 2007, he retired with a back injury in the third set of his semifinal against Nadal.

He also quit at the 2006 and 2007 French Opens at the third round and quarter-final stages respectively, while at the 2009 Australian Open, where he was defending champion, he pulled out of his quarter-final with Andy Roddick citing heat exhaustion.

But at the 2012 Australian Open, nobody was questioning his courage anymore when he beat Nadal in the longest Grand Slam final of all time, a draining 5hr 53min masterpiece.

Djokovic captured the first of his 12 majors in Melbourne in 2008, but it was three years before he added his second.

He dropped gluten from his diet, his lithe physique allowing him to chase down lost causes, transforming him into the rubber man of tennis.

After leading Serbia to a maiden Davis Cup in 2010, he raced through the first half of 2011, building up a 48-1 winning run.

Only a semi-final defeat at the French Open prevented him from becoming just the third man to capture a calendar Grand Slam.

Despite that, he still finished 2011 with a 70-6 win-loss record, a haul of 10 tournament victories and year-end number one for the first time. AFP

GOODWILL CUP. Members of Team Camp John Hay pose after bagging runner-up honors in the 2018 Goodwill Cup Series, topped by Forest Hills at John Hay in Baguio recently. The three-leg tournament among former Fil-Estate golf courses, which kept the annual friendly competition, despite having new owners now, included Manila Southwoods and Sherwood Hills.

St. Clare opens bid for 3rd straight Naascu title DEFENDING champion St. Clare College-Caloocan opens its bid for an unprecedented third straight title when it takes on Enderun Colleges at the start of the 18th National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities basketball tournament today at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Game time is 12 noon after the 10:30 am. opening ceremony with Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, Bureau of Correction head Gen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Melvin Contapay of the Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa as special guests.

NAASCU founding president Dr. Ernesto Jay Adalem of St. Clare CollegeCaloocan will deliver the welcome re-

Games Sept. 11

(Cuneta Astrodome) 8 a.m.--PCU vs New Era 10:30 a.m.--Opening ceremony 12 noon--St.Clare vs Enderun 2 p.m.--OLFU vs. CUP 4 p.m.-- De Ocampo vs DLSAU

marks, while NAASCU president Dr. Martha Beata Ijiran of Philippine Christian University will make the formal declaration of the opening.

A total of 15 teams divided into two groups are seeing action in the tournament with St. Clare and last year’s runner-up De Ocampo Memorial College leading their respective groups.

To be handled anew by multi-titled coach Jino Manansala, St. Clare re-

mained confident about its chances despite losing two-time MVP Aris Dionisio and six other key players of last year’s champion team.

Leading the charge for the Caloocan City-based Saints are import Mohamed Pare, Irven Palencia and Junjie Hallare and rookies Joshua Fontanilla, Joseph Peñaredondo and Aeron Decano.

Other opening-day hostilities will pit PCU against New Era University at 8 a.m.; 2016 runner-up Our Lady of Fatima University against City University of Pasay at 2 p.m. and De Ocampo against De La Salle-Araneta University at 4 p.m.

A colorful opening ceremony highlighted by the traditional parade of teams will usher in the 18th season of the league.

TNT bringing in former Star import Blakely

By Jeric Lopez TNT KaTropa is hoping that third time is the charm.

The ailing Tropang Texters are bringing in a very familiar face as their third import in the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup in hopes of turning their rough fortunes around.

TNT KaTropa is bringing in twotime champion and 2013 Best import awardee Marqus Blakely as it looks to have a much-needed surge midway in the conference.

The 29-year-old Blakely last played in the league in 2016 for Magnolia, then called Star, but was let go several games into the tournament.

Blakely, who will replace the ineffective Stacy Davis, already had six previous tour of duties.

He was also a part of his former franchise’s Grand-slam conquest in 2014.

TNT hopes that Blakely can resume his past success and help the team in its transitional stretch.

Though they won their last game, the Tropang Texters have lost three of their last four, overall, for a 2-4 card.

After coach Nash Racela sent away by the management after the slow start, Eric Gonzales is now the team’s interim coach.

Luckily for Blakely and his new team, TNT’s next game is scheduled on Sept. 22, giving them almost two weeks to practice and familiarize.

TNT initially wanted former San Miguel and Rain or Shine import Wendell McKines, but it was not able to come to terms with him.

This is the second time that the Texters tapped a former reinforcement of the Magnolia franchise as they also got another former Best import Denzel Bowles several years ago before letting him go just after several weeks.

Ateneo coach: We need to be better ATENEO Blue Eagles’ coach Tab Baldwin said they had a tough time in their first encounter of the season with the Adamson Falcons.

But he hopes things will be different in the second round.

“They did everything it took to win.

And you know, we don’t care too much if we win by 20 or 2, so I shouldn’t care too much if we lose by 20 or 2. We need to better in a lot of areas, starting from preparation,” said Baldwin.

The American coach shared his thoughts after the Adamson Falcons came up with a 74-70 upset of the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles last Sunday in the 81st University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Sean Manganti scored only four points, but he knocked in the two winning charities with 13 seconds left.

Jerrick Ahanmisi shot a game-high 23 points for the Falcons, while Papi Sarr connected with eight points, with his jumper in the last 40 seconds shattering a 70-all deadlock.

After Sarr’s last basket, he quickly went to the end of the court and took the defensive rebound after Thirdy Ravena missed the threepointer.

From there, the Falcons Baldwin kept possession until the end of the game.

Matt Nieto had 21 points for the Blue Eagles, who lost their chance to overtake Adamson after Thirdy Ravena bungled a three-pointer in the final 27 seconds.

Falcons coach Franz Pumaren felt that the Blue Eagles were complacent in their opening encounter.

“I don’t know if Ateneo was complacent today. But I told them that when they were making a run, I told my players that Ateneo is a very swift team,” said Pumaren. Peter Atencio

Guiao likes what he sees in his guards

By Peter Atencio AS the national men’s basketball team left for Tehran yesterday, coach Yeng Guiao took time to focus how the guards of the team will provide leadership.

So far, Scottie Thompson, Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassitter are living up to expectations, “I’m really happy with the progress of the guards like Cabagnot, Scottie Thompson and Marcio [Lassiter]. For the bigs like Ian Sangalang, Japeth [Aguilar] and Greg [Slaughter], the plays are a little bit complicated from the standpoint of the bigs so it will take a little bit time for the bigs to understand,” said Guiao.

On the other hand, Slaughter will be sidelined with an ankle injury, but he will still make the trip to Iran.

As for Thompson, it has been awhile since he last wore the national colors.

But the Barangay Ginebra star is keen on making the most out of his opportunity to be with Team Pilipinas.

He is expected to lead the way in running plays when they see action in the second round of FIBA World Qualifiers this Sept. 13 against Iran in Tehran and against Qatar in Manila on Sept. 17.

Thompson last suited up the national team in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games and in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association championship in Singapore.

On both occasions, he was fortunate to have helped the team deliver a gold.

PSC Inter-Public Schools volley set A TOTAL of 32 teams will compete for honors in the 2nd PSC Inter-Public Schools Volleyball Tournament opening at 9 a.m. on Wednesday at the Davao City National High School.

Karlo R. Pates, executive assistant of Philippine Sports Commission Commissioner Charles Raymond A. Maxey, said the tournament, which will end on Friday, will have eight teams each entered in the elementary boys and girls and secondary boys and girls divisions.

“This year is bigger than last year’s launch since the boys’ category and secondary division are already included,” Pates said.

The volleyfest, which offers cash

prizes of P5,000, P4,000 and P3,000 to the top three teams in each category, is in partnership with Sports Development Division-City Mayor’s Office and Department of Education Davao City.

Pates also said: “All teams were selected through DepEd’s district meets.”

“This is one of our grassroots sports programs for volleyball. We want to provide an avenue for volleyball players from public schools in the city to engage in a healthy and competitive environment through this event,” said Commissioner Maxey, who will be witnessing the games of the three-day meet.

IN BRIEF

PNOC starts search for LNG partner

STATE-OWNED Philippine National Oil Co. will launch the solicited, competitive tender to select a joint venture partner in developing a liquefied natural gas terminal in Batangas within the month, officials said Monday.

“Given the strong interest from the private sector, we have decided to run solicited, competitive tender to select the JV partner, that will develop the project with PNOC,” Glenda Martinez, head of the PNOC technical working group for the government’s planned LNG terminal said..

PNOC is doing away with the previous option of an integrated LNG facility, which includes both a land-based or floating terminal and power plants with an initial capacity of 200 megawatts.

The company also reduced the initial capacity of the terminal to 3 mtpa (capable of supplying 3,000 MW of natural gas plants) from the previous target of 5 mpta.

PNOC is focusing instead on the development of a floating, storage and re-gasification unit without the power plants. Alena Mae S. Flores

Business

Steel firms urge ban on inferior steel bars

THE local steel industry has joined lawmakers in their call to stop the proliferation of substandard and uncertified steel bars, which are either imported or produced from local rolling mills using induction furnaces.

“The problem of substandard rebars (reinforcing steel bars) is driven by economic gain from the market that is not very conscious of product quality and safety. These are the small contractors and homeowners who are more concerned with the price and cost savings rather than quality and safety,” said Philippine Iron and Steel Institute president Roberto Cola during a recent Senate hearing.

“Considering that our country has suffered from an inexhaustible number of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural calamities, it is imperative that our structures are sturdy and disasters resilient,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.

Cola said during the Senate hearing the industry group recommended the ban on the use of induction furnaces for rebar steelmaking, noting that China already declared them illegal. Othel V. Campos

INVESTORS CENTER. First Metro Asset Management Inc., the fund management subsidiary of First Metro Investment Corp., formally opens to the public the new First Metro Investors Center in Cebu City. From its former location on Osmeña Boulevard, the Investors Center is now at Level 1 of eBloc 4 Building at Cebu IT Park which is closer to the public, especially to those working in the IT-BPO sector. Shown during the inauguration are First Metro president Rabboni Francis Arjonillo (left), outgoing Fami president Augusto Cosio Jr. (second from right) and new Fami president Karen Liza Roa (right), along with other First Metro Group officers and guests.

BSP seen to raise rates as peso dips to 53.88:$1

By Julito G. Rada

T

he peso resumed its decline against the US dollar Monday despite the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ assurance that it is ready to take strong immediate actions to address excessive exchange rate volatility and temper inflation.

The local currency lost P0.15 to close at 53.88 against the greenback from 53.73 Friday. It was the local currency’s weakest finish in nearly 13 years, or since it settled at 53.985 a dollar on Dec. 7, 2005. Total volume traded reached $435 million Monday, down from $957 million

AirAsia, Indonesian firm eye Clark airport

By Darwin G. Amojelar MALAYSIA’S AirAsia Group teamed up with Indonesia’s state airport operator to bid for the 25-year operation and maintenance contract of Clark International Airport in Pampanga province.

Dexter Comendador, chief executive of Air Asia Philippines, said his group joined forces with Indonesia’s PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) to jointly bid for the Clark airport O&M project.

AP II operates 14 airports in Indonesia including Soekarno-Hatta (Jakarta) Airport, Halim Perdanakusuma (Jakarta), Kualanamu (Medan), Supadio (Pontianak), Minangkabau (Padang), Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II (Palembang), Sultan Syarif Kasim II (Pekanbaru), Husein Sastranegara (Bandung), Sultan Iskandarmuda (Banda Aceh), Raja Haji Fisabilillah (Tanjungpinang), Sultan Thaha (Jambi), Depati Amir (Pangkal Pinang) and Silangit (Tapanuli Utara), Banyuwangi (Jawa Timur).

“We’re just a small part of the consor-

SHIP CALLS AT ICTSI BASRA.

The ability of the Port of Umm Qasr in Iraq to receive direct calls from larger container vessels is being progressively boosted by the new terminal development program at Basra Gateway Terminal. A significant milestone was reached at the end of August with the servicing of Evergreen’s 5652-TEU capacity Ever Useful, the largest to call Berth 27 at BGT. Basra Gateway Terminal in Iraq is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila-based International Container Terminal Services Inc.

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

B1

FDIs jumped 42% to $5.8b in six months

RCBC offers 1st tranche of LTNCDs worth P20b

RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp., the 10th-largest lender in terms of assets, started offering on Monday the first tranche of the long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits earlier approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“This is to inform the exchange that Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. is offering its first tranche of Long-Term Negotiable Certificates of Time Deposit (LTNCDs) due 2024 out of the P20 billion approval granted by the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last July 12, 2018,” the bank told the stock exchange.

The bank did not say the amount of the first tranche of LTNCD offering. It set the offering period for the first tranche of the LTNCDs from Sept. 10 to 21, 2018,with the issue and listing date possibly on Sept. 28, 2018. The LTNCDs will have a tenor of five years and six months.

LTNCDs are bank products with long tenors which are offered to investors looking for a higher interest rate compared to regular savings accounts or shorter-term deposits. Julito G. Rada

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor

tium,” Comendador said.

Air Asia Philippines resumed operations at Clark in March last year, after it stopped all flights in late 2013.

Besides AirAsia, other groups that bought bid documents for Clark Airport O&M project were Megawide-GMR Consortium, Metro Pacific Investment Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., San Miguel Holdings Corp., Prime Assets Venture, Central Luzon Infrastructure Consultancy Inc. Consortium, GVK Airport Developers Ltd. and Groupe ADP. Megawide-GMR earlier won the bidding for the construction of a new passenger terminal in Clark Airport, when it submitted the lowest financial proposal of P9.36 billion on Dec. 14 last year.

Clark International Airport’s new terminal building is envisioned to accommodate an additional 8 million passengers per annum. The expansion project also involves the construction and installation of all required associated facilities―both landside and airside to support operations of the new terminal.

Friday.

Japanese financial firm Nomura said the Bangko Sentral was expected to increase interest rate by additional 50 basis points until December, after a total of 100-bps adjustment since the start of the year.

“Real rates are negative due to rising inflation, which accelerated this year, to which Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has responded with more aggressive rate hikes,” Nomura said.

A higher interest rate is expected to counter the rising inflation and the falling peso. The overnight borrowing rate currently stands at 4 percent, below the 6.4 percent inflation registered in August.

Bangko Sentral Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. also announced the reactivation of the Currency Risk Protection Program to temper the local currency’s fluctuation. Introduced

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, September 10, 2018

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

53.8310

Japan

Yen

0.009011

0.4851

UK

Pound

1.293300

69.6196

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.127402

6.8582

Switzerland

Franc

1.032418

55.5761

Canada

Dollar

0.759417

40.8802

Singapore

Dollar

0.725531

39.0561

Australia

Dollar

0.710200

38.2308

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652661

142.7954

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266624

14.3526

Brunei

Dollar

0.722909

38.9149

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000067

0.0036

Thailand

Baht

0.030506

1.6422

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

14.6575

Euro

Euro

1.155100

62.1802

Korea

Won

0.000887

0.0477

China

Yuan

0.146002

7.8594

India

Rupee

0.013931

0.7499

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.241342

12.9917

New Zealand

Dollar

0.652700

35.1355

Taiwan

Dollar

0.032462

1.7475

in December 1997, the CRPP is a non-deliverable forward hedging facility which is aimed at alleviating demand pressures in the foreign exchange spot market from borrowers seeking to hedge their future foreign exchange exposures.

Under the facility, parties agree that on maturity of the forward contract, only the net difference between the contracted forward rate and the spot rate will be settled in pesos. The BSP will make the CRPP available to eligible borrowers through the commercial banks.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the country had enough reserves to withstand the impact of the surging dollar. “I think we have enough buffers that can support the peso against the US dollar,” Guinigundo said.

Megawide, partner set to bid for Pasig River Expressway MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. said Monday it teamed up with Philippine Skylanders International Inc. to bid for the construction, operation and maintenance of the Pasig River Expressway project.

Megawide said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it signed a memorandum of agreement with PSI for the possible participation of the company for the engineering, procurement and construction and O&M of the Pasig River Expressway Project.

The agreement sets out the preliminary terms and conditions of the expressway project. The company did not provide details of the project.

The proposed project involves the construction of a 20-kilometer viaduct over Pasig River and Laguna de Bay that aims to relieve the heavy traffic near Pasig River. It will start at Edsa near Fort Bonifacio North Gate and extend to Rizal province.

Megawide earlier reported a net profit of 1.26 billion in the first half, up 10 percent from P1.15 billion in the same period last year.

The increase was driven largely by the growth of the company’s airport business segment, which contributed 65 percent to consolidated net earnings.

The company’s construction business segment, which covered ‘Build, Build, Build’ projects such as the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange, accounted for the remaining 35 percent.

Revenues from airport operations drove strong passenger volume. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport saw 5.8 million passengers in the first half, up from 5.1 million passengers in the same period last year. Darwin G. Amojelar

NET inflows of foreign direct investments jumped 42.4 percent in the first half to $5.8 billion from $4 billion a year ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.

“The continued inflows of FDI indicate investor confidence in the Philippine economy on the back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals and growth prospects,” the Bangko Sentral said in a statement.

Net investments of equity capital by on-residents grew more than seven times to reach $1.6 billion. These came mainly from the 244.1-percent surge in equity capital placements to $1.7 billion, alongside the 46.9-percent decrease in withdrawals to $163 million.

Equity capital infusions in the first semester were sourced primarily from Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan and the United States. These were invested mainly in manufacturing; financial and insurance; real estate; arts, entertainment and recreation; and electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply activities.

Higher investments in debt instruments were also recorded in the first half amounting to $3.8 billion, compared to $3.4 billion in the same period last year. Reinvestment of earnings rose to $420 million during the period.

Data showed that in June, FDIs recorded a net inflow of $831 million, up 9.2 percent from $761 million a year ago. This was boosted by non-residents’ net equity capital investments of $184 million.

The Finance Department said the increasing foreign direct investments in the country could be partly traced to the Duterte administration’s effective campaign against corruption and criminality.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said President Rodrigo Duterte made the country a safer place for investors, with his campaign against corruption and criminality leading to a decrease in crime volume by 21.86 percent since the start of his administration.

Julito G. Rada

San Miguel unit asked on funding for Bulacan airport FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Monday San Miguel Holdings Corp., the infrastructure arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., is not financially capable of constructing the P735.6-billion international airport in Bulacan province.

San Miguel Holdings is the proponent of the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan.

“The proposal was submitted under San Miguel Holdings. But how can a P60-billion company finance a P700billion airport project,” Dominguez said in a Senate hearing on airport projects.

“I suggested earlier that when they come, they come with the corporation [San Miguel Corp.],” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said there was no guarantee agreement yet between the proponent and San Miguel Corp.

Dominguez said the proponent company should be the one evaluated and not the parent company when it comes to the financial capability of the proponent of the airport project.

He said the Department of Transportation initially reported that San Miguel Holdings had a total equity of P60 billion in 2016.

Dominguez said based on the usual financing mix of 70 percent debt and 30 percent equity in a public-private partnership project, the construction of the Bulacan airport would require San Miguel Holdings to infuse around P200 billion in equity, “which we are not sure is going to happen.”

“We wanted to know whether the proponent, San Miguel Holdings Corp., actually had the financial capacity to undertake the project,” he said.

San Miguel Corp. earlier said it tapped Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. as co-financial advisors for the planned airport.

“SMC has appointed SCB and SMBC as co-financial advisors as we continue to progress through the next stages of approvals and process,” San Miguel said in a statement. Julito G. Rada

B2

Business

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market closes flat in mixed trading

T

HE stock market closed flat Monday in mixed trading, with investors picking up some speculative issues and ignoring the sell-off across Asia.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index minimally slipped 2.49 points, or 0.03 percent, to 7,596.15 on a value turnover of P7.4 billion. Losers overwhelmed gainers, 124 to 62, with 55 issues unchanged.

Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. of the Gokongwei Group declined 1.5 percent to P79.60. The company said last week it was boosting its stake in Ministop Philippines to 59.1 percent from 51 percent as Japanese trading firm Mitsubishi Corp. divests from the business.

IRC Properties Inc., formerly Interport Resources Corp. and now led by businessman Antonio Tiu, jumped 22.5 percent to P2.34 IRC has transformed

itself into holding a company with investments in infrastructure and real estate after obtaining an original proponent status for the planned $3.7-billion Makati intra-rail city project.

Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp. surged 16.6 percent to P2.18, while Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., which operates the City of Dreams Manila casino, rose 11.1 percent to P6.90.

Hong Kong and Shanghai, meanwhile, led a broad sell-off across most Asian markets Monday after Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports, ramping up fears of an all-out trade war between the world’s top two economies.

The president’s comments Friday added to the uncertainty on trading floors, which have also been hit by concerns of a brewing financial crisis in emerging markets.

They also overshadowed data show-

ing a bigger-than-forecast jump in US jobs creation for August and sent all three main indexes on Wall Street into negative territory.

Hong Kong stocks suffered the sharpest losses, falling 1.3 percent, while Shanghai ended down 1.2 percent with news that China’s trade surplus with the US hit a record in August—adding to concerns Trump will push ahead with the tariffs.

“Chinese trade data and a ballooning record surplus with the US over the weekend won’t have helped. Time to be a little more realistic about this trade war and a little less sanguine methinks,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

Singapore slipped 0.6 percent and Taipei shed 1.1 percent, while Bangkok and Jakarta were also sharply lower.

But Tokyo and Seoul both ended 0.3 percent higher.

There was some relief earlier Friday

that Trump did not immediately impose levies on $200 billion of Chinese goods after the passing of a deadline for a public consultation.

The threatened tariffs would add to the $50 billion in imports already targeted and mark a major step up in the long-running battle between the world’s top two economies.

However, Trump told reporters on Air Force One later that day that “there’s another $267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want.”

That would cover virtually all the goods the United States imports from China. Beijing has threatened to retaliate against any measures out of Washington.

“Markets had some hope that as we got to that deadline there would be some concessions, but there’s really escalation,” Sean Fenton, director at Tribeca Investment Partners, told Bloomberg Television. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 59.8 11,760 87.65 2,505,280 2.5 30,000 119.3 2,264,210 1.62 109,000 30.6 843,800 16.44 67,400 13.74 699,900 4.06 160,000 8.63 600 1.65 92,000 0.54 3,626,000 70 3,850,340 1.02 939,000 11.58 700 46.6 51,300 192 2,130 104.7 150 27.65 40,700 190.1 414,980 1,810 245 75.25 10,650 1.18 450,000

695,696 219,674,585.50 74,800 268,606,852 177,480 25,817,280 1,100,556 9,647,888 639,920 5,178 150,250 1,995,790 268,596,802.50 958,260 8,106 2,405,555 409,850 15,744 1,126,155 78,902,008 443,450 790,349.50 531,200

674,601.50 -142,771,215 -101,400,699 -1,700 -6,509,650 -2,420,662 -151,654,289.50 150,810 125,390 -14,200 12,994,966 350,788 -

36.05 16.8 1.03 1.18 0.215 3.11 13.9 32.9 19 69 80.25 1.78 5.15 7.38 10.12 15.8 9.35 7.26 7.03 1.6 16.12 64.55 30 7.15 12.48 2.09 277.6 3.08 23.85 11.8 17.34 373 6.71 2.04 3.62 8.93 5.5 7.95 1 11.1 53.5 5.9 4.8 2.41 1.67 12.5 93.7 5.65 0.124 1.02 144.9 2.45 2.13 1.88

INDUSTRIAL 36.25 1,678,500 17 792,600 1.05 6,424,000 1.23 330,000 0.23 420,000 3.13 1,089,000 13.96 467,700 34.25 1,298,300 19.2 8,900 72.6 50 80.25 50 1.78 85,000 5.15 2,000 7.4 11,100 10.18 412,600 15.8 116,900 9.35 186,200 7.29 106,200 7.05 6,619,900 1.6 105,000 16.18 1,830,300 65.1 857,240 30.2 517,000 7.15 230,800 12.56 1,811,800 2.11 563,000 278.4 799,990 3.22 9,000 23.95 1,102,100 12 420,200 17.4 510,600 379 112,010 6.71 1,000 2.1 105,000 3.99 95,000 9.05 766,300 5.7 663,300 7.95 4,000 1.02 3,636,000 11.4 4,300 53.55 622,610 5.9 1,200 4.8 44,000 2.45 33,000 1.69 340,000 12.54 24,400 94 938,310 5.65 283,100 0.124 4,590,000 1.03 328,000 153 2,849,860 2.45 9,000 2.16 8,600,000 2.18 56,457,000

60,732,890 13,379,922 6,722,540 398,900 93,110 3,408,320 6,526,494 43,993,455 169,682 3,486 4,012.50 152,060 10,300 82,495 4,192,826 1,854,838 1,743,438 773,784 46,666,799 168,000 29,659,416 55,614,706.50 15,550,590 1,651,048 23,074,310 1,184,800 223,707,636 28,390 26,446,405 5,047,278 8,885,424 42,363,132 6,716 215,450 372,020 6,900,677 3,873,404 31,800 3,684,320 47,912 33,516,173 7,080 211,260 80,510 569,390 306,874 88,426,142 1,610,534 571,750 340,990 428,048,780 22,050 18,660,180 115,342,240

1,288,995 730,072 -48,900 -556,410 -5,933,090 -25,561,240 28,800 15,040 -364,216.00 -8,074 -1,382,160 -77,227 2,753,513 -23,826,852 650,313.50 -1,205,490 3,315,828 4,180 43,280,044 -15,646,475 -425,698 -7,341,430 -9,690,428 122,700.00 2,239,980 -2,877,860 -10,667,389 201,600 50,328 -20,283,336.50 1,130 -568,020 128,695,442 12,250 -10,770 -1,076,290

0.405 51.9 13.04 0.9 5.97 39.15 1.36 1.37 891 5.96 12.16 7 859.5 5.76 55.75 5.06 0.6 4.98 16.14 0.6 5.11 0.038 1.17 2.65 2.6 170.5 920 0.77 1.42 385 289 0.33 0.202

HOLDING FIRMS 0.405 15,970,000 52.5 1,953,910 13.14 7,594,500 0.92 82,000 6.02 8,500 41.1 1,356,900 1.37 7,207,000 1.38 1,334,000 914 645,370 5.98 1,160,200 12.68 2,367,400 7.15 13,100 889 93,400 5.76 16,000 57.35 1,828,880 5.06 2,400 0.62 151,000 5 1,467,900 16.54 2,464,700 0.65 6,622,000 5.35 13,627,300 0.038 1,600,000 1.17 645,000 2.65 1,113,000 2.6 38,000 175.9 380,660 950 228,990 0.78 56,000 1.43 348,000 385 50 295 260 0.335 3,470,000 0.202 960,000

6,540,500 102,304,900.50 100,259,888 75,240 50,912 57,436,230 9,870,080 1,841,980 585,541,405 6,939,818 29,608,064 91,910 82,066,910 92,500 103,311,674 12,160 90,880 7,357,798 40,594,368 4,227,140 71,941,134 61,300 762,830 2,962,190 98,800 66,114,626 215,187,110 43,920 497,700 19,250 76,596 1,152,800 194,810

19,675,852 -1,149,568 1,553,370 690,000 -157,487,225 -3,035,491 11,617,868 -8,238,580 26,354,820 224,845 -21,041,910.00 173,400 -10,511,064 143,300 -8,262,901 7,589,840 -2,950 84,840

8,323,080 729,470 25,360 31,200 457,910 542,351,820 11,967,970 1,100,680 19,020 13,831,550 163,140 437,230 647,960 1,697,634 7,621,960 49,500 2,360 635,316,540 499,230 187,919,260 121,530,620 15,908,330 843,800 529,600 32,751,950

-1,544,986 19,200 8,640 -111,023,035 -380,100 -191,940 -2,832,700 44,500 19,000 10,680 -3,275,275 -20,520.00 -30,420 908,200 -53,043,690 4,600 -968,970

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK BRIGHT KINDLE CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND IREMIT MEDCO HLDG METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK VANTAGE

58.05 89.1 2.49 120.2 1.68 30.8 16.42 14.34 4.06 8.63 1.57 0.58 69.5 1.02 11.58 47.95 194 105 27.65 191.5 1,810 73.2 1.19

59.8 89.1 2.5 120.2 1.7 30.9 16.44 14.34 4.07 8.63 1.65 0.59 70.05 1.03 11.58 47.95 194 105 27.75 192 1,810 75.25 1.19

57.95 87.15 2.49 116.6 1.62 30.55 16.32 13.7 3.96 8.63 1.57 0.54 68.6 1 11.58 46.25 192 104.7 27.6 190 1,810 73.1 1.18

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

37 17.1 1.07 1.24 0.22 3.13 14 33.8 19.74 69 80.25 1.8 5.15 7.52 10.2 15.92 9.7 7.3 7.03 1.6 16.38 65.5 30 7.16 13 2.11 280.8 3.08 24 12.2 17.5 380 6.72 2.05 4.01 9 5.96 7.95 1.06 11.1 53.5 5.9 4.83 2.41 1.7 12.7 97.75 5.75 0.126 1.09 144.9 2.45 2.14 1.9

37 17.1 1.08 1.24 0.23 3.19 14 34.25 19.74 72.6 80.25 1.8 5.15 7.52 10.24 15.92 9.7 7.32 7.06 1.6 16.42 65.5 30.7 7.19 13 2.15 281 3.22 24.55 12.2 17.5 380 6.72 2.1 4.01 9.05 5.98 7.95 1.06 11.44 54.9 5.9 4.83 2.45 1.7 12.7 97.75 5.8 0.126 1.09 153.4 2.45 2.2 2.19

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ASIABEST GROUP ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.415 53.05 13.36 0.9 6.02 43.4 1.39 1.4 917 5.99 12.6 7.15 870.5 5.9 57.6 5.07 0.62 5.09 16.98 0.62 5.3 0.038 1.25 2.67 2.6 177 935 0.79 1.45 385 290 0.34 0.205

0.42 53.05 13.36 0.94 6.02 46 1.4 1.4 918 6 12.68 7.15 890 5.9 57.6 5.07 0.62 5.12 16.98 0.66 5.35 0.039 1.25 2.69 2.6 177 954 0.79 1.46 385 298.6 0.34 0.205

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

7.6 0.96 12.68 2.08 0.73 42.1 3 4.49 5.5 0.435 0.91 0.96 0.227 8.67 24.5 0.57 0.118 1.47 1.19 1.95 4.4 0.66 0.465 0.46 4.04

7.6 0.97 12.68 2.08 0.73 42.8 3.2 4.57 5.55 0.445 0.91 0.97 0.227 8.91 24.55 0.6 0.118 1.5 1.21 2.42 4.41 0.66 0.465 0.47 4.17

7.39 0.95 12.68 2.08 0.71 41.5 3 4.46 5.42 0.435 0.89 0.93 0.22 8.67 24.15 0.57 0.118 1.45 1.18 1.94 4.31 0.64 0.45 0.46 3.98

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

20.75 1.99 3.22 36.6 1.16 7.24 0.77 6.3

21.35 2 3.22 37.2 1.16 7.35 0.81 6.38

20.25 1.99 3.18 35.85 1.12 7.1 0.77 6.21

21.35 1.99 3.19 36.5 1.16 7.12 0.81 6.25

1,507,700 155,000 73,000 11,438,400 988,000 950,300 11,000 2,993,000

31,303,130 308,870 234,630 416,375,650 1,131,710 6,792,841 8,510 18,752,657

-12,422,525 22,470 -5,648,500 116,000 -20,613 -2,848,410

2GO GROUP ABS CBN APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC EASYCALL GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL METROALLIANCE A NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS 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

13.44 22.8 0.49 0.047 13.68 2.82 9.33 0.063 73.7 6.17 8.45 24.3 2,104 5.48 306 3.44 2.25 92.85 12 7.83 0.123 2.95 3.34 14.7 3.97 1.03 19 5.24 7.04 2.7 2.02 8.03 10.98 9.3 3.52 109.4 5.06 1,420 0.86 0.42 44.45 81 8.02 2.14 0.82 0.63 5.13 0.76 10.8

13.44 22.8 0.49 0.047 13.68 2.82 9.34 0.063 74.5 6.19 8.88 24.3 2,126 5.48 317 3.44 2.32 93.05 12 7.83 0.124 2.95 3.93 14.7 3.97 1.03 19 5.24 7.05 2.72 2.02 8.11 10.98 9.3 3.63 109.4 5.1 1,420 0.94 0.42 45 81 8.15 2.26 0.83 0.63 5.18 0.78 10.86

13.3 22.1 0.48 0.044 13.68 2.42 9.06 0.062 72.8 5.99 8.45 23 2,080 5.42 301 3.14 2.11 90 12 7.8 0.121 2.79 3.31 14.7 3.86 1.03 18.6 5.15 6.89 2.69 1.9 7.8 10.98 8.9 3.52 107 4.92 1,404 0.86 0.395 44.1 78.2 8 2.12 0.78 0.59 5.09 0.74 10.58

SERVICES 13.4 22.65 0.48 0.045 13.68 2.48 9.24 0.062 74.1 6 8.88 23 2,104 5.46 316 3.26 2.11 92 12 7.8 0.121 2.85 3.78 14.7 3.95 1.03 18.78 5.19 6.9 2.7 1.95 7.8 10.98 8.9 3.63 107.5 4.93 1,404 0.9 0.4 45 79.6 8.15 2.26 0.79 0.6 5.16 0.76 10.72

1,800 289,300 2,310,000 31,800,000 25,000 9,217,000 4,002,800 16,030,000 151,710 2,059,200 137,200 72,500 106,280 29,500 6,220 2,769,000 67,000 841,600 300 12,000 1,990,000 3,883,000 232,000 10,500 1,179,000 65,000 318,800 23,700 21,519,500 104,000 287,000 2,924,300 500 25,100 46,000 210 795,100 63,680 36,310,000 7,800,000 2,002,900 5,386,360 62,100 6,413,000 9,044,000 33,622,000 2,208,500 3,021,000 4,580,400

24,068 6,528,970 1,110,950 1,431,100 342,000 23,611,780 36,936,709 996,890 11,175,265.50 12,424,262 1,181,036 1,695,830 223,817,590 160,771 1,915,608 8,950,590 143,600 77,077,977.50 3,600 93,900 242,660 11,016,570 838,590 154,350 4,601,900 66,950 5,994,456 122,690 149,014,571 280,820 553,310 23,240,112 5,490 223,680 165,750 22,835 3,973,477 89,757,190 32,737,250 3,141,600 88,991,570 435,419,328.50 498,790 14,223,260 7,261,990 20,302,690 11,369,853 2,296,840 49,023,132

67,900 4,500 0 169,200 -5,405,685 -528,240 -4,327,247.50 -1,801,169 881,640 -32,480 47,553,550 403,810 24,525,552.50 -141,350 19,450 -1,447,140 -2,950,088.00 1,140,435 -10,780 283,310.00 -1,279.00 -50,882,115 1,151,010 -23,065,925 -44,928,669.50 206,110 424,740 -374,820 -248,731.00 110,150 -26,108,390

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING ATOK BENGUET A BENGUET B CENTURY PEAK COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 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

0.0025 1.52 3.25 20 1.2 1.28 1.93 0.3 7.58 1.95 0.241 0.122 0.128 1.38 4.93 1.18 0.63 1.26 0.014 0.013 0.012 4.45 4.04 14.38 29.45 0.0079

0.0025 1.54 3.26 20 1.2 1.28 1.94 0.31 7.68 1.97 0.25 0.122 0.128 1.38 4.94 1.18 0.72 1.28 0.014 0.013 0.012 4.83 4.05 14.78 29.9 0.008

0.0024 1.51 3.25 18.1 1.2 1.28 1.93 0.3 7.45 1.94 0.238 0.122 0.128 1.37 4.8 1.1 0.61 1.23 0.012 0.013 0.012 4.33 4.03 14 28.8 0.0075

MINING & OIL 0.0025 128,000,000 1.52 440,000 3.25 35,000 19.8 19,600 1.2 70,000 1.28 7,000 1.94 252,000 0.31 220,000 7.45 3,000 1.96 1,399,000 0.248 4,980,000 0.122 160,000 0.128 70,000 1.37 37,000 4.86 539,000 1.16 18,000 0.68 11,154,000 1.27 1,242,000 0.013 97,400,000 0.013 12,700,000 0.012 46,200,000 4.7 1,235,000 4.05 259,000 14.12 1,241,300 29.5 4,598,800 0.0079 45,000,000

319,300 666,630 113,790 384,000 84,000 8,960 488,430 67,600 22,632 2,727,780 1,217,470 19,520 8,960 50,950 2,613,980 20,190 7,639,850 1,564,170 1,269,500 165,100 554,400 5,754,940 1,047,130 17,854,930 133,902,330 343,000

7,650 -9,760 -91,620 -867,800 2,760 -315,760 -43,200 36,800 -230,450 882,638 -94,284,290 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2A PNX PREF 3A SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H

22.2 490 502 101.5 100.9 500 5.25 950 100 1,011 99.65 76.3 79.1 75 75.6 75.4 75.5

22.2 490 502 101.5 100.9 500 5.35 950 100 1,011 100 77.25 79.1 75 75.6 75.4 75.5

21.9 490 502 100.7 100.5 498 5.25 950 100 1,011 99.5 76.3 79 75 75.6 75.35 75.5

PREFERRED 21.9 147,700 490 980 502 80 100.7 2,000 100.5 8,400 498 5,500 5.35 5,100 950 620 100 740 1,011 500 100 52,180 77.25 275,820 79.05 134,650 75 2,410 75.6 45,820 75.35 2,000 75.5 200

3,262,935 480,200 40,160 202,906 845,240 2,744,000 26,785 589,000 74,000 505,500 5,208,236 21,045,854.50 10,637,877.50 180,750 3,463,992 150,750 15,100

-3,262,935 9,950 -

LR WARRANT

2.49

2.6

2.4

WARRANTS 2.59 411,000

1,008,290

-

25,983,038 5,131,190

141,419 125,610

1,361,684

-

25,041 5,335.20

-

MS

PROPERTY 7.59 0.96 12.68 2.08 0.73 42 3.02 4.54 5.42 0.44 0.9 0.95 0.222 8.9 24.25 0.6 0.118 1.49 1.19 2.34 4.35 0.66 0.455 0.46 3.98

1,104,300 764,000 2,000 15,000 630,000 12,866,000 3,925,000 245,000 3,500 31,370,000 182,000 463,000 2,930,000 192,600 313,700 86,000 20,000 432,175,000 419,000 87,259,000 27,933,000 24,486,000 1,850,000 1,150,000 8,060,000

ITALPINAS XURPAS

6.79 2.68

6.84 2.68

6.32 2.55

FIRST METRO ETF

113.2

113.7

112.1

USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2

10.02 10.26

10.02 10.26

10 10.26

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

16,170,971

INDUSTRIAL

109,390,363

HOLDING FIRMS

75,272,870

PROPERTY

656,618,765

SERVICES

214,549,297

MINING & OIL

357,816,119

GRAND TOTAL

1,435,838,918

6.4 2.59

SME

4,025,400 1,981,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 113.5 12,050 DDS 10 10.26

2,500 520

VALUE 1,705.77 (down) 10.64 882,806,162.05 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,319.03 (up) 75.62 1,335,453,817.351 HOLDING FIRMS 7,532.53 (up) 16.83 1,534,117,457.93 PROPERTY 3,742.83 (down) 9.40 1,517.69 (down) 8.05 2,059,949,885.82 SERVICES MINING & OIL 9,659.89 (up) 66.26 1,372,278,685.615 PSEI 7,596.15 (down) 2.49 178,940,575.404 All Shares Index 4,640.71 (down) 15.71 7,396,028,123.58 Gainers: 62; Losers: 124; Unchanged: 55; Total: 241

Melco Resorts ready to delist its shares from stock exchange

By Jenniffer B. Austria MELCO Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., the operator of integrated resorts and casino City of Dreams Manila, is delisting its shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Melco Resorts said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board approved the voluntary delisting of common shares from the main board stock exchange subject to the delisting rules of the local bourse.

Melco Resorts said it would conduct a tender offer to acquire up to 1.543 billion outstanding common shares owned by the public at a price of P7.25 per share. The price represents a 16.7-percent premium to the stock’s closing price of P6.21 per share on Friday. It rose 11.1 percent Monday to P6.90.

At P7.25 per share, Melco Resorts will need P11.18 billion to acquire all the minority shares. The company did not provide a reason for the planned delisting.

Melco Resorts said it would file other information on the tender offer, including the timetable for the tender offer and delisting, with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 17.

Melco Resorts posted a net income of P1.89 billion in the first half of the year, up 289 percent from P352.2 million year-on-year.

First-half net operating revenues amounted to P16.54 billion, slightly down from P16.67 billion in the same period in 2017, due to the adoption of new revenue standard that resulted in higher commissions paid to gambling promoters being deducted from casino revenues.

Melco Resorts, owned by Macaubased casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., was listed in the PSE through a backdoor listing when it acquired Manchester International Holdings Unlimited Corp. in 2012.

City of Dreams Manila, which opened ion February 2, 2015, operates on a 6.32-hectare property at government-sponsored Entertainment City in Parañaque City.

Melco is the second company to apply for voluntary delisting with the PSE. Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. also announced plans for voluntary delisting from the PSE.

Metro Pacific hikes stake in Indonesian toll road company

By Darwin G. Amojelar METRO Pacific Tollways Corp. has raised its stake in an Indonesian infrastructure company to over 77 percent after completing a mandatory tender offer.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange unit PT Metro Pacific Tollways Indonesia acquired an additional 22.68 percent shares in PT Nusantara as a result of the mandatory tender offer.

The transaction was valued at P2.86 billion.

As a result of the mandatory tender offer, PT MPTI now owns a total of 77.94 percent of the outstanding capital stock of PT Nusantara on a fully diluted basis from 53.26 percent.

The settlement date for the mandatory tender offer was on September 10, 2018.

PT Nusantara’s infrastructure portfolio in Indonesia includes toll roads, ports, energy and water projects. It holds the concession of Jakarta Outer Ring W1 section of Kebon JerukPenjaringan, BSD Toll road section of Pondok Aren-Serpong, BMN toll road Makassar for Soekarno Hatta SeaportPettarni and JTSE toll road for TalloHasanuddin Airport toll section.

PT Nusantara provides services to over 103 million customers, 550,000 households, 103 million vehicles, more than 210 vessels and connecting millions of people through communications.

The MPIC Group operates the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Tarlac Expressway and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

The group is also building the P26billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway project, an 8.25-km bridge that will connect Cebu City to Mactan Island via Cordova. The project is expected to be completed by 2020.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY

China sanctions urged over minority detentions

IN BRIEF Rights advocates denied entry HANOI―Vietnam has denied entry to two prominent rights campaigners invited to attend this week’s World Economic Forum in Hanoi, as the one-party communist state continues its hard line on critics of its dismal rights record.

Leaders from Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) were both barred from entering Vietnam for the meeting, the campaign groups said.

FIDH secretary general Debbie Stothard was held at Hanoi’s airport for 15 hours after arriving on Sunday before being deported to Malaysia early the next morning.

Her “arbitrary detention” was “based on the absurd accusation that she poses a threat to Vietnam’s national security”, Andrea Giorgetta, FIDH Director of Asia Desk, told AFP in a statement.

Amnesty said its senior director of global operations Minar Pimple was also denied a visa to attend the WEF summit, which will host regional leaders and big names from the global business.

“We condemn this decision to stifle debate... this comes at a time when freedom of expression is under deep threat in Vietnam,” Amnesty’s secretarygeneral Kumi Naidoo said in a statement Monday. AFP

Man accused of murdering family PERTH―A young man has been charged with the murder of five people including three toddlers, Australian police said Monday, after a mass killing at a suburban home.

Police found the remains of three young girls, as well as those of their mother and grandmother at an unassuming detached family home near the southwestern city of Perth on Sunday.

The gruesome discovery came after a 24-year-old man, who has not been named, walked into a police station in a remote mining area some 1,500 kilometers north of the city.

He was due to appear in court via video link later Monday.

The family has not been formally identified, but Australian media named the mother as Mara Quinn, a fly-in fly-out worker― an employee who is flown in temporarily to a remote location for a period of time―for a West Australian mining firm.

Her children were named as three and a half-year-old daughter Charlotte and two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, and her mother as Beverley Quinn, 74.

The police did not release details about when and how they were killed, or the family’s relationship with the man. AFP

B3

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PROCESSION. Indian Sikh priest Giani Jagtar Singh (C) carries the Guru Granth Sahib, the central

religious text of Sikhism, during a procession from Gurudwara Ramsar to Akal Takht Sahib to mark the 414th anniversary of the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on September 10, 2018. AFP

BEIJING―The international community should impose sanctions on China over its treatment of the minorities in its far west region, Human Rights Watch said Monday, where as many as one million people may have been swept up in mass detentions.

China has long imposed draconian restrictions on the lives of Muslim minorities in its Xinjiang region in the name of combating terrorism and separatism, with police measures intensifying in recent years.

Upwards of one million ethnic Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities are being held in counter-extremism centers, according to the estimates cited by a United Nations panel on racial discrimination last month.

In response to the government’s actions, the international community should “impose targeted sanctions” on Chinese

officials “linked to abuses” in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report detailing China’s repressive actions in the region.

The Chinese government has impeded reporting in Xinjiang, preventing a clear accounting of the situation.

But mounting evidence in the form of government documents and the testimony of escapees suggests Beijing has interned large numbers of people in a sprawling network of extra-judicial internment camps, where they are subject to political and cultural indoctrination.

The report says prisoners in the camps are “forced to learn Mandarin Chinese, sing praises of the Chinese Communist Party, and ... those who resist or are deemed to have failed to “learn” are punished.” HRW says prisoners have no legal rights or access to lawyers or family. AFP

Russia set for biggest war games M OSCOW―Russia on Tuesday will launch the biggest military drills in its history involving 300,000 troops as well as Chinese soldiers, in a move NATO denounced as “exercising large-scale conflict”.

The week-long deployment alongside Chinese and Mongolian armies dubbed “Vostok-2018” (East-2018) will start in eastern Siberia on September 11.

It comes at a time of escalating tensions between Moscow and the West over accusations of Russian interference in western affairs and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Russian army has compared the show of force to the USSR’s 1981 war games that saw between 100,000 and 150,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers take part in “Zapad-81” (West81)―the largest military exercises of the Soviet era.

But defense minister Sergei Shoigu said this time would be even larger, with 300,000 soldiers, 36,000 military vehicles, 1,000 planes and 80 warships taking part in the drills.

“Imagine 36,000 military vehicles moving at the same time: tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles —and all of this, of course, in conditions as close to a combat situation as possible,” Shoigu

said.

The Russian army will roll out all of its latest additions for the event: Iskander missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, T-80 and T-90 tanks and its recent Su34 and Su-35 fighter planes.

At sea, the Russian fleet will deploy several frigates equipped with Kalibr missiles that have been used in Syria.

Russia’s previous military exercise in the region, Vostok-2014, was almost half the size, with 155,000 soldiers

participating.

The country’s war games in Eastern Europe last year, Zapad-2017, saw 12,700 troops take part according to Moscow.

Ukraine and the Baltic states said the true number was far bigger.

President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend Vostok-2018 after hosting an economic forum in Russia’s far eastern city Vladivostok where his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is one of the star guests.

Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the games were a “preparation for a future world war”.

“The army’s General Staff believes this will take place after 2020 in the form of either a

2nd Floor Malong Building, Capitol Compound Lingayen, Pangasinan Tel. No. (075) 632-7840 Website@biddingandawards.pangasinan gov.ph, E-mail address: bacpangasinan@yahoo.com

INVITATION TO BID for Delivery of Various Drugs and Medicines (by item) Solicitation No. PANG-2018-1425 1.

The Province of Pangasinan, through the Trust Fund (PR#2018-05-7239)1 intends to apply the sum of Nineteen Million Six Hundred Eighty-Two Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty-Six Pesos & 2/100 (P19,682,956.02) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for Delivery of Various Drugs and Medicines (by item) at General Services Office (for use of Government Hospitals – BDH, EPDH, LDH, MDH, UDH, WPDH, ACH, BCH, MapCH, ManCH, PCH). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The Province of Pangasinan now invites bids for Supply and Delivery of Drugs and Medicines.2 Delivery of the Goods is required Seven (7) Calendar Days.

Bidders should have completed from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

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

Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Sur Municipality of Sigay -oOoOFFICE OF THE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

INVITATION TO BID The Municipal Government of Sigay, Ilocos Sur, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites contractors registered and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) to apply for eligibility and if found eligible to bid for the hereunder contract:

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Province of Pangasinan and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during August 31, 2018 – September 21, 2018; 8:00 am to 5:00pm.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on August 31, 2018 – September 21, 2018 at the BAC office, 2nd Floor Malong Building, Lingayen, Pangasinan and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of One Thousand Pesos (P1,000.00) for every One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00).

global war or a series of conflicts with magnitude,” he said.

“The enemy is the United States and its allies.”

According to Felgenhauer, China’s participation―although modest with only 3,200 men― will be a key factor at the drills.

“It’s not just about a sign or a message, but about a preparation for a real-life war of great magnitude,” he said.

This opinion was shared

by NATO, which said that Vostok-2018 “demonstrates Russia’s focus on exercising large-scale conflict”.

“It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time -- a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defense budget

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.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before September 21, 2018; 10:00am. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

The Province of Pangasinan reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

8.

For further information, please refer to:

The Land Transportation Office - Region I now invites bids for the Procurement of Security Services covering the period of January 01, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Bidders should have completed, within two (2) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

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

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Land Transportation Office Region I and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on September 10, 2018 until October 1, 2018 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of Twenty Five Thousand Pesos only (P25, 000.00).

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

6.

The Land Transportation Office - Region I will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on September 18, 2018, 10:00 AM at Regional Office Conference Room, which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:00 AM of October 01, 2018. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

HILARIA J. CLAVERIA Provincial Budget Officer BAC Chairman

Bid opening shall be on 10:00 AM of October 01, 2018at Regional Office Conference Room. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Provincial Budget Office Finance Building, Capitol Compound Lingayen, Pnagsinan 075 5426574

8.

In consonance with the opinion of the Government Procurement Policy Board in NPM No. 120-2016, the minimum administrative fee of 20% of the total contract cost for Service Agreement for security services, as imposed by DOLE DO No. 150-16, shall not be observed for purposes of this procurement. Bids where the administrative cost is lower than what the DOLE order requires shall still be considered.

EDWIN B. MENDOZA Supervising Admin. Officer BAC Secretariat

9.

The Land Transportation Office - Region I reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

BAC Office 2nd Floor Malong Building, Capitol Compound Lingayen, Pangasinan 075 6327840

10. For further information, please refer to:

(SGD) HILARIA J. CLAVERIA Provincial Budget Officer BAC Chairman 1

2 3

(MS-SEPT. 11, 2018)

(MS-SEPT. 11,18 & 25, 2018)

2.

Bid opening shall be on September 21, 2018; 10:00am at Conference Room 2nd Floor Malong Building, Capitol Compound, Lingayen, Pangasinan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

7.

(MS-SEPT. 11,18 & 25, 2018)

Notice is hereby given of the lost of Stock Certificate No. 2961 covering (1) membership share issued

by The Palms Country Club, Inc. to Rodolfo W. Antonino as the Registered owner of the said membership share, and in that a new stock certificate is in the process of being issued. Any party in interest may give notice at The Palms Country Club, Inc, 1410 Laguna Heights Drive, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinlupa City. Tel. no.

02-771-7171.

InvItatIon to BId for the PROCUREMENT OF SECURITY SERVICES COVERING THE PERIOD OF JANUARY 01, 2019 TO DECEMBER 31, 2019 LTOR1-2018B-003 1. The Land Transportation Office -Region I, through the National Expenditure Program (NEP) CY 2019 intends to apply the sum of Ten Million Five Hundred Eighty Two Thousand Two Hundred Twenty One Pesos and 50/100(P10, 582,221.50) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payment under the contract for the Procurement of Security Services covering the period January 01, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

3

The Province of Pangasinan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on September 7, 2018; 10:00am at BAC office, 2nd Floor Malong Building, Capitol Compound, Lingayen, Pangasinan, which shall be open to prospective bidders.

Notice is hereby given of the lost of Stock Certificate No. M108B covering (1) membership share issued

by Sta Elena Golf Club, Inc. to Rodolfo W. Antonino as the Registered owner of the said membership share, and in that a new stock certificate is in the process of being issued.

Any party in interest may give notice at Sta Elena Golf Club, Inc. Bo. Malitlit, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. You may call 049-559-9801 or Manila Office at 02-8866179.

Republic of the Philippines Department of Transportation LAND TRANSPORTATION OFFICE Region I

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

6.

and its military presence,” said the alliance’s spokesman Dylan White.

Russia has denied the drills are a cause for worry.

“Vostok-2018 is far from NATO’s area of responsibility and does not affect the security of its member states,” the Russian foreign ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Relations between Russia and the West declined sharply in 2014 with Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the subsequent conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Since then Moscow has increased the number of its largescale military exercises in the Caucasus, the Baltic and the Arctic. AFP

In the case of National Government Agencies, the General Appropriations Act and/or continuing appropriations; in the case of GOCCs, GFIs, and SUCs, the Corporate Budget for the contract approved by the governing Boards; in the case of (LGUs, the Budget for the contract approved by the respective Sanggunian. (Section 5(a), R.A. 9184) A brief description of the type(s) of Goods should be provided, including quantities, location of project, and other information necessary to enable potential bidders to decide whether or not to respond to the invitation.

May be deleted in case the ABC is less than One Million Pesos (PhP1,000,000) where the Procuring Entity may not hold a Pre-Bid Conference.

(MS-SEPT. 11, 2018)

Memory C. Leonzon Marivic R. Gaerlan LTO-R1 Bids and Award Committee Secretariat Land Transportation Office - Region I Aguila Road, Brgy. Sevilla, City of San Fernando, La Union 2500 (072) 607-1826 / (072) 607-3249 ltoregion1@yahoo.com

(MS-SEPT. 11, 2018)

(SGD) KATHLEEN DEANNA G. SALAYOG OIC-ARD/BAC CHAIRPERSON

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

Samama takes kin’s place as Buluan mayor

By Nash B. Maulana BULUAN, Maguindanao—Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu has administered the oath of public office for Vice Mayor Victor Samama as the 19th mayor of Datu Piang, Maguindanao, a historic district of the Old Cotabato Empire Province.

Mangudadatu said the vacancy of the mayoral post Samama assumed naturally emerged and the “operation of the law of succession” applied following the death of Mayor Genuine Kamaong last Aug. 29.

Also sworn-in to office was Municipal First Councilor Dacoma Wawa, who took Samama’s place as vice mayor pursuant to Republic Act 7160, the Local Government Code.

He requested Samama and the other incumbent Datu Piang officials “to consider nominating a member of the family of the late Mayor Genuine” to the Municipal Council, in deference to kinship.

Samama said he would focus on reforms, advocacy for unity and the continuance of the programs, particularly infrastructure projects, left half-way through in the administration of the late mayor.

“You are closely related to each other by blood and the finest thing that you could opt for is to unite,” Mangudadatu told the party of Samama and his fellow officials, and kindred who came along from as far as Cotabato City, Talayan, Datu Piang to show support.

Kamaong, Samama’s paternal cousin, succumbed to a lingering ailment at a hospital in Davao City. The late mayor had occupied the position since 1994, by becoming a successor twice, first to the late Mayor Datu Ben Mokalid in 1994 and to Mayor Hadji Mama Uy in 2010.

Kamaong was elected in 2013 and in 2016 with Samama as his vice-mayoral teammate.

The new mayor was joined in by his immediate and extended families—among them, his wife Dr. Elizabeth Sanchez Abpi-Samama, and siblings Rajah Buayan Municipal Treasurer Farida Samama-Ampatuan; Baidido Samama, Sirikit SamamaButt; Eddie Boy, and Noel Samama, cousin Bai Tarhata Ampatuan; niece Bai Sarip Sirikit Ampatuan-Bernan, and uncle Ricky Yap Piang, barangay chairman of Poblacion Datu Piang.

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

WASTE TO WEALTH. Saying they share the same goals for the community and environment, Senator Cynthia A. Villar (right), chairmanof the Senate agriculture and food committee, commends council members and residents of Barangay Holy Spirit for their efforts to make worthy products from wastes. Villar said the country can achieve its zero-waste goal with collaborated efforts for effective waste management.

QC to make own public transport service board

By Rio N. Araja

Q

UEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista has approved an ordinance creating a public transport service board that shall formulate a comprehensive and rationalized local public transport service plan.

He backed City Ordinance 2726 to address the transport problem in the city.

“The assistance of the Quezon City local government should be utilized to become a pro-active partner of the Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and private sectors in creating a long-term effective solution to traffic,” the measure read.

Bautista shall lead the public transport service board with heads of City Planning and Development Office Engineering Department and Department of Public Order and Safety as members.

The city council’s committee on transportation chairman is part of the board as well as representatives from DOTr, LTFRB, public transport sector, private sector and Liga ng mga Barangay president.

“It is timely that the Quezon City local government, through its different departments, to create/determine a comprehensive and rationalized public transport plan because they are knowledgeable in the formulation of policies,” the council said.

This applies “not only within their territory but also to its adjoining cities, monitor the volume of motor vehicles in main

thoroughfares and gather information through public consultation for the benefit of the riding public,” the councilors added.

Meanwhile, job-seekers rushed to Quezon City Hall for the third 2018 Mega Job Fair organized by the QC Public Employment Service Office last Aug. 31, as 37 local and five international companies participated.

Among the over 3,000 job applicants who were interviewed, 416 were hired on the spot, while 2,047 applicants for local jobs and 200 applicants for overseas work are subject to interviews.

QC-PESO officer-in-charge Carlo Magno E. Abella said there are many job vacancies where applicants can apply and hiring will depend on the employers’ manpower needs.

According to Abella, job applicants must bring more copies of their resumes for them to have more chances of getting hired.

AIA holds 4-day auction for trucks, machines at Subic

The yard of Asia International Auctioneers Inc. for its trucks and heavy equipment at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, pictured above, is one of the largest in Southeast Asia.

ASIA International Auctioneers Inc. will be conducting a four-day public auction from Sept. 12 to 15, featuring a wide range of 2,300-plus Trucks and Equipment at one massive auction event at its Subic Bay Freeport site in Subic, Zambales.

Buyers may find the best quality transport trucks, construction equipment, heavy machineries and industrial items for all their construction and business needs here.

AIA is the premier and pioneer auctioneer of quality trucks and equipment in the Philippines.

It is the first and only trucks and equipment auctioneer in the Philippines to achieve certification for ISO 9001:2015, the most prominent and latest version of the internationally recognized Quality Management System standards.

AIA is the only auction company certified to the 2015 version which only testifies to its commitment in being the best in the industry and in consistently providing the highest quality products and services.

Searca offers PhD research scholarships

By Brenda Jocson LAGUNA—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture offers research scholarships to doctorate students whose dissertation topics are relevant to its priority thrusts.

The scholarship is open to Filipinos and other Southeast Asians from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

Headquartered at the campus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Searca provides research funds

not to exceed US$4,500 and optional internship at the center for up to two months.

Those who will avail of the internship may be given additional scholarship funds to cover travel expenses to and from Searca, travel and accident insurance, and stipend during the internship period.

Moreover, the scholars may use the resources and facilities available at Searca and its network of universities for their research. They will be able to work with Searca’s research and development staff on common areas of interests in agriculture and rural development.

BOOK LAUNCH. Undersecretary Dave M. Almarinez (second from left), president and

CEO of the Philippine International Trading Corp., turns over the PITC Coffee Table Book to Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, witnessed by Information and Communication Acting secretary Eliseo M. Rio Jr. (right) during the government firm’s 45-year anniversary themed ‘Advancing Global Trade for the Filipino’ at the PICC in Pasay City. Roy Tomandao

Digitized land titles in Davao now underway

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY ― The Registry of Deeds in Region 11 has asked the public to update their manually issued Certificate of Title before Sept. 30 to comply with the digitization program of the agency.

On Monday during the Davao Press Club’s Kapehan sa Davao, the ROD office announced it is undergoing a transition of the manually-issued certificate of titles to ensure more security for their clients.

ROD Record Officer 2 Amelia Respicio-Samarita said the office is currently updating their database through scanning of the manual certificates to create backups.

“It is very important to convert them because it will be electronically preserved and for future reference,” Samarita said.

Since 2009, the ROD started the digitalization process to accommodate the almost 500,000 title holders whose titles are still manually issued, and has covered 90 percent of the titles.

She explained there will be no adverse effect if title holders fail to update their certificate of title. Virgilio Delos Reyes, Land Registration Examiner 2, said title holders that fail to comply with their deadline can still visit their office anytime for updating.

“It is important that we put it in our data base so that we can preserve it for future reference,” he said.

Through the digitalization process, every step of the transaction, including the officer of their office who handles the transaction will be recorded, Samarita added.

“If there are complaints of error, we

Navotas gains education seal from Synergeia

By Jun David NAVOTAS recently bagged the Seal of Good Education Governance from Synergeia Foundation for its outstanding efforts in providing quality education to its constituents.

Mayor John Rey Tiangco, together with Navotas Schools Division Superintendent Meliton Zurbano and Sanggunian Panlungsod Education Committee Chairperson Arnel Lupisan, received the award during the 12th National Education Summit at the PICC last week.

“We thank everyone--our teachers, parents, local school boards, school governing councils and all of our education stakeholders—for their unfailing support in providing quality and holistic learning to our youth,” Tiangco said.

“We hope this award will inspire us more to continue our commitment in giving our youth the best education they deserve,” he added.

During a panel discussion, Tiangco noted how education impacts efforts to solve social issues including proper waste disposal, traffic, crime, among others.

Life

bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife

health and environment

@mstandardLIFe tuesday, september 11, 2018

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Beauty and wellness expo

to feature organic products e

XPeRTs predict the global market for organic beauty products should be worth just under $22 billion by 2024, on the back of increasing online customer reach and retailers’ shift toward offering premium personal care products.

in the Philippines, beauty and wellness brands are benefiting from rising disposable incomes and demand for these products which in the past were not considered essential items. This is evident in the number of brands and consumers who continue to join trade events such as the Beauty & Wellness Manila which stages its third edition on sept. 20-22 at the sMX Convention Center Manila.

This year, the show is adding a segment dedicated to organic and natural businesses entitled Organic and Natural Products expo 2018.

“ONeXPO will feature both established and starting businesses that produce or distribute natural food, organic cosmetics, and eco-friendly products to the market,” said Jing Lagandaon, chief operating officer of Global-Link MP events international, inc.

Lagandaon continued, “The Filipinos’ growing demand for this type of necessities has to be addressed and we are very proud to welcome and express our gratitude to the pioneers of this expo.”

Visitors can look forward to seeing these brands at ONeXPO: The Real Happy Cow, Analema Corporation, Chemrez Technologies, inc., Daily Veggie, elemie

Camille Acosta of The Good Choices introduces plant-based food as alternative to meat products.

Natural, inc., Buko Foods, Jertie’s kitchen, Green Bar, Green spot Vegan Café, Healthwealth international Corporation, Hello Founding Farmers, inc., The Vegan Grocer, Mejilla-Organo Vegan enterprises, Monde Nissin Corporation, sante R.A.W, The Good Choices, The Good Juice, The Green Tummy Corporation, The Natural supply Co., Vegetari Vegetarian Products, Vitanutrition incorporated, and kaffea coffee.

They will join the lineup of new and returning exhibitors that includes Age

LeBron 16 focuses on support Nike’s latest collaboration with LeB- cushioning so much last year that we ron James features design and innova- just focused on refining it,” says Petrie. tion that address the four-time He continues, “For this addi addiMVP player’s need for tion, we removed the ten tenbalancing support and dril that connected the weight in his shoes. forefoot to the underDesigner Jason toe bag, and instead Petrie, James’ included an outrig outriglongtime collaboger to create some rator, and the basadditional sup supketball footwear port to completeam at Nike crement the lower ated the LeBron height.”

16 with a new The LeBron knit technology.

16 Fresh Bred The shoe introcolorway will be duces Battleknit available startstart 2.0, an evolved ver ver-ing Sept. 29 at sion of the scalloped select Nike outlets knit featured on the for P9,895.

Lebron 15. its ts structure increases tensile strength (important to contain James’ lateral force on court) and it has an elegant finish matching his current style.

The LeBron 16’s other notable feature is its height. At the direction of James, Petrie formed the shoe with a lower collar, which allows the athlete to move more freely.

“The first thing we wanted to do was get a little lower in the cut of the shoe,” says James. “i wanted to get a little faster, ride a little bit closer to the court, and be a little bit more dynamic.”

Underfoot, a simple evolution of the Max Air cushioning plat-

Defying solutions Philippines, Corp., Alpha Wellness Philippines, inc., Ancorp Healthy World, Beauty Ground, Citibank, Coco Health Products, inc., Cosmetigroup international Corp., Ctems, inc., Digitel PH, DMi Medical supply Co., inc., elegant Fumes Beauty Products, inc., elegant Trio Colors Corporation, eRP Wellness enterprises, ever Bilena Cosmetics, inc., exodus Design studio, First Asia Manufacturing Corporation, Goldshine Pharmaceuticals, inc., Grace Cosmet-

ics industries, inc., Hair-s Philippines, inc., High Top sure Marketing, inc., Holistic integrative Care Center, Jaycee Co., JNe Personal Care Products, inc., JRadiance Corporation, kinpo electronics Philippines, inc., kMall eservices inc., Leiania House of Beauty, Mariteri Trading, inc., Migo skin enterprise, More-ning sun Packaging Corporation, My spaHaus inc., Multimach international, inc., Organique inc., Philippine Delta source & Trading Corp., Pureform Cosmetic Products,

Nike’s new LeBron 16 features new technologies and design that offer support and allow the wearer to move more freely.

inc., Raquel-Abbas Pharmaceuticals & Gen Mdse., shawill Corporation, skin Magical Beauty Products Trading, slimmers World international, sPCM Gs’68 Hs’72, stalder Lab, streetcorner Lending Corp., Talking Time Corp., Tamayo’s Catering, Telnoj enterprises, inc., Walvis Corporation, and Wunderkind Marketing, inc.

Follow Beauty & Wellness Manila’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts for more information.

Rain, diseases, go away

Several diseases are more common during the rainy season.

T THe monsoon season does not only bring with it increased rainfall, but viral infections as well. Coined as monsoon infections, these diseases spread at a much higher rate during heavy monsoon rains.

Dr. May Montellano, former president of the Pediatrics and infectious Disease society of the Philippines, warns the public of the three most common monsoon infections.

Waterborne diseases

and car tires. Use mosquito-repellent lotion and bug-deterring sprays to prevent mosquitoes from entering homes.

Influenza

influenza outbreaks tend to peak with the heavy monsoon rains. severe manifestation of flu, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, can lead to hospitalization. it can also cause respiratory infections like pneumonia and may eventually lead to death.

Waterborne diseases are usually transmitted by drinking polluted water and consuming contaminated How to prevent it: food. The season’s cold temperature causes bacteria to Flu can be avoided by strengthening one’s immune syslive and breed massively in fresh waters. tem. Luckily, the disease can also be prevented by vaccine. in an advisory released by the World Health Organiza Organiza- With monsoon doubling the risk of virus transmission, tion, common diseases that fall under water-related illnesses experts say it is are cholera, diarrhea, hepatitis A, amoebiasis, and typhoid best to avert fever. if neglected, these diseases can cause severe infecinfec flu through tions in one’s digestive system. vaccination.

Flu season How to prevent it: it is important to know where the water a household con consumes comes from. To avoid getting these diseases, it is best to boil water before using or drinking. ensure to cook raw ingredients well and store food in places safe from insects.

Mosquito-borne diseases

form introd u c e d in the LeBron 15 supports James’ dynamic desires.

“LeBron liked the

Janelle Tee offers Kaffea healthy coffee to event participants.

The Department of Health in June released a warning against mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue, that are more prevalent during the rainy season. Rains are ideal for mosquitoes because of puddles and other standing water that serve as their breeding grounds.

With increased rainfall this season, mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, malaria, and chikungunya are most likely to emerge.

Though caused by tiny carriers, the symptoms of these diseases range from mild to serious, including high fever, severe joint pains, malaise, vomiting, and blood and organ infections.

How to prevent it: ensure there is no stagnant water that can be a breeding ground of these insects, like old shoes or toys, flower pots,

tends to peak during heavy monsoon rains.

Life

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tuesday, september 11, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

Empowering communities through partnerships STRONGER TOGETHER. Employees of AXA Philippines gather to volunteer for the insurance company’s annual Corporate

W

Responsibility Week.

HeN people work together, more can be accomplished.

AXA Philippines president and chief executive Raul Hora, together with employees, packs meals for the indigenous people community in Pampanga.

In the recent annual Corporate Responsibility Week of aXa Philippines, nearly 450 employees partnered with several non-government organizations and foundations with advocacies on health, education and the environment to touch 2,250 lives. “aXa’s annual Corporate Responsibility Week is part of our continuing commitment to empower communities to live better lives,” said aXa Philippines president and chief executive Rahul Hora.

During the week-long celebration, themed “CR Week in action,” the company partnered with Metrobank Foundation, Hands on Manila, Rise against Hunger, simply share in Cebu, National Bookstore Foundation, adarna House, Inc., Manila Doctors Hospital, Philippine Red Cross – Rizal and Cebu Chapters, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the University of san Carlos in Cebu City. aXa Philippines volunteers packed meals for aeta mothers and their families in Porac, Pampanga to last six months; packed food for students of Napo elementary school in Cebu to last three months; and prepared 150 candles and mosquito traps for the mothers of trece Martires, Cavite. a blood drive was also held with Philippine Red Cross and Manila Doctors Hospital, and a training session on first aid and financial literacy was conducted for mothers and children in Cebu.

Volunteers are also set to run at the Philippine Red Cross run for a cause; books are set to be delivered to the library of Napo elementary school; and Project aral Kits from National Book store will go to underprivileged students. Volunteers also made the wishes of kids with life-threatening illnesses come true.

“We thank our employees for giving their time and sharing their expertise to help our various advocacies,” enthused Hora.

Arts festival advocates mental health awareness aN INteRaCtIVe arts festival that aims to raise awareness of mental health is slated on sept. 14-16 at various Cultural Center of the Philippines venues. the CCP, in cooperation with the Julia Buencamino Project, presents Will You still Love Me? for its second edition of the Festival of arts & Ideas. the festival will feature performances, workshops, and film screenings that will shed light on struggles with mental health as well as motivate participants toward artistic selfexpression and hopefully, healing.

It encourages self-expression among participants by providing them with a variety of workshops to choose from— prose or poetry writing, creative movement, painting, printmaking, and playing music through the ukulele.

During the festival, a paper crane tree will be installed at the CCP Little theater Lobby. the paper crane tree serves as the unifying symbol of the festival as it carries messages of hope and self-affirmation of participants in the festival. also in the same venue, an exhibit/installation inspired by the Julia Buencamino Bench Project will be mounted by artist alwin Reamillo, with contributions from visual artists from the Philippine High school for the arts amorsoloabelardo Batch. each day of the festival will begin with a mindfulness exercise using breath, visual imagery, and body awareness. the checking in activity will be followed by workshops and film screenings in the afternoons and performances in the evenings. according to shamaine Buencamino, the workshops are designed to teach participants skills to practice the arts as a way to improve the mind and manage stress. Film screenings will give viewers more information on different mental conditions as well as an opportunity to ask psychologists questions to understand mental illness more. Performances will allow audiences to emphatize with those who suffer and to continue fighting mental illness by living inspired lives.

“Will You still Love Me?” is a line taken from the poem penned by the late Julia Buencamino, daughter of actors shamaine Centenera Buencamino and Nonie Buencamino. Julia died from suicide on July 7, 2015.

Julia’s poem, said shamaine, who is the festival director and curator, “speaks of the fear that most people struggling

Festival director and curator Shamaine Buencamino with daughters Julia and Delphine

with mental health suffer—the fear that they won’t be accepted and loved.” the Julia Buencamino Project is a mental health advocacy founded by shamaine and Nonie to honor their daughter’s memory, to help children suffering from mental illness, and to educate people about mental health. the festival at the CCP, shamaine said, will continue the dialogue started by the Julia Buencamino Project “in exploring tools for carers of people with mental health conditions as well as harness the arts for mental health through performances and workshops.”

“We hope to create a community that helps build mental resilience through the arts,” she said. “art heals. art helps focus the mind. art even changes the way the brain functions.”

Call (02) 832-1125 local 1606 or visit www.culturalcenter. gov.ph for more information on the festival.

The EcoWaste Coalition urges the government to ban plastic microbeads in personal care and cosmetic products.

Group lauds consensus to ban plastic microbeads Waste and pollution watch group ate to speed up the ban on plastic miecoWaste Coalition has lauded the crobeads.” support of various sectors for a legislathe extremely tiny plastic microbetive measure that will prohibit the use ads in personal care products go down of plastic microbeads in rinse-off per- the drain and into waterways, polluting sonal care products. the oceans with microplastics that can In last week’s hearing of the Com- attract and absorb hazardous chemimittee on ecology of the House of Rep- cals, including persistent organic polresentatives, government, industry, and lutants, which are consumed by fish civil sociand other ety repremarine orsent at ives ganisms Tiny plastic microbeads in personal voiced their that miscare products go down the drain and support take them into waterways, polluting the oceans with microplastics. for House for food, Bill 8120, Dizon exparticuplained. larly with at the respect to hearing, banning emil Virplastic mitudes, presicrobeads, dent of the a known Chamber ocean polof Cosmetlutant, in ics Indusr i nse - of f try of the personal Philippines, care prodex p r e s s e d ucts such industry as facial support for clea n se r s, the measure body washes, toothpastes, and others. as he cited the statement made by the “the broad support for the proposal aseaN Cosmetic association recomto ban plastic microbeads in rinse-off mending to its members “the discontinupersonal care products will facilitate the ation of the use of plastic microbeads in bill’s expedited approval by lawmakers,” rinse-off personal care products” for the said thony Dizon, ecoWaste Coalition’s protection of the marine environment. chemical safety campaigner.

Meanwhile, engr. ana Rivera, diako Bicol party-list representatives rector of the FDa Center for CosmetRodel M. Batocabe, alfredo a. Garbin, ics Regulation and Research, proposed, Jr., and Christopher s. Co. co-authored among other pertinent points, an amendHB 8120, or the proposed “Microplas- ment to the bill’s definition of plastic mitic Ban act of 2018.” crobeads so as not to limit the scope or “the passage of the bill as amended coverage of the bill. as an example, she will help in addressing the escalating cited the definition by the Global Plastic threat of microplastic pollution to the task Force for plastic microbeads as “any health of the oceans and aquatic life,” intentionally added, 5 mm or less, water said Dizon. insoluble, solid plastic particle used to He added, “We hope that a parallel exfoliate or cleanse in rinse-off personal bill will be introduced soon at the sen- care products.”

Entertainment

‘Wheely’ arrives in PH cinemas

Toronto...

From C4

The movie presents all sorts of viewpoints, from the candidate himself defending his privacy, to journalists questioning his morality, and political staffers left to deal with the fallout.

There has certainly been a shift in what American voters want to glean about their leaders over the past three decades.

Bai suggested that the public cares less now about extramarital affairs when they cast a ballot. “what is the measure of someone’s integrity? I think those are questions we still wrestle with, particularly in a news cycle that goes so fast,” he said.

“Do we (as journalists) assume that everyone is lying and fraudulent and it’s our job to find out how. Or

nickie.standard@gmail.com

Kids find new hope in Children’s Village

dicate with Wheely’s best friend, Putt Putt, a Chinese hybrid delivery scooter.

Rising to the occasion despite threats by elitist syndicates and mobster trucks, they soon ride the race of their lives to save their hometown.

From KRU Studios one of the leading media and entertainment companies in Malaysia, Wheely is directed by awardwinning action and visual effects director Yusry Halim (Clash of Empires).

Wheely opens in cinemas on tomorrow Sept. 12 from CrystalSky Multimedia. do we endeavor to provide context?

“What have they been for their whole lives, their careers, how have they voted, have they been corrupt, have they been honest with constituents in addition to their wife?” Bai asked.

Jackman, who hung out with Hart to prepare for the role, noted: “Post-Watergate every single journalist, every voter assumes there is a flaw that needs to be found out.”

But, added Carson, “whoever we’re going to elect is a human being and a human being has flaws.

“So we have to ask ourselves what kind of flaws do we want in that person,” he said.

Reitman said he showed the film last week to Hart, and then they went out for hot chocolate.

The movie will be released on Nov. 6, coinciding US midterm elections. AFP

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For over two decades, Bantay Bata 163 Children's Village has served as a refuge for thousands of abused children.

'Wheely' is an action comedy animation film that follows the titular character, an underdog cabbie and a racer at heart, who attempts to become king of the road in his hometown.

MEET the fast andmost important race hilarious Wheely,of his life, Wheely a three-time cham-then takes a job as a pion street racer intaxi while dabbling Gasket City whoin street sprinting attempts to be kingwhere he unexpectof the road in hisedly crashes with hometown until heBella di Monetti, discovers that stay-the face of Motor ing true to oneselfCity. is a greater pursuit They soon hit than personal glory it off on the road After breakingwhile discovering down during thea car-napping syn-

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

ALKFI managing director Susan Afan, Jing Castaneda-Velasco, Estrelita Turingan, Dale Jimenez, and Winnie Cordero.

L

EN, a product of incest, grew up without a mother and was passed from relative to relative, never experiencing the love of a family. She suffered abuse and neglect until Bantay Bata 163 rescued her and gave her a home in the Children’s Village.

Now, Len is finishing her studies as a scholar of Bantay Bata 163. She is determined to lead a new life and help other children as a teacher.

“The Children’s Village gave me hope because it showed me that it is possible to be loved, cared for, and eventually rise up from abuse,” said Len. “It gave me a home when nobody else did.”

In its 21 years, Bantay Bata 163 has saved thousands of abused children and given them new hope in life.Len was brave enough to share her story as Bantay Bata 163 announced the relaunch of the Children’s Village, which has served as a halfway house for rescued kids since it first opened in 2003.

“Even now as an adult, I remember staying in the village and feeling safer

than I ever felt anywhere else,” said Len. “This is where I first realized that a better future is within my reach.”

Bantay Bata 163’s transformative approach does not only lie in its capacity to change the lives of these children in need, but also applies to its operational vision as it endeavors to find new ways of combating abuse while remaining at the forefront of child welfare and protection in the country.

According to psychologist Estrelita Turingan from DSWD-NCR, Bantay Bata’s capacity-building programs provides children with the holistic healing that victims of abuse need to overcome trauma.

“Trauma lives in the body and affects each person differently,” said Turingan.

“There are no two identical cases so it’s important that Bantay Bata 163 has been able to provide each child with their own unique program of counseling, psychotherapy, and treatment.”

With the relaunch of the Children’s Village in Norzagaray, Bulacan in November, more children will be able to get the care and guidance they need to overcome the effects of abuse. It will continue to provide immediate care and holistic healing for at least 120 children at a time and help them build a better future for themselves through physical and psychological means in a structured, therapeutic family-like environment. Social workers, health care professionals, and house parents will look over the children in the complex, which has an administrative building, multi-purpose hall, and cottages, where children stay.

“As Bantay Bata 163 celebrates its 21st anniversary this year, ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation’s child welfare and protection program will continue to evolve as it remains in the service of the Filipino children,” said Jing Castaneda-Velasco, program director of Bantay Bata 163.

Giving the project a boost is the upcoming ABS-CBN Ball 2018,which is dedicated to the relaunching of Bantay Bata 163’s Children’s Village. The highly awaited event aims to celebrate friendship and togetherness and share love by giving back to the community.

For more information on the Bantay Bata 163 Children’s Village log on to www.abs-cbnfoundation.com or follow @abscbnfoundationkapamilya on Facebook.

Kathryn in a film sans Daniel KATHRYN Bernardo and Daniel Padilla don’t want to make a fuss about Sharon Cuneta’s recent Instagram post in which the Megastar said she’s certain she’ll love Kathryn as she’ll work with her in her upcoming movie opposite Richard Gomez titled, Three Words to Forever, but the tandem of Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto is irreplaceable in her heart.

Such statement displeased KathNiel supporters which prompted them to engage in a verbal tussle against Sharon’s fans on social media.

“I don’t think that was Ms. Sharon’s intention,” avers Kathryn. “Actually, when she posted her message on Instagram, I was like, ‘Oh my God! Is this legit?’ On the contrary, I’m happy that I’ll be working with her. It’s such a huge honor.

“When it comes to her statement, I guess it’s just normal that you won’t easily forget the people who became close to you in a project just because you’re currently work-

ing with someone new. It’s no big deal for me, really. What matters is that Ms. Sharon is open to accept me in her heart as well. It means so much that she allowed me to know her better now that we’ll be doing a project together.”

To this, Daniel totally agrees.

“It’s understandable if Ms. Sharon gives courtesy to Joshua and Julia. They’ve worked together first in ‘Unexpectedly Yours’. The good thing is, despite her love for JoshLia, she also embraces Kathryn into her fold,” he says.

Meanwhile, their currently showing film The Hows of Us is a certified blockbuster, which adds another feather into their cap as one of the country’s top love teams.

“We’re grateful for the public’s very warm reception of the movie. It’s really one challenging project. We’re glad the viewers liked its difference from all our other offerings. The fans can expect that there will always be something new in every potboiler

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, September 11, 2018

ACROSS 1 Fish bait 5 Throws off heat 10 Harsh criticism 14 PC system 15 Dynamite inventor 16 Stead 17 Word in a telegram 18 Busch Gardens site 19 — fixe 20 Just talk (2 wds.)

22 Scrutinize 24 Lobbying org.

25 Balance 26 Muffled, as sound 30 Drifters 35 Operated 36 S&L offerings 37 Decree 38 Touches off 41 Library need 43 Slur together 44 Play on words 45 Bubble source 46 Ms. Witherspoon 47 Ringmasters?

50 M, to Einstein 53 FBI acronym 54 Promotes (2 wds.)

58 Rosier

62 Fridge stick 63 Came unglued 66 Long-gone bird 67 Give credit 68 Coral island 69 Na+ and Cl70 Breathing organ 71 Wrinkled 72 Memorable decades DOWN 1 Like a rain forest 2 Till 3 Wild disorder 4 Grow larger 5 Spellbind 6 Maori’s quarry, once 7 “Big Blue” 8 Home of a brave 9 Vanquishes a dragon 10 Insincere 11 Verdi opus 12 Sense 13 Energy source 21 Dublin’s loc.

23 Lionel’s sister 25 Hwys.

26 Paint ingredient 27 Bald one 28 Daddy Warbucks’ ward

29 Mag execs 31 Lyric poem 32 Spree 33 Come about 34 Vertical parts of goblets 39 Ego companions 40 Crawls with 41 Haul into court 42 Deep down 44 Slumber-party attire 48 Barely manage 49 Aberdeen kid

51 Halos, of sorts 52 Flash flood 54 Bridge charge 55 Moises of baseball 56 Scrawny 57 King follower 59 Way out 60 Novelist — Ferber 61 Antarctic sea 64 — — few rounds 65 “Nightmare” street

we make,” the two say in unison.

Interestingly, since Kathryn is doing Three Words to Forever sans Daniel, is she open to the possibility that eventually, they will get paired with other actors?

“You know, I see nothing wrong with it,” she states. “It’s inevitable. I think it will be beneficial to our respective career.

It will be good to our craft as actors. But that doesn’t mean that our love team will be abolished or what. Of course, KathNiel remains solid!”

If Kathryn will be busy shooting a film, Daniel, on his part, will have his hands full preparing for his gig at the Bog Dome this coming October titled, “Back at the Araneta.”

“That’s right! After The Hows of Us, all my attention will be directed towards this. It’s been three years since my last concert so it’s exciting to perform on stage once again. As of now, I still have no idea as to how the show will turn out. I’m keeping my fingers crossed

that the public will support it,” he ends. *** According to Ritz Azul, she’s happy for her former Star Factor batch mates Eula Caballero and Christian Samson who got married last year and presently reside in the United States.

“Eula and I are still in contact until now and I’m happy that she’s now leading the life she really wanted since the beginning.

Even during our TV 5 days, she’d always speak about the simple life she wants to lead in the future together with the love of her life. It’s nice that she was able to fulfill her dream,” she says.

It’s a fact that she is among the few Kapatid stars who are still active in the scene these days since the station’s closure of its entertainment department a few years ago.

How does it feel?

“Maybe, we all took different paths already. I can only speak for myself, but I’m happy with what I chose. I just miss those

Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla star in “The Hows of Us,” a light drama that tries to find the reasons a couple in love should stay together despite the hurdles that real life presents.

times when we were all together, but as they say, that’s life.”

She has a new movie coming out opposite Pepe Herrera titled, The Hopeful Romantic under Regal Entertainment.

“Yes and I’m nervous since this is my maiden mainstream movie. I hope the public will patronize it,” states Ritz.

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

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Entertainment

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

INTERNATIONAL

Toronto film festival looks at politics and sex DO VOTERS need to know about a political candidate’s sex life? This came up during Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign but also three decades earlier when adultery ended another presidential run now the focus of a new film.

Director Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner, about US Senator Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential campaign and the scandalous affair that derailed it, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

It stars Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga and J.K. Simmons.

“The film is always asking what should we know, what do we need to know, what do we want to know,” Reitman told a press conference on Saturday.

“You ask one person and they’ll say I don’t need to know what’s going on in the president’s bedroom.

“And the next person might say he’s the president and everything should be available, he should have no secrets.”

After two terms of Ronald Reagan in the White House, the Democrats were eager to wrestle back power in 1988.

Hart was their star candidate, with intelligence, charisma and a strong political pedigree.

But it all fell apart when it came out that he was a womanizer who had an affair with a young woman, Donna Rice. Hart dropped out of the race.

The film is based on journalist Matt Bai’s book All the Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid.

In order to adapt the story for the silver screen, he teamed up with Jay Carson, who was press secretary for former secretary of state Hillary Clinton during her failed 2008 presidential bid.

Although the script was written before the 2016 election, when Trump was accused of paying hush money to two women with whom he allegedly had affairs—porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—Carson insists, “It’s a way to speak to what we’re going through today.”

“It’s a way to engage with the questions that we’re asking ourselves today without the divisiveness of having to be talking about something that’s happening right now,” echoed producer Helen Estabrook. Continued on C3

Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart in Jason Reitman's political drama, 'The Frontrunner:'

Beauty queen Michelle Gumabao with her pet at the premiere of 'Alpha' at Gateway Platinum Cinema.

Tricks and flick shine in the ‘Alpha’ screening

'The Hopeful Romantic' lead cast with director Topel Lee.

UNLIKELY PAIR

in a likely hit romcom P EPE Herrera is no Empoy VERY Marquez. Although the WANG first felt so honored when NICKIE he’s being compared to the blockWANG buster comedian, Pepe, as many film critics said during the press launch of the film The Hopeful Romantic, has numerous talents and can easily go from being a comedian to a serious actor, not to mention that he’s also a musician and a stage talent.

But the comparison between the two comedians was inevitable. In the Regal Entertainment film, Pepe plays an ordinary man who captures the attention of a sultry woman who wouldn’t likely fall for an unattractive man like him. The character, of course, reminds people of Empoy’s role in the sleeper hit, Kita Kita.

“I don’t like to feel the pressure of being called the next Empoy.

I’m not that competitive and Empoy is my good friend. I’d rather focus on the film, and share with the audience the kind of story that Regal has prepared for them,” Pepe remarked.

In the film, Pepe plays Jess, a 33-year-old virgin who works as a valet parking attendant at The Manila Hotel. He is described as an honest man.

The comedian, who finally gets to be a lead star in the upcoming romcom, has all the right to feel proud of the product they are offering to the moviegoers. The official trailer of the upcoming sexy romantic comedy, The Hopeful Romantic, has gone viral as it has reached a remarkable 10.5 million views on Facebook in less than three weeks since it was launched.

If anything, the virality of the trailer to organic Facebook users indicates a

positive reception from netizens. As of today, the trailer has now reached 111,000 shares, 15,000 positive comments on Good Time Fan Page. And if this reception is an early indication that people really anticipate the romcom, then we can expect another hit movie that can make Regal’s matriarch, Lily Monteverde, produce m o r e movies with

similar premise.

Also starring Ritz Azul, The Hopeful Romantic offers not just an entertaining love story, but also aims to impart an important lesson about love.

Ritz, who gets to be launched in this film as a leading lady, beams with pride about this project.

“Everybody who worked in this movie really gave their all. We had several revisions to get the shot that we wanted,” Ritz shared adding that she had to face a lot of challenges to complete the movie.

Firstly, Ritz, who is more comfortable with drama, ventures into comedy in The Hopeful Romantic. Secondly, she had to lose weight to effectively portray her role as a sexy gold digger.

“I had to look like one so I prepared physically by losing weight, kasi sobrang lumaki ako for a while before gawin yung movie,” she confessed. “I needed to be comfortable wearing a bikini in this film, too.”

In the story, Ritz is Veronica, a kept woman in the high society. One day she meets, Jess (Pepe) at the hotel bar.

Instantly, Pepe gets mesmerized by her presence. One thing lead to another, and Veronica gave Jess the “first time”. Jess, believing in the magic of what happened between them, decides that Veronica is his one true love.

Directed by Topel Lee, The Hopeful Romantic opens Sept. 12.

For more updates, follow Regal Entertainment Inc on Facebook, @ RegalFilms on Twitter, @RegalFilms50 on IG and Regal Cinema channel on YouTube.

UNLIKELY PAIR.

Regal Entertainment gives actors Ritz Azul and Pepe Herrera their biggest break in showbiz as they both star as lead in the romantic comedy, 'The Hopeful Romantic.'

DOG tricks and a grand movie.

Hailed as “well-acted and beautifully filmed” masterpiece, historical adventure film Alpha was screened in advance to select media and celebrity guests.

Alpha is a compelling story of tracing back to the last Ice Age, in which the never-ending and world-changing friendship of men and animals started.

Gateway Cineplex, in partnership with Sony-Columbia Pictures Philippines, held a special screening for the epic film at the Gateway Platinum Cinema, preceded by a dog tricks performance of Storm the Flatcoated Retriever with her trainer and canine life coach, Genevieve Reyes.

Sitting, twirling, playing dead and even praying, Storm wowed the spectators with amazing tricks after following every command.

For Reyes, training dogs is a mere hobby not work. She was determined to raise and to train Storm by watching online videos and reading books.

Reyes reached the pinnacle when she was selected as one of the Asian recruits and the first Filipina to join the training program in the National Geographic show Cesar’s Recruit: Asia of world-renowned dog behaviorist Cesar Millan.

In training dogs, Reyes shared that it is not just giving a command and “it shouldn’t be like work for them you have to have fun with it and you’re dog should also have fun with what you’re doing.”

Joining the fun event is Binibining Pilipinas Globe 2018 Michele Gumabao, who is also a dog lover. She even had a performance with her dogs during the Binibini Talent Competition earlier this year.

Also, SAVER/LadySAVER, a DLSU MedVet Organization, shared their vision and programs to eradicate rabies in the country through seminars and vaccination drive.

“Together we can achieve rabiesfree Philippines,” a representative concluded.

A man’s best friend is now a man’s mall mate.

Araneta Centre is now a pet-friendly community as it has opened the door to the pets in its mall premises in May. Pets can now have freedom with their owners to roam around the Gateway Mall, Farmers Plaza, and Ali Mall concierge by simply presenting Pet Pal ID, which is free of charge.

Additionally, pets with IDs will also have access to future Pet Pals events and promos.

Alpha is now open in Gateway and Ali Mall Cineplex, and in theaters nationwide.

Celebrating 100 Years of PH Cinema with ‘Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral’ IN TIME with the Centennial Anniversary of Philippine Cinema, SM Cinema proudly presents the Philippines’ biggest cinematic epic to date, Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral.

The second installment to the TBA Studios’ historical trilogy, Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral follows the events happened after Heneral Luna focusing to the life of one of the youngest Filipino generals during the Philippine-American War, General Gregorio del Pilar.

The final installment of the historical saga will be the film about former Philippine president Manuel L. Quezon.

Regarded as one of the most trusted

and loyal generals of President Emilio Aguinaldo, Gen. Gregorio del Pilar will have to face not only the Americans during the revolution but also the consequences of his decisions and actions being henchman of President Aguinaldo.

The historical epic is a salutation to the fallen heroes of the Philippine revolution and a dedication to the 100th year celebration of Philippine Cinema.

Directed by Jerrold Tarog, the film feature actors Paulo Avelino as Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, Carlo Aquino as Col. Vicente Enriquez, Mon Confiado as President Emilio Aguinaldo, Epy

Quizon as Apolinario Mabini, Arron Villaflor as Joven Hernando, Gwen Zamora as Remedios Nable Jose, Empress Schuck as Felicidad Aguinaldo, Che Ramos-Cosio as Hilaria Aguinaldo, Art Acuna as Maj. Manuel Bernal, Rafa Siguion-Reyna as Col. Julian del Pilar and Benjamin Alvez as Lt. Manuel Quezon.

Catch Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral in SM Cinema branches nationwide. Book your tickets through the website, www. smcinema.com or download the SM Cinema mobile app. You may also follow /SMCinema on Facebook and @ SM_Cinema on Instagram for updates

Mon Confiado and Paulo Avelino as Emilio Aguinaldo and Gregorio del Pilar

Nickel

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 advertise@manilastandard.net

SPECIAL REPORT

Nickel:

New king of PH minerals

By Jimbo Gulle

Before it reaches its purest form (far right), nickel is found in nickelsulphide ores such as this. It is then shaped into some of the world’s most useful items — including the Philippine one-peso coin, which contains 25 percent of the versatile element (inset).

T

he Philippines used to be known for its gold, silver, and copper, but a new element has taken the throne as the country’s top mineral product: nickel.

All About Nickel

By Carmela Martinez NICKEL, abbreviated Ni in the table of elements, is one of the most widelyused elements in the long list of elements in the periodic table. A silverywhite metallic element, nickel can be found in almost everything metallic and is an important element in our daily lives. Here’s why: 1.

Nickel came from the German word “kupfernickel” which means “devil’s copper.” It was found

by German miners who thought that it was copper, but when they failed to extract copper, they blamed it on being a work of the devil, hence the name.

2.

Nickel is the fifth-most common element on earth that can be found almost everywhere, with its use in over 300,000 products for consumer, industrial, military, transport, aerospace, marine and architectural applications. When mixed with other metals, it produces stainless and heat-resistant steels such as cooking utensils, medical equipment, and others.

3.

The Philippines is one of the top producers of Nickel in Asia, with Rio Tuba Mine in Bataraza, Palawan yielding an estimated reserve of 60.2 million tons of nickel ore or 764, 000 tons of nickel metal.

4.

Nickel is one of the most recycled materials globally. Being 100 percent recyclable, nickel or nickel alloys are collected and re-used for future use. It helps the environment and industries worldwide with its recyclable properties, thus is featured in ecofriendly pans, pots, kitchen sinks, batteries, as well as medical and food processing equipment.

5.

Nickel can be found in food, especially in chocolate. Dark chocolate has a nickel concentration of 2.6 micrograms per gram; milk chocolate has 1.2 ug/g and pure powdered cocoa 9.8 ug/g.

Cashews also have concentrated nickel at 5.1 ug/g. Kidney beans contains 0.45 ug/g, while spinach has 0.39 ug/g.

Other vegetables that contain nickel are peas, leeks, beans, soya (and soy protein powder), lentils, cabbage, kale, spin-

ach, lettuce, and bean sprouts.

Shellfish also contain a considerable amount of nickel.

Nickel is the fifth-most common element on earth.

6.

Nickel, along with copper, zinc, steel and aluminum, is commonly used in coins. It is mostly used in American coins (the five-cent coin which has taken its name), but in the Philippines, old coins still in circulation contain several percentages of nickel. The 10-peso coin, 5-peso coin and 1-peso coin contains 27%, 5.5%, and 25% of nickel, respectively.

As the w o r l d ’s secondbiggest supplier of nickel ore, the countr y exported 577,000 metric tons of it in 2016 and 2017 combined.

Last year’s nickel ore exports came in at 230,000 metric tons — a third less than the 2016 figure — but still raked in $455.21 million (P24.533 billion) for the country in 2017, according to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade.

That dollar figure shows the bright potential of the versatile element for the Philippine economy, perhaps even more than the precious metals mined elsewhere in the country.

In fact, the Philippines was the world’s top nickel producer in decades past, but the shifting local political landscape combined with environmental concerns forced it to lose ground to Indonesia. Our Southeast Asian neighbor has capitalized on our country’s current situation and kicked its production into high gear to feed the mineral-hungry economy of China.

It doesn’t mean that local nickel miners aren’t standing their ground, though. Thirty of the country’s 50 mining firms dig for nickel, and seven of them have formed a group — the Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) — to help champion the sector as well as the broader concept of responsible and sustainable mining that gives back to its partner communities.

Established in 2012, PNIA was organized to promote and develop the nickel mining industry in the country. Given that the mining industry sector is a major backbone of the Philippine economy, the association believes that both the government and the private sector play significant roles as partners in developing this segment of the economy.

PNIA believes the joint efforts of government and the private sector should be continuous and always aimed at revitalizing and developing mining in a manner that balances economic, environmental, and social objectives. The group also firmly advocates for self-regulation and sharing of best practices between and among key stakeholders of the mining industry.

PNIA is committed to inspire, uplift, and promote the best mining practices within the local industry while building recognition of its contribution to local communities and society at large. Its current members include CTP Construction and Mining Corporation, Platinum Group Metals Corporation, DMCI Mining Corporation, Marcventures Mining Development Corporation, Carrascal Nickel Corporation, Citinickel Mines and De-

velopment Corporation, and Agata Mining Ventures, Inc. The vision of PNIA is to position the nickel development industry as a globally competitive and responsible driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the Philippines.

With these ideals in place, the PNIA is committed to inspire, uplift and promote the best mining practices within the local industry, while giving back to the community that entrusted the care of their land to its miners.

“We are partners of the government and other stakeholders for responsible mining. We are providers of opportunities to our fellow Filipinos who want to attain a more prosperous way of life,” the group adds.

Still, multiple challenges are on the horizon for Philippine nickel miners. First is that what was once one of the most liberal mining regimes in Southeast Asia is now subject to a government crackdown that shows no sign of relenting. As noted

by Amanda Kay in an article for Investingnews.com, “For now, one thing is certain: the direction the Philippines goes with its mining policy moving forward will impact the global nickel market.”

Second is producing the right type of nickel ore that end-users such as Chinese companies will use to produce anything from stainless steel to batteries for electric vehicles. A recent Standard and Poor’s analysis of the global nickel market says most nickel producTURN TO D3

Nickel can be found in food like dark chocolate.

7.

Nickel is necessary for healthy plant life. Nickel, in small amounts, is found in plant enzymes that help balance the ammonia in them. Without it, the toxic levels of ammonie can accumulate in the plant’s tissues and thus the plant becomes entirely toxic.

A picture of Marcventures Mining’s nickel mine in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur.

PNIA Chairman and President of Marcventures Mr. Isidro Alcantara Jr. speaks at the recent Philippine Mining Club luncheon in Makati City.

D2

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PGMC deploys concrete reefs in Cagdianao Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) recently deployed long-lasting artificial concrete reefs at the Marine Protected Sanctuary in Brgy. Cagdianao, Claver, Surigao del Norte.

Its team from the Environment Department, headed by Mr. Junel Garcia and Ms. Sunshine Dequiño Ogoc, were joined

by 34 volunteers from Cagdianao fisherfolk and representatives from the barangay government.

The volunteers, guided by local fisherfolk, braved the strong water current to identify suitable areas for the concrete modules.

The two-day activity installed 33 modules of concrete reefs at a distance of 5 meters from each other, and is expected to help expand the reef systems in the area.

Nickel

SPECIAL REPORT

PGMC partners with TESDA to provide beauty skills training

PLATINUM Group Metals Corporation (PGMC), the largest single lateritic ore exporter in the world, recently conducted a Beauty Care Skills Training in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Auhtority (TESDA) to residents of Surigao del Norte.

A total of 73 participants from Barangays Cabugo, Wangke, Panatao, Sapa, Magallanes, Daywa, Tayaga, Bagakay, and Ladgaron underwent training on the basics of nail care, which includes how to perform manicures and pedicures and the proper care for tools and materials used by nail technicians.They also learned how to perform a hand spa and foot spa.

The trainees were also provided their own tools and equipment to jump start their home-based business right after the training.

The project is under PGMC’s Social Management Development Program (SDMP).

In the photo together with the training recipients are (seated from left): Kagawad Analiza Galaura of Brgy. Sapa; Brgy. Chairwoman Evelyn Palulay of Brgy. Tayaga; Brgy. Chairwoman Aida Bertudazo of Brgy. Sapa; Brgy. Chairman Reneboy Intema of Brgy. Magallanes; Brgy.

Chairman Roberto Bayugbog of Brgy. Ladgaron, Alex C. Arabis, Community Relations Manager of PGMC; Joselito Ecoben of TESDA Especialist 2 Surigao del Norte; and Jessamor E. Celeste, Trainor.

Street lights bring peace of mind to Carrascal village

Street lights installed by MMDC along one of the roads which runs directly through the center of the town in Barangay Baybay, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur, an MMDC host community. In right photo, Barangay Councilor Gregorio Ronquillo is joined by town folks residing in areas that used to be too dark or ill-lit, but now illuminated and much safer than ever through MMDC’s donation of street lights.

—

CARRASCAL, Surigao del Sur—Emalyn and Anthony Duero recall the days when they would not attempt to venture out of their home in the evening, frightened they would meet danger along the way.

Roads in their coastal village of Baybay in this town were mostly unlit a magnet for street brawls among the youth and thieves.

“It used to be too dark here which can put everyone at risk at night. Pedestrians could get hit by a passing vehicle so dark roads are really dangerous,” says the 34-year-old Emalyn, who has a two-year- old son with Anthony.

“What worried us more were the ‘akyatbahay’ incidents that had become rampant in their village,” added Anthony.

Recognizing the importance of illuminating their streets in deterring crimes and in enhancing road safety, Barangay Councilor Gregorio Ronquillo said the barangay council partnered with Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation (MMDC), through its Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), for the installation of street lights.

The company’s Community Relations team are continuously identifying areas that need the same program.

Now that the roads are well-lit, Ronquillo says street brawls have disappeared, and thefts have significantly dropped in the area.

“The impact in terms of peace and order and road safety has been very great. We feel much safer now,” the village councilor said. “Gone are the days of paranoia when we worry a lot about thieves prowling at night. Even errant youths no longer converge in streets because we can now easily identify them.”

For the Dueros, the street lights have brought comfort and peace of mind.

“We are more comfortable to walk on our streets now that our area is better lit. We recognize the efforts of our Barangay officials and we are thankful for MMDC’s assistance,” Emalyn says.

Nickel

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SPECIAL REPORT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 advertise@manilastandard.net

PNIA Chairman and President of Marcventures Holdings Inc. (MHI) Isidro C. Alcantara Jr. speaks at the recent Philippine Mining Club luncheon in Makati City.

PH nickel industry plants more than 4 million trees G OING beyond compliance in implementing responsible and sustainable mining operations, key players in the Philippine nickel industry have planted an estimated 4.2 million trees to date in the Caraga region and in Palawan.

The Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA), through its seven member-companies, has raised its greening efforts in recent years as part of ongoing progressive rehabilitation and reforestation in their respective mining areas.

“Our member-companies have planted more than we have mined.

In fact, our ‘green’ footprint is larger than our mining footprint in terms of area. Our aggregate reforestation effort comes up to a total of about 2,000 hectares planted to date,” said Charmaine Olea-Capili, PNIA executive director.

She cited a forest density of about 2,100 trees per hectare among its members -- which is much higher than the country’s National Greening Program.

A variety of indigenous and endemic tree and grass species have been successfully planted since the start of rehabilitation efforts. These include Agoho, Mahogany, giant bamboo, Tiger Kamagong, Tiga, Ipil, Narra, and Ironwood, as well as fruit-bearing trees like Calamansi, Rambutan, Cashew, Jackfruit, and Cacao, among others.

Cash crops such as rubber, coffee, vegetables, and herbal plants are also grown in the mine sites’ respective nurseries.

Apart from providing employment to residents and to the indigenous community, the program also allows the companies to help their respective host communities, as seedlings can be donated to the community in support of various greening initiatives.

This has given birth to an emerging downstream industry, agro-forestry, which also focuses on the community’s livelihood beyond mining.

The intensified reforestation program demonstrates PNIA members’ commitment and contributions to the government’s “National Greening Program” or the NGP, which aims to revegetate some 1.2 million hectares of “unproductive, denuded, and degraded” forest land nationwide from 2017-2022.

“Much effort has been poured into rehabilitation because what has been planted will outlast the mine itself. This is for the community and for the generations to come, long after the mines have concluded their operations,” said Capili.

Meanwhile, PNIA is also set to undertake a unified effort to implement a Bamboo Plantation and Livelihood Project.

The unique properties of bamboo complements on-going rehabilitation and reforestation efforts, provides livelihood opportunities and helps improve community disaster preparedness.

In addition, the PNIA focuses on other environmental preservation initiatives such as wildlife conservation, marine protection, rubber plantations, tilapia production, and other activities that improve the environment.

Organized in 2012 as non-stock non-profit organization, the PNIA is composed of Platinum Group Metals Corporation, CTP Construction and Mining Corporation, Citinickel Mines and Development Corporation, Carascal Nickel Corporation, DMCI Mining Corporation, Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation, and TVIRD’s Agata Mining Ventures Incorporated.

NICKEL...

FROM D1

ers started their operations geared toward producing nickel sulfide ores, but when that became scarce, the market gravitated toward laterite ores that were costlier to extract.

Finally, it’s up to local nickel miners to decide what grade of ore to produce that would make the most profit, given the generally falling prices for the metal in the world market. Mining firms are slowly shifting to shipping medium-grade ores amid

Staff Box Rolando Estabillo Publisher Anita Grefal OIC-Operations and Sales Baldwin Felipe Advertising Solutions Head and Supplement Proponent Paula Marie Reynoso Supplements Head Jimbo Owen Gulle Writer/Editor Carmela Martinez Writer Advertising Support Group Sheila Suarez Joan Velasco Eric Jutic Edelyn Elamparo Romel J. Mendez Vicky Ayeng Design

declining prices of the usual low-grade nickel ores — 90 percent of which goes to China from the Philippines.

“For the long term, this would mean that some mines might slowdown in their production in the coming years depending on the areas being mined.

The shift would have to make adjustments depending on mineralization,” PNIA president Dante Bravo said in a recent forum.

But the association itself remains optimistic for a brighter outlook for nickel in the short term.

“Nickel is basically a consumer good.

Nickel consumption is still increasing globally, particularly in China with their booming electronic vehicle industry, as well as increasing public expenditures on construction,” Bravo added.

That only points to one thing—a long reign for the new king of Philippine minerals.

MARCVENTURES MINING: Trying To Make Lives Better

C

ARRASCAL, Surigao del Sur—Beyond regulatory compliance, Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation (MMDC) sees ethical and sustainable operations as a moral obligation to improve the conditions of the environment and community stakeholders.

“Sustainability is in the mining industry’s DNA, and we are also guided by it at Marcventures as we operate,” says Mr.Isidro C. Alcantara Jr., President for Marcventures Holdings Inc. “Since we began our operations, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to responsible minerals development at the same time, we seek ways to uplift our host communities on a permanent basis, and we will continue to do so.”

For MMDC therefore, social and environmental responsibility means leaving a positive mark on Mother Nature and for the people where the company operates.

This is seen in the eyes of individuals whose lives have changed for the better; in the flourishing towns that benefit from mining taxes, jobs, and increased economic activities; in the conversion of mined-out lands into productive areas for sustainable livelihood.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM One person whose life has drastically changed is MMDC scholar Rey Mark Cornejo, who was recently promoted as chef de partie at a luxury cafe in Qatar.

In a letter to Mr. Alcantara, Rey Mark expressed deep gratitude to the company for helping him fulfill his dream of finishing a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

“Your generosity and the act of kindness of of Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation (MMDC) has inspired a young dreamer to achieve his life aspirations,” Rey Mark, who graduated in 2015, says.

“I am so grateful all throughout these years that you all took part in my journey,” Rey Mark says of MMDC, whose scholarship program is acknowledged by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) as the largest of its kind among the large-scale mining companies operating in Caraga Region.

Bankrolled by its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund as well as the company’s Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), MMDC’s scholarship initiative has produced hundreds of college graduates over the years.

The program currently has 236 college scholars enrolled in different colleges and universities in Mindanao, Visayas, and even Luzon. Some 35 scholars are expected to obtain their college degrees early next year.

JOBS, LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMS As one of the largest employers in the region’s mining industry, MMDC provides hundreds of employment opportunities for local residents like Mendrado C. Guiral Jr.

Mendrado, a former OFW, decided not to go back to his job in the Middle East after being hired as an electrician by the company six years ago.

“I knew too well the struggles of an OFW: the pain of separation, the constant anxiety every time a lovedone got sick back home,” Mendrado says. “It’s good to be working in your own hometown where you can always see your family after a day’s work.”

Mendrado’s wife, Menchie, works as a daycare worker in one of the schools supported by MMDC. Menchie is one of MMDC’s 17 volunteer teachers assigned to different public schools whose monthly salary is partly subsidized by the company.

In the community, MMDC’s livelihood programs are built around existing potentials of both human and natural resources to ensure sustainability.

A continuing project that began in 2017, for instance, MMDC allocated over PHP3.1 million to train and provide seed capital for abaca, falcata, coconut, and cacao growers in Cantilan and Carrascal towns.

Falcata grower Emalyn Antad says she stands to earn P3 million when her one-hectare plantation is ready for harvest four years from now.

Antad, 51, estimates that for 80 fullgrown trees, a grower can expect a profit of P150,000. Each hectare has a total of 2,500 planted falcata seedlings.

“So imagine if I even have a 90 percent survival rate, I could be a millionaire four years from now,” she says with a hearty laugh.

RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP MMDC’s effort to establish sustainable livelihood programs does not end with giving families and community organizations a leg up in terms of capital, capacity-building, and technical assistance.

More importantly, the company seeks to build its environmental programs around the economic potentials of mined-out areas to create communityrun enterprises that would last beyond MMDC’s mine life.

One such project is the company’s fiveyear Bamboo Plantation Development Program, primarily geared toward creating a bamboo-based industry that will benefit mining communities.

“I thought I would land a job planting bamboos after the training. I never realized I’m now an entrepreneur myself,” 41-year old Helen Custoya, a mother of five, says during the sidelines of the Proper Bamboo Plantation Establishment and Management on July 4 to 6, 2018.

Custoya is one of 20 residents of Brgy. Panikian, Carrascal town, who

Scholar Rey Mark Cornejo feeling positively proud and accomplished for fulfilling his dream of finishing college and landing on a job he loves and enjoys, through MMDC’s scholarship.

MEET THE GUIRALS. Mendrado and Menchie Guiral pose outside their home with their children Helen Mechelle, 16, Melchor Dave, 13, Mark Julius, 10, Angela, 9, Chermen, 4 and Chiester, 3.Truly, the Gurial family is a living testimony of how responsible mining can change lives and empower families.

‘We shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that we can do for our fellowmen, we must do it now, for we shall not pass this way again.’

—Stephen Grellet organized themselves under the Pili Kawajan Association (PKJ) that will manage the 10-hectare model bamboo plantation.

Jose Dagala, MMDC Vice President for Social Commitments, said the company has initially set aside 45 hectares of mined-out areas for its bamboo-based rehabilitation program. The area currently has over 19,976 bamboo seedlings planted.

“First we organize them and teach them how to plan and establish a bamboo plantation, then we conduct skills training for them to effectively manage their business and generate profits,” Dagala said.

Dagala said more trainings are scheduled to provide the association the necessary knowledge and skills on manufacturing.

“The association will then employ the tools and skills they have obtained from training and technical assistance provided by Marcventures to produce mambo-based products--and earn,” he said.

As the association’s president, Custoya vowed to rally her members for them to succeed.

“After all, we will be the ones who will benefit and our earnings can greatly help complement the incomes of our husbands,” she said.

Custoya described the bamboo livelihood training as “enlightening,” saying only then she realized the essential environmental functions of bamboos.

“Bamboos help prevent landslides because its strong roots hold the soil firmly during rainy days. I’ve never known the enormous economic and environmental benefits of bamboos before the training,” the PKJ president said.

Falcata project beneficiary Emalyn Anta is all smiles while posing beside a growing falcata tree.

Since it began commercial operations in 2012, MMDC has rehabilitated over 230 hectares of mined-out areas and planted over 434,500 seedlings.

‘KATAS NG MINA’ Being a responsible steward also means being a responsible corporate citizen--and for MMDC that means paying the right taxes to enable the delivery of basic services at the local level.

On top of national taxes, MMDC and other mining firms pay real property tax, local business tax, Mayor’s Permit fee, regulatory and administrative fees, and Occupation Fees.

In Cantilan town, Mayor Philip Pichay estimates that MMDC—the town’s lone large-scale mining firm —brings in an average of P20 million in local taxes every year, twice the municipality’s annual tax collection.

At a money in circulation turnover of about 4X Mayor Pichay, a former SGV and multinational executive, estimates that the inflows actual generate P80 million for Cantilan.

“Taxes from mining help us build new roads and infrastructure, and the economic benefits we get in the form of jobs for our residents, as well as increased business activity, are

undoubtedly crucial for our growth,” Mayor Pichay said at the height of moves by then Environment Sec. Gina Lopez to close down majority of the country’s mines.

In Carrascal, where MMDC is one of the town’s three nickel mines, the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) said mining taxes and other fees contributed an average of P198 million annually.

The town is known for its “Katas ng Mina” signages, plastered on vital public facilities such as hospitals, a spanking Munici;ap Hall, cemented roads and even free prescription glasses for Seniors that mining taxes from all other miners pay for .

“Katas ng Mina”--a mark that will last for many years for locals to remember that once upon a time, responsible mining has brought positive impact on their on their town and on their lives.

This is happening already all over the place where MMDC is doing its mine. And this is the mark that MMDC strives to leave for future generations.

As Alcantara quotes Stephen Grellet, “We shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that we can do for our fellowmen, we must do it now, for we shall not pass this way again.”

Marcventures is making Bamboo the centerpiece of its mining rehabilitation program after a year of planning, soil testing and planting.

Photos showing Marcventures’ benching and progressive rehabilitation.