Manila Standard - 2018 May 11 - Friday

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VOL. XXXII • NO. 85 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

Angel-inspired designs at Arab Fashion Week DUBAI—As the abaya witnesses a global resurgence, the sixth edition of Arab Fashion Week opened Wednesday with fallen angels, Rococo corsets, cupcake headbands and nary a Next page kaftan in sight.

Mahathir makes history WORLD B3

Sereno’s fate hangs Either way, SC decision on CJ seen as historic

SERAPHIC SERENO. Up in arms Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (below) clutches hands as if in prayer as she appears Thursday at a news conference at the UP Balay Kalinaw in Diliman where the Coalition for Justice has declared it stands squarely behind Sereno and continues to call on her not to resign. Above, the justices of the high court will hold its special en banc session today to resolve the quo warranto petition seeking her ouster as the country’s top magistrate. Revoli Cortez

By Rey E. Requejo

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HE fate of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno will be known today (Friday) as the Supreme Court holds its special en banc session called primarily to resolve the quo warranto petition seeking her ouster as the country’s top magistrate.

Regardless of whether the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno will prosper, the proceedings are considered historic for the judiciary, as this is the first time the qualification and validity of the appointment of a chief justice has been put to question.

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MAHATHIR MOHAMAD

Teo’s brod comes to her defense

CJ supporter files charges vs SolGen

By Jimbo Gulle NEWSPAPER columnist Ramon Tulfo on Thursday defended his sister, Wanda Tulfo-Teo, from the controversies surrounding the P60-million television advertising deal that led to her resignation as Tourism secretary—while laying the blame squarely on their brother, TV producer and host Ben Tulfo.

Another Tulfo sibling, the journalist Erwin, said Thursday he was ready to be investigated and face any charges in court regarding the anomalous deal uncovered by the Commission on Audit.

This developed as Ferdinand Topacio, Wanda’s lawyer, called the eldest Tulfo sibling “ulyanin” or senile for the latter’s allegations against him in his Philippine Daily Inquirer column.

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By Rio N. Araja A STAUNCH supporter of Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday filed a complaint of graft, malversation and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials against Solicitor General Jose Calida with the Office of the Ombudsman.

The complainant, Jocelyn Nisperos Acosta, accused Calida of having an affair with his 22-year-old executive assistant, who supposedly received P1.8 Next page million as compensation.

Duterte resumes firing, hiring spree: 3rd Dengvaxia case filed vs Aquino, Garin, Abad et al.

One gets the boot, 2 named as OICs ByandRioReyN.E.Araja Requejo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday night he will fire another government official after Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo resigned this week over allegations of corruption.

“There’s another one coming up,” Duterte said during a speech at the presentation of the New Generation Currency banknotes and coins in Malacañang.

Duterte said he was sad to let go of

some of the officials he appointed, especially those who supported his presidential campaign.

“If you’d notice, most of the ones I’ve lost are the very first persons who…,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino, without completing the sentence. “I’m very sad that they are the very first to go.”

Duterte said what made him sad was

LAWYER Ferdinand Topacio of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption on Thursday filed another complaint of plunder, malversation of public funds and graft against former President Benigno Aquino III and former Health sec-

retary Janette Garin before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the Dengvaxia vaccine procurement.

Also included in the complaint were ex-Budget secretary Florencio Abad; exexecutive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.; undersecretaries Maria Carolina VidalTaino, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde; assistant secretar-

ies Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago Jr.; directors Laureno Cruz, Irma Asuncion, Maria Joyce Ducusin, Mar Wynn Bello, Leonita Gorgolon, Rio Magpantay and Ariel Valencia; Philippine Children’s Medical Center chief Julius Lecciones; undersecretaries Nemesio Gako, Vicente Belizario and Kenneth Hartigan-Go, and Dr. Yolanda Oliveros.

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Think tank warns: China deploys jet in SCS CHINA has deployed a military aircraft to a base it had built on a reclaimed island in the South China Sea, photos from an American think tank released Wednesday confirmed.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative published photos taken from April 28 showing a military aircraft, a Shaanxi Y-8, at Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands.

AMTI said the Y-8 was “designed as a military transport aircraft, but some variants are used for maritime patrol or signals intelligence.”

“This should be particularly concerning to the Philippines, which has about 100 civilians and a small military garrison on Thitu Island just 12 nautical miles away,” the think tank said.

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JANETTE GARIN

FLORENCIO ABAD

BENIGNO AQUINO III

A2

News

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Palace: Economic growth inspiring amid price hikes M

By Vito Barcelo

ALACAÑANG on Thursday expressed confidence that, despite the rising inflation, the Philippine economy will continue to grow as shown by the latest report saying the economy grew by 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018―faster than the 6.5-percent growth recorded in the same quarter last year.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the economy was growing steadily and would continue to grow under the Duterte administration through increased tax collection and bigger infrastructure spending.

He made the statement even as Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said intervention was needed to address the higher inflation given its implications on consumer prices and economic growth.

“For consumers, we need to address

the sources of rising inflation, even if the uptick brought by the temporary effects of TRAIN are expected to gradually ease this year,” Pernia told reporters.

TRAIN, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in December, reducing the personal income tax rate and expanding the value-added-tax base.

Roque cited the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority saying manufacturing, other services and trade were the main

drivers of growth in the first quarter.

“We are optimistic that our economic momentum will continue to be sustained with higher tax revenue collection and bigger public spending in infrastructure,” Roque said in a statement.

“Among the major economic sectors, Industry recorded the fastest growth at 7.9 percent,” the PSA said.

“This was followed by Services with a growth of 7.0 percent. Agriculture also grew but at a slower pace of 1.5 percent.”

Growth in the first three months of the year accelerated from the 6.5-percent expansion recorded in the same period last year. The figure marked the 10th straight quarter of growth of at least 6.5 percent but fell short of the government’s target of 7 to 8 percent.

Consumption and investment continued to propel the Philippine economy.

Pernia said rising prices were the main reason the government failed to hit its target for the first quarter.

“Inflation is the spoiler. That’s why we need to really focus on inflation,” Pernia said.

House leader downplays impeach-Du30 bid

By Maricel V. Cruz A NEW impeachment complaint to be filed against President Rodrigo Duterte will not prosper, the head of the House committee on justice said Friday.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali said he saw no clamor to unseat Duterte who, he said, was popular among the people.

“I do not think there is a clamor or support to impeach President Duterte, but I will process any impeachment complaint as a matter of our constitutional duty,” Umali said.

Sereno's...

From A1

Sereno, who went back to work after taking an indefinite leave starting March 1, will preside over the session that starts at 10 a.m.

While she is expected to preside over the deliberation of other cases on the agenda, she will be required to step out of the session when the other justices tackle the quo warranto case against her.

Court insiders said manyof the magistrates would be arriving at the SC onboard bullet-proof vehicles for the special session today.

Sources said a majority of at least nine justices are expected to vote to grant the quo warranto petition seeking to invalidate Sereno’s appointment as chief justice while at least three are expected to cast dissenting votes. Two magistrates have not yet submitted their positions, but can no longer affect the anticipated outcome.

Reports also indicated that the 150-page decision written by Associate Justice Noel Tijam would declare Sereno as “disqualified” as chief justice due to her ineligibility to hold the position and “guilty of unlawfully holding and exercising the Office of the Chief Justice.”

It would also declare the position of the chief justice vacant and direct the Judicial and Bar Council to start the selection process for a new Supreme Court chief.

The decision would also be immediately executory. Sereno could file a motion for reconsideration as provided by the Rules of Court, but would have to vacate her post while waiting for the Court to act on her appeal.

The ruling will be hinged on the requirement of proven integrity for positions in the Supreme Court as required in the 1987 Constitution, according to earlier reports that quoted court insiders.

After hearing the case in oral arguments last April 10, the majority of the justices supposedly found Sereno’s failure to file her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth as a clear indication of lack of integrity and dishonesty.

Sereno’s ineligibility supposedly could not be cured by her nomination and eventual appointment as chief justice during the previous administration.

The grant of the quo warranto petition

Think...

From A1

Reiterating its plea for “diplomatic space,” the Philippines has yet to comment on China’s fresh move deploying military aircraft to a base it built over its reclaimed island in the South China Sea. Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin on Thursday urged the government to take drastic action against China on its continuing militarization of the West Philippine Sea. “The militarization of the WPS poses a clear and present danger on our sovereignty,” Villarin said. Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday aired his support for a Senate investigation of China’s installation

He made his statement after Rep. Gary Alejano threatened to file another impeachment complaint against Duterte for his alleged subservience to China over the disputed West Philippine Sea. Alejano said his group was looking at Duterte’s supposed dereliction of duty for allegedly allowing the Chinese government to conduct a survey in Benham Rise and the West Philippine Sea without informing the public.

But Alejano said his group’s renewed effort to unseat the President would be “an exercise in futility” if the majority of

his colleagues would not support it.

He said Duterte should be held accountable for his alleged “illegal acts,” including his alleged capitulation to China in the West Philippine Sea. On May 9, 2017, the impeachment case that Alejano filed against Duterte was deemed initiated after it was referred to the House justice committee, signaling the start of the one-year impeachment protection for Duterte.

After the referral, no other complaint was allowed to be filed against Duterte for a period of one year, or until May 8, 2018.

against Sereno will render moot and academic the impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. The House justice committee report for impeachment of Sereno is up for plenary debate when Congress resumes session next week.

While the justices will be deliberating inside the session hall, supporters of Sereno are set to gather outside the Supreme Court compound in Padre Faura St. for what they dubbed as “Jericho March for Justice.”

Groups including Coalition For Justice and the organization Sanlakas will be joining the protest.

Judges and court employees, on the other hand, will hold a “Red Friday” rally to emphasize their call for Sereno’s removal as chief justice. Red ribbons have already been tied to the gates surrounding the Court compound.

Law deans and professors of various law schools in the country on Thursday urged the Supreme Court not to act on the quo warranto petition against Sereno, saying the only constitutionally accepted way of removing her from office is through conviction after the impeachment trial by the Senate.

In a manifesto titled “A Call for Adherence to Constitutional Process,” more than 130 law school deans and professors warned that removing Sereno through a quo warranto proceedings would undermine judicial independence as it could be used against any sitting magistrate.

“We the members of the law faculties, express our deep concern at the move to unseat the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by means other than by impeachment,” the manifesto said adding that “it will expose those involved to the same vicious cycle of extrajudicial removal process which will subvert the constitutional check and balance and endanger judicial independence,” the manifesto stated.

The law deans and professors said that while they did not question the motivation and integrity of anyone involved in the process, the “integrity of the process is as important as its result.”

They said they have been taught in law schools that the only way to remove a sitting chief justice under the Constitution is through an impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction after trial by the Senate sitting as the impeachment court.

“Any other means would be unconsti-

tutional,” the manifesto said, even as they asked the House of Representatives to immediately transmit to the articles of impeachment against Sereno to the Senate for trial.

They said the SC should allow the Senate to conduct the impeachment trial to give Sereno a chance to air her side in the allegations raised by lawyer Larry Gadon.

“Let the impeachment of the chief justice take its course as the Constitution dictates.

Let the trial in the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, begin. Allow the chief justice to defend herself in the impeachment trial,” they added.

Among those who signed the manifesto are former Court of Appeals Associate Justice and now dean of the Graduate School of Law of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila Hector Hofilena; former solicitor general Florin Hilbay; De La Salle College of Law Dean Jose Manuel Diokno; Lyceum College of Law Dean Maria Soledad Derequito-Mawis; Adamson College of Law Dean Anna Maria Abad; Far Eastern University Institute of Law Dean Melencio Sta. Maria; and Ateneo de Davao University College of Law Dean Manuel Quibod.

Also signing the manifesto were former UP College of Law dean Pacifico Agabin; former Ateneo School of Government dean Tony Laviña; PLM College of Law Dean Marisol Anenias; University of San Agustin College of Law Dean Jose Mari Tirol; and law deans and professors from law schools in the National Capital Region, and the cities of Baguio, Butuan, Cotabato and Davao.

Earlier, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the national association of lawyers, asked the SC to allow them to intervene with a prayers for the dismissal of the quo warranto petition but the court en banc merely noted their plea.

In filing the petition, Calida said Sereno lacked moral integrity to be appointed to the top SC post considering that she failed to file all her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth as required by law.

Sereno’s alleged non-disclosure of all her wealth was also included in the impeachment complaint filed by Gadon.

The chairman of the House committee on justice, meanwhile, said the chamber is all set to transmit the articles of impeachment against Sereno to the Senate for a full-blown trial if the Supreme Court rules against the quo warranto petition. With PNA

of three missile systems on three fortified outposts in the disputed Spratly Island.

Senator Bam Aquino said he would file a resolution to look into the Chinese bases on Philippine territory.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has already filed Senate Resolution 722, urging the Senate to investigate China’s installation of missiles on three fortified outposts in the disputed territories.

AMTI said that, with the recent deployment, military aircraft had landed on all three of China’s airstrips on the Spratly Islands after a naval patrol aircraft also landed at Fiery Cross Reef in April 2016 and 2 Xian Y-7 military transport aircraft were seen on Mischief Reef in a photo dated Jan. 6. Sara Susanne D. Fabunan,

Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Araneta

Angel-inspired...

From A1

Hosted on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship, the show, which prides itself on its Arab name, opened with angel-inspired and baroque kitsch collections by designers from Russia, Portugal, the UAE, the Philippines, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and more.

Filipino designer Furone One, loved in Dubai for his ethereal designs, opened the four-day affair with his “White Noise” resort collection, inspired by angels both cherubin and fallen. AFP

Mayors warned not to meddle in village polls INTERIOR officer-in-charge Eduardo Año on Thursday confirmed the reports of mayors whittling down barangay candidates to a single slate.

He said they were gathering evidence to file administrative cases against those officials.

“We have received reports about that, and we have asked the mayors to explain while we gather more evidence,” Año said.

In other developments: Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino on Thursday said a village official on the agency’s “narco list” would soon be facing administrative and criminal charges.

He told reporters his agency would file six cases against a village official from Metro Manila on May 11.

He also said his agency was revalidating its list of suspects to determine the involvement of the 207 village officials who were said to be involved in illegal drugs.

“Many are saying that they are not involved, they’re not users or pushers, but again, when they ask a favor to exempt a relative caught, that’s coddling.”

CJ...

From A1

She also hit Calida for owning 60 percent of capital stocks of security agency Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc, based on the general information sheet filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept.

29, 2016. “[Calida’s] wife and three children own 10 percent each,” the complaint read.

Calida’s security agency was able to grab contracts with the National Economic and Development Authority, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and National Parks Development Corp., Acosta said, adding that his wife, Milagros signed a contract with NAPC as the agency’s chairperson and president in 2016.

“The fact that his wife remains as president of VISAI proves that respondent still has material pecuniary interest in VISAI,” Acosta said in the complaint.

“Respondent cannot be the lawyer of the government, at the same time its client. By basically owning VISAI, respondent places the government at a disadvantageous position,” she added.

Moreover, Acosta slammed Calida for the filing of a quo warranto petition against Sereno and for the denial of her request that the Office of the Solicitor General file a quo warranto petition against Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita de Castro.

Teo's...

From A1 In his “On Target” column in the Thursday edition of the Inquirer, Ramon

Tulfo said Wanda’s fault was that she “did not get intelligent people as her staff” at the Department of Tourism.

He also commended President Rodrigo Duterte for “sacking” her on Tuesday night following a Cabinet meeting.

Ramon then blasted Ben—the fiftheldest Tulfo, born after Wanda—for not admitting to any wrongdoing over the ad contract signed by the government’s People’s Television Network with the younger Tulfo’s TV production company Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. Bitag Media is a blocktime customer on the state-owned PTV 4 channel and ran a show there titled “Kilos Pronto”—hosted by Ben and Erwin along with Alex Santos.

The deal, however, was flagged by the CoA, which posted its finding on its website and let to the bevy of calls for Tulfo-Teo to step down from the Tourism department. “[Wanda] was clueless that Ben would get the lion’s share, so to speak, of the P60 million advertising contract… No amount of pleading from me when the uproar broke out could persuade Ben to admit it was his fault and not Wanda’s,” said Ramon, who called himself the patriarch of the Tulfo clan.

Duterte...

From A1

that he believed the people he appointed actually supported his crusade to bring about genuine change in the country, including the fight against corruption within the government.

“But just the same…there’s no way of telling,” he said.

The President also expressed irritation at officials who traveled often for no good reason.

“You know, if you go to other places to attend important meetings that may affect the country, I would appreciate it.

If it’s really…work,” Duterte said.

“But if it’s a climate change [conference] in Brussels, then climate change in Tokyo, climate change in Indonesia, climate change in Africa, you’ve spent millions for that and I do not see any improvement,” he said without referring to any particular official by name.

Duterte has repeatedly said he would not think twice about firing government officials with even “a whiff of corruption” and has made good his promise.

The latest to leave his Cabinet was Teo, who resigned Tuesday after state auditors exposed an advertising deal that saw P60 million go to the TV program produced by her brother, Ben Tulfo.

On Thursday, the Palace said Duterte appointed Virginia Nazarrea Orogo as acting secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development , in place of Judy Taguiwalo, whose appointment was rejected by the Commission on Appointments.

He also appointed Eliseo Rio as acting secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Their appointment letters were signed by the President on May 8, 2018 but released only on May 10.

The Palace said that two others were named to government posts: Rolando Ednalino Ampunin as member of the board of directors of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, representing the national government and Benasing Onayan Macarambon Jr. as member of the board of directors of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, representing the business and investment sectors.

Orogo was DSWD undersecretary before her appointment.

On the other hand, Rio was DITC undersecretary and has been the department’s officer-in-charge since October last year, following the resignation of Rodolfo Salalima.

3Fromrd...

A1 The case is the third complaint against Aquino before the anti-graft body over the P3-billion mass vaccination project.

Earlier, the VACC filed a complaint of graft, malversation of public funds and violation of the procurement law against Aquino, Abad, Garin, other health officials, and executives of the Sanofi Pasteur and Zuellig Co. before the Justice Department.

In December last year, former Technical, Education and Skills Development Authority chairman Augusto Syjuco filed mass murder and plunder charges against Aquino and Garin before the Ombudsman.

Aquino’s spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said the former president “is ready to respond to their unfounded complaints when required to do so.”

She said the complaint was “more of a ploy [of the complainants] to get more government posts.”

“Even the severely inebriated can see the pattern: anyone who files a complaint against the former president is magically given an appointment,” Valte added.

In a 49-page complaint, the VACC alleged Aquino and his co-accused “haphazardly planned and procured [Dengvaxia] in gross violation of regulatory processes of the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], the FEC [Formulary Executive Council] and the government procurement laws” at the expense of the health of more than 830,000 Filipinos who were administered with the vaccine.

“The undue intervention of the highest officials in the negotiations, the timing of the program, the haste in the release of the budget, the enormity of the amount involved, the use of a fund intended for a different purpose, and the lack of concern [for] the Filipino people who obviously would-be victims, as above-discussed, leave no room for any noble or righteous motive or intention on the part of the respondents,” the complaint read.

With Macon Ramos-Araneta

ERRATUM THE caption in this photo, which was published May 10, should have read: Fortified Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno emerges from the Supreme Court building Wednesday with her husband, Mario Jose, and waves to supporters after returning from an indefinite leave two days before her peers, in a special en banc session, will discuss on Friday the quo warranto petition filed against her by Solicitor General Jose Calida. Our apologies for mistakenly identifying her husband as her lawyer.

News

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FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PH, Kuwait may ink MoA on OFWs’ protection

12 aspire for SC post; 3 keen on Ombudsman

By Rey Requejo and Rio Araja A TOTAL 12 aspirants vied for a Supreme Court seat to be vacated by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. who is set to retire this coming August while three appear interested to replace Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

The Judicial and Bar Council on Thursday revealed 12 candidates had applied for the post since the nomination for the Supreme Court vacancy period ended last May 2.

Nine applicants are associates justices of the Court of Appeals—Jose Reyes, Rosmari Declaro Carandang, Ramon Bato, Ramon Hernando, Ramon Garcia, Oscar Badelles, Manuel Barrios, Apolinario Bruselas and Amy Lazaro-Javier.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez of the Supreme Court was also nominated for the post.

Velasco was a former CA justice and court administrator prior to his appointment in the SC in March 2006.

The list also included Judge Carlos Espero RTC Davao City and former Ateneo College of Law Dean Cesar Villanueva.

Meanwhile, a San Beda University professor who lawyered for President Rodrigo Duterte when he was then the Davao City mayor has filed an application with the Judicial and Bar Council to replace Morales, who is retiring on July 26.

According to judiciary sources, Edna Batacan had personally filed her application with the JBC. Others in the short list of applicants are former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Edilberto Sandoval who is now the chief of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor, and Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita de Castro, who was nominated by her colleague, Associate Justice Arturo Brion.

Even Solicitor General Jose Calida was also interested to head the Ombudsman, but as of press time, he has not filed any application with the JBC. The council will accept applications until May 15.

Just like the President, Batacan has earned her degree in law at the San Beda College of Law. She was a law professor at her alma mater for over three decades after passing the 1981 bar exam.

She represented Duterte in several lawsuits in Davao City and in the Sandiganbayan in 2010.

ENVIRONMENT AMBASSADORS. Some 32 candidates for Miss Earth Philippines 2018 pose for news photographers during the Press Presentation at the Diamond hotel poolside in Manila on Thursday. The five titleholders will serve as the Ambassador to environmental protection campaigns in the country. Lino Santos

1,041 loose firearms recovered in Mindanao C AMP SIONGCO, Awang, Maguindanao— Government troops have recovered a total of 1,041 loose firearms in most of Central Mindanao, even as President Rodrigo Duterte has twice placed under martial law the country’s second largest island since last year.

The recovery of loose firearms had been prompted by instances of friendly persuasion which was gaining support from all sectors, including the local government units and the police, said Lt. Gen. Arnel de la Vega, commanding-general of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based here.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, from whose province more the 800 of the firearms came from, said the country was much safer, less this huge number of firearms surrendered to or recovered by the authorities.

In a related development: A sub-leader and five members of the Abu Sayyaf Group surrendered to government troops on Wednesday in Basilan, the military said on Thursday.

Capt. Ian Dexter Pablo, spokesman of the 4th Special Forces Battalion, said a special operation of the Joint Task Force

Basilan led by Brig. Gen. Juvymax Uy resulted in the surrender of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Apan Apino alias Mudzrin and five group members in Barangay Sinulatan, Tuburan, Basilan province.

Three M16 rifles, two M1 Garand rifles, one M79 grenade launcher, and assorted magazines and ammunitions were recovered by the troops.

The bandits were “already tired of running away and evading government forces,” the military said, noting that “hunger and boredom of being away with (sic) their families” also prompted them to surrender.

Mangudadatu said while it was true that crime rates were at times higher in the metropolis, the fact remained that 70 percent of government’s peace and order concern had been focused on the

SC denies plea of Palparan’s co-accused

By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court has denied a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus of one of the soldiers accused of involvement in the abduction and disappearance of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan in 2006.

In a 16-page decision, the SC’s Third Division upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeals in July 27, 2015 and Feb. 22, 2016 dismissing the appeal of Army Staff Sergeant Edgar Osorio for the issuance of the writ for lack of merit.

“All told, the arrest warrants issued against SSgt.Osorio were issued by the court that has jurisdiction over the offense charged. SSgt. Osorio’s restraint has become legal, hence, the remedy of habeas corpus is already

moot and academic,” stated the ruling penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

The SC disagreed with the contention of Osorio that the Malolos, Bulacan Regional Trial Court that issued the warrant against him had no jurisdiction to take cognizance of the case against him and that court martial, not civil courts, had jurisdiction to try and decide a case against a soldier on active duty.

In his appeal, Osorio insisted the Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan should have conducted the preliminary investigation and decided the kidnapping case against him since his co-accused, then Major General Jovito Palparan, had a rank higher than colonel and had a salary grade 28 at the time of the commission of the alleged offense.

However, the high court stressed

that his claim lacked merit and that the Malolos RTC properly took cognizance of the kidnapping case against him.

“Republic Act 7055 (An Act Strengthening Civilian Supremacy Over the Military) provides that if the accused is a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the crime involved is one punished under the Revised Penal Code, civil courts shall have authority to hear, try and decide, the case,’’ the tribunal said.

The SC held that the only time court martial might assume jurisdiction was, if before arraignment, the civil court determined that the offense was “service-oriented.”

Besides, the high court said since Osorio was charged with a crime committed in a private capacity, the Sandiganbayan could not take cognizance of the case.

Makabayan Bloc files bill to repeal Train Law

By Maricel V. Cruz THE Makabayan Bloc on Thursday filed a bill repealing what it described as “anti-poor and anti-people” Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law as its effects were detrimental to majority of the Filipino people.

Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate led the filing of House Bill 7653, saying “what is needed now is not just a mere review or suspension of the TRAIN law. The TRAIN law needs to be repealed.”

“House Bill 7653 will repeal the anti-poor and anti-people provisions of the TRAIN law so as to lessen the burden of consumers, because they are the ones bearing the brunt of the TRAIN law. They do not even feel the supposed 6.8-percent growth of the Philippine economy,” Zarate said.

Among the provisions in the new bill are: • Restores the old National Internal Revenue Code levels of excise tax on petroleum products and oil, specifically zero tax for liquefied petroleum gas, diesel, kerosene and bunker oil (Section 5); • Repeals the whole section on excise taxes on sugar sweetened beverages (Section 7); • Repeals the whole section on distribution of incremental income from TRAIN (70 percent build, build, build and 30 percent on social measures) (Section 7); • Restores the personal exemption worth P50K and P25K/dependent (Section 2); • Restores the Value Added Tax exemption of sales of electricity by generation companies, transmission by

any entity, and distribution companies including electric cooperatives (Section 2); • Restores the VAT exemption of low cost housing sa VAT exemption even after January 2021 (Section 3); • Restores the 3-percent tax exemption of cooperatives, selfemployed and professionals with gross receipts of P2,000,000 and below (Section 4); “This bill should not be seen as a hindrance by the administration and taken as a means to assuage the suffering of our poor countrymen.

We hope that this bill will be fasttracked by Congress because the economic suffering being endured by our countrymen because of the TRAIN law is very real and should be addressed the soonest time possible,” Zarate said.

provinces of Muslim Mindanao.

President Rodrigo Duterte received two field commanders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter along with more than 800 firearms in his April 25 visit hosted by Mangudadatu and his son Board Member Jhazzer Mangudadatu.

Identities of the two BIFF commanders have been kept under wrap by authorities for security reason.

The President also held a closeddoor meeting with the Mangudadatu brothers, including Pandag town Mayor Freddie Mangudadatu, even as he publicly acknowledged Manguindanao Representative Zajid Mangudadatu as one of his senatorial bets in the May 2010 elections.

When asked what the meeting was all about, Maguindanao Assemblyman Khadafeh Mangudadatu said he was used to seeing the President since he was the mayor of Davao City where he stayed during his college years.

Pressed further, Assemblyman Mangudadatu said it was because he had turned over his MG 30 Cal; 7.62 Cal and 5.56 Cal, a set of valued collection considered “worth a fortune” in the Moro culture.

Nash B. Maulana

THE signing of the memorandum of agreement on the protection of Filipinos in Kuwait between the Philippines and the Gulf State may take place on May 11.

“May 11 is the day we expect to have a signing of a memorandum of agreement,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing at the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait on Wednesday night.

Roque made the announcement after the Philippine delegation met with officials from the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry to discuss the diplomatic spat between the two countries.

He was joined by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, former Labor secretary Marianito Roque, Labor Attaché Rustico dela Fuente, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait Mohd Noordin Lomondot.

Meanwhile, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday said the signing of the agreement was very good development.

“We should rethink the ban once the agreement is signed and all the details are in place,” he said.

He noted that the only way to test if the agreement was “good” for us is to “test” it by sending our OFWs again to Kuwait.

“But maybe this time we should not prioritize the sending of House Service Workers anymore. Send engineers, foremen, welders, etcetera instead of HSWs.” Senator Joel Villanueva said he strongly commended the efforts of the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments to finally have a Memorandum of Understanding that would ensure the protection and better labor conditions for our OFWs in Kuwait especially the household service workers.

Bello said it was agreed that the MoA shall contain a contract of employment template where the provisions “particularly stated” by President Rodrigo Duterte were enumerated.

These provisions include requiring workers’ passports to be deposited to the Philippine Embassy and not confiscated by employers; workers given one day off every week; workers given seven hours sleep a day; workers provided with decent meals and sleeping quarters; and workers provided with cellphones.

Asked if there will be a total lifting of the deployment ban to Kuwait once the MoA is signed, Bello said it would be a “partial lifting.”

A4

Opinion

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Mother’s Day without Mommy at Maryknoll College. I am sure she had fun when Michee would take her along on some of her foreign trips.

FR. RANHILIO But Mommy had heavy crosses to bear as well—and I will celebrate on CALLANGAN Mother’s day her courage and indomiAQUINO table spirit, because the tests she went IT CAN be a sad Sunday for me, on through would have easily broken a perMother’s Day. After all, our Mommy son of lesser character. First, I had to is no longer around. There will be no leave for the seminary—and for Momone to call up and to greet, no one to my, it was always important for the treat out to lunch or to dinner, and I am family to be together. She and Daddy sure Daddy will miss arranging for the conducted me to the seminary and while she was all smiles to make me brave as “surprise” delivery of flowers!

But I have decided that, despite my I faced a new episode of life, I knew tears, it will be a day of thanksgiving later that she repeatedly cried because I for the gift of a mother by whom God was no longer at home. She and Daddy blessed the three of us for 62 years. have always been very close, the occaMommy loved life, and I have always sional spats notwithstanding, and they prayed that she and Daddy would be had never lived apart. But when Daddy granted length of days. I had hoped was promoted to the Court of Appeals, that she would be with us until her for the very first time in life, she had to late 90s, but 85 (she would have been live apart from him and that must have been terribly hard 86 on May 27) is for her. But she close to a century did not whine, alon earth: A span though I am sure, of human existence that took her Not a day passes that loneliness struck a deep and nasty through the placid gash in her heart. days of rustic Al- I do not miss her.

Then her grandcala, the horrors children started to of the Second leave for employWorld War, the ment in the US, euphoria following “Liberation” and the arrival of the and that too cut deep. She was repetiAmericans, exciting high school days tious to the point of being annoying in in Tuguegarao, and then college for pre- her questions about their next visit— but law at what was then Cagayan Teachers family did mean very much to her. We College, and then on to Manila for law. were the world to her—but many times, From our childhood home at 79 Luna we did not care much for that.

I will celebrate Mommy who conStreet, Tuguegarao City, built by my grandparents on leased land, to a spa- nected us with times past, chapters that cious compound in Mercedes Village we did not know but were part of our and a house built to many of her speci- personal narratives. She regaled us with fications, it was a life that saw her fond stories about her own grandfather and dreams come true. She proudly took the manner he acquired from Spanish her place beside daddy and rejoiced in teachers—such as the taboo on wearhis successes. She took motherhood ing hats inside the house. She told us of seriously and that included tenderness Berto, a house assistant in Alcala who as well as severity when she thought it kept their house spotlessly clean, and the was necessary to lay down the law for house she and my grandparents lived in: us. But Mommy’s greatest triumphs the only house in Alcala at the time, she had to do with us. How she lovingly proudly boasted, with running water belooked at me on the day I was ordained cause my grandfather had ingeniously a priest will forever be etched in my constructed a water supply system the soul. And when Jet phoned her by long- used stored rain-water. She described distance (no cellphones at that time) to life in simpler times. And she taught us make her know that he had passed the to love animals—something I inherited Bar, she cried for joy prompting Jet to from her; in fact, all of us have—the impertinently ask why she was cry- three of us have our own pets: I have a ing after being given such good news. menagerie, Jet has three really special And her pride was indescribable as she cats and Michee has a caboodle of dogs. watched Michee march down the aisle Turn to A5

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

PENSEES

T

Economic growth spoiler

HE Philippine economy met the expectations of several analysts after expanding 6.8 percent year-onyear in the first quarter of 2018. The performance made the Philippines one of the fastest expanding economies in Asia, tying it with China and only trailing Vietnam, which grew 7.4 percent in the same period.

Increased government spending anchored on the state’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program boosted the economy in the first quarter. Construction activities, mostly on roads, toll roads, railways and airports, directly create jobs and, in turn, fuel consumer spending.

Such spending or economic demand prompts factories to increase production and companies to expand their services. The industrial sector recorded the fastest growth of 7.9 percent in the first quarter, followed by services which expanded 7 percent.

The rapid economic expansion, however, has attracted an unwanted guest—rising inflation. Economic Planning Secretary and Na-

tional Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia conceded that the economy could have expanded faster if inflation was more subdued during the period. Inflation in the first quarter averaged 3.8 percent based on the 2012 price index, near the upper limit of the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year.

Real economic growth during the three-month period, according to Pernia, could have been nearer the government’s growth rate target range of 7 percent to 8 percent.

Inflation, he noted, was the spoiler and the number one concern expressed by Filipinos in surveys.

Higher prices tend to curb the spending pattern of Filipinos.

Higher taxes introduced at the

start of the year, while strengthening the fiscal position of the government, led to the increased prices of some basic items. The inflation rate in April further accelerated to a more than fiveyear high of 4.5 percent from 4.3 percent in March, due mainly to the faster price increases of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, or the so-called “sin products.”

The government expects the impact of the new taxes on prices to be transitory. But global developments say otherwise. Oil prices in the international market climbed to over $71 per barrel Thursday, a level not seen in over three years.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, meanwhile, immediately raised the interest rates on loans, to prevent so-called potential second-round effects of rising inflation. Reining inflation by raising the cost of money without curbing economic growth will be a delicate balancing act that the economic managers must perform.

She’s back senators who could cross party lines to join the opposition.

The Constitution is also quite clear a Chief Justice can only be removed by impeachment. Why Solicitor General ALEJANDRO Jose Calida still field the quo warranto DEL ROSARIO case against Sereno seems like overkill SUPREME Court Chief Justice Maria in efforts to remove the chief justice at Lourdes Sereneo has ended her leave all costs. Why not let the impeachment of absence to resume her duties Dis- trial proceed in the Senate? playing fortitude, the chief magistrate Sereno warns that President Duterte stated that she’s ready to face her ac- wants to take full and total control cusers in the quo warranto case filed of all three branches of government, against her and the impending Senate pointing out he already has the vast impeachment trial. executive power over the police and Her spokesman Jojo Lacanilao said the military and Congress. She warned Chief Justice Sereno used her one that the President now also seeks to month and two weeks leave to prepare undermine the judiciary so he can for her legal fight. Sereno also used the control the Supreme Court. Last week, time off from her judicial duties speak- President Duterte nominated SC Asing at several public events. The recur- sociate Justice Teresita Leonardoring theme in her speeches—“the peo- de Castro as Ombudsman to replace ple must stand up to speak out against a Conchita Carpio-Morales whose term looming totalitarends this month. ian state under the Depending on Duterte administhe outcome of tration.” the electoral proQuestions are test against Vice Chief Justice Sereno being asked as to President Leni why a quo warran- also used the time off Robredo, former to case was filed from her judicial duties Senator Bongbong against Sereno Marcos could when the House speaking at several assume the VP Justice committee public events. post making Duhad all the numterte’s grip on the bers to forward reins of governthe Articles of Imment total. This peachment to the is tantamount to Senate for the trial to proceed. Are the a totalitarian state, Robredo warned, people behind the quo warranto case, echoing Sereno’s fears. We are not gonot sure of the numbers for a guilty ver- ing to comment on this case as it is an dict in the Senate? In the present com- ongoing proceedings. But the people position of the Senate Liberal Party must support whomever is declared the Senators Franklin Drilon, Risa Hon- winner by the Presidential Electoral tiveros, Paulo “Bam” Aquino, Francis Tribunal which is handling the recount.

Pangilinanand Risa and Hontiveros Trump-Kim summit plus Magdalo maverick Senator AntoThe historic summit between US nio Trillanes IV might pose an acquit- President Donald Trump and North Turn to A5 tal verdict. There could be one or two

BACK CHANNEL

Great US strongmen VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ THE other day I wrote that strongmen or dictators (Rodrigo Duterte calls them despots which is more derogatory) cannot escape the judgment of history.

Usually, history is harsh on them.

But did you know that America’s great presidents were strongmen, dictators, despots, and oppressors. You can be bad but still be rated great later.

I came across an article by Doug Bandow, an American political writer, nationally syndicated columnist, and a resigned senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He recalls that 50 years ago historian Arthur Schlesinger organized a poll of 55 historians to rate America’s presidents.

“Presidential greatness is defined as action, the more frenetic the better.

Which means big government, the more intrusive the better,” Bandow writes.

Per the Schlesinger father and son, the 12 great and near great presidents of the US are: 1. Abraham Lincoln, 2. George Washington, 3. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 4. Thomas Jefferson, 5. Andrew Jackson, 6. Theodore Roosevelt, 7.

Woodrow Wilson, 8. Harry Truman, 9.

James Polk, 10. Dwight Eisenhower, 11.

John Adams, and 12. John F. Kennedy.

Abraham Lincoln is the unanimous No. 1 for greatness, according Bandow.

But the guy plunged the nation into a civil war in which 620,000 Americans died.

“Lincoln also began a tradition of subverting constitutional liberties. He unilaterally suspended habeas corpus; his administration jailed political opponents, banned critical newspapers from

You can be bad but still be rated great later.

the mails, and manipulated border state elections. At his urging Congress conscripted men into the army and turned paper money into legal tender. Moreover, the Civil War proved the truth of the adage that war is the health of the state: Abraham Lincoln created the first national government that intimately intruded into the lives of its citizens,” says Bandow.

The second great was FDR. But, says Bandow, “his economic policies were a failure. The New Deal, as he termed it, might have improved Americans’ morale, but it did not spark a sustained recovery. Now, decades later, we are

reaping the bitter harvest of many of his misguided initiatives: deposit insurance, which led to the S&L debacle; Social Security, which is heading over a fiscal cliff; and pervasive government meddling, which has slowed our economy’s growth and reduced our freedom.”

“Moreover, while his wartime leadership may have been competent, he had a wildly naive view of mass murderer Joseph Stalin. Equally important, Roosevelt maneuvered secretly to drag the United States into the worst war in human history, a decision which deserved to be debated fully by the American people. Finally, he committed perhaps the single greatest violation of civil liberties of any president—the incarceration of over 100,000 JapaneseAmericans based on their national origin. Equally grotesque was his administration’s refusal to allow the entry of Jewish refugees even while the Nazis were destroying European Jewry.”

The third great president, Washington, Bandow notes, “is the only one who deserves that designation, as much for what he did not do as for what he did. Washington … rejected the opportunity to accumulate power. Nor did he see America’s role as that of an international nanny; to the contrary, he warned against foreign entanglements. He truly believed in individual liberty and republican government.”

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Opinion Clash of civilizations CROSSROADS

JONATHAN DE LA CRUZ THE brouhaha over the reported militarization of the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea (take your pick) by China has brought back to center stage the 1993 essay of foremost American political theorist, Samuel Huntington, entitled “Clash of Civilizations.” This highly provocative piece which was later expanded into the book “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order”—considered as the author’s response to his former student, Francis Fukuyama’s sensational piece entitled “The End of History and the Last Man”—posits that in the post-Cold War era, the primary source of conflict will not be ideological, as in capitalism versus communism, or economics, but people’s cultural and religious identities.

In the 1993 piece, the Harvard Ubased theorist said: “It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic.

The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future...”

Copies of Huntington’s essay and book as well as Fukuyama’s became de rigeur reading among political thinkers and pundits immediately after the World Trade Center bombings which the Western intelligence community attributed to the militant Islamic organization Al Qaida. In response to the public outcry over this unthinkable development and, might I say, the retribution for the trouble created by the Islamists which has since engulfed the world, the US mounted a global “war on terror” aimed essentially at wiping out Al Qaida and its adherents worldwide and the rogue states supporting it. Interestingly, the WTC-engendered conflict fits into one of Huntington’s box—the perpetrators’ mindset had religious and cultural underpinnings. That Al Qaida’s and the Islamic State’s propaganda called for an end to the West’s hegemony and decadence and was pep-

pered with Koranic attributions only reinforced the view that the war on terror was necessary, a kind of life-and-death undertaking, meant to “preserve human life and dignity and Western values and system.” That positioning strengthened the resolve of its proponents in the ‘civilized West’ to move with all guns blazing and with all deliberate speed against the Islamists who expectedly fought tooth and nail for their own beliefs.

Led by no less than the acknowledged military superpower in the world, the West embarked on a global anti-terror expeditions to wipe out this curse on humankind, from the Middle East to Asia and even Europe resulting in, among others, the death of Osama Bin Laden and the marginalization of Al Qaida, the short lived emergence of the Islamic State, the ouster of rogue regimes such as Libya and Iraq, the continuing civil wars in Syria and Afghanistan and the bomb-

The Chinese are assuming leadership.

ings and maiming of innocent civilians in key European cities all attributed to Al Qaida or Islamic inspired terrorists.

With its heavy religious and cultural undertones coupled with the highly inflammatory rhetoric of the “Islamic extremists,” it came as a no surprise that the war on terror was viewed by many quarters as the Crusades Redux. A clash of Western and Islamic civilizations of the first degree, indeed!

But it is the emergence of China and its leadership’s multi-pronged push for the Asian economic powerhouse to take its rightful place in the world which puts Huntington’s clash of civilizations theory in a clearer and starker light.

That goal got enshrined at the end of the Communist Party of China Congress and the subsequent statements of Chinese President Xi Jinping which outlined the means by which China will get to center stage and the expected period within which it can realistically achieve the same.

It is clear from the Chinese pronouncements that China will not go the Western, read that US, way. Instead of embracing the West’s prescription for unity, harmony and development in the post-Cold War

era—basically the make up of the world order after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the Soviet Union—it is embarking on its own path. And in a big way. As if on cue, in the Huntington book the theorist advised that the divide between the West, read that US led, and Chinese civilizations is “just as deep, enduring and consequential.”

Thus, he noted: “The very notion that there could be a ‘universal civilization’ is a Western idea, directly at odds with the particularism of most Asian societies and their emphasis on what distinguishes one people from another.” These differences are evident in almost all aspects: from the economy, free market versus state-led and stock market cycle versus long-term economic projects. Then in cultural and political: USA- style individualism where rights and freedoms are key versus communalism and societal harmony which then translates into the political arena as democratic free-for-all versus state led governance.

Professor Graham Allison in his book “Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’ Trap?” expounded on this expected race to center stag’ of the two world powers—the US with its Western values and system and China as the spearhead of the Asian way—as earlier theorized by Huntington.

As Dillon would have it, that race would have far reaching consequences on a post-Cold War world similar to if not even more complicated than the previous one.

Thus, he virtually calls on all peoples and nations of goodwill to do all they can to manage this next clash of civilizations.

“Established powers,” Dillon noted, “faced with challenges tend to become fearful, insecure and defensive while rising powers understandably feel a growing sense of entitlement and demand greater influence and respect,”— a situation which can only erupt if not nursed and managed properly.

How true and how current a task for all. Given this enveloping environment of super power competition in all aspects the choice left for countries such as the Philippines can only be summed as friends to all, enemies to none. In a very real sense, that encapsulates President Duterte’s view on how we should behave in the post-Cold World era: A policy of interdependence and harmony, of promoting solely and realistically the nation’s best interests.

In a very real sense, the Chinese are assuming the leadership, the sword, if you may, meant to show another path to a 21st century world that has been loosely described as the Asian way.

Defying the tides of misfortune: The migrant babies born at sea

By Fanny Carrier MERCY, Francesca, Newman, Diabam and Sophia were the names their mothers chose. What they had no control over was where their babies were born.

As hundreds of thousands of migrants risk their lives on the perilous sea crossing from North Africa to Europe, dozens of newborns have taken their first breath aboard rescue ships in recent years.

“There were a lot of people in the rubber boat, we were all packed together... the pain was awful,” said Stephanie, a Nigerian woman who gave birth to Francesca aboard an aid boat.

There are many elements of a tortuous sea crossing that can push pregnant women travelling aboard crammed vessels into labor—stress, the vibration of boat engines, even the relief of being rescued from danger.

But the chance of a woman having to give birth on the perilous voyage is ultimately a question of numbers.

Since 2014, almost 80,000 women have landed on Italian shores, not including adolescents.

The majority of them are young and many are pregnant.

“I’ve met many women who were raped,” said Marina Kojima, a Japanese midwife who spent several months aboard the Aquarius, a rescue ship jointly run by NGOs SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders.

“Often they have to sell their bodies in order to get a place on the boat.”

For these women, pregnancy makes the perilous journey through the desert into hellish Libya even more difficult,

Great...

From A4

Both Jefferson and Jackson “had their flaws; the latter favored slavery, for instance. But neither mistook a desire to expand state authority with public-spiritedness. Both inveighed against the use of government to enrich the politically powerful.”

Wilson, says Bandow, “is a man who pushed the US into World War I and sacrificed 110,000 lives in his belief that he had been anointed to save mankind.

His administration was the most repressive in US history; it persecuted critics of both conscription and the war and inflamed popular hysteria against anyone

and giving birth at sea can be a scarring experience.

Births, deaths Giulia Marinig, a recently qualified doctor, remembers a hectic 48 hours in October 2016 when three women went into labour aboard the Dattilo migrant rescue ship.

“We barely had time to realise what was happening and after just 45 minutes a little boy was born,” said the 26-year-old.

“I was working on autopilot. Just trying to do my best for the patients, we didn’t sleep for two days.”

Marinig reckons there were around 30 other heavily pregnant mothers on board the Dattilo, and a number of women carried babies in their arms they had recently given birth to in Libyan detention centres.

Even if their birthing suites amounted to the ship’s hard floors with plastic crates as cots, the successful deliveries that night brought a shimmer of light to dark two days—10,500 migrants had been picked up in the Mediterranean and a total of 50 corpses discovered.

For relief workers, delivering newborns alive and healthy is such a powerful experience that the European Union rebaptised its anti-trafficking operation in the Mediterranean Sophia in tribute to a Somali girl born in August 2015 on a German ship.

A baby born aboard the Aquarius in 2017 became the inspiration behind this year’s French Eurovision entry, simply called “Mercy.”

And the tributes go both ways.

Stephanie chose to name her girl Francesca after Pope Francis while lit-

tle Desire Alex, born on the NGO boat Aquarius in 2016, was named after the ship’s captain.

Citizenship dead-end But even if the 35 babies born aboard Mediterranean rescue vessels in recent years defy the odds to make it safely to Europe, their ordeal is just getting started.

According to maritime law, children born at sea are considered nationals of the ship’s flag carrier: Italy for Francesca, Germany for Sophia, the United Kingdom for Mercy.

But in these countries, restrictive citizenship laws mean the babies are not entitled to a European passport.

Upon arrival in Italy, their unusual birth affords them no special treatment and they often get lost among the masses.

Mercy and her mother were taken to Mineo reception centre in Sicily, the largest in Europe and long dogged by scandals of embezzlement and trafficking.

It still houses nearly 3,000 people who sometimes wait years for an answer to their asylum applications.

Little Francesca, and two others, Newman and Favor, born on the Aquarius in 2016, were luckier: their parents were taken in by smaller centres which offered legal support, Italian courses and independent accommodation.

On the advice of German sailors, Sophia’s mother continued her journey and was granted asylum in Germany.

They all share the same hope: that their children can go to school and grow up to live a life less precarious than their birth. AFP

who demonstrated anything other than enthusiasm for the president’s policies.

Wilson even proposed outlawing criticism of the government. He ended his presidency crippled by a stroke but hanging onto power by deceiving the public.”

To Bandow, Theodore Roosevelt “was a complex and fascinating man, but his appetite for war was probably unmatched by any other president. The specific opponent didn’t matter—over the years he advocated conflict with Britain, Germany, and Spain. Rather, he believed in war as a matter of principle.

His view of non-Western peoples was disgraceful. His interventionist economics ultimately made the economy less, not more, competitive.”

On the other hand, “Truman is im-

pressive only insofar as he rose above the worst sort of machine politics with a performance adequate to avoid disaster in the dangerous post-World War II era.

But his international policies exacerbated the Cold War, yielding the national security state and outsized military that plague us to this day. His mistakes in Korea turned a small regional conflict into a lengthy war with China. Constitutional limits did not deter him, as exhibited by his attempted seizure of the steel industry. His domestic policies were marked by inefficient economic intervention.”

Polk was “an unabashed imperialist.

He initiated what was, truth be told, a war of aggression against Mexico that led to the seizure of half of that nation’s

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

The horrible Iran nuclear deal intention to annihilate the Jewish state for decades. There were no massive “Death to America” demonstrations in Germany as there regularly are in Iran.

ERIC In 1938, Germany had not been responJURADO sible for terror around the world as Iran is now. Nor was Germany responsible for the death of more than a thousand WHAT is evil?

We say that evil is dark. But this met- Americans as Iran has been—in Iraq, aphor is imprecise. Evil is actually in- Afghanistan, and Lebanon.

The Neville Chamberlains of 2015 tensely bright. So painfully bright that people look away from it. Many even defend the agreement with Iran on two grounds—that the only alternative is deny its existence.

Why? Because once people acknowl- war and that this agreement has the caedge evil’s existence, they know that pacity to bring Iran into the “commuthey have to confront it. And most peo- nity of nations.”

The war argument is a falsehood. For ple prefer not to confront evil.

That is what led to World War II and three reasons.

First, the alternative to this agreethe death of 55-million people. Many in the West denied the darkness of Na- ment was continuing and tightening zism. They looked the other way when the sanctions that were weakening the that evil could have been stopped, and Iranian regime and greatly diminishing then appeased it as it became stronger. its ability to fund terror groups around We are reliving 1938, the year that the world. Second, because the agreedemocratic Western nations assured a ment so strengthens Iran, it makes war police state, the Nazi regime, that they far more likely. When evil, expansionist regimes get would do nothricher, they don’t ing to prevent its spend their wealth expansion. That on building new year, the British The war argument is hospitals. They Prime Minister, expand.

Third, Neville Chamber- a falsehood.

Iran has been at lain, went to Muwar with America nich to negotiate for decades. with Adolf Hitler.

And whoever He left believing Hitler’s promises of peace in exchange believes that the agreement will bring for Germany being allowed to annex Iran into the “community of nations” large parts of Czechoslovakia. Upon betrays a breath-taking ignorance of returning to England, Chamberlain an- the Iranian regime.

The Iranian regime is composed of nounced “Peace for our time.”

The 2015 agreement between Amer- religious fanatics who are morally inica, Europe, Russia, China and Iran, distinguishable from ISIS, Al Qaida, Boko Haram, and all the other mass mirrors 1938.

The Nazi regime was a police state. murdering Islamist movements.

The Iranian regime has executed The Islamic Republic of Iran is a police state. The Nazis’ greatest aim was to more people than any country except exterminate the Jews of Europe. Iran’s China and killed more than 6,000 Iragreatest aim is to exterminate the Jew- nians just for being homosexual. A ish state. The West dismissed Hitler as woman in Iran is not allowed to leave the Jews’ problem. The West dismisses the country without the permission of Iran as Israel’s problem. Nazi Germany her husband.

The Iranian regime repeatedly calls hated the West and its freedoms. The Islamic Republic of Iran hates the West for the extermination of Israel. No othand its freedoms. Germany sought to er country in the world is committed to dominate Europe. Iran seeks to domi- annihilating another country.

Iran is already the world’s greatest nate the Middle East and the Muslim funder of terror organizations. Imagine world.

And just as Britain and France ap- what it will do with another 150 billion peased Nazi Germany, the same two dollars. Imagine what it will do with countries along with the United States the removal of the current weapons and missile embargo. Imagine what it will have chosen to appease Iran.

In fact, there is considerably less de- do with its intact nuclear infrastrucfense for the Iran agreement—which ture. This deal allows all three.

Very few people have a chance to do awards Iran 150 billion dollars in currently frozen assets and the right to something about the greatest evil of keep its nuclear program—than there their time. President Trump saw that was for the Munich agreement. Prior chance and courageously took it when to 1938, Hitler had not publicly pro- he announced on Tuesday that the Unitclaimed his aim to annihilate Europe’s ed States will withdraw from the Iran Jews. Yet, Iran has been proclaiming its nuclear deal.

FROM WHERE I STAND

She’s...

From A4

Korean Leader Kim Jung-Un is set sometime this month. The venue is still not fixed because it has to be a neutral territory where the Korean leader’s aging private plane can fly to. The Russian-made plane of Kim cannot fly too far. Thus, Mongolia and Singapore are being considered for the summit venue. This comes after Pyongyang’s release of three Americans this week. The prisoners who are of Korean descent were accused of spying. They were sentenced to hard labor in a prison camp notorious for abysmal conditions.

The Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas was the venue for the recent meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

A fruitful meeting between Trump and Kim could result in the US lifting economic sanctions against North Korea which has managed to survive because of foreign aid

Mother’s...

From A4

I will thank God on Sunday for a mother who drilled into us that faith was our lifeline, and who instilled in us reliance on the never-failing help of God. She raised us in the love of the Blessed Virgin. Visits to Piat were always special occasions for her—as they are for us now, and she never wanted to be late for Mass. Once I had to caution her against rushing into the Church—because she did not want to be

territory. He was frugal when it came to economics, but his belief that territorial expansion warranted war was more befitting a twentieth-century dictator. Today we can thank him for the addition of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas; the people subjugated by US troops probably had a different view, however.”

In contrast, writes Bandow, “Eisenhower, who ended the Korean War, warned against militarism, and moderated domestic federal expenditures, is judged to be merely average. At least he now comes in better than he did in 1962—an embarrassing 22nd out of 31.”

“Calvin Coolidge, who presided over prosperity and peace, is rated below average. He had no grand initiatives, since

from China. While the end of trade embargo would ease tension in the Korean Peninsula, there is still the problem of China’s aggression in the South China Sea territorial dispute. Trump warned China that its continued militarization of the various rocks, reefs and shoals turned into artificial islands would have “serious consequences.”

This an implication the US might finally use military force to dismantle those military bases China built.

The deployment of Chinese missile launchers in the West Philippine Sea is the latest provocation that China may be triggering the outbreak of World War III. A miscalculation in the airspace over the South China Sea and its waters could be the spark to ignite a China-US encounter.

Restraint must be exercised by both sides to prevent the powder keg situation from exploding.

Another global row is building up between the US and Iran after Trump threatened to revoke a nuclear deal signed by former President Barack Obama with Tehran. late for the entrance procession.

I will miss Mommy very, very much on Mother’s Day. Not a day passes that I do not miss her. But I will also thank God for having sent her into my life— into our lives, and for the wonderful gift that she was to Daddy, to the three of us and to her grandchildren and their mom all these decades. Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy! rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

there was no cause for grand initiatives.

But to establishment historians, leaving the American people alone is considered to be a sign of mediocrity, not greatness.”

“Warren Harding, whose associates were notoriously corrupt, is termed a failure. But it was Harding who restored civil liberties after the repressive Wilson era. He also kept America aloof from France’s vindictive post-World War I policies and presided over a strong economy. This is a better record than that amassed by most of the supposed greats and near greats.”

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Sandiganbayan denies Napoles jail transfer bid

Chinese envoy promises more grants to PH

By Maricel V. Cruz

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera

THE Sandiganbayan Third Division has denied the request of Janet Lim-Napoles to be transferred to a safehouse of the Department of Justice's Witness Protection Program from a regular jail in Taguig City.

The court said the DOJ-WPP's implementing rules prohibits the transfer of a detainee who is already under the jurisdiction of a court.

However, the court agreed with the stand of newly-appointed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who said that provisional coverage does not give Napoles the privilege of staying with the DoJ. “Significantly, in his manifestation in lieu of comment, DoJ Secretary Guevarra expressly states that the provisional coverage of accused Napoles under the WPP does not confer upon her an actionable right to demand detention or custody under the said program, and that the fact that she is under detention pursuant to a process by the Court, would be taken into consideration in the final resolution of accused Napoles’s application for coverage under the WPP,” the court said in its resolution dated May 3.

The anti-graft court also asserted jurisdiction over Napoles and said it may only lose her if she were declared a state witness in her pending case.

There is also no valid reason for Napoles to be transferred to the DoJ for fear of her security after a surprise raid of the BJMP, which turned out to be legitimate inspection, the court said.

“However, in her comment on the subject motion, the said warden, on behalf of the BJMP, assured the court that they shall continue to fulfill their responsibility over accused Napoles should the court deny the subject motion,” the court said.

The anti-graft court's resolution came after the court's First and Divisions which handle the two other non-bailable plunder cases of Napoles made a similar ruling.

CHINESE Ambassador to the Philippines His Excellency Zhao Jinhua vowed to push for more grants for the country for more projects that the Republic of China and the Philippines can jointly explore.

In an interview with the media here after the groundbreaking ceremony of the Barangay Callawa Water System Project donated by the Chinese government through Ambassador Zhao, the envoy said that there are more projects in the country that the Chinese government agreed to support.

“There are several infrastructure projects that we are considering to finance, to undertake in the following years,” Zhao said.

Zhao said that the ¥500 million that President Rodrigo Duterte received when he went to China last month is not enough to finance all the infrastructure projects that his office would like to support.

Some of the projects that the Chinese government will be funding are a new bridge in Davao River, school buildings and many more.

“The money that President Duterte received might cover some of the infrastructure projects but it will not be enough because the ¥500 million will also cover other projects.

“I’m pushing and I hope I can be successful for a new amount of additional grants to cover the projects that we have promised and also some other projects to be presented by the Filipino side,” Zhao said.

Zhao, however, refused to divulge the amount of the additional grant that he is pushing for the Philippines.

One of the big projects that the People’s Republic of China has vowed to support is the 1.5 kilometers Davao City to Island Garden City of Samal bridge that will attract more local and foreign tourists.

Zhao said that they are now pushing for the feasibility study and design that will be approved by National Economic and Development Authority and Investment Coordinating Committee.

Honest BI officer returns money

By Vito Barcelo AN HONEST immigration officer returned US$10,000 in cash which is equivalent to half a million pesos which was left behind by a passenger at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said on Thursday.

The money has yet to be claimed by a still unidentified passenger who might have already left the country, the BI chief said.

The honest BI employee, Bernadette Velasquez, BI collecting officer at the Naia Terminal 3, was commended for her honest deed.

Morente said Velasquez’s act of returning such large amount of money impressed him so much as “it proved once again that the BI is not bereft of men and women who are incorruptible even if they are experiencing financial difficulties.”

Velasquez reportedly returned the money to her superiors a day after she discovered the hundred pieces of 100 US dollar bills inside a brown envelope which the owner left in front of her counter at around 9 p.m. on May 4.

In her report, Velasquez recalled how she could not sleep that night as she was in a quandary on what to do with the money which do not belong to her.

She recounted that she even called the attention of an Indian passenger who had just paid his fees at her counter to ask if the envelope belonged to him but the latter disowned it.

Velasquez then sought the advice of her former superior in Batangas who then suggested that she call her duty supervisor that night to inform her about the incident.

Upon instruction of BI port operations chief Marc Red Mariñas, the supervisor reportedly told Velasquez to keep the money for the time being as the owner might show up to claim the money.

FVR’S EX-CABINET. Former President Fidel V. Ramos hosted a luncheon meeting and get together of his former Cabinet secretaries at his RPDEV office in Makati City that all but brought golden memories of the high-octane performance and public service of the six-year Ramos presidency. Among those present include former Environment Secretary Victor Ramos (who was quizzed on Boracay), Tourism's Mina Gabor (who was teased for not being considered as new tourism chief), Francisco ‘Sonny’ Viray (Energy), CSC Chief Corazon Alma de Leon, Presidential Liaison Ching Montinola, Erlinda Perfianco, Milwida Guevarra (Finance), among others. At 90, FVR still keeps a busy schedule and with the recent poll victory of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at age 92, the world's oldest elected leader, talk of the elder statesman taking a major role once again crops up.

Du30 acts on retirees’ plea to stop pension deductions Don’t joke about bombs at airports, P

By Francisco Tuyay

Naia warns

By Joel E. Zurbano

AIRPORT and airline authorities called on the public to be wary of bomb pranks and warned that making bomb joke is punishable by law.

On Thursday, flag carrier Philippine Airlines announced it will file a criminal complaint against a passenger of a PAL Dumaguete-Manila flight who made a bomb joke when the passengers were about to board the aircraft that resulted in the flight delay for four hours.

Ma. Cielo Villaluna, head of PAL Corporate Communications Department and spokesperson, said the airline will file a case against a passenger, whose name was temporarily withheld, for violation of Presidential Decree 1727 (False Bomb Threat) which punishes, among others, malicious dissemination of false information knowing the same to be false.

Villaluna said the airline management cautions the public against making bomb jokes. She added such action results in grave inconvenience to the flight, its passengers and succeeding flight services.

Under the law, anyone circulating hoax warnings through email and text messages can be held criminally liable as it constitutes a willful dissemination of false information which is punishable by law.

The perpetrator of the hoax could also be charged with unlawful rumor mongering and even those who apologize for circulating the hoax can still be held liable.

Part of the security measure at the airports is the inspection of luggage while passengers undergoes rigid body frisking in a bid that no firearms or explosives might be brought inside the airport undetected.

In 2007, actor John Estrada was briefly held at the airport in General Santos City for joking that he was carrying a bomb in his bag.

Estrada was about to fly back to Manila via a Philippine Airlines flight when the incident happened. He was released and allowed to board the plane after his baggage was thoroughly inspected.

Police said Estrada apologized later and told them he had learned his lesson not to joke about bombs in airports.

Also in September 2016, a 34-year-old air cargo employee at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was arrested for joking that he was carrying a bomb inside his car.

EU envoy Jessen pays tribute to PH National Artist F. Sionil Jose

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan EUROPEAN Union Ambassador Franz Jessen paid tribute to one of the country's living literary treasures, National Artist for Literature, F. Sionil José, at the Europe Day reception on Wednesday night, by conferring an award of distinction for strengthening cultural links between the EU and the Philippines to José.

In his speech, Jessen said that José has contributed significantly in bringing Filipinos and Europeans closer through his acclaimed writings, and he continues to bring hope and light to an increasingly complex world.

The award given to José also marks the celebration of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage.

Accepting the award, José, for his part, thanked Jessen and the EU and dedicating the plaque to his fellow writers or novelist during his generation.

“I am not going to be coy about it. I’m 93 years old and after all these many years of hardwork, I know I deserve this award,” José said.

“It’s not only I who deserves it, however. There are others in my generation who do—Nick Joaquin and Salvador Lopez and beyond them—the Spanish writer of the early 1900s, Rafael Palma, to Marcelo del Pilar and most of all Jose Rizal. I also add to this distinguished list our vernacular writers, who like most of us were rooted in the profound humanist tradition of the West,” he added.

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has acted on the appeal of Philippine National Police retirees to stop the automatic loan deductions on their monthly pensions.

lnterior department officer-in-charge Eduardo Año and PNP chief Oscar Albayalde vowed to stop the illegal loan payment.

The President’s swift action came a week after a group of PNP retirees aired their appeal to stop the Automatic Pension Deduction Scheme which is being collected by the PNP-accredited multi-purpose cooperatives and savings and loan Associations.

Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go said the issue on the loan deductions was tackled during the joint command conference of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Malacañang on Tuesday.

At least 74 PNP officers complained that six multi-purpose cooperatives had imposed excessive interest rates on monthly automatic loan payments, which former PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa earlier ordered to be terminated.

But despite Dela Rosa’s order, the deductions continues to this day, the retirees claimed.

The retirees identified the cooperatives as the Government Civil Servants MultiPurpose Cooperative, Yaman at Kabuhayan ng Kawal at Pulis Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Finance Family Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Kooperatiba ng Pulis at Sundalo Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Pulis Kapit Bisig Multi-Purpose Cooperative, and Tagapagtaguyod Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

The complaints came from both retired and active PNP personnel, mostly from Mindanao, 20 of whom hold the rank of Police Officer 3, while 16 are PO2s, The retirees previously said that “this flagrant abuse of the PNP’s system for automatic deductions has gone on for too long. It has placed is and our families in serious financial distress since these savings and loan associations [SLAs] impose excessive interest rate and prolonged term of loan payment.”

While the PNP continues with its automatic deductions, the retirees said the practice of automatically deducting from pension has already been declared illegal by no less than the Department of Justice.

In fact, in June 2017, the Department of Justice released an opinion clearly stating that the governing charter of SLAs, Republic Act 836 does not authorize the PNP to deduct from retiree pensions.

After the matter reached the President’s office, Go said that Año and Albayalde vowed to stop the illegal loan payment.

“Nangako si Secretary Año at si General Albayalde na titingnan nila ito at iyong mga iligal na pagkaltas. Hindi na mangyayari ito. Iyong legitimate lang na finance institutions lang ang puwedeng magbawas at sisiguraduhin nila na may matatanggap pa rin na minimum [na sahod] iyong pulis,” Go said in a radio interview.

ELECTION-READY. The Manila Electric Co. said that it has prepared its 500 crews, more than 180 generator sets, and 300 floodlights to provide power and lighting to polling and canvassing centers that might be affected by unexpected power interruptions for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. In line with this, Meralco also reminded those who will be manning the polling and canvassing centers to avoid plugging in unnecessary appliances to avoid unnecessary overloading and octopus wiring. Meralco assistant vice president and Public Information Office head Joe Zaldarriaga (third from left) and Vice President and Head of Home and Micro Business-South Business Area Ferdinand Geluz (far right) present to the media the generator sets and floodlights that will be deployed on May 14. For any election-related concerns or inquiries, Meralco advised the public to call its Halalan Hotline Number: 632-8118 and text SMS Textlines: Text “HLLN (space) Message” at 0920-9716211 (Smart), 0917-5516211 (Globe), or 0925-7716211 (Sun).

‘No more expiry for prepaid load’ THE House of Representatives will soon prohibit expiration period for prepaid load.

This as the House committee on information and technology, chaired by Victor Yap of Tarlac, formed a technical working group to consolidate nine bills which proposes to put an end to the practice of telecom firms of imposing expiration period in prepaid loads.

The nine bills were House Bills 2333, 2447, 2604, 2872, 3268, 4654, and 5109 authored by Reps. Carlos Cojuangco, Arthur Yap, Vilma Santos-Recto, Victor Yap, Carmelo Lazatin, Winston Castelo, and Bernadette Herrera-Dy, respectively.

The bills proposes to prohibit, with corresponding penalties, the act of setting expiration periods on the validity of prepaid phone load cards.

At the same time, the measures disallow forfeiture of unused load credits on an active pre-paid phone account via pre-paid call and text card or electronic transfer.

The bills also prescribe that telecom firms could no longer refuse to give a refund to any pre-paid subscriber whose load credits were forfeited without any valid cause.

In December last year, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the National Telecommunications Commission and the Department of Trade and Industry issued a joint memorandum extending the validity of prepaid loads for one year regardless of the amount.

Before this, validity period of prepaid phone load depends on the amount purchased.

But the DICT agreed to delay the implementation of one-year expiration for prepaid load worth less than P300 to give more time for telecommunication companies to adjust to the new regulation. Maricel V. Cruz

Gov’t opens employment for displaced Bora workers THE government said on Wednesday that residents of Boracay Island are eligible to apply for the cash-for-work program through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The workers who were displaced by the closure of the world-class tourist destination may now apply for labor or office work at the DSWD. According to DSWD OIC Secretary Emmanuel Leyco, the agency adjusted its guidelines for the program, specifically amending the rate of financial assistance.

“The lack of economic activities and employment opportunities aggravates their condition and increases their vulnerability to the social ills created by poverty, and we cannot allow this to happen,” Leyco said.

“The increased rate of assistance is meant to help alleviate the economic difficulties of Filipinos affected by the Boracay closure,”

he added.

Previously, the rate of assistance for the program stood at 75 percent of the regional wage rate. DSWD amended the guidelines for beneficiaries to receive 100 percent of the regional minimum wage, which currently stands at P323.50 a day.

Boracay Island was officially closed from tourists starting April 26. As businesses depended heavily on tourism, many of them had to close down during the closure period, which, in turn, displaced thousands of workers.

Displaced workers can apply for either labor or office work for 30 days, and could work as part of clearing operations, facility repair, planting trees, cleaning, and other similar work. DSWD will provide protective gear and tools for those participating under hazardous activities.

They may also apply for technical or of-

fice work; assisting in profiling tasks, preparing reports, disbursing payment operations, camp management, and operations center work, among others.

Under the guidelines, eligible to apply for the DSWD's employment program include displaced workers; those who had to return to their home provinces; those who were transferred employment; and those who migrated to other provinces.

Interested applicants may visit the DSWD Operations Center in Faith Village in Boracay.

Meanwhile, Leyco said those who were transferred or had to go back to their home provinces can visit the DSWD field office in their region to seek assistance.

As of Monday, May 7, the social welfare department has assisted 5,244 displaced workers, disbursing a total of P12.64 million since April 23.

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Favorites hold sway in age-group chess meet

Cauley-Stein, Swoopes to visit Jr NBA camp THE National Basketball Association announced today that Willie CauleyStein of the Sacramento Kings and former WNBA player and Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes will travel to Manila to help coach the finalists of the 2018 Jr. NBA Philippines presented by Alaska program.

National Training Camp featuring the top 75 boys and girls aged 10 to 14 will be conducted at the Don Bosco Technical Institute May 19 and at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on May 20.

Cauley-Stein and Swoopes will help identify the top eight boys and eight girls to be named as 2018 Jr. NBA Philippines All-Stars and serve as coaches at the Jr. NBA Alumni All-Star Game.

The 2018 All-Stars will travel to Shanghai in October to attend NBA China Games 2018, featuring the Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks.

“Filipinos are among the most passionate basketball fans in the world and I’m eager to work with these dedicated young players who have earned the right to be chosen as Jr. NBA All-Stars,” said Cauley-Stein.

“I’m excited to share my basketball knowledge and help the kids become the best version of themselves on and off the court.”

“Participating in sports and having proper nutrition are both integral parts of a child’s holistic development as it touches on physical, emotional and mental well-being,” said Swoopes.

“Through the Jr. NBA program, I look forward to this opportunity to contribute to our goal of getting more kids, especially girls, to play the game of basketball and help them understand how working hard on their craft in the same way it opened doors for my career, can unlock greater opportunities in life.”

Cauley-Stein, selected 6th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft, was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2016. He averaged 12.8 points, 7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game with the Kings this season.

Swoopes, signed by the Houston Comets during the 1997 WNBA season, is a four-time WNBA Champion, six-time WNBA AllStar, three-time WNBA MVP and an Olympic gold medalist. Named as part of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of All Time, Swoopes spent 12 seasons in the WNBA with the Houston Comets, Seattle Storm and Tulsa Shock prior to being inducted into the Naismith Memorial and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

RED BULL REIGN. Members of the Bull Squad celebrate their title conquest during last year’s Red Bull Reign. A high-endurance, offense-driven 3x3 basketball tournament that invites the world’s top ballers to battle it out for the chance to compete at the World Finals in Washington, DC, USA, Red Bull Reign, which is the only open international 3x3 basketball in the world, returns to Manila this June. The up-coming, second annual Red Bull Reign will be under the supervision of tournament director, Vince Hizon, and sports consultant, Al Delos Reyes. The first Manila Qualifier will be held on June 16 at the Buendia Food by the Court, while the second one will be on June 23 at the Taft Food by the Court, which will also host the last qualifier and the finals on June 30. For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/redbullreignph

Asian Bowling champion grabs lead in PBF tourney H USSAIN Alsuwaidi, a six-time Asian Bowling Federation Tour champion, seized control of the men’s open qualifying pool for foreign bowlers yesterday at the 2nd PBF Pagcor Philippine International Open.

The 2006 Asian Games double gold medalist rolled 1494 to move ahead of the field that included big names in the Asian circuit such as Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong (1477), Hassan Alshiekh of Saudi Arabia (1468), Australian Sam Cooley (1462) and Hong Kong’s Michael Mak (1375).

The top 6 foreign bowlers after the qualifying rounds of the tournament backed by Cafe Puro, Smart Communications and Boysen Paints will advance to the finals along with the best six Filipinos in the men’s division led by defending champion Kenneth Chua’s 1522.

Cebuano Jomar Jumapao, the first local

bowler to reach a record 1500 series early this week, maintained his stature at 1520 followed by junior ace Kenzo Umali (1497), JP Macatula (1476), Paulo Valdez (1467), RJ Bautista (1455) and Merwin Tan (1434).

The 27-year-old Alsuwaidi, the recent Arab Championships Trios gold medalist, compiled a series of 748 and 746 at the Coronado Lanes at Starmall, Mandaluyong City, showing no trace of slowing down despite taking a break from the sport for almost a year.

Wu, who checked in fifth the other day, improved from 1416 as the bowling star from Hong Kong flexed his might after

capturing the gold medal in the men’s trios of the 2017 World Championships.

“With the high-level competition, we really expect the scores to be high,’’ said Philippine Bowling Federation secretary general and bowling great Bong Coo. “This tournament serves as the gauge if we can go toe to toe with Asia’s top bowlers in the coming Asian Games, especially in the men’s division,’’ added Coo, a four-time World Champion and the country’s most bemedalled athlete.

In the women’s open foreign qualifying round, Uella Marcial of United Arab Emirates and Linda Grzybowska of Malaysia braced themselves for an all-out clash with top Filipino bowlers led by World Cup champion Krizziah Lyn Tabora, defending champion Lara Posadas, Alexis Sy, Rachelle Leon, Liza Del Rosario, Bea Hernandez and Dyan Coronacion.

DANIEL Quizon and Kylen Joy Mordido headed the other 2017 ASEAN Age Group Chess Championships, playing the pacesetter roles after the halfway mark of the National Age Group Chess Championships at Governors’ Hall, Roxas City, Capiz.

Quizon, who scooped five gold medals and a silver in the AAGCC and the silver in last month’s Asian Youth Chess Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, was a point ahead of the opposition in U20 boys.

A five-gold and a silver medal winner in the AAGCC herself, Mordido had a half-point edge over her closest pursuer in the U20 girls.

Michael Concio, also a fivegold and silver medal winner in the AAGCC, and Jerlyn San Diego, who swept all six gilts in her category in the AAGCC and PSA awardee, nursed a half-point advantage in the U14 boys and girls, respectively.

Al-basher Buto, another PSA awardee and AAGCC five-gold and silver medalist, dictated the tempo in the U8 boys of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines-organized championships sponsored by Capiz Provincial Government under Gov. Antonio del Rosario and Philippine Sports Commission.

Ruelle Canino, another AAGCC sixgold medalist, was on top of the heap in the U10 girls.

Quizon, Mordido, Concio and San Diego belong to the pool of players maintained by Dasmariñas City Mayor Elpidio Barzaga, while Buto is from Cainta, Rizal and Canino from Cagayan de Oro. Other leaders included: U18- Aeron Keife Sinining (boys) and Vic Glysen de Rotas; U16- Jarvey Labanda and Jarel Renz Lacambra; U12- Allan Gabriel Hilario and Queen Rose Pamplona; U10Cyrus James Damiray; and U8- Maria Teresa Lumancas.

All eyes on Smart Candy in 1st leg of Triple Crown ALL eyes will be on SC Stockfarm’s Smart Candy when the 1st leg of the most prestigious racing extravaganza for three-year-old horses— the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom)-backed Triple Crown series erupts Sunday at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

From among the seven-horse cast, Smart Candy looks primed up for its biggest win yet after two scintillating

triumphs in Philracom’s 3YO Stakes Race series early this year.

Smart Candy,with jockey Kevin Abobo as jockey, scored a sweet and emphatic win in the second leg of the 3YO series, ruling the 1,500-meter race eight lengths over her closest pursuer last March, before proving her staying power in the longer 1,600-meter third leg by fending off the spirited late charge of the field to

George Raquidan, Victorious Colt of Antonio Zialcita and Herminio Esguerra’s Wonderland and Speedmatic, whose most memorable triumph came in the 3rd leg of the Philracom’s Juvenile Colts/ Fillies Stakes Races late last year.

Also highly anticipated on Sunday is the P1-million 2018 Philracom Hopeful Stakes Race and the 3YO Locally Bred Stakes Race, which offers P500,000 in guaranteed prizes.

win by a length a month later.

Smart Candy will be trying to duplicate the feat of its SC Stockfarm stablemate Sepfourteen, who swept the three legs of the Triple Crown series last year, a feat that crowned the then 3YO colt the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s 2017 Horse of the Year.

Standing in Smart Candy’s way are its stablemate Box Office, Misha of Leonardo Javier Jr., Talitha Koum of

Robert Francis Edward E. Jabson Robert Francis Edward Peacefully joined His E. Jabson Creator on March 17, 2018 Peacefully joined His at the age of 59.

Creator on March 17, 2018 He survived at theisage of 59. by his children Coco and Judy; He is survived byTintin his daughter-in-law children Coco and Judy; Sumo; Son-in-law PJ daughter-in-law Tintin San Juan; and grandkids Sumo; Son-in-law PJ Dominic and Nicole San Juan; and grandkids Jabson.

Dominic and Nicole His were Jabson. remains cremated in Evergreen His remains were Pasig on March 22, 2018 cremated in Evergreen and was interred on the Pasig on 22, Pasig 2018 same dayMarch at the and wasCemetery. interred on the Catholic same day at (MS-MAY the 11, Pasig 2018 Catholic Cemetery.

(MS-MAY 11, 2018

Budba bowlers sweep keg titles

UTP president Jean Henri Lhuillier (third from right) is shown with (from left) Team coach Karl Sta. Maria; UTP co-founder Randy Villanueva; UTP general manager Jackie Tomacruz; team coach Jun Tabura; national junior tennis team members Stephen Guia, Pherl Coderos, Denis Bernardo, Anna De Myer and Marc Suson; UTP co-founder Gerard Maronilla; and team coach Roland Kraut.

UTP national team joins Malaysian tilt UNIFIED Tennis Philippines has formed its first-ever national junior tennis team, which will represent the country in several top tournaments sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation and the Asian Tennis Federation.

The UTP national junior tennis team is composed of 24 tennis players—top four boys and girls from the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 categories which were selected based on UTP’s national ranking system and over 125 UTP sanctioned tournaments all over the country.

The U14 players are John David Velez, Brent Sigmond Cortez, Rainier Angelo Selmar, Rupert Ohrelle Tortal, Macie Carlos, Alexa Joy Milliam, Casey Padilla, and Alexandra Eala who bagged the top spot in the prestigious Les Petit 14 and Under European Championships in France, while the U16 players are Michael Francis Eala, Stephen Zion Guia, John David Velez, Laurenz Quitara, Rovie Baulete, Anna Laura De Myer, Pherl Bless Cordero, and Denise Bernardo.

Meanwhile, the U18 players are Manuel Balce III, Marc Nicole Suson, Arthur Craig

Pantino who clinched an international doubles title in the Hong Kong ITF Juniors Tournament, Michael Francis Eala who made it to quarterfinal round at the China Junior in Chengdu, Bea Francesca Acena, Elizabeth Abarquez, Melanie Faye Dizon, and Mary Aubrey Calma.

Already, five players in the national junior tennis team—Stephen Guia, Marc Suson, Pherl Coderos, Anna De Myer, and Denis Bernardo— are competing in the 10th ITF Malacca International Junior Championship in Malaysia.

“I am very thankful to UTP for the chance to play in the ITF International Junior Championship in Malaysia. This is my first time to compete abroad and I am very excited,” said Anna De Myer.

“I would like to congratulate all of you for being the first team to represent our organization in an international event. Not many people are given the chance to play abroad.

You guys earned the right to go, so take advantage of that and seize the moment. This is your chance to excel,” said UTP president Jean Henri Lhuillier, who is also president and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier.

BUDBA DM-Bowlers dominated the recent 43rd Grand National duckpin bowling championships by winning the men’s and singles team crowns at the Marketplace Center along Kalentong St., Mandaluyong City.

BDBA’s Ariel Macatangay and D’Friendly’s Bella Silbol shared the honors by bagging the men’sand ladies’ singles titles, respectively.

BUDBA DM-Bowlers subdued Mandaluyong Tiger Gem, 320-303, in the men’s finals while the BUDBA DM belles whipped La Union Duckpinners, 300-293.

BIDBA KELSEY and Mandaluyong Tiger NBI landed third in the men’s and ladies’ divisions, respectively.

Macatangay beat BIDBA’s Floyd San Jose, 235-199, to bag the men’s singles plum after knocking out Francis Tagura, 126-199, while Silbol toppled UPDBC’s Mai Acido, 202-189, after hurdling Shaira Reyes, 133-115.

The week-long kegfest was organized

by PHIDBC (Philippine Duckpin Bowling Council} headed by Inez Magbual and supported by San Miguel Corporation, Philippine Olympic Committee, Beth Pagkalinawan and Mr. and Mrs. Manny Manuesca.

LOTTO RESULTS

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 6 DIGITS 00-00-00-00-00-00 3 DIGITS 00-00-00 2 EZ2 00-00

In The Name Of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful OFMost THEGracious PHILIPPINES In TheREPUBLIC Name Of Allah Most Merciful AUTONOMOUS REGION IN PHILIPPINES MUSLIM MINDANAO REPUBLIC OF THE PROVINCIALREGION GOVERNMENT OF BASILAN AUTONOMOUS IN MUSLIM MINDANAO PROVINCIAL OF BASILAN BIDS ANDGOVERNMENT AWARDSCOMMITTEE ProvincialBIDS CapitolAND Bldg.,AWARDSCOMMITTEE Isabela City, Basilan Province, 7300 Provincial Capitol Bldg.,(InvItatIon IsabelatoCity, BId) Basilan Province, 7300 for

(InvItatIon to BMATERIALS Id) SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF CONSTRUCTION FOR THE REPAIR AND for IMPROVEMENT (PAVE SHOULDER) OF LANOTE-BUSAY ROAD, and FOR THE REPAIR AND SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FOR THE REPAIR AND IMPROVEMENT (PAVE SHOULDER) BLISS- LANOTEROAD, both ISABELA CITY, BASILAN IMPROVEMENT (PAVE SHOULDER) OF LANOTE-BUSAY ROAD, and FOR THE REPAIR AND PROVINCE. IMPROVEMENT (PAVE SHOULDER) BLISS- LANOTE- ROAD, both ISABELA CITY, BASILAN Under BaC PUBLICatIon 05-005-2018 PROVINCE. 1.

The Provincial Government Basilan, through the05-005-2018 20% Development Fund of the province1 Underof BaC PUBLICatIon intends to apply the sum of Sixteen Million Seven Hundred Thirty Seven Thousand Four Hundred 1. Sixty The Provincial Basilan, throughbeing the 20% Fundfor of the Eight and Government 100/35 Pesosof(P16,737,468.35) the Development Approved Budget the province Contract1 intendstoto payments apply the sum of Sixteen Million Seven Hundred Thirty Seven Thousand FourMaterials Hundred (ABC) under the contract for Supply and Delivery of Construction Sixtythe Eight and and 100/35 Pesos (P16,737,468.35) being the Approved for the Contract for Repair Improvement (PaveShoulder) Lanote –Busay Budget Road and Repair and (ABC) to payments the contract for Supply and of Construction Materials Improvement (Paveunder (Shoulder) of Bliss-Lanote road,Delivery both Isabela City, Basilan.

Bids for the Repair and (PaveShoulder) Lanoteat–Busay Road and Repair and received in excess of Improvement the ABC shall be automatically rejected bid opening.

Improvement (Pave (Shoulder) of Bliss-Lanote road, both Isabela City, Basilan. Bids Approved Budget for received in excess of the Name ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. of Contract the Contract Approved Budget for a) Supply and Delivery of Constructions Materials for the Repair/Improvement(Pave Name of Contract the Contract Shoulder) of Lanote –Busay road, Isabela City Basilan and Blis-Lanote a) Supply and 1.

DeliveryPR ofNo.097-2018 Constructionsdated Materials Repair/Improvement(Pave April for 10,the 2018 P5,707,533.25 Shoulder) of2.LanotePR –Busay road, Isabela Basilan and Blis-Lanote No.098-2018 datedCity April 10, 2018 2,664,582.71 Aprilfor 10,the 2018 P5,707,533.25 b) Supply and 1.

DeliveryPR of No.097-2018 Constructionsdated Materials Repair/Improvement(Pave 2.

PR No.098-2018 dated April 10, 2018 2,664,582.71 Shoulder) of Bliss- Lanote road, Isabela City Basilan b) Supply and 3.

DeliveryPR ofNo.01100-2018 Constructions Materials for12, the2018 Repair/Improvement(Pave dated April P5,701,943.70 Shoulder) of4.Bliss- Lanote road, Isabeladated City Basilan PR No.0101-2018 April 12, 2018 2,663,408.69 3.

PR No.01100-2018 dated April 12, 2018 P5,701,943.70 Total……………

P16,737,468.35 4.

PR No.0101-2018 dated April 12, 2018 2,663,408.69 2.

The Provincial Government of Basilan, now invites bids for Supply and Delivery of Construction Total……………

P16,737,468.35 Materials for the Repair and Improvement (Pave Shoulder) of Lanote-Busay road and for the 2. Repair The Provincial Government of Basilan, nowBliss invites bids for Supply and Delivery Construction and Improvement (Pave Shoulder) –Lanote, road, both Isabela of City, Basilan2.

Materialsoffor Repair and Improvement (Pave Shoulder) of Lanote-Busay road and for the Delivery thethe Goods is required [within the required delivery date or expected contract duration].

2 Repair and Improvement (Pavewithin Shoulder) Bliss –Lanote, both Isabela City, Basilan .

Bidders should have completed, 10 years from the dateroad, of submission and receipt of bids, Delivery ofsimilar the Goods is required [within the required delivery or expected contract a contract to the Project. The description of an eligibledate bidder is contained in theduration].

Bidding Bidders should have completed, within 10 years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding 3.

Bidding will be conductedinthrough competitivetobidding procedures using a non-discretionary Documents, particularly, Sectionopen II. Instructions Bidders. “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) 3. of Bidding will be open competitive procedures using a non-discretionary Republic Actconducted (RA) 9184,through otherwise known as the bidding “Government Procurement Reform Act”. “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) (i) BiddingAct is (RA) restricted Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, Reform or organizations of Republic 9184,tootherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act”. with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of (i) the Bidding is restricted tocitizens Filipinoor citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations Philippines, and to organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which with atsimilar least sixty (60%) to interest orcitizens, outstanding capitaltostock belonging to citizens of grant rightspercent or privileges Filipino pursuant RA 5183. the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which 4.

Interested may obtain further to information from Provincial Government grantbidders similar rights or privileges Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183. of Basilan and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (during 4. Office Interested bidders may obtain further information from Provincial Government of Basilan and hours). inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (during 5.

A complete Office hours).set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on May 10, 2018 to May 29, 2018 from the address below on the amount of Twenty Five thousand Pesos 5. (P25,000,00) A complete set of another Bidding One Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on May 10, and thousand pesos (P1,000.00) for the letter of intent.

It may 2018be to downloaded May 29, 2018free from address on the of amount of Twenty Five thousand Pesos also of the charge frombelow the website the Philippine Government Electronic (P25,000,00) System and another One thousand pesos of(P1,000.00) for Entity, the letter of intent.

It may Procurement (PhilGEPS) and the website the Procuring provided that Bidders also be free from Documents the website not of the Government shall paydownloaded the applicable feeofforcharge the Bidding laterPhilippine than the submission of Electronic their bids.

Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders 3 on 10:00 am, Maybids.

17, 6.

The Government ofthe Basilan willDocuments hold a Pre-Bid Conference shallProvincial pay the applicable fee for Bidding not later than the submission of their 2018 at BAC Office, Provincial Capitol, Isabela City Basilan, which shall be open to prospective 6. bidders.

The Provincial Government of Basilan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference3 on 10:00 am, May 17, 2018 at BAC Office, Provincial Capitol, Isabela City Basilan, which shall be open to prospective 7.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 10:00am, bidders.

May 29, 2018. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms 7. and Bidsinmust duly received BAC Secretariat at thebeaddress below or 29, before 10:00am, the be amount stated in by ITBthe Claused. opening shall on 10:00 am, on May 2018 at BAC May 29,Provincial 2018. AllCapitol, Bids must be accompanied by a bid security of theinacceptable forms Office, Isabela City, Basilan province.

Bids willinbeany opened the presence of andbidders’ in the amount stated in ITB on 10:00 am, Late May 29, BAC the representatives whoClaused. choose toopening attend shall at thebe address below. bids2018 shallat not be Office, Provincial Capitol, Isabela City, Basilan province. Bids will be opened in the presence of accepted. the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be 8.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representative who choose to attend at the accepted. address below. Late Bids shall not be accepted.

8.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representative who choose to attend at the 9. The Provincial reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of address below. Government Late Bids shall not be accepted. bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with 9. Section The Provincial Government the right to reject any any andliability all bids, a failure of 41 of RA 9184 and itsreserves IRR, without thereby incurring to declare the affected bidder bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with or bidders.

Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder 10. For further information, please refer to: or bidders.

BAC CHAIRPERSON 10. The For further information, please refer to: LGU- BASILAN Bids and Award Committee The BAC CHAIRPERSON C/O Secretariat LGU- BASILAN Bids andCapitol Award Building, Committee Ground Floor, Provincial C/O BAC Secretariat Isabela City, Basilan Province, 7300 Ground Provincial Building, Fax No.:Floor, 062 200 3416 &Capitol 062 200 3417 Isabela City, Basilan Province, 7300 (SGD) INTAN GORDANA A. ABUBAKAR Fax No.: 062 200 3416 & 062 200 3417 Chairperson, Bids and Award Committee (SGD) INTAN GORDANA A. ABUBAKAR (MS-MAY 11, 2018) Chairperson, Bids and Award Committee (MS-MAY 11, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

Pinoy fighter sees action in UFC card FILIPINO FIGHTER Rolando “The Incredible” Dy battles Kiwi Shane “Sugar” Young at UFC Fight Night Singapore: Cowboy versus Edwards Presented by AirAsia.

Dy (9-6-1, 1NC, fighting out of Paranaque City, Philippines) battles Young (11-4, fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 23 (Tickets now on sale at https://www.sportshub.com.sg/ UFC2018).

Dy, Southeast Asia’s MMA prospect, made his UFC debut in Singapore last year, where he met veteran Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres in a featherweight scrap. An expert in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and wrestling, Dy will return to the Lion City for the second time in a bid to outwork solid Kiwi striker Young.

Young will vie for victory in his second UFC fight, after making an impressive debut outing on eight days notice against home favorite Alex “The Great” Volkanovski (17-1-0, fighting out of Windang, Australia) at UFC Fight Night in Sydney, Australia last year.

The headliner in the card is the highly-anticipated match-up between UFC legend, and if victorious, record-holder for most-wins, no. 11-ranked welterweight Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (33-10, 1NC, fighting out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA) and rapidly rising young British star, Leon “Rocky” Edwards (14-3, fighting out of Birmingham, England).

Knock-out artist Ovince St Preux (22-11, fighting out of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA) will also take on surging Australian submission specialist Tyson Pedro (7-1, fighting out of Sydney, Australia) in what is set to be one of the most exciting light heavyweight match-ups of 2018.

Another bout pits powerful Japanese striker Shinsho Anzai (102, fighting out of Tokyo, Japan) against “The Celtic Kid” Jake Matthews (13-3, fighting out of Epping, Victoria, Australia). Matthews is looking to build on his two-fight winning streak in the welterweight division Number 9-ranked women’s flyweight Jessica Rose Clark (8-4, fighting out of Innisfail, Australia) is looking to start her UFC career with three wins in a row as she faces no.

10-ranked Jessica Eye (12-6, fighting out of Cleveland, Ohio, USA) In a flyweight bout, Jenel Lausa (7-4, fighting out of Manila, Philippines) faces Japanese rising star Ulka Sasaki (20-5-2, fighting out of Shizuoka, Japan), with each athlete hungry for a dominant win.

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) squeezes past Philadelphia 76ers defenders Ben Simmons (25) and Joel Embiid (wearing mask) to score on a layup during Game Five of the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on May 9, 2018 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. AFP

Celtics will battle Cavs in East finals

L

OS ANGELES—Rookie Jayson Tatum scored the goahead layup with 22 seconds remaining in the fourth as the Boston Celtics punched their ticket to the NBA Eastern Conference finals with a 114-112 win over Philadelphia.

Tatum made it 111-109 after catching a pass from Marcus Smart under the basket and Terry Rozier helped seal the win by making a pair of clutch free throws with nine seconds left as the Celtics eliminated the 76ers four games to one.

“We got a lot of heart and a lot of talent on this team, nobody expected us to get this far,” said Tatum.

The Celtics advance to the NBA’s final four to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight year for a berth in the finals.

Boston was coming off a defeat in game four, but managed to impose their will on the 76ers down the stretch in Wednesday’s thriller, improving to 7-0 on their home court in these playoffs.

The 76ers made the Celtics work in a game that featured 21 lead changes.

But Philadelphia had dropped the first three games and were ultimately unable to become the first team to rally from 0-3 down to win an NBA playoff series.

Teams have now gone 130-0 when leading 3-0.

Forward Tatum tallied 25 points, guard Jaylen Brown had 24 and Rozier finished with 17 points and six rebounds for the Celtics who are 37-0 when taking a 2-0 lead in a playoff series.

Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, of Croatia, each scored 27 points, while Australia’s Ben Simmons finished with 18 points and eight rebounds and six assists for Philadelphia, who are 0-15 when losing the first two games of a series.

Tatum is the second rookie this post-season to notch seven straight 20-plus point playoff games. He joined Utah’s Don-

By Peter Atencio THREE diploma courses offered by the United States Sports Academy will help coaches spread the gospel of grassroots development in the countryside.

Grassroots Sports Development Program Head Dr. Serg Opeña of the Philippine Sports Commission said this is what’s in store for selected students who will attend the classes starting this July.

“This is equivalent to a certificate program. The additional subjects and the 200 hours of mentorship,” said Opena.

The USSA will provide the curriculum and instructors who will come to the country.

On the other hand, The PSC takes care of the necessary logistics.

The program was finalized when PSC chairman William Ramirez and USSA President and CEO Dr. T.J. Rosandich signed an agreement in Daphne, Alabama last April 5.

The PSC hopes to start the courses by July this year and will continue on the second and third week of September, November, January, March and April 2019.

Rosandich and his delegation will be in the country for the formal launching of the sports education program this June.

Top matches spice up PVL Tuguegarao swing

Letran, San Beda Red Cubs prevail in Fr. Martin Cup action THE Letran Knights and the San Beda Red Cubs prevailed over their rivals last Tuesday in the ongoing 24th Fr. Martin Cup summer tournament at the St. Placid gymnasium inside the San BedaMendiola campus in Manila.

Jack Pambid struck with 18 points in leading the Knights to a 76-69 thumping of the Our Lady of Fatima University side in this cagefest, which is supported

by Cocolife.

The Red Cubs got 16 points from Kent Pelipel in edging the San Sebastian Staglets in the junior division.

The Knights went on to hike their record to two wins and one loss in the senior division.

It was the Red Cubs’ third straight triumph after they earlier stopped Kidzhots and First City Providential School of Bulacan.

In the women’s division, Grace Irebu drilled in 17 points for University of Santo Tomas as it won over University of the Philippines, 65-43.

The Knights banked on a triple from Kurt Reyson in the last 4:48 in taking a 14-0 blast.

They moved ahead by 13 points, 7259, when the scoring run was finished.

Peter Atencio

ovan Mitchell, who did it over the first two rounds for a Jazz team ousted by the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.

Embiid had an opportunity to tie it after Tatum’s layup but was guarded closely and missed the shot. He grabbed his own rebound but lost that too when Rozier slapped the ball away with 10.8 seconds remaining.

Rozier made it 113-109 with his free throws but then a J.J. Reddick’s three pointer got the 76ers back to one point with 3.8 seconds left.

Smart went to the line and missed his first free throw. He tried to miss the second which would have run the clock down but it rattled in stopping time and allowing Philadelphia to try one more play. The 76ers then attempted a Hail Mary pass down the length of the court but it was intercepted by Smart who had raced back to defend after his bungled free.

“That’s a Marcus Smart sequence,” said Brown of his Celtic teammate. “The first guy back and he makes the steal. He didn’t care if he runs into somebody or hurts himself.” AFP

PSC offers courses in sports management

PayMaya import Shelby Sullivan (center) fires away a kill against Tacloban’s Shola Alvarez and Andrea Marzan during their Premier Volleyball League Reinforced

DEFENDING champion Pocari SweatAir Force and title favorite Creamline bring their act to Tuguegarao as they tangle with PayMaya and BanKo-Perlas, respectively, tomorrow (Saturday) in the Premier Volleyball League’s first out-of-town sortie in the early going of the Reinforced Conference.

The Lady Warriors have linked up with the Jet Spikers to bolster their title-retention drive, enlisting Wendy Semana, Iari Yongco, Dell Palomata, Angel Mae Antipuesto and May Ann Pantino to backstop mainstays Myla Pablo, Elaine Kasilag and Jeannete Panaga.

Pocari also boasts of a pair of six-foot imports eager to prove their worth with team manager Ken Mirasol pinning his hopes on Maddie Palmer and Arielle Love, who suited up for Radford and Duquesne, respectively.

In college, Palmer recorded 1,494 kills, the highest in her school during the rally era while posting 1,116 digs, making her only the fifth player in Radford history

Games tomorrow (Tuguegarao) 2 p.m. – PayMaya vs Pocari-Air Force 4 p.m. – BanKo-Perlas vs Creamline

with at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.

Love, for her part, is a three-time Atlantic 10 First-Team All-Conference member and was also a multi-faceted player.

But the Lady Warriors will have their hands full against the PayMaya High Flyers, who hurdled the Tacloban Fighting Warays behind reinforcements Nicole Rountree and Shelby Sullivan in last Sunday’s inaugurals of the league organized by Sports Vision and backed by Mikasa and Asics.

They clash at 2 p.m.

The Cool Smashers likewise posted a convincing victory against the Petro Gazz Angels in their debut with Thai Kuttika Kaewpin leading the charge and Alyssa Valdez drawing solid backup from new teammates Michele Gumabao and Melissa Gohing, Risa Sato.

Fuelmasters face winless NLEX Road Warriors

By Jeric Lopez PHOENIX Petroleum takes aim at a share of second place while three winless teams at the bottom hope to finally break into the winning column as the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup resumes.

Winner of two in a row, the Fuelmasters (2-1) shoot for a third straight as they face a challenge from desperate NLEX Road Warriors (0-3) at 4:30 p.m. in the initial offering at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.

In the nightcap, Barangay Ginebra (0-2) and Blackwater Elite (0-4) swing for the fences when they lock horns at 7:30 p.m. with both teams facing a must-win situation.

Phoenix was actually on the brink of losing its second game the last time out until its top gunner Matthew Wright unleashed his biggest heroics this season.

The sharpshooter sank a tough game-winning triple to instead lift the Fuelmasters to an 89-87 squeaker over Magnolia Hotshots for their second win in the tournament.

Sustaining its momentum and winning mentality are the things the Fuelmasters are looking to bring against the struggling Road Warriors.

“The players rose up to the challenge in our last game.

For us to keep moving forward, we need that mentality every game,” said Phoenix coach Louie Alas.

While the Fuelmasters are currently tasting recent success, the same can’t be said about their foes, the Gin Kings and the Elite.

NLEX, Ginebra and Blackwater have yet to find any sort of winning formula and at this point, they know how important it is to finally win a game.

“Being 0-3 is a hole already and we know we are in a bit of panic mode. We need to start winning,” said Road Warriors coach Yeng Guiao.

Phoenix Fuelmasters import James White (33) glides to the hoop against Magnolia Hotshots counterpart Vernon Macklin (22). White will try to lead the Fuelmasters to another victory when they face the NLEX Road Warriors.

IN BRIEF RCBC’s net income rises 13% to P1.1b

RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp., the tenth-largest lender in terms of assets, said Thursday unaudited consolidated net income rose 13 percent in the first quarter to P1.1 billion from P1 billion a year ago.

Net interest income grew 16 percent to P4.8 billion, bolstered by the bank’s vibrant lending business with total customer loan portfolio expanding 18 percent to P370.9 billion.

All market segments sustained solid growth with a 14-percent growth in corporate loans, 40 percent growth in SME loans, 17 percent growth in consumer loans and 34-percent growth in credit card receivables.

“I am pleased to report that the firstquarter 2018 results had a good start to the year. Robust loan growth of 18 percent and continued reduction in non-performing assets helped lead to a doubledigit increase in our net income,” RCBC president and chief executive Gil Buenaventura said in a statement.

“We believe we are well-positioned for a strong year, the quarter is on pace with the target income for 2018 and we look forward to carrying this momentum,” he said. Julito G. Rada

Solar PH challenges Newton’s supply bid

SOLAR Philippines said it challenged the offer of Pilipinas Newton Energy Corp. to supply 50 megawatts to Manila Electric Co. with solar power, the lowest offer received by the power distributor for a solar facility.

Solar Philippines said in a statement it emerged as the only company to submit a price challenge, and was awaiting official word on whether Pilipinas Newton, the original proponent, would exercise its right to match.

Meralco published an invitation in December to challenge the price of Pilipinas Newton of P2.9887 per kilowatt-hour, with a 2-percent annual escalation for 20 years for 50 MW of solar energy, starting Dec. 31, 2018 or eight months from approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Solar Philippines did not disclose its price, only noting it would be the lowest rate for solar energy in the history of Southeast Asia, and competitive with the lowest rates worldwide.

“We are proud to support Meralco’s mission to deliver the lowest costs to consumers, by offering this significantly lower price,” said Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste. Alena Mae S. Flores

Business Bangko Sentral raises interest rates by 25 bps T

By Julito G. Rada

HE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, on Thursday raised the benchmark borrowing rate for the first time in four years by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent in a bid to arrest any potential secondround effects of rising inflation.

Bangko Sentral Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the interest rates on overnight lending and deposit facilities were also increased by 25 bps, or to 3.75 percent from 3.5 percent, and 2.75 percent from 2.5 percent, respectively.

“The decision is based on the latest developments... the time to act is now.

By acting right now, we will avoid a very strong action down the road,” Espenilla said in a news briefing following the Monetary Board meeting.

Espenilla said in deciding to raise the policy interest rate, the board noted that the latest inflation forecasts had shifted higher, an indication that price pressures could become more broad-based over the policy horizon.

Thursday’s move by the board confirmed economists’ previous forecasts that the Bangko Sentral would tweak the policy stance to temper the accelerating inflation.

Inflation rate accelerated to a more than five-year high of 4.5 percent in April from 4.3 percent in March, based on the new 2012 index, on the back of faster price increases of alcoholic beverages and tobacco or the so-called ‘sin products.’

Data showed the April inflation was faster than 3.2 percent in the same month last year. The figure brought the average inflation in the first four months to 4.1 percent, breaching the upper limit of the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the whole year.

The Monetary Board also raised the inflation forecast for 2018 to 4.6 percent from the 3.9 percent estimate made in the March 22 meeting. The forecast for 2019 was also increased to 3.4 percent from 3 percent.

Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said that in raising the inflation forecast for 2018, the board considered the impact of domestic developments, especially the first-quarter gross domestic product growth of 6.8 percent.

Guinigundo said other factors considered by the board were the expected increases in oil prices and higher wages in October 2018.

ERC approves 16 power deals

THE Energy Regulatory Commission approved 16 power supply agreements and seven capital expenditure applications with a total amount of P1.146 billion and corresponding permit fees of P8.6 million.

The 16 approved PSAs, however, excluded the controversial seven PSAs of Manila Electric Co. The ERC approved 25 decisions and show cause orders as a part of its move to ensure a zero-backlog of pending cases.

It also developed an online platform, with the assistance of the World Bank to streamline and digitize the eight work processes in the commission, including the filing of applications.

“We have achieved meaningful milestones, and we owe it to President Duterte with the continuing guidance and support from his office. The past four months was truly challenging, but we were able to achieve significant accomplishments with the valuable contributions of the Commissioners,” ERC chairperson and chief executive Agnes Devanadera said.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Splash reports 15% increase in Q1 sales

SPLASH Corp., the leading homegrown player in personal care, said sales increased 15 percent in the first quarter to P1.136 billion from P987.5 million in the same period in 2017.

The growth was led by personal care products sales in the Philippines which grew by 23 percent.

“The rise in Philippine sales of personal care products despite a challenging economic environment of high inflation validates our long-term strategy of offering Filipino consumers quality personal care products perfectly attuned to their lifestyles and budgets,” said Splash co-founder and chief executive Rolando Hortaleza.

The surge in Philippines sales came mostly from Splash’s class-leading personal care products in the skin whitening, skin exfoliant and specialty hair products segments.

SkinWhite, Splash’s premium line of skin whiteners, recorded a 42-percent rise in sales after intensified marketing efforts including a nationwide buy-one-take one promotion.

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Ban gko Sentral ng Pilipinas Thursday, May 10, 2018

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

52.0080

Japan

Yen

0.009112

0.4739

UK

Pound

1.354900

70.4656

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.127390

6.6253

Switzerland

Franc

0.995025

51.7493

Canada

Dollar

0.778028

40.4637

Singapore

Dollar

0.742997

38.6418

Australia

Dollar

0.746200

38.8084

Bahrain

Dinar

2.654844

138.0731

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266652

13.8680

Brunei

Dollar

0.740247

38.4988

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000071

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.031172

1.6212

UAE

Dirham

0.272272

14.1603 61.6347

Euro

Euro

1.185100

Korea

Won

0.000927

0.0482

China

Yuan

0.157015

8.1660

India

Rupee

0.014849

0.7723

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.253293

13.1733

New Zealand

Dollar

0.698400

36.3224

Taiwan

Dollar

0.033426

1.7384

Source: PDS Bridge

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

B1

PLDT’s profit jumped 39% to P6.9b in Q1

By Darwin G. Amojelar PLDT Inc. said Thursday net income jumped 39 percent in the first quarter on higher revenues from home and enterprise businesses.

The country’s largest telecom company said net income reached P6.9 billion in January to March, up from P4.9 billion in the same period last year.

“We are building on the gains of 2017, leveraging on the strength of our home and enterprise businesses, which achieved record high revenues in the first quarter this year.

Both now account for nearly half of our total service revenues,” PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan said.

“At the same time, we are stabilizing and raising the trajectory of our wireless individual business which registered two sequential quarters of top line growth,” he said.

Consolidated core income reached P6.1 billion in the three-month period, up 14 percent from a year ago.

Core income, excluding that of unit Voyager, rose 23 percent yearon-year to P6.7 billion, which if annualized would put the company ahead of its income guidance of P23 billion to 24 billion for 2018.

PLDT’s consolidated service revenues amounted to P36.7 billion, up 3 percent year-on-year.

SMC’s income reached P15.6b in three months

By Jenniffer B. Austria

NEW BANK NOTES. President Rodrigo Duterte (center) receives a complete set of New Generation Currency bank notes and coins from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla at Malacañang Palace. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III (left) witnesses the presentation.

PH economy grows 6.8%, one of the fastest in Asia THE country’s gross domestic product expanded 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, making it one of the fastest expanding economies in Asia, on the back of higher government spending, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.

“We are pleased to announce that economic expansion for the first quarter of 2018 hit 6.8 percent, making the Philippines one of the fastest-growing economies in the fastest-growing region in the world,” said Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

“Increased government spending has translated into a strong showing for the Philippine economy in Q1,” he said.

Data showed the first-quarter growth was driven by robust performance of the manufacturing, trade and services sectors. It was faster than the 6.6-percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 6.5-percent expansion in the first quarter of 2017.

Among the major economic sectors,

industry recorded the fastest growth at 7.9 percent, followed by services at 7 percent. Agriculture grew at a slower pace of 1.5 percent.

“This is the tenth consecutive quarter that the economy was able to achieve an output expansion of 6.5 percent or better,” Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia said in a statement.

Pernia said the growth was at par with market expectations and close to the low-end of the government’s full-year growth target of 7 percent to 8 percent for 2018.

Pernia said the economy could have expanded faster, if inflation was more subdued for the period. Inflation in the first quarter averaged 3.8 percent based on the 2012 price index, near the upper limit of the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year.

“If not for the first quarter 2017 to the first quarter 2018 rate of increase

in inflation, real GDP growth would have been well within our growth rate targets of 7.0 to 8.0 percent,” Pernia said.

“So, inflation is the spoiler, that is why we really need to focus on inflation especially because it is the number one concern expressed by Filipinos in surveys, by SWS or Pulse Asia,” Pernia said.

The first-quarter performance made the Philippines one of the best performing economies in the region, next only to Vietnam’s 7.4 percent growth, same as China and higher than Indonesia’s 5.1 percent.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the country was on its way to achieving its targets for high growth and financial inclusion for the rest of the Duterte presidency as the government enjoyed enough fiscal space to further accelerate spending on core programs― infrastructure and human capital development. Julito G. Rada

CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. said Thursday net income rose 13 percent in the first quarter to P15.6 billion from P13.82 billion in the same period last year, boosted by the strong performance of liquor and oil businesses.

Recurring net income, which excludes one-off items, grew 31 percent in January to March to P19.36 billion from P14.83 billion a year ago.

First-quarter net sales climbed 20 percent to P234.3 billion from P195.7 billion, while income from operations advanced 19 percent to P32.68 billion.

San Miguel Brewery Inc. posted a net income of P5.67 billion in the first three months, up 26 percent from P4.5 billion a year earlier, while Ginebra San Miguel nearly doubled its net income to P255 million from P129 million.

San Miguel Foods and Beverage Inc. saw its net income decline 7 percent to P1.36 billion from P1.46 billion on foreign exchange losses caused by the peso depreciation against the US dollar along with mark-to-market losses from raw material imports.

It said that without the foreign exchange impact, net income for the period would have been P1.5 billion.

Net sales of the food unit improved 12 percent to P29.8 billion while income from operations rose 4 percent to P2.1 billion.

Foreign direct investment inflows climbed 46.4% to $573m in February NET inflows of foreign direct investments jumped 46.4 percent in February to $573 million from $392 million a year ago on investors’ sustained confidence in the economy, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday.

“The sustained investment inflows reflect investor confidence in the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals and growth prospects,” the Bangko Sentral said in a statement.

The February figure, however, was lower than the $919-million net inflow registered in January 2018. The figure brought the total FDI net inflows in the first two months to $1.493 billion, up 52.6 percent from the $978-million net inflow in the same period last year.

“This was due mainly to the 56.3-percent growth in investments in debt instruments [or intercompany borrowings between foreign direct investors and

their subsidiaries/affiliates in the Philippines], amounting to $412 million,” the Bangko Sentral said.

Net equity capital surged 55.4 percent to $96 million, as gross placements of $114 million more than compensated for the withdrawals of $18 million.

Equity capital placements came mostly from Hong Kong, the United States, China, the Netherlands, and Japan. The said placements were invested mainly in art, entertainment and recreation; real estate; manufacturing; construction; and electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply activities.

Meanwhile, reinvestment of earnings amounted to $65 million during the period.

Net investments in debt instruments reached $793 million in the first two months, representing a 10-percent growth from a year earlier.

Julito G. Rada

CEB FLEET MODERNIZATION. Cebu Pacific Air beefs up its fleet with the arrival of three additional brand new Airbus A321ceo (current engine option) aircraft.

With the deliveries, the CEB fleet is now comprised of 65 aircraft, specifically four Airbus A321ceo, 36 Airbus A320, eight Airbus A330, eight ATR 72-500 and nine ATR 72-600.

Cebu Pacific invested $4.9 billion for the new A321 fleet, with deliveries of additional three A321Ceos and 32 A321neos (new engine option) spread from this year until 2022.

B2

Business

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market rises; MacroAsia climbs

S

TOCKS rose Thursday, after the government reported a 6.8-percent gross domestic product growth in the first quarter, making the Philippines one of the fastest expanding Asian economies.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, gained 15 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,571.00, as three of the six major sectors advanced.

The broader all-share index also increased 9 points, or 0.2 percent, to settle at 4,629.91, on a value turnover of P5.5 billion. Gainers outnumbered losers, 104 to 85, while 55 issues were unchanged.

Twelve of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by MacroAsia Corp. which climbed 6.8 percent to P25.30 and Vitarich Corp. which jumped 6.7 percent to P3.80.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. rose 2.6 percent to P83.60, while PLDT Inc. added 2.5 percent to close at P1,376.00.

Most Asian markets also ended higher Thursday. Crude prices extended their rally, propelling Asian energy firms and equity markets, as rising demand and Donald Trump’s decision to tear up the Iran nuclear deal point to a thinning of supplies.

While broadly expected, the president’s announcement has helped light a fire under oil, with both main contracts now sitting at highs not seen since the end of November 2014 and speculation they could go even higher.

The decision Tuesday comes as data shows US stockpiles are dwindling, major producer Venezuela is wracked by economic upheaval, and Opec and Russia press on with an output cap.

“Unsurprisingly, crude continues to trade actively following the US pulling out of (the Iran pact) as the decision poses significant supply risk in the context of the delicately balanced supply and demand matrix,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at Oanda.

He said that “unless there are some production increases from the OPEC/ Non-OPEC accord to offset the drop in Venezuelan production, and the expected decline of the Iranian output, prices could be in for a significant leg higher.

“Of course, there is little indication that the accord will be looking to intervene” but eyes are now on Opec’s meeting in Vienna on June 21.

Both main oil contracts, which rose around three percent on Wednesday, were almost one percent up in Asia.

The gains fed into energy firms with Woodside Petroleum surging 5.1 percent in Sydney, CNOOC more than three percent in Hong Kong and Tokyo-listed Inpex piling on 3.4 percent.

Stock markets were also benefiting.

Hong Kong rose one percent after three straight gains, Shanghai finished 0.5 percent higher and Tokyo ended up 0.4 percent.

Sydney added 0.2 percent and Seoul was 0.8 percent higher, while Welling-

ton, Taipei and Manila were deep in positive territory. However, Singapore was off 0.2 percent.

Trade in Malaysian equities and the Malaysian markets are closed for the general election.

“This tug-of-war remains in the market, regardless of the positive headlines on North Korea, regardless of the positive headlines on earnings,” Quincy Krosby, the chief market strategist at Prudential Financial, told Bloomberg News.

“This is a market that has to sort that out, and that 10-year [US Treasury] yield flirting with three percent again is a reflection of that tug-of-war,” Krosby said.

Dealers are also keeping an eye on the China-US trade spat, with Xi Jinping’s top economics advisor heading to Washington next week for fresh talks after a high-level meeting between the economic powers ended with no agreement last week. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2018

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 58.6 7,940 95.8 2,348,130 128.7 1,624,710 1.58 128,000 35.05 160,200 16.52 127,800 16.16 254,100 3.51 6,000 8.33 1,500 1.52 3,000 0.63 3,483,000 83.6 2,962,230 1.08 140,000 22.2 4,600 52 124,720 211 10,100 107.5 190 37.75 40,600 194 994,490 88.95 64,400 1.2 6,000

467,926.50 225,480,888 209,146,894 200,540 5,610,585 2,110,802 4,107,954 20,940 12,720 4,560 2,113,880 246,902,250.50 148,310 97,550 6,484,361 2,131,116 20,425 1,536,290 192,924,339 5,730,317 7,200

389,050.50 -59,870,499 -111,968,981 553,385 -514,770 -1,645,440 -26,560 -2,841,483.50 744,830 -762,675 -45,289,921 -1,225,144 -

38 14.36 0.59 1.26 19.82 0.225 139.7 3.19 16.5 50.95 24.9 57 66 1.93 5.15 9.1 10.82 16.04 11.2 7.16 5.29 1.66 15.36 63.55 17.52 8.69 16.68 2.12 278.4 5.1 3.16 17.2 25.95 13.48 21.85 327 6.72 2.35 4.5 9.3 5.4 7.98 1.47 11.8 53.7 1.98 3.68 1.89 14.18 64.95 5.3 0.133 0.98 140.3 2.52 3.57 22 0.82

INDUSTRIAL 38.4 3,368,700 14.5 1,232,900 0.61 1,860,000 1.26 117,000 20.2 42,500 0.231 1,140,000 141.8 280 3.25 10,303,000 16.94 332,400 51.25 413,530 24.9 5,500 60.9 20 66 10,450 1.94 83,000 5.15 900 9.2 9,700 10.88 3,071,600 16.26 412,900 11.42 177,300 7.2 692,400 5.35 106,200 1.66 19,000 15.4 377,400 63.65 40,770 18 245,100 8.78 106,500 17.28 1,315,300 2.19 2,438,000 279.8 949,240 5.15 2,500 3.16 12,000 17.2 10,400 26.45 911,400 13.5 900,000 22.6 3,280,800 328 368,560 6.72 53,000 2.45 895,000 4.5 437,000 9.42 1,861,900 5.77 440,100 7.98 3,000 1.48 706,000 12.3 37,000 53.85 54,700 2.05 1,166,000 3.7 13,000 1.91 41,000 14.38 79,900 65 405,600 5.39 55,800 0.137 1,820,000 1 3,000 141 596,760 2.52 4,000 3.8 53,891,000 22 300 0.84 2,189,000

129,332,420 17,837,068 1,128,800 147,600 844,603 259,800 39,387 33,577,270 5,608,152 21,242,477.50 137,270 1,179 695,303 161,130 4,691 89,168 33,422,524 6,704,434 2,019,186 4,978,720 563,567 31,540 5,828,040 2,595,474 4,520,122 929,600 22,431,212 5,324,690 269,105,362 12,850 38,040 179,080 23,873,625 12,325,788 72,492,215 121,060,344 357,744 2,118,400 1,974,770 17,526,566 2,443,500 23,940 1,057,530 452,998 2,948,096 2,433,280 47,990 78,080 1,157,930 26,364,393.50 296,528 243,810 2,960 84,345,116 10,080 201,842,270 6,600 1,846,020

-112,686,915 3,094,000 158,720 -16,604,460 107,896 -18,188,782 -2,268,886 63,148 -115,085 -117,197 -4,255,822 -1,344,145 -180,658.00 -1,917,882 -40,770 -46,783,924 -10,300 -28,560 1,288,810 -2,763,340 -7,412,380 16,657,992 -165,220 54,930 4,073,362 -1,649,808.50 -30,110 20,214,384 9,660 6,616,243 4,563,920 6,600 -4,300

0.27 59.3 13.04 0.9 6.56 0.63 0.65 920 6.57 10.2 7.57 5.21 0.211 1,000 59 5.5 0.59 4.6 21.45 0.58 5.34 0.04 1.12 3.21 2.5 135.4 903 0.83 1.65 535 256 0.236 0.245

HOLDING FIRMS 0.27 1,070,000 59.3 2,071,230 13.04 2,895,600 0.9 1,000 6.57 10,000 0.64 3,868,000 0.65 203,000 937.5 115,400 6.58 1,992,700 10.38 5,818,000 7.57 10,000 5.21 200 0.212 410,000 1,016 228,780 59.25 1,331,080 5.5 21,000 0.62 639,000 4.62 3,766,000 21.55 2,044,300 0.61 1,715,000 5.38 35,319,900 0.041 1,100,000 1.16 130,000 3.25 1,447,000 2.5 27,000 136.8 164,380 905.5 217,060 0.83 10,000 1.66 45,000 563 160 264 1,840 0.249 40,000 0.26 11,900,000

290,200 124,095,765.50 37,834,734 900 65,670 2,459,160 131,980 109,225,110 13,137,641 60,656,594 75,700 1,042 86,730 232,315,810 79,035,588 115,600 382,850 17,725,700 44,156,865 1,027,610 190,095,673 44,100 146,410 4,733,010 67,530 22,420,181 197,279,535 8,300 74,570 87,640 481,068 9,830 3,040,210

-84,602,133.50 -9,821,324 7,907,370 348,797 -17,766,546 -157,563,150 -16,544,880.50 -2,546,760 -1,785,540 37,120.00 4,113,346 719,530 -8,484,344 -136,673,515 -15,510 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

58.5 95.7 126 1.56 34.95 16.5 16.06 3.45 8.78 1.52 0.6 81.5 1.05 21.5 53 211 107.5 39 190.5 89 1.2

58.95 96.6 129.7 1.6 35.05 16.52 16.28 3.51 8.78 1.52 0.64 84.4 1.09 22.2 53 211.2 107.5 39 197.5 89 1.2

58.5 95 126 1.56 34.9 16.5 16.06 3.45 8.33 1.52 0.58 81.5 1.05 21 51.85 211 107.5 37.7 190.5 88.8 1.2

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

38.4 14.42 0.61 1.26 20.25 0.228 144.7 3.37 16.8 51.8 25 57 67.5 1.93 5.15 9.3 10.86 16.04 11.54 7.18 5.29 1.66 15.44 64 18.68 8.78 16.7 2.23 285.8 5.1 3.2 17.22 25.95 14 22.25 327 6.8 2.36 4.53 9.39 5.61 7.98 1.48 12.28 54 1.98 3.69 1.91 14.5 65.05 5.4 0.134 0.98 141.4 2.52 3.58 22 0.83

38.6 14.5 0.62 1.27 20.25 0.232 144.7 3.4 17 51.8 25 60.9 71 1.96 5.43 9.3 10.94 16.34 11.54 7.2 5.36 1.66 15.54 64.5 19.46 8.9 17.4 2.23 286.2 5.15 3.2 17.22 26.5 14.12 22.6 330.2 6.8 2.48 4.61 9.49 5.77 7.98 1.53 12.3 54 2.18 3.7 1.91 14.5 65.05 5.4 0.139 1 141.9 2.52 3.84 22 0.86

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

0.27 59.75 13.06 0.9 6.56 0.64 0.66 941 6.62 10.2 7.57 5.21 0.212 1,000 59.15 5.6 0.63 4.6 21.75 0.58 5.39 0.04 1.13 3.25 2.51 136 911 0.83 1.65 552 257.4 0.249 0.245

0.275 61.2 13.2 0.9 6.57 0.65 0.66 954.5 6.62 10.6 7.57 5.21 0.212 1,026 60.05 5.6 0.63 4.74 21.85 0.61 5.41 0.041 1.17 3.32 2.51 137 920 0.83 1.66 563 264 0.249 0.265

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

7.11 1.05 14 2.03 0.85 40 3.45 4.71 5.98 6.3 0.465 1.01 1.03 0.237 0.45 31.6 0.65 1.64 1.27 1.04 4.29 0.66 0.46 0.55

7.2 1.06 14.9 2.03 0.85 40.5 3.45 4.8 6.01 6.5 0.465 1.03 1.07 0.248 0.45 31.6 0.65 1.65 1.27 1.06 4.38 0.68 0.495 0.56

7.05 1.02 14 2.01 0.83 39.95 3.4 4.64 5.98 6.3 0.455 1.01 1.02 0.236 0.45 31.15 0.65 1.63 1.25 1.03 4.27 0.65 0.455 0.53

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

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

4.06 18.2 2 3.22 34.45 1.15 10.3 0.79 6.74

4.07 18.3 2.04 3.22 34.8 1.15 10.6 0.79 6.89

3.99 18 1.98 3.18 34.4 1.11 10.22 0.78 6.59

4.02 18.02 2.04 3.22 34.7 1.12 10.56 0.78 6.68

616,000 1,414,300 301,000 11,000 7,269,000 10,583,000 147,800 58,000 4,917,100

2,466,850 25,577,764 600,650 35,220 251,896,855 11,864,560 1,533,902 45,370 32,876,760

-68,000 -2,449,470 208,640 15,900 31,128,440 -65,112 -25,740 -12,507,995

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

15.74 27.55 1.33 0.485 0.047 12.8 4.85 11.9 0.054 89 8.7 7.14 7.27 2.16 21.6 1,740 5.56 307 12.12 4.14 2.27 79.5 13.28 0.118 1.4 3.49 15.28 4.6 1.03 23.8 0.51 4.22 6.48 3.22 8.61 11.1 2.95 128.5 6.11 1,343 1.03 0.39 45.8 86 7 2.28 1.3 0.43 4.8 0.87 11.24

16 27.55 1.4 0.485 0.048 13 5 12.06 0.055 89.5 8.7 7.15 7.7 2.26 21.9 1,740 5.65 307.6 12.12 4.27 2.27 82 13.3 0.121 1.42 3.49 15.28 4.68 1.05 26.2 0.51 4.22 6.65 3.29 8.65 11.7 2.95 129 6.11 1,435 1.04 0.405 46.95 88.95 7 2.3 1.3 0.43 4.83 0.88 11.46

15.56 27.05 1.33 0.48 0.047 12.8 4.85 11.8 0.053 88.85 8.7 7.04 7.25 2.16 20.65 1,671 5.56 302.4 12.12 4.08 2.22 79.2 13 0.118 1.38 3.49 15.28 4.6 1.01 23.8 0.48 4.22 6.42 3.21 8.31 11.1 2.94 128.5 5.96 1,343 1.02 0.37 45.8 86 6.86 2.27 1.29 0.42 4.77 0.86 11.2

SERVICES 15.9 27.05 1.39 0.485 0.047 13 5 11.9 0.055 89 8.7 7.08 7.7 2.26 21.9 1,690 5.64 306.8 12.12 4.21 2.26 81.05 13 0.12 1.42 3.49 15.28 4.62 1.03 25.3 0.48 4.22 6.44 3.29 8.38 11.1 2.94 128.5 6 1,376 1.02 0.395 46.15 87.6 7 2.3 1.3 0.42 4.8 0.87 11.34

39,200 167,500 55,000 950,000 7,600,000 50,100 6,000 9,898,200 8,240,000 158,290 25,700 361,600 10,200 9,000 148,400 50,520 106,900 3,580 500 1,382,000 301,000 2,509,410 111,200 980,000 349,000 1,000 100 1,421,000 643,000 6,760,500 17,000 14,000 3,633,100 344,000 4,728,500 1,500 7,000 3,260 904,700 84,935 4,066,000 16,590,000 681,800 499,550 25,200 398,000 278,000 6,200,000 1,685,000 2,205,000 5,128,300

618,116 4,600,900 74,690 456,950 357,300 641,300 29,850 117,989,446 443,260 14,093,488 223,590 2,556,761 74,627 19,940 3,152,665 85,857,770 601,154 1,094,564 6,060 5,804,640 681,240 203,077,502 1,450,650 116,270 487,740 3,490 1,528 6,560,280 657,380 172,554,775 8,610 59,080 23,501,902 1,119,640 40,062,288 16,950 20,610 419,743 5,431,277 117,402,040 4,165,270 6,526,150 31,500,300 43,580,417.50 175,290 912,620 359,790 2,632,750 8,085,820 1,907,100 58,203,730

47,030 17,290 -1,280 -8,796,650 -1,516,822.50 -24,736,925 93,190 -3,773,743.50 468,880 -78,718,830 12,843,396 708,270 -352,895 6,660 239,482 657,678 -77,840,790 324,490 -200 -20,261,480 -9,225,677.50 -19,208 -286,240.00 117,000 -17,200 910,310 -1,740 -1,363,932

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

0.0028 1.76 4.29 17.62 1.63 0.31 7.23 2.26 0.208 0.138 0.0087 1.45 5.14 1.22 0.53 0.93 0.013 0.012 5.61 13.5 28.25 0.0065

0.0029 1.76 4.29 18.68 1.69 0.31 7.35 2.36 0.208 0.139 0.0087 1.45 5.15 1.22 0.57 0.94 0.013 0.012 5.61 13.7 28.5 0.0065

0.0028 1.69 4.2 17.1 1.63 0.295 7.15 2.24 0.201 0.138 0.0087 1.44 5.07 1.19 0.52 0.91 0.012 0.011 5.58 13.42 28.1 0.0065

MINING & OIL 0.0028 98,000,000 1.69 2,136,000 4.2 401,000 18.68 6,100 1.67 181,902,000 0.3 940,000 7.35 43,500 2.36 1,424,000 0.201 340,000 0.138 1,280,000 0.0087 1,000,000 1.45 85,000 5.09 1,104,200 1.21 9,000 0.57 71,000 0.94 276,000 0.013 18,600,000 0.011 12,400,000 5.6 127,300 13.58 427,300 28.2 1,646,400 0.0065 4,000,000

274,500 3,678,680 1,685,890 107,694 296,618,570 281,700 313,382 3,293,660 68,430 177,580 8,700 122,900 5,619,376 10,810 37,990 255,350 226,500 148,000 712,683 5,800,280 46,471,855 26,000

4,340 -58,550 703,030.00 -966,787 60,000 -17,330 1,233,956 -33,088,655 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 DD PREF FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A LR PREF MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

26 491 100.4 107 506 5.58 980 100.3 1.05 106 104.4 110.9 990 76.05 79.25 76.1 78 76.1 77 75.9

26.5 491 101 107 506 5.59 980 100.3 1.05 106 104.4 110.9 990 76.9 79.25 76.1 78 76.1 77.25 75.9

25.7 491 100.4 107 506 5.49 980 100.3 1.05 106 104 110.9 975 76.05 78.8 76.1 78 76.1 77 75.9

PREFERRED 25.7 70,800 491 3,200 101 730 107 10,000 506 20 5.49 2,804,600 980 100 100.3 28,500 1.05 50,000 106 20 104 860 110.9 260 975 450 76.9 250 78.8 66,400 76.1 6,500 78 120 76.1 6,000 77.25 38,700 75.9 110,600

1,863,560 1,571,200 73,718 1,070,000 10,120 15,649,419 98,000 2,858,550 52,500 2,120 89,548 28,834 439,500 19,131.50 5,244,330 494,650 9,360 456,600 2,988,285 8,394,540

-324,280 183,293 -214,500 -1,576,000 91,080

LR WARRANT

2.72

2.8

2.72

WARRANTS 2.77 64,000

177,260

-

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

5.3 2.91 3.25

5.49 2.97 3.25

5.26 2.9 3.17

5.31 2.97 3.21

2,143,286 228,300 1,994,440

4,797 -60,570

FIRST METRO ETF

116.8

118

116.8

11,723,920

50,590

USD DMPL A1

10.2

10.2

10.14

66,331.80

-

MS

PROPERTY 7.18 1.05 14.9 2.01 0.83 39.95 3.44 4.8 6.01 6.3 0.455 1.03 1.02 0.246 0.45 31.2 0.65 1.64 1.26 1.05 4.27 0.66 0.49 0.55

975,100 8,870,000 1,200 26,000 246,000 6,240,500 147,000 1,327,000 28,100 12,100 2,390,000 121,000 10,132,000 8,610,000 470,000 93,000 55,000 17,899,000 1,231,000 1,115,000 12,220,000 139,506,000 21,680,000 4,494,000

6,933,791 9,214,940 17,040 52,340 204,520 250,719,660 504,940 6,319,660 168,833 77,170 1,099,450 123,200 10,539,270 2,089,970 211,500 2,908,270 35,750 29,351,720 1,550,660 1,165,350 53,006,850 92,771,770 10,448,450 2,456,620

541,890 23,700 14,070.00 -86,535,970 51,900 -472,500 -135,181 187,600 8,288,800 23,700 -859,160 -650 -27,091,160 -5,040 -7,788,840 -225,710 -24,500 -

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

12,491,937

INDUSTRIAL

99,136,844

HOLDING FIRMS

85,311,894

PROPERTY

263,270,718

SERVICES

92,887,517

MINING & OIL

326,542,150

GRAND TOTAL

880,848,538

SME

402,900 78,000 627,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 117 99,550 DDS 10.14

6,510

VALUE 1,885.85 (UP) 25.33 905,272,692.55 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,063.65 (DOWN) 15.45 1,152,256,955.437 HOLDING FIRMS 7,562.66 (DOWN) 37.51 1,257,483,323.58 PROPERTY 3,607.25 (UP) 14.04 1,519.42 (UP) 8.70 811,854,903.61 SERVICES MINING & OIL 10,075.38 (DOWN) 19.84 988,236,262.44 PSEI 7,571.00 (UP) 15.73 365,951,567.367 All Shares Index 4,629.91 (UP) 9.42 5,497,145,774.07 Gainers: 104; Losers: 85; Unchanged: 55; Total: 244

Vista Land expects ‘18 reservation sales of P72b

By Jenniffer B. Austria VISTA Land & Lifescapes Inc. expects reservation sales to hit P72 billion this year, up 12.5 percent from P64 billion in 2017, with the launching of at least P50 billion worth of residential projects this year.

Vista Land president Manuel Paolo Villar said in a press briefing the company was off to a good start in the first quarter of the year after registering a net income of P2.6 billion, up 13 percent from P2.3 billion year-on-year.

Consolidated revenues in the threemonth period climbed 12 percent to P10.1 billion from P9 billion a year ago, boosted by sales from leasing and residential businesses.

Real estate sales rose 10.2 percent to P7.8 billion as demand for the company’s housing projects, especially from the migrant Filipino workers who account for 60 percent of total sales, remains strong.

Reservation sales increased 12 percent to P18 billion, or equivalent to 9,000 units. While leasing revenues expanded 14 percent to P1.64 billion.

“We have seen a continued growth in our leasing business as we continue to roll out our expansion programs to achieve our new upgraded target of 1.4 million square meters in gross floor area by end of the year,” Villar said.

Villar said with the company accelerating the construction of malls and offices, the leasing business now accounted for 23 percent of the total net income. He expects the figure to go up to 25 percent this year.

Villar said he saw the company’s 2018 performance maintaining if not exceeding the 2017 growth levels in terms of profits and revenues.

The group earmarked P50 billion in capital expenditures for this year.

“In addition to our rental spaces, which provides stability to our core and stable end-user housing business, we will continue to launch and open projects in new areas across the Philippines as we get on to our next 100 new cities and municipalities in addition to what we have at the end of 2017,” Villar said.

Vista Land had presence in 141 cities and municipalities across 47 provinces as of end March this year.

Century bares 20-hectare Lipa housing project CENTURY Properties Group Inc. will launch a 20-hectare affordable housing development in Lipa, Batangas province that is expected to raise as much as P2.8 billion in revenues, the property company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Thursday.

CPG through unit PHirst Park Homes® will launch the Batangas projects, its second affordable housing development after the maiden 26-hectare residences in Tanza, Cavite.

“PHirst Park Homes raised the bar in the category of affordable home ownership by offering more value at very attainable price points. This is what we will make available in Lipa, where we are bringing our Tanza concept but with enhanced offerings,” said PHirst Park Homes president Ricky Celis.

The Batangas project will offer 1,867 units across four types of home configurations. A 40-square-meter home starts at P1.2 million with a P9,000 monthly amortization.

Located in Barangay San Lucas, Lipa City, the developmentis right behind the 470-hectare industrial park Lima Technology Center and a 30-minute drive from the Light Industry and Science Park III. Schools, dining outlets and leisure establishments are close by, with SM City Lipa an 18-minute drive away.

CPG identified the first homebuyer market as one of the two allied real estate segments for its 2020 business expansion, with the other being leisure and tourism.

The company’s foray into quality first homes seeks to address the strong housing demand in the expanding middle class of the Philippines, which largely benefits from the surge of overseas remittances, the growth of the BPO industry and the shift toward smaller households due to rising incomes.

PHirst Park Homes is expected to generate about a third of CPG’s revenues and income by 2020.

Jenniffer B. Austria

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY

Detained Russian director gets standing ovation in Cannes

IN BRIEF Major Israeli raids hit ‘Iranian’ targets in Syria

CANNES―A new film by the enfant terrible of Russian theater―who is under house arrest in Moscow―received a standing ovation and rave reviews Thursday after it was shown at the Cannes film festival.

The cast of Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Leto,” a fast-paced biopic of the SovietKorean rock legend Viktor Tsoi, were cheered as the movie premiered at the world’s top film festival.

Influential US critic David Ehrlich of

JERUSALEM—Israel’s army said Thursday it had carried out widespread raids against Iranian targets in Syria overnight after rocket fire towards its forces which it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation between the two enemies.

The incident came after weeks of rising tensions and followed US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a key 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday, a move Israel had long advocated.

The raids were one of the largest Israeli military operations in recent years and the biggest such assault on Iranian targets, the military said.

“We hit nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria,” Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told a security conference on Thursday morning.

“They need to remember the saying that if it rains on us, it’ll storm on them. I hope we’ve finished this episode and everyone understood.”

Israel carried out the raids after it said around 20 rockets, either Fajr or Grad type, were fired from Syria at its forces in the occupied Golan Heights at around midnight.

It blamed the rocket fire on Iran’s Al-Quds force, adding that Israel’s anti-missile system intercepted four of the projectiles while the rest did not land in its territory. AFP

the IndieWire website called it “a sort of ‘24 Hour Party People’ for the early 1980s Leningrad underground rock scene”.

“Exuberant, shapeless, gorgeous longtakes galore, a ‘psycho killer’ singalong, the end of an era. I dug it,” he tweeted of the movie, which features music by Lou Reed, David Bowie and Blondie.

The head of the French film board was equally ecstatic, calling it a “Russian ‘Trainspotting’. This is f...... roll ‘n’ roll,”

said Christophe Tardieu.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux had earlier held up a white placard with the director’s name as the cast climbed the steps of the red carpet to the cinema.

A seat was left symbolically empty inside for Serebrennikov, who has been under house arrest on embezzlement charges since last August.

He has dismissed the charges as “absurd” and his supporters see them as political.

K

UALA LUMPUR―Hope for lasting change in Malaysia after the opposition’s historic election win may hinge on whether triumphant 92-yearold autocrat-turned-progressive Mahathir Mohamad has truly changed his ways and possesses the vigor and clout to heal national divisions.

NAIROBI—At least 27 people died after a dam burst in southern Kenya, sweeping away their homes while many of them were asleep, police said Thursday.

After a severe drought, weeks of torrential rains in Kenya have led to flooding and mudslides that have left 159 dead.

The private Patel dam, used for irrigation and fish farming, burst on Wednesday evening in Solai, near the Rift Valley city of Nakuru, regional police chief Gideon Kibunjah told AFP. “The search and rescue exercise is ongoing and more bodies have been retrieved. The death toll is now 27,” Kibunjah said.

“It is a disaster because most people were asleep when the tragedy occurred and their houses were swept away.”

He said 36 people had been hospitalized.

A senior police officer at the scene, speaking on condition of anonymity, said emergency workers had spent the night combing through engulfed houses to retrieve the bodies of the victims and had only covered about half of the affected area. AFP

PASTORAL VISIT. Pope Francis speaks during a pastoral visit to the catholic community founded by Don Zeno Saltini on May 10, 2018, in Nomadelfia near Grosseto in Tuscany. AFP

Trump welcomes Americans freed by North Korea WASHINGTON—US President Donald Trump greeted three Americans released by North Korea at an air base near Washington early Thursday, underscoring a much needed diplomatic win and a stepping stone to a historic summit with Kim Jong Un. Trump and first lady Melania made the short helicopter ride from the White House to Joint Base Andrews to personally welcome Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-chul back to the United States, after their release from North Korea on Wednesday.

The president and his wife strode up the steps into the blue and white plane to greet them privately before coming out before TV cameras in the middle of the night.

Trump praised Kim for freeing the Americans ahead of the planned summit between the two leaders.

One of the former prisoners waved his arms from atop the steps, and another while down on the tarmac.

“It was understood that we would be able to get these

INVITATION TO BID

The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act CY 2018 intends to apply the amount of Forty Two Million Five Hundred Eighty Thousand Philippine Pesos (PhP42,580,000.00) for the projects listed below. Bids received in excess of each ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening: Name of Contract

ABC (PHP)

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php)

IB No. 2018043-A

Procurement of PPD (Tuberculin Solution) – Re-bid

10,500,000.00

25,000.00

IB No. 2018248

Procurement of Warehousing Services for DPCB-NTP Health Commodities Hiring of an Event Organizer for the Conduct of the First ASEAN Lymphatic Filariasis Forum TOTAL

20,880,000.00

25,000.00

11,200,000.00

25,000.00

2.

3.

Single Largest Completed Contract At least Twenty Five Percent (25%) of the ABC within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet At least Fifty Percent (50%) of the ABC within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet

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.

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”.

4.

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.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents for each procurement package listed above may be acquired by interested bidders on 11 May 2018 to 01 June 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: IB No.

Activity (Date & Time) Pre-bidding Submission and Conference Opening of Bids

Name of Contract

IB No. 2018-043-A

Procurement of PPD (Tuberculin Solution) – Re-bid

IB No. 2018-248

Procurement of Warehousing Services for DPCB-NTP Health Commodities Hiring of an Event Organizer for the Conduct of the First ASEAN Lymphatic Filariasis Forum

IB No. 2018-249

7.

18 May 2018; 10:00 AM

(a) Cash, Cashier’s/manager’s check issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank. (b) 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. (c) Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Insurance Commission as authorized to issue such security. (d) Bid Securing Declaration

Invitation to Bid

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino, through the Department of the Interior and Local Government-CMGP Program invites all interested contractors to apply for eligibility and to tender bids for the following projects. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Name of Project/Project 1.

2.

2.

3.

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.

9.

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) ROLANDO ENRIQUE D. DOMINGO, MD, DPBO Undersecretary of Health COBAC – C Chairperson

ABC/ Source of Funds (P)

Duration

Cost of Bidding Documents (P)

16,228,200.00/ Corporate Receipts

30 calendar days

16,000.00

7,320,000.00/ Corporate Receipts

30 calendar days

7,000.00

Pre-bid Conference

Bid Sub.& Opening

ABC

2018 -05256

65CD

P 25,000.00

May 18, 2018 2:00PM

May 30, 2018 2:00PM

17,277,995.96

2018 -05257

91CD

25,000.00

May 18, 2018 2:00PM

May 30, 2018 2:00PM

26,035,398.78

2018 -05258

Procurement of Five (5) Units Pick-Up Type Vehicle Brand New, 2018 or Latest Model

5,330,000.00/ Corporate Receipts

30 calendar days

5,000.00

Special Projects Unit Conference Hall 2nd Floor Capitol Commercial Building Capitol Compound, Cabarroguis, Quirino

2018 -05259

Proposed Installation of Electrical Main Line (Power Supply) from Service Pole to GSD/COSO Building

2,992,140.21/ Corporate Receipts

50 calendar days

3,000.00

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino now invites bids for following projects listed above. Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using nondiscretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from May 11, 2018 to May 30, 2018 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount stated opposite each project.

The BAC will issue hard copies of Bidding Documents at the BAC Secretariat, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino, upon payment of the applicable non-refundable fee.

6.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on May 18, 2018, 2:00PM at Special Projects Unit Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino, which shall be open to all interested parties.

7.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before May 30, 2018, 2:00 PM at Special Projects Unit Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

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.

Prospective bidders shall submit their duly accomplished forms as specified in the BD’s in two (2) separate sealed bid envelopes to the BAC Chairman. The first envelope shall contain the technical component of the bid. The second envelope shall contain the financial component of the bid. Contract will be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid as determined in the bid evaluation and the post-qualification.

8.

Project

Bid Documents Fee

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 AM to 4:00PM.

Five percent (5%)

Ref. No.

Duration/ Completion of Works

4.

No percentage required

The National Housing Authority (NHA), through the NHA Board approved Corporate Budgetfor CY 2018intends to apply following sum being the of the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to paymentsunder the contractfor the following items: Procurement of Seventeen (17) Units Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV), Brand New, 2018 or Latest Model Procurement of Eight (8) Units Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), Brand New, 2018 or Latest Model

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy-five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

Two percent (2%)

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.

PB-CW-2018-032 Rehabilitation of NRJ-MagsaysayDibul Road PB-CW-2018-033 Rehabilitation of NRJ-Pinaripad SurDiodol Road

Venue of Procurement Activities

Amount of Bid Security (Not less than the required percentage of the ABC)

8.

(MS-MAY 11, 2018)

1

01 June 2018; 09:00 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.

Form of Bid Security

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY

May 11, 2018

42,580,000.00

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.

6.

The wily former authoritarian ruler, expected to become prime minister once again, proved the difference in finally enabling a rising opposition movement to break the United Malays National Organization’s sixdecade hammer-lock on power.

The Pakatan Harapan coalition’s victory is Malaysia’s first real government change since independence from Britain in 1957 and will fuel public aspirations for wholesale change including rights protections, press freedom, anti-corruption measures, changes to divisive race-based policies, and true democratic rule.

“The People’s Tsunami,” the Malay-language Sinar Harian newspaper screamed in a front-page headline.

But Malaysian politics is known for head-spinning reversals―not least of which was Mahathir’s own conversion to grandfatherly opposition darling―and the future remains unclear.

“Now the hard work begins,” the influential political website Malaysiakini.com said in an editorial.

“No one should be under the illusion that a new government would be able to reverse the rot that had taken root for decades.”

“For a country that is so divided, it would take time to heal the wounds and for Malaysians to rebuild the trust for one another and for the many institutions that have failed them.”

Multicultural Malaysia has been increasingly riven by political and racial tension under now-ousted leader Najib Razak, exacerbated by a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal.

Najib is accused of presiding over the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and has responded with increasing repression.

Much depends on Mahathir, whose 1981-2003 tenure as UMNO leader and premier is often credited with creating a modern Malaysia, but also tarnished by the jailing of opponents and entrenchment of the political dominance of Muslim Malays, the country’s majority group, over the sizable Chinese and Indian minorities.

Just a few years ago, then-retired Mahathir had chastised his former protege Najib for loosening the reins with political liberalization moves, which Mahathir warned would lead to chaos.

Those reforms were later nullified as Najib tightened the screws over 1MDB. AFP

INVITATION TO BID FOR

PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS

IB No.

three terrific people during the meeting and bring them home after the meeting,” Trump said. “He was nice in letting them go before the meeting. Frankly, we didn’t think this was going to happen. And it did.”

Remarking on the sudden shift in US relations with North Korea and the upcoming summit, Trump said: “We’re starting off on a new footing... he released the folks early. It’s a big thing. Very important to me.

“And I really think we have a very good chance of doing something very meaningful and if anybody would have said that five years ago, 10 years ago -- even a year ago -- you would have said that’s not possible.”

He added: “A lot of very good things have happened.”

The North Korean regime granted the three men “amnesty,” a US official said, removing a major point of friction between Washington and Pyongyang and a potential obstacle to talks between the Cold War foes.

The men flew home with the new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. AFP

Republic of the Philippines PROVINCE OF QUIRINO Cabarroguis -oOoBIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

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

IB No. 2018249

Serebrennikov’s detention has sent shock waves through the Russian arts world.

The 48-year-old has revolutionized Moscow’s theater scene with radical stagings of new plays and by reinventing the classics.

Although he has never openly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serebrennikov has attacked the growing pressure being put on artists in Russia. AFP

Mahathir in shock election win

At least 27 dead as dam in Kenya bursts

1.

B3

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

The Provincial Government of Quirino 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.

For further information, please refer to: Engr. Dencio A. Pagbilao Chairman, Bids and Awards Committe Province of Quirino +639175007275 +639177756155 (SGD) ENGR. DENCIO A. PAGBILAO BAC Chairman

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 nondiscretionary 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 May 11, 2018. For further information, the NHA BAC 2 Secretariat may be contacted at Tel/Fax No. 928-8272 or Email: nha_bac2@yahoo.com.

The NHAwill hold a Pre-Bid Conference on May 18, 2018 at9:00 a.m. at theSLB-AMO Conference Room, Annex Building, NHA Main Complex, Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon Citywhich shall be OPEN to all prospective bidders.

Bids must be delivered at the SLB-AMO Conference Room, Annex Building, NHA Main Complex, Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon CityonMay 31, 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 reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, to annul the bidding process, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of R.A. 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

(SGD) AR. SUSANA V. NONATO Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee 2 ( M S - M AY 11, 2 018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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

B4

friday, may 11, 2018

QC unveils new Civic Center for 1-stop business, location permits

By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Mayor herbert Bautista has spearheaded the inauguration of a six-story Civic Center Building D housing a one-stop shop for building and locational permits at the city hall compound.

The new building houses the Department of Building Official, City Planning and Development Office, Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department and the City Architect Department.

By bringing these offices under one roof, people applying for building permits and clearances need not move from one building to another, Bautista said.

“We have to transfer them [to a bigger space] to ease doing business in the Philippines. We received instructions from the Department of Finance and Department of Trade and Industry to speed up the system of applying for a building permit, business permit and locational permit.

That was about three years ago,” he said.

The new building is more spacious, fully air-conditioned and well-lighted, the mayor noted.

There are about 75,000 registered business establishments in Quezon City, with registered real property units at about 600,000.

Bautista said he also wanted to include an online system for faster and easier business registration and simple structure construction permits.

Joy wants co-op office created for Quezon City Hall QUEZON City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte is pushing for the creation of cooperative office inside the city hall.

With jobs creation and livelihood as her top advocacies, she vowed to push for the immediate creation of a special office at the city hall that would support and promote local cooperatives.

During a dialogue with Tatalon Transport Service Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Barangay Tatalon, Belmonte cited the need for a dedicated department to cater to the interests of cooperatives.

“I’m all for cooperatives. I’ve been a supporter of cooperative movement,” she said.

The vice mayor, however, said the city government has no agency for cooperatives, even as Quezon City has the most number of registered cooperatives at around 500 in Metro Manila.

“Since we have no such office, we would just depend on the Cooperative Development Authority, a national government agency that serves as a regulatory body of cooperatives all over the country,” she said.

Belmonte vowed to work doubly hard at the city council to enact a proposed ordinance into law mandating the establishment of such department her term ends. Rio N. Araja

LGUs LocaL government units

Makati Mayor Abby Binay (right) greets a mother and child as she led the launching of the Baby Makatizen Program on Thursday at the Session Hall of Makati City Hall Building I. The mayor also distributed Baby Makatizen Starter Bags to the first 100 mothers, who were selected to participate in the launch. Each of them received a bag containing baby stuff, such as a set of onesies, a toy rattle, baby wipes, and disposable diapers. Ey Acasio

‘Baby Makatizen’ program set

By Joel E. Zurbano

T

hE city government of Makati on Thursday launched its Baby Makatizen Program, a project aim to promote the welfare of both mother and child through timely birth registration and proper prenatal care.

Mayor Abigail Binay led the distribution of Baby Makatizen starter bags to 100 mothers who were chosen to participate in the launch for having registered their babies within 30 days after giving birth between January to March this year.

Each bag contains a set of onesies, one toy rattle, one pack of baby wipes, and 30 pieces of disposable baby diapers.

Binay said the two-pronged strategy in program implementation seeks to increase public awareness on the importance of registering newborns, and to encourage expecting mothers to undergo proper prenatal care for their wellbeing as well as to ensure safe delivery and a healthy baby.

“Prompt birth registration upholds a child’s basic rights to a name and to

acquire a nationality. We also want to emphasize how vital it is for a child to gain access to all basic services and programs of the government that are essential to his or her optimum development, including health and education,” she said.

“Through the Baby Makatizen Program, we also aim to persuade pregnant women to avail themselves of quality prenatal care which is available for free at our barangay health centers under the supervision of the Makati health Department,” added Binay.

The city chief executive said the city has allocated 10,300 Baby Makatizen bags for distribution to qualified beneficiaries this year. After the launch, the city health department will oversee program implementation through the cityrun barangay health centers, Ospital ng

Makati, and partner-private hospitals and clinics in the city.

Barangay health centers in the city provide pregnant women with free prenatal and postnatal check-ups, as well as vitamin supplements during pregnancy and after delivery. On the other hand, infants are given free vaccines for common childhood diseases as well as other special vaccines.

At the launching held at the Session hall of Makati City hall Building II, participants listened to a short talk on the importance of timely birth registration, including the perils faced by unregistered children, which was given by Paciano Dizon, OIC-regional director of the Philippine Statistics Authority-National Capital Region.

Earlier, the city government announced its search for the first 100 recipients of the Baby Makatizen starter bags on social media and invited mothers to sign up for the event through the City Civil Registration Office (CCRO), which was tasked to validate the timely birth registration of their babies.

GRADUATION SPEECH. Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez (left) has announced that his administration is finding ways to provide adequate scholarship and financial assistance to poor but deserving students, after learning that only half of the city’s elementary graduates were able to finish high school in past school years. In his recent graduation speech, Olivarez asked the city council to pass an ordinance expanding the cash allowance among high school students to cover their various school expenses and full tuition subsidy.

Tarlac LTO chief nabbed for shabu, guns, explosives CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga—The officer in charge of the Land Transportation Office provincial bureau in Tarlac, who police said is a “high value target” on their drug watch lists, was arrested Thursday by authorities at barangay San Roque in Tarlac City.

In a press statement, Chief Superintendent Amador Corpus, Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) director, said Rogel Yambao was a “level 2 high value target” in the police’s campaign against illegal drugs.

On Wednesday, operatives from the intelligence branch and the drug enforcement unit of the Tarlac Provincial Police Office executed a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Lily De Vera-Vallo of Tarlac City Regional Trial Court Branch 64 against Yambao for drug possession Authorities seized from Yambao’s home nine plastic sachets of suspected shabu, one hand grenade, and 17 cartridges for a caliber .45 gun, said Senior Supt. Fe Grenas, chief public information officer of PRO 3.

Yambao did not resist and gave up peacefully, Grenas said.

The LTO official will faces charges of violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, illegal possession of explosives under RA 9516, and of RA 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Act. “The arrest of Yambao, who is a high ranking official of LTO, only goes to show that more unscrupulous government workers are involved in illegal drugs, and we continue to launch operations against all who are included in our target list and watch list,” Corpus said. Romeo Dizon

Four kids among 6 killed in Parañaque building fire SIx persons, including four minors, were killed when a fire of still unknown origin broke out in a three-story building in Paranaque City, police said on Thursday.

The fatalities were identified as Ana Donna Agrasada, 23; Marie Joy de Jesus, 28, and the four minors namely Lon-lon, 6-yr old; Don-Don, 4; Jomarie, 7, and Daniel, 9, all residents of Bahay na Bato, Quirino Avenue in Barangay Tambo.

Southern Police District director Tomas Apolinario said the fire started around 4:17 p.m. Wednesday and reached the third alarm. Responding firemen declared the fire out after about six hours, he added.

Apolinario said more than P50,000 worth of properties were destroyed by the blaze. The cadavers of the victims were brought to funeral parlors while the complete names of the minors is be-

ing made, he added.

Arson investigators have not yet established the cause of the blaze, but some residents believed it was caused by faulty electrical installation.

The national government has urged the community and business establishments in Metro Manila to practice fire safety precautions “to avoid the detrimental effects of fire accidents.”

Joel E. Zurbano

DepEd, bank team up for BPI SHAPE for HS seniors CEZA LOCATOR. Secretary Raul L. Lambino (second from left), administrator and CEO of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, and Lin Yong Wei (left) chairman of the Changwei International Co., Ltd., display copies of the agreement they recently signed in Manila, allowing the Hong Kong-based firm to establish an offshore crypto exchange platform, develop an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), and other crypto mining operations at the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport. With them (from left) are Zhuang Ming Gang, chairman of the Xin Peng Group, and Ceza senior deputy administrator Raymundo T. Roquero.

ThE Department of Education has teamed up with BPI Foundation, the social innovation arm of Bank of the Philippine Islands, and YGOAL, Inc. to boost senior high school students’ employability and entrepreneurship skills through the first BPI Senior high Accelerate Program for Employment and Entrepreneurship (BPI ShAPE).

Building on the success of its pilot run

in Taguig and Laguna, BPI ShAPE will now run in the cities of Cagayan De Oro, Cebu, Dasmarinas, Makati, Pasay, and Roxas and in the provinces of Capiz, Ilocos Norte, Misamis Oriental and Quezon.

BPI Foundation and YGOAL, Inc., a consultancy social enterprise for program and training development, designed the first BPI ShAPE to respond to current gaps such as capacity building for teachers, mod-

ule development, student career readiness, and private sector awareness on internship and hiring of K-12 graduates.

For its first year, BPI ShAPE will provide Values-Driven and Skills Development Entrepreneurship and Financial Management modules, teachers training sessions on the usage of the modules, online resources, digital professional development sessions, and private sector mapping.

Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife

Culture and media

@mStandardLifE friday, may 11, 2018

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'Home' by Geraldine Javier

'Kugos' by Mark Justiniani

Benedicto 'BenCab' Cabrera's sculpture, entitled 'Kapit-Bisig,' highlights the importance of man living in consonance with nature.

Panda sculptures

for the environment

A

rt and environment come together in an exhibit featuring five Filipino visual artists and five panda sculptures.

the initial project of World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines’ “Art, Heart, Earth” campaign showcased the sculpted artworks of WWF’s Art Ambassadors Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera, Elmer Borlongan, Mark Justiniani, José Santos III, and Geraldine Javier inspired by the organization’s iconic panda logo. the show was presented in collaboration with tinaw Art Management Inc. and Secret Fresh.

Living in harmony with nature, man’s role in conservation, and the concept of sustainability and home were just some of the themes explored in the pieces created for the collection.

BenCab’s “Kapit-Bisig” and Borlongan’s “Wildlife rehabilitator” highlight the importance of man living in consonance with nature.

Justiniani’s “Kugos” (Carry) presents a caretaker donning a suit in the panda’s likeness to care for and protect the orphans of the species.

Santos’ idea of saving and salvaging materials through his art is reflected in his piece entitled “Natural Selection,” while Javier’s work entitled “Home” is inspired by her community in the province—stressing the importance of a sustainable environment.

“We are very excited to have five of the nation’s top artists join our battle to conserve nature in the face of climate change,” enthused WWF-Philippines president and chief executive Joel Palma.

He continued, “We hope that through art, we continue to raise awareness on the urgent need to step up environmental action to protect earth’s biodiversity.” though they had different approaches in creating their pieces for the collection, WWF’s Art Ambassadors are united in their call for people to save the environment.

Borlongan shared that his particular concern is the destruction of our oceans. Living 10 minutes away from the West Philippine Sea, he has been a witness to how practices like dynamite fishing can harm both the environment and the fisherfolk who have lost limbs due to this. In fact, he has already created art pieces tackling this issue.

Both BenCab and Javier shared that plastic waste is among their most urgent concerns. they stressed the importance of setting a good example when it comes to conservation.

'Wildlife Rehabilitator'

by Elmer Borlongan

Polar bears on thin ice

'Natural Selection' by José Santos III

“We have to have discipline in cleaning up our surroundings and planting trees,” said BenCab. He related that he has planted many indigenous trees in the area near his museum in Baguio.

Meanwhile, Javier shared that she has started planting vegetables in her home to help provide food and additional income for the community living near her. She also tries to instill practices in her household that will lessen plastic consumption such as bringing reusable containers, baskets, or eco bags when she goes shopping or does her groceries at the market.

Santos shared that he sees parallels in his work and that of WWF-Philippines'.

He makes his pieces from discarded materials turning them into something that is meaningful.

“I view this process as saving and salvaging these materials from their

eventual death or uselessness. And this is where I see a certain parallel with the concerns of WWF in saving nature, saving wildlife, and saving the world as a more general concern,” he shared.

For his part, Justiniani posed, “If you think about the world, it will survive… so the environmental issue is actually a human issue. If we don’t take care of it, we will lose ourselves. We know we need to take care of the environment because that is our future, the future of human beings.”

At the end of it all, WWF-Philippines’ Art Ambassadors hope that their pieces provoke questions and discourse on environmental issues among viewers.

The WWF-Philippines Art Ambassadors’ exhibition ran from April 24 to May 6 at Ronac Lifestyle Center, Paseo de Magallanes, Makati City.

JuSt as the heat of summer has set in, life-size polar bear sculptures are displayed at a mall in a bid to educate the public on the plight of this endangered specie.

SM Aura’s Skypark serves as the exhibition space for On Thin Ice: An Art Installation for a Cause, a joint project between the World Wide Fund for Nature, the world’s largest conservation organization, and SM Cares. the exhibit, which is also part of the #ArtinAura campaign, depicts polar bears seeking shelter in the tropical space of the Philippines, as if to symbolize the ongoing loss of their natural habitat. Given that they are apex predators, polar bears regu-

late the food chain and play an important role in the overall health of the marine environment.

Surrounding the display are Qr codes to prompt guests to visit WWF-Philippines’ website and become a member. through the years, SM Aura Premier has been a strong advocate of the environment, garnering a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED certification that verifies the building’s green features, stating that the design, construction, operations, and maintenance of SM Aura’s building are resource efficient, high performing, healthy, and cost efficient.

On Thin Ice, An Art Installation for a Cause will be on display until May 31,

Art installation for a cause, 'On Thin Ice,' depicts polar bears seeking shelter in the Philippines.

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FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018 Nickie Wang, Issue Editor

nickie.standard@gmail.com

ABS-CBN’s ‘TO LOVE AND TO SERVE’ campaign wins at the New York Festivals

Five movies to binge-watch with mom

One of the vignettes in the 2-and-a-half minute video of ABS-CBN’s ‘To Love and To Serve’ campaign.

The cast of ‘Etiquette for Mistresses’

THIS month of May brings you chances to cuddle with mom because you can bingewatch movies that will make you laugh, cry, and sometimes, reminisce. From weepy family dramas, to comedic pairings, and heartwarming love stories, these movies bring actors from your generation and mom’s to make all days of May, “Mother’s Day.” Unexpectedly Yours Sharon Cuneta and Julia Barretto play mother and daughter in this heartwarming romance about parenthood and love in the modern day. At a crossroads in their lives, Patty (Cuneta) and Yani (Barretto) have a strained relationship that gets an unexpected boost from new neighbors Robin Padilla and Joshua Garcia.

Ang Tanging Ina Ai Ai Delas Alas does what she does best—family comedy—in this movie about family and unusual circumstances. Ina (Delas Alas) is left to raise all of her 12 children by herself. In order to keep her family alive, Ina accepts all sorts of odd jobs, which includes being an entertainer at a nightclub. She insists on keeping up appearances for the sake of her family until something threatens to tear them apart.

Bes and the Beshies Catch a superstar cast in this comedy about four different women who band together despite their differences. Charla (Ai Ai de las Alas) is a single mother who still pines for the father of her child. Tisay (Carmi Martin) is the mistress of a police general who will do anything make sure her lover never leave her, is convinced having a child with him will secure their future. Mabel (Zsa Zsa Padilla) is a doting homemaker to a husband who is hardly ever home. Sophie (Beauty Gonzalez) is Tisay’s crass niece whose ultimate life goal is to win in a beauty contest.

Etiquette for Mistresses Four mistresses played by Kris Aquino, Iza Calzado, Claudine Barretto, and Kim Chiu make up an unlikely barkada of mistresses, each at different stages and phases in their life. Chloe (Barreto) is a feisty ad exec, Georgia (Aquino) is

a chef and the “perfect” mistress, Stella (Calzado) is a seemingly put-together lawyer, their friend Charley, a wealthy mistress, and Ina (Chiu), a neophyte mistress and former lounge singer. Georgia is tasked to train Kim Chiu on the ins and outs of being a perfect mistress as each woman’s relationship starts to unravel in different ways.

Anak Vilma Santos and Claudine Barretto play mother and daughter in this award-winning classic about Josie (Santos), a domestic worker who was forced to leave her family in hopes of working to provide them a better life. After six years of working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, Josie finally gets the much-awaited opportunity to come home to the Philippines and reunite with the family she left behind. But what greets her is a family torn apart and children who hate their mother. Will Josie be able to repair the damage caused by being away for her children?

Catch these movies and more on iWant TV this month. Viewers can watch anytime, anywhere by creating an account oniwantv. com.ph and by downloading the latest iWant TV App version from Google Play and the App Store. iWant TV is available to all ABSCBNmobile, Smart, Sun, Talk ‘n Text, PLDT Home, Globe and TM subscribers. Visit iwantv.com. ph to access iWant TV’s content.

THE Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) continues its movie screenings every Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays of May. All films are free and open to the public.

Showing until May 13 is Wong Kar-Wai’s Happy Together, starring two of Hong Kong’s leading superstars: the late Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung.

It follows a gay couple, Lai and Ho, who move to Argentina to build a life together. When Lai befriends Chang, another Asian expatriate, it forces the duo to study their relationship.

Landscape in the Mist by Theo Angelopoulous will be presented on May 16, 18 and 20. Siblings named Vuola and Alexandros journey from their hometown in Greece to Germany in search of their father who they have never met in their lives. As strangers offer them a ride across borders, they come face to face with the realities of living alone.

David Cronenberg’s Existenz follows on May 23, 25 and 27. Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law, this sci-fi tale focuses on the efforts of Allegra, a

M

EDIA giant ABS-CBN won a Bronze World Medal in the 2018 New York Festivals World’s Best TV & Films (NYF) for its “To Love and To Serve” campaign in the Station/Image Promotion category of the prestigious international award-giving body.

The TV spot created by ABSCBN Creative Communication Management (CCM) expressed the network’s gratitude for the honor to be part of the gestures of love in the Filipino family The two-and-a-half minute film

showed many heartwarming vignettes.

Among them were about a tricycle driver proudly bringing home a second-hand TV set to his family, a domestic helper loading pasalubong for loved ones in a balikbayan box, a father admiring his son’s design sketch for a gown, and

Muslims and Christians setting aside differences in faith to pack relief goods for calamity victims.

“To Love and To Serve” was conceptualized and produced

by Christine Daria Estabillo, Maria Lourdes Parawan, and Raywin Tome, and directed by Paolo Ramos.

The network also won a Gold World Medal for the documentary ’Di Ka Pasisiil, while ANC, the ABSCBN News Channel, won a Silver World Medal for “Bandurria,” the pilot episode of the documentary series Local Legends.

Rebuilding Marawi GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc. (GMAKF) recently received a donation of P2.25 million from the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) in support of GMAKF’s Rebuild Marawi Project in Lanao del Sur. The turnover ceremony held at the GMA Network Center was attended

by GMA Network Chairman and CEO Atty. Felipe L. Gozon, GMA Network President and COO Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr., GMAKF Executive Vice President and COO Rikki Escudero-Catibog.

The FFCCCII party, on the other hand, was led by President Domingo Yap, EVP Dr. Henry Limbonliong, Vice President Mary Ng, Vice President Alex Yap Cho Ty, Vice President William Gosiaco, Chairman of Media and Public Affairs Committee Wilson Lee Flores, Vice Chairperson of Media Relations and Information Committee Lily Lim, Chairman of Welfare Committee Bonifacio Lui, Co-Chairman of Welfare Committee Robert Kho Tian Ang, Vice Chairman of Welfare Committee Jimmy Ching, Chairman of External Affairs Committee Nelson Guevarra, Assistant Secretary General Reynard Hing. FFCCCII’s Project Coordinator Carlos Legaspi and Photographer Wilson Ong were also present.

“This is very important in rehabilitating Marawi because schools are the primary need of the children there.We need to unite and help,” Gozon added.

“Kami dito sa Filipino-Chinese

GMA Chairman and CEO Atty. Felipe L. Gozon (second from right), GMA President Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr. (third from right), and GMAKF EVP & COO Rikki Escudero-Catibog (center) receive a generous monetary help for Rebuild Marawi Project from FFCCCII’s officers in aid of the Rebuild Marawi Project in Lanao del Sur.

community, we have to share what we have with the poor ‘kababayans’ just to show them that we also love them.We hope that this will pick up efforts for the rehabilitation and construction of destroyed public schools,” Yap remarked.

GMAKF has repeatedly visited Lanao del Sur to find out how it could best respond to the needs of the residents of Marawi who were displaced by the armed conflict. Many schools were reduced to rubble. The Department of Education will re-enroll the displaced students outside of the most affected area while the bombed out area gets rehabilitated by the government.

“The youth is the future of our country.

Education is the way to improve your life,” shared Escudero-Catibog.

GMAKF will rehabilitate and rebuild three schools in Marawi City and will build a total of 18 classrooms

May film screenings at Benilde’s MCAD ‘Landscape in the Mist’ is a 1988 Greek film considered by a critics’ poll as one of 100 best films of the 20th century.

at Datu Saber Elementary School (8 classrooms), Pendolonan Elementary School (6 classrooms) and Camp Bagong Amai Pakpak Elementary School (4 classrooms).

FFCCCII is one of GMAKF’s top donors for its Rebuild Marawi Project and through its generosity, the lives of generations children in Marawi will change for the better.

Help fund GMA Kapuso Foundation’s Rebuild Marawi Project. GMAKF accepts much needed monetary donations in cash or check at the GMAKF office, 2nd Floor GMA Kapuso Center, 11th Jamboree corner Samar Street, Quezon City. You may also deposit to GMAKF bank accounts in Metrobank, BDO, PNB and UCPB. For more inquiries, contact GMAKF at gmaf@gmanetwork.com or (02) 9289351/ 9284299.

renowned video game designer, to recover Existenz, the game she was working on that was damaged during an attempt on her life. With the help of Ted, the program is implanted into their bodies. The movie describes their experiences when fantasy and reality blur into one.

The list of films is curated by Heman Chong, an artist whose pieces have been displayed at the 20th Sydney Biennale, 10th Gwangju Biennale, Asia Pacific Triennale 7, Performa 11, Manifesta 7, 2nd Singapore Biennale and has represented Singapore at the 50th Venice Biennale.

All screenings will be held at the MCAD Multimedia Room, with two showings every Wednesday and Friday, at 12 noon and 3:00 p.m., and at 12 noon every Sunday.

For details, e-mail mcad@benilde.edu.ph, or call 230-5100 local 3897.

MCAD DLS-CSB is located at the School of Design and Arts (SDA) Campus of the De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde, Dominga Street, Malate, Manila.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

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ANNOUNCEMENT FOR DRUG RECALL Attention:

Doctors, Pharmacists, Distributors

Hospitals

and

Duopharma Trade Phils., Inc. announces the immediate recall of the following drug manufactured by Rotexmedica GmbH. Generic Name Fluphenazine decanoate

Brand Name

Batch Number

SYDEPRES

60197

Mfg. Date Jan 2016

Exp. Date Jan 2018

The recall has been necessitated due to problem in stability.

All wholesalers, hospitals and institutions are advised to return any stock of the above referred batch in their possession. The stock may be returned to our distributor or directly to our office immediately not later than June10, 2018 within one month of the announcement.

Duopharma Trade Phils., Inc. Skrene Bldg., 3759 Cuenca cor. Emilia Sts., Palanan, Makati City Tel Nos.: 5513422 to 23 Fax No.: 5513330 (MS-MAY 11, 2018)

Republic of the Philippines ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR CONFIRMATION AND APPROVAL OF CALCULATIONS OF OVER OR UNDER RECOVERIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATIC COST ADJUSTMENTS AND TRUE UP MECHANISMS BOHOL (BLCI),

LIGHT

COMPANY,

ERC CASE NO. 2018-012 CF

INC.

Applicant. x-----------------------------------------------x

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF CAPITAL EXPENDITURE PROJECTS FOR CALENDAR YEARS 2018 to 2019 WITH PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY

TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: Notice is hereby given that on 22 March 2018, an Application dated 16 March 2018 was filed by applicant Bohol Light Company, Inc. (BLCI) seeking the Commission’s confirmation and approval of calculations of (over) or underrecoveries in the implementation of Automatic Cost Adjustments and True-up Mechanisms.

1. BLCI is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, with principal address at BLCI Building, Ramon Enorio Street, Tagbilaran City, Bohol. It is a distribution utility with franchise and Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to operate electric light and power services in Tagbilaran City.

2. This application is filed pursuant to the following resolutions of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC): (a) Resolution No. 16, Series of 2009, entitled, “A Resolution Adopting the Rules Governing the Automatic Cost Adjustment and True-Up Mechanisms and Corresponding Confirmation Process for Distribution Utilities,” (b) Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010, entitled, “A Resolution Amending Section 4 of Article 4 and Section 1 of Article 5 of the Rules Governing the Automatic Cost Adjustment and True-Up Mechanisms and Corresponding Confirmation Process for Distribution Utilities,” and (c) Resolution No. 23, Series of 2010, entitled, “A Resolution Adopting the Rules Implementing the Discounts to Qualified Senior Citizen End-Users and Subsidy from the Subsidizing End-Users on Electricity Consumption Under Section 4 & 5 of Republic Act No. 9994·” 3. Under ERC Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010, the ERC directs BLCI to file a consolidated application for approval of the over/ under recoveries based on the formula on the various automatic cost adjustments and true-up mechanisms and corresponding confirmation process pursuant to the abovementioned resolutions covering the period from January 2015 to December 2017, except for the Senior Citizen Discount/ Subsidy which covers the period from March 2011 to December 2017· 4. In the ERC decisions dated January 13, 2014 and August 4, 2014 in ERC Case No. 2012-009 CP, which was BLCI’s earlier application pursuant to Resolution No. 16, Series of 2009, as amended by Resolution No. 21, Series of 2010, ERC directed BLCI to refund over recoveries and to collect under recoveries in such amounts stated in the said decisions.

5. At the time BLCI received the decisions, there were outstanding true-up mechanism for Generation (AGRA), Transmission (TRAM), System Loss (System Loss Recovery), Lifeline (Lifeline Recovery), and for other items, but despite BLCI’s implementation of such guidelines, BLCI still incurred the following under / (over) recoveries: GENERATION Allowable Generation Revenue 1, 863,786.759.94 Actual Generation Revenue 1,855,892,274.98 Under Recovery 7,894,484·95 SYSTEM LOSS Allowable System Loss Revenue 180 648,526.26 Actual System Loss Revenue 180,624,911.44 Under Recovery 23,614.82 TRANSMISSION Allowable Transmission Revenue 257,155,791.65 Actual Transmission Revenue 259,738,519.82 Over Recoverv (2,582,72 8.17) LIFELINE Lifeline Discount 26,252 ,986.75 Lifeline Subsidy 26,606,022.78 Over Recovery (353,036.03) SENIOR CITIZEN Senior Citizen Discount 205,721.91 Senior Citizen Subsidy 242,669.37 Over Recovery (36,947.46)

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO SURRENDER THE CO-OWNER’S DUPLICATE COPY OF OCT NO. 14714 ERC CASE NO. 2018-012 RC

LILIA HERNANDEZ,

Respondent x---------------------------------------------x

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES:

SUMMONS

Notice is hereby given that on 15 March 2018, an Application dated 7 March 2018 was filed by applicant Bohol Light Company, Inc. (BLCI) seeking the Commission’s approval of its capital expenditure projects for calendar years 2018 to 2019, with prayer for the issuance of provisional authority.

BLCI alleged the following in its Application:

TO: LILIA HERNANDEZ No. 303 Circle, Makai Wahiawa, Hawaii, U.S.A WHEREAS, on JULY 24, 2017, a verified Complaint was filed before this Court the contents of which is quoted to wit:

1. BLCI is a corporation duly organized and existng under the laws of Republic of the Philippines, with principal address at BLCI Building, Ramon Enorio Street, Tagbilaran City, BohoL It is a distribution utility with franchise and Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to operate electric light and power services in Tagbilaran City 2. In compliance with the Amended Rules for the Approval of Regulated Entities’ Capital Projects (the “Rules”), as approved in ERC Resolution No. 26, Series of 2009, BLCI submits for approval its capital expenditure program for CYs 2018 and 2019 with an aggregate total cost of PhP 107,731,752.00, summarized as follows: PROJECT PESCRJPTION I. BLCI-FUNDED Distribution Plant Land & Land Rights Structures & Improvements Station Equipment Poles, O.H. Conductors & Devices Line Transformers(Common) Power Conditioning Equipment Meters Information Systems Equipment Total Distribution Plant

CY 2018

CY2019

0 690,000 4,807,716 11,160,787 1,862,705 778,753 7,397,869 1,324,849 28,022,679

0 1,067,000 560,000 14,791,225 1,955,840 157,440 11,910,592 10,352,849 40,794,946

0 246,000 288,000 3,640,000 1,378,740 570,000 266,649 44,800 2,764,499 9,198,688

0 120,000 215,000 5,344,000 700,688 2,000,000 163,800 48,400 2,230,724 10,822,612

37,221,367

51,617,558

6,265,998 2,950,015

6,579,298 3,097,516

SUB-TOTAL (Distribution PlantCustomers` Deposit)

9,216,013

9,676,814

Total

46,437,380

61,294,372

General Plant Land & Land Rights Structures & Improvements Office Furniture & Equipment Transportation Equipment Tools, Shop & Garage Equipment Laboratory Equipment Information systems Equipment Communication Equipment Materials, Supplies Inc. Spares Total General Plant

II. CUSTOMERS DEPOSIT-FUNDED Distribution Plant Line Transformer Poles, O.H. Conductors & Devices

4. BLCI submits the annexes attached hereto and described below in compliance with the requirements for each proposed CAPEX project as required under Section 3.2, Article III of the Rules.

ANNEX A B C D E F G H I J K L M-1 M-2 N O

DESCRIPTION Details of BLCI Proposed CAPEX Projects CY2018 & CY2019 Proposed CAPEX Projects & Feeder Maps Gantt Chart of Proposed CAPEX Projects CY2018 & CY2019 Summary of Results of Forecasting Models, Validity and Accuracy Test Capacity Performance Table Updated Fault Level Data of BLCI Load End SS from NGCP Wire Sizing and Economic Analysis Technical Simulation Backbone Line Projects Financial Analysis BLCI Distribution Development Plan (DDP) Distribution Transformer Economic Analysis Primary Line Economic Analysis CAPEX Application Book 1 (Network Projects and Its Technical Descriptions and Justifications) CAPEX Application Book 2 (Other Network and Non-Network Projects and Its Technical Descriptions and Justifications) Secretary`s Certificate Judicial Affidavit of Engr. Eulogio M. Signe

5. The annexes, and other supporting documents provide, among other things, the following information: (a) System Performance Assessment and Planning Process; (b) Major Project Description; (c) Project Cost Estimates; (d) Technical Analysis; (e) Economic Analysis; (f) Project Schedule; and (g) BLCI Distribution Development Plan.

6. The proposed projects are indispensable to meet the increasing demand and increasing number of consumers of ELC!. Thus, BLCI recognizes the immediate need to increase substation and feeder capacities, as well as the need for additional distribution transformers, kWh meters, wires, and other related equipment in the distribution system.

7· Moreover, the proposed projects directly aim to address safety, capacity, efficiency, security and enhance further the reduction of system loss, reliability and power quality in the distribution network. The proposed projects are the outcome of ERC’s CAPEX Planning Process and are consistent with BLCI’s Distribution Development Plan (DDP), the Philippine Grid Code, the Philippine Distribution Code, and other relevant government issuances .

9· The issuance of a Provisional Authority will ensure BLCI’s timely compliance with its CAPEX program considering the arduous preparations needed and the works involved in the implementation of the proposed projects.

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES FIRST JUDICIAL REGION REGIONAL TRIAL COURT BRANCH___________ LAOAG CITY IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO SURRENDER THE CO-OWNER’S DUPLICATE COPY OF OCT NO. 14714 AQUINO A. TUNGPALAN Petitioner -versus-

BLCI prays that the Honorable Commission APPROVE this application, and GRANT other equitable relief.

The Commission has set the Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on 29 May 2018 at two o’clock in the afternoon (2:00 P.M.), at the ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City.

All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the instant case may become a party by filing with the Commission a verified Petition to Intervene at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure, indicating therein the docket number and title of the case and stating the following: The petitioner’s name and address; The nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and A statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the case may file their Opposition or Comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before Applicant rests its case, subject to the · requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Energy Regulatory Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure. No particular form of Opposition or Comment is required, but the document, letter, or writing should contain the following: 1) The name and address of such person; 2) A concise statement of the Opposition or Comment; and 3) The grounds relied upon.

All such persons who wish to have a copy of the Application may request from Applicant that it be furnished with the same, prior to the date of the initial hearing. Applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the standard office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Chairperson and CEO AGNES VST DEVANADERA, and the Honorable Commissioners ALFREDO J. NON, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 6th day of April 2018 in Pasig City.

FOR AND BY AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION:

BLCI prays that the Honorable Commission (a) APPROVE its capital expenditure program for CYs 2018 and 2019 consisting of the above proposed projects, (b) ISSUE a Provisional Authority to immediately implement the proposed projects pending final resolution of this application, (c) GRANT final authority to BLCI to implement, construct, own, and operate the proposed projects, and Cd) GRANT BLCI other equitable relief.

The Commission has set the Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on 23 May 2018 at two o’clock in the afternoon (2:00 P.M.), at BLCI’s principal office, BLCI Building, Ramon Enorio Street, Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the instant case may become a party by filing with the Commission a verified Petition to Intervene at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure, indicating therein the docket number and title of the case and stating the following: 1) 2) 3)

The petitioner’s name and address; The nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and A statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the case may file their Opposition or Comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before Applicant rests its case, subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure. No particular form of Opposition or Comment is required, but the document, letter, or writing should contain the following: 1) 2) 3)

The name and address of such person; A concise statement of the Opposition or Comment; and The grounds relied upon.

All such persons who wish to have a copy of the Application may request from Applicant that it be furnished with the same, prior to the date of the initial hearing.

Applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the standard office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Chairperson and CEO AGNES VST DEV ANADERA, and the Honorable Commissioners ALFREDO J. NON, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAPTARUC and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 10th day of April 2018 in Pasig City.

FOR AND BY AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION:

JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT Oversight Commissioner for Legal

Respondent x--------------------------------------------x PETITION COMES NOW, the Petitioner, through counsel, and to this Honorable Court, and by way of this Petition to Surrender of the Co-Owner’s Duplicate Copy of OCT NO. 14714, most respectfully avers: That the Petitioner is of legal age, Filipino, married to Lolita B. Bato, and with residence and postal address at Brgy. 42 Apaya, Laoag City, Philippines, where he may be served with notices legal processes of this Honorable Court; 2. That the Respondent is likewise of legal age, Filipino, a resident of Brgy. 42 Apaya, Laoag City, Philippines, but presently residing at 303 Circle Makai, Wahiawa, Hawaii, United States of America, where she may be served with Summons and legal processes of this Honorable Court; 3. That the petitioner and even his late father Roman Tungpatan are the absolute and registered co-owners of the parcel of land, designated as Lot No. 3738, with a total area of 83,939 square meters, situated at Brgy. 42 Apaya, Laoag City, Philippines, covered by Original Certificates of Title (OCT) No. 14714. A certified title copy of OCT No. 14714 is hereto attached and marked as ANNEX “A”, and shall be made an integraI part hereof; 4. That being the absolute and registered co-owner, the petitioner is in possession of the owners’ duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714. A machine copy of the owner`s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714 is hereto attached and marked as ANNEX “B” and shall be made an integral part hereof; 5.That the respondent had borrowed the owner`s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714 from the petitioner as she had registered deed of conveyance in her favour with the Office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City, and the presentation of the owner`s duplicate copy is a pre-requisite for its registration; 6.That the deed of conveyance in favour of he respondent was registered and annotated at the back of OCT No. 14714, and thereafter respondent returned the said owner`s duplicate copy of the Title to the petitioner. However, unknown to the petitioner, respondent had requested for a co-owner`s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714; 7. That the petitioner, being one of the heirs of Roman Tungpalan, among other heirs, had executed on September 8, 2014, a Deed of Adjudication and Sale in favor William B. Munoz, married to Susan F. Ancheta, conveying a portion of 1,331 square meters of Lot No. 3738, covered by OCT No. 14714. A copy of the Deed of Adjudication and Sale is hereto attached and marked as ANNEX “C” and shall be made an integral part hereof; 8. That the petitioner had caused the registration of me aforesaid Deed of Adjudication and Sale with the office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City, after securing and complying all the requirement or its registration. However, the Register of Deeds of Laoag City had denied the registration of the aforesaid documents on the primary ground of failure to surrender and present the co-owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714, as embodied in the Formal Notice of Denial of Registration. A copy of the formal Notice of Denial of Registration is hereto attached and marked as ANNEX “D”, and shall be made an integral part hereof; 9. That the petitioner repeatedly demanded from the respondent, thru ____________________who readily admitted that the co-owner`s copy of OCT No. 14714 was given to the respondent, who refused and continuously refuses to lend or surrender the same to the petitioner or to the Office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City, so that the registration of the said Deed of Adjudication and Sale should be accomplished; 10. That the petition is filing this petition before this Honorable Court in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 107 of P. D. 1529, and that the respondent shall be ordered to produce and surrender possession of Co-Owner`s Copy of OCT No. 14714 in favor of the petitioner or in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City; 11. That in the event that the respondent shall fail to produce and surrender the coowner’s copy to the office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City, within a reasonable period of time, the same shall be declared null and void and to order the Register of Deeds of Laoag City to issue another Co-Owner’s Copy of OCT No. 14714; 12. That this petition is not intended to intended to defraud third person or persons but solely for the reason hereon stated PRAYER WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully prayed of this Honorable Court, that after due notice, and hearing, a Decision be issued directing the respondent to surrender the co-owner’s copy of OCT No. 14714 to the office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City for the registration of the said Deed of Adjudication and Sale.

Petitioner likewise prays that in the event that the respondent shall fail to surrender the same within a considerable period of time, the co-owner’s copy of OCT No. 14714 be declared null and void, and to direct the Register of Deeds of Laoag City to issue a new co-owner’s COPY of OCT No. 14714 with a notation that it was issued in lieu of the cancelled co-owner’s copy of the said title and to proceed with the registration of the aforesaid Deed of Adjudication and Sale.

Petitioner further prays for such other relief and remedies that this Honorable Court may deem just and equitable under the premises.

Laoag City, Philippines, June 1, 2017.

MELCHOR B. GUILLEN Counsel for Subsitute Defendants G/F Old Far east Bank Bldg.

Tres Martires St., Laoag City IBP OR No. 0990719-Laoag City-12-15-2016 PTR OR No. 4720297-Piddig, I.N.-1-3-2017 Roll No. 40253;MCLE Compliance No. V-0005288/1-8-2015

VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION I, AQUINO A. TUNGPALAN, under oath, do hereby depose and state: That I am the petitioner in the above-entitled petition; That I personally caused the preparation of the aforesaid petition; That I have read the same and all the contents herein are true and correct to the best of my own personal knowledge and/or base from authentic records; That I have not commenced any other action involving the same parties, subject matter and cause of action before the Municipal Trial Court, Municipal Circuit Trial Court, Regional Trial Court, Court of AppeaIs or Supreme Court; That there is no pending similar action before the Municipal Trial Court, Municipal Circuit Trial Court, Regional Trial Court, Court of Appeals or Supreme Court; That in the event that the petitioner may come into his knowledge of a pending similar action before any court of justice petitioner shall undertake to inform this Honorable Court within five (5) days from such knowledge.

AQUINO A. TUNGPALAN Petitioner/Affiant SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 1st day of June 2017 at Laoag City, Philippines. Affiant exhibited to me his OSCA I.D. No. 11670 issued on 12/4/2006 at Parañaque City.

WHEREAS, on MARCH 21, 2018. counsel for the plaintiff filed a “Motion For Leave To Effect Service of Summons by Publication.

WHEREAS, on April 2, 2018, the Honorable Nida B. Alejandro, Presiding Judge of this Court, issued an Order approving the same.

NOW THEREFORE, Lilia Hernandez is hereby summoned through publication and by registered mail. She is required to file with the Regional Trial Court, Branch 12, Laoag City-llocos Norte, Philippines her answer to the complaint filed against her in the instant case within sixty (60) days from notice, serving copies thereof upon the plaintiff, through their counsel Atty. Melchor Guillen. Failure on your part to do so as aforesaid, petitioner will take judgment against respondent by default and demand from said Court the reliefs prayed for in the complaint.

WITNESS, THE HONORABLE NIDA B, ALEJANRO. Presiding Judge of this Court this 2nd day of April 2048 at Laoag City, Philippines.

JANETTE ROSALIE S. MATA Legal Researcher II & Officer-In-Charge

JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT Oversight Commissioner for Legal (MS-MAY 4 & 11, 2018)

Cad Case No. 14 G.I.R.O. Rec. No. 1137 Lot No. 3738 Laoag Cadastre OCT No. 14714

LILIA HERNANDEZ,

RELIEF

RELIEF

Cad Case No. 14 G.I.R.O. Rec. No. 1137 Lot No. 3738 Laoag Cadastre OCT No. 14714

AQUINO A. TUNGPALAN Petitioner -versus-

8. Pursuant to Rule 20 of the ERC Rules of Practice and Procedure, BLCI submits the Judicial Affidavit of Engr. Eulogio M. Signe in support of its motion for a Provisional Authority to immediately implement the proposed projects.

6. Therefore, BLC! seeks approval to collect from its consumers, or refund to them as the case may be, the said under/ Cover) recoveries, which were computed based on documents submitted in support of this application.

3)

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT FIRST JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 12, LAOAG CITY

BOHOL LIGHT COMPANY, INC. (BLCI), Applicant. x---------------------------------------------------x

BLCI alleged the following in its Application:

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advertise@manilastandard.net

Republic of the Philippines ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City

Sub-Total (Distribution and General Plant-BLCI)

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

1) 2)

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

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Motoring

RAMON L. TOMELDAN EDITOR

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FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

CULTURE VULTURE.

A gaggle of car enthusiasts flocked to the TransSportshow last year which developed a some sort of a culture.

27th TransSportShow

Prepped cars galore Suzuki spreads wings in Taytay

PIONEER compact car distributor Suzuki Philippines continues to strengthen its foothold in the country with the inauguration of Suzuki Auto Taytay in Eastern Luzon. Initially a 1S satellite showroom in SM Taytay handling only sales, the new 3S dealership now serves as a one-stop shop that also offers spare parts and service.

The opening of Suzuki Auto Taytay comes on the heels of a successful first quarter for the company, which posted the highest year-to-date vehicle sales increase in the entire local automotive industry.

Shuzo Hoshikura, SPH vice president and general manager for Automobile, has only positive outlook for the company for the months ahead.

“We at Suzuki Philippines are grateful for the continued success we have been reaping these past years. All these are because of the constant support of our beloved customers and partners. As said before, SPH will be more assertive in reinforcing our market presence, especially outside Metro Manila, to reach more Filipino motorists across the Philippines. We will continue to exhaust all strategies and resources to be able to deliver to our valued customers only the best-quality products and services,” shared Hoshikura.

Suzuki Auto Taytay: 3S with value added The Suzuki Auto Taytay was officially inaugurated last April 27, but it has been in operation since August last year. The 37th 3S Suzuki Automobile Dealer to date, the Taytay dealership offers motorists one-stop-shop assistance covering sales, spare parts and services to meet all their vehicle needs.

The dealership features the first ever built-in café to provide customers with a place to relax or eat while they wait for their purchased Suzuki unit or for the vehicle to be serviced. The kiddie corner, which is present in all Suzuki dealerships, is likewise available. These deviations from traditional dealership setups are part of

Suzuki’s efforts to provide clients with the best customer service and experience.

Strategically located along the Manila East Road, Barangay San Juan in Taytay Rizal, Suzuki Auto Taytay brings well-loved Suzuki vehicles and services more accessible to drivers and residents in the area.

Anthony N. Cheng, president of the ETNA Motors, Inc. and Mt. Sinai Motors Corp., which manages the Suzuki Auto Taytay, is optimistic for the dealership. “Since we started our operations middle of last year, Suzuki Auto Taytay has been performing well. Its location is a great factor, especially as more investors and traders move to Taytay, partly in response to the gradual shift in the city from agricultural to commercial and industrial. As such, we expect to maintain, if not improve, the performance of the dealership going forward.”

At the inauguration of Suzuki Auto Taytay are Suzuki Philippines Assistant General Manager Cecil Capacete; ETNA Motors, Inc. and Mt. Sinai Motors Corp. Managing Director Romina Theresa Bustamante; ETNA Motors, Inc. and Mt. Sinai Motors Corp. President Anthony Cheng; SPH Vice President and General Manager for Automobile Division Shuzo Hoshikura; SPH Assistant to the General Manager Kennosuke Ouchi; ETNA Motors, Inc. and Mt. Sinai Motors Corp. Executive Vice President Mike Ang Tan. Suzuki Auto Taytay is equipped with a built-in café and a kiddie corner for better customer experience.

T

HE 27th staging of the TransSportShow— the most recognized and enduring car show in the country—promises to be the ground zero for customized cars in all four days from May 17 to May 20, 2018.

The motoring event will be held at the SMX Convention Center by Mall of Asia, showcasing over 100 project vehicles specially prepped (restored and customized) to compete in the much awaited TransSportShow Cup Competition.

“For 26 years now, TransSportShow has always been and continues to be in the forefront of automotive restoration and car show competitions. Having produced hundreds of show car winners in its 26 years run, TransSportShow has helped hundreds of car shops and individuals flourish in this field - several of whom have become ‘Influencers’when it comes to auto restoration. ”, Sophie delos Santos, TSI President said.

While cars shows of various types and sizes are held all over the country , TransSportShow is still the only car show where 85% of what is on the show floor are beautifully restored and/or customized show cars vying for a prestigious competition. It is the car enthusiasts’ venue of choice for creative self-expression .

From its inception in 1992 as a general automotive show, Trans Sport Show has evolved into a successful iconic brand, transcending its category as just a car show to becoming part of the Filipino car enthusiasts’ culture . It is the only car show which spans generations of car enthusiasts where they create their interesting “TransSportShow stories” to share with fellow car lovers.

This year, among the must-see exhibits are project vehicles of previous Best of Show winners like Alex Car Restoration, Alfred Motorworks, Import Hook Up, and last year’s first time

SPECIAL PROJECT.

Restoration and customized autos are vying for honor and glory at this year’s show. entrant and winner Vonetix Radical Creations. The latter will display as well last year’s Best of Show and poster car – a 1995 Toyota Corolla for the benefit of those who missed it last year.

Exhibitors include 199 Off Road, 2Ner Magazine, 2Ring Autoworks, Aegis Detailing Philippines, Alex Car Restoration, Alfred Motor Works, Alveo Land, Inc., Ancorp Healthy World, Inc., Antique Classic & Historic Automobile World Fellowship of Rotarians, Aris Classics Restoration, Astoria Plaza, Audio Video Solutions Corp. (Bewith), Auto88 Corp., Autobot Autoworks Off Road, Autogenix Autoworks, Autoindustriya. com, Automobile Association of the Phils., Autospecs Motorsales, Blade Auto Center, BLK 513, Brahma 4x4 Gear, BToys, C! Magazine, CGS Auto Spa, Citibank Inc.,Clean Ones Auto Detailing, Club Ultima Phils., INc., Consumer Care Products, Inc., Cougar Athletic Trends, Inc. (Puma), Delta Japan/Ultra Racing, Diecast Collectors of the Phils., Inc., ECR Card Marketing/Metrobank, Elite Project Motorsports, Eurodecals, European Advanced Technik (Liquimoly), Eurovision Trading, First Rubber Mfg. Corp.

(Tirebot)., Forged/MWorld Trading, Garage One Auto Performance Shop, Gotcha, INc., H&L Healthcare, Inc., Habaluyas Group, HLT International, Inc. (Cromax), Hobbiestock Collectible Corp., Import Hook Up, JDM Select, Jose Ingles Enterprise, JSK Customs, K29 Autoworks, Kikoysky Toys and Collectibles Shop, Kingz Access Online,

Kins Auto Design Philippines, Londonstar Corp. (MG Cars), March Resources Mgfg.

Corp./Menzerna, Massiveparts, Inc., Meguiars Phils. /Simex, Michel Motorsport,MP Turbo, Nasiol Philippines, Nexus Ark Paint & Bodyworks, NGK Spark Plugs, Nippon Paint Phils., Nissan Phils., Inc., Omaka INc./Atoy Customs, Ondoy Boats, One Tagaytay Place, Padi’s Point, Perfect Circle Industrial Supply, Inc. ,Philippine Bottling Beverage/Banahaw Spring, Prautotype Auto Restoration, Rain Enterprises, Red Octagon,, Remixx Clothing, Rev Up, Richburg Corporation, Ripple Manila Inc. (Prestone), Road Kings Custom, Roberto Zaballa, Rommel Ordinario, Segway Philippines, Speedlab Inc., Sta. Lucia Land, Inc., Starbright Bodykits, Staunch Performance, Supercar Club, Thisplay, Inc., Topgear Philippines, TSL Marketing, Twincell, Unioil, Unionbank, VC Autoworks, Versa Vantage Trading, Victor Hardware, Vonetix Radical Creations, YHI Philippines and Zamony Ventures Corp. (Pioneer).

In addition, MOTO BUILDS PILIPINAS , a motorbike show and Bike Build Off organized by Makina will be held simultaneously with TransSportShow during the weekend -from May 19-20.