Manila Standard - 2017 December 05 - Tuesday

3 MORE JUSTICES TO TESTIFY VS SERENO

By Maricel V. Cruz and Rey E. Requejo THREE more Supreme Court justices are expected to testify against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in the impeachment hearings before the House committee on justice, the panel chairman said Monday.

At the same time, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the committee, brushed aside claims by the complainant, Lorenzo Gadon, that he received information that an

“oligarch” planned to bribe senators P200 million each to acquit Sereno at her impeachment trial.

“I do not want to be bothered by it,” Umali said of Gadon’s claim. “It could be hearsay.”

Umali said his panel would not likely act on Gadon’s information and would instead “focus on the more important matters of establishing the charges.”

Umali said his panel invited Associate Justices Francis H. Jardeleza and Next page

Moro outlaws kill 2 civilians, hurt 3 others

By Francisco Tuyay

CHRISTMAS TRAIN. It’s Christmas at LRT trains in Metro Manila, with management exertng efforts to brighten the mood of passengers, with a Christmas-themed train, decked with boughs of holly, candy-striped poles, lanterns and red and green overhead lights. But outside, it looks like any other train. The idea, according to Light Rail Manila Corp. is to surprise commuters. Manny Palmero

TWO civilians were killed and three others wounded after the governmentdescribed terrorist group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters attacked a community in Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao Sunday.

Capt Arvin Encinas, Information Officer of the 6th

Infantry Division, said the two civilian fatalities were fired at by BIFF rebels after failing to inflict casualties on army troopers who responded to protect beleaguered residents of Sitio Bagong of Barangay Timbangan.

Encinas said the identities of the slain two residents were not immediately available.

Next page

House measure lowers electric bill THE House of Representatives, intending to lower power rates, unanimously approved on third and final reading a bill exempting the system loss charge component in the sale of electricity by distribution companies and electric cooperatives from the coverage of the value added tax.

House Bill 1616, principally authored

by Rep. Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna party-list, seeks to amend Section 109

(1) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended by Republic Act 9337 and RA 10378, so that the system loss component in the sale of electricity by distribution companies and electric cooperatives shall be among the transactions exempt from VAT. Zarate said another amendment provides for the VAT exemption of sale or Next page

VOL. XXXI • NO. 291 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Vaccine death fears eased Drug maker clarifies PH kids no guinea pigs

Health chief looks into Sanofi liability

By Macon RamosAraneta, Maricel V. Cruz and Rey E. Requejo HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday said the manufacturer of Dengvaxia may be charged for releasing the anti-dengue vaccine after it was revealed it can cause severe ailments to children who have not been infected by the virus before vaccination.

“It’s possible there’s liability, but I have asked

Cha Cha ball starts rolling next month

By Maricel V. Cruz THE chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on constitutional amendments has expressed readiness for congressmen led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to start the grand debate on Charter Change as early as January 2018.

Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado, panel chairperson, said the House Next page

the Department of Health legal services to study the contract and their undertakings, because every contract has stipulations,” Duque said.

French drug manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur issued a warning last week that those who have not had dengue before could suffer a more severe form if they were immunized with Dengvaxia.

Sanofi said that new analysis of clinical data on Dengvaxia confirmed that Next page

By John Paolo Bencito, Joel E. Zurbano and AFP

A

WORLD-FIRST dengue vaccination program in the Philippines that was suspended over safety concerns will not cause anyone who was immunized to die, drug manufacturer Sanofi and local authorities said on Monday.

DENGUE VACCINE. Ching Santos, Sanofi general manager (with microphone), gives an

update Monday on the Sanofi-manufactured dengue vaccine in the Philippines during a news briefing at F1 Hotel Bonifacio Global City, while Sanofi Pasteur Philippines Dr. Ng Su Peing (leftmost), Global Medical head, Dr. Ruby Dizon, medical director of Sanofi, and Dr. Joselito Sta. Ana, regional director of Sanofi, listen. Lino Santos

The Philippines on Friday suspended the program, after more than 733,000 people had been immunized, in response to a statement from Sanofi

Hi-tech war jets see action in US-SoKor military drill SEOUL—The US and South Korea on Monday kicked off their largest ever joint air exercise, an operation North Korea has labelled an “all-out provocation,” days after Pyongyang fired its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile.

The five-day Vigilant Ace drill—involving 230 aircraft, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters, and tens of thousands of troops— began Monday morning, Seoul’s air force said.

Pyongyang over the weekend blasted the drill, accus-

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ing US President Donald’s Trump’s administration of “begging for nuclear war.”

The annual exercise comes five days after the nuclear-armed North testfired a new ICBM, which it says brings the whole of the continental United States within range.

As tensions surged, US Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican and foreign policy hawk, warned that the US was NOT SO STEALTH. A US Air Force F-22 Raptor Stealth jet takes off Monday at a South Korean moving closer to “preemp- air base in Gwangju after Seoul and Washington kicked off their largest ever joint air exercises, an tive war” with the North. operation North Korea has labelled an ‘all-out provocation’—only days after Pyongyang fired its Next page

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most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. AFP

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that its vaccine could cause “more cases of severe disease” for people who had not previously had the mosquito-borne ailment.

Next page

Davao doles comfort food to Marawi vets

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY―The people of Davao sent a total of 1,700 holiday food packs containing comfort food such as pomelo and pastries for the soldiers in the battle-scarred Marawi City.

Raul Nadela Jr., the mayor’s chief of staff, said the food packs that the city government sent were its way of saying thank you to Next page

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Diesel goes cheaper by 30 centavos per liter

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE oil suppliers rolled back pump prices by P0.30 per liter of diesel and P0.30 per liter of kerosene effective Tuesday but left gasoline prices unchanged.

“Petron will implement the following price rollbacks effective 6 a.m. tomorrow, Dec. 5: P0.30 per liter of diesel and P0.30 per liter of kerosene,” Petron Corp. said in its advisory.

Petron aside, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Eastern Petroleum Philippines, Seaoil Philippines and PTT Philippines also cut pump prices.

On Nov. 28, the oil suppliers raised pump prices

by P0.35 per liter of diesel and P0.25 per liter of kerosene but left gasoline prices unchanged.

The Energy Department recently amended the Retail Rules for the downstream oil industry and issued the Code of Safety Practices for LPG Refilling Plants to protect the public from dishonest traders of petroleum products.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said his department also improved the standards for bio-diesel blends for both automotive and industrial diesel oil, incorporating the Euro IV-Philippine grade that lowers sulfur content for cleaner emissions.

Cha Cha...

From A1 was eyeing to pass House Concurrent Resolution 9 directing both chambers of Congress to convene into a constituent assembly to rewrite the 1987 Constitution.

“I am confident House Concurrent Resolution No. 9 can be expedited and be ready by or before January 2018. HCR No. 9 already has a committee report that consolidated several measures,” Mercado told reporters.

The switch to federalism was among the 27 legislative measures branded as priority by the Duterte administration during the Legislative- Executive Development Advisory Council-Execom meeting last August.

“The House is therefore able to back up Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez when he meets Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III,” Mercado said.

“We have support from our colleagues in the House to get their approval on HCR No. 9 in the near term and on the proposed amendments when Congress is convened as a constituent assembly,” Mercado added.

Congressional leaders earlier agreed to create a joint technical working group composed of congressmen and senators to draft the proposed revisions to the Constitution in the absence of the 25-man Constitutional Commission to be created by President Rodrigo Duterte.

House Majority Floor Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas earlier said the House and the Senate might tap six to 12 members each in the joint TWG to form a working draft that would be submitted to Congress which would convene itself into a Constituent Assembly to push federalism.

‘Let public gain access to info’

By John Paolo Bencito

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called on Congress and the Supreme Court to give “unfettered public access to relevant information” after the Executive released an order early in the President’s term upholding freedom of information.

“I hope that both the legislative and judicial branches of government will join us in strengthening our democratic institutions by instituting measures that would allow unfettered public access to relevant infor-

mation about their affairs,” Duterte said in his message Monday.

“It is by ensuring accountability in public service through an informed citizenry that we can truly realize the constitutional

Vaccine...

From A1

on hold pending government’s review of the health project.

Sanofi general manager Ching Santos said the vaccine has gone through rigorous tests for over 20 years. She added their children also took the vaccine.

Santos said the company will also cooperate with the Departments of Justice, and Health officials and the National Bureau of Investigation with the pending probe in connection with the P3.5-billion dengue program.

“In line with that, well of course [Sanofi] is a very responsible company, we are transparent. If we will be invited, we will present whatever data we had presented to the stakeholders, the Food and Drug Administration, and the DoH. Of course we will cooperate,” she said.

The giant pharmaceutical firm based in France will ask health authorities to update information provided to physicians and patients on Dengvaxia in countries where it is approved.

The request is based on a new analysis of long-term clinical trial data, which found differences in vaccine performance based on prior dengue infection.

Based on up to six years of clinical data, the new analysis evaluated long-term safety and efficacy of Dengvaxia in people who had been infected with dengue prior to vaccination and those who had not.

The analysis confirmed that Dengvaxia provides persistent protective benefit against dengue fever in those who had prior infection. For those not previously infected by dengue virus, however, the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection.

“These findings highlight the complex nature of dengue infection. We are working with health authorities to ensure that prescribers, vaccinators and patients are fully informed of the new findings, with the goal of enhancing the impact of Dengvaxia in dengue-endemic countries.” said Dr. Su-Peing Ng, Global Medical head, Sanofi Pasteur.

About half of the world’s population lives in countries where four serotypes of dengue virus are in circulation. Every year an estimated 390 million dengue infections are reported.

Sanofi stated that people can be infected with dengue up to four times in their lifetime and they can get severely ill

After news outlets and some politicians in the Philippines expressed concern about the welfare of those immunized, the French pharmaceutical giant held a press conference in Manila to state the potential cases of “severe dengue” would not be fatal.

“What is this severe [dengue]? When people think of ‘severe’, this already includes dengue shock that could lead to death, but no,” Sanofi Pasteur regional head for dengue Joselito Sta. Ana told reporters.

Sta. Ana said Sanofi’s definition of “severe dengue” merely referred to symptoms including two days of fever, a lower platelet count and bruising.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque also sought to allay fears, stating there was “no danger” with the Dengvaxia vaccine.

“The worst that can happen is for those who have not had dengue before—which is one out of 10 [Filipinos]—they may get infected with dengue but falling under our previous classification of ‘mild,’ having fever and bruises,” Roque said.

Nevertheless, the Justice Department announced Monday that the National Bureau of Investigation would investigate the vaccination program “over the alleged danger to public health.” It warned in a statement that charges could follow.

The previous administration of President Benigno Aquino III launched the vaccination program last year, making the Philippines the first nation to use Dengvaxia on a mass scale.

Although the Philippine program has been suspended, Dengvaxia remains available on an individual basis in consultation with doctors, the Health Department said.

At the press conference, Sta. Ana denied suggestions that thousands of Filipinos were not used as guinea pigs.

“The Department of Health program is a public health program, not a clinical trial, so Filipinos were not used as guinea pigs,” Sta. Ana said.

Sta. Ana also said nine out of 10 Filipinos are exposed to dengue by the time they reach adolescence but only three-fourths of the cases are asymptomatic.

Officials of the drug firm said there have been no reported deaths in the Philippines related to the program, which was put

3Frommore...

A1 Noel G. Tijam and Retired Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion to attend the impeachment proceeding on Dec. 11.

Associate Justice Teresita J. Leonardode Castro, in an unprecedented move, appeared before the House justice panel on Nov. 29 to shed light on instances when Sereno acted without the approval of the full Court as she is required to do.

Umali said his committee would understand should the justices fail to appear before his committee because the Court has yet to promulgate the final text of the Nov. 28 en banc decision permitting justices to

House...

From A1 lease of goods or properties or the performance of services, the gross annual sale and/or receipts do not exceed the amount of P1.5 million.

Provided that not later than Jan. 31, 2019 and every three years thererafter, the amount herein stated shall be adjusted to its present value using the consumer price index as published by the National Statistics Office.

Zarate, member of the Makabayan Bloc, said the VAT was a form of sales tax.

It is a tax on consumption levied on the sale, barter, exchange or lease of

tenet that, indeed, sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”

Duterte had earlier signed Executive Order 2 putting into operation Freedom of Information and institutionalizing the state’s policy of full public disclosure and transparency in the public service.

The order directed agencies to respond to citizen’s concerns within 15 to 30 days. All government agencies were also ordered to prepare their respective after any of these infections.

It added that surveillance data from some endemic countries indicate that between 70 and 90 percent of people will have been exposed to dengue at least once by the time they reach adolescence.

The firm also said there are many factors that can lead to severe dengue infection. However, the highest risk of getting more severe disease has been observed in people infected for the second time by a different dengue virus.

Dengvaxia is currently indicated in most of the countries for individuals 9 years of age and older living in a dengueendemic area. In this indicated population, Dengvaxia has been shown to prevent 93 percent of severe disease and 80 percent of hospitalizations due to dengue over the 25-month phase of the large-scale clinical studies conducted in 10 countries in Latin America and Asia where dengue is widespread.

Based on the new analysis, Sanofi will propose that national regulatory agencies update the prescribing information, known as the label in many countries, requesting that health care professionals assess the likelihood of prior dengue infection in an individual before vaccinating.

Vaccination should only be recommended when the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks (in countries with high burden of dengue disease). For individuals who have not been previously infected by dengue virus, vaccination should not be recommended.

The Sanofi label proposal will be reviewed by national regulatory agencies in each of the countries where the vaccine is registered or under registration. Following their review, each agency might amend the company proposed label.

Dengue is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne viral disease for which there is no treatment. Almost 4 billion people are living at risk of dengue and these people can be sickened by dengue not just once but as many as four times in their lifetimes.

The World Health Organization has called on countries with dengue to employ an integrated approach to dengue prevention and management, with the aim of reducing deaths due to dengue by 50 percent and related disease and disability by 25 percent by 2020.

In the Palace, Roque said the

testify on administrative matters.

“Some of the resource persons requested that they be allowed to testify only after the decision is promulgated. I urge the Supreme Court to immediately promulgate it to make things clear,” Umali said.

Among the allegations in the Gadon’s impeachment complaint were Sereno’s alleged manipulation of the Judicial and Bar Council’s nomination proceedings to block Jardeleza’s appointment to the Supreme Court.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez is among the resource persons in Tuesday’s impeachment proceedings to talk about the allegedly delayed action on the numerous petitions for judges’ retirement benefits or spouses’ survivorship benefits.

goods or properties and services in the Philippines and on importation of goods into the country, he said.

Zarate said VAT was an indirect tax which is shifted or passed on to the buyer, transferee or lessee of goods, properties or services.

Being a pass-on tax, the tax burden of paying the VAT is therefore ultimately left upon the shoulder of the end users— the consuming public, he said.

Meanwhile, system loss is the part of one’s electric bill representing the cost of electricity lost during transmission, pilferage, and due to technical and administrative inefficiency.

Even pilfered power and electricity used by the distribution companies such

as the Manila Electric Co. and electric cooperatives are passed on to consumers, according to Zarate.

Citing a report by independent thinktank Ibon Foundation, Zarate said the system loss charge comprises about eight percent of the total electricity bill.

Worse, this system loss charge is also subjected to the coverage of VAT which further drives electricity bills up.

As a tax on consumption, Zarate said VAT ought to be imposed upon the goods and services people actually buy and consume.

By its very definition, therefore, the lawmaker said the imposition of VAT upon the system loss charge was unfounded and illegal as the people were

Peoples’ FOI Manuals.

“Within the first month of this administration, we took immediate action to address the urgent need to preserve and defend our people’s constitutional right to information on matters of public concern,” Duterte said.

“We have made great strides in providing access to relevant records, research data, documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions and decisions in the executive branch.”

700,000 who have been inoculated were not in danger.

“The good news is people should not panic about the dengue vaccine. There is no danger with the dengue vaccine,” Roque said in a news briefing at Malacañang.

Roque echoed the assurance of Sanofi that for those who already had contact with dengue, which represents nine out of 10 Filipinos, the dengue vaccine “is in fact very effective in protecting the patient from another attack of dengue.”

“The only new finding that they have is that for the one person out of 10 who’s not had dengue, chances are after three years, he may still be afflicted with dengue which was classified as ‘severe dengue’,” he said.

In the same briefing, Health Assistant Secretary Lyndon Lee Suy said that those 10 percent “at risk” will not automatically develop the disease for simply being vaccinated.

“You may develop [it]. You may be at risk. But [we are] not saying that [that] one out of 10 would eventually develop severe dengue,” Lee Suy said.

Amid calls to probe on the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine by the previous administration, Roque said the administration is already taking steps to determine the culpability, if any, of those responsible for the procurement of the vaccine.

“If there are any irregularities, we will find out. If there are irregularities, then the President has said that he will take action,” he said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the government must assure the public that the vaccines that it will procure by next year for P7.4 billion will meet the highest standards.

“Whether we like it or not, one side effect of this unfortunate incident is that people are asking if the vaccines to be bought using taxpayers money are safe,” Recto said.

“I know that they are, but the DoH must still go out of its way in assuring the public that next year’s vaccines meet the highest standards,” he added.

In contrast to the Health Department assurances, the leader of a watchdog group said in a press conference that three children who were immunized with Dengvaxia died in Region 3.

Roque said people should not get ahead of the investigation of the Justice Department.

“Let the DoJ conduct its investigation,” he said. “Then we will do what is necessary.”

Umali, meanwhile, said his panel would vote on the probable cause of the impeachment complaint by January “to accommodate more witnesses.”

House sources said the justice panel would have to work double time to come up with an airtight case against Sereno as about nine senators will likely turn down the impeachment complaint against the chief magistrate.

At least 16 out of 23 senators or a twothird vote of the Senate is needed to convict Sereno.

Gadon accused Sereno of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, corruption, and other high crimes for her alleged litany of lapses including untruthful declaration of her wealth. taxed for goods/services they have not actually consumed.

For instance, in 2013, based on Meralco’s tariffs, which averaged 24 US cents per kilowatt hour, the price Filipinos paid for their electricity was the fifth highest in the world.

It also showed that electricity in the Philippines costs nearly twice that of Thailand’s, while about five times that of Indonesia, according to him.

In another study conducted by the International Energy Consultants, a Perthbased consultancy firm commissioned

by Meralco to conduct the study, Zarate said the rates in Luzon were placed at ninth highest electricity tariffs of the 44 countries surveyed. Maricel V. Cruz

Despite the administration’s efforts, most government agencies under the Executive still have low compliance with the creation and validation of the Freedom of Information manuals a year after EO 2’s full implementation.

A total of 181 of 189 national government agencies or 95.77 percent of the 22 departments and 157 government agencies have already submitted their FOI manuals.

Only 69 out of the 141 government-owned and

-controlled corporations, or 48.94 percent, have so far complied, while only 23 out of 113 State Universities and Colleges or 20.35 percent have submitted their FOI manuals.

Outside of the Executive branch, only the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit, the Province of Ilocos Norte and City of Laoag have so far complied. A total of 28 out of 383 or 7.27 percent of the Local Water Districts have submitted their own FOI manuals.

Health...

From A1

A total of P3.5 billion was spent to acquire the three doses of Dengvaxia used in the suspended dengue immunization program.

In a news conference Monday, Sanofi officials clarified that the vaccine does not cause “severe dengue.”

Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate committee on women and children, on Monday called on the government to create a “Luzon and Cebu-wide database” to properly identify the thousands of children affected by an antidengue vaccine.

“Our primary concern right now should be the health and welfare of all those children exposed to unnecessary risk as a result of the immunization program. We need a database to identify the 70,000 affected children and know where they are exactly located in order for the government to keep track of their health and prepare the needed resources and logistics that will allow for quick and appropriate medical responses, if needed. This is our most urgent task. Laxity is not an option.

We are racing against time.

We must protect and ensure the good health of our children,” Hontiveros said.

for those not previously infected by the dengue virus, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection. The vaccine only provides persistent protective benefit against dengue fever in those who had prior infection, Sanofi said.

Duque said it was also possible that Sanofi held back data that showed the adverse effects of Dengvaxia, but no solid conclusions could be made before an investigation.

An estimated 733,000 children in public elementary schools aged 9 and above residing in Regions III, IV-A, and the National Capital Region were administered Dengvaxia in three rounds over the past year.

Duque said 10 to 20 percent of these students have not contracted dengue prior to inoculation.

Duque said it was too early to say if the previous administration had rushed its decision to buy the vaccine until all documents pertaining to it are reviewed.

Moro...

From A1 The wounded civilians were brought to the nearest hospital for treatment.

The killing occurred after a still undetermined numbers of BIFF rebel band attacked the civilian community, prompting army soldiers stationed in the vicinity to respond.

The BIFF attack sparked a firefight between troops of the 40th Infantry Battalion lasting for about 25 minutes.

As the fighting went on, the BIFF fired at the residential areas, killing the two civilians and wounding three more.

Security forces stationed in Maguindanao have launched a series of artillery fires against suspected BIFF encampment and prevent the outlawed group from harming civilian communities.

“We are [in] close contact with the affected families of the civilians to provide necessary assistance for them,” said Maj. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Commander of the 6th Infantry Division. With PNA

Hi-tech...

From A1 “If there’s an underground nuclear test [by the North], then you need to get ready for a very serious response by the United States,” Graham told the CBS show “Face the Nation.”

The isolated and impoverished North has staged six increasingly powerful atomic tests since 2006— most recently in September.

In recent years Pyongyang has accelerated its drive to bring together nuclear and missile technology capable of threatening the US, which it accuses of hostility.

“The preemption is becoming more likely as their technology matures. Every missile test, every underground test of a nuclear weapon, means the marriage is more likely,” Graham said.

His remarks echoed those of Trump’s National Security Adviser HR McMaster, who told a security forum on Saturday that the potential for war with the North “is increasing every day.”

This year’s US and South

Davao...

From A1 the soldiers in Marawi who sacrificed much for the people.

“We sent them holiday packs, a simple token that they could enjoy. Those were from the people of Davao to our soldiers for their bravery, sacrifices,” Nadela said.

Each food pack was worth P1,000.

“It was our way of saying thank you for their service, for their sacrifice, especially now that it is the holiday season and they are not with their families,” Nadela said.

Korean wargames feature a number of powerful jet fighters newly mobilized for the event, including six F-22s and 18 units of F-35 combat jets, the US Air Force said.

It also involves simulated precision attacks on the North’s military installations, including its missile launch sites and artillery units, Yonhap news agency said, citing unnamed Seoul sources.

The North has boasted that the Hwasong 15 ICBM tested on Wednesday is capable of delivering a “super-large” nuclear warhead anywhere in the US mainland.

Analysts agree that the latest test showed a big improvement in potential range, but say it was likely achieved using a dummy warhead that would have been quite light.

They say a missile carrying a much heavier nuclear warhead would struggle to travel as far.

They are also sceptical that Pyongyang has mastered the sophisticated technology required to protect such a warhead from the extreme temperatures and stresses encountered as the missile hurtles back to Earth. AFP Earlier, the city government of Davao also donated P5 million to the City Government of Marawi. The city also sent relief goods to the families affected by the siege of Marawi by the Islamic State-linked terrorists.

The seven-month siege left thousands of families in the evacuation center.

Despite the liberation of Marawi declared by President Rodrigo Duterte after the soldiers neutralized Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute, some villages are still occupied by the terrorists.

The siege left thousands dead from both the military and the terrorists.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

DoH targets zero casualty in fireworks displays

By Macon Ramos -Araneta WITH President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order confining the use of firecrackers to community fireworks display, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday expressed hope that the country would achieve zero firecracker-related injuries as the nation celebrates the New Year.

The Executive Order recently signed by the President stipulates that the use of firecrackers shall be confined to community fireworks display to minimize the risk of injuries and casualties.

Duque said the conduct of community fireworks display will also be continuously promoted as a strategy to at least maintain the low injury status in the country.

During yesterday’s media briefing, the DoH also informed the public about its readiness to handle “Oplan: Iwas Paputok.”

Fireworks Display ang Patok!

Makiisa sa Community Fireworks sa Inyong Lugar” remains to be this year’s slogan in keeping with the newly approved Executive Order No. 28 entitled, “Providing for the Regulation and Control of the Use of Firecrackers and other Pyrotechnic Devices,” said Duque.

He added that the cooperation among local government units was seen to have contributed to the lowering of firecracker-related injuries.

2 Sinos tagged as human smugglers

By Joel E. Zurbano and Vito Barcelo GOVERNMENT agents placed in investigation two Chinese nationals for their alleged involvement in human smuggling at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Airport Immigration chief Marc Mariñas identified the Chinese nationals as Lin Chen Hui, 29, and Chen Huajuan, 27.

The two foreigners were intercepted Thursday at the Naia Terminal 2 by elements of the Immigration travel control and enforcement unit as they were about to board a Philippine Airlines flight to London.

“They earlier arrived as transit passengers from Dubai and were already at the boarding gate when the BI [Bureau of Immigration] officers were alerted by airline personnel on their attempted departure,” Mariñas said.

He added that while the passengers presented Chinese passports in boarding their flight to Manila, they later took out their tampered Macau Special Administrative Region passports which they intended to use in gaining illegal entry to the UK.

PUBLIC HEARING. Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines field questions to Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade during the Public hearing on Congressional Oversight Committee on Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines held at the Senate. Lino Santos

Marawi city hikes tax haul by 220%

By Rio N. Araja and Vito Barcelo

ARAWI City in Lanao del Sur is able to increase its tax collection by 220 percent from P2.107 million in 2016 to P6.734 million in 2016, according to the Commission on Audit.

M

The agency, however, said the city government deducted withholding taxes on compensation and fees from suppliers which had been remitted in full to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Similar observations were recorded for the collections of city personnel contributions to the Government Service Insurance System, Pag-IBIG’s Home Development Mutual Fund and Phil-

ippine Health Insurance Corp.

The CoA credited the positive findings on Marawi City to the policy reforms initiated by Mayor Majul Gandamra, who assumed office on July 1, 2016.

“The new administration of the city government of Marawi is consistently deducting/withholding and remitting to the GSIS, Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth the premiums, contributions and other

amounts due to these agencies in compliance with respective rules and regulations,” the report read.

Before Gandamra’s assumption as mayor, CoA noted non-remitted contributions and collections from city government employees ballooned to P92.509 million as of June 30, 2016.

A breakdown of the city’s delinquencies showed non-remitted taxes to BIR stood at P47.494 million, GSIS at P38.26 million, Pag-IBIG at P3.704 million and PhilHealth at P3.05 million.

“The delayed remittance of the monthly premium contributions …may result to unnecessary penalties, surcharges, and interests.

Furthermore, the members/employees were deprived of the benefits and privileges due them,” the

agency warned.

An audit observation memorandum was issued to the former city officials to settle all mandatory obligations and submit a written justification for the delay of payment.

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways said it will immediately start the reconstruction of damaged infrastructures at the “ground zero” of Marawi City.

“Our teams are ready to work with the assessment to have it completed as soon as possible,” DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines already gave clearance to proceed for construction of damage and loss assessment at the remaining 10 cluster areas comprising 47 barangays within the main battle area.

Probe ‘effectivity’ of 8888 complaint hotline, De Lima asks Senate De Lima, a known human responsive to their needs, and not

By Macon Ramos-Araneta Harry Roque said in a briefing.

Asked about the progress of rights defender, earlier filed Sen- on programs launched merely to and John Paolo Bencito DETAINED senator Leila M. de Lima on Monday called for a Senate investigation into the implementation of the 8888 Complaint Hotline to ascertain if it has become effective and accessible to ordinary citizens in need.

But the Palace quickly responded with a sharply-worded tirade against the senator, saying that the detained senator hasn’t tried the system.

“Maybe because she hasn’t tried it because she shouldn’t have a telephone in her detention facility,” Palace Spokesman

the complaint hotline, Roque instead highlighted the president’s resolve to remove corrupt officials.

“Ano bang gusto ‘nyo pa, no?

Nakita ‘nyo naman na walang tigil ang pagsisibak ni Presidente sa mga taong gobyerno na may alegasyon ng korapsyon,” he said.

“Marami pa po iyan kasi ang Presidente sinsero sa kanyang krusada laban sa korapsyon. Hindi po matitigil ang paninibak na iyan. Ang mensahe nga naming sa taong gobyerno: Mag-pribadong sektor na lamang kayo kung gusto nyo yumaman,” he added.

ate Resolution No. (SRN) 550 urging the appropriate Senate committee to look into the purported failure of the hotline in accommodating concerns and complaints about corruption in government offices.

She said Congress has the responsibility to conduct a probe and study the implementation of 8888 Complaint Hotline as to its effectivity and equal accessibility to all citizens,” she said.

“Every peso of Filipino taxpayers’ money must be spent on programs and government services that actually work and are

cosmetically or superficially fulfill campaign promises,” she added.

In 2016, Duterte signed Executive Order No. 6 “to institutionalize a public complaints hotline involving all agencies of the government, and build on existing public feedback mechanisms for the realization of the government’s policy to eradicate red tape and corruption.”

Through the 24-hour service manned by “live agents,” citizens can call in to report corrupt officials, underperforming government personnel, and unfinished government projects.

USAID donates ‘tablets’ to DepEd

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

HIRED KILLER. Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headed by Police Director Roel Obusan present to the media alleged hired killer George Ginabay after his arrest. Ginabay’s alleged victim, Mt. Province Mayor Avelino Amangyan (not in photo) positively identified the suspect during a press-conference in Camp Crame CIDG. Manny Palmero

THE United States Agency for International Development distributed more than 3,200 tablet computers to the Department of Education public school leadership in Regions 1 and 7.

The donation, the USAID said, is part of its continuing support to the Philippines’ goal to strengthen early grade reading skills.

“The United States government is pleased to support the Department of Education in our mutual goal of improving the quality of education in the Philippines to help children gain the foundational literacy skills they need to succeed in life,” USAID Mission Director Lawrence Hardy II said, who led the turnover ceremony at Mansasa Elementary School in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

Hardy said the donated tablets are loaded with software that will

boost the quality of teaching, tools for school heads to better supervise teachers, and resources, such as videos and tip sheets, to support teachers’ professional development.

The donation is the culmination of USAID’s recent training of more than 3,000 school administrators on tablet-based teacher supervision and mentoring.

The assistance was implemented in partnership with the Department of Education through ‘Basa Pilipinas,’ USAID’s P1.9 billion flagship basic education project.

Through Basa Pilipinas, USAID has strengthened the reading skills of more than 1.8-million students from kindergarten through grade three, helped train more than 19,000 teachers and school heads, and provided more than eight-million copies of teacher guides, student workbooks, and other education aids.

Use‘net to post procurement notices—Palace

By John Paolo Bencito and Maricel V. Cruz THE Palace on Monday reminded all government offices and agencies to post their procurement notices on the Internet, in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 9184, or Government Procurement Reform Act. In his Memorandum Circular No. 36 signed on Nov. 29 but only released on Monday, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea called on government-owned-and-controlled corporations, national and local government agencies, and state universities and colleges to post their procurement notices, such as Invitation to Bid and Request for Expression of Interest, on the websites of the Procuring Entity and the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System.

Further, the memorandum circular ordered the publication of procurement notices in any conspicuous place in the premises of the Procuring Entity; PhilGEPS website and the website of the procuring entity; and a newspaper of general circulation nationwide.

Procuring Entity refers to any government office or agency, including government-ownedand/or-controlled corporations, state universities and colleges, and local government units, procuring goods, consulting services, and infrastructure projects.

Pimentel seeks to boost party system in PH SENATE President Koko Pimentel on Monday cited the need to strengthen the party system in the Philippines, noting that there is no consistency in the government policy and institutions are weakened, leading to many of the problems that the country now face.

“Politics in other countries are based on ideology and policy, as put forward by political parties. In our country, our politics is still personalitybased,” said Pimentel. We must strengthen the party system in the Philippines.”

During his trip to China, Pimentel also visited the CPC Central Party School, which trains top government officials and CPC members in matters of governance and public administration.

During the visit, Pimentel expressed hopes of looking to the school as an example of how to train party members on issues of governance and party ideology.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

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Opinion

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

T

Adelle Chua, Editor

The king shall live

HE jeepney is not called looking back to their humble roots.

A jeepney ride is a distinct experi“king of the road” for ence, occasioning fond memories of nothing. when we were in school, young and

It has cultural significance. It displays the ingenuity and creativity of Filipinos. To be sure, the vehicle type was not originally ours but we managed to craft it into a distinctly national symbol, with each jeepney unlike no other.

It also has socio-economic significance. How many times have we heard stories about a father being able to send his children to school by plying the jeepney every day? Numerous success stories abound—those children have gone on to become professionals, always

unspoiled.

For many more, however, it’s part of a daily routine marked by difficulty, sacrifice, and small rewards.

It’s still an inexpensive mode of transportation, and it still gets one places.

This is why the proposed modernization of jeepneys is an emotional issue for many.

Protests from transport groups continued despite the cancellation of a nationwide transport strike—to the relief of commuters. If this had pushed through, students and em-

ployees would have had great difficulty commuting again, as if travelling every day were not enough of an aggravation.

The groups reconsidered pending a Senate hearing on the modernization program, under which vehicles older than 15 years will be phased out and replaced with environment friendly and fuel-efficient units.

The plan also provides for a modern jeepney that can accommodate more passengers.

There is no question that jeepneys should be modernized. Aside from the physical and environmental hazards, the mentality of jeepney drivers—that they are exempt from traffic rules—needs an over-

haul as well.

It’s not an issue of “poor” jeepney drivers—that issue is a lame one. Rather, it is one about adapting to needs of the riding public, whom they are supposed to serve in the first place, instead of throwing a tantrum and making everybody else suffer just because they don’t get what they want.

For their part, the national and local governments must provide all the tools necessary to help drivers and operators make the transition, despite the resistance.

The jeepney can still be the king of the road— king that knows how to keep on serving, while changing with the times.

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

A public trial THERE ARE questions that must be answered in connection with the impeachment case against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Those are provided for under the primary law— culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, bribery and other high crimes. Can Sereno be impeached? Did she betray public trust?

Did she commit anything that would erode public trust in her integrity or rectitude? Is there probable cause in the complaint of lawyer Larry Gadon to move the case forward?

Before we can answer these questions, there is need to define betrayal of public trust. Its concept is so broad that all I can say is that an impeachable public official can be guilty of anything that would make the public lose faith in him or her.

Did the Chief Justice really betray our

trust?

Noynoy’s worst crime LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES AFTER six years of watching the Aquino administration, I was convinced that I already knew where all the bodies were buried. Then the Dengvaxia scandal exploded and I knew this was bigger than anything I had heard about.

Consider the facts as we know them: Noynoy Aquino, his health secretary Janet Garin and his budget and other officials, in the space of a little over year since the first contact with officials of a giant French pharmaceutical company, were able to swing a P3.5 billion purchase of antidengue vaccines to inoculate up to 1,000,000 Filipino schoolchildren.

According to Senator

Richard Gordon, one of the very few original opposers of the “midnight” purchase, the Dengvaxia vaccines purchased by the Philippine government near the end of 2015 cost nearly double all other vaccines purchased by health officials for that entire year. And yet, Sanofi Pasteur, the big pharma company that manufactured Dengvaxia, was able to pull off the purchase in record time with the help of a government that was supposedly notorious for sitting on each and every deal.

After at least three faceto-face meetings, Aquino and Sanofi sealed the deal, with the Philippine president making an unscheduled meeting in Paris late in 2015 to give the final go-ahead, in the presence of top Cabinet officials, including Garin, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Transportation Secretary

Joseph Emilio Abaya. Back home, Garin, wearing two hats as the proponent of the immunization program as secretary of health and concurrent officer-in-charge

This is, after all, the biggest public health crisis this country has ever known —and possibly worst crime perpetrated by Aquino.

of the regulatory Food and Drug Administration (the agency in charge of approving pharmaceutical prod-

ucts, among others) quickly gave the go-ahead. Congress was enlisted in the dengue immunization project, granting its consent for such a strange purchase so late in the administration’s term, using a DAP-like system to divert appropriated funds to the National Children’s Memorial Center as the implementing agency.

And then, the vaccine was given to a total of 730,000 second-grade children, whose parents were not asked to approve of the vaccination, in three populous regions. There was no testing for prior dengue infection—a key requirement for Dengvaxia vaccination —or even questioning of the parents or the children about previous infection.

The highly-suspicious three-dose immunization program was carried out successfully with a bare minimum of media scruti-

ny. What little criticism was drowned out by the coming 2016 national elections and a propaganda campaign that painted the massive Dengvaxia deployment as the silver bullet against an old predatory disease spread by mosquitos.

Warnings from reputable groups like the World Health Organization were ignored. Concerns aired by other countries that had also been considering the use of the vaccine – but which didn’t – were left unreported.

It was only after Sanofi Pasteur admitted last week that people given the vaccine who were “seronegative” (or who did not have the dengue virus in their bloodstream indicating previous infection) were at risk of contracting severe, organdamaging and potentially fatal hemorrhagic dengue, did the story finally broke.

And all hell broke loose. *** What seems clear is that one million Filipino schoolchildren were used as lab rats by a big pharmaceutical company with the enthusiastic support of their own government. After all, the only reason why Sanofi Pasteur needed to make a deal like they did with the Aquino administration was because other countries that were also considering the vaccine were asking the French pharma for massive—and prohibitively expensive—clinical trials that only a Third World country could provide.

After spending billions of euros developing Dengvaxia, Sanofi was not going let all its research and development be stalled by inadequate field trials. There were so many markets that were willing to pay a lot more than the cost of holding an illicit, Constant

Turn to A5

For instance, if such an official gets drunk in public, that would also constitute betrayal of public trust since public officials are supposed to be sober.

Impeachment is a public trial. That is the reason that the process must begin at the House of Representatives, where precisely the representatives of the people are. If the required votes are obtained, the case is elevated to the Senate for trial. Thus, if the twothirds votes are satisfied, the officials gets convicted and is ousted from office.

This is what happened in the case of Corona.

To answer the question I raised in the case of Sereno, can we believe that the chief justice committed betrayal of public trust? Can we believe the testimony of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro?

Aside from De Castro, the panel also invited Associate Justices Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam, and retired Justice Arturo Brion.

Turn to A5

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Opinion

THE impeachment complaint filed against the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon appears to have set the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the head of the judicial department of the government on a collision course.

Even the ongoing hearings on the impeachment complaint being conducted by the justice committee of the House confirms the divide.

Recall that even before the justice committee began hearing testimonies in relation to the impeachment complaint, Chief Justice Sereno organized a team of spokespersons who took turns defending her in the news media and on television interviews. Pro-women interest groups also denounced the impeachment complaint, calling it unfounded, before the justice committee even began hearing testimonies from invited resource persons.

Since President Rodrigo Duterte appears to be looking forward to Sereno’s impeachment and removal from office, anti-Duterte politicians in the House have sided with Sereno and urged the dismissal of the impeachment complaint. One of them argued that the House should focus on legislation instead of impeachment—as if the impeachment process was not a constitutional priority concern of the House.

Representative Edcel Lagman, a knee-jerk critic of the Duterte administration, insists on taking on the defense of Chief Justice Sereno and interpellating the resource persons, as if Sereno did not have her own lawyers.

Lagman was among the congressmen who voted to dismiss the impeachment complaint against Andres Bautista, the now-resigned chairman of the Commission on Elections, on a mere technicality—a defective verification.

Now, Lagman wants a discussion of the impeachment complaint against Sereno on the merits. That smacks of a double standard.

Last week, Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Court Administrator Midas Marquez accepted the invitation of the justice committee to shed light on the case.

After their testimonies were heard, Gadon expressed confidence that there are enough grounds for the House to impeach the chief justice.

The next day (a Thursday), Chief Justice Sereno attended a well-publicized mass at the University of the Philippines Catholic chapel in Diliman, and a youth forum there. Sereno told the news media covering her visit to Diliman that she will not resign from office; that the impeachment complaint undermines the independence of the judiciary; and that she had done nothing wrong to warrant her removal from office.

Several days earlier, Chief Justice Sereno appeared on a television talk show and decried the impeachment complaint filed against her, insisted on her innocence, and provided details on what she said was the lack of merit in the case against her. Sereno equated the plan to impeach her to a threat to the independence of the judiciary. Surprisingly, Sereno did not explain how the impeachment process, which is authorized under the Constitution, undermines judicial independence.

The next day, Speaker Alvarez challenged Sereno to defend herself in the House, and not before the media. Alvarez also emphasized that as a lawyer, Sereno ought to know that statements to the media are not valid defenses against

the impeachment complaint filed against her.

Apparently, Alvarez was referring to the rule promulgated in 2010 by the Supreme Court which prohibits parties from giving statements to the media regarding a pending case regarding the alleged misconduct of a justice of the Supreme Court.

That rule was brought to public attention at the height of the plagiarism controversy involving Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo. At that time, lawyer Harry Roque accused Justice del Castillo of illegally lifting from reference materials written by experts in Public International Law without proper acknowledgment.

Justice Del Castillo was eventually exonerated by his colleagues, but the court decision is criticized by legal experts as an unconstitutional judicial amendment of the existing law against plagiarism.

Going back to the impeachment complaint, Chief Justice Sereno has announced that although she does not intend to appear in any of the hearings of the justice committee, she is ready to defend herself in the Senate should the House file articles of impeachment against her there. If that is so, then Serreno should prepare for a possible trial in the Senate, instead of making statements to the press.

Such restraint will even be in accord with existing jurisprudence on statements to the media.

Two senators claim that the House justice committee has no authority to summon Chief Justice Sereno, or any person for that matter, to testify in the ongoing impeachment investigation.

They opined that the power to issue summons applies only to legislative inquiries in aid of legislation, and not to impeachment investigations.

The foregoing opinion of the two senators is not supported by the Constitution.

There is no provision in the charter which prohibits the justice committee from issuing summonses in relation to impeachment proceedings.

As every student of Constitutional Law knows, provisions of the Constitution cannot be construed as to result in an absurdity—and it is absurd for the Constitution to allow the House to conduct impeachment proceedings, without allowing the House to summon pertinent witnesses to shed light on the charges recited in the impeachment complaint.

Speculations about a possible constitutional crisis arising from the refusal of Chief Justice Sereno to appear in the justice committee hearings are groundless. If the Chief Justice refuses to appear, and if the House decides to proceed with her impeachment anyway, the next logical step for the House is to file the corresponding articles of impeachment against her in the Senate.

Thereafter, the process continues.

Finally, the view that the impeachment investigation undermines the independence of the judiciary is unfounded. Although any act of the executive or legislative branches of the government which undermines the independence of the judiciary is considered unconstitutional, it cannot be denied that the impeachment proceedings is a process explicitly authorized by the Constitution itself. In that sense, therefore, a process that is authorized by the charter cannot be branded as unconstitutional. Moreover, and as pointed out by President Duterte, Chief Justice Sereno is not the entire judiciary.

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A good ivory tower

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

The Alvarez-Sereno collision course

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

ACADEMICS, both teachers and researchers, are frequently criticized for living in ivory towers—the premise being that educating others and scholarship separate them from the real world, from people, from things that matter.

That of course is not true.

There are good ivory towers, and as Father Horacio de la Costa once wrote, the people working in them play an indispensable role for society. The Manila Observatory, which I currently lead, is one of those places.

Lou Gopal describes the beginnings of the Observatorio de Manila 152 years ago: “The Manila Observatory had its truly humble beginnings in a pigeon coop in the old Ateneo Municipal in Intramuros. Its founder was a Jesuit scholastic named Francisco Colina who spent his free time taking notes on the weather from homemade equipment.

Colina and another Jesuit, Jaime Nonell, published their observations on the 1865 typhoon in the Diario de Manila and the Jesuits were requested to compile weather data to provide better knowledge of typhoons and minimize loss to life and property. Thus was born the Observatorio del Ateneo Municipal in 1865.”

The most famous of the early Jesuit scientists that worked in the Observatory was Fr. Federico Faura SJ (the street where the Observatory and the Ateneo de Manila, now the Robinsons Mall, is named after this eminent scientist).

Gopal recalls the work of this scientist-priest: “The typhoon, known in the Philippines as baguío,

can be one of nature’s terrifying experiences. Father Faura spent many years in the study of these dreaded storms, in the hope of being able to foretell their coming and thereby avert much of the damage they would otherwise cause. On 7 July, 1879, he predicted that a baguío would pass over northern Luzon; the event justified his warning. It was the first time that the existence, duration, and course of a typhoon had been existed in the Far East. On 18 November of the same year, Fr. Faura predicted a second typhoon, which he said would pass through Manila. The announcement caused great consternation to the city. Proper precautions were taken, and the captain of the port forbade vessels to leave the harbor. Thanks to Father Faura, comparatively little damage was done in Manila, when two days later, the storm broke in all its fury on the city. However, due to the lack of telegraphic communication, other ports suffered extensive damage and the destruction was enormous. Forty-two vessels were wrecked in Southern Luzon alone, and many lives were lost.

These successful predictions aroused the interests of a number of merchants of the city, who subscribed money to enable him to continue his valuable work on a larger scale. In 1880, when cable connections between Hong Kong and Manila were established, the merchants of the former colony requested that Father Faura’s prediction be sent to them, and their request was cheerfully granted. For some time the Jesuit meteorologist had been working on a barometer of his own invention, specially designed to foretell the approach of baguíos.

In 1886, the “Faura barometer” was offered to the public, and it passed immediately into general use among the navigators of the Philippine waters and the China Sea. In 1884, the Spanish government declared Father Faura’s weather bureau an official institution, to be known as the official weather forecasting authority and renamed it the Observatorio Meteorologico de Manila. It was then that the observatory was moved from the Ateneo to the new location in the Ermita district.”

In 1901, the American colonial government established Manila Observatory as the Philippine Weather Bureau. But after the second World War, a distinct government agency was established for this purpose. Today, we collaborate closely with Pagasa.

In 1963, the Manila Observatory transferred to the Loyola Heights campus of the Ateneo de Manila University, where it continued its seismic, geomagnetic, and radio physics research, while expanding into solar physics as well.

Aside from Padre Faura, other legendary Jesuit scientists have worked in the Observatory: Fr. Jose Algue, SJ, who followed Faura, is also commemorated through a Tondo street; Fr. Manuel Selga, SJ, who relinquished his Spanish citizenship to continue to work in the Philippines; and Fr. Francis Hayden, SJ, whose work is honored by Georgetown University who has named its Observatory for him.

More recently, Fathers Francis Glover, Victor Badillo, Dan McNamara, Peter Walpole, and Jett Villarin, all Jesuits, worked in or led MO. Currently, Fr. Sergio Su, healthy and still as sharp as ever at 95 years old, is the

only Jesuit working full time with us.

What was once a vibrant Jesuit community of scientist-priests is now a group of lay scientists, majority of whom are women and many in their 20s and 30s. We are now working to transform this group to a strong Ignatian community dedicated to do science that matters for the country and our region and especially the poor, motivated by a desire to do our work on climate change and disaster risk science excellently for the greater glory of God. Dr. Gemma Narisma will be the incoming Executive Director of Manila Observatory, replacing me at the end of the year as I plan to devote most of my time again to legal education. Gemma is currently the Associate Director for Research and the Head of the Regional Climate Systems Program of the Observatory, and Associate Professor at the Physics Department of the Ateneo de Manila University. She earned her BS in Applied Physics and MSc in Environmental Science degrees from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She received her PhD in Atmospheric Science from the Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. For her exemplary contributions to science, she was awarded NAST Outstanding Young Scientist in Atmospheric Science in 2012 and the TOWNS Foundation Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service in 2013.

Gemma will be the fourth lay person to lead the Observatory. Aside from me, the other two are Santiago Simpas (whose son James is now one of our senior scientists) and my immediate predecessor Toni Yulo-Loyzaga.

Last weekend, our senior scientists, administrators,

and some of our younger colleagues spent a few days doing a mission retreat in the Saint Ignatius Spirituality Center, a retreat place developed and managed by the Ateneo de Davao University in Samal Island. In silence and prayer, we discerned individually and together where our mission is in these times, renewed a commitment to be faith to how Father described the Manila Observatory 52 years ago during our 100th anniversary.

We are “an institution in which science is used not to destroy but to save; in which research is inspired and guided by that noblest of Christian ideals, universal charity— the service of mankind, of all mankind, irrespective of color, race, or creed.”

We are an institution in which men from many different lands and backgrounds have been able to collaborate constructively in a common devotion to the scientific ideal.

The Manila Observatory is “an unmistakably Filipino institution, attentive to the peculiar needs of this country, as well as to its special possibilities and advantages for scientific investigation.”

Finally, our motto continues to be “Lumen de Lumine”–“light from Light”—like the Jesuits that founded us and continue to work with us, it is our faith, “serene and imperturbable, that all the paths of knowledge, wherever they may wind, whether through the earth’s crust or the sun’s flames or the vast reaches of interstellar space, lead in the end to that Love that draws all men, all creation, to itself: that Love which Dante says that ‘it moves the sun, and moon, and all the stars’” Facebook: deantonylavs Twitter: tonylavs

Maybe China can’t take over the world

By Christopher Balding than they would’ve been oth- saging with its WeChat app, ALMOST daily, newspapers in the US, Europe and China release eye-catching headlines about China’s technological advances and economic prowess. The accomplishments are real. But they’re not necessarily evidence of Western failure or Chinese invincibility.

In touting such achievements, commentators too often overlook the structural factors that have shaped them. Economists now recognize just how much of economic interaction is driven by such forces. For instance, the gravity model in international trade posits that the distance between countries impacts how much they trade. No matter how warm the ties between China and Bolivia, sheer distance will always limit their bilateral trade volumes. By contrast, despite frosty relations, large amounts of trade and investment flow between China and Taiwan owing to proximity and shared language.

Many of the most innovative Chinese companies have benefited not only from government support and protection, but from structural conditions that have made their businesses more viable

A public...

From A4

I think from the testimony of De Castro, there is already probable cause to impeach Sereno.

The argument of the Sereno camp that de Castro was biased because she was bypassed for chief justice. But I would say that if there is anybody who should complain, it should be Justice Antonio Carpio.

De Castro testified on some of the 27 allegations raised by Gadon against Sereno, including the administrative case involving Sereno’s order creating a regional court administration office in Cebu without the High Court’s collegial approval. This alone constituted a violation of the law since only Congress can create an office. De Castro also testified on the restraining order on the case

Noynoy‘s...

From A4

Gardener-type of drug trial that could endanger so many innocent Filipino children.

The Dengvaxia scandal is only

erwise. They’ve thrived in a unique cauldron of challenges and inputs that don’t exist in most other places in the world.

Take mobile payments, where China is the clear world leader. In 2016, Chinese spent more than $5 trillion using their phones— more than 50 times as much as in the US, according to one estimate. That figure is expected to grow strongly again in 2017, as simple and ubiquitous platforms connect ever more buyers and sellers.

In many cities, cash has become virtually obsolete.

Two structural factors have boosted adoption of mobile payments. The first is China’s archaic banking system, which has long served the interests of big companies, not consumers. That retarded the development of a credit-card culture among both merchants and buyers.

For many years after arriving in China in 2009, I was struck by the fact that even Chinese bank cards weren’t accepted in many places, with storeowners preferring cash.

Second, the two key players in the field of mobile payments—Tencent Holdings Ltd., which dominates mes-

and online retailer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.—enjoy virtual monopolies in China.

Chinese spend roughly 30 percent of their smartphone time using WeChat, not just messaging one another but ordering taxis, exchanging business information, storing loyalty points for retailers. Meanwhile, Alibaba cornered 60 percent of the e-commerce market in 2016 and well above 50 percent in 2017. No two companies capture consumer time the same way anywhere else in the world.

By contrast, Western consumers are spoiled for choice, especially when it comes paying for things.

They can use cash, credit cards, debit cards with major payment networks, checks, PayPal and, more recently, mobile payment systems such as Apple Pay. While mobile payments are gaining, the other payment providers are innovating as well. For the average consumer, there’s little difference between scanning a QR code and waving an RFIDenabled credit card at a specially enabled reader. And at least the card doesn’t require downloading and learning a new technology.

Similar examples can be found in other sectors as well. Alibaba has succeeded in large part because brickand-mortar retailing is so challenging on the mainland.

Roughly a quarter of the world’s cities with more than 500,000 people are located in China—twice as many as India, the next country on the list. Real estate prices in those urban areas are astronomical, which limits how big stores can be and thus the range of consumer choices.

That makes platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com much more attractive both to consumers -- who then provide the kind of data the online giants can use to sell them debt they can use to buy more on the platforms -- and to manufacturers. Instead of fighting for shelf space, the latter can simply open online shops, take orders on Alibaba and ship directly from their warehouse. That’s led to a flourishing of niche online retailers selling everything up to and including replica NASA space suits.

Even the bike-sharing craze that’s drawn so much attention in the West has exploded largely because of China’s unique environment.

Lower-income Chinese have gravitated toward the super-

cheap services in order to solve the so-called last-mile problem, getting to and from public transport nodes. The technology didn’t emerge first in the West partly because consumers—even in bike-crazy Holland—haven’t really needed such a cost-effective solution. (Ironically, as Bloomberg View columnist Adam Minter recently pointed out, it’s not so clear this particular innovation can work economically even in China.)

None of this is to diminish the fact that Chinese companies have produced some remarkable technologies and, given the vast amounts of research going into artificial intelligence, are likely to produce even more. The question is how successful such companies and technologies will be once transplanted into different contexts. One of the major puzzles of corporate China is why firms have struggled to expand internationally. The answer may be that they’re offering solutions to problems that don’t exist in quite the same way overseas. Unless they can cater to the needs of customers operating under very different conditions, their remarkable progress may end at China’s shores. Bloomberg

of a senior citizens’ party-list group that was disqualified in the last elections.

The justice also testified on the merits of the decision she had penned that declared unconstitutional the clustering of shortlisted nominees made by the Judicial and Bar Council. Sereno headed this last year.

In connection with the JBC’s decision not to include then-Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza in the list of nominees to the SC, De Castro discussed the merits of her opinion that raised an integrity issue against Jardeleza. That is the reason why Jardeleza was invited by the House panel.

The Sereno camp insists all these did not constitute impeachable offenses.

My gulay, considering the fact that the Senate trial is public, I would go as far as saying that Sereno could be convicted by the

Senate. Impeachment is always a political exercise. *** The Department of Justice will investigate the controversial P3.5billion dengue vaccine project of the Department of Health that poses health risks to children already injected but without history of the disease.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said he would tap the National Bureau of Investigation and conduct a probe to determine possible liabilities of officials behind the project that was approved by former Health Secretary Janet Garin and authorized by former President Aquino.

Aguirre said he had received complaints from parents of children injected with the Dengvaxia.

Initial information showed that the program was approved by Garin and Aquino despite objections from medical experts due to lack

of certification from the World Health Organization.

It was also learned that the DOH was properly warned about the possible effects of the vaccine.

Still, the DOH approved the program.

This puts in peril over 700,000 school children, who received the shots!

Record showed that during one of his trips to Europe, President BS Aquino met with Sanofi of France in Paris, This led to the P3.5-billion deal.

The Senate, through health committee chairman JV Ejercito, is also planning to conduct an inquiry into the program. Local government units are now alarmed such that they are asking Congress to investigate.

Those behind the program must be held accountable for this! *** The Social Weather Stations has come out with the disturb-

ing figure that 47 percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor, with not enough to eat.

This means that statistically, 10.1 million Filipino families live below the poverty level.

But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, whose job is to make President Duterte look good in the eyes of Filipinos, noted that the number of Filipinos who rated themselves poor is lower than the number during the Aquino administration.

Instead of doing something about it, Roque offered excuses that it was due to the depreciation of the peso and the increasing cost of commodities. *** If you have not done your Christmas shopping yet, forget it.

Traffic is bad all over, and commuting is so stressful.

Don’t even think of going to Divisoria. It will give you a heart attack.

starting to unfold. There are so many more angles that need to be investigated—including how the continuation of the immunization program was made possible in the Duterte administration with the help of congressmen who allegedly dangled the confirmation of Health Secretarydesignate Paulyn Ubial in exchange.

This is just the start of a long and terribly distressing story that will destroy the public lives of many, just like the vaccine itself has the potential to ruin or even kill so many poor Filipino children.

This is, after all, the biggest public health crisis this country has ever known—and possibly worst crime

perpetrated by the Aquino administration on the people. *** The award for the most opportunistic politician in the wake of the Dengvaxia controversy should be given, hands down, to Vice President Leni Robredo. Robredo called for a probe of those involved—per-

haps forgetting that the people who get her elected would be the subject of any investigation.

But maybe Robredo is already distancing herself from Aquino and his government. The fallout for her could be the political equivalent of being injected with an untested vaccine.

News

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Mayor Cesante in trouble anew

By Rio N. Araja

T

HE Office of the Ombudsman on Monday directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government to implement a three-month suspension order on a mayor from Cebu province.

Ordered suspended was Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante, along with municipal administrator Rydal Cisneros, town chief of police Clito Pia, division head Almar Villahermosa, agricultural technician Juana Tangpos, Peter Bejarasco, and deputy fish wardens Felipe Calisang and Juan Millan, for simple misconduct and neglect of duty.

The complaint blamed

Cesante for “directly being responsible for the sinking of the fishing boat owned by Rusell and Jowleyn Heredia.”

The fishing boat was in the custody of Cesante and the other respondents after its seizure for violation of the Fisheries Code.

On Nov. 26, 2014 during the onslaught of typhoon “Queenie,” the boat sank despite complainants’ persistent pleas and requests to relocate

the boat to a safer location.

“The record establishes respondents’ failure to preserve the vessel seized. Despite repeated requests to transfer the vessel to a safer location amidst the coming typhoon, the respondents have given the complainants the run-around to avoid the responsibility of giving the clearance to move the vessel,” the resolution read.

Their failure to act on the requests constitutes negligence, the Ombudsman said. “In the present situation, respondents fell short of the reasonable diligence required of them, for failing to exercise due care and prudence in addressing the complainants’ reasonable request to transfer the vessel,” it added.

This is not the first time

Cesante has run afoul of the Ombudsman.

In April 2016, the regional DILG office confirmed the nine-month suspension of the Dalaguete mayor for “having material and financial interests in transactions requiring approval from his office.”

DILG-7 Regional Director Rene Burdeos noted that Cesante personally picked up his suspension notice at their office in Lahug, Cebu City, obtaining the official notice in the presence of DILG Cebu Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales.

The Ombudsman ordered Cesante suspended for nine months on Nov. 15, 2015. DILG 7 received the order on Dec. 17, 2015 but was only able to implement it the following April.

Burdeos said DILG-7 still had to secure a clearance from their central office and from the Commission on Elections prior to its implementation.

Cesante confirmed the suspension and said he already filed a petition for a Temporary Restraining Order at the Court of Appeals and an urgent motion asking the Ombudsman to decide on his motion for reconsideration, which he filed in December 2016.

Vice Mayor Jeffrey Belciña assumed office as the acting mayor with Cesante’s suspension.

The case against the mayor stemmed from a complaint filed by former municipal engineer Ildebrando Almagro, who challenged Cesante in the 2016 elections while running

under the One Cebu party, while Cesante sought reelection under the Liberal Party.

Dalaguete reportedly loaned P18 million for a public market project from the Landbank of the Philippines, with Cesante allegedly acquiring four stalls currently occupied by his wife, Joanna.

Almagro alleged that Cesante started to occupy the stalls in 2004, and that the mayor drafted the contract of lease for the four stalls, five days before his term ended in 2007.

Cesante and his wife had been occupying the stalls without a contract, which would have amounted to a monthly rental of P7,000 and spaces worth P250,000 each, Almagro added in his complaint.

IN BRIEF 1,162 released on ‘Judgment Day’ of OCA THE Supreme Court has caused the release of 1,162 detainees nationwide during its annual Judgment Day recently.

As part of the SC’s program to decongest jails, the Office of the Court Administrator conducted the Judgment Day event simultaneously in 14 venues nationwide last Nov. 17, during the OCA’s anniversary.

“The annual national Judgment Day is another effort to declog our court dockets and decongest our jails across the country, mores at this time during the current administration's intensified campaign against illegal drugs,” Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said.

“It is likewise very timely, as our courts nationwide implement reforms the Supreme Court has initiated— the Continuous Trial Guidelines for Criminal Cases,” Marquez added.

Based on OCA statistics, most of the detainees released during the one-day event came from city jails in Metro Manila—11 in Quezon City, 223 in Manila City, and 31 in Makati City.

In Luzon provinces, 129 detainees were released from Malolos City in Bulacan, 55 from Batangas City, 78 from Angeles City in Pampanga, seven from Cagayan City, and 38 from Baguio City. Rey E. Requejo

‘Tax reform to worsen house backlog’ THE country’s housing backlog will worsen under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, according to an advocacy group.

Rodolfo Javellana Jr., United Filipino Consumers and Commuters president, said the tax reform bill, if passed, will remove the value-added tax exemption on the sale of low-cost, economy and socialized housing and resident lots valued at P2 million.

He said a backlog of 5.7 million units in 2016 would aggravate and could lead to more expensive housing units, since the additional tax of building houses would be passed on to the buyers by the developers.

“This would deprive and hurt the ordinary Filipino people to reach their dream of owning a decent house at an affordable cost,” he lamented.

The government can only build 200,000 new units a year against its target of 500,000 units, the group said.

Without the VAT exemption, the number of low-cost, economy and socialized housing units to be built is expected to drop to 100,000 units to 150,000 units.

ID SYSTEM HEARING. Senator Panfilo Lacson asks Undersecretary Lisa Grace Bersales (right) of the Philippine Statistics Authority with Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara, national president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, during a public hearing on the Senate Subcommittee on the Filipino Identification System Act held at the Senate offices in Pasay City. Lino Santos

UN lauds MILF for leaving list of groups with child combatants THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Unicef Philippines held a formal ceremony Monday in recognition of the removal of the MILF from a UN list of armed groups recruiting and using children.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, and UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Ola Almgren congratulated the MILF for promoting and protecting the rights of children.

“Today, we mark an important milestone for the boys and girls of the Philippines. The Joint Action Plan between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the United Nations on the issue of recruitment and use of children has now been fully implemented.” Gamba said.

“As a result I am very

happy to announce that the MILF has been delisted from the annexes of the Secretary General Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict. I would like to congratulate the MILF for completing the action plan with the support of the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting,” she added.

This achievement is the result of a sustained commitment by the MILF with United Nations support, Gamba noted.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict serves as the leading UN advocate for the protection and well-being of children affected by armed conflict.

The UN-MILF began working together by signing of an Action Plan between the United Nations and the MILF

in 2009. It was completed at the beginning of 2017 upon the fulfilment of a six-point roadmap, resulting in the disengagement of 1,869 children from the ranks of the MILF. The disengagement of children will facilitate their access to appropriate support and services from government and development partners to enjoy all their rights to health, education and protection.

“The United Nations country team in the Philippines welcomes this important milestone achieved by the MILF, in demonstrating its commitment to the protection and welfare of children,” Almgren said.

“In line with the UN package of existing programs to support the normalization track of the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF, the UN

stands ready to support the relevant plans for the disengaged children and their communities,” he added.

UN children’s agency Unicef facilitated the completion of the UN-MILF Action Plan, which involved training programs, systematic sensitisation and awareness raising initiatives for the MILF and its communities.

“We congratulate the MILF as they reach this important milestone. Children are zones of peace and their rights must be promoted and protected at all times,” Unicef Philippines Representative Officer-inCharge Julia Rees said.

Unicef’s support to the MILF continues to ensure that disengaged children and their communities live in safe environments, by facilitating access to psychosocial support and other protection, social

welfare, education and health services, Rees added.

“In addition, UNICEF supports parents in providing family based guidance and care. In response, the MILF reiterated its commitment to protect and promote the rights of children in their communities,” she said.

MILF has worked for years in partnership with the UN, “and we are pleased at being delisted in the 2017 Secretary General’s report and to be recognized here today by our UN country partners,” said Eduard Guerra, former chairman of UN-MILF Action Plan Panel and currently the cochairman of Joint Normalization Committee—MILF. The Front will keep up the commitment and the work to protect and promote the inherent rights of every child in our community, Guerra added.

CAAP expects 10% more passengers this Christmas

By Joel E. Zurbano

PUV WOES. Public transport group leaders (from left) Efren de Luna of ACTO, Zenaida Maranan of Fejodap, and Obet Martin of Pasang Masda discuss their views and concerns with Senate committee on public services vice chairman Joseph Victor Ejercito over Monday's consultative meeting on the Public Transport Modernization Program under the Duterte administration. Ey Acasio

Miss Universe bets to boost PH tourism program

By Bill Casas THE much-anticipated visit of the Miss Universe titleholders and candidates to the Philippines is the Department of Tourism's marketing strategy to boost the country’s tourist arrivals, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Teo revealed the DoT has strategically chosen the Miss Universe candidates who will visit the Philippines based on their importance

in terms of marketing the Philippines.

“When the Miss Universe Organization reached out to us to bring in the girls, we have specifically requested to bring in the candidates from our emerging destinations, such as Russia, Netherlands, India, Italy, Spain, and Canada, and contestants from our key markets such as the United States, South Korea, Malaysia, China, Great Britain, and Singapore,” Teo said.

The title holders will start arriving today (Dec. 5), kicking off with a tour in Intra-

muros and Rizal Park on Dec. 6.

The ladies will also pay President Rodrigo Duterte a courtesy call on Dec. 7.

On Dec. 8, they will be divided into three groups and will be brought to different tourism sites in the country. “Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters will be going to Batanes, some will be visiting Bohol, while Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere will be in Camiguin,” said Teo. There will also be a charity event and fashion show at Sofitel on Dec. 9.

THE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines announced Monday it will reactivate a program aimed at handling the increased number of air travelers this Christmas season.

Dubbed “CAAP Balik Pasko 2017,” the program sports measures to ensure safe, reliable and convenient operations at 35 airports in the country currently engaged in commercial operations from Dec. 1, 2017 up to Jan. 5, 2018.

To assure the riding public the measures will be successfully implemented, all leaves for operations personnel are canceled to make them available to augment airport service staff, CAAP said.

Concerned government agencies operating at the airports—including the Office of Transportation Security and the Police-Aviation Security Group—have also been directed to deploy sufficient personnel at their area of concern to ensure smooth

passenger flow.

CAAP director-general Jim Sydiongco said the 35 airports under their supervision are prepared for more passengers, especially overseas Filipino workers, eager to return to the provinces to celebrate the holidays with their families in their respective hometowns.

Sydiongco said the number of air travelers is expected to increase 10 percent per existing records. In 2016, passenger movement totaled 18,337,772 passengers.

He also reminded all CAAP employees and officials to strictly adhere to the government’s “No Gift Policy” by refraining from both soliciting and accepting, directly or indirectly, any gift or favor from individuals, corporate entities or third parties.

The policy is clearly provided under Section 7(d) of Republic Act 6713, the Code of and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

PH set to lead pact on migration

By Sara D. Fabunan THE Philippines on Monday said it is committed to continue its lead role in negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration or GCM, a United Nations agreement that seeks to provide better treatment and protection for migrant workers.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Manila will continue to champion the cause of migrants when it participates in the preparatory negotiations for the GCM, which will take place in Mexico from Dec. 4 to 6.

“Our experience in the promotion of the welfare and the protection of the rights of Filipino migrants led us to these fundamental advocacies. This firmed up our commitment to stirringly advocate for rights of all migrant workers. The GCM is the primary UN process for advancing these advocacies,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement from Macau, where he is on an official visit.

“We are also committed to work with our allies and friends in the West who share our values but have issues and concerns that need to be addressed,” Cayetano added.

The DFA and Department of Labor and Employment under Secretary Silvestre Bello is prioritizing programs and issues on the protection and welfare of migrant workers.

“We remain guided by President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive for us to continue working to promote and protect the interests and welfare of our kababayans abroad.

The GCM process is important to the Philippines and we are ready to assume a leadership role to ensure a successful outcome,” Cayetano said.

PCSO puts up P6m for Gold Cup A TOTAL of P6 million in prizes is up for grabs in the 45th Presidential Gold Cup in Batangas, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander Balutan said on Monday.

He said PCSO will be sponsoring P5 million in prizes and the Metro Manila Turf Club Inc. has added P1 million for the first prize only.

During the launch of the 45th GC last Friday at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Forbes Park, Makati, Balutan said the horseracing event was scheduled on Dec. 10 at the Metro Turf Racing Complex in Malvar town.

Balutan and MMTCI president and chairman Norberto Quisumbing Jr. led the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement for the prestigious event.

At the same event, Quisumbing confirmed the P1-million additional prize from the Philippine Racing Committee (Philracom) that would boost the total first prize to P4 million. The second prize gets P1 million; third place is worth P500,000; and breeders get P200,000.

“As the most awaited and considered to be the premier event in the local horseracing industry, the PCSO is very pleased to stage the 45th Presidential Gold Cup through the initiative of the MMTCI,” Balutan declared.

Balutan thanked the men and women behind the horseracing industry that supports PCSO’s heart, which is charity.

Sports

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Cebu hosts AsPac University Games

C

EBU, acknowledged as the ‘Sports Capital’ in the Visayas, will be the host of the second Asia Pacific University Games scheduled Dec.6-11 at the Cebu Coliseum.

Three countries—China, Malaysia and host Philippines—will participate in four sports during the six-day competition organized by the Asia Pacific University Sports Union, in cooperation with the Cebu

City government and Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. At stake are gold medals in four sports—basketball (basketball), badminton (men and women), tennis (men) and table tennis (men

and women).

China will be represented by Jiangxi Pingxiang College and Malaysia will be bannered by Universiti Teknologi MARA. University of San Jose Recoletos will represent the country in basketball.

“We are doing everything to ensure the success of this biennial competition, which Cebu is hosting for the second straight time,” said APUSU president Alvin Tai Lian of the Philippines.

Tai Lian and APUSU secretary general Mustaza Ahmad of Malaysia lauded the organizing committee, headed by Atty. Baldomero Estenzo of University of Cebu and Prof. Robert Milton Calo, for bringing the APUG back to Cebu for the second time in three years.

Atty. Estenzo and Prof.

Calo have been appointed as chairman and deputy chairman of APYG, respectively.

The other members of the organizing committee are

secretary Cecil Sarmiento, Jessica Honoridez, Gil Reglo, Fructuso Raytos and Cherrylyn Raytos.

USJR is fresh from a third-place finish in the 3rd Xiamen Collegiate Basketball Tournament in Xiamen City, China last Nov. 4.

The team will be led by veteran coach Jun Noel.

Supervising the basketball competition is the Basketball Association of the Philippines.

Malaysia will be represented by UiRM Deputy

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Prof. Dato’ Abdullah Mohamad Said and APUSU secretary general and UiTM sports director Mustafa Ahmad.

Joining them are head of the delegation Dr. Mohd Bahrin Othman and UiTM head of team management Mugammad Syahir Radyidi Haji Saad.

Japan, represented by Nippon Sport Science University, ruled the first APUG basketball event held in 2015.

Bittersweet victory for OIympian Tabal

By Peter Paul Duran CEBU CITY—She may be 10 minutes behind her record set last year in Iloilo, but Mary Joy Tabal was still a mile superior among her peers after finishing first once more at the 42KM event of the 41st National Milo Marathon National Finals here Sunday.

The 27-year-old Olympian was reduced to tears when she crossed the finish line at 2:58:01, dedicating the win to her father, who died the day before.

“Tinuloy ko talaga itong race na ito kase ito ang huli naming napag-usapan. Ang sabi niya sa akin, magkita kami sa finish line,” said the emotional Milo Marathon Queen, who has won the prestigious running event a record five straight times, the first person to do so while tying Arsenia Sagaray’s female record with most wins.

The Southeast Asian Games gold medallist added that this was her saddest and hardest race to ever run and she hopes she

can be an inspiration to all Filipino athletes to strive for greatness even amidst adversary.

The record-setting win was made more special as Tabal notched the historic feat in front of her kababayans in Cebu.

Tabal was still six minutes faster than second placer Christabel Martes (3:04:20), while bronze medallist Jho-an Villarma breasted the tape at 3:11:26.

Meanwhile, virtual unknown Joerge Andrade surprised the men’s category of the full marathon, clocking in 2:39:34 in topping local bet Erick Panique (2:42:10) and twotime Milo marathon champ Eduardo Buenavista (2:43:34).

It was the Davaoeño salesman’s second marathon after placing second in last year’s 40th NMM Davao leg.

For the open category, the Kenyans once again dominated the competition, claiming all but one podium spot with Eric Chepsiror (2:25:09), James Talam (2:25:25), and Josphat Chobei (2:26:41) ruling the men’s category.

Olympian Mary Joy Tabal crosses the finish line in tears. Peter Paul Duran

Petron, F2 seek PSL semis Games Today

(Filoil Flying V Centre) 4:15 p.m. – F2 Logistics vs Iriga City 7 p.m. – Petron vs Generika-Ayala

HEAVYWEIGHTS F2 Logistics and Petron have their sights on the semifinals when they tackle separate foes in the sudden-death quarterfinals showdown of the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

After topping the eliminations, the Cargo Movers are heavily favored to dominate newcomer Iriga City in the 4:15 p.m. appetizer of this prestigious club league bankrolled by Mikasa, Grand Sport, Senoh, Mueller, Island Rose, Cloudfone and UCPB Gen. On the same note, second seed Petron is also expected to advance when they clash with Generika-Ayala in the 7 p.m. main battle of this tourney that also has Gerflor and Gold’s Gym as technical sponsors and ESPN5 as official broadcast partner.

Overflowing with firepower, experience and confidence, Petron is billed as the league’s hottest team after shutting down the single-round eliminations with four straight victories, including a four-set demolition of erstwhile unbeaten Foton last Nov. 14.

In their latest match against Cocolife last week, the Blaze Spikers further asserted their dominance as American imports Lindsay Stalzer and Hillary Hurley delivered another strong performance to claim their seventh victory in eight matches.

PSC Chairman Ramirez to grace NCRAA cage opener today Davao, QC bets nail PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman Butch Ramirez will be the guest of honor when the Sta. Lucia Land-National Capital Region Athletic Association opens Tuesday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Ramirez, who was tapped to lead the government sports agency for the second time, will grace the opening of the collegiate tournament that has grown in numbers this year.

Now celebrating its silver season, the NCRAA will be parading a 16-school roster, both coming in the metropolis and

provinces nearby.

Ramirez will grace the colorful opening ceremony beginning at 10 a.m.

He will be welcomed by league officials, headed by Buddy Encarnado, a long-time basketball figure head of the Sta. Lucia Realtors both in the PBA and the old PABL and former Crispa Redmanizer Bai Cristobal. This season’s President is Juan Nolasco III. Encarnado will be the league’s new general manager, while Cristobal has been tapped to become commissioner anew.

Sta. Lucia Land will be coming in

as title sponsor of the tournament with LGR Sportswear as the official outfitter.

On opening day, newcomer teams AMA Computer College and University of Luzon will immediately get their baptism of fire taking on separate foes.

Rich in experience competing in commercial leagues, AMA Computer, which will be handled by Mark Herrera, will field in a formidable roster, headed by player/ actor Andre Paras.

The son of PBA great Benjie Paras is expected to become the face of the league, while also

trying to lead the Titans in coming up with a great first impression starting today’s main game at 2 p.m. against the Philippine Merchant Maritime School.

Another newbie is University of Luzon, which will test its mettle against powerhouse Asian Institute of Maritime Studies and University of Luzon at 12 noon.

The Golden Tigers of University of Luzon will travel all the way from Dagupan City to face the Blue Sharks, who are just a stone’s throw away from the venue.

All 16 teams in the Sta. Lucia Land-NCRAA will be divided

into two groups.

AIMS and UL will be in Group A together with De Ocampo Memorial College, Olivarez College, Philippine School of Business Administration-Quezon City, Saint Francis of Assisi College, Technological Institute of the Philippines and New Era University, while AMA and PMMS are in Group B along with De La Salle UniversityDasmarinas, Emilio Aguinaldo College-Cavite, National College of Business and Arts, PATTS College of Aeronautics, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa and University of Makati.

Luisita’s lead down to 1; retired general wins car with ace on 10

By Dexter See

Retired police general Elmer Soria holds the Titleist 7 Pro-V golf ball he used to win a brand new Toyota Altis when he aced the par 3 hole 10 of the Baguio Country Club. Soria (middle) stands in front of the car he won with his Sandigan team, which made 92 points for a two-day total of 176, eight shots off leader Sarap Buhay Gang.

BAGUIO CITY—The game is now a showdown between Luisita Golf and Country Club and Manila Southwoods in the premier Fil Championship flight of the 68th Department of Tourism Fil-Am Invitational Golf Tournament as a former pro shot his best at the short and tricky Baguio Country Club course that saw the lead being cut to only a stroke on Monday.

Although overshadowed by an ace of a retired general in a designated hole for a brand new car, Raul Minoza continued to wax hot and came home with a one-over 62 for 35 points as Southwoods submitted the best total of 118 and 234.

The Carmona, Cavite par-

busters are just a point off Luisita, which gained a point on day one with Bong Sison’s score cut to 29 after a 30 that was previously counted.

Jingy Tuazon led Luisita with his second straight 31, even as former pro Eddie Bagtas and Ondoy Mondilla submitted a pair of 28 and Rodel Mangalubnan counted with a 27 for the team’s 114 and 235 aggregate.

But the heroics of Minoza, nephew of the Filipino golf legend Frankie Minoza, was the answer to Southwoods prayer and a very manageable deficit going to the team’s home away from home, John Hay, a sister company.

Sang Jon Lee chipped in 30, Sison and Judd Roy counted with a 29 and 24, respectively, even as Kui Sun

Moon failed to count anew despite improving to 24 from an earlier horrendous 14.

Megafiber improved to 106 points, but will surely be the spectator in the showdown that will unfold after a Tuesday break with its 207 total, 28 off the leader.

Retired police general Elmer Soria came to back to the place he served as a police officer in a warm embrace as he goes home with what could be the biggest prize of the tournament—a brand new Toyota Altis.

Soria scored an ace at the par 3, 165 yards, hole 10 using a 6 Yamaha iron and Titleist 7 Pro-V golf ball, allowing the former deputy director of Police Regional Office—Cordillera and director of PRO-8, to win the brand new car.

Lastimosa-coached NLEX Road Warriors bag Marikina basketball crown JOJO Lastimosa’s first season as head coach in a commercial league has turned out to be a success.

The Lastimosa-mentored NLEX-SCTEX Road Warriors capped their season with a bang by ruling the inaugural staging of the Marikina City Basketball League with a 93-84 triumph over surprise finalist R. Lapid’s/Tito Rex in the championship match at the overflowing Marikina Sports Center.

In front of a full-house crowd, the Road Warriors were able to show poise under pressure and repulsed the repeated charge of the R. Lapid’s/Tito Rex bannered by three foreign players.

Led by ex-pro Byron Villarias, the Road Warriors were able to unload nine unanswered points in a one-minute span to put away their rivals.

Plucked from the bench by Lastimosa due to foul troubles, the cousin of PBA second

overall rookie pick Kiefer Ravena hit a triple right away and along with Ola Adeogun’s short stab and baskets by Alfred Batino and JP Belencion, the team coasted to an 85-73 lead with still 4:12 left in the game.

R. Lapid’s/Tito Rex, which paraded slam dunk champion Soulmane Chabi Yo, Alex Jakhite and Francis Batouzulele as imports, couldn’t get any closer from there as the Road Warriors reached their destination to the promised land.

MCBL commissioner Cris Bautista awarded the trophies to the two teams and vowed to come up with a bigger staging of the second season of the tournament.

“Target namin by February, sana maapprove ito ng City Mayor, ‘yung magkaroon ng women’s tournament. Maipakita naman ng kababaihan ‘yung talent nila,” Baustista said. “Medyo naiiwan tayo.

Magkakaroon tayo ng two divisions dito – isang open and isang 19-under.”

2 tennis wins each

JOHN David Velez of Davao and Mica Ella Emana of Quezon City nailed two victories each as they shared top honors in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Valenzuela leg regional age-group tennis at the Valenzuela City Sports Club yesterday.

Velez fended off Loucas Fernandez’s strong challenge, eking out a tough 7-5, 6-4 decision to claim the boys’ 16-and-under crown following a lopsided 6-1, 6-2 romp over Andre Jarata in the 14-U finals of the Group 2 tournament hosted by the VCSC through chairman Elly Demafelis.

The 12-year-old Emana, on the other hand, upended top seed Francine Dizon, 6-1, 6-3, to rule her age-group then stunned No. 3 Kyla, 6-0, 6-2, as an unranked player in the 14-U division to clinch the MVP titles with Velez in the tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro and presented by Slazenger.

Top seed Manuel Balce III, a former member of the national Davis Cup junior squad, foiled Velez’s three-peat bid with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph in the 18-U finals after the Grade 12 Ateneo student topped a tryout and earned an athletic scholarship at the Eastern Washington University starting next year.

Emana actually finished with three titles, teaming up with Miles Vitaliano to beat Bianca Bolima and Kyla Poon, 8-3, in the girls’ 18-U doubles finals.

Bulacan’s Mikaela Vicencio also pulled off a pair of thrilling victories, edging Miles Vitaliano twice, 7-6(3), 2-6, 10-4, for the girls’ 16-U title and 7-5, 5-7, 10-8 for the 18-U plum.

Other winners in the five-day event capping the four-leg Northern swing of the country’s longest talent-search backed by the Unified Tennis Philippines, including PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg were France Vhiel Dilao from Sta. Rosa, Laguna (10-U), Lance Fernandez from QC (12U), France Dilao-Frankie Dilao (10-U doubles), Patrick Ferrer-RC Velandres; Francine Dizon and Shaira Silva (14-U doubles); and Athan ArejolaChester Tiongson (boys’ 18-U doubles).

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

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

The Ateneo Blue Eagles and head coach Tab Baldwin jubilate after bagging the championship in the 80th UAAP Mens Basketball Tournament. Ey Acasio

Finals’ MVP Ravena lauds Eagle teammates Ikeh, Go

F

INALS’ MVP Thirdy Ravena said the honors he received when the Ateneo Blue Eagles snatched the 80th University of the Philippines men’s basketball crown last Sunday should not be his alone.

bounds, while Ikeh converted only four points and nine rebounds.

But Ikeh limited Mbala to six points in the third period and another six in the fourth.

He even forced Mbala to give up the ball after Go, who made only five points, hit the dagger three with 15.2 seconds that all but settled the issue for the Eagles, who stormed to an 85-80 lead.

With their Game 3 triumph, the Blue Eagles now have nine men’s basketball crowns, including this one that they earned following a five-year drought.

Coach Tab Baldwin said the players just responded

every step of the way.

“And when we ran into real adversity, none bigger than that tremendous La Salle basketball team, they found a way. And a lot of it is their heart, soul and courage,” said Baldwin.

The Blue Eagles reached the finals after going 13-0 in the eliminations, before bowing to the Archers at the end of the second round.

Then, the Blue Eagles went through two grueling encounters before they defeated Far Eastern University in the Final Four.

“There’s no individual that makes this team special because it just dedicated itself

to hard work. I couldn’t give these guys enough to do and I think that’s a revelation for me—spending 35 years coaching pros, you can’t ask pros what I asked these guys to do and they did it,” added Baldwin.

As he emerged from the dugout, coach Aldin Ayo congratulated the Green Archers for winning the crown this season.

He said the Green Archers were not able to handle very well the championship that they won last season.

“We wanted to compete.

But in the preparations, there were problems,” said Ayo. Peter Atencio

#playlouderin2023 is SBP’s battle-cry THE Philippines, Indonesia and Japan have a strong chance of winning the joint bidding for the hosting rights of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. This was according to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio, some three days before he leaves on Thursday to attend this Saturday’s Central Board meeting of the FIBA, in Mies, Switzerland.

Turkey and Russia have backed out of their bids two weeks ago.

Because of this, the bidding for the hosting rights for basketball’s biggest tournament is now down to two blocs.

There’s the Argentina/Uruguay bloc, and then there’s the other one composed of the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.

“We have a chance of winning the bid. I feel personally that we have a strong chance.

But of course, it’s 50-50,” said Panlilio, who explained SBP’s stand together with executive director Sonny Barrios during a press conference yesterday at the Meralco Headquarters in Ortigas.

Panlilio and Barrios are set to make a 20-minute presentation during the meeting and take questions from members

of the Central Board.

The SBP plans to amp the social media noise level to worldwide proportions with the hashtag #playlouderin2023.

In 2023, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will be held for the first time in multiple countries.

In their plans to the award the hosting of the 2023 World Cup, the FIBA is seeking to reach out to a bigger audience.

And Panlilio said that if the Philippines and its partners win the bid, they will have an audience reach of around 500 million people.

“And I think, that’s a compelling proposition that we have brought forward to the FIBA,” said Panlilio.

The Cup is the most prestigious international tournament in the sport of basketball.

It features the best 32 teams from 32 countries all over the world.

The 2023 tourney will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

The Philippines, together with its partners Japan and Indonesia, is taking the lead in bidding to co-host the 2023 World Cup. Peter Atencio

Del Rosario sees tough Masters’ bid PAULINE del Rosario seeks to spike a sterling rookie season with another victory this week, armed with a swing and confidence that have netted her four championships in the last six legs of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.

But the ICTSI Philippine Ladies Masters firing off Thursday (Dec. 7) at The Country Club looks a lot tougher for the 18-year-old shotmaker given the depth of the competing international field and a course that has bedeviled even the games of the best in the men’s tour.

In fact, Del Rosario has opted to tone down expectations of another strong showing in the $80,000 event, saying she still has to learn as a rookie campaigner while citing the make-up of the field and a course whose length and wind factor put stern options on shotmaking, precision and wits.

“I have no expectations for this is still my rookie year and I am still trying to learn as much as I can from experienced players,” said Del Rosario, whose string of victories, however, underscored the guts and poise rarely seen in young, first-time pros.

That included a come-from-behind triumph in Taiwan last September where she rallied from seven down in the final round and nipped the host country’s top player Yu Ju Chen by one to snatch the TLPGA and Royal Open title, becoming the first Filipina to win on the lucrative Taiwan LPGA Tour.

But the upcoming 54-hole championship boasts of the biggest, toughest field ever-assembled here with China LPGA top players, headed by Zhang Yunjie, Liu Yan and Li Xiya, joining Taiwan LPGA aces Hsieh Yu-Ling, Ching Huang and Chang Hsuan-Ping in the event put up by International Container Terminal Services Inc.

It also belongs to Chibueze Ikeh, who he praised in his efforts to stop Ben Mbala all throughout Game 3 of their teams’ best-of-three finals series.

“You just don’t see it in the stats. But I saw Ikeh the whole game. He just did his job. He did his best to limit Ben,” said Ravena after Ateneo pulled off an emotional 88-86 win over the defending champion

La Salle Green Archers on Sunday at the Big Dome.

The Green Archers got 19 points and 14 rebounds from Mbala, who turned the ball over following a steal by Ikeh with 15.3 ticks left.

Because of Ikeh’s steal, Ateneo went on to preserve a five-point edge, 85-80, in the ensuing play.

Ravena finished with 17 points and eight re-

Tolentino, Pasaol lead D-League draft cast

Salt and Pepper fastest in Philracom Chairman’s Cup

COLD-BLOODED scorers Alvin Pasaol and Arvin Tolentino headline the new batch of aspirants, who will test their mettle and join the 2017 PBA D-League Rookie Draft.

The two forwards banner the 2017 rookies who have submitted their applications for the developmental league’s annual neophyte selection as they take their first step in reaching their dreams of making it to the pro league.

Pasaol turned heads this past UAAP season when he went ablaze and poured 49 points in one game for the University of the East, before continuing his highscoring ways to be considered as one of the most lethal offensive weapons in the amateur ranks.

Tolentino, on the other hand, rekindled his old flame and became one of the most reliable shooters for Far Eastern University this past year.

But the list of neophytes doesn’t stop there, as other new blood are hoping to be picked and see action this upcoming 2018 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup, set to start on Jan. 18.

Jeo Ambohot of Letran, Abu Tratter of La Salle, Richard Escoto of FEU, and Christian Buñag of Mapua emerged as some of the best young bigs in the rookie pool.

TOP chargers battled it out for the 2017 Philippine Racing Commission Chairman’s Cup and 3YO Imported Fillies Championship on Sunday, with Salt and Pepper, and Already Feisty, winning the races at the jampacked Saddle and Clubs Leisure Park in Naic, Cavite.

Salt and Pepper nipped six others in a heart-pounding race to bag the coveted Philracom Chairman’s Cup, held in honor of former Philracom Chairman Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II, who spearheaded the racing body from 2008 to 2011.

Salt and Pepper earned P1,200,000 for multi-titled owner Hermie Esguerra, even as trainer Ruben Tupas pocketed P70,000 as winning breeders’s prize.

Electric Truth of owner Leonardo Javier Jr. finished second for the P450,00 prize, while underdog Pangalusian Island of Wilbert Tan took

Jockey Pat Dilema (right) steers Salt and Pepper to victory over Electric Truth and jockey MA Alvarez in the Philracom Chairman’s Cup at the Saddle and Clubs Leisure Park in Naic, Cavite.

third place and the P250,000 fourth, good for a P100,000 It was a close match from purse. Shining Vic placed payday. the start, before Salt and

Pepper, conserving energy in the first half of the race, suddenly broke through a well-devised plan, with winning jockey Pat Dilema turning on the jets to steal the victory.

“Sinunod ko lang ang game plan ng trainer (Ruben Tupas) namin, sinukat ko muna ‘yung takbo namin bago ako humataw ng ratsada,” explained Dilema.

After a successful afternoon of races and ceremonies, Atty. Rojas commended the event, giving it high praise for its intense and exciting matches.

“I’m happy of the outcome of this year’s Chairman’s Cup and today we had some good races,” said Rojas after the awarding ceremony.

The former PCSO General Manager Rojas also showed satisfaction with the growing numbers of racing fans and enthusiasts.

“We are having new

Macrohon following in Hidilyn’s footsteps

By Randy Caluag ANOTHER Filipina weighlifter is on the rise.

Pretty soon, Kristel Macrohon will be joining her fellow Zamboanguena, Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, at the top podium of elite weighlifting competitions.

At 21, Macrohon has yet to reach her peak, yet she’s already winning in international regional tournaments.

In 2016, she began competing in bigger stages. She placed fifth in the Asian Championships by lifting a total of 195 kgs. from

her combined 85 in snatch and 110 in clean and jerk. She improved her lift to 196 in the Asian juniors, but still settled at fifth.

In the same year, she took the bronze in 4th Qatar International Cup and 2016 Asian Cup at the Doha Intercontinental Hotel in Doha City.

Her best international stint so far was the 5th Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan in September, when she bagged a bronze medal in the 69-kg category.

Over the weekend, she hoisted 85 kgs. in snatch and 115 kgs. in clean and jerk for a 200 kg. total, good

for 13th place overall in the World Championships in Anaheim, California. She was the third-best finisher among Asian participants, behind India and Vietnam.

“Considering her age, magiimprove pa si Kristel in the coming years. May malaking potential na siya naman ang susunod sa yapak ni Hidilyn Diaz,” said Marc Velasco, director of the Philippine Sports Institute and Siklab project under the aegis of the Philippine Sports Commission.

Velasco accompanied the weightlifting team composed of Macrohon and Diaz, and their coach Tony Agustin. Diaz cap-

tured the overall bronze and the silver in the clean and jerk.

Through the Siklab Foundation, Velasco is taking care of the at least 40 athletes, who are potential medalists in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, including Diaz, who may be competing in her last Olympiad.

Velasco, a conditioning coach and nutrition expert in Hong Kong before joining the PSC, said athletes under the Siklab program will be given premium attention, especially in competition abroad and nutrition.

Macrohon is not yet part of the Siklab program, but she will Kristel Macrohon be the next priority after Diaz.

followers of horse racing and horse breeding here in southern Luzon, people from Batangas and neighboring provinces. They are showing enthusiasm and interest towards the racing industry and we are helping each other to improve it further,” added Rojas.

In an earlier run, favorite Already Feisty and rider John Alvin Guce reigned supreme to stay undefeated and run away with the 2017 Philracom 3YO Imported Fillies Championship crown.

Already Feisty and Guce continued the winning run for owner Oliver Velasquez/SC Stockfarm, which earned P900,000 for the 3YO title.

Naughty Girl (Jockey Val Dilema) of Narciso Morales and Cerveza Rosas (JB Hernandez) of Benjamin Abalos Jr. placed second and third, respectively, good for P337,000 and P187,500.

BDO Unibank bares cash dividend of P0.30 a share B2

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

8990 hikes spending plan to P3b in 2018

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Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, December 4, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency Unit US Dollar Peso United States Dollar

1.000000

50.3210

Japan

Yen

0.008853

0.4455

UK

Pound

1.343800

67.6214

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128000

6.4411

Switzerland

Franc

1.018849

51.2695

Canada

Dollar

0.787526

39.6291

By Jenniffer B. Austria

Singapore

Dollar

0.742060

37.3412

Australia

Dollar

0.759000

38.1936

MASS housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. said Monday it will allocate P3 billion for 2018 capital expenditures mainly to finance the construction of high-rise residential projects and land banking activities.

8990 Holdings incoming president and chief executive Willibando Uy said in an interview the 2018 programmed capital spending would be higher than P2 billion the company budgeted for 2017.

He said the bulk of the P3 billion would be used to start the construction of the P14-billion mixed-use residential and commercial development along Ortigas Extension in Pasig City which would be launched next year.

The 13-hectare Urban Deca Homes Ortigas development will feature 24 residential buildings with a total of 18,993 units and a shopping mall. The project will be the company’s biggest development next year.

Uy said the company was now in the process of securing the necessary permits that would allow it to start selling the units.

He said funding for the 2018 capital spending would primarily come from receivables, planned securitization of up to P5-billion receivables and the issuance of the second tranche of preferred bonds.

Uy said the company would remain aggressive with project launches, as demand for affordable housing would remain strong until 2030.

Uy said the demand was particularly strongfor housing units costing P2 million and below, the segment served by 8990.

“Even if the real estate industry goes full stream ahead, it will not meet the housing requirements of the country,” Uy said.

Uy, who is also the chairman of the Subdivision and Housing Development Authority, said the country’s housing backlog stood at 5.7 million units.

Bahrain

Dinar

FIRST GEN DONATION. First Gen Corp. of the Lopez group turns over a solar plus battery photovoltaic system to Santa Ines Elementary School in

Barangay Santa Ines, Tanay, Rizal, as a part of the company’s corporate social responsibility program. Shown during the turnover ceremony are (from left) Board of Investments director Nestor Arcansalin, First Gen assistant vice president Michael Reapor, Barangay Santa Ines chairman Gil Zubiaga, Santa Ines Elementary School head teacher Adoracio Valdez, First Gen vice president Jerome Cainglet, Buddy Chester Repia of the Department of Education and Ariel Abejuro with Reynaldo Reyes of Adtel.

2.652520

133.4775

Saudi Arabia Rial

0.266652

13.4182

0.739317

Brunei

Dollar

Indonesia

Rupiah 0.000074

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

1.5436

UAE

Dirham 0.272294

13.7021

Euro

Euro

1.185600

59.6606

Korea

Won

0.000924

0.0465

China

Yuan

0.151044

7.6007

India

Rupee

0.015501

0.7800

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.244648

0.030675

37.2032

12.3109

New Zealand Dollar

0.686000

34.5202

Taiwan

0.033342

1.6778

Dollar

Source: PDS Bridge

Lopez wins P22-b Cebu road deal

By Darwin G. Amojelar

F

IRST Philippine Holdings Corp., the listed investment company of the Lopez group, said Monday a joint venture that includes its construction unit bagged a P22.6-billion contract to build an 8.5-kilometer expressway in Cebu.

Cebu Link Joint Venture, which consists of Acciona Construccion S. A. of Spain, First Balfour Inc. of the Lopez group and D.M. Consunji Inc., won the design and build contract awarded by a unit of Metro Pacific

Tollways Corp. for the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, a bridge project that will connect Cebu City to the municipality of Cordova in the island of Mactan.

Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp., a subsid-

iary of MPTC, issued the notice of award to Cebu CLJV. MPTC is the toll road arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

“We are delighted to be part of this landmark project. We have put together a very experienced team, and are looking forward to working closely together with the customer to deliver a new toll bridge that will benefit both local communities and the Philippines,” Acciona’s Ruben Camba, representing CLJV, said.

“We are very confident

that we can deliver a quality state-of-the-art bridge that will provide not just travel efficiency but also drive economic growth and productivity in the entire Visayas region, and improve the overall welfare of the Cebuanos,”Allan Alfon, CCLEC president and general manager, said.

MPTC president Rodrigo Franco said with the project, the company would bring to Cebu and the Visayas its expertise in building and operating world-class highways and bridges to create more

opportunities and spur economic growth.

MPTC is the largest toll road concessionaire and operator in the Philippines that has now expanded its business to other Asean countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. CCLEX is the first of MPTC’s envisioned toll road expansion projects in Visayas and Mindanao.

CCLEC will build, operate and maintain the toll bridge through a joint venture agreement with the local governments of Cebu City and Cor-

ADB tapped to review LNG project proposals

DBS sees November inflation at 3.5%

By Alena Mae S. Flores

STATE-OWNED Philippine National Oil Co. said it plans to tap the Asian Development Bank to evaluate the proposals for the development of the first liquefied natural gas project.

“We talked with ADB. ADB will be our consultant. We are negotiating with ADB,” PNOC president Reuben Lista said.

Three companies already submitted unsolicited proposals to team up with PNOC for the LNG integrated facility, including Korea Electric Power Corp., LLoyds Energy Group and China National Offshore Oil Corp.

“They are now being evaluated by the TWG [technical working group]. Whoever wins, ADB will evaluate their offer. Is it really attainable? Will we really make money?”

Lista said.

PNOC said it was previously looking at the International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group, to develop the terms of reference for the conduct of the detailed feasibility study for the optimization of the banked gas and liquefied natural gas terminal project. Talks with IFC did not push through.

IN BRIEF PLDT, Cignal team up for content

PLDT Inc. said it teamed up with Cignal TV to deliver pay television content to commercial establishments, hotels, resorts and hospitals which require premium television content services to address the entertainment needs of customers.

“This collaboration with Cignal TV truly enhances our significance as a partner for businesses not just to deliver fixed and wireless services, but to become a more valuable technology solutions provider,” said PLDT/Smart chief revenue officer and executive vice president Eric Alberto said.

Industries that require fast, reliable connectivity and have need to provide HD TV viewing experience to their customers can now watch clear and exclusive Cignal TV channels through PLDT. The Cignal TV plans over PLDT’s enterprise connectivity solutions are particularly strategic for hotels, resorts and hospitals with multiple rooms offering individual entertainment, as well as restaurants, bars, retail stores, schools, public terminals.

“This partnership leverages on the extensive capabilities of the PLDT Group to offer innovative combinations that provide enterprises the best solutions from both market leaders, with PLDT’s extensive Fiber coverage and Cignal TV’s premium content and leadership in the Pay TV space,” Jovy Hernandez, PLDT senior vice president and head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Group. Darwin G. Amojelar

IPC warns vs cloud overspending

A RECENT study by cloud benchmarking firm Cloud Spectator revealed that price changes are becoming increasingly common in the infrastructure as a service market — with one vendor even changing its prices 50 times since 2006 — making it possible for companies to overspend due to higher annual operating costs.

Citing Cloud Spectator’s 2017 Top IaaS Cloud Services Price Comparison report, IPC, an IT solutions provider and digital strategy consultant, reminds businesses that providers compute cloud cost differently based on certain factors, so it is crucial for companies to review their contracts regularly and assess whether they are getting the best value for their subscriptions.

“It’s very easy to assume that the price of IaaS offerings are based simply on the quantity of computing resources but in reality, there are other factors that come into play such as performance levels, the availability of those resources as defined in the service level agreement, end user support, ease of use, and other critical, yet easily overlooked considerations. There are many differences between various cloud offerings and their value propositions, so how they are priced also varies,” said Niño Valmonte, IPC director for marketing and digital innovation.

The same report revealed that there are huge differences in pricing across different providers, despite offering what seems to be the same Cloud services. One key takeaway from the report is that Cloudsigma, IPC’s cloud infrastructure partner, offers more value for money than Amazon Web Services and other big cloud providers, especially for large instances due to its unique pricing model.

Higher passenger insurance backed BDO gears up for seamless service

THE Insurance Commission said it supports the proposal to increase the insurance benefits for passengers of public utility vehicles under the personal passenger accident insurance program.

Insurance commissioner Dennis Funa said in a statement the agency referred to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board the proposal from 1-United Transport Koalisyon or 1-Utak to increase the insurance benefits under the mandatory insurance cover for passengers of PUVs prescribed under LTFRB Memorandum Number 2015-028 after it had conducted a public consultation with stakeholders and transport groups.

Funa said the final consensus reached during the public consultation was a proposal to increase the existing P200,000 death benefit to P400,000 and the existing P20,000 medical reimbursement benefit to P100,000, and to include a family allowance benefit in the maximum amount of P30,000 in case of hospitalization and P7,000 during interment subject to the increase in premium rates.

“As the public transportation in the country continues to evolve, it has become very important for all PUVs to have sufficient insurance coverage for the protection of the riding public in the event of accidents,” Funa said. Julito G. Rada

BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest bank, will take on the challenge of the digital age by adopting newer technology to allow it to be more integrated in the lives of customers, making transactions and even decision-making easier and faster for them.

Speaking at a recent CEO Forum titled ‘Surviving in Times of Digital Disruption’ at the Francisco Santiago Hall of the BDO Corporate Center in Makati, BDO president and chief executive Nestor Tan said digitization greatly affected customer expectations and behavior that integration of services has become the way of the future for many industries including banks.

He said with lives becoming more fast-paced, customers no longer wanted to move in and out of applications more so spend time on transactions, especially inside banks. “As we become more immersed into the digital world, customers also expect more initiative from companies and providers to help them not only with payments but also with decision-making, thus making them part and parcel of their lives,” he said.

Technology, he said, is more of an enabler, a tool, rather than a threat or a disruptor, thus helping the banks make their services more seamless. He said BDO took great strides to adopt to the changing behavior of customers, most especially the tech-savvy millennials, who have greatly influenced the traditional customers.

dova municipality.

CCLEX will have two lanes in each direction and will feature the main navigation span bridge, along with viaduct approach bridges, a causeway, roadway and toll facilities.

The span of the bridge allows for shipping traffic and the link is expected to serve at least 40,000 vehicles daily.

It will give Cordova direct access to Cebu City and is expected to decongest the traffic in the two existing bridges connecting Mactan and Cebu.

By Julito G. Rada

HYBRID VEHICLE. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi (right), together with the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda, test-drives one of the four plug-in hybrid electric vehicles donated by the Japanese government in celebration of the National Energy Consciousness Month. The observance highlights the importance of energy in the daily lives of Filipinos and in the country’s economic development.

DoE: Higher coal tax to lift power rates THE Energy Department on Monday warned that a higher excise tax on coal will push up electricity rates and affect the Philippines’ global competitiveness.

“Coal tax…will make our tariff higher and make the Philippines more uncompetitive,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

“It’s a problem that we are facing because we all know that our tariff is one of the highest, if not the highest in Asia. With the passage of additional tax for coal, that would really have an impact,” the energy chief said earlier.

He said while the Philippines had a very minimal carbon footprint and was a leader in renewable energy, this resulted in higher power rates. “We are ahead in terms of RE but the penalty is we have high electricity prices. We have become uncompetitive in our region,” Cusi said.

The energy chief said investments were going to other countries with lower power rates, or those using mostly coal or nuclear plants.

“Can we also not ask the Climate Change Commission to say that manufacturing countries, better go in countries where energy is cleaner, power source.

Industries [should] also locate in countries where power generation source is cleaner or renewable. So we can become competitive,” he said.

The Senate approved on third and final reading the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion last week. The Senate version sought to increase the excise tax on coal from the current P10 metric ton to P100 per metric ton in the first year, P200 per metric ton in the second year and P300 per metric ton in the third year.

Senator Sherwin Gatch-

alian earlier said the higher coal tax would only be passed on to and unduly burden power consumer.

Gatchalian, who heads the Senate committee on energy, said while he was not pro-coal, he believed that the move to increase the coal tax from P10 to P300 per metric ton would be anti-consumer.

“Unfortunately in our regime right now, coal is a direct pass-on cost to the consumers so any increase in the cost of coal, it goes directly to the pockets of the consumer. That’s why in the past few days, we have been talking on how to lessen the burden of our consumers, of the taxation of our consumers,” he said.

Gatchalian said the Philippines sourced 50 percent of its power requirements from coal, which meant the higher coal tax would directly impact power rates.

Alena Mae S. Flores

DBS Bank of Singapore said inflation in November likely stayed at 3.5 percent, although risks remain such as the expected impact of the tax reform program on consumer prices.

“CPI inflation is likely to come in at 3.5 percent [year-on-year] in November, unchanged from the previous month. Risks are still tilted towards the upside going into 2018, given robust domestic demand as well as the proposed tax reforms that may be implemented starting next year,” DBS Group Research said in a report Monday.

The government is set to release the November inflation data on Dec. 5.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier expressed hope that the first package of the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program would be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte before the end of the year and implemented by January next year.

Inflation picked up from 3.4 percent in September to 3.5 percent in October, the fastest in almost three years, driven by higher increases in the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, utilities and fuel products.

This brought the average inflation in the first 10 months to 3.1 percent, slightly higher than the midpoint of the government’s official target range of 2 percent to 4 percent this year.

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Business

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks down again; Jollibee falls BDO Unibank bares cash T he stock market declined for the fifth straight day Monday, weighed down by nervous investors and extended profittaking.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 59.57 points, or 0.7 percent, to 8,084.45 on a value turnover of P7.6 billion.

Losers beat losers, 119 to 68, with 55 issues unchanged.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. dropped 2.1 percent to P984.50, while Security Bank Corp., the fifth-largest lender in terms of assets, lost 2.4 percent to P241.

MarcoAsia Corp., which provides airport services, retreated 1.9 percent to P20.65, while Jollibee Foods Corp., the largest fastfood chain, declined 1.6 percent to P241.40.

Meanwhile, the dollar rose in Asia on Monday after US senators squeezed through a tax-cut bill at the weekend, but equities were muted on news that a former aide to Donald Trump had agreed to co-operate with a probe into Russian election interference.

US markets saw sharp swings on the news and all three main indexes in New York ended Friday in negative territory.

In Asia, Tokyo finished 0.5 percent lower, while Shanghai shed 0.2 percent, Sydney eased 0.1 percent and Singapore was

0.4 percent off. Wellington also sank.

However, Hong Kong edged up 0.4 percent after falling for five straight days, while Seoul closed more than one percent higher.

After marathon talks in Washington lawmakers finally passed controversial reforms to the tax system, which the president says will fire up the world’s number one economy.

The greenback strengthened against the yen, euro and pound, though dealers remain reticent as both houses of Congress must reconcile their differing bills before sending a final draft to the White House, while analysts also warned of political risk.

“If the legislation gets ratified quickly, there would likely be

another dollar bounce, but the longer this drags out, the dollar will probably sell off as political uncertainty has been the greenback’s undoing over and over again in 2017,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA. Traders are keeping a close watch on Washington after former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn admitted lying to investigators probing possible collusion between the Trump election campaign and Moscow.

Commentators said the developments bring the probe closer to Trump and his family, while some have also leapt on a tweet by the tycoon suggesting he knew that Flynn had lied to the FBI. With AFP

dividend of P0.30 a share

By Julito G. Rada BDO Unibank Inc., the biggest lender in terms of assets and controlled by retail tycoon Henry Sy, will declare regular cash dividend on common shares for the fourth quarter this year after realizing surplus profits in the first nine months.

BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday it would declare a cash dividend of P0.30 per share payable on Dec. 29, 2017 to all stockholders of record as of Dec. 19, 2017.

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.54 116,000 59 40,230 99.7 2,011,440 3.8 33,000 145.8 3,823,250 2.1 535,000 33.25 140,800 15.2 123,900 33.1 1,119,100 0.65 7,000 1.65 3,000 960 250 0.56 1,002,000 93 4,978,540 0.82 204,000 11.86 900 24.95 300 55.4 53,500 237 330 95.5 780 54 1,142,960 241 815,410 1,875 90 87 52,000 1.25 281,000

414,750 2,366,547 202,658,568 125,400 553,542,351 1,144,060 4,685,085 1,873,508 36,882,845 4,550 4,950 240,000 557,450 461,982,570 169,080 10,674 7,485 2,974,264 78,210 74,390 61,260,820.50 197,350,348 169,000 4,524,032 352,150

1,601,270.50 30,909,228 -27,774,860 20,800 814,285 10,766,330.00 -112,000 151,129,889.50 -2,267,486 1,396,657 -89,223,440 -1,019,672 -

INDUSTRIAL 38.65 1,703,200 12.28 1,160,400 0.68 1,201,000 1.36 429,000 17.02 1,500 0.222 2,080,000 4.5 18,818,000 15.54 118,000 42 508,500 20.05 1,100 64 401,640 70 250 1.91 259,000 5.33 119,500 11.02 10,600 10.76 8,565,800 14.76 1,165,500 10.82 175,100 7.26 494,500 5.56 6,897,600 1.6 157,000 17.82 418,000 61.5 52,510 23.15 261,200 11.4 24,600 18 3,065,600 2.02 5,910,000 241.4 583,130 4.05 23,000 3.26 8,000 29.3 138,500 17.84 162,100 17.18 2,305,700 305 739,480 0.195 70,000 8.06 30,700 2.4 207,000 6.1 100,600 9.35 1,232,000 7.62 973,200 9.3 18,900 1.55 217,000 11.6 503,900 59.25 32,520 6.86 2,000 500 17,860 4.86 159,000 4.42 11,000 2.14 1,282,000 12.9 814,600 5.59 347,500 0.135 140,000 1.18 369,000 133 1,153,410 3.12 26,000 1.96 3,255,000 0.61 128,000

66,122,675 14,404,774 821,530 585,800 25,620 457,430 83,212,940 1,821,658 21,230,110 22,055 24,903,972 17,008.50 495,820 634,050 118,342 92,082,858 17,198,408 1,911,690 3,594,138 38,179,746 252,300 7,269,940 3,228,616.50 5,997,910 282,482 55,359,166 11,925,740 141,267,932 93,390 25,480 4,010,445 2,892,938 39,607,530 222,347,176 13,650 248,300 501,280 605,836 11,663,316 7,672,223 175,424 337,030 5,750,680 1,910,001 12,884 8,886,754 767,620 48,530 2,770,100 10,496,704 1,893,486 18,900 441,830 153,114,150 81,190 6,375,470 79,000

-17,100,325 3,646,514 9,560 1,400 1,726 2,220 -15,684,180.00 819,376 -24,830,740 -191,000 1,150 32,670,724 11,934,180 -647,152 -773,484 3,253,868 -1,539,520 441,362 -51,750 -5,832,538 272,880.00 -76,134,982 -39,400 1,860,642 33,445,764 85,731,218 -346,150 47,705 288,498 5,913,492 54,250 -979,516 759,083 2,607,681 73,480 7,936,746 13,600 15,125,014 -2,391,150 -

130,150 81,391,184 65,993,010 19,040 4,198 152,350 193,800 354,437,700 1,824,966 50,552,634 110,453 40,260 65,568,355 1,549 94,351,055 19,698 301,150 2,012,005 21,638,146 44,612,679 836,680 72,100 48,300 887,750 25,442,671 130,740 259,155,360 121,670 3,479,580 18,310 4,453,322 9,160 11,300

-64,396,899 -7,658,016 1,940 -76,000 -197,720,297.50 -1,069,395 -7,844,518 -9,903,325 -7,873,535 18,000 227,219 5,042,018 -14,619,068 20,460 3,250,936 -131,176,735 -57,080 -68,764 -

1,083,375 8,777,910 157,932 326,980 3,451,840 434,750,685 511,970 5,104,400 920,298 1,976,500 82,800 61,860 4,000,700 425,550 5,583,520 21,460 1,460 10,700,890 26,586,530 293,310

-304,176 712,750 -528,000 -116,417,300 -95,150 80,670 64,900 4,800 -2,060 878,010 1,360 1,460 2,467,840 -4,461,390.00 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

3.54 59.7 100.5 3.8 146 2.24 33.5 15.3 33.3 0.65 1.65 960 0.55 92.85 0.84 11.86 24.95 56 237 95 55.1 247 1,880 87 1.28

3.65 59.7 102 3.8 146 2.26 33.5 15.36 33.3 0.65 1.65 960 0.57 93.2 0.84 11.86 24.95 58 237 95.5 55.1 247 1,880 87.05 1.28

3.33 55.7 99.7 3.8 142.6 2.08 33.2 15.06 32.75 0.65 1.65 960 0.55 91.5 0.81 11.86 24.95 55.4 237 95 53.55 240 1,875 87 1.25

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

38.5 12.52 0.7 1.4 17.26 0.22 4.31 15.32 41.5 20.05 63 66.95 1.92 5.32 11.5 11.14 14.58 11.18 7.35 5.46 1.61 17 61.15 23.15 11.5 18.9 2.1 245.4 4.08 3.28 28.3 17.92 17.16 302 0.195 8.39 2.37 5.94 9.59 7.79 9.28 1.55 11.62 59 6.42 500 4.83 4.41 2.12 12.92 5.4 0.135 1.16 131.1 3.14 1.95 0.62

39.45 12.54 0.7 1.4 17.28 0.222 4.55 15.54 42 20.05 64 70 1.93 5.33 11.5 11.2 14.76 11.18 7.36 5.6 1.61 17.82 61.85 23.15 11.5 18.9 2.13 245.4 4.08 3.28 29.3 17.92 17.24 305 0.195 8.39 2.45 6.18 9.59 8.05 9.3 1.57 11.62 59.25 6.86 503 4.89 4.42 2.24 12.92 5.59 0.135 1.23 134 3.14 1.97 0.62

38.5 12.28 0.68 1.35 16.9 0.216 4.26 15.32 41.5 20.05 62 66.95 1.91 5.25 11.02 10.52 14.54 10.82 7.25 5.46 1.6 16.96 61.15 22.8 11.4 17.8 1.92 240.2 4.05 3.13 28.1 17.82 17.12 296 0.195 8.04 2.37 5.92 9.35 7.37 9.26 1.55 11.18 58.5 6.42 482 4.8 4.41 2.07 12.82 5.22 0.135 1.16 131 3.12 1.94 0.61

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV MJC INVESTMENTS PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG ZEUS HLDG

0.325 68 15.76 0.97 7.01 0.39 0.38 1,000 7.45 14.5 7.79 0.183 1,131 7.6 67 5.88 0.63 5.52 19.42 6.5 3.55 0.045 1.15 2.06 110 2.7 956.5 0.8 1.74 183.1 282 0.229 0.189

0.325 68.05 15.76 0.97 7.01 0.39 0.38 1,000 7.47 14.88 7.95 0.183 1,140 7.89 68.6 5.88 0.63 5.74 19.5 6.56 3.59 0.046 1.15 2.06 110 2.74 961.5 0.8 1.79 183.1 286 0.229 0.189

0.3 67.5 15.4 0.95 6.94 0.375 0.38 984.5 7.43 14.22 7.71 0.183 1,125 7.6 67 5.1 0.6 5.52 18.44 6.42 3.41 0.045 1.15 2.05 106 2.6 951 0.79 1.74 183.1 279 0.229 0.187

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 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE IRC PROP

5.6 1.03 11 2.35 0.9 42.1 3.66 4.76 5.37 0.47 1.15 1.19 0.209 0.455 37.25 0.68 0.146 1.81 1.38 0.74

5.66 1.03 11 2.35 0.9 42.3 3.73 4.85 5.38 0.47 1.15 1.21 0.21 0.46 37.95 0.68 0.146 1.81 1.38 0.74

5.6 0.95 10.06 2.33 0.86 41.7 3.63 4.69 5.37 0.46 1.15 1.18 0.203 0.45 37 0.67 0.146 1.76 1.29 0.72

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

5.15 0.36 0.37 0.57 6.68 21.95 2.22 3.21 35.15 1.03 0.87 5.88

5.18 0.37 0.38 0.59 6.68 21.95 2.3 3.21 35.85 1.03 0.87 5.88

5.05 0.345 0.37 0.55 6.35 21.5 2.1 3.15 35.1 1.01 0.84 5.71

5.15 0.365 0.38 0.57 6.4 21.7 2.25 3.2 35.75 1.02 0.87 5.72

44,421,200 137,190,000 2,920,000 8,914,000 3,773,700 1,731,000 4,214,000 51,000 14,574,900 852,000 46,000 2,856,000

227,793,873 49,368,850 1,094,450 5,073,120 24,203,790 37,529,290 9,238,560 161,250 519,761,930 862,560 38,880 16,375,897

-15,292,819 48,000 -57,000 45,030 -164,565 -15,532,705 -72,834,200.00 -11,270,375

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

16.5 35 1.41 0.48 0.046 11.04 10.5 0.072 100.2 8.95 8.73 7.06 2.65 1,819 5.85 18 4.38 2.3 105.2 12 8.36 0.141 1.36 3.06 15.7 3.6 1.19 21 0.52 4.28 7.34 3.87 15.8 2.85 11.1 149 9.14 1,464 1.3 47.95 96.95 5.78 3.32 1.69 1.89 3.87 1.01 8.38

16.5 35.1 1.45 0.48 0.046 11.04 10.54 0.072 100.2 8.95 8.73 7.06 2.9 1,819 5.9 18.12 4.57 2.3 105.2 12 8.36 0.144 1.36 3.14 15.7 3.9 1.19 21.25 0.52 5.2 7.34 3.9 15.8 2.88 11.1 149 9.34 1,470 1.31 48.25 97 5.88 3.32 1.69 1.89 3.97 1.05 8.42

16.3 34.75 1.41 0.48 0.045 11.04 10.38 0.068 99 8.95 8.5 7.06 2.4 1,750 5.74 18 4.23 2.3 102.9 12 8.32 0.141 1.34 3.05 15.7 3.6 1.18 20.2 0.52 4.2 7.14 3.84 15 2.73 10.98 140 8.75 1,450 1.28 47.6 93.6 5.78 3.17 1.65 1.89 3.83 0.97 8.33

SERVICES 16.34 34.75 1.42 0.48 0.045 11.04 10.5 0.069 99 8.95 8.55 7.06 2.89 1,750 5.8 18.12 4.48 2.3 103 12 8.36 0.142 1.36 3.14 15.7 3.8 1.19 20.65 0.52 5.2 7.22 3.86 15.02 2.88 10.98 145 8.75 1,450 1.28 48 97 5.78 3.17 1.67 1.89 3.96 1 8.35

34,300 29,600 100,000 10,000 20,500,000 100 8,309,800 63,270,000 137,460 500 1,610,700 3,000 150,000 20,525 314,400 3,400 15,487,000 3,000 781,860 57,700 397,000 1,140,000 695,000 28,000 5,000 6,408,000 188,000 4,058,200 295,000 5,939,000 6,642,600 748,000 18,200 7,684,000 15,100 1,500 3,259,200 96,205 1,792,000 7,274,700 377,630 33,300 502,000 7,649,000 5,000 1,351,000 8,443,000 4,552,900

561,478 1,032,290 141,100 4,800 928,000 1,104 87,174,538 4,381,180 13,630,272.50 4,475 13,778,730 21,180 388,600 36,279,265 1,816,307 61,578 68,456,360 6,900 80,651,366 692,400 3,317,060 161,310 934,810 86,110 78,500 24,142,250 223,020 83,785,200 153,400 28,378,030 47,824,395 2,883,240 274,230 21,472,560 166,958 212,550 29,365,993 139,844,725 2,324,310 349,457,130 35,768,717 192,511 1,607,120 12,771,050 9,450 5,260,740 8,398,040 38,070,292

75,206 2,900 4,500 33,741,304 4,900 4,960,648.50 734,510 -20,492,890 -153,480 -21,798,424 -6,104,830 -29,670,755 681,300 5,719,167 903,210 169,160 123,340 -7,638,687.00 -30,677,745 -202,140 -1,164,115 -23,846,739.50 -633,600 8,135,710 343,190 -32,460 25,000,670

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

0.0024 1.67 4.85 14.8 1.95 1.62 0.31 7.35 2.8 0.235 0.151 0.152 0.011 0.01 1.66 6.15 1.52 0.45 0.89 0.012 0.012 0.011 2.03 5.8 9.5 35.45 0.007

0.0024 1.68 4.85 15 1.95 1.7 0.33 7.5 2.8 0.236 0.152 0.152 0.011 0.01 1.72 6.22 1.55 0.45 0.89 0.012 0.012 0.012 2.03 6 9.7 36.4 0.007

0.0023 1.63 4.73 14.8 1.91 1.51 0.31 7.1 2.65 0.219 0.151 0.15 0.0099 0.0098 1.62 6.09 1.42 0.45 0.85 0.012 0.012 0.011 2.03 5.8 8.78 34.85 0.007

MINING & OIL 0.0024 59,000,000 1.63 3,489,000 4.75 116,000 15 2,800 1.91 12,000 1.66 18,173,000 0.325 1,730,000 7.38 12,600 2.67 2,549,000 0.234 50,000 0.151 3,770,000 0.151 8,060,000 0.01 13,700,000 0.01 225,000,000 1.72 138,000 6.13 990,000 1.43 26,000 0.45 180,000 0.89 777,000 0.012 2,900,000 0.012 200,000 0.011 26,700,000 2.03 4,000 5.95 445,000 9 18,222,800 35.35 970,000 0.007 3,000,000

136,000 5,724,490 555,520 41,460 23,180 28,990,140 549,100 90,173 6,836,470 11,430 569,640 1,215,080 136,950 2,249,500 224,970 6,064,277 37,890 81,000 667,730 34,800 2,400 306,000 8,120 2,618,836 165,727,583 34,256,530 21,000

7,000 1,680 -14,240 1,950 -116,060 -2,640 1,520 19,000 6,480 870,828 1,550 -462,788 1,596,517 -3,546,050 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A HOUSE PREF A LR PREF PCOR PREF 2A SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

34.5 520.5 107.8 105 521.5 5.4 1,040 100.5 1.09 1,050 77 81.4 78.5 80.1

35 531 107.8 105 521.5 5.4 1,050 101.5 1.09 1,050 77 81.4 78.5 80.1

34.5 520.5 107.8 104.8 521.5 5.36 1,010 100 1.09 1,050 77 81.4 78.2 80.1

PREFERRED 34.5 26,100 531 20 107.8 5,000 105 73,820 521.5 5,110 5.39 2,447,500 1,040 6,340 101 33,820 1.09 9,000 1,050 50 77 100 81.4 7,350 78.3 66,650 80.1 156,030

904,500 10,515 539,000 7,751,098 2,664,865 13,185,640 6,423,935 3,409,018 9,810 52,500 7,700 598,290 5,220,725 12,498,003

-310,500 -2,664,865 -1,214,224 -

LR WARRANT

2.3

2.41

2.26

WARRANTS 2.41 488,000

1,146,700

-58,500

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

11.3 3.23 3.51

11.3 3.35 3.57

10.66 3.1 3.25

10.7 3.27 3.25

3,904,772 295,360 14,169,500

3,210 -5,325,160

FIRST METRO ETF

124.5

124.5

122.3

3,137,633

49,320

20,000

-

MS

HOLDING FIRMS 0.32 420,000 67.5 1,201,650 15.72 4,211,300 0.95 20,000 7 600 0.385 400,000 0.38 510,000 984.5 359,200 7.45 244,900 14.22 3,508,000 7.95 14,300 0.183 220,000 1,130 58,040 7.89 200 67.5 1,397,510 5.88 3,500 0.62 491,000 5.6 361,100 19.2 1,133,400 6.45 6,910,300 3.55 236,000 0.046 1,600,000 1.15 42,000 2.05 433,000 110 235,240 2.69 49,000 959 271,150 0.79 153,000 1.78 1,972,000 183.1 100 286 15,810 0.229 40,000 0.187 60,000 PROPERTY 5.63 1 10.98 2.33 0.87 41.75 3.66 4.74 5.37 0.46 1.15 1.2 0.206 0.455 37.95 0.67 0.146 1.8 1.34 0.74

192,300 8,889,000 14,500 140,000 3,942,000 10,401,800 140,000 1,081,000 171,100 4,280,000 72,000 52,000 19,540,000 940,000 149,600 32,000 10,000 5,984,000 20,017,000 405,000

USD DMPL A1

10

10

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

18,270,008

INDUSTRIAL

70,604,187

HOLDING FIRMS

27,091,899

PROPERTY

305,418,587

SERVICES

183,667,948

MINING & OIL

390,424,378

GRAND TOTAL

1,000,111,944

10

SME

358,500 92,000 4,152,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 122.8 25,490 10

DDS

2,000

VALUE 2,060.20 (down) 16.05 1,746,517,744.84 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,645.67 (up) 4.45 1,297,365,934.51 HOLDING FIRMS 8,221.56 (down) 57.10 1,321,424,542.67 PROPERTY 3,785.93 (down) 22.99 1,576.91 (down) 20.87 1,716,948,367.09 SERVICES MINING & OIL 11,306.20 (down) 85.64 1,191,628,173.70 PSEI 8,084.45 (down) 59.57 257,200,732.559 All Shares Index 4,758.65 (down) 27.21 7,552,616,572.02 Gainers: 68; Losers: 119; Unchanged: 55; Total: 242

BDO posted a net income of P20.4 billion in the first nine months, up 5 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by the sustained growth in core lending, deposit-taking and fee-based businesses.

Net income would have grown by 17 percent after excluding extraordinary items primarily related to the consolidation of its life insurance business (BDO Life) in 2016.

Net interest income grew 23 percent to P59.8 billion on the back of the 18-percent increase in customer loan portfolio to P1.7 trillion as broad-based expansion was seen across all market segments.

Asset growth was funded by the 15-percent hike in total deposits to P2.1 trillion, buoyed by the 20-percent increase in current account/ savings account or CASE, representing 73 percent of total deposits.

Non-interest income rose 9 percent to P34.8 billion.

Fee-based income expanded rose 30 percent to P20.8 billion, while insurance premiums increased 19 percent to P7.2 billion. Trading and foreign exchange income as expected dropped 26 percent to P3.3 billion.

Operating expenses grew 20 percent to P63.6 billion.

But on a comparable basis net of extraordinary items, operating expenses would have risen by just 13 percent in line with the bank’s business expansion.

GMA-7 dominated November TV ratings

By Darwin G. Amojelar GMA Network Inc. said it remains the number one broadcasting network nationwide in terms of television ratings in November based on the latest data from Nielsen Philippines TV Audience Measurement.

The network, which airs on Channel 7 on free TV, said its average total day people audience share in the national urban television audience measurement ratings from November 19 to 30 stood at 43.2 percent, higher than rival ABS-CBN’s 38.2 percent.

The network also recorded 38.8 percent people audience share in the morning block against ABS-CBN’s 35.9 percent, while GMA’s afternoon line-up consistently dominated the 12 noon to 6 p.m. block with 47 percent, way ahead of ABS-CBN’s 36.2 percent.

The network’s strong showing continued in the evening block with 42.1 percent against the competition’s 40.8 percent.

GMA toppled its rival network in all time blocks in both Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, which respectively account for 76 and 59 percent of all urban viewers in the country.

In Urban Luzon, the network registered a total day people audience share of 48.8 percent, besting ABSCBN’s 32.6 percent.

Similarly, in Mega Manila (based on November 1 to 18 data), GMA continued its dominance with 51.1 percent total day people audience share against competition’s 28.5 percent.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

TODAY

World/Business

B3

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Manila

Standard

TODAY

Missile tests ‘imminent threat’

TOKYO―North Korea’s missile tests are an “imminent threat” to Japan, the Japanese parliament declared Monday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said talking to the reclusive state was meaningless.

The upper house unanimously adopted a resolution protesting against the North’s firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile that dropped into the sea inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone last week.

The launch showed Pyongyang was determined to continue its nuclear and missile programs and constituted “an unprecedented, significant and imminent

WELCOMING CEREMONY. Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Swiss Confederation President Doris Leuthard walk past honou guards during a welcoming ceremony in Tbilisi on December 04, 2017. AFP

threat against the safety of the region, including Japan.”

“This is a frontal challenge against the international community that must not be tolerated,” added the resolution.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are high after last Wednesday’s missile launch. On Monday the US and South Korea began their largest-ever joint air exercise, described by Pyongyang as an “all-out provocation”.

Abe vowed to put pressure on North Korea until it changed its ways and gave up its missile and nuclear technology in a “verifiable” and “irreversible” fashion.

“In order to press North Korea into changing its policies, we shall take a resolute attitude in our diplomacy,” he told the upper house.

“Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless,” Abe said.

Global anxiety about North Korea has steadily risen this year, and Washington last week called on other UN members to cut ties with it in order to squeeze the secretive regime.

The call, however, has fallen short of persuading key North Korean backers―China and Russia―to take steps to isolate the regime. AFP

Coal piling up over UN sanctions The case for a separate region for Negros A COUNTRY like the Philippines is difficult to govern. Because of the archipelagic nature of a country like the Philippines, the components of a region are very often separated from one another by water. Needless to say, things would be different—better and simpler—if the regions of the Philippines and other archipelagic nations were contiguous.

But they are not. Examples in this country or regions with non-contiguous components are Region II (Cagayan Valley), Region IV-A (Southern Tagalog), Region V (Bicol), Region XII (Western Mindanao), Region VI (Western Visayas), Region VII (Central Visayas) and Region VIII (Eastern Visayas).

The province of Batanes is separated by the Balintang Channel from the rest of Region II. The islands of Mindoro (two provinces, Palawan, Marinduque and Romblon) are separated from Region IV, whose center is Batangas City. Masbate and Catanduanes lie off the Bicol Peninsula. The province of Biliran is separated from Leyte Island. The island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi are not contiguous with the Zamboanga Peninsula. The tiny island province of Guimaras lies off the coast of Iloilo Province, from which it was separated three decades ago. The provinces of Siquijor and Bohol, together with Negros Oriental, form part of the Cebu City-based Region VII regional office. And the island province of Camiguin lies off the north central coast of Mindanao.

When the decision was made in the ‘70s to divide this country into administrative regions, the areas that gave the government planners the greatest problems—mainly because of geography and language—was southern Luzon and central Visayas. What to do with the huge island provinces of Palawan and Mindoro and the small islands of Marinduque and Romblon? And how to deal with Ilonggo-speaking Negros Occidental and Cebuanospeaking Negros Oriental Bohol and Siquijor? Because the populations of the islands of Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque and Romblon were mainly Tagalog-speaking, the planners decided to group them in a sub-region numbered IV-A. Negros Occidental was tacked on to Region VI because of the language mainly spoken in that province and Negros Oriental, Bohol and Siquijor were made parts of Cebu-centered Region VII. A case can be established for the reconstitution of the large island of Palawan and Mindoro into a region of their own, but there really isn’t any hope for a change in the status of any of the other non-contiguous islands which are all comparatively small and economically insignificant.

Since its establishment, there has been no organized and consistent effort to undo the structure of Region IV-A; there has been no strong agitation to that effect among the leaders and citizens of Palawan and Mindoro, which are big and economically significant islands.

Not so with the people of Negros. From the very start the leaders and citizens—especially the business people – have been unhappy with the idea of two contiguous provincial administrations having to report to officials located in other islands, with Negros Occidental people having to report to an office in Iloilo City and Negros Oriental people having to report to officials in Cebu City. Why, the Negrenses have asked all along, should they have to cross the Guimaras Channel or Tanon Strait to be able to transact official business?

In 2015, President Benigno Aquino III issued an Administrative Order establishing a new region, Negros Island Region (NIR), that would encompass the two Negros provinces solely. Negros Occidental was uncoupled from Region VI and Negros Oriental was uncoupled from Region VII. Shortly after becoming President, Rodrigo Duterte rescinded the administrative order and reinstated the previous administrative arrangements for the two provinces.

I have no wish to go into the issue of whether Mr. Duterte’s action was part of his destroy-Aquino’s-legacy campaign. I prefer to stick to the non-political rationale for the creation of NIR. The fact is that the two provinces of Negros are more than just contiguous parts of one of this country’s largest islands. Together, the two provinces comprise a large, economically strong component of this country. The island of Negros accounts for approximately two-thirds of Philippine sugar production is one of the largest producers of geothermal energy – the Palimpinon field in this country, possesses a copper mining industry and is a major producer of corn.

The two Negros provinces deserve to have a region of their own, economic considerations demand it. So, of course, do practical considerations.

Once, for a very short while, there was an NIR. Then it was abruptly canceled, for no justifiable reason. But it will come again, after 2022, because NIR makes eminent good sense. In the meantime, the people of Negros will have to suffer having to transact their regional business in two places rather than one.

R

ASON, North Korea―A three-meter-high metal fence topped with razor wire in a North Korean port marks the front line of the United Nations’ ban on the coal exports by Pyongyang.

A mountain of North Korean coal―which would once have been bound for China―is piled up on one side of the barrier in Rajin harbor, stranded by the interdiction.

On the very next dock, around two million tons of Russian coal has come in by train and been shipped on to China this year

by Russian port operator RasonConTrans.

Its activities are specifically excluded from the UN Security Council’s sanctions resolutions―but attempts have been made to use it as a way to bypass the restrictions.

“They asked but we said no, we don’t do it,” said RasonConTrans’ deputy director Roman Minkevich.

The black mounds on the neighboring wharf were evidence his firm was complying with the rules, he added.

“Behind the fence it’s Korean

coal, it’s under sanctions now so it’s still here,” he told AFP. He declined to elaborate on the source of the requests.

“People,” he said. “Different people.”

The UN Panel of Experts on North Korea said in its midyear report that Pyongyang had been “deliberately using indirect channels to export prohibited commodities”.

For years the coal trade was a lucrative earner for Pyongyang―its main ally and key economic partner China imported 22 million tons worth nearly $1.2 billion in 2016.

But while Beijing says North Korean imports have come to a halt, RasonConTrans’ business is booming.

Since starting operations in 2015 its volumes have doubled each year, and Minkevich is targeting three million tons next year, with a goal of five million

For fast ad results, please call

Notice of Loss of Sales Invoices Notice is hereby given to all that Procter & Gamble International Operations SAROHQ, with office address at 11F Net Park. 5th Avenue, Crescent Park West, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Philippines 1634, with BIR TIN No. 406-931-778-000, had lost ten (10) manual bound booklets of Sales Invoices with serial number 0000501 to 0001000 covered by ATP No. 8AU0000368123 dated January 26, 2016 with validity period until January 25, 2021.

Advertising Department 832-5547

The General Public is warned that the Company will not be responsible for any misuse of the aforementioned lost Sales Invoices in any way whatsoever. ( M S - D E C . 2 & 5 , 2 0 17 )

PPA USE ONLY Application no._______________ Date Received________________ O/R No Filing Fee_____________ Date of Registration____________ OR No Reg’n Fees_____________ Registration No._______________ Remarks_____________________

FPA BIOTECH SERVICES Office of the Executive Director (02)920-0068

in the future.

It has between three and six ship movements a month at its pier―number 3 in the port, which can take vessels up to 180 meters long―loading 50,000 tons of coal on each, most of them heading for Shanghai.

SEC MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 13 Series of 2017.

2.

WHEREAS, Section 12.6 further authorizes the Commission to impose such terms and conditions as may be necessary or appropriate for the protection of investors before taking any action on a filed registration statement; WHEREAS, the public ownership of a company is determined through its public float.

WHEREAS, a higher public ownership increases market depth and is essential for sustaining a continuous market for listed securities to provide liquidity which in turn attracts good-quality and long-term investors; WHEREAS, the increase in liquidity improves market efficiency, reduces volatility and helps in better price discovery; WHEREAS, a large and dispersed shareholding lowers the opportunities for collusive market action or price manipulation and encourages good governance; WHEREAS, a higher public ownership increases the free float market capitalization which enhances the Philippines’ relative weight in globally tracked free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted indices and in turn helps attract more capital especially with the ongoing ASEAN integration; WHEREAS, there is a need to promulgate these rules and regulations to increase the current public ownership level of Philippine publicly listed companies to ensure that the objectives of the SRC are met; WHEREAS, the SRC authorizes the Commission to issue rules and regulations to make effective the provisions of the SRC; NOW, THEREFORE, the Commission hereby issues and promulgates the following rules and regulations governing the public ownership requirement of companies intending to undertake initial public offering as part of the terms and conditions for the registration of securities.

Section 1 - Definition of Terms A.

Commission shall refer to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

B.

Public Float of a company shall refer to the portion of the issued and outstanding shares that are freely available and tradable in the market and are non-strategic in nature or those not meant for the purpose of gaining substantial influence on how the company is being managed.

Significant shareholdings of 10% or more of the total issued and outstanding shares of the company are considered strategic and thus, excluded in the public float of the company.

C.

Minimum Public Ownership (MPO) shall referto the lowest allowable percentage of Public Float of a PLC.

D.

Rules shall refer to these Rules and Regulations on Minimum Public Ownership (MPO) on Initial Public Offerings.

Section 2 – Coverage

Brand Name

These Rules shall apply to any company applying for the registration of its shares of stocks for the purpose of conducting an initial public offering.

Said company shall herein be referred as “covered company”.

Name of active ingredient

Section 3 - Minimum Public Ownership requirement on Initial Public Offerings

Cry1Ab protein 4.

5.

X Renewal

o Resubmission

7.

Upon effectivity of these Rules, a covered company filing a registration statement pursuant to Sections 8 and 12 of the SRC and with intention to list their shares for trading in an exchange shall apply for registration with a public float that meets the MPO of 20%;

B.

A covered company shall, at all times, maintain an MPO of at least 20%.

If the MPO of a covered company falls below 20% at any time after registration, such company shall bring the public float to at least 20% within a maximum period of 12 monthsfrom the date of such fall.

C.

Notwithstanding the quarterly public ownership report requirement of the Exchange, a covered company shall establish and implement an internal policy and procedure to monitor its MPO and shall immediately report to the Commission within the next business day if its public float has fallen below 20%. Further, a covered company shall submit to the Commission within ten (10) days after knowledge about the deficiency in its MPO, a time- bound business plan describing the steps that the company will take to bring the public float to at least 20% within a maximum period of 12 months from the date of such decline;

D.

A covered company shall submit to the Commission a Public Ownership Report and progress report on submitted business plan within fifteen (15) days after end of each month until such time that its public float reaches the required level;

E.

This requirement of MPO shall form part of the requirements for the registration of a covered company’s shares of stocks;

Remarks

PIP use category X Insecticide Fungicide Others, specify

6.

A.

Registration Applied for: New

: RULES AND REGULATIONS ON MINIMUM PUBLIC OWNERSHIP (MPO) ON INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS

WHEREAS, Section 12.1 and 12.2 of the SRC also authorize the Commission to prescribe the form, information and documents that shall be contained in any registration statement, to dispense with any of said requirements and to require additional information or documents;

Bt11 Corn____ 3.

: ALL CONCERNED

SUBJECT

WHEREAS, Section 8.1 of the SRC provides authority to the Commission to approve applications for registration of securities before being sold, offered for sale or distributed within the Philippines on the basis of the registration statement filed with the Commission;

Institution/ Business Name & Business Address Syngenta Philippines, Inc. 12th Floor, Two World Square, 22 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio Taguig City, Philippines____________

TO

WHEREAS, Section 2 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) declares that it is the policy of the State, among others, to promote the development of the Philippine capital market and encourage the widest participation of ownership in enterprises;

APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF BIOTECH PLANT-INCORPORATED-PROTECTANT (PIP) 1.

Over a hill at the back of Rajin town stands a sprawling disused oil refinery, originally built to process crude from the Soviet Union, in the days of Communist brotherhood provided Pyongyang with cheap or free materials. AFP

Name and address of manufacturer (same as no. 1 above) Applicant’s Signature/Authorized Representative Name: Jet Marcial G. Parma

Name: Felipe S. dela Cruz,Jr.

Title

Title: Seeds RegulatorAffairTerritory Lead, ASEAN_____________

: President and Commercial Unit Head

Signature:__________________

Signature:_____________________

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES PROVINCE OF________________ MUNICIPALITY OF ___________

Section 4 – Sanctions and Penalties for Non-Compliance Non-compliance with any of the requirements and procedures herein shall subject a covered company to the administrative sanctions provided under Section 54 of the SRC, including the initiation of suspension and/or revocation proceedings against their Registration Statements pursuant to the pertinent provisions of the SRC, if warranted.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of ___________, 2017 at _______________ Philippines, affiant exhibited to me hispassport ___________ issued on _________in________.

Name

Passport No.

Date/Place Issued

Jet Marcial G. Palma

P1317214A

20 Dec 2016 / DFA NCR East

Felipe S. dela Cruz, Jr..

EB9971221

11 Jan 2014 / DFA Manila

Section 5 – Effect on Rules on Minimum Public Float Issued by an Exchange Unless otherwise declared by the Commission herein or in any other rules, orders or circulars issued by the Commission, these Rules are not meant to amend the existing rules and/or guidelines of an exchange on minimum public float that have been duly approved by the Commission.

Section 6 – Effectivity These Rules shall take effect immediately following the completion of its publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Notary Public____________ Until___________________

Pasay City, Metro Manila, 28 November 2017.

TERESITA J. HERBOSA Chairperson

E-mail: romero.business.class@gmail.com (MS-DEC. 5, 2017)

(MS-DEC. 5, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

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

B4

tuesday, december 5, 2017

LocaL government units

CHRISTMAS IN MAKATI. Makati City is ringing in the holidays with its bright, sparkling lights and colorful decor. The ceremonial lighting took place on Monday, Nov. 27 at the Old City Hall grounds at JP Rizal Street. Festive displays can also be seen at the Makati Park and Garden, Central Police Station, Makati City Fire Station, and the center island of Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue.

Carjackers of Uber, Grab cars captured MANILA Police District operatives have arrested four suspected carjackers victimizing Uber and Grab drivers over the weekend.

The MPD identified the suspects as Wilfredo Alejandro, Jhon Lester Crispe, Russel Jimenez and Arvin Alejandro, who were nabbed in an operation on Abad Santos Street in Tondo, Manila on Saturday afternoon.

Follow-up operations are being conducted against the cohorts of the suspects.

A victim, identified as Victor Calacar, said the suspects were the ones who carjacked his vehicle in Manila.

Another victim, Michael Panaligan, said Jimenez and Arvin Alejandro carnapped his car sometime in October.

Arvin Alejandro, however, claimed he was in jail during the time and had just been recently released.

The three other suspects admitted they took Calacar’s car.

They said they have stolen at least three Grab and Uber cars and bring the stolen vehicles to a certain alias “Sultan” in Cavite.

Crispe said “Sultan” would pay them with cash and drugs.

Bill Casas

Quiapo to start preparations for Jan. 9 Traslacion

By Bill Casas MANILA Mayor Joseph Estrada on Monday ordered barangay officials in Quiapo to begin preparations for the annual Traslacion or the Black Nazarene procession on Jan. 9.

Estrada said the barangays should lead the early planning and preparations in their respective territorial jurisdictions to ensure a hassle-free observance of the Feast of Black Nazarene.

“This early, we should start drawing up plans and contingencies and this must start in the grassroots level, in the barangays. The earlier, the better,” he said.

The city’s inter-agency peace and order council as well as concerned national government agencies, Estrada said, will rely on the inputs to be provided by the Quiapo barangays to formulate various security and traffic plans for the yearly religious event.

Quiapo is composed of 16 barangays—from Barangay 306 to 309 and 383 to 394 that partly make up Zone 30, which covers a total of 36 barangays.

Barangay 306 Chairman Joey Jamisola said the 16 Quiapo barangays will meet in a general meeting on Friday, Dec. 8, along with other stakeholders, especially officials of Quiapo Church.

Jamisola is designated as the chairman of the 16-barangay district.

Seeds for Upi’s future (First of two parts)

By Nash B. Maulana

U

PI, Maguindanao—Farmers here are growing seeds to breed a future community of educated people who could help address violent extremism in the court of human development.

Jonathan Acupio, chairman of the Upian Farmers’ Cooperative Inc., says he had no idea about growing seeds for an ideal community income when he was invited by Upi Municipal Agriculture Officer Ismael Kamad to join a training session in Davao City on the production of high-value crops in 2012.

Acupio, a farmer and former seaman, says he invited fellow tillers to organize into a cooperative. But this did

not prove easy for him, as they needed to raise money from individual financial contributions for a P20,000 paid-up capital, the least requirement on registration with the Cooperative Development Authority.

Now worth P15 million, the Upian Farmers’ Cooperative Inc. pays P10,000 to P20,000 in monthly wages on lean periods. But on peak of harvest and delivery seasons, they disburse anywhere from P50,000

to P100,000 in monthly salaries to famers and laborers. This is above what members ought to have in annual dividends to members, Acupio said.

Regional Secretary Alexander Alonto Jr. of the Department of Agriculture and Fishery in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao says ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman has underscored the Upi farmers’ success as a “sustained community endeavor that defeats violent extremism in the court of human development.”

Acupio’s fellow farmers probably entertained doubts he would ever gain much success in farming since he had twice pursued his profession in the line of marine transportation: first as a seaman working overseas, and second by serving the Philippine Navy in the Marines,

from which he had availed of his early retirement option.

But Orlando Ortega, also a former Marine who now heads the cooperative’s Committee on Mediation and Reconciliation, said this — and many instances when they almost gave up — did not stop Acupio from pushing through with what they had started over on a piece of land, 600 square meters wide, and with only P20,000 in the group’s common purse.

Acupio recalls the cooperative used its first P 20,000 in buying 1,000 heels of marcotted rubber, which they grew further on seedling bags and sold for P 32.00 each then. He said with the “good price,” majority of the group did not anymore hesitate on investing again their initial financial capital, plus the profit into buying and

working again on another period of growing.

Now, the cooperative is a nationwide seedling supplier in its accreditation—said to be the first in the ARMM— granted by the Bureau of Plant and Industry.

It’s breeding the future community by growing seeds was how Norvie Balnig from Makilala, a member tiller, describes (in Bisayan) the farmers’ collective purpose. She says she has come from Makilala town in North Cotabato to relocate her family here, as the cooperative helps them a lot, including the cost of sending her children to a private school.

Other member-parents said their children also benefit from the cooperative’s support for education. Ortega said at least two of the scholars are orphans: Jomari Clarito (Grade 12 ND Upi),

Standard lensman Pelaez gets best pic in Mimaropa contest Manila STanDaRD photographer Teddy Pelaez has won the Best Picture for Romblon province in the recent 1st Mimaropa Photography Contest and Exhibit held during the Mimaropa 3 Festival in Romblon last Nov. 20 to 25.

Pelaez’s photograph, entitled “Biniray Festival Queen” was one of five winning photos picked by world-renowned photographer George Tapan in the event organized by the Department of TourismMimaropa in partnership with Think Dharma Inc./ Nikon Philippines, in cooperation with the Provincial Government of Romblon.

The winning photos were displayed at the Legislative Building of the Municipality of Odiongan, Romblon.

Pelaez won P20,000 and gift items from Nikon for his award.

A total of 31 professional

The winning photo of Manila Standard photojournalist Teddy Pelaez’s Romblon Best Picture titled “Biniray Festival Queen” for the recent Biniray Festival in Romblon, Romblon.

and amateur photographers all over the country joined the contest, drawing 108 entries. The entries were trimmed down to 35 slots,

representing the five provinces and two cities of Mimaropa – the region made up of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque,

Romblon and Palawan.

From the 35 slots the best picture for each province and city were chosen by Tapan, the Nikon Pro.

The Provincial Government of Occidental Mindoro host for the 4th Mimaropa Festival promised to have a bigger and a longer duration for the 2nd Mimaropa Photography Contest.

Other winners also receiving P20,000 and Nikon goodies were: Occidental Mindoro Best Picture— “Sailing of Faith” by Gilbert Pantoja in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro; Oriental Mindoro Best Picture—“War Dance of the Centurion” by Joel “Bong” Garin at the Centurion Festival, Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro; Palawan Best Picture – “El Nido, Palawan” by Noriel Nueca in El Nido, Palawan; and Mimaropa Best Picture – “Liwanag Sa Dilim” by Omar Cunananin Puntangasin Hidden Cave, Ambulong Island, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.

‘Comercio’ market opens in Clark

PARTNERS. The Philippine International Trading Corp. has forged a strategic partnership

with the Metro Manila Development Authority through a memorandum of agreement. PITC president and CEO Dave M. Almarinez and MMDA chairman Danilo D. Lim (center) signed the MOA, witnessed by PITC vice president Christabelle P. Ebriega (right) and MMDA assistant general manager for Finance and Administration lawyer Romando S. Artes. Roy Tomandao

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga—The Comercio Central Clark, a lifestyle market with shopping, dining and entertainment choices inside the sprawling parade ground of the former US Air Force Base, was launched here Friday.

Rick Campos, head of the Comersio Central Clark, said the market is a component of Visit Pampanga 2018, a tourism program

spearheaded by Bessie Rustia of Creative Travel and Tour International.

Rustia said the lifestyle market is one way to attract more tourists to the province, not only during the holiday season but also summer.

The tourism program invites Kapampangan arriving this holiday season to visit the province and learn the latest devel-

opments, projects, tourism sites, cultural attractions, and much more.

Visit Pampanga 2018 is being supported by the Philippine Tourism Board in line with its program “Bring Home a Friend,” according to Rustia.

Campos said 120 booths will sell different items and native products like food, crafts, organic produce, plants and others. Romeo Dizon

Christian Dave Ortega (Grade 9 Notre Dame of Upi), whom he has adopted.

Another beneficiary Roquelyn Rose Mobdeg, Grade 10 at St. Francis High School here, has told her parents she wanted to become a teacher to multiply the benefits of the cooperative’s spending on education of young people here from poor families.

“I send our secretary to see the grades of the children of our members, and pay the tuition and other fees for those deserving (the cooperative’s support),” he said.

Dr. Daud Lagasi, provincial agriculture officer, said the seedling and nursery farm of the Upian Farmers’ Cooperative Inc. here best showcased to Maguindanao community their success, by rising every time they failed.

(To be continued)

Munti gains DoH Rizal Award anew THE local government of Muntinlupa has earned its second consecutive Jose Rizal Award from the Department of Health for its outstanding blood donation services—the highest citation in the agency’s Dugong Bayani Awards.

DoH lauded Muntinlupa, through Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, for donating 3,856 blood units with over 200 regular donors during the 2017 Dugong Bayani Awarding Ceremony held at Hotel Rembrandt, Quezon City last Dec. 1.

Conferring the award to Fresnedi were Philippine Blood Center chief Dr. Andres Bonifacio, National Voluntary Blood Services Program manager Marites Estrella, and PBC Technical Management head Dr. Francis Dematera.

The Jose Rizal Award is given to agencies that collect 2,000 blood units or more. Other conferees of the award for this year include: Members Church of God International, City Government of Taguig, Iglesia ni Cristo, and Office of the Vice MayorQuezon City.

Annually, DoH recognizes organizations with significant amount of blood unit collections donated to the Philippine Blood Center.

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

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Festival of Lights kicks off holiday season

BRIGHT LIGHTS. Makati City comes alive with colorful lights and jolly Christmas tunes once again as it stages its award-winning holiday lights and sound show, dubbed The Festival of Lights,” until Jan. 7 next year.

I

T’S officially Christmas in Makati.

A dazzling lights and sound show at the heart of the country’s business district heralds the beginning of the Christmas season this year, promising Filipinos another unforgettable holiday season.

Until January 7, the Ayala Triangle Gardens is again observing the muchloved and highly anticipated Christmas tradition with the Festival of Lights, its signature lights and sound show, that captivated thousands of Filipinos in the last eight years.

As darkness blankets the city, millions of twinkling lights come alive across the gardens as the melodious strains of Christmas songs fill the air. In dramatic fashion, the lights begin dancing in sync with the music, creating a captivating magical spectacle. As the lights flash and change colors to the beat of the music the revelry and joy of Christmas is surely felt by everyone.

The light show is expertly choreographed by award-winning director Voltaire de Jesus and Luther Gumia.

More than 1.6 million LED lights were used for the light show, adding brilliance while staying environmentally sustainable. Musical scoring for the three medleys were beautifully arranged by acclaimed musicians and composers.

The musical medleys have three distinct themes – Pinoy Fiesta by Roy del Valle, Traditional Christmas by Von de Guzman, and Techno by Tris Sunguitan. One medley is staged every 30 minutes nightly. Each one boasts a different mood, pace, and rhythm, while retaining the Christmas cheer that brings people together and envelopes everyone in the spirit of the season.

“We want Christmas to be magical for everyone, which is why we have continued with this beautiful Christmas tradition that brings people together and lets them feel the joys of the season,” said Shiella Aguilar, Ayala Land Project

More than 1.6 million LED lights choreographed by Voltaire de Jesus and Luther Gumia dance to the tune of three Christmas medleys at the Ayala Triangle Gardens from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Development head for Makati.

This year’s lights and sound show is presented by Ayala Land, in partnership with MasterCard, HSBC and SunLife Financial.

Makati’s Filipino Christmas wonderland extends beyond the Ayala Triangle Gardens. Across the city, major Makati thoroughfares Ayala Avenue, Paseo de Roxas, and Makati Avenue are decked in over a million Christmas lights done in the patterns of native woven fabrics such

as Inabel and Burdado of Luzon, Banig Tikog of Visayas and T’Boli, Ukil and Yakan of Mindanao. Gigantic Christmas ornaments lit up in the same native patterns can be found on concrete islands, bringing the holiday cheer even closer to people who roam the city’s streets.

For added holiday cheer, Ayala Land is also bringing the lights and sound show to its various estates across the country – Vertis North, Nuvali, Boni-

facio Global City, Centrio, and Ayala Center Cebu—spreading the sights and sounds of Christmas to more people.

The majestic Festival of Lights has made it to the coveted list of Conde Nast Traveler’s Most Spectacular Lights in the World, in the company of distinguished luminaries such as the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, the holiday lights display at the legendary Champs-Elysees in Paris and Japan’s Kobe Luminarie.

Indeed, Christmas is the happiest time of the year, and Ayala Land promises to deliver a memorable and unforgettable Christmas celebration to thousands of Filipinos from all walks of life with its signature tradition.

Bring magic to your Christmas celebration with the Festival of Lights at the Ayala Triangle Gardens! The show will run daily until Jan 7. Next year every half hour from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A slice of Africa in Palawan Though it’s relaxing and therapeutic to soak your body in the warm tubs, staying in the pool longer than 30 minutes is not really advisable according to our guide. Hence, after spending some enough time bathing in the rain soaked in warm water, we left the resort to have dinner at the recently opened Roof Deck, a restaurant that offers local and foreign cuisine specifically adapted to neutral taste buds.

The restaurant that offers food and cocktails is also managed by Sophia Garden Hotel.

While having our meal we were told that our call time the next day would be really early. It’s going to be packed breakfast for us because we have to leave the hotel before 6 a.m. to accommodate the itinerary for the entire day. “Don’t forget your rush guards,” reminded our tour guide.

By Nickie Wang

Calauit Island is home to exotic animals from Kenya, such as these Grevy zebras grazing on the grass

IT WAS supposed to be a sunny island weekend trip. First day was a city tour to be capped by a therapeutic dip in the salt-water pools of Maquinit Hot Springs. The second day was an island hopping with a visit to Calauit Safari and Game Reserve as the first item in the itinerary. And the last day was a morning trek to Mt. Tapyas to witness the sunrise in Coron before we head back to Manila.

Apparently, Mother Nature wanted to have it her way and we mortals could only do so much about it.

It was in late October when our flight via SkyJet’s 80-seater, four-engine British Aerospace jet got delayed due to air traffic caused by Typhoon Odette. So our early afternoon city tour was replaced by a late lunch, which forced us to adjust our itinerary for the whole day.

It was raining when we left Sophia Garden Hotel, our host for our entire stay in Busuanga. Some 30-minute drive through unpaved dirt road, we reached the Maquinit Hot Springs. At 40 degrees, the water was not that easy to manage given the cold weather at the time of our visit. But once you get in, and your body got used to the temperature, all your troubles would vanish including the body pain caused by the bumpy ride going to the resort.

Maquinit Hot Springs, which is one of the

Guests can feed the giraffes in the safari few saltwater hot springs in the world, is a therapeutic bathing establishment with picnic ground facilities surrounded by mangrove trees. The water that flowed from the underground gets heated by a volcano and springs up into the two circular pools at the site. The water from these pools cascades into a bigger pool where visitors can actually swim (that is if they can bear the temperature). The flooring and walls of the pools are covered in pebbles giving it a natural feel.

Island safari

Some two-hour drive from our accommodation to the north-western coast of Busuanga, we reached the Calauit Island. We took a ten-minute boat ride from the small jetty port and crossed the calm waters to reach the park. It was already raining but the animals would still be roaming around regardless of the weather, assured our tour guide.

At the reception area, we were briefed on what to do and not to do while we’re with the animals.

“Always stay in a safe distance. They’ve got powerful and heavy legs and can kick Turn to C2

Life

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

The Filipino Christmas MERCURY RISING

BY BOB ZOZOBRADO

T

HERE was a time early in my airline career when I had the chance to spend Christmas in the US. Although I stayed with American friends, I did not have my children with me. It was also the very first time I did not have a Filipino Christmas…and I was miserable! The wintry weather limits people to indoor activities.

You don’t see your neighbors having fun because they’re also seeking refuge from the cold, in the confines of their homes.

When you look out the window, you don’t feel the joy of the occasion. The thoroughfares don’t give any indication that it is the happiest time of the year.

Because of that experience, I promised myself never to “persecute” myself that way again. But, several years later, I forgot such promise when my boss gifted me and my children with an all-expense paid Christmas vacation in Guam. The excitement of traveling with the children during such a joyful season made me forget the not-sopleasant Christmas experience I had many years earlier.

Of course, my children and I were miserable! Although Christmas Eve had us frolicking in the pool of my boss’ hilltop mansion, where we stayed, we were looking forward to a nice Christmas dinner. When evening came, we decided to attend the only anticipated Mass in the city and then have our Christmas dinner at any of the island’s luxury hotels.

We were in for a big surprise, as we drove to all the hotels in the island and finding out that all their food and beverage outlets were closed. After almost an hour of looking for a decent place to have our Christmas dinner, we ended up going to the only place open-

ture, values and traditions of Filipino communities, and this will be done along the stretch of Roxas Boulevard, from the Cultural Center of the Philippines to Quirino Grandstand. Every evening, there will also be a series of musical performances by noted Filipino artists and musical groups.

But the most significant activity of this 3-day event is the Grand Gift-Giving of items solicited earlier from kind donors, distributed to children who are victims of the recent military conflict in Marawi, also to those who still have to recover from the catastrophic effect of Typhoon Yolanda, and to the little ones sheltered by the Hospicio de San Jose. Entrance to “Christmas By Manila Bay” is complimentary.

A Filipino Christmas Venue

Star lanterns or ‘parol’ will be among those sold in the Christmas Market of Christmas By Manila Bay

Scheduled for Dec. 15-17, it aims to --a Diner, and we had to queue up for the Filipino tradition of celebrating the almost an hour. It was this experience Holidays. This event was conceptual- make foreign visitors appreciate the that carved a permanent, throbbing re- ized by former Tourism Secretary Mina uniqueness of the Filipino Christmas by highlighting the distinct minder in my head: Never celebrations done in Luzon, spend Christmas away Visayas and Mindanao. from home again! And YOUR TUESDAY CHUCKLE Many interesting activihere are some reasons why ties have been lined up: a Christmas is better spent A Chinese trader bought a well from an Englishman. The Christmas Market will offer here at home: next day, while on his way to market, he met the Englishman the finest Philippine prodwho told him: “Brother, I have sold the well to you but not the Christmas By Manila ucts ranging from housewater. If you use the water, you will have to pay for it.” The Bay ware, arts and crafts, garChinese replied: “Ah, yes, I was planning to go to your place The Department of ments, fashion accessories, and ask you to empty the water and if you don’t, then you will Tourism, in cooperation attractive Filipino Christhave to pay rent for using my well for your water.” with the Automobile Asmas décor, and many other sociation Philippines and gift items. It will also sell the International School of delicacies and food items Sustainable Tourism is putting up the Gabor who has left no stone unturned from the country’s different regions. very first “Christmas By Manila Bay” in making this pioneering event a treLined up for the same event is a at the Quirino Grandstand, showcasing mendous success.

Christmas Parade reflecting the cul-

The Art Deco Ibarra’s Garden started its operations along Padre Faura Street in 2001, and it has wood paneled floors with a beautiful garden patio reminiscent of those we see in Old Manila. Soon after it opened, it has become a popular events venue and catering service establishment.

Due to the continued increase in the demand for such well-designed venue and its catering services, it opened other locations: Plaza Ibarra in Quezon City, Bella Ibarra in Quezon Avenue, and Villa Ibarra in Tagaytay.

Just the other day, and in time for the Christmas holidays, the establishment inaugurated its newest and biggest venue, the Casa Ibarra, which is located at the Mall of Asia complex. The venue has a modern, graciously sophisticated Filipino design, and its interiors showcase a generous display of indigenous materials: capiz shells, raffia fabric and T’nalak, highlighting its uniquely Filipino identity, and exuding the warmth of a typical Filipino home.

Its Salon de Amor on the second floor accommodates 350 dinner guests, with six elegant and beautifully designed chandeliers made completely of capiz shells totaling approximately 20,000 pieces. Casa Ibarra also has the Alegria Room and the Hermosa Room, both on the ground floor, just as tastefully designed, and each can take in a maximum of 140 guests.

I can almost see in these venues the many happy faces of those who, just like me, are convinced that nothing beats a Filipino Christmas. The Christmases in the other countries just don’t have the “jingle” in their bells!

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com

Tony Fernandez’s autobiography available on board AirAsia flights

WITH the expected 10 percent increase in tourist arrivals in 2017, the Philippine tourism industry is, without question, seeing an upsurge. This projected growth has brought about an analogous growth in the hotel industry, inspiring established brands to expand and enhance their facilities. It has also seen the arrival of new players in the hospitality industry, which are hoping to capitalize on the growing interest in the Philippines as one of the world’s most desirable destinations. Most of the emerging establishments are, not surprisingly, interna-

tional names of superlative reputation.

In the face of these developments, one Filipino-owned hotel chain has proudly endured the competition to establish itself as a leading name in the hospitality industry – Waterfront Hotels and Casinos.

Today, Waterfront figures as the biggest Filipino-owned and managed hotel chain in the country with 1,226 rooms.

The management and operations systems inspired by age-old Filipino values that guide the day-to-day undertakings in all the Waterfront properties are key

to the chain’s success. Traditional customs such as a strong sense of community, all-out hospitality, and a genuine concern for the wellbeing of others are all in place as part of the chain’s core values and practiced diligently by staff and executives alike.

The heart that motivates the quality of service and corporate culture at all Waterfront properties is undoubtedly Filipino. It is a heart that’s resilient in the face of challenges, kind in its purpose, and welcoming in nature to embrace friends and strangers alike to the warmth and comfort of its home.

AIRASIA Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes’ book, Flying High, a look back at his journey from music man to airline man is now available on board all AirAsia flights.

Fernandes said, “Flying High is a story about the power of dreams.

When I first started AirAsia with Datuk Kamarudin, everyone thought we were crazy. They said we had no business running an airline and it wouldn’t work. If we had listened to them, we would have given up before we even started and this book wouldn’t exist.

“This book is proof that dreams do come true, and I hope it will encourage others to pursue their true passion. Believe the unbelievable, dream the impossible and never take no for an answer. Even if you fail, it doesn’t matter because at least you’ve tried and you can do it again, so trust in your gut feeling, don’t listen to anyone else’s advice and go ahead - write your own incredible story.”

Flying High recounts Fernandes’ journey from a young boy growing in Malaysia to a homesick British boarding school student with a tuck box full of dreams, all the way to his time at Warner Music and finally as AirAsia chief - with plenty of stops along memory lane in between.

Learn about what drives Fernandes and the moments that shaped him, including a chance encounter with Virgin Group founder, Sir Richard Branson that eventually led to Fernandes’ first job out of university.

AirAsia operates a fleet of 17 aircraft with domestic and international flights out of hubs in Manila, Cebu,

A slice...

12 bushbucks, 11 elands, 11 gazelles, 15 giraffes, 18 impalas, 12 waterbucks, 10 topis, and 15 zebras.

“Most of these animals died out on the island. They were not able to adapt to the new environment. Only the reticulated giraffes, Grevy’s zebras, waterbucks and common elands remained,” said our guide.

Around a 100-meter walk from the island entrance, we were already greeted by some migratory birds from China. And a few steps more, we were already seeing zebras munching on the grass.

We got to feed the animals with leaves provided by our guides. We also observed some Philippine freshwater crocodile, the Philippine porcupine, freshwater turtles, leopard cats, the Palawan bearded pig

and the Philippine macaque while they’re in their pens. But the real highlights of the tour were the giants famous for their height and their magnificent, spotted coat – the giraffes.

Today, there are 24 giraffes in the park and most of them are naturally born on the island. They are the third generation offspring of those giraffes that arrived in Calauit some four decades ago.

Although, the population of the animals that remained on the island is thriving, park staff appealed that maintaining the game reserve is getting challenging each year.

“Lack of funds is our biggest challenge.

The park doesn’t even have its own veterinarian. We don’t have any trucks or vehicles to use around the area considering its vast

size. The previous administration didn’t even know we’re here that’s why we’re hoping that the current president would pay us a visit just like what the other presidents did in the past,” a member of park staff told us.

Island staycation After our tour around the safari park, we headed to the main port of the province for our island hopping activity. But the heavy rain and strong winds prevented us from even getting off the van we’re in.

“We have to go back to the hotel. It’s zero visibility and it’s too dangerous to sail out to sea,” Chef Francis Ocoma a.ka. Lakwatserong Kusinero.

Chef Ocoma is the Corporate Executive Chef of Sophia Garden Resort, which offered us a private paradise during the rest

Local hotel chain Waterfront Hotels and Casinos boasts of excellent service anchored on traditional Filipino customs

Hotels with a Filipino heart

From C1 you from any direction,” our tour guide said referring to the tallest residents of the safari.

The secluded Calauit Island is popular among tourists as the place where one finds exotic animals brought into the island from Kenya during the Martial Law era. Then President Ferdinand Marcos issued a proclamation that declared the 3,400 hectares of Calauit Island as a Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary.

To “save them from extinction,” 104 feral African animals from eight species were transported to the island. Among them were

‘Flying High’ chronicles the journey of AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes

and Kalibo in the Philippines. The airline operates several flights to/from Manila, Davao, Cebu, Kalibo, Caticlan (Boracay), Tacloban, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Clark, and Iloilo with international flights to/ from Shanghai, Taipei, Incheon (Seoul), Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, and Singapore.

AirAsia has been awarded the World’s Best Low Cost Carrier for nine consecutive years running by Skytrax since 2009 to 2017. of our stay in Coron while the province was being battled by the tail end of typhoon Odette.

Right at the hotel resort, we dined boodle-style and al fresco, at one of the poolside cabanas feasting on the food Chef Ocoma prepared for us. And for the rest of our stay, we just lounged in the hotel’s multi-colored outdoor swimming pool and heated jacuzzi.

We didn’t do anything else after our last activity but we still had a grand time just swimming and eating in between. And just like what one of my colleagues said during our flight going to Manila, “This paradise is just 30 minutes away. There will always be a next time. Just don’t let bad weather turn your island paradise trip into the something stressful. “

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

A

S THE year wraps up towards Christmas, the stylish regulars of The Peninsula Manila await with eager anticipation the hotel’s annual serenade of classical and holiday-themed music. One of Metro Manila’s most enduring holiday traditions, this musical extravaganza transforms the elegant meeting place and social destination of the hotel lobby into a grand concert hall.

In partnership with SSI Group, Inc., Citibank, and Philippine Tattler and in cooperation with Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Lexus, The Peninsula Manila presents its landmark 34th season of Christmas Concert at The Pen on Dec. 10. At this unique cultural event, the music strikes up at 5 p.m. with a 65-piece symphony orchestra that no other hotel has been able to match.

The holiday season concert

THE 34

TH

CHRISTMAS CONCERT at The Pen

CLASSICAL HOLIDAYS. The world-renowned Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Ruggero Barbieri, transforms the lobby of the Manila Peninsula into a grand concert hall.

features the world-renowned Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) under the baton of Maestro Ruggero Barbieri, who will be flying in from Italy especially for this concert. The presentation is also under the concert direction of Freddie Santos.

Headlining the performers is special guest soloist, OPM legend, and award-winning singer and actress, Celeste Legaspi, who will be performing with the PPO for

the very first time in this concert.

She will be once again singing her most famous songs such “Tuliro”, which was written by her husband, Nonoy Gallardo; “Saranggola ni Pepe”; “Minsan ang Minahal ay Ako”; a medley of beloved Ryan Cayabyab Christmas songs, and the ever-popular “La Vie en Rose”, sung in Filipino, English, and in the original French.

The cast also features tenor Lemuel de la Cruz, soprano Jade

Broadcast journalist Howie Severino

THE Japanese king of romantic films, Kento Yamazaki Yamazaki, will star in the highly anticipated drama series, Kiss that Kills Kills, which premieres same time as Japan on Jan. 7, 2018 at 9 p.m. in Manila.

Yamazaki plays Otaro, the most sought-after host at a nightclub whose only passion is fearless pursuit of money and power. When a mysterious woman kisses Otaro, he dies but quickly comes back to life. What is the true identity of this mysterious woman?

Can Otaro unravel the mystery behind the deadly kiss and the time loop?

“GEM has established its foothold as the top regional destination for extraordinary North Asian entertainment. Kiss that Kills is a testament to our ongoing commitment to consistently bring fans premium quality and highly creative content that captures their imaginations. Fans of Kento Yamazaki can expect his most breathtaking performance yet, and it’s one that is rich in mystery, drama and intrigue,” said Virginia Lim, senior vice president and head of Content, Production and Marketing, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia.

To celebrate the premiere of Kiss that Kills Kills, GEM fans from around the region will have the unprecedented opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to Hong Kong to meet Kento Yamazaki.

In this up-close and personal closeddoor session, Kento will share his thoughts about the drama, interact with fans and autograph exclusive drama merchandise. The meet-and-greet session will take place on Jan. 21, 2018 and will be streamed live on Facebook on www.facebook.com/gemtvasia.

“The GEM experience is all about bringing content beyond the screen and into the real world to create “moneycan’t-buy” experiences for our fans.

This exclusive event featuring Kento will mark the first time in Asia that GEM

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, December 5, 2017

ACROSS 1 Partly closed 5 Uplift 10 Feels under par 14 3-D shape 15 Meeting’s location 16 Oak or maple 17 La femme 18 Wide awake 19 Bathe 20 Poor grades 21 Used a copier 23 False reason 25 Net surfers 26 Shelley offering 27 Little bit 29 Yard protector 33 Fossil-fuel source (2 wds.)

38 Yodeler’s answer 39 Slight degree of coloration 41 Dismounted 42 Emphasized print 44 Biathlon weapon 45 Diving bird 46 DDE’s party 48 Finish-line markers 52 Evening gowns 56 Remodeling 59 Clean a counter 61 Odds and ends,

briefly 62 Concentrated 63 Famous — cookies 64 Tampico cash 65 Gavel-banger’s cry 66 Cell block brawl 67 Bird-feeder treat 68 Inclined to back talk 69 Noted lava spewer DOWN 1 Did extremely well 2 Minty quaff 3 Better trained 4 “Touched by an Angel” actress Della — 5 Weaseled out of 6 Posh 7 Clueless 8 Roll tightly 9 Bigfoot cousin 10 Book of maps 11 Really ticked 12 Crowbar 13 Garden starters 22 Takes a knife to 24 Sock part 27 Lively dance 28 Bullfight cheer 29 Calendar abbr.

30 Italian writer

Appreciative and generous concertgoers are asked to contribute a consumable fee of P1700, exclusive of taxes, that comes with selections from a delectable and festive set menu. Thus, having good taste in music is rewarded with a good merienda. For group rewards, table reservations for parties of at the hotel lobby are accepted at P27,000, exclusive of taxes.

Booking dates run until Dec. 8.

Part of the proceeds raised by

the yearly benefit concert will be donated to the “Hope for the Philippines” fund that continues to support the families living in The Peninsula/ Gawad Kalinga Village in Tanauan, Leyte.

For inquiries or further information, on “Christmas Concert at The Pen 2017”, please contact the Festive Desk at +63.2.8872888 ext. 7410 or e-mail diningpmn@ peninsula.com or visit www. peninsula.com.

Japanese actor in ‘Kiss that Kills’

Fighting fake news RECOGNIZING the importance of enabling the public to distinguish between legitimate and fabricated news as part of its commitment to Serbisyong Totoo, GMA Public Affairs presents “Sa Totoo Lang: Labanan ang MALIta” – a lecture series on media literacy and fighting fake news that aims to arm the public, most especially high school and university students who are also the biggest consumers of online media, with the necessary tools and skills to spot the truth amidst all the fake news circulating online.

GMA Network’s Vice President for Professional Development Howie Severino, “Sa Totoo Lang” will kick off today at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa.

Severino will focus on spotting fabricated news, its dangers, and what the public can do to fight it.

“Sa Totoo Lang” also serves as an extension of Severino’s already ongoing seminar on media literacy.

Joining Severino is global communications executive Ronald Jabal, APR. With 20 years of progressive professional experience in the field of communications and public relations, Jabal will talk about distinguishing PR and propaganda, and the tools that are being used to manipulate public perception.

U l t i m a t e l y, “Sa Totoo Lang” seeks to highlight the importance of responsible sharing of online news and sources through increased awareness on the proliferation of fabricated news.

Riccio, and the 50-voice collective of the University of Santo Tomas Singers.

“Our holiday musical program offers an opportunity to enjoy music of the festive season by some of the best musical talent from the Philippines such as Ryan Cayabyab and the world’s greatest composers like Bernstein, Rossini, and Tchaikovsky,” says The Peninsula Manila’s General Manager Mark J. Choon.

31 Calgary Flames’ org.

32 Food fish 33 1300 hours 34 Yes, in Kyoto 35 Chatty alien 36 — Abner, of the comics 37 Monsieur’s summer 39 Frat letter 40 Gross!

43 Rapid 44 LP speed 46 Tickles

47 Crabby 48 Fills a pipe 49 Leave-taking 50 Outmoded 51 Orlando attraction 52 Good buys 53 Not in a fog 54 Ceiling 55 Serving utensil 57 Commotions 58 Prefix for “trillion” 60 Como — usted?

Dec. 30, 7:30 p.m..

Subsequent episodes of Kiss that Kills will air on Sunday at 9:30 p.m.. GEM is available in the Philippines on SKYCable

subscribers will have the opportunity to spend time with their favorite actor – it will be a dream fulfilled for many!” said Virginia.

Commenting on the drama and his upcoming visit to Hong Kong, Kento Yamazaki said, “I have never been to Hong Kong before, so I am extremely excited to visit to promote this drama.

The interesting part of the drama is its recurring time loop and as I have always enjoyed watching dramas like this, I am very excited to be involved in one. There are also parallel worlds, so I really feel like it is a story that is going to appeal to people in all sorts of ways.

Please look forward to it!”

Kento Yamazaki made his debut in 2010 and rose to stardom with his role as L in the massive hit TV drama adaptation of Death Note. Since his debut, Yamazaki’s versatility as an actor has made him a rising star in Japanese entertainment.

Fans can get their “Kento-fix” on GEM this December with the premiere of Baseball Brainiacs on Dec. 13, every Wednesday and Thursday at 9 p.m. and Sea Side Blue, premiering

(Ch 116 in Metro Manila and Ch 222 in Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Baguio), as well as other cable operators nationwide.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017

Crime movie of the year director urges viewers to look closer RELEVANT FILM. Seasoned thespians (from left) Christopher de Leon, TJ Trinidad and Bembol Roco star in a highly-anticipated film that revolves around the murders of young boys in a poor region of Payatas

S

MALLER and Smaller Circles dares the Filipino viewers to look closer. A crime thriller directed by award-winning Raya Martin, it is the much-awaited film adaptation of the best-selling novel

by Filipina author F.H. Batacan.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated films of 2017, Filipino audiences will finally watch Smaller and Smaller Circles after more than 15 years when book was first published.

It tells the story of Father Gus Saenz and Father Jerome Lucero, two Jesuit priests tasked to solve the murder of young boys who were eviscerated and thrown in the teeming slums of Payatas. To solve the murders, they have to explore the cramped urban landscape of 1990s Manila—a trap where there is no way out for a killer and his victims.

Smaller and Smaller Circles is considered as the first Filipino crime novel. It won the Grand Prize for Sid Lucero a Novel in English at the 1999 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. The University of and images are eerily relevant today,” Limjap the Philippines Press first published it as a novella shares, alluding to recent events that involved in 2002. New York-based publisher Soho Press the series of deaths of young boys around Metro published an expanded edition internationally in Manila.

2015.

For Martin, the film invites the viewers to delve With its intriguing characters, thrilling plot, and deeper and find out why “we [always] end up with cinematic feel, producer and writer Ria Limjap the same issues almost two decades later.” felt that the book deserves to be made into film.

“The American journalist James Fallows Even more so now that the themes and images calls it ‘a damaged culture.’ We’ve never really presented in the film remain familiar. confronted our issues, we just simply repeat a “The book was written in 1997, but the themes cycle of violence and denial,” says Martin.

Carla Humphries

Limjap and Martin hope that the film would spark a conversation among viewers on why the problems that plagued the country during the 1990s are still the same problems the country is dealing with today.

“Filipino audiences deserve to see all kinds of cinema. While certain forms will always be more popular, films that provoke critical thinking and raise awareness—at the same time provide entertainment—should also be enjoyed by the audience. Smaller and Smaller Circles is that kind

of movie, a movie which tells a unique story that they might find entirely familiar,” says Limjap.

Nonie Buencamino plays as the forensic scientist Father Gus Saenz and Sid Lucero as Saenz’ protégé, Father Jerome Lucero.

Assisting them to solve the case are investigative journalist Joanna Bonifacio, in a breakthrough performance by Carla Humphries, and Francisco Lastimosa, the director of the National Bureau of Investigation, played by award-winning actor Bembol Roco.

Completing the film’s stellar cast are some of the biggest and most celebrated names in the industry: Christopher de Leon, Ricky Davao, TJ Trinidad, Raffy Tejada, Jess Mendoza, Gladys Reyes, Junjun Quintana, Alex Medina, Cholo Barretto, Ross Pesigan, Tessie Tomas, and the late Joy Viado.

The film recently premiered at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the inaugural Kim Ji-seok Award. Despite international attention, Martin believes that nothing beats the excitement of bringing “a great story to the Filipino people”.

He adds, “Watching the audience with so much excitement and having an active conversation about the story and what they’ve just seen is an experience I’m looking forward to because Smaller and Smaller Circles is a story that has an important dialogue that needs to happen in crucial times like today”.

TBA Studios, the indie outfit behind acclaimed films such as Heneral Luna, Sunday Beauty Queen, Bliss, and Birdshot produced the film and Columbia Pictures distributes it nationwide.

The Cinema Evaluation Board gave it an A. It opens in cinemas nationwide tomorrow.

Kapamilya new shows in 2018 announced NEW and returning love teams and captivating stories of love and family will add color to ABS-CBN’s programming in 2018, as revealed during the network’s “Just Love: The ABS-CBN Trade Event” held on Nov 28.

Leading the Kapamilya network’s new offerings is Bagani, which marks the TV comeback of Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil, with Sofia Andres, Matteo Guidicelli, and Makisig Morales.

Filipino talent will once again take center stage as Pilipinas Got Talent returns for another season, with Vice Ganda, Freddie Garcia,

Robin Padilla, and Angel Locsin as judges, and Billy Crawford and Toni Gonzaga as hosts.

Erich Gonzales, Enchong Dee, and Ejay Falcon, meanwhile, reunite and prove their acting chops in upcoming series The Blood Sisters.

Love will be the binding force in No Ordinary Love, which stars Piolo Pascual, with Arci Muñoz and JC De Vera. The series also marks the television debut of Alessandra De Rossi and Empoy or AlEmpoy.

Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap will once again spread kilig vibes to viewers via their new series Sana

Dalawa ang Puso, which also stars Robin.

Angelica Panganiban and Zanjoe Marudo, on the other hand, will show the joy and struggles in relationships in Playhouse.

Attended by advertisers, the trade event at the ABS-CBN Vertis Tent also featured performances by the biggest Kapamilya stars, including the It’s Showtime family who danced to disco tunes in their 80s-inspired dance number, the cast of Bagani led by LizQuen, and La Luna Sangre stars Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla who did a wolves-andvampires routine.

Kapamilya Network unveils its roster of new shows via a trade event featuring its biggest and brightest stars