Manila Standard - 2018 March 12 - Monday

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Pope Francis: Peacemaker, game-changer

VOL. XXXII • NO. 29 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

44 BIFF men killed in 3 days of clashes with govt soldiers

By Francisco Tuyay

VATICAN CITY—As Pope Francis marks the fifth year of his papacy next week, the pontiff once hailed as a fearless reformer is under fire for his handling of the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church.

Since taking over in March 2013, the 81-year-old Argentinian has championed the cause of the marginalized, saying he wanted a “poor church for the poor” and shunning papal palaces and ostentatious Next page displays of wealth.

Amazon to prevent Trump gearing up Alexa from cackling for 2020 campaign MOON TOWNSHIP, United States—It’s barely 2018, but US President Donald Trump is gearing up for a 2020 re-election campaign, with a familiar sounding new slogan: “Keep America Great!”

Addressing a rally in a Pittsburgh suburb, Trump endorsed a Republican candidate in a closely watched upcoming special congressional election, before turning to his own political future.

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Chief, it is time to let go.

—part of the statement of judicial officials and employees to be read during today’s flag raising ceremonies in the Supreme Court, appellate, and lower courts across the country calling on Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno to resign

FAMILIAR POSE. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte flashes his signature pose along with Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Salvador Mison, National Defense Undersecretary Cesar Yano and other AFP personnel during the President’s visit at the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City on March 10, 2018. Presidential Photo

GOVERNMENT troops have killed 44 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and wounded dozens of others in three days of intense fighting in Maguindanao province that started Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, Civil Military Operations head of the 6th Infantry Division, said the fighting broke out in the villages of Salbo, Kitango and Malangog, Maguindanao.

Besana said 34 of the slain BIFF fighters have already been identified, and all have been buried in keeping with Muslim tradition.

The BIFF rebels had broken up.

“The BIFF contingent had massed up in different groups in the three villages and started to harass the military detachment, forcing security forces to engage them,” Besana said.

There was a lull in fighting Sunday, he said.

He said they had orders from Maj. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, to hunt down the BIFF to prevent them from launching terrorist attacks in Next page Maguindanao.

House won’t yield to SC Asserts power to impeach, won’t wait for court ruling on Sereno

By Rio N. Araja

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ONGRESS will never give up its power to impeach to the Supreme Court, the chairman of the House committee on justice said Sunday, amid talk that a quo warranto petition before the tribunal could oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno before her trial at the Senate.

In a radio interview on radio dzBB, panel chairman and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali insisted that the impeachment proceedings would push through, even though Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rodolfo Fariñas had earlier said the House would postpone a

plenary vote on the Articles of Impeachment while it waited to see how the Supreme Court would decide on the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.

In his petition, Calida had asked the Supreme Court to nullify Sereno’s ap-

pointment in 2012 because she failed to meet the requirements for the position at the time.

But Umali said as chairman of the House committee on rules, Fariñas would calendar the justice committee’s report on the impeachment complaint for plenary voting.

“We are discussing different grounds [from the ones raised in the quo warranto petition],” Umali said. “The issues under our jurisdiction are [entirely] different.”

He added that Congress would not wait for a resolution from the Supreme Court before acting on the impeachment complaint, although plenary voting would be pushed back because of the Lenten break.

Umali also allayed the fears of some lawmakers who said the quo warranto petition could be abused to remove any impeachable officials.

A quo warranto petition only questions the qualifications and credentials of an impeachable official, an entirely different case from an impeachment proceeding.

Not all impeachable officials have qualification issues, he said, citing the example of former Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista, who went through impeachment proceedings.

Umali said Congress would respect the decision of the Supreme Court on the quo warranto petition, whether it decides to Next page remove her or not.

Red Monday at the courts to press for Sereno’s ouster

By Rey E. Requejo

Summer sets in; Pagasa warns of hotter days THE weather bureau on Sunday warned Filipinos to brace for rising temperatures starting today, Monday, due to the termination of the northeast monsoon.

Vicente Malano, head of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said a gradual weakening of the northeast monsoon was expected this month, and that might signal the start of warmer months.

But he said the rainfall forecast for March was expected to be near-normal to above-normal over Mindanao, most part of the Visayas, the Bicol region and some areas in northeastern Luzon.

And most areas in the western and central parts of Luzon would likely experience below-normal rainfall.

Weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said the end of the northeast monsoon would not mean the enad of the dry season but only its onset.

He said there will be lesser rains over the week due to a weak La Niña over the Pacific Ocean.

The northeast monsoon’s looming end signals the coming prevalence of weather systems associated with summer, including the ridge of a high-pressure area and easterly winds. Rio N. Araja

PARADE OF BEAUTIES. Forty candidates of the Binibining Pilipinas 2018 pageant on Sunday give the public an early summer treat, going around the Araneta Center in Cubao for the annual ‘Parade of Beauties’ on Saturday. Waving to the crowd who welcome them with deafening cheers, the candidates wear swimsuits created by designer Domz Ramos with matching colorful headdresses throughout the parade. The event was a prelude to the pageant’s coronation night on March 18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Teddy Pelaez

JUDICIAL officials and employees will stage a nationwide “Red Monday” today (March 12), wearing red clothes, neckties or armbands during the flag ceremony to dramatize their call for Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to step down from her post.

In a statement to be read at the flagraising ceremonies at the Supreme Court, appellate and lower courts nationwide, the Philippine Judges Association, the Supreme Court Employees Association, the Supreme Court Assembly of Lawyer Employees, the Sandiganbayan Employees Association and the Philippine Association of Court Employees say Sereno is no longer fit to lead the branch that she headed since 2012.

“We, the entire force of the judiciary, which includes judges, officials and court employees under your leadership, are pleading you, our beloved Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, to do the timely and necessary sacrifice for the institution that

you gave so much time and love in these past years,” the statement in Filipino says. “We call on you, for the sake of our people, to step down from your position as chief justice.”

The groups lamented how the impeachment proceedings “have put the entire judiciary in disrepute, thereby affecting the honor and integrity of its justices, judges, officials and rank and file personnel.”

“Court officials have been pitted against each other resulting in a distressing atmosphere. This is aggravated by the fact that the Court en banc has taken cognizance of the petition for quo warranto and ordered her to file her comment thereto, instead of dismissing it outright. The Court can no longer endure a prolonged environment of this kind. Its officials and personnel, truly dedicated and conscientious public servants, cannot go through another set of hearings and go against each other again at the Senate,” the statement stated.

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9,000 barangay chiefs on narco-list—DILG PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s “narco” list includes 9,000 barangay captains, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government said Sunday.

“The President has decided. He has a list of 9,000 barangay captains who are directly involved [in the drug trade],” said Martin Diño, DILG undersecretary for barangay affairs. “The DILG will definitely move on this issue.”

Diño, a former barangay captain, said those linked to drugs would be removed from office.

His warning comes two months ahead of barangay elections.

Diño said he would not only name the officials, but would remove them immediately and file cases against them so they would rot in jail.

He also warned barangay officials to submit their list of drug suspects to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or face the consequences—a warning, followed by suspension, then removal from office.

Earlier, PDEA director Aaron Aquino said there are almost 300 barangay officials linked to illegal drugs.

The agency urged the public not to Next page

RIVER TUBING. The municipality of Tibiao in Antique holds the first Tibiao River Festival, which coincides with the first National Extreme River Tubing Race. River tubing is a recreational activity where individuals ride on a inner tube to navigate a river.

Tibiao water festival director Flord Calawag told reporters they only discovered the potential of the Tibiao River when Australian organizers of a previous kayaking event made them aware of it. Tibiao is classified as grade 4 river in terms of adventure, which means it’s ideal for white water and related extreme sports. Teddy Pelaez

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MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

UN human rights head assailed, defended for anti-Du30 talk

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Sunday slammed a top United Nations official for saying President Rodrigo Duterte needed a “psychiatric evaluation.”

He said the statement by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, was “uncalled for” and unbecoming of a high official “Coming from a high official of the United Nations, it was uncalled for and not proper especially [because] it came from him,” Lacson told dzBB radio.

But opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he agreed with Zeid’s suggestion.

“His murderous and erratic ways plus his crass, twisted and perverted statements are indicative of a deeply sick mind,” Trillanes said.

“That is not a normal mind. For the sake of the safety and well-being of the entire Filipino nation whose lives are subjected to his power, I call on Duterte to prove that he has a sound mental health by going through a psychiatric evaluation.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Carlos Zarate said Sunday the Justice department’s move to tag at least 600 people as terrorists and

Pope...

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His reform agenda has introduced the possibility in certain cases to allow divorced and remarried believers to take communion, although he still agrees with the Church’s traditional positions on other issues, such as abortion, artificial contraception and gay marriage.

But the sex abuse scandals have haunted his papacy and last month the Vatican announced it was reviving its anti-pedophile panel.

A trip to Chile in January was seen as a resounding failure after he defended a bishop accused of covering up the crimes of a pedophile priest.

Francis, who like his predecessor Benedict XVI, promised a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual abuse, sparked uproar when he said: “The day they bring me proof against Bishop [Juan] Barros, then I will speak.”

But he later apologized to the victims and sent a Vatican top expert on sex abuse to hear the witnesses in the case.

‘Repeating mistakes of the past’ Marie Collins of Ireland, who was raped as child by a priest, told AFP that while it might be “human nature to want to defend your institution... the Church, instead of learning from the past, is repeating the mistakes of the past.”

“The Church tends to make the same mistake—in every country where survivors start to come forward, they are treated in the same way,” said Collins, who resigned last year from the now revived anti-pedophilia commission.

Francis was similarly lenient towards Don Mauro Inzoli, an Italian priest nicknamed “Don Mercedes” for his expensive tastes.

Don Inzoli had been effectively defrocked by Benedict, but Francis overturned that ruling, mitigating his sentence to “a life of prayer.”

Nevertheless, after the priest was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in Italy for sex abuse of adolescents last June, the pope dismissed him of clerical duties.

When Francis set up the commission in December 2014 to look into how to protect minors and vulnerable adults in the Church, Collins was one of two abuse survivors to sit on the panel.

Children ‘continue to be abused and raped’ Collins walked out in March 2017, de-

Trump...

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“Our new slogan when we start running—can you believe it, in two years from now—is going to be: ‘Keep America great, exclamation point,’” he said.

“Keep America great!”

Trump’s snappy but controversial “Make America Great Again” slogan dominated the 2016 election atmosphere, and his supporters—many of whom wore red hats bearing the phrase at the rally—have used it as a catchphrase for the president’s first year in office.

He also repeated his interest in running against the American talk show queen

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Troops from the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Alvin Iyog and the 57th Infantry Battalion led

by Col. Enrique Clemente were instrumental in pinning down the BIFF rebels, he said.

to grant subpoena powers to two police officials were the “prelude” to an intensified crackdown on the members of progressive organizations.

Last week, President Duterte signed a law restoring to the Philippine National Police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group the power to issue subpoenas to crime suspects.

“It would not be a surprise if the PNP-CIDG abused their newly minted subpoena powers to harass and oppress progressives,” Zarate said in a statement.

Earlier, Duterte castigated the UN’s Human rights officials for criticizing his bloody war on illegal drugs.

In retaliation, Zeid said: “It makes one believe that the President of the Philippines needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric evaluation.”

Defending the President, Lacson said more than 16-million Filipinos voted for Duterte and that was part of our democracy.

He said it was foul for someone to insult the President especially if he was not a countryman.

He said Zeid must draw the line. If insolence was improper, the UN official should not make it proper by returning the insult to Duterte. nouncing the “shameful” lack of cooperation within the Vatican and complaining that a tribunal announced in 2015 to deal with pedophile priests has never actually been set up.

German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the Church’s top doctrinal watchdog who has since been ousted by Francis, argued that the tribunal would double up with already existing bodies.

Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist who also sat on the commission, complained that “in three years we only had six plenary meetings in Rome.”

“We did have regular e-mail exchanges, but it’s hard to debate in that way,” she told AFP in an interview.

“We have made proposals on important points, but, to my knowledge, Pope Francis has not given answers, which is really worrying.

“The problem is that the pope is extremely busy with many issues. But the issue of protecting today’s children is urgent. Children continue to be abused and raped within the Church.”

Collins, too, said “the words coming from the pope and the Vatican are very good. The problem is, the actions don’t follow through.”

For her, the problem was “that those within the Vatican don’t see how their actions are viewed from outside.”

The decision, for example, to hold the funeral of disgraced US Cardinal Bernard Law in the St. Peter’s basilica in December may have been within liturgical tradition.

But it caused offense to survivors of sexual abuse in the US. Law, a former Boston archbishop, became one of the main faces of the sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church after admitting that he failed to protect children from predator priests, despite evidence they had been molesting youngsters.

Another case casting a shadow over Francis’ papacy is the Vatican’s finance chief Cardinal George Pell, who is facing committal proceedings in Australia to determine whether he should stand trial on multiple historical sexual offense charges.

As the Vatican’s number three, 76-year-old Pell is the highest ranking Catholic official to face such charges.

The pope did however, oversee a change in Church law in 2016 allowing bishops to be dismissed in cases of “negligence” when reporting incidents of pedophilia. AFP Oprah Winfrey, a fellow billionaire entrepreneur whose passionate speech at a January awards show sparked fevered speculation about her ambitions.

“Wouldn’t we love to run against Oprah,” he told a cheering crowd.

“I would love to beat Oprah,” he added. “I know her weakness.”

Trump also reprised his criticism of liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he mocks as “Pocahantas,” and Senator Bernie Sanders, the far left independent who challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016.

“I look forward to 2020 because I want to see how far left the person is going to be that we’re going to run against,” Trump said. AFP The three days of fighting forced some 1,300 individuals residing in the villages of Salbo, Kitango and Malangog to flee their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

“The evacuees are still sheltered at an elementary school a few kilometers from the encounter site and have not expressed the desire to return to their respective dwellings,” Besana added.

Defense chiefs want sea disputes resolved

By Francisco Tuyay

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OUTHEAST Asia’s top defense officials on Sunday reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace and security in the South China Sea.

The Philippines’ Armed Forces Chief Rey Leonardo Guerrero underscored the need for caution in the disputed region during an informal meeting of the Asean’s top defense officials.

In a meeting titled “Strengthening Cooperation, Building Resilience,” the officials highlighted the importance of pursuing a peaceful resolution of the disputes in the area in accordance with international law.

China has reclaimed at least seven is-

lets in the South China Sea and converted them into what has been described as military facilities hampering free navigation in the area.

Chinese coast guard ships also harass Filipinos venturing into the islets and shoals in the area.

Sunday’s meeting reaffirmed “the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea” and “the need to enhance mutual

trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation.”

Those who attended the meeting were the military chiefs of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

They cited the need to build up regional capability to prevent terror attacks and the value of building capacity, trust and confidence at a pace comfortable to all through dialogue and military-tomilitary interaction to deepen cooperative ties.

They agreed to work on mechanisms to enhance Asean’s responses to natural disasters.

Deployment ban stays; DFA chief seeks safety moves

By Rey Requejo

RISKY. A jeepney overloaded with passengers navigates the uphill road along Murcia Highway in Bacolod Negros Occidental with the driver seemingly unmindful of the risks that may occur during the trip. Lino Santos

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They urged Sereno to “not allow history to judge you as the first woman chief justice, and the youngest at that, to be removed from office.”

“Chief, it is time to let go. Please. Let the Judiciary move on. Long live the judiciary! Onward the Supreme Court!”

Insiders said the statement had already been toned down, as some of the leaders wanted a stronger statement.

“CJ Sereno no longer has the ascendancy to lead the judiciary. She no longer has our confidence and respect,” one of the officers of the groups said.

The “Red Monday” event will also be done in various trial courts nationwide.

During the first “Red Monday” at the Supreme Court last week, court employees expressed their support for the decision of the 13 magistrates led by acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio who compelled Sereno to take an indefinite leave of absence to insulate the Court from impact of the impeachment proceedings against her.

Last week, Sereno also went on fullthrottle media offensive condemning her critics for resorting to “lies and bullying” in their bids to remove her from her post.

The committee on justice of the House of Representatives has found probable

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vote for candidates who are involved in illegal drugs in this year’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

“Reject those barangay candidates who are involved in illegal drug activities. They do not deserve the people’s votes,” Aquino said in a statement Sunday.

Aquino said that it is very likely that drug money may seep into the electoral process of barangay elections due to the influence of drug syndicates.

“Obviously, they [drug syndicates] will only support local candidates who will give them protection in return,” the PDEA said.

“Incumbent barangay officials, or prospective bets who are linked to drugs, may continue to lord it over the polls. We do not want that to happen. Our destiny

cause against Sereno. The articles of impeachment will be subjected to a vote before all members of the House with onethird vote sufficient to elevate the case to the Senate for trial.

Sereno is facing impeachment for alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, and betrayal of public trust. She has denied the charges.

In almost all of her public appearances and statements of her lawyers, Sereno had urged the House committee on justice and the House of Representatives to file the impeachment complaint against her before the Senate so she could present her evidence and have her “day in court.”

Solicitor General Jose C. Calida has also filed a quo warranto case against Sereno before the SC for her failure to submit the 10 statements of assets, liabilities and net worth required of her when she applied for the position of chief justice.

Calida sought the nullification of Sereno’s appointment as chief justice in 2012 and consequently to unseat her as head of the judiciary.

He told the Supreme Court that Sereno’s appointment was invalid from the start because she did not meet the specific qualification of proven integrity with her failure to submit the 10-year SALNs. Acting on the petition, the Court has directed Sereno to comment on the petition 10 days upon receipt of the notice. lies in our own hands. We are appealing to the public to wisely choose our next community leaders,” he added.

There are 289 barangay officials (143 barangay chairmen and 146 barangay kagawads ) on the narco-list of President Duterte, Aquino said.

“The number is expected to increase once the validated list of barangay officials engaged in the drug trade who are included in the PDEA National Drug Information System [NDIS], [are included],” Aquino said.

“PDEA is urging barangays to activate their respective Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils [BADACs], and be cooperative and pro-active in the anti-illegal drug campaign,” he added.

Aquino said that in the absence of a functioning BADACs, there is a high probability that these barangays have officials who are involved in the illegal drug trade, or their barangays are havens of illegal drug activities. PNA

THE Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday announced progress in its negotiations for a bilateral labor agreement with Kuwait.

The agency said it hoped more pragmatic measures could be included so it could recommend its signing and the lifting of the ban on the deployment of new workers to that country.

“Our negotiations with Kuwait have so far been going well, but we need to put in place more practical measures that would ensure the safety and welfare of our countrymen working there,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.

Cayetano praised the officials from the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait and the Department of Labor and Employment for convincing their Kuwaiti counterparts to agree to the conditions laid down by President Rodrigo Duterte shortly after he declared a ban on the deployment of new workers to the Gulf state.

He said the negotiating panel led by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Ambassador Renato Villa were able to secure Kuwait’s commitment that would guarantee Filipino domestic workers a minimum monthly salary of 120 Kuwaiti dinars, rest hours of at least eight hours per day, possession of their passports and mobile phones, and limiting their work to one household. ‘‘As we move forward in the negotiations, we hope to incorporate more practical measures that would better protect our countrymen working there from exploitation and abuse, Foreign Affairs said.

Among the measures Cayetano said he would want to see in the agreement would be the payment of salaries direct to the bank accounts of Filipino workers whenever feasible. ‘‘This will ensure that our countrymen do not get shortchanged and will receive the salary they originally signed up for, he said.

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“If a disqualification is ruled in the quo warranto [petition], she will be removed. That’s the [same] promise of an impeachment. The only penalty for an impeachment is removal,” he said.

If Sereno is removed by the Supreme Court, the impeachment proceedings would become moot and academic, he said.

On March 14, the justice committee will vote on the draft committee report.

Umali said their committee has named former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile as a private prosecution adviser.

Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu, a deputy speaker and Nacionalista Party stalwart, welcomed Enrile’s inclusion in the 11-member prosecution panel, describing Enrile as “one of the country’s best legal giants.”

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MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

PH,US boost ties to parry terror threats

DU30 APP.

Presidential Communications and Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar shows the Du30 mobile app on his smartphone while his staff members look on during the National Information Convention held at SMX Convention Center in Davao City on Feb. 20, 2018. The DU30 App is the Filipinos’ link for updates on government plans, activities and speeches of President Rodrigo Duterte via the RTVM, Radyo Pilipinas, and the PCOO’s DU30 on Duty.

Malacañang Photo

Technology can unite PH, says Andanar SOME 1,800 information officers from all regions in the country gathered in Davao City for the first National Information Convention 2018 last month.

The event, with the theme, “Spurring National Development and Empowering Communities through Information,” was organized by the Presidential Communications Operations Office to encourage communicators to effectively convey the national development agenda to the public.

The participants in the three-day convention, who included representatives from national and local media, digital media, academe, local government units, NGOs and the technology industry, pledged to actively disseminate factual information while upholding transparency, and to combat misinformation and ‘fake news.’

Day One of the conference focused on key government programs and policies; nurturing a safe and healthy media environment; and raising the bar of governance. Day Two centered on developing and promoting responsible communications with a dynamic strategy. Day Three focused on the launching of a communicators’ network and digital applications, including DU30 App, the main online link to Filipinos worldwide that gives access and updates on government programs and activities.

Summing up the results of the meeting, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said: “Everything that I envisioned, this entire convention, I imagined it exactly to look like this. We all think alike. I believe each one who was appointed by the President as heads of agencies, we are all on the same wavelength. It’s great to have a working team like this, how close we are, bringing the level of government services to a higher notch.

Bringing government broadcasting back to its quality competitive edge is already a legacy of the President.”

Under the Duterte administration, the PCOO supervises the a number of offices, including the Philippine Information Agency, People’s Television Inc., Philippine Broadcasting Service-Radyo Pilipinas, Philippine News Agency under the News and Information Bureau, National Printing Office, APO Production Unit, Bureau of Communication Service, RadyoTelevision Malacañang and the Office of the Secretary Media.

With its broad reach, PCOO must be efficiently managed. Andanar welcomes the daunting challenge. The former multi-awarded newscaster, voice-over talent of TV5 and head of News5 Everywhere, who comes from a family of public servants, is grateful to President Rodrigo Duterte for giving him the opportunity to enter public service.

“I think my more than 20 years of experience in broadcast and my academic studies have prepared me to serve the country,” he pointed out.

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NPA revives hit men—Du30

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AMBOANGA CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte has warned soldiers and policemen against the resurgence of the sparrow unit of the New People’s Army in their locality.

Mr. Duterte issued the warning during his “talk to men” at the Edwin Andrew Air Base saying they should be vigilant of their security and safety. The sparrow units are the hit men of the NPA in urban areas with primary mission to kill lawmen and government officials.

“Be careful, they [sparrow hit men] are active now,” the President told the troops.

The NPA hierarchy has ordered its men to intensify attacks on government forces in the country after the President canceled the peace talks with the NPA. Duterte told the soldiers and policemen to be watchful of their surroundings, especially at home, citing two to three soldiers die daily from sparrow attacks in the entire country.

The President said some of the troops were killed at home while others while doing marketing chores for the command.

Duterte said there are times different person would conduct the surveillance on probable targets and other individuals would strike.

He also told the troops to avoid loiter-

ing in stores and public places as they are vulnerable targets.

“Those are the things you have to be very, very careful, especially if you are carrying firearms,” he said citing “they are after the firearms.”

He said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol has proposed the so-called “TienDa ng Bayan” to protect the troops from attacks by NPA sparrow unit.

The “TienDA ng Bayan” will serve as the market place where troops can purchase food supply and other needs at home or for the office.

The sparrow unit of the NPA has resurfaced which was very active in the 80s killing soldier and policemen in urban centers.

Meanwhile, President Duterte has awarded medals to 33 military officers and personnel in recognition for the service to the country.

The awardees for the Order of Lapu-Lapu (Kampilang Medal) were the Maj. Velmor Manaois; Capt. Dimas Jun Balai; 2Lt. Nathan Rey Eucare; SSgt. Ramonito Diapolet; Sgt. Ramises Re-

los; Sgt. Joemarie Perez; Cpl. Jovith Clamotcha; PFC Winston Tangilan; PFC Vladimir Ramos, represented by his mother, Susan; PFC Jefry Jacinto; and, PFC Jay Ar Nogodula.

The Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said they were recognized for sustaining wounds while participating in the campaign against the Daesh-inspired foreign and local terrorists under Isnlon Hapilon and Omar Maute for almost five months from May 23 to October 2017 in Marawi City.

The President also awarded the Order of Lapu-Lapu (Kamagi Award) to the following: Lt Col. Joel Mamon; Lt. Col. Alvin Luzon; Lt. Col. Jonathan Hallara; Maj. Jimmy Brey; Maj. Mark Anthony Salvador; Maj. Virgilio Sagge; Maj. Reese James Obeso; Capt. Jefferson Santos; Capt. Joffrey Tacusalme; Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay; Capt. Michaelangelo Castro; 1st Lieutenant Albert Alvarez; 1st Lieutenant Jefferson Balante; 1st Lieutenant Junrey Sajulga; 2nd Lieutenant Rojean Rodriguez; Ensign Al Khaizer Amil; 2nd Lieutenant Jeff Brandon Cruz; Ensign Leo Adrianne Bello; MSgt. Rolly Principe; Underwater Operator 2nd Class Edgar Enojo; Underwater Operator 2nd Class Glenn Reus; and, Builders Utility 2nd Class Teodorico Decenan. PNA

NIGHT BATTLE. Team Italy shows its fireworks display on the 3rd week of the battle for sky supremacy at the 9th Philippines

International Pyromusical Competition every Saturday from Feb. 17 to March 24, 2018 at the Mall Of Asia (Sea Side Ground), Pasay City on March 10, 2018. This year 10 participants from different countries will light Manila ‘s night sky as they go ahead to showcase their expertise and artistry to the Filipino audience. Norman Cruz

THE Philippines and United States have strengthened their partnership in addressing the growing threats of terrorism and transnational organized crimes.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said he met with US Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis David Glawe of the US Department of Homeland Security to adopt ways and means on how to deal with these threats.

“To effectively wage the global war against terrorism, we need to adopt a multi-faceted and a multi-pronged approach,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre said he discussed with Glawe the matters of mutual interest and continued cooperation in the areas related to counter-terrorism efforts beneficial to both the Philippine and the United States.

“The meeting with Undersecretary Glawe is a positive step towards that direction,” he said.

The discussions covered advanced passenger information/passenger name record, enhanced information sharing, sharing of watch Lists/access to databases, biometric screening, fraudulent document training, and increased capability for internet/social media monitoring.

Aguirre noted both parties expressed their respective commitments to foster closer ties and to explore other areas of possible collaboration in the future.

“This will require us to work closely with our allies and to maintain good working relations with them as we share knowledge and resources for the eradication of a borderless menace,” Aguirre stressed.

For its part, the US Embassy said their conversation reaffirmed our joint efforts to combat child exploitation, secure global aviation against terrorism threats, as well as identify and interdict criminals and contraband crossing our borders.

Also present during the meeting were Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes and Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente as well as other members of the US DHS delegation. Rey Requejo

House deputy belies plot to oust Speaker CAPIZ Rep. Fredenil Castro, a House deputy speaker, on Sunday dispelled rumors of a planned coup d’etat to oust Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

In a Super Radyo interview over dzBB, Castro said talks of a coup d’etat have been circulating for the longest time amid lack of proof or move for it.

“You know that it has been going on around. That coup d’etat has been circulating at the House of Representatives. But personally, there is no such movement neither have I heard something really verifiable,” he said.

He described the rumors as “kuwentong barbero.”

He said their ties with Alvarez’s has remained close and intact.

“We have a good relationship [with him],” he added.

Castro of the National Unity Party also vehemently denied hearsay that a party member would attempt to take over.

“That is fearful. I am the party president, and people might think it is me who is trying to replace Speaker Alvarez. That is far from reality,” he said.

“We at the NUP are true to our members in the coalition, and that we do not entertain negative thoughts against our coalition members,” he added .

Just in case someone would replace Alvarez, former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is best for the position, he said.

He, however, said he sees no attempt from Arroyo to grab the speakership from Alvarez. Rio Araja

DoTr urged to run Pasig River water buses for China funding FORGET about private firms reviving the 26-kilometer Pasig River as an alternative public transport corridor that would help ease road congestion.

The Department of Transportation itself should move in and operate the water buses along the river using low-cost funding from China, Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said on Sunday.

“Since nobody from the private sector is prepared to establish a permanent ferry service, then the government it-

self, through the DOTr, should acquire and run the commuter boats,” Campos, a deputy minority leader, said.

Campos asked the Department of Finance, together with the DOTr, Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission and the Metro Manila Development Authority, to include a new Pasig River Water Bus Project in the next batch of ventures for Chinese concessional funding.

The Philippine and Chinese governments recently agreed to jointly

identify and study an indicative list consisting of the second basket of key cooperation projects for possible Chinese financing.

Beijing has so far pledged some $7.34 billion in grants and low-interest loans to be spent mostly on building new infrastructure in Manila, the DoF said.

“While we are fighting motor vehicle traffic jams, we simply cannot ignore the fact that the Pasig River freeway is always there for us to harness as a

means to efficiently convey commuters,” Campos said.

The lawmaker said the new water bus project could finally drive the restoration of the Pasig River to its “historically pristine condition conducive to transport, recreation and tourism.”

Previous ferry services along the Pasig River were short-lived after private operators sustained financial losses.

The MMDA has since been running an improvised and limited ferry service.

A4

Opinion

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

The Commission EDITORIAL on Human Rights as a constitutional commission F THE job of a presiden-

When “no” is go

Too good a job

I

tial spokesman is to take the heat for his boss, then Harry Roque is certainly doing a good job. Perhaps even too good a job.

PROPOSED Section E of Article IX (Constitutional Commissions) Section 1 1) There is hereby created an independent commission called the Commission on Human Rights.

(2) The Commission shall be composed of a Chairman and six Members who must be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and a majority of whom shall be members of the Bar one of whom should be a retired member either of the police force or of the army, and two of whom should be members of Indigenous Cultural Representatives. The term of office and other qualifications and disabilities of the Members of the Commission shall be provided by law. [(3) Until this Commission is constituted, the existing Presidential Committee on Human Rights shall continue to exercise its present functions and powers.]OMITTED (4) The approved annual appropriations of the Commission shall be automatically and regularly

Adelle Chua, Editor

In a recent exchange of words with detained Senator Leila de Lima earlier this month, the President’s official spokesman came out looking both petty and petulant.

“My advice to Leila de Lima, if you do not want to hear anything from me, stop saying things about me. Because remember, I am free, and I can reply. You’re in jail,” he told the ANC news channel.

“She can’t take it against me if I respond to anything that she says. I leave her alone as a matter of policy because she’s in jail. But stop attacking me. Stop expecting I will not hit back,” he added.

What the Palace spokesman neglected to say was that his word war with the senator began when he greeted her a “happy anniversary” on her first year of her incarceration on drug

charges that she insists are bogus.

Was there a need to needle the senator on the first anniversary of her detention? What purpose did that serve, other than to give the impression that the Palace spokesman could be as catty as any of the women in the opposition he seems to despise?

Predictably, De Lima responded, by saying Roque had “bartered his dignity and reputation as a human rights lawyer, in exchange for a senatorial berth.”

Obviously stung by the retort, the presidential spokesman cast all pretense of civility to the wind, saying he wished the senator would spend the rest of her life in jail.

Is this really the way the spokesman for the highest elected official in the land ought to behave?

Not content with that exchange, the Palace spokesman decide to do a bit of yellow-baiting last week by praising the contentious Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson—who only recently asserted that the People Power Revolution was the result of “fake news”—as a role model for Filipino women because of her “bravery and courage to

change her life.”

“Women should emulate Uson for her courage to change her past life and pursue a decent living and strive to excel in her new endeavor,” Roque said of the former sexy dancer turned blogger turned Duterte supporter turned assistant secretary.

His remarks came as the nation marked National Women’s Month and were made in an interview with Los Angeles-based Duterte supporter “Binibining Maharlika.”

Mr. Roque may believe he was merely preaching to the choir in this instance, but he forgets that there are many people who have no sympathy whatsoever for the discredited Liberal Party but who also want nothing to do with an unqualified assistant secretary who seems to believe press freedom should only be available to those who support the administration and who are offended by his remarks.

The presidential spokesman, whose job it is to deal with the press, ought to focus on this core responsibility, instead of making provocative statements that serve only to muddy the discussion of national issues.

RECALL the events that transpired on October of 2015, as the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2016 national elections drew close.

Despite the entreaties of his legion of supporters, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao did not appear before the Commission on Elections in Intramuros.

Instead, his faithful executive assistant, Bong Go, appeared before the Comelec registrar in Davao City to file the COC for a reelectionist Duterte.

We thought it was the “end of the world.” Our candidate for president wrote finis to our dreams and hopes for a better Philippines.

When he appeared at the Davao City Comelec office, Bong Go wore a t-shirt which proclaimed in big letters that “No is no.”

Days after, during the birthday celebration of lawyer Salvador Medialdea at the Peking Garden in Greenbelt, Makati, the “non-candidate” Duterte appeared. It took him an hour to reach the restaurant from the ground floor lobby, because crowds upon crowds of shoppers demanded selfies with him.

After dinner, the non-candidate spoke before some 40 of Medialdea’s guests, many of us pre-campaign initiators of the Davao City mayor’s “ended” quest.

It does not mean never.

Here are some of the proposed sections.

released.

SECTION 2. For purposes of this Sub-Article, a human rights violation is any violation of the right to life, liberty, property, security, a good name or reputation, family and personal relations, and rights guaranteed by international human rights covenants, treaties to which the Philippines is a party and precepts of customary international law as well as international humanitarian law perpetrated by agents of the state.

SECTION XXX: The Commission shall have the following powers: (1) Investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights and file the necessary information when it finds probable cause against any agent of the state and his or her accomplices and accessories, or cause the filing of an administrative or disciplinary case when so warranted.

2) Adopt its operational guidelines and rules of procedure, and cite for contempt for violations thereof in accordance with the Rules of Court; (3) Provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of human rights of all persons within the Philippines, as well as Filipinos residing abroad, and provide for preventive measures and legal aid services to the underprivileged whose human rights have been violated or need protection and when necessary file as petitioner petitions for the writs of habeas corpus, amparo, habeas data and other protective writs that may henceforth by provided for by law or the rules in behalf of victims or those it has probable cause to hold that they will be victims of the violation of human rights.

(4) Exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons, or detention facilities and direct corrective and remedial measures, compliance with which shall be mandatory on the part of the supervisors of such facilities; (5) Establish a continuing program of research, education, and information to enhance respect for the primacy of human rights; (6) Recommend to the Congress effective measures to promote human rights and to provide for compensation to victims of violations of human rights, or their families; (7) Monitor the Philippine Government’s compliance with international treaty obligations on human rights; (8) Grant immunity from prosecution to any person whose testimony or whose possession of documents or other evidence is necessary or convenient to Turn to A5

Digital transformation for public education OVER the last few years, big steps to enhance the country’s public educational system have been implemented, from the K to 12 program that raised the standard with two years and “strands” to basic education and even making tertiary education at state universities and colleges free.

At the recently held Department of Education National Information and Communications Technology Summit, attended by some 700 ICT experts, policymakers, and other stakeholders, a new ICT roadmap was unveiled, which is expected to even further transform the landscape of education in the country.

The roadmap is consistent with moves to fast-track the digital transformation of the Philippine public-school system.

During the launch, DepEd Secretary Leonor M. Briones said ICT can be a game-changer both inside the classroom and the agency’s bureaucracy.

K to 12 graduates will be ready for an environment that will need knowledge workers.

For one, she said, school textbooks may well be rendered obsolete by innovations in the field of ICT. The sight of young children carrying heavy backpacks filled with textbooks can be a thing of the past with the introduction of digital—and lightweight—learning materials.

“I don’t think we can survive without ICT. We will surely go back to the dark ages if we ignore ICT. It is primarily a tool which helps us in making decisions, in understanding the world that we live in, and in finding solutions,” Briones said.

In the area of pedagogy, ICT will enable teachers to devise teaching methods and strategies that will better instill creativity and critical thinking among learners. According to education experts, technology can make learning collaborative and interactive via augmented, virtual, and mixed reality.

Used strategically, these can create immersive lessons that are fun and engaging.

Another revolutionary trend is socalled gamification, in which classrooms utilize gaming as an instructional tool.

Gaming technology is particularly useful Turn to A5

And to our pleasant surprise, he kept the flames burning. “No” is not “never.” There still was the prospect of substitution before the deadline. The rest is history.

Bingbong Medialdea is now executive secretary. And Christopher Lloyd Go, best known as Bong Go, is special assistant to the President.

I recall these events because weeks ago, a surprised Bong Go was mentioned by the President in impromptu remarks as a “future senator” of the republic.

Bong immediately demurred before media and said his only remaining ambition is to serve the president he has been loyal to for almost of his adult life, “until his dying days.”

But “murmurings” in the corridors of power are growing louder about Bong Go’s likely plunge into national elections next year. And he has only until the first week of October this year to make up his mind.

Is “No” going to be “Yes”? Is this a repeat of 2016, this time with the assistant himself gunning for high national office?

As they say, “abangan ang susunod na kabanata.” *** Last Friday afternoon, we witnessed the turnover of two units of hyperbaric chambers to the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.

September last year, the President told us of his desire to have hyperbaric chambers installed as soon as possible in Davao and Zamboanga. Aside from its common use as a de-compression facility for dive accident victims, hyperbaric chambers hasten the healing of openwound victims, such as soldiers and even civilians caught in the maelstrom of strife. It was the height of the Marawi conflict, and Duterte rued the loss of lives of the wounded who could have yet been saved if there was a hyperbaric facility available.

The Manila Economic and Cultural Office which I currently head is directly under the Office of the President, and so our board of directors authorized the purchase of the chambers, Taiwan being one of the world’s leading manufacturers of this specialized equipment.

Last Friday, with Secretary Bong Go acting as proxy for the President, and Deputy Speaker Mylene Garcia Albano, congresswoman of the Davao City district, the facility inside the SPMC compound was turned over by Meco for the Office of the President and Tieza, the tourism infrastructure agency, which constructed the building to house the equipment, to SPMC Medical Director Leopoldo Vega and his staff.

A bigger facility will soon be built in Zamboanga City and the multi-chamber equipment coming from Taiwan will be installed by the last quarter of this year.

Turn to A5

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

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Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

Opinion Xi: From graft-fighting governor to president for life XI JINPING has joined the pantheon of Chinese leadership two decades after bursting onto the scene as a graft-fighting governor who went on to earn comparisons with Mao Zedong in his quest for unrestricted power.

The rubber-stamp parliament further enhanced Xi’s considerable power on Sunday when it approved a constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits.

The move allows the 64-year-old Xi to remain in power for as long as he wishes, ruling as a virtual emperor, and is the latest feather in the cap of a Communist “princeling” who is re-making China in his own image.

Xi, who was given a second term as the party’s general secretary at the five-yearly party congress in October, has amassed seemingly unchecked power and a level of officially stoked adulation unseen since Communist China’s founder Mao. Even though his father Xi Zhongxun—a renowned revolutionary hero turned vice premier—was purged by Mao, Xi has remained true to the party that rules with an iron fist and over which he reigns supreme.

Xi is the first Chinese leader to have been born after 1949, when Mao’s Communist forces took over following a protracted civil war.

The purging of his father led to years of difficulties for the family, but he nevertheless rose through its ranks.

Beginning as a county-level party secretary in 1969, Xi climbed to the governorship of coastal Fujian province in 1999, then party chief of Zhejiang province in 2002 and eventually Shanghai in 2007.

That same year, he was appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee.

Following Mao’s disastrous economic campaigns and the bloody 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, the Communist leadership sought to prevent further chaos by tempering presidential power through a system in which major personnel and policy decisions were hashed out by the ruling Politburo Standing Committee.

The move helped prevent political power from becoming too concentrated in the hands of a single leader but was also blamed for policy indecision that led to growing ills such as worsening pollution, corruption and social unrest.

But “Xi Dada” (“Big Uncle Xi”), as he has been dubbed by Communist propaganda, has broken sharply with that tradition since taking over as president in 2013 and now looms over the country in a deepening cult of personality.

He has used crackdowns on corruption and calls for a revitalized party to become the most powerful Chinese leader in decades.

Fighting graft and upholding party leadership were already central to him when he spoke to AFP in 2000.

At the time, Xi vowed to root out corruption following a $10 billion smuggling scandal, but ruled out political reform to confront the problem, saying he would work within the one-party structure and system of political consultation and “supervision by the masses.”

“The people’s government must never forget the word the ‘people’ and we must do everything we can to serve the people, but to get all the government officials to do this is not easy, in some places this is not done very well and in other places it is done very badly,” Xi told AFP. Chairman of everything Xi’s face now graces the front page of every paper in the country, while his exploits and directives headline each night’s evening news.

Shops sell commemorative plates and memorabilia with his image alongside Mao’s and he has accumulated so many political and military titles—from president, to Central Military Commission chairman and party “core”—that he has earned the nickname “Chairman of Everything.”

The Communist Party’s power-broking congress in October confirmed Xi’s induction into the leadership pantheon alongside Mao and market reformer Deng Xiaoping by writing his name and political ideology into the party’s constitution.

While calling for China’s “great rejuvenation” as a world power, Xi has cultivated a personal image as a man of the people who dresses modestly and buys his own steamed buns at an ordinary shop.

Following a divorce from his first wife, Xi married the celebrity soprano Peng Liyuan in 1987, at a time when she was much more famous than him. The couple’s daughter, Xi Mingze, studied at Harvard but stays out of the public eye.

But Xi has presided over a tough crackdown on civil society and freedom of speech that belies the chummy image —and he tolerates no ridicule or slander of his person.

Social media users who have dared to compare his round mien to that of the affable Winnie the Pooh have found their posts quickly deleted, and a man who referred to him as “Steamed Bun Xi”—a knock at his breakfast publicity stunt— was jailed for two years. AFP

Hi-tech conservationists fight Indonesia wildlife crime

By Harry Pearl FROM cutting-edge DNA barcoding to smartphone apps that can identify illegal wildlife sales, conservationists are turning to hi-tech tools in their battle against Indonesia’s animal traffickers.

Spread across more than 17,000 islands, the Southeast Asian Nation’s dense tropical rainforests boast some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world, from scaly pangolins to the endangered orangutan.

But that enormous array of flora and fauna means Indonesia is also on the frontline of an illicit global trade estimated to be worth as much as $23 billion a year—a shadowy operation bringing some species to the brink of extinction.

To tackle the problem, conservationists have begun using a slew of new gadgets to protect the archipelago’s rare and threatened wildlife.

“Without a doubt [technology] is probably one of the largest resources that will help the good guys get the bad guys,” Matthew Pritchett, from anti-trafficking group Freeland Foundation, told AFP. “The criminals that are behind the illegal wildlife trade are large organized syndicates that are extremely sophisticated.”

To keep pace with these vast trafficking groups, activists are now deploying the kind of technology once reserved for combating drug cartels and crime lords.

For instance, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which works with Indonesian authorities to halt wildlife crime, uses similar computer software to map criminal networks and extract data from seized electronic devices.

Hunting hotspots Conservation group International Animal Rescue Indonesia is examining crime scene evidence with the help of DNA barcodin—a taxonomic method that relies on short genetic sequences to identify species.

Tissue samples from confiscated animals can be cross-referenced with a database of stored genetic codes, helping to unambiguously differentiate between species and sub-species—not all of which may be endangered.

For instance, IAR is building a barcode database for different species of slow loris, a cute but venomous primate being hunted to extinction for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

“If we have animals with a known origin and we have animals that appear, for example, in Jakarta, we can then compare the genetic samples,” Christine Rattel, IAR program advisor, told AFP. “We can then track down the hunting hotspots and what the trading routes are.”

––Despite a raft of laws aimed at protecting Indonesia’s wildlife, forest rangers and police are under-resourced and lack specialized scientific knowledge, experts say.

Detection is often left to NGOs that scan wildlife markets and social media for threatened species, carry out investigations in the field and then notify police.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that law enforcement officers are not biologists,” Pritchett said.

“There might be some of them that specialize, but when it comes down to it we are talking about something like 25,000 to 30,000 species across the world that are protected from international trade.”

- Few prosecutions This is a gap that the Freeland Foundation wanted to plug when it developed its smartphone identification app WildScan.

Law enforcement officials and members of the public can swipe and click through questions and photos to determine whether they have a protected species in front of them.

If it turns out they do, they can then photograph and report it to authorities across Southeast Asia using the app.

Pritchett said reports generated through the app—which has a database of some 700 species and 2,000 photos— have already resulted in authorities taking action in Indonesia and Thailand.

Still, despite the best efforts of conservationists and huge advances in technology, many experts believe the battle is being lost.

Outdated laws, scarce enforcement resources and low prosecution rates remain key challenges in halting the trade, according to a 2015 report by development agency USAID. Above all, there is a lack of political will to tackle the lucrative black market, said Ian Singleton, director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, which uses drones to keep track of orangutans and illegal forest clearing that threatens their habitat.

“Without government will, no amount of technology will ever change anything,” he said. AFP

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

A5

‘Citizen scientists’ track radiation seven years after Fukushima

By Sara Hussein BENEATH the elegant curves of the roof on the Seirinji Buddhist temple in Japan’s Fukushima region hangs an unlikely adornment: A Geiger counter collecting real-time radiation readings.

The machine is sending data to Safecast, an NGO born after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster that says it has now built the world’s largest radiation dataset, thanks to the efforts of citizen scientists like Seirinji’s priest Sadamaru Okano.

Like many Japanese, Okano lost faith in the government after the nuclear meltdown seven years ago.

“The government didn’t tell us the truth, they didn’t tell us the true measures,” he told AFP, seated inside the 150-year-old temple.

Okano was in a better position than most to doubt the government line, having developed an amateur interest in nuclear technology two decades earlier after learning about the Chernobyl disaster.

To the bemusement of friends and family, he started measuring local radiation levels in 2007, so when the disaster happened, he had baseline data.

“The readings were so high... 50 times higher than natural radiation,” he said of the post-disaster data.

“I was amazed... the news was telling us there was nothing, the administration was telling us there was nothing to worry about.”

That dearth of trustworthy information was the genesis of Safecast, said co-founder Pieter Franken, who was in Tokyo with his family when the disaster hit.

Franken and several friends had the idea of gathering data by attaching Geiger counters to cars and driving around.

“Like how Google does Street View, we could do something for radiation in the same way,” he said.

“The only problem was that the system to do that didn’t exist and the

When...

From A4

These are “firsts” for Mindanao, coming from the first Mindanao president. *** What the High Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Commission Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, a Jordanian prince, said about our President is simply unacceptable. He insults not Duterte but the Filipino people, an overwhelming majority of whom support their duly elected leader in his war against drugs and his efforts at forging a lasting peace.

We are a sovereign nation, and although we are part of that international body called the United Nations, we are not under them. They have no jurisdiction over us, or over our duly constituted authorities except by our volition.

Al Hussein probably thinks he is still a prince ruling over his portion of the Jordanian desert, and forgets he is a diplomat who must exercise utmost patience even when he has to deal with

Digital...

From A4

when it comes to difficult subject matter.

At the DepEd, easily one of the biggest bureaucracy in the country, ICT can greatly help make bureaucratic operations efficient, transparent and cost effective to the benefit of teachers, students and the all education stakeholders.

“DepEd is a mammoth institution and with thousands of teaching and non-teaching personnel, technology may serve as an essential tool not just in teaching, but also in governance. We’re going to overhaul the information system of the entire Department—the financial management system, accounting system, budget system, and all other processes.”

Its digital transformation framework highlights four key areas where ICT can be applied. These are teaching and learning, communication, governance planning and decision making, and process and operations.

DepED Director for ICT Service Abram Abanil discussed an impressive roadmap for the Department’s ICT Systems until 2020. The focus will be the modernization of existing systems, core processes, education systems and key projects such as the Microsoft Country License which will empower a system wide adoption of cloud services, and that includes access for all public-school teachers and students.

Undersecretary Alain Del B. Pascua presented an even more impressive ICT infrastructure roadmap to envisioned to give sufficient access to the most practical and appropriate technologies and connectivity to the Internet.

In synch with all these programs, Pascua hopes to introduce coding and robotics in the curriculum to prepare students for the information age. He sees the need to introduce cybersecurity,

only way to solve that problem was to go and build it ourselves. So that’s what we did.”

- Making informed choices Within a week, the group had a prototype and began getting readings that suggested the 20 kilometer (12 mile) exclusion zone declared around the Fukushima plant had no basis in the data, Franken said.

“Evacuees were sent from areas with lower radiation to areas with higher radiation” in some cases, he said.

The zone was eventually redrawn, but for many local residents it was too late to restore trust in the government.

Okano evacuated his mother, wife and son while he stayed with his flock.

But a year later, based on his own readings and after decontamination efforts, he brought them back.

He learned about Safecast’s efforts and in 2013 installed one of their static counters on his temple, in part to help reassure worshippers.

“I told them: we are measuring the radiation on a daily basis... so if you access the [Safecast] website you can choose [if you think] it’s safe or not.”

Forty kilometers away, in the town of Koriyama, Norio Watanabe was supervising patiently as his giggling teenage pupils attempted to build basic versions of Safecast’s Geiger counter.

Dressed in blazers and tartan skirts, the girls pored over instructions on where to place diodes and wires.

Watanabe has been a Safecast volunteer since 2011, and has a mobile Geiger counter in his car.

In the days after the disaster evacuees flocked to Koriyama, which was outside the evacuation zone, and he assumed his town was safe.

“But after I started to do the measurements, I realised there was a high level of risk here as well,” he said.

- ‘You can’t ignore it’ He sent his children away, but

leaders of sovereign states whose views and language do not agree with his.

Secretary Alan Cayetano was quick to put him in his proper place, using language far more diplomatic than those Al Hussein uttered.

Secretary Alan reminded the UNHRC that their rapporteur, Ms. Victoria Tauli Corpuz was “included in the list (of persons declared as terrorists) not because of her position as Special Rapporteur but because of her alleged links with the IlocosCordillera Regional Committee of the CPPNPA, which if the High Commissioner is unaware of, is in the list of foreign terrorist organizations of both the United States and the European Union.”

So there. And being a special rapporteur of the UNCHR does not de-list her automatically from part of a foreign terrorist organization which has hobbled peace in this country for half a century.

Go back to Jordan, Mr. Al Hussein, and shout your views in the empty halls of the treasury at Petra as much as you want.

You have absolutely no business judging us Filipinos. ethical hacking, and data protection, as there is a high demand for cloud security specialists and data protection specialists. Recognizing the need for more government support in policy and resources he expressed openness to Public Private Partnerships as an option for implementing the various components of the ICT roadmap.

The next challenge for DepEd is to institutionalize the integration of ICT in teaching so that K to 12 graduates will be ready for an environment that will need knowledge workers.

Indeed, these radical transformations will require massive retooling for teachers and DepEd personnel, especially those from a generation far removed from the digital boom in the 1990s and onwards.

But as it is, the pace of digitization has to keep up. Currently, only 27 percent of schools are connected to the Internet, which DepEd intends to change. In 2018, the target is to connect some 30,000 schools in eight pilot regions (CAR, 2, 8, 10, Caraga, ARMM, 4B). By 2019, the target is to connect all schools to the DepEd WAN. By 2022, all schools should be connected to the Internet.

The department also hopes to develop and create an Innovation Hub in high schools, or an ICT incubation hub in science high schools for research and development. These are envisioned to be centers for robotics and research and development and thus will be equipped with the latest technology, a computer lab, and an electronics lab. With these hubs all over the country, they are expected to focus on local, community-level problems, while tertiary ICT programs are geared toward global competition and specialization.

These developments and more can guarantee that ICT does what it does best—provide quick and efficient solutions to real-life problems. All of us should pitch in to make this happen.

stayed behind to look after his mother, a decision he believes may have contributed to his 2015 diagnosis with thyroid cancer.

“As a scientist, I think the chance that it was caused by the Fukushima accident might be 50-50, but in my heart, I think it was likely the cause,” he said.

His thyroid was removed and he is now healthy, but Watanabe worries about his students, who he fears “will carry risk with them for the rest of their lives.”

“If there are no people like me who continue to monitor the levels, it will be forgotten.”

Safecast now has around 3,000 devices worldwide and data from 90 countries. Its counters come as a kit that volunteers can buy through third parties and assemble at home.

Because volunteers choose where they want to measure at random and often overlap, “they validate unknowingly each other’s measurements,” said Franken, and anomalies or exceptions are checked by Safecast staff.

The NGO is now expanding into measuring air pollution, initially mostly in the US city of Los Angeles during a test phase.

Its radiation data is all open source, and has been used to study everything from the effects of fallout on wildlife to how people move around cities, said Franken.

He says Safecast’s data mostly corroborates official measurements, but provides readings that are more relevant to people’s lives.

“Our volunteers decide to measure where their schools are, where their workplaces are, where their houses are.”

And he believes Safecast has helped push Japan’s government to realize that “transparency and being open are very important to create trust.”

“The power of citizen science means that you can’t stop it and also that you can’t ignore it.” AFP

The commission...

From A4

determine the truth in any investigation conducted by it or under its authority or to recommend the discharge of State witnesses; provide that: courts may not reject such a recommendation except for the most serious of causes; (9) Request the assistance of any department, bureau, office, or agency in the performance of its functions; (10) Appoint its officers and employees in accordance with law; and (11) Perform such other duties and functions as may be provided by law.

SECTION 3. The Congress may provide for other cases of violations of human rights that should fall within the authority of the Commission, taking into account its recommendations.

EXPLANATORY NOTE The proposal endeavors to elevate the rank of the Commission on Human Rights to that of an “independent constitutional commission” subject to no other branch of government and with guaranteed fiscal autonomy.

Unlike the previous prescriptions on human rights, the membership of the Commission shall be extended to include one retired officer of the military or the police, as well as representatives of indigenous cultural communities.

Instead of leaving “human rights” to the vagaries of interpretation, there is provided a working definition of human rights: the violation of rights so enumerated and covered by international covenants and precepts of customary international law by the agents of the State. It is clear then that when such violations are spawned by private individuals, then we may deal with common crimes but not with violations of human rights.

The most important power given the Commission is prosecutorial power in the case of human rights violations, as well as the power to commence administrative or disciplinary proceedings against agents of the State.

Likewise far-reaching is the proposal that the Commission may itself order remediation and relief measures in respect to correctional or detention facilities and that as a result of such a power, may make the non-compliant correctional facility director or chief administratively liable.

It is also necessary to point out that the Commission is designed not only to be reactive but to be proactive as well. When it establishes probable cause that the life, liberty or property of a person may be threatened, the Commission, acting motu proprio may file with the court of competent jurisdiction a petition for the writs of amparo, habeas data or any of the protective writs. rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

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News

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Health execs must stop moonlighting

By Rio N. Araja

S

URIGAO del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel on Sunday urged the Department of Health to ban pharmaceutical companies from using the agency’s staff for clinical studies and facilities on new vaccines or medicine, particularly those pending regulatory approval.

He warned government officials who moonlight with private firms could be held liable for violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

“This practice of allowing DoH specialists to moonlight and have second jobs with pharmaceutical companies is unethical because it tends to corrupt the department, including the approval of new drug applications,” he said.

Pimentel is the chairman of the House of good government and public accountability committee that recently concluded a joint inquiry with the health panel into the Dengvaxia controversy.

The two panels are now preparing a report on their findings and recommendations to be released this month.

In the course of their inquiry, the panels discovered that Ma. Rosario Capiding, chief of the microbiology department at the DoH’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, received P40,000 in monthly compensation from the vaccines division

of French multinational pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur.

Capiding was the principal investigator who conducted the study on Dengvaxia under a grant from Sanofi in 2011. Clinical trials were completed in 2017.

The results of the studies and clinical trials were used to bolster Sanofi’s new drug application for Dengvaxia in the Philippines.

“The RITM and its staff should not be conducting clinical studies and trials for and on behalf of pharmaceutical companies,” Pimentel said.

“The institute should be performing studies on its own on potential new vaccines or pharmaceutical agents. All its activities should be funded by the Philippine government alone, or by grants from disinterested parties,” he added.

Capiding defended herself by invoking Executive Order No. 674, the RITM charter, issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos in 1981, which allowed her to receive compensation from grants.

Gatchalian wants comprehensive education performance audit TROUBLED by the poor marks for educational access and quality earned by the Philippines in various international rankings, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing for a comprehensive performance review of the country’s education system.

Gatchalian’s proposed Senate Resolution No. 675, “directs the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the current state of the Philippine education system,” with particular focus on gauging the “effectiveness and efficacy of existing education laws and policies.”

“Essentially our aim is to conduct an honest, objective performance review of the entire education system, encompassing everything from day care all the way up to the post-graduate level, as well as non-formal and special education,” said Gatchalian, the vice chairman of the Senate committee on education, arts and culture.

He said the feedback collected from the comprehensive review will be critical to guiding the government in crafting and implementing legislative and policy reforms.

He said this will empower the state to fulfill its obligation under the Constitution and international laws to provide

Filipinos with access to quality education at all levels.

In his resolution, Gatchalian acknowledged the government has already put into motion recent reforms aimed at “expanding access to and improving the quality of the Philippine education system,” including the K-12 Law, the UniFAST Law, and the Free Higher Education Law. Despite the passage of these laws, however, the Philippines continues to receive poor marks for education in international performance indices.

In the Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018 released by the World Economic Forum, the Philippines ranked 66th out of 137 countries for quality of primary education, 74th for quality of higher education, and 76th for quality of math and science education.

The Philippine education system did even worse in the 2017 Global Innovation Index, where it was ranked at a dismal 113th place out of 127 countries.

“I am hopeful that this Senate inquiry will serve as the solid foundation atop which we can build the worldclass education system that the Filipino people deserve,” Gatchalian said.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

PUFFING AWAY. Smokers are dwarfed by giant artworks on a firewall of a business establishment inside Bonifacio Global City in

Taguig. Ey Acasio

Fewer smokers with graphic health warnings

By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE first two years of having graphic health warnings in cigarette packs have proven to be successful, health advocacy group New Vois Association of the Philippines said.

NVAP president Emer Rojas said the main purpose of Republic Act No. 10643 or the GHW Law has been achieved in both informing would-be smokers and warning current smokers on the dangers of cigarette smoking.

“We are now seeing less smokers and those who are just looking to start smoking hesitating in lighting up cigarettes and puffing them,” said Rojas.

“It goes to show that people are now more aware on the ills caused by smoking as they can see from the GHWs,” he added.

Data from the Department of Health showed the smoking prevalence in the country now stood at 23 percent, lower than the 29 percent posted in 2009.

The first batch of 12 GHWs were rolled out in the local market in March 2016.

The law, however, provides that a new batch of picture warnings must be printed out every two years.

Last year, the DoH came out with the new templates, with one showing a female throat cancer survivor, who is also a member of NVAP.

Lawmaker admits TRAIN taking toll on BPO industry

Villar donates waste shredder to Boracay SENATOR Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, donated a unit of waste shredder and composter to help implement proper waste management in Boracay and help in the island’s recovery from its environmental woes.

According to Villar, trainors from the Bureau of Soils and Water Management will teach Boracay residents how to use the shredder and composter in processing their kitchen wastes.

“Composting is a must in Boracay because the establishments there produce a lot of kitchen or food wastes. So we have to teach the people how to compost them,” the senator said.

She added that she also asked the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority as well as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to give more composters to Boracay.

“FPA will give a composter for kitchen wastes also and the DENR give an equipment to process both kitchen and plastic wastes. Those will really help the residents and establishments in dealing with wastes using proper composting and recycling procedures,” she said.

Villar is a proponent of solid waste management and composting. She has initiated the establishment of composting centers in barangays in Las Piñas, which do rotary composting at vermicomposting.

She urged all sectors to pitch in and help in the rehabilitation of Boracay so the island can solve its environmental problems as soon as possible.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Rojas said civil society organizations should also do their part in ensuring compliance of tobacco manufacturers.

“Anti-smoking groups, including New Vois, will be doing our part in ensuring that the GHW law is not being disregarded in the streets, but rather maximize effectiveness and its gains sustained,” he said.

“We call on tobacco companies to ensure compliance with the law. It calls for a new batch of templates every two years to sustain its effectiveness by maintaining public interest. We expect that the new batch of pictures will start coming out in the market any time now,” Rojas added.

FOR THE CHILDREN OF MARAWI. Makati Mayor Abby Binay shows Education Secretary Leonor Briones some of the new school uniforms and other items donated by the city government for the benefit of thousands of displaced schoolchildren in Marawi City.

Nutritionist-Dietitians group holds 63rd convention

WITH the objective of enjoining minds and shared passions, the country’s largest accredited organization of healthcare professionals in the nutrition and dietetics fields, the Nutritionist-Dietitians Association of the Philippines came strong and united once more in the recently concluded 63rd NDAP Annual Convention held at the SMX Lanang Premier Convention Center, Davao City.

The successful event was attended by

1,500 members, including government officials Health Secretary Francisco Duque and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

Anchoring on the theme “Road to Excellence: Bringing Education and Nutrition Together,” the event highlighted NDAP’s mission to reach out to its community of practitioners and various stakeholders through continuous professional education.

“One can only make a strong impact if you have a strong organization, and we

are banking on the strength of 33 chapters located all over the country,” said NDAP president Zenaida Velasco.

While aimed at updating members with the latest advancements and ethical standards that shape the competitiveness of Filipino professionals in the food and nutrition service, the three-day congress also brought forth the timely relevance of disseminating evidence-based medical health information in the time of misinformation and fake news.

SENATOR Benigno Aquino IV on Sunday admitted that the government’s Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion Law has impacted negatively on the BPO sector.

The lawmaker said he has been receiving reports that the BPO sector may need to reduce its workforce or set aside expansion plans in the country.

Aquino, chairman of the Senate committee on science and technology, has scheduled a second hearing on the issue today.

“The BPO sector is a major source of livelihood for Filipino families. We cannot afford to give away job security and job opportunities, especially with the rising prices of goods,” he said.

Aquino revealed that several BPOs may relocate, abort expansion, or reshore workers due to the effects of the TRAIN Law. “When we first conducted the hearing last year, AI emerged as the main threat to our BPO industry. Now, we saw the need to include the government tax reform program as it is also taking a toll on the sector,” he said.

During the TRAIN’s period of amendments, Aquino pushed for the retention of a special tax rate for regional operating headquarters and regional headquarters.

However, the provision was vetoed

by President Rodrigo Duterte, much to the dismay of BPO stakeholders.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Sports

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MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Tiger 1 back in Valspar golf M

IAMI—Tiger Woods had the crowd roaring, but rookie Corey Conners held his nerve to stay one stroke ahead of the former world number one after three rounds of the Valspar Championship.

Senate Defenders’ Senator Joel Villanueva gets away from the Malacañang-PSC Kamao defense to go for a lay up at the Pasig City Sports Center in the Game 1 of the UNTV Cup’s Best of 3 Finals series.

Defenders seek UNTV Season 6 title; Kamao shoot for equalizer “WE will bounce back.”

This is the promise of the Malacanang-PSC Kamao Team as they gear up for Game 2 of the UNTV Cup Season 6 Best-of-Three Final Series against the Senate Defenders at the Araneta Coliseum today at 7 p.m.

The Senate Defenders, who took Game 1, 77-62, expect a furious fightback today from the Kamao.

Malacanang-PSC coach Raffy Gonzales admitted his side needs adjustments in many departments, especially

Games on Monday

(Smart-Araneta Coliseum) 7 p.m. Senate vs Malacañang-PSC

in hustle and defense, to match what the other club showed on the hardcourt last Sunday.

Senate’s tough defense prevented the Palace Ballers from entering the paint area, aside from dominating the rebounds, assists and blocks.

But Gonzales is confident the Kamao

can and will bounce back in Game 2.

“The players are eager. We will win in Game 2,” vowed Gonzales, who believes his team can duplicate their 6359 win over the Defenders last Jan. 21 in the elimination round.

Coach Gonzales added: “Alam ko mag-i-step up yan. Alam ko may bounce-back kami, maibabalik ‘yan.

Aangat pa rin ang mga players ko.”

A total of 9.6 million pesos worth of prizes, tax free, awaits the teams and their beneficiaries this season in the league of public servants.

Woods, playing his fourth US PGA Tour event since returning in January from spinal fusion surgery last April, fired a fourunder par 67 that left him tied for second on eight-under 205 alongside former US Open champion Justin Rose of England and American Brandt Snedeker.

They’re chasing Conners, who carded a 68 for 204 to maintain the lead he has held since the first round.

But once again Woods was the center of attention, and after years of battling injury he gave his fans what they wanted to see.

“The environment was incredible,” Woods said of the boisterous gallery that followed him. “People were into it... it’s been incredible.”

“I’ve played myself right there into contention, so it should be a fun Sunday,” said the 14-time major champion, who is chasing an 80th US PGA Tour title.

The 42-year-old, who has spoken of playing with a “new body” after the fusion surgery, swung with a clubhead speed measured as the fastest in the field.

His sharp short game was on full display when he chipped in for birdie from 30 feet away in the greenside rough at the par-four ninth, his ball rolling neatly into the middle of the cup.

“Nine was good,” Woods said. “It rolled in just like a putt, which was nice.

Woods hasn’t been in this good a position to add to his total since he finished tied for 10th at the Wyndham Championship in August of 2015, and he hasn’t lifted a trophy since the 2013 World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational.

After his birdies at the ninth and 10th, Woods was tied with Conners for the lead.

He couldn’t convert birdie opportunities from within eight feet on his next two holes, and his lone bogey of the day at 13 saw him briefly drop three behind Conners -- who had just made his sixth birdie of the day at 12. AFP

Wrestbrook Parañaque edges Imus, finally wins at home triple-double lifts Thunder LOS ANGELES—Russell Westbrook notched his 19th triple-double of the NBA season and the Oklahoma City reserves contributed 50 points Saturday as the Thunder beat the reeling San Antonio Spurs 104-94.

Westbrook scored 21 points and added 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Thunder improved to 6-3 since the All-Star break.

The Thunder held Spurs star LaMarcus Aldridge to 11 points on fiveof-16 shooting as San Antonio lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

“They were very aggressive,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

“They did a good job. He didn’t have one of his best nights, that’s for sure, but his effort was great. It just didn’t work for him tonight, and OKC was a big part of that.”

The Spurs, who have slipped to seventh in the Western Conference, are now assured of having a losing road record for the first time in 21 seasons.

Their chances of extending their NBA record streak of 20 straight playoff appearances also look to be dwindling, although the San Antonio could be bolstered next week by the return of Kawhi Leonard from a 20game injury absence.

The Thunder jumped to fifth in the West, but will be concerned after Steven Adams sprained his left ankle when he came down hard early in the third quarter.

Nick Collison, a 37-year-old reserve forward, helped fill the void, entering the game in the fourth quarter and scoring seven points in less than three minutes.

“He puts in the work and he’s always ready to go,” Westbrook said.

“Tonight was one of those nights where he got his number called and he answered like he does every time.

It’s a blessing to be on the floor with a guy like him. He’s so unselfish. It’s good to see.”

In Los Angeles, Lou Williams scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Clippers to a 113-105 victory over the Orlando Magic. AFP

PARAÑAQUE finally won at home and it came the hard way Saturday, nipping a game Imus quintet, 79-77, in the MPBL-Anta Rajah Cup at the Olivarez Sports Complex in Sucat, Paranaque.

The Gamboa Coffee-backed Patriots got a big lift from ex-PBA players Harold Arboleda and Juneric Baloria in outlasting the GLC Truck and Equipment-sponsored Bandera in a breathtaking, down-the-wire encounter that saw both teams exchanging leads six times.

Arboleda, who played briefly for the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA, came away with a double-double performance of 12 points and 15

rebounds, allowing the Patriots to notch their second consecutive win to forge a tie for sixth to seventh places with the Navotas Clutch-Big J Sports with the same 4-4 win-loss record.

Baloria, who played alongside Arboleda with the Perpetual Help Altas in the NCAA, contributed only five markers, but his go-ahead three-pointer in the 1:42 mark of the final period put the Patriots on top, 78-77.

The Patriots and their hometown cheering crowd had to hold their breath in the last second of the match as a tipin by Orly Daroya right after the final buzzer sounded had to be reviewed by technical officials.

The shot was nullified after they

found out that the forward’s putback came in a split second late, preventing the game to go to an extra period and allowing the Patriots to secure their second straight win -- both of them via an exciting affair.

Paranaque head coach Aric del Rosario, who used to handle Arboleda and Baloria in the NCAA, was happy to see his old wards stepping up big.

“Masaya ako kasi itong mga ito, binubuhay ko pa. Kamukha nina Harold, nina Baloria, wala nang kumukuha sa kanila, kaya sabi ko sa kanila ito ang pagkakataon niyo. Kung maganda showing niyo, baka makuha ulit kayo sa PBA,” said Del Rosario.

“Bumubuhay tayo ng patay.”

TOP PSA GOLFER.

Pauline del Rosario holds her trophy after being cited for her golfing feats last year where she racked up four victories on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour and one on the Taiwan LPGA in her rookie season during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night at Manila Hotel recently.

Bong Tan

Van der Valk ends long spell at Eagle Ridge GEN. TRIAS, Cavite—Guido Van der Valk capped a month-long run of fine form with a victory at the P2.5 million ICTSI Eagle Ridge Challenge yesterday, beating Jay Bayron and American Nicolas Paez by three in a windy stretch run duel to claim his maiden win on the Philippine Golf Tour here.

Van der Valk lost a two-shot lead early but outduelled Bayron in a pressure-packed finish, winning it all despite a four-over 76 and finally ending years of near-misses in the local circuit sponsored by ICTSI, including a playoff setback to Tony Lascuña in Bacolod in 2016.

But two strong third place efforts in The Country Club Invitational and the Solaire Philippine Open, both at the tough TCC course, the last four weeks have lined up the Manila-based shotmaker from Lelystad, the Netherlands, for this breakthrough triumph he had long wished and worked for.

“It’s been a long wait and I don’t know what to say,” said the amiable 38-year-old Van der Valk, savoring the sweet taste of a first PGT win worth P450,000 after a four-over 292 total.

While he credited his third round surge to steady putting, the new champion said his iron play won it for him although he admitted he only gained confidence after Bayron fumbled with the first of his four bogeys on No. 14.

“I was only able to take control after I made it in two on No. 15 and Jay missed the green,” said Van der Valk, who also credited his Filipina wife’s (Loradelle) all-support since he joined the local circuit at Splendido in 2013.

The 38-year-old Van der Valk, who had three previous wins, including two back home, actually closed out with a birdie-less round marred by four bogeys. But clutch pars in the stretch proved enough to clinch it as Bayron faded with a bogey-riddled windup at the wind-raked Faldo course.

Zarks, Ybalai win at LGR tilt

ZARKS and Ybalai pulled off similar easy wins over their rivals to make their presence felt in the LGR Hoops Season 5 at the Cloverleaf Gym. RS Sibal finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead Zarks to a 76-66 triumph over Unicorn in this event supported by supported by Titan, Zarks Burger, NBA Store, BTV, Gatorade, Petron Blaze 100, Rain or Shine, Gold’s Gym, Bugsy’s, Petron Blaze and Kartilya.

In the other game, Ybalai turned to Gee Galang, who came away with a gamehigh 29 points on top of 11 rebounds in powering his team to a 91-75 rout of JHood in the Neophyte A Division.

Over at the North Greenhills Gym, The Enterprises dumped ripped Team Buckets, 67-47, in the Novice C division as Kewei Lim produced 15 points and 12 boards.

Joining The Enterprises in the winner’s column of Novice C was Point3DB06, which clobbered Ayer’s Gym, 99-78.

In the Neophyte D category, DX Team blasted Sparks, 74-61, as Kenneth Agustin came away with 21 points and eight boards.

LOTTO RESULTS

San Beda basketball camp registration now open REGISTRATION is now open for the new classes of the San Beda basketball camp, which is now on its 13th season.

Program head Edmundo Badolato said it will resume at the Mendiola and Taytay campuses from April 5 and will end on May 1.

The camp will be held with the support of Cocolife, Gatorade and Molten.

Interested parties may contact Oliver Quiambao at tel. no. 735-6011, local 2104, or at 0929-1971071, and through Badolato, at 0908-8624543.

Classes will be held every Monday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., from April 5 to 30 at the Mendiola campus.

It will go on every Tuesday and Friday, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., April 6 to May 1

at the Taytay campus.

Coaches from San Beda and from other varsity and commercial teams will share their knowledge to the students in this camp, organized by coach Badolato.

Fees for the sessions of the camp is set at P4,000. This will include a San Beda jersey and a ball provided by Molten.

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

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

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MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

World champs join Alveo Ironman

FOUR world champions and a slew of topnotch triathletes gear up for a fierce showdown for Alveo Ironman 70.3 supremacy when the premier endurance event is fired off March 25 at Azuela Cove in Davao City.

Aussie Tim Reed, the world titlist in 2016, Mexico’s Mauricio Mendez and Bradley Weiss of South Africa, the Xterra world champions in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and threetime Ironman winner Craig Alexander head the elite 26 pros, including 12 in women’s division, vying in the keenly awaited event backed by title sponsor Alveo, an AyalaLand company, and organized by Sunrise Events, Inc. SEI Wilfred Uytengsu and Davao, through Mayor Sara Duterte, have guaranteed a one-of-a-kind triathlon experience, this being held in the re-

Members of the triumphant Manila Southwoods team flash their four fingers signifyng the team’s fourth straight title in the PAL Interclub. Lino Santos

Southwoods’ next aim: Canlubang’s 5-peat run

By Peter Paul Duran

Radka

Reed

gion for the first time, with the event are expected to further boost the economy and tourism of the host city.

“With its blend of nature and urban infrastructure, not to mention a course with unfamiliar terrain and challenges, Davao and Azuela Cove will surely offer a true test of triathlon for this world-class field,” said Uytengsu.

Other fancied names vying are Xterra champion Ben Allen, and Canadian Brent McMahon, a three-time North American Ironman 70.3 champion, while last year’s Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 Subic titlist Radka Kahlefeldt of the Czech Republic banners the women’s field that includes equally talented Dimity Lee Duke of Australia and Anna Eberhardt of Hungary.

The Alveo Ironman also marks the kickoff leg of SEI’s series of triathlon events for its milestone 10th season with the leading organizer of premier sequential endurance races in the country now going nationwide with 70.3 championships also lined up in Luzon and Visayas.

A total of 1,782 participants from 39 countries are vying in the inaugural Mindanao staging of the highly successful 1.9K swim, 90K bike, 21K run series presented by Petron, Dept. of Tourism and Tourism Promotions Board and hosted by Davao and Azuela Cove. For details, visit sunriseevents.com.ph.

B

ACOLOD CITY- With a such a domineering performance at the 71st PAL Interclub Championship Division, no one would dare argue that Manila Southwoods is at par with some elite company.

Southwoods became only the third team to win four consecutive times in the country’s biggest and most prestigious amateur golf tournament, with a shot to match Canlubang’s historic fiveyear run from 2006-2010.

And non-playing team skipper Thirdy Escano is the first one to say that this can’t be done with just pure talent. A nondescript amount of preparation and a well-established program should be set to attain such a level of assertion.

Proof of this is Southwoods saving their best for last as they closed the competition with 146 points for a 72hole 551 tally, 41 clear of Luisita, which led third placer Canlubang by eight. Del

Monte remained in the doldrums with only 469.

“I knew who I was going to field today and I knew the boys would break 140,” an ecstatic Escano said. “Basta ang alam ko lang ay hindi kami lalaban na hindi kami prepared.”

“But if we still lost after playing that well, wala na ako magagawa, that’s beyond my control,” he added.

Unfortunately for those who trailed behind their tracks, that was far from materializing, owing to the impeccable team management of this Carmonabased team.

“This only goes to show that our grassroots program continues to work,”

he said as the squad is set to lose probound Jama Reyes and 70th PAL Interclub individual champ Tom Kim when they stake at the five-peat in Cebu next year.

But Escano is quick to point out that the team has enough firepower to continue their championship run for a couple more years.

“We have young, brilliant players still waiting for their chance to shine. We are committed to giving these players the break they need. We are simply giving back what the game of golf has given to us,” Escano shared. “They all delivered and I cannot ask for a better team.”

This year’s Interclub’s Platinum sponsors are RMN and Manila Times, while major sponsors are Mastercard, The Philippine Manila Standard, Rolls Royce, Bombardier, TV5, Primax, BusinessWorld, Crossover and Fox. Other sponsors include Boeing, PAGCOR, Belmonte Hotel, Eton Properties and Asia Brewery, Inc.

By Jeric Lopez RIDING its best run in franchise history, NLEX aims to continue its rampage as it shoots for a commanding 2-0 lead against Magnolia in their best-of-seven semifinal series in the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. Game 2 is scheduled today at 7 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, with the Road Warriors having the chance to reach even greater heights.

NLEX took the series opener Saturday night by the slimmest margins, 8887, to make more heads turn.

Alex Mallari exacted revenge over his former team, hitting clutch shots down the stretch to lift his team to the win.

NLEX coach Yeng Guiao is thrilled about his team’s play and insisted how his wards are enjoying their current level of success.

“We’re just in this for the ride. We’re enjoying our adventure,” said Guiao, whose squad is enjoying its first-ever semis stint in franchise history.

While the Hotshots are looking to equalize, they need to do it without their veteran leader.

Marc Pingris went down with a knee injury late in Game 1 and it is still questionable if he can make it back in the series.

Magnolia needs Mark Barroca, Paul Lee, Ian Sanggalang and Peter June Simon to step up for it to avoid a huge 0-2 hole.

As of this writing, defending champion San Miguel is also gunning for a 2-0 edge over Barangay Ginebra in their own semis clash.

NCFP’s Age-Group Chess in Mati City THE Philippine Army-Bicycology Shop, led by Stage 3 winner Pfc. Cris Joven finished third in the Team ITT Stage 8 yesterday in the 2018 LBC Ronda Pilipinas.

FEU champion Navy-Standard Insurance pulls away in Ronda PH of streetdance FAR Eastern University’s Street Alliance bested favorites La Salle Dance Company and University of the Philippines Streetdance Club to annex its firstever title in the UAAP Season 80 streetdance competition yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“It feels so surreal,” said coach Randell San Gregorio.

Only formed last January as a sort of “an experiment”, FEU Street Alliance tallied 85.75 points to become the league’s only third champion.

The hastily-formed gangsta theme together with the music simply jived well for FEU’s championship-winning performance.

LSDC and UP Streetdance Club, which shared the side event’s first six titles, finished second and third with 79.80 and 78.60 points, respectively.

NLEX shoots for 2-0 lead vs Magnolia

TARLAC—Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance ruled the Stage 8 Team Time Trial in dominating fashion yesterday to continue to blow away the field in the Ronda Pilipinas 2018 presented by LBC that started at the provincial capitol and ended at the Tarlac Recreational Park here.

Towed by red LBC leader’s jersey holder Ronald Oranza and defending back-to-back champion Jan Paul Morales, the flying Navymen blazed their way to topping the 42.1km lap in 56.17 minutes, or about three minutes clear of closest pursuer Go for Gold Developmental team.

Army-Bicycology, skippered by Cris Joven, finished third in 1:00:10 in this race presented by LBC and supported

by MVP Sports Foundation, Filinvest, Philippine Rabbit, CCN, Petron, Versa.

ph, 3Q Sports Event Management, Inc., Boy Kanin, Franzia, Standard Insurance, Bike Xtreme, SH+, Guerciotti, Prolite, Green Planet, Maynilad, NLEX Sports, Lightwater, LBC Foundation and PhilCycling.

After eight grueling stages and with four more to go, Navy is untouchable at the helm with an aggregate time of 82:19:52, ahead of Go for Gold Developmental team with 82:52:24 and Army-Bicycology with 82:52:24.

And for Morales, who is also the team skipper, it’s all over but the shouting.

“I think it’s ours already,” said Morales.

Navy, however, encountered some problems as they ended up with only four riders at the finish line—Oranza, Morales, Junrey Navarra and Archie Cardana.

Ronald Lomotos was already out after he was disqualified in the Stage 7 Individual Time Trial the day before for drafting, while John Mark Camingao, Rudy Roque and El Joshua Carino were all left behind.

It was enough though to seal the deal.

“Since only the fourth rider’s time will count in the TTT we had to drag Cardana near the finish line,” said Morales.

The race, which staked P1 million to the individual champion, will take a three-day breather and will resume on Thursday with the 207.2km SilangTagaytay Stage 9.

It will wind up with the 147.8km Tagaytay-Calaca Stage 10 Friday, 92.72km Calaca-Calaca Stage 11 Saturday and the Stage 12 Filinvest criterium on Palm Sunday.

THE National Chess Federation of the Philippines will hold the Mindanao Leg of the 2018 National Age Group Chess Championships set March 23 to 25 at the Baywalk Hotel in Mati City, Davao Oriental that will serve as a qualifying tournament for the ASEAN Chess Championship in Davao City this June.

Organized by Chess Events Internationale, the three-day event will be divided into 10 categories—the 20-andUnder for girls and boys, 18-Under for girls and boys, 16-Under for girls and boys, 14-Under for girls and boys, 12-Under for girls and boys, 10-Under girls and boys and 8-Under girls and boys.

“We are honored to have been given the chance to host this event, which is the very first of its kind to be held here in our city,” said Mati Mayor Carlo Rabat.

The winners of each divisions will advance straight to the ASEAN Chess Championship, where FIDE Master titles and International Master norms are at stake.

Cash prizes and medals will also be up for grabs for the Top 10 finishers in each category.

IN BRIEF

Doha Metro rail line recruiting Filipinos

COMM Builders & Technology-Philippines, a local rail maintenance provider, signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Qatar to hire 330 Filipino engineers and technicians to operate and maintain Doha Metro’s light rail line which will start operations in 2019.

Roehl Bacar, president and chief operating officer of CB&T Philippines and its human resource arm CB&T Pro-Staff Inc., signed a recruitment service agreement with MHI-Qatar administration manager Tetsuya Sano for the hiring of Filipino engineers and technicians.

CB&T Philippines was a local partner of CPG joint venture, the former maintenance service provider at Light Rail Transit Line 1, before it was taken over by Light Rail Manila Corp.

It was also an “interim” maintenance provider of Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a member of an international consortium that won the turnkey contract for rolling stock and railway systems of Phase 1 of Doha Metro.

Bacar, who also serves as a councilor of Mandaluyong City, said there are qualified Filipino railway technicians and engineers who could fill the human resource requirements of Doha Metro.

ABS-CBN posts 10% income drop

ABS-CBN Corp. said net income fell 10.3 percent in 2017 from a year ago because of the absence of election-related advertisements last year.

The Lopez-led multimedia company said it posted a net income of P3.16 billion in 2017, down from P3.53 billion in 2016.

Consolidated revenues from advertising and consumer sales slipped 2.3 percent to P40.7 billion.

Advertising revenues decreased 10.8 percent year-on-year, because of election related advertising placements recorded in the first half of 2016.

The broadcast company said excluding election-related placements, advertising revenues went down by only 0.3 percent yearon-year.

Consumer sales increased by P1.62 billion, on the back of ABS-CBN TVPlus sales and higher revenues from Sky Cable’s broadband and direct-to-home business.

ABS-CBN TVPlus contributed a significant increase in revenues with a total of 2 million boxes sold, a 53.5-percent increase from 2016, representing 702,000 additional boxes sold.

Sky Cable’s revenue rose 4.1 percent yearon-year, led by an increase in broadband and direct-to-home subscriber count by 15,000 and 399,000, respectively.

Subscriber count of Sky increased by 458,000 or 45.3 percent to 1.5 million as of end-2017. Darwin G. Amojelar

Business Conglomerates ask govt to expedite Naia project

By Darwin G. Amojelar

S

EVEN of the country’s largest conglomerates want the government to expedite the approval of their P350-billion offer to expand Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“The present approval process takes time, months to more than a year. The country would be well served if we can have a better Naia soonest,” said Jimbo Reverente, spokesperson of the socalled super consortium that submitted on Feb. 12 the first unsolicited proposal for Naia’s upgrade.

Once approved, actual work will take 24 more months under the first wave of expansion. Further expansions are planned to meet projected passenger demand.

“The government can expedite the approvals allowed under existing rules.

That will be the best scenario. Once we complete our short-term expansion and

upgrading plans, passenger convenience will be immediately felt. There will be more space for everybody and that is just the first step,” Reverente said.

More expansion will follow to meet the expected growth in tourism, business and the economy. The four Naia terminals, designed to handle only 31 million, accommodated 42 million passengers in 2017.

“By 2019, the projection is we will have 47 million passengers. And the Naia terminals will still have the same 31-million passenger capacity. So it is urgent for the country to get this project going because doing nothing as a result of a long approval process will set all of us back,” he said.

“But if we can have our first wave completed by, say, 2020, tourism can become so much stronger that it can be a third economic pillar after the BPO [business process outsourcing] and OFW [overseas Filipino workers] remittances,” he said.

Reverente said “there is so much riding on Naia’s upgrade and this is one reason the seven conglomerates came together for this.”

He said to make sure the consortium

would deliver, it brought in Changi International Airport, reputedly the world’s best airport manager, as a technical partner.

The seven conglomerates that teamed up for the Naia proposal include Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. of the Aboitiz Group, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. of the Ayala Group, Alliance Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan, Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp. of the Gotianun family, JG Summit Holdings Inc. of the Gokongwei family and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. of the Salim group represented by PLDT Inc. chairman Manuel Pangilinan.

The super consortium will be initially called Naia Consortium.

The project is divided into two phases, with the first phase covering the improvements and expansion of terminals at the current Naia land area and the second phase involving the development of an additional runway, taxiways, passenger terminals and associated support infrastructure. The group proposed a 35-year concession period.

The group planned to spend P100 billion for phase 1 and P250 billion for phase 2.

RCBC’s savings unit expects higher profit

RCBC Savings Bank, the thrift bank arm of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said it expects a double-digit growth in net profit this year.

RCBC Savings president and chief executive Rommel Latinazo said in a news briefing in Makati City that the bank remained optimistic it could sustain the 34-percent expansion in net income last year.

“In 2017, we had a record 34-percent increase in net profit year-on-year to P1.35 billion. This was due to the continued expansion of our consumer loan portfolio,” Latinazo said. Total loan portfolio last year went up 13 percent from 2016.

He said around 95 percent of consumer loan portfolio was accounted for by auto loans and home loans.

“We continue to be optimistic,” Latinazo said, adding the strength of parent bank RCBC would also be positive to RCBC Savings.

“As RCBC is eyeing a 5 to 10-percent net profit growth this year, [I think] RCBC Savings could go higher than that projection,” Latinazo said.

He said one of the strengths of RCBC Savings in terms of auto loans compared to its competitors was its established strong relationship with auto dealers nationwide. Julito G. Rada

PHILEX’S DONATION. Employees of Philex Mining Corp., one of the oldest and largest gold and copper producers in Southeast Asia, contribute at least one hour of their salary to the One Hour Campaign of Children’s Hour Philippines Foundation. Shown during the Children’s Hour annual benefit lunch at Fairmont Hotel are (from left) Philex Pasig Metro Manila Employees Union president Davis Macaraeg, Philex division manager for internal audit Geraldine Ateno-an, Children’s Hour Philippines vice chairman Michael Toledo, Children’s Hour Philippines chairperson Emily Abrera, Philex division manager for public and regulatory affairs Francis Joseph Ballesteros Jr., Philex human resources supervisor Emilia Lourdes Veloso and Children’s Hour Philippines executive director Geenette Garcia.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

B

Pilmico unveils plan to construct Tarlac meat plant

By Othel V. Campos PILMICO Foods Corp., a whollyowned food manufacturing unit of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, disclosed a plant to put up an integrated meat fabrication plant in Tarlac province.

Pilmico president Sabin Aboitiz said the project would be a part of the company’s P9-billion expansion strategy until 2020 that would also include feeds and grains processing expansion.

“We are setting up a meat fabrication plant and a cold storage area. To build the plant, we need to convert the land we bought from agriculture into industrial use. We’re just waiting for the land conversion permit from the Agrarian Reform Department,” Aboitiz said over the weekend.

The company procured all the equipment for the plant whose construction could start six to eight months after the permit was approved and released.

Aboitiz said the plant would serve the company’s digital strategy, where connection from the farm to the plant and, ultimately, to the wet market would be transacted using the internet.

Buyers, he said, could actually bid real time on the platform, for meat cuts of choice or specification. Payment would be done using the platform.

“From the farms, we move up to fabrication integrating system. By using the digital platform, the cost will be a tad cheaper. That benefit trickles down to end-users or consumers,” Aboitiz said.

The plant is expected to process 120 hog heads per hour. The plant will source live animals from Aboitiz farms. Small holder farmers are also encouraged to sell their animals to the company and go to the platform.

“We want to make sure the digital platform is responsive to the needs of the industry for it to grow,” Aboitiz said.

The Tarlac plant would be the second meat fabrication facility of the company after it opened the first plant in Butuan City.

AEV recently signed a partnership agreement with the Trade Department to support backyard farming and sustainable livelihood under Pilmico’s advocacy program ‘Mahalin Pagkain Natin.”

The agreement established Pilmico as the department’s partner in the implementation of the Go Negosyo Act to increase Filipinos’ participation in entrepreneurship programs.

Cavite-Laguna toll road lifts DMCI’s Meralco boosting capital expenditure to P21b in 2019 2017 construction contracts to P16b

By Alena Mae S. Flores

By Jenniffer B. Austria DMCI Holdings Inc. said its construction unit bagged P16 billion worth of new infrastructure, buildings and power plant projects in 2017, or double the P8.2-billion contracts in booked in 2016.

Construction firm DM Consunji Inc. said with the new contracts, it ended 2017 with an order book of P25.4 billion, a 26-percent improvement from P20 billion in 2016.

Among the company’s newly-signed projects are Cavite-Laguna Expressway of MPCala Holdings, a petrochemical plant of JG Summit, Maven of Ortigas & Co., Anchor Grandsuites of Anchor Land Holdings, Bued Viaduct and Roadway of Private Infra Development Corp. and a 105-megawatt conventional

power plant of Sarangani Energy Corp.

The company said ongoing projects include Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 of Citra Central Expressway Corp., Six Senses Resort (Phase 2) of Federal Land, LRT Line 2 Masinag Station of the Department of Transportation, City Gate of Ayala Land Inc., The Imperium and The Royalton of Ortigas & Co. and Radiance Manila Bay (North and South) of Robinson Land Corp.

The construction firm also completed two major infrastructure projects in 2017, including Naia Expressway and The Runway connecting Naia Terminal 3 to Resorts World Manila.

DM Consunji said it recorded a fullyear net income of nearly P1.3 billion in 2017, up 56 percent from P824 million in 2016.

POWER retailer Manila Electric Co. asked the Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a P21-billion capital expenditure for regulatory year 2019.

“I think we filed for something in the order of about P20 [billion] to P21 billion.

The capex for regulatory year 2019 is in the order of about P21 billion,” Meralco president Oscar Reyes told reporters.

Meralco’s application for capex in the next regulatory year covering the months July 2018 to June 2019 would be higher than the annual average in the past two years. Meralco asked ERC to approve an P18-billion capex for 2018.

“We have to ensure that the capex is something to serve the customer load growth, resiliency, safety and robustness including hardening,” Reyes said.

Reyes said the bulk of the capex for 2019 would be used for network requirements for load and customer growth “because our number of customer base

continues to increase and the demand continues to increase as well so we have to ensure that we have very resilient and hardened network.”

He said Meralco wanted the budget to ensure that the company’s distribution utility “will be able to meet the changes in climate.”

Meralco said it lined up projects to ensure the safety, reliability and efficiency of the distribution system, while providing for the forecasted load growth within its franchise area.

Meralco’s 2018 capex program was driven by several factors such as adequate infrastructure to meet growth in peak demand and customer connections; refurbishment projects to ensure sustained network efficiency, power quality and reliability; compliance to statutory and regulatory requirements and support for the public-private partnership projects.

Meralco said consolidated core income grew 3 percent in 2017 to P20.2 billion from P19.583 billion in 2016 on higher

electricity sales amid increased demand.

Consolidated net income reached P20.384 billion last year, up 6 percent from P19.176 billion in 2016. Core income in the fourth quarter alone reached P4.843 billion in 2017, up 5 percent rom P4.617 billion in 2016 while reported net income went up 27 percent to P4.456 billion from P3.5 billion.

Sales volumes grew 5 percent in 2017 to 42,102 gigawatt-hours, on the back of a growing customer base, positive economic conditions, softening of the peso, stable power supply and low power plant outages.

Commercial sales volume accounted for 39 percent of total sales driven by real estate, hotels and restaurants and retail trade demand.

Residential volume accounted for 31 percent of total sales amid stronger consumer confidence and spending while industrial sales represented 29 percent of total sales with demand coming from semiconductor, food and beverage and basic metals industries.

PLDT plans to borrow P16b from banks to refinance debt

FINTQ AWARD. Two homegrown initiatives of FINTQnologies Corp. are recognized at the Asset Triple A Digital Awards 2017, a preeminent annual awards excellence program that distinguishes the best in class for the digital and finance industries across the Asian region. Shown is FINTQ managing director and KasamaKA founder and lead convenor Lito Villanueva receiving the Most Innovative Fintech Collaboration Award for Kasama/Lender Partnership from The Asset. KasamaKA is a community and income builder program while Lendr is a digital lending platform.

PLDT Inc. said it plans to borrow P16 billion from local banks to refinance maturing debt.

“We have P16 billion of maturities this year. That’s what we are refinancing. So we are looking at more peso borrowings and there’s lots of offers that we are getting from banks,” PLDT chief financial officer Anabelle Chua said.

PLDT’s gross debt hit $3.5 billion as of end-2017, of which only 8 percent was unhedged. About 92 percent of PLDT’s debt are fixed-rate loans.

PLDT earlier reported a 33-percent drop in net income to P13.4 billion in 2017 from P20.16 billion in 2016.

The country’s largest telecom company said in the fourth quarter alone, it

incurred a net loss of P8.51 billion, up by 11 percent from a P4.14-billion loss a year ago.

Total revenues also fell 3 percent last year to P159.93 billion from P165.26 billion in 2016. Revenues in the fourth quarter reached P40.86 billion, slightly up from P39.88 billion in the same period in 2016.

PLDT’s Home and enterprise business groups reported revenues of P33 billion and P34.1 billion, respectively, up 13 percent and 11 percent from the previous year.

Revenues of the wireless consumer group retreated 11 percent to P58.9 billion.

PDT budgeted P58 billion in capital expenditures this year, with 53 percent

earmarked for the fixed network business.

It said the revised allocation reflected the more aggressive roll-out of fiber broadband service, which would support the stepped-up deployment of the mobile network.

PLDT said capex for 2019-2020 was expected to remain at the same level as 2018.

The company set a P40-billion capex program in 2018, representing 26 percent of consolidated service revenues.

The capex for 2018 will be funded by a combination of internally generated funds and proceeds from the sale of receivables from the sale of its Beacon stake in Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the company said. Darwin G. Amojelar

B2

Business

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market likely to move sideways S

By Jenniffer B. Austria

TOCKS are expected to move sideways this week after the benchmark index failed to stay above the 8,400-point level last week.

Analysts said the market’s inability to close above the 8,400-point mark was now pointing the index to a range of 8,350 to 8,600.

BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said a break below the 8,350-point level could push the market to test the resistant level of 8,000 to 8,100.

Other analysts, however, said the US market’s strong close last week on favorable jobs data could provide a catalyst to snap the market’s current rangebound trading.

The Dow Jones closed above 25,000, with Nasdaq finishing at a record high, after data showed that 313,000 jobs were created in February, the biggest

gain since the middle of 2016.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index ended lower by 1 percent last week to close at 8,372.51, while the broader all-share index fell 0.2 percent to 5,052.79.

Except for the property and services sectors which rose 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent respectively, all other sub-indices ended in the red led by mining and oil (-3.2 percent), financial (-1.6 percent), holding firms (-1.3 percent) and industrial (-0.3 percent).

Foreign investors were net sellers by P2.6 billion last week, while average daily turnover declined to P7.1 billion from the previous week’s P8.7 billion.

Central Azucarera de Tarlac Inc. was among the top gainers after its share price jumped 56.8 percent to P36, following announcements that it would sell a 290-hectare lot in Tarlac provide to developer Ayala Land Inc. Other weekly gainers were First Gen Corp. which climbed 15.2 percent to P16.68 and Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. which rose 8.3 percent to P1.52.

Heavy losers last week included LT Group Inc. which

retreated 9.2 percent to P19.70, Semirara Mining and Power Corp. which dropped 8.5 percent to P33.55 and ABS-CBN Corp. which lost 4.7 percent to P30.

Asian stocks are likely to take a cue on the looming trade war between the US and its trade partners.

President Donald Trump renewed his demand Saturday that the European Union halts its trade barriers to US products in order to spare his allies new steel and aluminum tariffs.

The American president made his comments after crunch talks in Brussels between EU negotiators and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in an effort to defuse a bitter row that many fear could turn into an all-out trade war.

The EU’s top trade official said the US failed to provide full clarity on how Europe and Japan could be spared set to continue next week.

“The European Union, wonderful countries who treat the US very badly on trade, are complaining about the tariffs on Steel & Aluminum,” Trump tweeted.

“If they drop their horrific barriers and tariffs on US products going in, we will likewise drop ours. Big deficit. If not, we tax cars etc. Fair!” With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS WEEKLY STOCKS REVIEW STOCKS

MARCH 5-9, 2018 Close Volume

Value

FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 2, 2018 Close Volume Value

Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources China Bank Citystate Savings COL Financial Eastwest Bank Ferronoux Holding Filipino Fund Inc. First Abacus I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank Philippine trust Co. PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

59.6 149.00 117.50 3.34 1.85 35.1 8.5 15.5 30.35 3.5 8.82 0.65 1.65 900.00 0.550 96 1.43 12.88 24.00 56.80 88.5 125 248.8 46.85 250 1930.00 90.75 1.21

67,180 6,566,740 7,467,140 656,000 2,571,000 843,600 3,700 1,310,000 6,894,700 1,030,000 72,000 4,000 267,000 30 8,857,000 21,299,240 32,488,000 98,200 6,600 396,920 1,280 160,690 95,310 192,500 1,834,740 1,135 484,000 416,000

FINANCIAL 3,967,844.00 992,544,507.00 879,361,302.00 2,155,610.00 4,371,310.00 29,572,095.00 107,950.00 20,285,872.00 205,934,660.00 3,479,270.00 624,325.00 2,600.00 430,810.00 27,000.00 5,134,580.00 2,042,943,453.00 48,546,490.00 1,243,012.00 162,850.00 22,713,356.50 109,579.50 25,381,371.00 23,679,350.00 126,299,414.00 451,231,796.00 2,183,280.00 43,972,852.50 527,420.00

59.35 155.00 118.20 3.48 1.58 35 8.2 15.4 28.4 3.6 8.65 0.65 1.62 900.00 0.520 98 1.65 12.7 23.90 57.10 86 104 246 47 247.2 1915.00 91.00 1.2

83,820 9,504,830 11,111,300 582,000 1,737,000 1,660,000 4,600 249,200 5,412,100 1,079,000 8,500 7,000 176,000 940 20,911,000 8,191,500 31,864,000 242,600 17,500 206,040 3,170 1,260 281,860 422,700 1,930,650 540 471,870 119,000

4,943,997.00 1,456,134,280.00 1,324,902,650.00 2,042,570.00 2,788,140.00 58,282,680.00 37,580.00 3,824,922.00 151,977,540.00 3,857,250.00 73,635.00 4,650.00 286,490.00 846,000.00 12,369,800.00 800,566,034.00 51,276,080.00 3,111,890.00 406,270.00 11,748,447.00 271,793.00 131,141.00 68,517,104.00 19,699,420.00 476,229,472.00 1,039,065.00 42,839,085.50 145,550.00

Aboitiz Power Corp.

Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons.

Asiabest Group Basic Energy Corp.

Bogo Medelin C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Conc. Aggr. ‘B’ Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Eagle Cement EEI Emperador Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp.

First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp.

Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Macay Holdings Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide MG Holdings Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Petron Corporation Phil H2O Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Pilipinas Shell Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas and Co. Roxas Holdings San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ SFA Semicon Shakeys Pizza SPC Power Corp.

Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp.

Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp.

Vivant Corp.

Vulcan Ind’l.

39.15 13.8 0.58 1.38 18.98 0.226 200.2 36.00 3.83 17.3 398 50.95 79 115 61.55 1.96 5.71 10.5 11.940 14.46 11.10 7.52 5.68 1.73 16.68 65 28.00 9.85 19.7 2.810 292.00 53.00 4.75 3.25 20.00 27.35 16.68 20.9 0.200 327.20 7.97 2.71 5.04 9.18 6.2 8.30 1.55 12.82 54.9 6.01 4.85 2.75 3.67 620 2.46 15.92 5.43 0.139 1.04 150 2.77 2.1 24.00 1.10

5,826,700 11,141,500 1,448,000 3,369,000 89,100 36,581,000 58,360 4,048,000 12,125,000 11,654,800 11,100 2,561,860 280,660 32,330 1,110 2,775,000 7,560,700 255,400 16,736,000 1,301,900 6,342,600 2,642,400 17,823,400 43,000 17,165,700 949,570 362,200 250,700 9,595,400 163,466,000 2,796,200 11,170 1,686,000 800,000 49,900 7,432,100 1,328,300 10,858,700 5,470,000 1,309,660 65,800 3,090,000 2,141,600 5,533,700 1,885,100 285,700 1,848,900 637,540 912,600 115,000 4,453,000 8,014,000 168,000 113,780 31,458,000 1,577,600 714,500 16,410,000 385,000 4,012,130 25,000 75,060,000 5,500 235,953,000

INDUSTRIAL 227,234,320.00 147,312,482.00 817,120.00 4,438,880.00 1,691,500.00 9,304,480.00 10,371,990.00 160,252,420.00 44,980,940.00 196,813,896.00 4,440,258.00 131,801,452.50 22,647,966.00 3,920,904.00 70,194.50 5,524,340.00 46,659,144.00 2,676,264.00 200,523,938.00 18,627,162.00 70,741,082.00 25,728,185.00 101,392,003.00 74,470.00 261,533,686.00 60,044,958.00 10,149,490.00 2,416,690.00 191,569,805.00 449,794,050.00 838,125,946.00 586,156.50 8,040,430.00 2,772,890.00 1,021,805.00 198,549,040.00 22,178,446.00 226,640,830.00 1,075,450.00 431,928,140.00 515,285.00 8,237,130.00 10,961,676.00 50,576,678.00 12,041,976.00 2,356,723.00 3,149,600.00 16,084,119.50 50,295,044.50 703,419.00 21,595,570.00 24,074,590.00 572,890.00 71,054,070.00 78,916,080.00 24,864,138.00 3,740,381.00 2,226,410.00 399,340.00 233,626,656,239.00 67,860.00 152,639,490.00 132,500.00 324,308,000.00

39 12.86 0.56 1.28 19.28 0.216 108 22.95 3.74 16.2 340 51.65 53 99.9 63.9 1.89 5.245 10.4 11.540 14.18 11.14 7.88 5.75 1.8 14.48 62.15 28.00 9.90 19.2 2.190 298.00 60.00 4.55 3.15 19.80 26.7 17 21 0.188 334.40 7.98 2.72 4.90 9.16 6.28 8.00 1.55 12.80 56.7 6.2 4.85 2.93 3.4 628 2.3 15.8 5.21 0.133 1.06 153 2.74 1.9 24.00 1.62

8,011,000 6,617,100 2,409,000 2,698,000 338,300 19,110,000 1,500 459,200 20,041,000 5,809,600 4,190 3,007,590 6,350 90 401,780 846,000 144,400 142,500 7,767,600 2,832,000 5,872,600 4,190,200 9,903,400 50,000 17,815,000 1,619,270 546,800 295,200 11,344,300 26,666,000 4,106,160 13,890 6,242,000 69,000 800 6,160,800 3,257,000 15,035,100 2,570,000 1,679,800 51,000 11,772,000 2,069,000 12,785,200 3,490,300 163,500 5,460,000 5,557,900 1,048,120 213,800 6,017,000 4,990,000 131,000 111,350 39,400,000 3,881,000 1,003,500 31,240,000 802,000 5,175,870 789,000 27,459,000 2,400 71,699,000

310,236,360.00 85,547,366.00 1,362,100.00 3,428,370.00 6,365,046.00 4,180,510.00 162,694.00 10,709,340.00 73,303,760.00 93,667,142.00 1,196,684.00 162,549,051.00 344,850.00 8,818.00 25,608,626.50 1,607,700.00 762,419.00 1,493,978.00 88,471,104.00 39,971,354.00 67,153,126.00 32,832,171.00 56,144,660.00 89,150.00 259,403,756.00 100,433,025.50 15,634,190.00 2,937,928.00 213,859,570.00 60,275,600.00 1,212,663,926.00 749,153.50 29,768,100.00 211,170.00 14,972.00 165,627,195.00 54,034,910.00 315,935,400.00 495,900.00 551,183,332.00 409,531.00 34,345,380.00 10,201,547.00 116,949,575.00 23,025,402.00 1,317,996.00 8,442,660.00 71,332,308.00 59,583,215.50 1,308,081.00 28,863,110.00 15,880,540.00 445,680.00 69,185,515.00 98,032,760.00 61,257,420.00 5,335,552.00 4,268,740.00 823,430.00 767,661,126.00 2,076,910.00 51,561,220.00 57,670.00 119,321,660.00

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ BHI Holdings Inc. Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ F&J Prince ‘B’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

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

Lopez Holdings Corp.

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

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

0.310 74.30 14.58 0.95 7.48 0.670 0.680 1020 1488.00 7.17 13.22 5.49 5.6 7.42 0.204 1320 7.23 65.95 5.13 5.23 5.4 0.69 5.3 19.7 0.330 5.75 3.5 0.0440 1.680 3.430 2.65 143.00 2.57 958.00 1.82 0.81 278.400 750.00 0.2460 0.1960 0.230

52,320,000 5,274,850 26,948,400 716,000 877,600 99,316,000 13,690,000 678,770 35 16,856,900 24,693,400 183,500 59,400 17,200 26,760,000 314,665 6,400 12,495,650 33,200 4,500 2,000 6,167,000 5,869,800 15,069,100 4,860,000 124,596,400 19,000 88,900,000 130,190,000 38,198,000 502,600 1,096,000 351,000 1,342,590 27,377,000 966,000 16,060 81,520 3,600,000 179,040,000 19,420,000

0.325 75.50 14.90 0.95 7.48 0.680 0.690 1050 1155.00 7.3 13.24 4.51 5.74 7.50 0.185 1330 7.24 64.70 5.13 5.25

19,280,000 5,846,840 30,651,000 692,000 447,300 263,384,000 56,344,000 1,256,925 50 6,009,900 21,831,900 317,900 163,000 153,900 380,000 455,210 2,200 23,273,990 33,200 200

6,055,700.00 447,093,562.00 455,328,910.00 635,450.00 3,350,154.00 178,905,030.00 38,743,340.00 1,332,870,750.00 66,005.00 44,129,827.00 298,764,384.00 1,783,269.00 930,780.00 1,146,268.00 70,300.00 606,936,270.00 15,936.00 1,601,419,924.50 171,162.00 1,050.00

0.69 5.21 21.7 0.330 5.75 3.31 0.0450 1.110 3.500 2.61 140.00 2.6 970.00 1.60 0.80 282.000 262.80 0.2420 0.1750 0.185

2,003,000 1,675,300 13,449,200 404,000 135,869,100 56,000 569,000,000 555,000 105,872,000 40,000 936,890 57,000 1,702,160 4,197,000 110,000 9,280 5,150 41,820,000 1,470,000 1,010,000

1,349,420.00 8,885,982.00 302,050,395.00 192,250.00 768,827,268.00 193,680.00 26,795,300.00 619,120.00 388,554,180.00 102,920.00 131,595,599.00 153,520.00 1,626,172,240.00 6,631,770.00 88,000.00 2,613,674.00 1,225,286.00 11,383,930.00 259,490.00 187,120.00

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

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

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

7.030 1.12 16.24 2.080 0.920 41.750 3.93 4.85 6.2 6.2 6 0.445 1.06 1.040 0.300 0.480 31 0.640 0.130 1.80 1.41 0.77 4.28 4.8 0.780

4,083,800 126,976,000 76,400 252,000 94,450,000 67,819,600 6,335,000 4,503,000 321,000 72,200 2,300 86,980,000 5,023,000 1,285,000 487,570,000 4,550,000 1,586,800 5,602,000 1,820,000 25,269,000 30,185,000 8,572,000 8,000 99,967,000 1,733,451,000

6.790 1.03 16.50 2.030 0.870 41.500 3.78 4.71 6.05 6.36 6 0.440 1.08 1.060 0.330 0.465 31.8 0.620 0.128 1.75 1.31 0.73

3,631,500 69,067,600 374,900 695,000 10,667,000 100,574,600 4,738,000 5,457,000 5,209,400 373,300 40,200 43,230,000 95,000 400,000 2,104,370,000 7,340,000 4,039,100 1,126,000 1,370,000 40,514,000 12,197,000 3,408,000

24,658,721.00 110,003,130.00 6,325,158.00 1,422,910.00 9,117,670.00 4,242,864,670.00 17,961,180.00 25,490,240.00 35,544,155.00 2,800,405.00 290,100.00 18,809,900.00 105,340.00 419,320.00 657,543,600.00 3,370,650.00 125,338,975.00 707,320.00 176,970.00 71,260,170.00 15,888,170.00 2,357,680.00

4.83 0.770

111,758,000 531,750,120.00 5,292,386,000 3,941,922,090.00

HOLDING FIRMS 18,403,850.00 387,280,815.00 390,153,686.00 661,580.00 6,592,225.00 67,035,780.00 9,374,000.00 704,771,835.00 49,405.00 120,944,405.00 325,846,168.00 951,034.00 360,420.00 128,128.00 6,249,240.00 413,251,100.00 46,319.00 813,982,498.00 175,869.00 23,533.00 10,815.00 4,364,340.00 30,522,330.00 310,428,163.00 1,667,350.00 720,356,594.00 66,540.00 3,931,700.00 206,111,590.00 134,581,030.00 1,435,810.00 178,098,326.00 899,870.00 1,277,176,745.00 49,800,150.00 847,060.00 4,511,640.00 59,962,182.00 897,790.00 41,725,520.00 4,562,940.00 PROPERTY 28,252,522.00 143,688,290.00 1,208,290.00 532,990.00 91,517,660.00 2,816,713,185.00 24,553,460.00 21,531,000.00 1,944,532.00 438,732.00 13,800.00 39,513,200.00 5,441,410.00 1,331,710.00 149,070,900.00 2,145,300.00 49,821,485.00 3,625,630.00 236,100.00 45,232,380.00 41,196,950.00 6,656,820.00 34,320.00 478,590,320.00 1,344,176,490.00

STOCKS

MARCH 5-9, 2018 Close Volume

FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 2, 2018 Close Volume Value

Value

Phil. Estates Corp.

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

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

0.3850 0.540 36.00 4.23 19.82 2 3.23 35.90 1.03 23.15 0.800 6.350

276,512,000 32,216,000 49,600 6,861,000 11,425,000 3,981,000 796,000 15,757,200 3,509,000 1,643,200 4,485,000 31,985,900

123,112,300.00 17,580,640.00 1,107,205.00 28,815,380.00 227,033,186.00 7,874,770.00 2,573,090.00 563,553,585.00 3,532,260.00 39,198,265.00 3,860,110.00 201,772,120.00

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

Chelsea DFNN Inc. Discovery World Easy Call “Common” FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IPeople Inc. `A’ IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Paxys Inc. Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Wilcon Depot

18 30 1.35 0.590 0.059 11.92 4.9 14.52 0.0700 100.7 8.71 7.95 8.70 2.47 38.90 950 1705 6.43 322.00 11.34 5.47 109.9 2.68 13.3 8.31 0.131 1.5200 3.22 15 5.61 1.03 27.20 17.88 0.500 5.34 8.11 3.26 13.300 10.4 11.00 2.84 111.00 6.95 1540.00 0.405 1.180 53.25 94.00 8.90 2.68 1.450 0.51 3.48 1.030 11.220

489,600 273,900 10,925,000 261,681,000 455,830,000 20,900 6,000 115,814,300 186,300,000 534,460 25,000 6,170,600 5,213,200 232,000 1,421,700 120 162,675 2,905,200 586,860 26,300 15,608,400 3,442,640 188,000 157,300 120,700 30,250,000 3,883,000 4,269,000 4,100 75,067,300 12,090,000 17,538,300 11,200 750,000 4,798,300 9,353,900 6,494,000 85,565,400 15,800 30,600 36,000 34,090 14,677,300 374,930 17,850,000 15,011,000 7,219,210 2,990,220 39,367,700 8,596,000 29,093,000 155,874,000 1,763,000 673,729,000 14,401,700

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

United Paragon

0.0030 1.73 5.00 17.20 1.7500 1.8000 1.71 0.300 7.22 2.430 0.225 0.152 0.154 0.009 0.0098 1.52 6.16 1.34 0.4900 0.9100 0.0120 0.0130 6.01 15.36 0.0120 2.3100 33.55 0.0068

MINING & OIL 9,187,000,000 28,074,400.00 47,060,000 80,995,980.00 811,400 4,067,463.00 13,600 238,010.00 20,000 34,680.00 38,000 65,610.00 3,678,000 6,206,830.00 6,460,000 2,006,100.00 27,700 200,374.00 35,620,000 86,489,740.00 13,480,000 3,411,620.00 56,940,000 8,317,430.00 54,270,000 8,250,760.00 891,000,000 8,023,900.00 724,000,000 6,807,200.00 3,117,000 4,692,820.00 13,361,000 80,984,817.00 1,615,000 2,147,120.00 5,850,000 2,742,500.00 912,000 814,570.00 206,100,000 2,476,300.00 700,000 8,900.00 3,969,300 23,956,303.00 41,753,000 668,458,238.00 505,600,000 6,002,300.00 849,000 2,129,340.00 14,275,600 491,495,970.00 28,000,000 189,300.00

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Alco Preferred B Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ DD PREF First Gen F First Gen G FPH Pref C GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B House Preferred Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred A PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I Swift Pref

29 107 507 514 102.5 107.9 111 505 510 6.28 1000 1002 100.3 1.06 104.5 1034 1100 999 104.9 109 76.65 80 74.5 76.4 80.85 76.5 77 77.1 2

1,639,000 24,330 2,700 2,800 739,350 80 29,680 810 28,430 2,114,500 13,240 2,950 84,960 1,030,000 241,190 1,065 130 165 3,510 190 23,710 182,380 87,210 146,800 83,820 110,500 205,750 93,550 1,000

LR Warrant

3.980

WARRANTS & BONDS 58,647,000 234,811,290.00

SERVICES 9,247,277.00 8,201,045.00 16,873,050.00 170,892,250.00 27,460,900.00 232,246.00 29,240.00 1,668,205,668.00 13,111,120.00 53,394,669.00 222,595.00 46,963,950.00 48,868,597.00 566,010.00 60,004,450.00 109,250.00 276,446,625.00 18,591,270.00 193,303,328.00 277,648.00 82,459,398.00 376,688,755.00 496,660.00 2,069,352.00 1,001,039.00 3,864,980.00 5,867,000.00 15,242,120.00 60,720.00 377,682,739.00 13,152,510.00 488,536,885.00 192,492.00 376,000.00 26,200,502.00 72,996,471.00 21,222,290.00 1,199,783,706.00 163,836.00 326,842.00 104,630.00 3,857,101.00 104,833,792.00 575,428,955.00 7,304,600.00 18,034,070.00 384,032,742.00 280,007,229.00 371,334,714.00 23,406,470.00 41,944,140.00 81,403,540.00 6,156,860.00 763,987,450.00 161,390,730.00

PREFERRED 48,487,930.00 2,605,923.00 1,363,800.00 1,439,840.00 74,215,226.00 8,632.00 3,289,480.00 409,050.00 14,343,595.00 13,023,253.00 13,240,005.00 2,954,670.00 8,549,326.00 1,091,760.00 25,208,825.00 1,101,215.00 142,990.00 163,570.00 368,540.00 20,760.00 1,783,295.00 14,545,775.00 6,538,345.00 11,217,710.00 6,550,954.00 8,458,650.00 15,921,727.00 7,271,840.00 2,000.00

SME 57,330.00 94,303,827.00 3,182,050.00 207,736,460.00

0.3150 0.510 35.00 4.12 19.26 1.94 3.23 36.00 1 24.1 0.830 6.360

7,320,000 24,657,000 10,800 7,736,000 11,953,500 3,494,000 134,000 39,256,300 3,454,000 4,156,700 1,299,000 28,243,400

2,265,300.00 12,646,490.00 380,970.00 32,182,370.00 233,650,592.00 6,668,280.00 428,160.00 1,403,549,990.00 3,465,960.00 103,089,485.00 1,046,240.00 180,742,101.00

18.4 31.5 1.33 0.630 0.058 11.04 4.87 14.20 0.0680 100 8.71 7.45 8.88 2.58 45.10 970 1745 6.28 314.00 10.54 5.24 110 2.69 13.02 8.31 0.130 1.5900 3.12 15.36 4.26 1.02 28.00 17.98 0.485 5.33 7.6 3.25 13.080 10.38 10.98 2.83 110.00 6.95 1540.00 0.390 1.220 52.20 93.00 6.00 2.88 1.400 0.53 3.44 0.900 10.660

377,100 542,600 154,000 1,000,800,000 2,509,970,000 6,300 39,800 46,053,500 295,390,000 651,750 40,900 11,216,600 5,017,000 2,464,000 3,446,140 40 203,415 1,718,000 577,070 3,500 31,253,700 3,905,960 711,000 142,800 114,200 50,960,000 3,760,000 524,000 5,800 38,201,000 2,577,000 17,969,200 67,900 99,000 19,341,200 7,142,300 6,928,000 165,479,900 7,000 34,500 59,000 114,660 13,713,900 444,055 6,250,000 25,825,000 9,385,660 2,682,230 249,800 6,090,000 39,359,000 741,193,000 2,199,000 25,781,000 26,948,200

6,726,852.00 17,201,125.00 201,640.00 724,294,300.00 164,369,940.00 73,614.00 188,805.00 645,408,838.00 20,322,010.00 65,120,244.00 358,383.00 85,292,162.00 47,167,603.00 6,916,360.00 170,053,393.50 38,800.00 351,165,850.00 10,708,330.00 184,567,924.00 36,978.00 166,520,159.00 429,541,119.00 1,925,960.00 1,863,152.00 946,690.00 6,681,490.00 5,843,760.00 1,653,870.00 86,150.00 164,242,430.00 2,605,200.00 519,455,655.00 1,170,596.00 49,485.00 115,025,227.00 54,776,653.00 23,133,420.00 2,263,855,038.00 73,070.00 371,228.00 166,400.00 12,966,651.00 95,230,063.00 685,705,020.00 2,267,800.00 31,944,000.00 479,387,311.00 249,266,277.50 1,479,373.00 18,392,690.00 54,941,050.00 425,281,100.00 7,551,670.00 23,541,230.00 290,059,346.00

0.0030 1.61 5.00 17.78 1.8500 1.7100 1.69 0.300 7.40 2.300 0.255 0.147 0.152 0.009 0.0094 1.4 6.18 1.37 0.4500 0.9000 0.0120 0.0120 6.09 15.04 0.0120 2.2500 36.70 0.0067

21,133,000,000 81,261,000 1,240,900 27,100 254,000 2,185,000 12,709,000 2,730,000 31,700 14,037,000 20,130,000 24,719,000 10,240,000 39,000,000 32,000,000 6,017,000 4,510,600 1,107,000 1,270,000 1,137,080 245,700,000 100,000 3,038,500 109,426,900 130,900,000 564,000 12,338,500 32,000,000

61,537,000.00 138,443,220.00 6,215,748.00 469,340.00 448,260.00 3,776,600.00 21,311,970.00 829,150.00 229,419.00 32,550,890.00 4,963,050.00 6,065,180.00 1,564,600.00 353,100.00 216,500.00 8,479,700.00 27,971,927.00 1,466,750.00 547,100.00 947,230.00 3,029,900.00 1,200.00 18,524,475.00 1,900,912,976.00 1,508,700.00 1,294,670.00 458,179,820.00 218,200.00

30.6 107 510 514 103.1 107.9 110.8

333,100 400 2,820 360 126,000 420 29,800

10,351,680.00 42,800.00 1,443,735.00 185,820.00 13,046,759.00 44,932.00 3,302,208.00

505 6.02 1010 1015 101.3 1.06 105 1034 1150 1000 105 109 77.2 80.25 77 76.6 80.3 77 78 77.7 2

47,880 713,000 20 200 41,800 2,038,000 2,620 31,640 940 5,970 31,070 170 29,720 150,510 46,640 306,800 137,720 2,400 134,970 165,700 12,000

24,191,810.00 4,288,810.00 20,200.00 201,520.00 4,237,878.00 2,159,860.00 276,854.00 32,732,250.00 1,059,000.00 5,924,350.00 3,184,605.00 18,530.00 2,296,567.00 12,066,591.50 3,553,257.00 23,503,040.00 10,971,131.00 186,200.00 10,531,430.00 12,925,926.50 25,310.00

3.250

36,968,000

120,261,650.00

3 6.09 3.44 3.31

32,000 20,202,400 2,313,000 8,501,000

96,280.00 127,621,442.00 8,310,740.00 29,340,770.00

Makati Fin. Corp.

Italpinas Philab Holdings Xurpas

2.86 5.85 3.48 3.7

20,000 16,067,600 926,000 57,280,000

First Metro ETF

128.1

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 65,550 8,377,698.00

127.9

84,500

10,866,837.00

10.46 10.3 1.02

DOLLAR DENONIMATED SEC 8,600 89,856.00 5,200 53,560.00 385,020 393,208.10

10.46 10.3 1.02

37,240 14,800 140,160

387,250.40 152,740.00 142,963.20

USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2 USD TECH B2

STOCKS Abra Mining MRC Allied Ind. Manila Mining `A’ Manila Mining `B’ Waterfront Phils.

Philodrill Corp. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Apollo Global Phil. Estates Corp.

APC Group, Inc.

WEEKLY MOST TRADED VOLUME

9,187,000,000 1,733,451,000 891,000,000 724,000,000 673,729,000 505,600,000 487,570,000 455,830,000 276,512,000 261,681,000

STOCKS Universal Robina Ayala Land `B’ Metrobank Bloomberry MRC Allied Ind. SM Investments Inc. NOW Corp.

Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI Jollibee Foods Corp.

VALUE 233,626,656,239.00 2,816,713,185.00 2,042,943,453.00 1,668,205,668.00 1,344,176,490.00 1,277,176,745.00 1,199,783,706.00 992,544,507.00 879,361,302.00 838,125,946.00

DoubleDragon raising P7.5b from share sale DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Inc. said it is pushing through with a P7.5billion follow-on offering in May. The company said in an amended registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8 that it planned sell up to 135 million common shares, with an over allotment option for another 15 million common shares at P50 apiece.

DoubleDragon hired Credit Suisse, Maybank Kim Eng and UBS as international bookrunners and lead underwriters and BPI Capital Corp. and Maybank ATR Kim Eng as domestic lead underwriters and bookrunners.

The offer period was scheduled on April 25 to May 2, while listing date was set May 9.

The planned share sale is expected to result in an increase of the company’s total equity, which the company said would strengthen its financial position.

DoubleDragon’s total equity reached P20.25 billion, while assets hit P50.54 billion as of June 30, 2017.

It said the share sale would boost the company’s chances to become one of the blue-chip stocks in the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index in the near term.

“Steady trading activity in the stock is one of the important criteria in its inclusion in the PSEi and the company believes that a follow-on offering will not only increase trading volumes in the stock but will also allow the entry of a good base of institutional investors to further strengthen the position of DD in the international investment community,” DoubleDragon said.

It said net proceeds from the share sale would be used for the expansion of the industrial leasing and hospitality businesses which were expected to add 200,000 square meters of leasing space to the leasing portfolio by 2020.

The company earlier increased its 2020 leasable portfolio target to 1.2 million square meters, including 700,000 sqm from 100 CityMalls; 300,000 sqm from Metro Manila office projects; 100,000 sqm from the planned 5,000 hotel rooms of Hotel101 and Jinjiang Inn Philippines; and another 100,000 sqm from the its latest industrial leasing.

DoubleDragon also hiked its 2020 net income target to P5.5 billion from P4.8 billion. Jenniffer B. Austria

SEC approves nickel miner’s plan to sell P1b worth of shares THE Securities and Exchange Commission approved the plan of nickel miner Global Ferrnonickel Holdings Inc. to sell P1 billion worth of shares.

SEC commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong said in an interview the corporate regulator approved the mining firm’s planned follow-on offering in an en banc meeting last week.

Under the plan, GNFI will sell up to 250 million shares at P4 apiece.

Abacus Capital and Investments Corp. is the sole underwriter and issue manager for the deal.

Net proceeds from the offering will be used for partial payment of the outstanding loans of subsidiary Platinum Group Metals Corp. from Taiwan Cooperative Bank and for working capital purposes for operations of the Cagdianao mine in Surigao del Norte province.

Offer period was tentatively set on Feb. 7 to Feb. 13 while listing date was set on Feb. 23.

GFNI, through PGMC, is the third largest nickel ore producer in the Philippines by volume of nickel shipped and the largest nickel ore producer in the Philippines by value of shipment.

It is also one of the largest single-mine lateritic exporters in the world and one of the largest global suppliers of nickel ore, accounting for 12.6 percent of the country’s nickel ore production.

The company is currently exploring opportunities in mineral processing.

GFNI signed an agreement in November 2017 with Vi Holding Llc, a member of an international investment and industrial group of companies in Russia with interests in mineral exploration and processing, real estate, energy and in innovative solutions, for the implementation of joint business projects in the processing of lateritic ores.

“We hope to take advantage of Vi Holding Llc’s patented technology of processing nickel-bearing ore that requires significantly lower capital investment coupled with lower production costs. This technology makes it possible to quickly and efficiently build mining and metallurgical complexes comprising independent coalfired power supply facilities,” GFNI said.

Jenniffer B. Austria

World

Manila

Standard

extrastory2000@gmail.com

TODAY

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

B3

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

China’s Congress puts Xi on course to rule for life B EIJING―China’s rubber-stamp parliament was set Sunday to hand President Xi Jinping free rein to rule the rising Asian superpower indefinitely, with potential dissenting votes offering the only suspense in the historic vote.

The National People’s Congress is all but certain to approve a constitutional amendment that has stunned many in China, sparking an unusual bout of criticism that censors have scrambled to extinguish.

The move reverses the era of “collective” leadership and orderly succession that was promoted by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to ensure stability following the turbulent one-man rule of Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong.

Xi, 64, has consolidated power since taking office as general secretary of the Communist Party in 2012―his most important title, which has no term limits but which his two predecessors both gave up after two terms.

He would have had to give up the presidency after the end of his second term in 2023, but he could now have a lifetime to push his vision of a rejuvenated China as a global powerhouse with a “world-class” military.

His rise has been accompanied by tighter restrictions on civil society, with

FASHION WEEK. A model from sponsor agency Revalushion Agency walks the

runway in designs by Negris Lebrum during the Fresh Off The Rail Streetwear Fashion Week-Day 4 at MATCH on March 10, 2018, in Houston, Texas. AFP

the detention of activists and lawyers, and stricter limits on the already heavily controlled internet.

At the same time, he gained a measure of popularity among Chinese people through a relentless crackdown on corruption that has punished more than a million party officials, and sidelined potential rivals.

“I think that during the past five years, he has been carrying out a soft coup, including making the Politburo a mere figurehead,” Chinese political commentator Wu Qiang told AFP, referring to the 25-member Communist Party body one level under the ruling council.

“He wants to prevent power from falling into the hands of technocrats like Jiang [Zemin] and Hu [Jintao],” Wu said, referring to Xi’s two predecessors.

While attention has focused on the term limits, the amendments also include major provisions that will engrave Xi’s eponymous political mantra in the constitution and hand the Communist Party an even larger role in the country’s affairs.

The legislation is expected to easily secure the two-thirds of votes needed to pass in the legislature, which has never voted down a Communist Party diktat in its half-century of existence.

But if any of the nearly 3,000 legislators are secretly unhappy about the move, they could cast a protest vote by abstaining.

While the voting is secret, analysts say there are probably ways to know how delegates vote.

“Some deputies who insist on Deng Xiaoping’s reform line will think that this constitutional amendment is a retrogression and abandons Deng’s legacy,” Beijing-based political commentator Hua Po said.

“They may vote against or abstain from voting to safeguard Deng’s political legacy,” he said.

The Communist Party, which says the move merely aligns the presidency with the limit-free titles of party and military chief, claims “the masses” unanimously called for the removal of term limits.

But the proposal was kept secret until it was revealed in a state media report on February 25, a week before the legislature’s opening session.

The party later disclosed that Xi had presided over a meeting of the Politburo in September during which the leadership decided to revise the constitution. AFP

Abolish fees for Church Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp tries to win back seats sacraments

I AM about to celebrate my 14th year in BENJAMIN D. the priesthood, and for MOLINA JR. many years, together my brother priests, REEN IGHT with we have long been advocating for the abolition of the arrancel system in parishes. The arrancel system is the fixed donations for church services,the fixed rates for sacraments being charged by parishes.

Some of us have already implemented the non-arrancel system in our parishes, encouraging parishioners to give voluntarily, from the generosity of their hearts. Ourjourney towards concrete implementation, undertaken after serious study, consultationsand formation programs, had notbeen easy but has certainly beenvery rewarding.

Why have we been arguing for the removal of the arrancel when fees are, of course, not payments for the sacraments, but instead, charges for operational expenses and our love offerings when the sacraments are celebrated? Or so goes our convoluted way of explaining and justifying the things that we do in church.

But does the arrancel really help bring the poor to the institutional church? And does this really allow the institutional church to create life-changing breakthroughs in its courageous declaration of preferential option for the poor?

I am humbly recommending, coming from the standpoint of years of experience in the ministry, that charging fees for the sacraments should be stopped altogether. Fees for the sacraments, for one thing, are pro-rich, not pro-poor. It does not help the poor.

It even unwittingly becomes advantageous to the rich, not their fault, of course, but the church’s.

A set price limits the rich’s capacity to give. And at times it gives people an excuse not to give more. Of course, many give out of gratitude to God, and also when the church offers exceptional customer service, but that is another topic for heated debate altogether.

A set price limits the poor’s desire to enter the door of the house of God, which should be flung wide open in the first place. A set price, no matter how low, in order to accommodate the poor, will always be too high for the one who has a lot of concerns like putting food on the table and how to get by for another day.

When the church sets a price tag on its services, it unwittingly sends the message that commitment is demanded through one’s capacity to pay, or that commitment can even be doneaway with as long as one pays when in fact what is truly asked of us when we receive the sacraments and other church services is to place immense value on whatis being received: God’s mercy and compassion, God’s salvation, God himself.

Why set a price in the first place? Why also set a distinction where the poor are free and the rich are the ones who need to pay the fees? Why not abolish it altogether? Why not alloweveryoneto give from the generosity of their hearts?

Ultimately, it is not about the price but the value bestowed by the giver on the gift, for after all, the widow’s wholehearted offering of two small copper coins, insignificant in the eyes of the world, deeply moves our God who has everything.

I hope and pray that,during the Lenten season, our church servant leaders will prayerfully and seriously consider the suggestion TO ABOLISH THE FEES FOR THE SACRAMENTS. Our common and shared priesthood will benefit a lot from it.It may be one of the best things that we could ever give, not just to the poorest of the poor, but to ourselves, as ordained ministers, as committed lay leaders. We receive, with boundless enthusiasm and gratitude, with renewed commitment to stewardship, whatever we receive from the people of God. If whatis given is small, and we become truly poor, it may mean the death of us but then again it may very well be the wonderful opportunity we have been waiting for, for us to be renewed and reborn as God’s church of the poor.

G

L

Fr. Didoy Molina is a Doctor of Business Administration student at the De La Salle University. He took up philosophy studies in San Carlos Seminary and finished his theology studies in Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila and seminary formation in San Jose Seminary.He finished his MBA at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. He has handled various pastoral and administrative work in the Diocese of Parañaque for the past 14 years and is currently the parish priest of Christ the King Parish in Pamplona Uno, Las Piñas City. The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty and its administrators.

HONG KONG―Hong Kong’s best-known young activists were heckled by Chinese nationalists in tense scenes Sunday as the city’s pro-democracy camp tries to claw back lost seats in controversial by-elections.

Sunday’s vote once more exposed the city’s deep political divide and comes as China takes an increasingly tough line against any challenges to its sovereignty.

High-profile candidate Agnes Chow was barred from standing because her party promotes self-determination for the semi-autonomous city.

Soon after the polls opened, several men and a woman heckled Chow as well as leading prodemocracy activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Law near a polling station where they were

supporting pro-democracy candidate Au Nokhin, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

One of the men barged into Wong, who led mass demonstrations in 2014 calling for greater democratic freedoms.

“Traitors and running dogs!” a man repeatedly yelled while others hurled obscenities.

Wong told reporters that the threats to freedoms in the city “prove that it’s more necessary for us to vote”.

Beijing has been incensed at the emergence of activists advocating independence and views calls for self-determination as part of a dangerous splittist push.

The by-election was triggered after Beijing forced the disqualification of six rebel lawmakers who had swept to victory in citywide

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

elections in 2016.

Some were former protest leaders, others openly advocated independence. All were ousted from their posts for inserting protests into their oaths of office.

Four of the six vacant seats are being contested Sunday.

“The election is not just about selecting me as a candidate, it is also about voting for justice,” said Au, who stepped in to contest the Hong Kong Island seat after Agnes Chow was disallowed.

Democracy campaigners were deeply angered by the ban on Chow which they said was political screening.

The seat was originally held by Law, also a 2014 protest leader, who was among the six thrown out of office. AFP

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY

INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS AND SERVICES 1.

Invitation to Bid

The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act of CY 2018 intends to apply the amount of One Hundred Ninety Nine Million Six Hundred Eighty Nine Thousand Five Hundred Eighty Eight Philippine Pesos and Ninety Nine Centavos (PhP199,689,588.99) for the projects listed below. Bids received in excess of each ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening: IB No.

Name of Contract Procurement of LED Television

IB No. 2018039-A

Procurement of Warehousing Services – Re-bid

IB No. 2018182 IB No. 2018179

IB No. 2018180

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php)

ABC (PHP)

IB No. 2018178

34,497,700.00

25,000.00

111,360,000.00

50,000.00

Procurement of Service Provider for Food Catering

13,596,920.00

25,000.00

Procurement of Transfusion Transmissible Infection Reagents with Tie-up Machine

16,234,968.99

25,000.00

Procurement of Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing Reagent Compatible to Existing NAT 24,000,000.00 Machine (Procleix Panther System) Total 199,689,588.99

25,000.00

Single Largest Completed Contract

At least Fifty (50%) of the ABC within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet

At least Twenty Five (25%) of the ABC within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet

2.

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the above-caption projects.

Delivery of the Goods as specified in Section VI. Schedule of Requirements. Bidders should have completed, within the specified years from the date of submission and receipt of bids a contracts similar to each of the above-cited procurement projects stated in the Bidding Documents. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg.

6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Sta. Cruz, Manila and inspect the Bidding Documents at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

A complete set of Bidding Documents for each procurement package listed above may be acquired by interested bidders on 12 March to April 03 2018 from the address above and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB Resolution No. 04-2012, dated 24 February 2012, in the amount specified above.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders who are interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

Bidding Documents Fee may be refunded in accordance with the aforementioned Guidelines based on the grounds provided for under Section 41 of 2016 Revised IRR of RA 9184.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at the COBAC Conference Room, G/F, Building 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which shall be opened to all interested parties on the schedule given below:

4.

5.

6.

IB No. IB No. 2018-178 IB No. 2018-039-A IB No. 2018-182 IB No. 2018-179 IB No. 2018-180

7.

Procurement of LED Television Procurement of Warehousing Services – Re-bid Procurement of Service Provider for Food Catering Procurement of Transfusion Transmissible Infection Reagents with Tie-up Machine Procurement of Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing Reagent Compatible to Existing NAT Machine (Procleix Panther System)

03 April 2018; 09:00 AM

Amount of Bid Security (Not less than the required percentage of the ABC)

Form of Bid Security

(b)

(c)

(d)

9.

20 March 2018; 10:00 AM

Bids must Bids must be delivered to the address stated below. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated below: (a)

8.

Activity (Date & Time) Pre-bidding Submission and Conference Opening of Bids

Name of Contract

Cash, Cashier’s/ manager’s check issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank.

Bank draft/guarantee or irrevocable letter of credit issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank: Provided, however, that it shall be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank, if issued by a foreign bank.

Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Insurance Commission as authorized to issue such security.

Bid Securing Declaration

Two percent (2%)

Five percent (5%) No percentage required

Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The DOH reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: COBAC-C Secretariat Department of Health San Lazaro Compound Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 Facsimile No.: 741-9775; 740-6830 (SGD) MARIA FRANCIA M. LAXAMANA, MD, MHSA, CHS Assistant Secretary of Health COBAC - C Chairperson

(MS-MAR. 12, 2018)

The National Housing Authority (NHA), through the NHA Board approved North Triangle NHA ALI-JV, NG Subsidy and Corporate Receipts for CY 2018 intends to apply the sum of the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payment under the contracts: Ref. No.

Project

ABC/ Source of Duration Cost of Bidding Funds (P) Documents (P)

Procurement of Trucking and Transport Services for the Relocation 2,775,914.00 / 2018 (Vans) Families from North Trust Fund (North 30 w.d -03- of Quezon City to Triangle NHA 250 Triangle, Graceville Garden Village, -ALI JV) Brgy. Graceville, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan Procurement of Trucking and Transport Services 4,634,228.00 / 2018 (Vans) for the Relocation Trust Fund (North 60 w.d -03- of Families from North Triangle NHA 251 Triangle, Quezon City to -ALI JV) Sitio Pingkian, Brgy. Pasong Tamo, Quezon City Provision of Solar Panel 2018 for Z3R House-On/ 120 c.d.

-03- Stilts Projects in Brgy. 51,864,501.80 NG Subsidy 252 Kasanyangan, Zamboanga City 2018 Procurement of ICT 64,402,000.00 -03- Equipment /Corporate 60 c.d.

253 Receipts

2,500.00

4,500.00

50,000.00

55,000.00

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The NHA, through its Bids and Awards Committee 2 (BAC2) now invites Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) registered contractors to bid for the above-cited projects. Delivery of the Goods is required within the duration herein cited upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within five years from the date of submission of bids, a single contract similar to the Project costing at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested bidders/authorized official representatives or employees of the bidder who can show proof of Notarized Authority to secure bid documents for the specific Project and Official Company ID upon submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB at the Office of the NHA-BAC 2 Secretariat, 2nd Floor NHA Main Building, Diliman, Quezon City starting on March 12, 2018. For further information, the NHA BAC 2 Secretariat may be contacted at Tel/FAX No. 928-8272.

The NHA will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on March 20, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. at the Operations Center, 3rd Floor, NHA Main Building, Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City which shall be OPEN to all prospective bidders.

Bids must be delivered at the Operations Center, 3rd Floor, NHA Main Building, Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City on April 3, 2018, not later than 9:00 a.m. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount as stated in BDS. Bid opening shall follow immediately after the deadline of submission of bids at the same venue. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders representative who choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The NHA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

(SGD) ENGR. MARIA OTELIA F. ECLAVEA Vice-Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee 2 ( M S - M A R . 12 , 2 018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

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

B4

LocaL government units

monday, march 12, 2018

Left-handed desks welcome addition to new classrooms TO MA k e classrooms more conducive to lear ning, SM Foundation, which has been renovating dilapidated school buildings and building new ones where these are most needed, has int roduced an in novation— desks especially designed for lefthanded st udents.

While most students are right-handed and can comfortably sit in the standard right-handed school desks, the left-handed are at a disadvantage with these desks. For left-handed students, using right-biased chairs is not very conducive to learning, educators have noted.

When SM Foundation recently turned over a two-storey, four-classroom building to the Mayamot elementary School in Antipolo City, the left-handed chairs were very much appreciated.

According to Hazel Ann Mariano, 11, who has been attending Mayamot elementary since kindergarten, she felt uncomfortable writing on the right-handed school desk. Her writing speed was not at par with her classmates, so she was always catching up on dictations from teachers.

Meanwhile, Getander Leyco,10 said he had difficulty writing on his desk, and had to twist his body to fit into it all the time.

Antipolo City Rep. Chiqui Roa-Puno, who led the turnover ceremonies for the building donated by SM Prime and Star Appliances through SM Foundation Inc., said she also suffered the hardships of lefthanded students, since during her student days there were no left-handed armchairs.

“You kids are lucky SM Foundation has provided lefthanded desks for you,” she said. “In my day, I found it so hard to sit [on the regular desks], I didn’t know how to position myself.”

She noted that the government has overlooked the need for left-handed desks, and that a side-biased school desk is an obstacle to learning.

Left-handed chairs are now included in each school building that the Foundation donates. Other schools that have left-handed chairs are Anonas elementary School in Urdaneta, Pangasinan; Carig elementary School in Tuguegarao; Cogon Central School in Ormoc City; Lemery Pilot elementary School in Lemery, Batangas; Francisco Ubay elementary School in Puerto Princesa; and Macasandig elementary School in Cagayan de Oro. These new school buildings built by SM Foundation are also f ur nished with cur ved-t y pe blackboards for st udents to have better view of lessons written on them, teacher’s tables and desks, ceiling fans, lighting and toilets per classroom.

MAKATIZEN CARD. Makati Mayor Abby Binay leads the ceremonial launch and distribution of the ready-to-use Makatizen Card on

Saturday, at the Covered Court on Floraville Street in Barangay Rizal. The first batch of Makatizen Cards was distributed to 1,000 residents of Barangay Rizal who have passed pre-screening and successfully registered for the program. Registered merchants, including fish ball vendors and GCash outposts, were on hand to allow the new cardholders to experience the Makatizen Card’s efficacy in real-time. Ey Acasio

90 percent of POS, CRMs with discrepancies—BIR

By Dexter A. See

B

AGUIO CITY—More than 90 percent of over 5,000 point of sale and cash register machines inspected by fraud experts of the Cordillera office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue across the region have discrepancies that have deprived the government of due taxes.

BIR-CAR officer-in-charge Douglas Rufino said the previously inspected POS and CRMs with discrepancies will be monitored and validated to guarantee that the discrepancies will be corrected by the concerned businessmen for them to pay the right taxes due on April 15, when Income Tax Returns should be filed for the preceding year.

“We will continue to equip our per-

sonnel to detect the computer-assisted fraud being committed by erring businessmen who continue to evade paying the right taxes that they are supposed to pay to the government,” Rufino said.

BIR-CAR claimed that while erring taxpayers are trying their best to evade payment of substantial taxes, the agency will continue to train its personnel in detecting fraud and compel business-

men to pay the right taxes.

Lawyer Reynolf Panganiban, BIR Baguio revenue district officer, disclosed that the fraud threshold of POS and CRMs is 30 percent and higher. The discrepancies recorded by the suspect machines were close to that limit, which is why the businessmen were required to pay the balance of the taxes they paid and the discovered discrepancies.

Panganiban warned businesses with fraudulent POS and CRMs that the BIR will file the appropriate charges against them, if only to compel them to be honest in paying their taxes to the government.

Under existing BIR rules, businessmen using POS and CRMs must first register the machines to the bureau to make sure it will be free from computer-assisted fraud.

6 Manila centenarians get P100k cash gifts

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada honored and gifted one of six legitimate residents of the City of Manila who reached their 100th birthdays with P100,000 cash at the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate. With Estrada are Manila 1st District Rep. Manny Lopez, 2nd District Rep. Carlo Lopez, City Councilors Laris Borromeo, Jesus ‘Taga’ Fajardo, Ting Yupangco, and Carlos ‘Caloy’ Castañeda.

SIX legitimate residents of the City of Manila who reached their 100th birthdays were recently honored and gifted with P100,000 cash by Mayor Joseph estrada at the San Andres Sports Complex.

The recipients are Leonila dela Fuente Acacio and Asuncion Angque Angeles, both from District 4; Leandra De Paz Valles, from District 5; and Celedonia eugenio, Bonifacio Santos and Araceli Garcia Manuel, from District 6. eight more centenarians are slated to receive their cash gifts in the coming weeks from estrada, who said these are but a token from the city for their contributions to society during the prime of their lives.

“You have sacrificed much so that the present generation now enjoys the fruits of your labors,” estrada explained.

“Because of your valuable contributions to society in your youth and vigor, we greet you on your 100th birthdays, and hope you put the cash gifts from the city government to good use,” the mayor added. estrada also distributed 18 wheelchairs and announced other assistance packages provided by the city hall to all elderly such as free maintenance medicines and medical services and other laboratory tests in all city owned and operated hospitals and health care facilities.

La Trinidad lines up 27 Strawberry Fest events

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Twentyseven activities were lined up by the municipal government here for the 37th Strawberry Festival from March 9 to 27.

Mayor Romeo Salda said the theme for this year’s celebration is “La Trinidad Strawberries Forever,” underscoring that the famous fruit will be in the municipality to stay.

The festival will start with an ecumenical Mass, followed by an opening program, ribbon-cutting and opening of the strawberry lane and agro-industrial fair and Battle of the Bands.

The famous Duting tan Dukto community breakfast and fun run, jobs fair and public concern is next on the calendar, followed by the Run for Amity and indigenous games.

Flower enthusiasts will join the flower arrangement competition and the Search for the Biggest and Sweetest Strawberries on March 13.

Art enthusiasts will have the chance to display their talents during the two-day art and mural competition on March 14 and 15, while the strawberry mass wedding will be held on March 14.

The pre-pageant night for the Search for Mr. and Ms. La Trinidad will be held on March 15.

On March 16, the Strawberry festival main program will follow a civicmilitary parade. Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag is the guest of honor and speaker, while the traditional kikkan, owik tan tayaw and multicultural celebrations will be done right after the program.

On March 17, the street dancing, drum and lyre and float competition will be done, followed by a dog show and the La Trinidad Got Talent event.

Another public concert will be done on March 18.

Local wine processors in the municipality will showcase their produce during the Strawberry Wine Fair on March 20, while the main pageant for the Search for Mr. and Ms. La Trinidad will be done on March 21.

Munti cinemas to play disaster ads before flicks ALL cinema houses, theaters, and recreational areas in Muntinlupa City are now set to play awareness videos about preparation for calamities, tragedies, and disasters—a first in the National Capital Region.

The Muntinlupa City Council, through Councilor Stephanie Teves, has partnered with cinema house operators and owners of similar establishments to provide a free three to five minutes airtime of infomercials on disaster risk reduction or DRR. According to Ordinance 17-708, cinema houses are urged to allot screening time before the start of every show, cinema viewing time, or main program or performance.

Teves invited all concerned commercial establishment owners in a public viewing of the PSA video on preparing for the “Big One” at the Sangguniang Panlungsod Session Hall, Muntinlupa City Hall, Putatan last Feb. 28.

Mayor Jaime Fresnedi vows to remain committed in capacitating and preparing Muntinlupa residents on natural hazards and calamities.

The City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office in coordination with the City Public Information Office shall be formulating and producing the video to be presented at the cinema houses.

Calapan marks 20th cityhood day THe City of Calapan, the bustling provincial capital of Oriental Mindoro, marked an important milestone as it celebrated its 20th cityhood anniversary and kalap Festival from March 2 to 21.

With the theme “20 Taon ng Lungsod: kaunlaran, kalinga at Malasakit para sa Lahat,” the three-week observance will highlight the economic gains the city has achieved over the past two decades.

According to Mayor Arnan Panaligan, Calapan has experienced significant improvements in commerce and industry, infrastructure, social services and governance since attaining cityhood.

Calapan was converted into a component city on March 21, 1998 when the townsfolk ratified Republic Act No. 8475 authored in Congress by Rep. Renato Leviste and signed

by President Fidel Ramos. To date, it is the first and only city in the two Mindoro provinces.

Last year, it bagged third place in the eGov Awardee for excellence in Information and Communications Technology for Local Government Units, competing with much bigger and richer highly-urbanized cities.

Its ranking in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index of the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines rose significantly in 2016-2017, earning it the recognition of being one of the Three Most Improved Cities in Competitiveness.

It was also named Number 2 Most Competitive Component City in Resilience for its outstanding programs in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and preparedness.

2018 MMFF HOST. The City of Parañaque was unanimously selected as host of this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival during the recent executive committee meeting of film makers and officials of the Metro Manila Development Authority. The 2018 MMFF is the 44th edition of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival held in Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines organized by the MMDA. Mayor Edwin Olivarez said the festival will begin with the traditional Parade of Stars and float in the city in December this year. Present during the MOA signing were MMDA Chairman Danny Lim; Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte; Boots Anson-Roa, chairman Actors Guild of the Philippines; and Janet Olivarez, wife of the mayor and president of the Metro Manila Mayors’ Spouses Foundation Inc.

Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife

food

@mStandardLIFE monday, march 12, 2018

C1

Chocolate Hazelnut spread

Bean to bar:

Artisanal chocolates from Davao I

t All started from the idea of creating chocolate made by Filipinos for Filipinos, and the world.

Bleu cheese and broccoli cornet by Novotel Manila Araneta Center’s Chef Joshua Mara

Bon Appétit:

18 PH chefs headline Goût de France ment in an environmentally-friendly and healthy way. the concept is inspired by Auguste escoffier’s “epicurean Dinners” – to serve the same menu, on the same day, in several cities, for as many guests as possible.

“As many people, Filipinos can be intimidated by French food. It is often perceived as classy, or complicated, or elitist, and inevitably, costly. As if French people’s everyday meals were made only of sophisticated, expensive cuisine that is difficult to make, as if At leAst 18 chefs from the Philip- everyone in France had to spend hours pines have been selected to join 3,000 and a fortune each day to prepare his others to join the 4th edition of Goût or her lunch or dinner. Of course, it is de France (Good France)—the big- not the case. Daily food can be easy to gest dinner in the world to celebrate make, simple, light, affordable but tasty, varied, and surprising,” added Galey.

French gastronomy.

An international committee of chefs led According to French Ambassador to the Philippines Nicolas Galey, French by Ducasse selected chefs from all over the world, including the Philippines, cuisine is listed among Unesco’s to cook a French dinner to be Intangible Cultural Heritserved in their respecage. tive establishments “As such, it beon March 21. their longs to everyproposed menus body, and we must follow want to give the sequence as many of a tradipeople as tional French possible in meal—apethe Philipritif with pines the finger food, chance to starter, one taste and or two main enjoy it,” he courses, said. cheese platter, launched and dessert— in 2015 by the accompanied by French Ministry French wines and of Foreign Affairs spirits. Chefs are also and by celebrated French chef Alain Mix micro green salad with dry loin of encouraged to use lolab with tarragon dressing by Vatel’s cal ingredients.

Ducasse, Goût de Chef Pierre Cornelis the number of France is an annual participating chefs event organized by French diplomatic missions in their host in the Philippines tripled from six chefs countries as a tribute to the excellence in 2015 to 18 chefs this year. the chefs of French cuisine and its capacity to include Michel Herbert of le Bistro innovate and unite people around the d’Agathe, Jessie sincioco of Chef Jessie common values of sharing and enjoyTurn to C2

Business partners Mark Ocampo and Kelly Go are both passionate to perfect the art and science of producing high quality cocoa and chocolates with an artisanal approach. they turned their idea into a reality when they ventured into the heart of Davao and met a lot of eager cacao farmers who were instrumental in the discovery of one of the rarest heirloom cacao varieties, Criollo Porcelana. they realized that this “longforgotten national treasure was just waiting to be refined, polished, and transformed into products as precious and remarkable as gold.”

Having pure cocoa, available in nibs and mass, as well as couvertures in full-bodied rich chocolate flavors with tropical fruit notes and creamy and smooth textures at their disposal, the chocolate partners were able to bring the most complex confections to life. the artisanal Auro Chocolate line was then born.

Auro highlights a gold standard in chocolate making. Its name, after all, is derived from Au, the chemical symbol for gold in the periodic table combined with “oro,” which means gold in Filipino and spanish. this represents a new way of looking at an old tradition, which is exactly what the company aims to represent.

Auro celebrates Filipino heritage and innovation in every chocolate bar masterfully created with strong cocoa and delicate fruity notes.

In addition to producing exceptional chocolates, this proudly Filipino beanto-bar company empowers local farmers in order to sustainably create the finest single-origin cocoa and chocolate products. they work directly with farmers to select the best cocoa beans that thrive on rich volcanic soils amidst the lush tropical forests of Davao. Auro is at present working directly with over 10 cocoa producing cooperatives and 80 individual farmer entrepreneurs. More than 1,000 families and 2,000 hectares of farms have benefited from its programs.

In order to elevate the standards of cocoa and chocolate production in the Philippines, Auro invested in a 2,000-square meter factory equipped with the latest european technology. the facility located in Calamba, laguna is designed to meet the strictest international standards. this factory does more than just producing fine chocolate; it was designed specifically

Auro revives the long-forgotten Criollo Procelana, one of the rarest heirloom cacao varieties, that grows in Davao in its dark and milk chocolate varieties.

Chocolate business partners Mark Ocampo and Kelly Go

for learning and collaboration to invite The artisanal Auro Chocolate line everyone, both public and profession- is among the latest Filipino specialties als alike, to appreciate the bean-to-bar now available at Kultura, on the 2nd chocolate making process.

Level of SM Makati.

Life

C2

monday, march 12, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

Bacon Rashers in Potato and Vegetable Hash

Crepe Cheesy Jalapeño Ala Quesadilla

Easy and delicious meals for one

W

HEN cooking your meal seems more challenging— with all the preparation, actual cooking, and possible wastage—than ideal, frozen food and takeout often end up looking like better options. But living off microwaved meals, pre-packed food, and instant noodles for extended periods of time will inevitably take a toll on your wallet and health.

The Maya Kitchen has put together a list of recipes that you can easily make for yourself. With these handy recipes, you can avoid wasting leftovers, watch your health by knowing what ingredients go in what you eat, and save money.

Start your day right with a quick and delicious breakfast you can make yourself, like the Breakfast Bacon Rashers in Potato and Vegetable Hash. To cook this dish, simply sauté onions and garlic in a skillet, then add in regular potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. When the vegetables are cooked, top them with fried egg and crispy bacon.

Something you can make beforehand and pack for lunch at work is

the Crepe Cheesy Jalapeño Ala Quesadilla. Make your own crepe using Maya Original ‘Fluffy n’ Tasty’ Hotcake Mix and Maya Cornstarch. For the filling, get some mild cheddar, mozzarella, and quick melting cheese.

Add in taco seasoning powder, jalapeños, red and green bell peppers, and onions. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble your cheesy quesadilla.

Another dish you can prepare the night before is the Chicken Gyro Brown Rice Bowl. Marinade chicken breast fillets in a bowl with salt and pepper, minced garlic, and a couple of herbs

such as basil, thyme, oregano, and rosemary. Keep the marinated chicken breasts in the fridge until you’re ready to grill them the next day. When you get home from work, just grill the chicken in a griddle pan with some olive oil.

Grab a single serving bowl, scoop in hot cooked brown rice, and place your grilled chicken slices on top with a drizzling of Greek yogurt sauce.

These are just some ideas you can make when cooking for yourself. Get more recipes from www.themayakitchen.com or practice your cooking skills by joining the Maya Kitchen’s different baking and cooking classes.

For more information, log on to www.themayakitchen.com, e-mail contactus@themayakitchen.com, or visit The Maya Kitchen Culinary Center every Tuesday to Saturday at 8F Liberty Building, 835 A. Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road), Makati City. You may also call (02) 892-1185 or 892-5011 local 108 or 0929-6796102.

Food for summer getaways Clockwise: Hawaiian Ham Sliced, Piña Ham Sliced and Old English Pork Sausage

Bon appétit:...

From C1

Rockwell Club, Katrina Kuhn-Alcantara of CDP Global Table, David Olyver Virrey of Eiffel Kubo, Victor Magasaysay of Elbert’s Steak Room, Martin Kaspar of L’Entrecôte, Joshua Mara of Gourmet Bar-Novotel Manila Araneta Center, Kevin Endaya of Lemuria, Robert Lilja of Maria Luisa’s Garden Room, Clément Damotte of La Mère Poulard Manila, Dino Ferrari of Paris Délice, Michael Aspiras of Le Petit Soufflé, Justin Baradas of Restaurant 101, Marc Aubry of Sagana Epicerie and Bistro, Jonathan Bouthiaux of Samira, Julien Cossé of Spiral ManilaSofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, Pierre

MAKE you summer outings enjoyable by packing meals that are delicious and fun to eat.

Beach-camping with your friends? What’s an overnight camping without a bonfire? Bring out your pre-marinated pork and chicken, wrapped in King Sue Bacon, then get the grill going. Don’t forget the sausages—Hungarian Sausage and Old English Pork Sausage— which, when skewered with onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes, will be a sure hit.

Going on a road trip with the kids? Make sure you have water and juice and, of course, packed food. Dig into your snack box for some crackers, ham and cheese sandwich, or offer them their favorite homemade salad, made of potatoes and greens and diced King Sue Hawaiian or sliced Piña ham, topped with King Sue Bacon Bits and Bacon cubes If you›re going on a day hike, bring energy food, lots of liquids, and packed meals. Wrap some sandwiches made with King Sue Deli Burger Beef or sliced sweet ham with loads of cheese for that extra protein kick.

If the hotel you›re staying in with the family has a fridge, teapot, or microwave, and a mini-kitchen, you›re in luck, as you can pack some of King Sue Filipino favorites: Chicken and Pork Tocino, Sisig, Chicken Relleno, Garlic Longaniza, and Beef teriyaki and make meals right in the comfort of your room.

residence on March 21. Chef Camille Calo, who trained under acclaimed French chef Joël Robuchon, has been invited to serve a special menu prepared with native Filipino ingredients.

Guests will also be serenaded by Kate Torralba with a repertoire of French and Cebuano standards.

“French cuisine is more than just wine and cheese. It is about the precision of techniques, the freshness of ingredients, and the value of sharing a meal. There Scallop, green asparagus, beetroot, Brittany is so much that Filipinos can discover sauce and black caviar by Anya Resort & Residence Tagaytay’s Chef Jonathan Bouthiaux about French culinary traditions, and this is what Goût de France aims to offer.

Cornelis of Vatel Restaurant Manila, and We want to make French food more accessible to Filipinos,” said Galey.

Richard Amado of La Vie Parisienne.

A special private dinner will also I’m at joycepanares@gmail.com. be hosted by Ambassador Galey at his

Chicken Gyro Brown Rice Bowl

Snickers Oats: When you are ‘hangry’ and you know it

By Joyce Babe pañares HAngRY—a portmanteau of hungry and angry—is a concise way to describe a universal feeling of being irritable due to hunger. Stuck in Edsa traffic? Navigating that long queue at the MRT-3?

Waiting for that elusive forever?

Survive the long wait, with the exception perhaps of that tiresome search for your one true love, with Snickers Oats, a more filling version of the Snickers we all loved in our childhood, made with chocolate, peanuts, chewy caramel and oats, and a slab of nougat.

“Snickers Oats is part of our global strategy that you are not you when you are hungry. It is really perfect for us to launch Snickers Oats here because in the Philippines, [as] we all have stories of hungry long waits,” said Joey Dominguez, country director for Mars.

“Now, anyone can survive long waits,” added Dominguez.

For vlogger Wil Dasovich, Snickers Oats is the perfect snack to keep in handy.

“As a vlogger, I have to wait several hours for my videos to render, but because I have to keep up with my uploading schedule, I don’t always have the time to leave my place (to buy food),” shared Dasovich.

Radio DJ and host Aaron Atayde, for his part, said the chocolate bar is his favorite pick-me-up during hosting gigs.

“I sometimes have very long on-set hours, but I have to keep my energy up throughout the shoot. Grabbing a bar of

Snickers Oats is a more filling version of the chocolate we all loved in our childhood.

Snickers Oats, instantly puts me in the right mood and mindset,” said Atayde.

Jeff Ortega, an entrepreneur based in La Union, said the new Snickers variety helps him survive his regular trek to and from Manila.

“During these long drives, I don’t often stop over because I need to save time. Having Snickers Oats with me on these trips helps make them more bearable,” said Ortega.

iphoto

Discovery supports sustainable food sourcing THE Discovery Leisure Company, Inc., represented by (second from left) corporate associate director of Food & Beverage Ross McGregor and corporate director of Food & Beverage Anthony Raymond, joined the recent Sustainable Seafood Week held at the Marriot Manila Grand Ballroom. With the theme “Inspiring Solutions for Change,” the Sustainable Seafood Week aims to serve as an open and dynamic platform for discussing the challenges that the local seafood industry is facing to ensure a sustainable future. Meliomar, Inc. chief executive officer Christian Schmidradner joined the TDLCI officials in photo.

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

C3

nickie.standard@gmail.com

Simply Red...

From C4

From left: 'American Idol' host Ryan Seacrest with judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan.

M

USIC reality series American Idol returns to Asia at its new home on Sony Channel today featuring superstar Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan as judges.

The new season will take viewers on a musical journey to discover America’s next singing sensation with host Ryan Seacrest.

“American Idol is a series that truly revolutionized the TV landscape and pioneered the music competition genre. It will surely captivate audiences across the region with its breadth of talent, musical variety and witty banter, courtesy of the three dynamic judges,” said Virginia Lim, Senior Vice President and Head of Content, Production and Marketing, Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia.

The nationwide search for the next superstar kicked off in August

Iconic

‘AMERICAN IDOL’ returns

2017, as the American Idol Bus travelled across the U.S.A covering 23 cities. Auditioning was made easier than ever as hopefuls also had the opportunity to submit audition videos online, as well as via select social platforms using official tag #TheNextIdol, cultivating over 300,000 posts. Also, for the first time in American Idol history, hopefuls

could audition through a live stream platform.

Produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment, a division of CORE Media Group, American Idol premieres within 12 hours of its U.S. telecast today. The show airs every Monday and Tuesday at 6.00 p.m., with same night encore at 9.45 p.m..

Mark Nicdao shares photography tips AS THE next installment of its continuing campaign #ShotoniPhone, Power Mac Center teamed up with renowned celebrity photographer Mark Nicdao to feature lifestyle moments shot entirely on iPhone.

Showcased on a recent exhibit at the SM Aura Premier were photos that Nicdao shot over the years using different generations of the iPhone.

Mostly taken during a trip in Europe,

each photograph tells a story of its own, brilliantly captured with a resolution high enough to produce clear large prints.

Nicdao shared that while picking the time of day greatly affects outputs, his best iPhone photography tip has to do with non-planning. “Be more spontaneous. Because it’s the way it should be with phones─it’s handy,” he said.

Celebrity photographer Mark Nicdao with event host Mari Jasmine during the lensman's exhibit held recently.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Monday, March 12, 2018

ACROSS 1 Russo or Magritte 5 Hindu deity 10 Big party 14 Islamic title of honor 15 Tiny specks 16 Mountains or river 17 Pulpit 18 Gives credit 19 Pleasant 20 Caught with a long rope 22 Metro 24 Quaint hotels 25 Flightless bird 26 Pious 29 Short verse 33 Signs of the future 34 Lake swimmer 35 Doc Holliday’s friend 37 Cut timber 38 Imitating 39 Mai — (rum drink) 40 LAX guesses 42 Soak up the sun 43 Put in office 45 Give for safekeeping 47 More than enough 48 Play part 49 R2-D2’s owner

50 Japanese mat 53 Granted 57 Feliciano or Ferrer 58 Land ruled by Cleopatra 60 Pantyhose color 61 Historical novelist Jean — 62 Rope’s slipknot 63 Long-active volcano 64 Make like a mule 65 More loyal 66 Meg — of “Sleepless in Seattle” DOWN 1 Not bogus 2 Jane Austen novel 3 Pen points 4 Gully maker 5 Completely still 6 Engine covers 7 Call — — day 8 Delivery trucks 9 Taking for granted 10 Hull edge 11 Opera tune 12 Frilly 13 Yeasty brew 21 Disagreeable task 23 Strut along

26 Give out sparingly 27 Ham it up 28 Meat avoider 29 Distort the meaning of 30 Standing 31 Consumed 32 Stretch of land 34 Mineral springs 36 Crying shame 38 Bridge support 41 Majestic 43 Film director — Kazan

44 Pupil 46 Electronics mfr.

47 Some tableware 49 Slip back 50 Sightseeing trip 51 Not in harbor 52 Russian epic hero 54 Moral obligation 55 Millay or Ferber 56 Senior member 57 Punch 59 Me opposite

With a combination of portraits, sceneries, architecture, and daily life, the photos are expertly curated to showcase the things that capture the master photographer’s fancy.

“Parang na-tiyempo lang. It’s always just spontaneous pictures. It doesn’t matter kung may meaning sa iba basta sa’yo may meaning, ‘yun na ‘yon,” he quipped.

The #ShotoniPhone worldwide campaign by Apple believes that everyone can take incredible photos with just an iPhone. Aspiring fashion and lifestyle photographers and bloggers are invited to participate for a chance to be discovered and featured in Power Mac Center’s social media accounts.

Simply take your iPhone and capture your best OOTDs or lifestyle shots.

Upload your photos to your Instagram account, tag @powermaccenter and include the hashtags #LifeInStyle and #ShotoniPhone.

If nature or the outdoors is more of your element, then the upcoming #ShotoniPhone #SomewhereOutThere campaign is for you. “ We live in exciting times. The tools we need are right at our fingertips and that has been especially true for the camera. From taking quick snapshots of our daily life, it has become a means of expression on its own,” said Power Mac Center Marketing Director Joey Alvarez.

Content and Programming Head of HOOQ PH Jeffrey Remigio said, “The Oath and other Hollywood Originals in the future simply widens the scope of choices for our users. But we continue to boost our catalogue with new titles, especially our local content.”

Sheila Paul, HOOD Country Manager, is happy that in the TV-ondemand sector, HOOQ “thus far, is still the leader. While there are no survey data to support my claim, our number of subscribers and users (which she can’t disclose, too) attests to our popularity.”

She added, “There is truly something for everybody this March on HOOQ’s TVOD service.” Patricia Paredeselucidated further, “Lovers of animated films can enjoy Pixar’s Coco and comic book fans can rejoice as HOOQ brings you the absolute best that the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universe has to offer with Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. Those looking to make a trip to a galaxy far, far away can eagerly await the arrival of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi and, finally, for the nostalgic lovers of 90s cinema, the highly successful Jumanj: Welcome To The Jungle would be a winning choice.”

Sheila Paul furthered, “It will be a very exciting month for movie buffs at HOOQ! We are very excited to bring these movies fresh from the cinema that the whole family will enjoy. They’re perfect viewing on road trips this summer and when you’re just chilling at home.”

It’s easy to get HOOQ’d. Customers can simply download the HOOQ app from Apple Store or Google Play, sign up or log in, to access HOOQ’s extensive library of Hollywood and Asian hits.

Globe customers can get to try HOOQ for up to 90 days on selected mobile and broadband plans. Find out more and sign up today for a complimentary trial at www.hooq.tv. *** Once controversial beauty titlist Mariel de Leon is now ready for her close up.

Last week, accompanied by her mom, actor Sandy Andolong, at a coffee shop in Quezon City, Mariel signed a management contract with LVD Management. Leo V. Dominguez, head of the management group, was there, of course.

Mariel said, while waiting for the contract signing, “My beauty queen days are over. I have to start a new chapter in my life.”

She added that logically, after her experience before the cameras in Ang Panday with Coco Martin for the Metro Manila Film Festival, she decided she wants to be an actor, like her mom and father Christopher de Leon.

“No, I wasn’t forced by either of them,” she clarified. “I found the experience enjoyable, so I told myself, ‘Why shouldn’t I try it full time.’

There’s nothing wrong with that, right.

And I hope the movie audience would accept me like they did with dad and mom.”

“Acting is less stressful,” she admitted, “than preparing for a beauty contest. That I learned when I was doing Ang Panday.”

Mariel also admitted she got stressed at the time she was bashed by netizens when she posted on Instagram her thoughts on certain issues. In other words she got trolled, although it even made her even more determined to Showbiz scion Mariel de Leon signs a talent contract with LVD Management.

stand by what she believes in and not be alarmed by critics.

“Of course, na-stress ako do’n kasi parang it was my first time to be exposed to that life, kasi growing up, sheltered child ako, so parang after Binibini, tapos biglang the world opened up or something.

“Pero ngayon, okay na ako.

Kasi I realized na lahat naman may mga basher, kahit ’yung nonshowbiz, meron din. You can never please anyone. So parang just live your life and do what you want.

“But I’ll still express that this time, I’ll be more careful with my words, but it won’t stop me from being myself,” she said.

Mariel is one of the stars of Latay produced by BG Productions and directed by Ralston Jover with Lovi Poeand Allen Dizon.

She also wishes she could be in a teleserye, if given the chance, but firstly, she’d like a guest appearance in FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano. *** SKY subscribers now have new reasons to stay glued on TV as it adds new channels across the sports, news, and lifestyle genres to its lineup including LIGA, Fight Sports HD, EDGEsport HD, TLC HD, and Euronews.

Select SKYcable and SKYdirect subscribers will get access to three new sports channels including Liga, which airs the ASEAN Basketball League, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, among others.

Other channels include Fight Sports HD, a 24/7 live sports network that airs epic boxing bouts on “MEGA Fights;” and EDGEsport HD, the home of the Festival International Des Sports Extremes (FISE) World Series, which brings together top athletes in the most popular action sports such as skateboarding, BMX, mountain biking, wakeboarding and inline skating among others.

Meanwhile, the popular lifestyle channel TLC HD that houses hit shows like Cake Boss, Say Yes to the Dress,and The Kings is in the lineup of select plans, as well as worldwide news channel, Euronews, that offers a comprehensive perspective on current events by putting to light diverse viewpoints on issues.

Fight Sports HD, EDGEsport HD, TLC HD and Euronews are available in selected plans to SKYcable subscribers in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, Liga is available nationwide in standard and high definition in selected SKYcable plans, in One SKY Premium and Lite plans, and all SKYdirect plans.

F o r more details, visit mysky. com.ph.

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

C4

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018

Pinay influencer joins Asia’s biggest design reality show INTERIOR designer and media personality Cat Arambulo joins the judging panel of The Apartment: Passion for Design this season together with three aspiring designers representing the Philippines.

Dubbed as the biggest design reality TV series in Asia, the program premieres on March 22 at 9 p.m. featuring 12 talented contestants from various backgrounds who will compete to become the next interior design superstar. The winner will walk away with the biggest prize in the series’ history, the deed to a luxurious UMLand Apartment at D’Lagoon, located in Iskandar, Malaysia.

The Apartment: Passion for Design features a judging panel of esteemed designers including returning international superstar Laurence lewelyn-Bowen as principal judge, and award-winning designer and author Jamie Durie as returning host and mentor.

This season sees the introduction of two new judges, Arambulo and Tyler Wisler, who is one of New York’s most

influential and dynamic designers.

“We are excited to welcome Cat Arambulo to the judges’ table this season as her impeccable taste and design influence in the Philippines makes her an authoritative voice,” said Armi Malaluan, Director and Business Head, AXN & Sony Channel Philippines.

“Last season was full of twists and surprises that culminated with an unexpected winner and this season promises more of the drama, style and sass that our Sony Channel viewers have come to love,” Malaluan added.

Fans who crave more exclusive content can also look forward to The Apartment: Unboxed, a digital series of webisodes from the point-of-view of the designers, who will reveal their most intimate details from behind the scenes.

Specially created as a companion series to The Apartment: Passion for Design, new webisodes of The Apartment: Unboxed will be uploaded weekly to The Apartment’s official website TheApartmentTV.com.

Neil Ryan Sese

Camille Prats

‘MAY FOREVER’

with Bruno, Ayra, Camille and Neil Ryan

Interior designer and media personality Cat Arambulo (second from left) with the host and judges of 'The Apartment: Passion for Design.'

First Hollywood Originals streaming on HOOQ now ISAH V. RED

HOOQ—the largest Video On Demand service in South East Asia premiered its first foray into Hollywood Originals with Crackle’s The Oath with all 10 episodes Thursday last week in the US and Friday in the Philippines.

Chief Content Officer of HOOQ, Jennifer Batty said, “This marks a truly significant milestone for HOOQ Originals. While we continue to blaze a trail for homegrown Asian content and talent, we are now proud to strengthen our offering and bring in the best original content that Hollywood has to offer. With established producers of gritty visual stories like Joe Halpin and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson on the team and not to mention hard hitters like Ryan Kwanten and Sean Bean, we’re confident that we’ve got a winner here. I can’t wait for you all to see it!”

Set in Los Angeles, this hardhitting crime drama dives deep into a world of gangs made up of those sworn to protect and defend. The Oath chooses to tread where most cop dramas don’t, shedding light on corruption and “police gang” culture by examining secret societies that are nearly impossible to join. Only a select few make the cut but, once inside, members will do what they must to protect each other from enemies not only on the outside but also from within.

Created by Joe Halpin (Hawaii Five-O, Secrets and Lies), the characters and relationships in The Oath are informed by his first-hand experience working as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy in South Central for 18 years, 12 of

HOOQ Philippines Country Head Sheila Paul

which was as an undercover officer.

Chief Executive Officer of HOOQ, Peter Bithos said, “At HOOQ, we have always dedicated ourselves to bringing our subscribers the best that Asia and Hollywood have to offer. With The Oath now joining our family of HOOQ Originals, we’re proud to continue bringing the kind of stories that our customers love and continue to expect from us. This is the first of many to come.”

The Oath stars Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Cory Hardrict (American Sniper, Gran Torino), Katrina Law (Training Day), Arlen Escarpeta (The Magicians), J.J Soria (Animal Kingdom, The Fosters), and Game Of Thrones alum, Sean Bean.

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Power) and his G-Unit Film & Television Inc., Todd Hoffman and Dennis Kim of Storied Media Group, Anne Clements (StartUp) and Halpin are the producers. The series is directed by Jeff T. Thomas (Blindspot, Wayward Pines) and Luis Prieto (Kidnap, StartUp). The Oath is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. Continued on C3

W

EEKDAY mornings with the whole family will be more exciting as GMA Network brings to light a romantic-comedy series that both parents and kids can enjoy. Entitled Ang Forever Ko’y Ikaw, the series is premiering today.

Headlined by Camille PratsYambao and Neil Ryan Sese together with Ayra Mariano and Bruno Gabriel, Ang Forever Ko’y Ikaw revolves around the lives of Ginny (Camille) and Lance (Neil), two single parents who are still both attached to their past.

Their lives are almost intertwined since they live in the same condominium building, have the same taste in coffee; and they even follow each other’s ‘alterego’ accounts online.

Camille said she loves how the show instills its message to the viewers when it comes to love.

“You know I think the really good part about this show is the message of love and how it tells us that love will always find you,” the Kapuso actress said.

On the other hand, Neil Ryan, who is used to portraying character roles, shared that he’s still in an adjustment period.

“I’m still not used to it. It’s a challenge to play my role. Unlike kapag kontrabida ka iba yung pag deliver mo nglines. Dapat palaging mabigat. But in this series, I need to tone it down,” he related.

Ayra Mariano and Bruno Grabriel

The story also highlights their journey as single parents including the challenges and accomplishments they encounter taking care of their children Marione (Ayra) and Benjie (Bruno).

“I am very thankful for this opportunity.

At the same time, I’m excited to work with Bruno. Very comfortablena kami sa isa’t isa kaya I know this project is going to be amazing,” said Ayra who plays the daughter of Ginny.

Meanwhile, Bruno said he is looking forward to be working with Camille and Neil because he knows he is going to learn a lot from them.

South Korean stars Lee Jong-Suk and Han Hyo Joo

“I am really amazed at how they both are great in acting—mapa-intense man yung eksena or light lang,” the heartthrob said.

Joining the lead cast in this series are Cai Cortez, Archie Alemania, Odette Khan, and Jude Paolo Diangson.

The new series is under the helm of Creative Director Caesar Cosme with Joseph Balboa as head writer, and Tata Betita and Jojo Nones as directors.

Witness feel-good and kilig love stories in Ang Forever Ko’y Ikaw beginning today before Eat Bulaga.

Korean fantasy ‘W’ on Primetime Bida ENTER the world of kilig and suspense with ABS-CBN’s newest Korean fantasy drama W premiering today on Primetime Bida after The Good Son. Follow the life of Maddie Oh (Han Hyo Joo), a surgeon and daughter of the creator of “W,” a webtoon that everyone is crazy about. One day, her father suddenly goes missing while writing the last chapter of his webtoon.

The curious Maddie enters his office and sees the illustration where Raiko (Lee Jong-Suk), the

lead character of the webtoon, is dying. A hand from the monitor then pulls her in and Maddie finds herself standing next to a bleeding man. Since she is a doctor, she immediately saves his life and realizes later on that the man she saved was Raiko himself.

Maddie goes back and forth to the webtoon until she and Raiko grow feelings for each other.

How will she tell Raiko that they come from two different worlds?

Will their love story ever come to life or will it forever be a fantasy?