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Palace eases Leni’s fears Over the use of Supreme Court ‘weapon’ that unseated Sereno

By Vito Barcelo and Rio N. Araja

Princely pleasure for royal wedding THE highly-anticipated marriage between Britain’s Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle in Windsor on Saturday has generated a slew of quirky side-stories and offbeat tribNext page utes.

T VOL. XXXII • NO. 90 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY

Oversexed marsupials endangered species SYDNEY—Two marsupial species whose males die after marathon sex sessions have been put on Australia’s endangered list, with scientists warning Tuesday they are racing against the clock to save them. Next page

DUSKY ANTECHINUS. This undated handout photo from the Queensland Museum released Tuesday shows a silver-headed antechinus. Two marsupial species with males that die after marathon sex sessions have been put on Australia’s endangered list, with scientists warning they are racing against the clock to save them. AFP

Recount shows Duterte victim of vote shaving By Rey E. Requejo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte may also be a victim of election fraud, particularly vote shaving, during the 2016 national elections, the camp of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday. A spokesman for Marcos, Vic Rodriguez, said the ongoing recount to settle the former senator’s election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo showed discrepancies in the votes for Next page Duterte in Camarines Sur.

Duterte cites political reason for no-show FINDING himself in a situation where he had to choose only one side from among his supporters, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday his decision to skip the 2018 barangay (village) elections was “purely political.” “Everyone who was running is my friend. Almost all were my supporters during the last election,” he told reporters in Taguig City during the wake of the late former senator Edgardo Angara. “They would never believe that I voted for them or against them.” Next page

Monsod: SC ruling defies ‘87 Charter

Quo Warranto

POP-UP PORTRAIT. The Crown jewels of London unofficial royal wedding souvenir four-pack comes in a box that when opened reveals a pop-up portrait representation of Harry and Meghan and plays a combined arrangement of the US and British national anthems accompanied by the legend ‘Your prince will come.’ AFP

, MAY 16, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

SADISTIC SWORD. Like a sword of Damocles, in the view of some, hanging over the heads of government critics, this quo warranto cutlass, a legal proceeding to recover an office, franchise, or privilege from the person in possession, initiated as upon an information, instills fears despite Malacañang assurances it does not subscribe to the view this can be used against political opponents.

HE Palace said Tuesday it has no intention of removing Vice President Leni Robredo through a quo warranto petition after she expressed fears that the “weapon” used to oust Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno could be used against the administration’s political opponents. In ousting Sereno 8-6, the Supreme Court noted that under the rules of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, a president and vice president may also be removed by a quo warranto petition filed by any registered voter on the grounds of ineligibility or disloyalty to the country within 10 days of their proclamation. But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace does not subscribe to this view, and said Sereno was found ineligible to occupy the position of chief justice for lack of integrity because she did not submit the required Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth when she applied for the position in 2012. Roque, however, said impeachable officials such as the president, vice president, members of constitutional commissions, members of the Supreme Court and the Ombdusman may be subject to a quo warranto action if they do not meet the requirements for their position. “If there is a requirement that one should be a national born citizen and that is a requirement also for the Supreme Court, then if there are issues involving citizenship of a Supreme Court justice then it could be filed and questioned through a petition for quo warranto,” Roque said. Citing the 1987 Constitution, Roque said the law allows the removal of an impeachable officer through other means, in this case, a quo warranto action. Robredo said Tuesday she was not losing hope amid “dark times.” Next page

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz ONE of the framers of the 1986 Constitution said the Supreme Court went against the intention of the Charter in using a quo warranto petition to remove Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Lawyer Christian Monsod, who headed the committee that drafted the Constitutional provision on impeachment, also rejected the position of Solicitor General Jose Calida that the quo warranto can be used even a year after “the cause of such action” because “no time runs against the king.” “That is the lowest kind of reasoning and a blatant exhibition of arrogance,” Monsod said in a television interview. The majority decision that ousted Sereno from office claimed Article XI, Section 2 of the Constitution “does not foreclose a quo warranto action” against impeachable officers such as the chief magistrate. But Monsod noted that the Charter made a distinction between impeachable officers and all other public officers and employees who “may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment.” He recalled the subsequent sentence of Section 2 was suggested by fellow commissioner Next page

WASTE NOT YOUR WASTE. Zero waste advocates from the Ecowaste Coalition show how used poll campaign materials—as those in Monday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections—can be creatively and safely reused, repurposed or recycled to reduce trash disposal. Lino Santos

7 village chiefs to settle tie via toss coin CEBU CITY—The contest for village chief in seven barangays in Cebu province resulted in a tie on Monday after the counting of ballots in the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. This was learned Tuesday from provincial election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano, who said they received re-

ports of the tied results from the towns of Malabuyoc, San Fernando, Tabogon, Alcantara, and Catmon but have yet to specifically identify the names of those barangays. Based on a Commission on Elections resolution, Castillano said the candidates who got the same number of votes must break the tie through a toss coin. Next page

UN to PH: Remove 600 from terror list A UNITED Nations committee on Tuesday urged the Philippines to remove indigenous peoples or IPs and human rights defenders from a list of more than 600 individuals allegedly affiliated with “terrorist organizations,” including

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a Cordillera-born Filipina who is a UN special rapporteur. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in a decision in its 95th session held in Geneva, Switzerland that the country must address “the dire situation faced by indigenous leaders and human rights defenders engaged in the fight against racial discrimination in the country.” Next page

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

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Jetski ride to Rise: Baste subs for Rody By Vito Barcelo

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte skipped the jet ski ride to Benham Rise or Philippine Rise on Tuesday, but presidential son Sebastian Duterte and Special Assistant to the President Christopher Go did, the Palace said Tuesday.

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Go said he and Sebastian “represented” the President by doing the jet ski ride. Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte’s trip to Philippine Rise to send off Filipino scientists who will conduct maritime research was both “symbolic” and “assertive.” He made his remarks as Duterte was set to lead the sendoff to commemorate the 2012 United Nations declaration that the undersea feature was part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf. Although Duterte did not show up during the trip to the Philippine Rise, Roque said the visit of Sebastian and Go was part of Duterte’s simple ceremonial sendoff for the team to begin the country’s first scientific research in the vast undersea plateau off Aurora province. Duterte said Philippine Rise was part of Philippine territory and warned he would declare war against any foreign country going there without the Philippine government’s permission. Philippine Rise is an offshore frontier facing the Pacific Ocean that is about 24 million hectares and is in With a jetski ride, Presidential son Sebastian ‘Baste’ Duterte and Special Assistant to the President Christopher ‘Bong’ Go hold the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. a sendoff ceremony for 50 Filipino scientists who will conduct research on the vast expanse of the Philippine (Benham) Rise. Philippine security officials raised concern about intrusions when a Chinese ship was monitored criss-crossclaim to any disputed region. ing the waters early last year, drawing public attention searchers who will study the resource-rich area. China has converted three reefs in the disputed West “We have always been putting down our feet. We have to the territory that some believe could be harboring gas Philippine Sea into artificial islands into military posts, not surrendered our title, we have not relinquished our and oil deposits aside from its rich fishing areas. Roque said Duterte will send some 50 Filipino re- but Roque said the Philippines did not relinquish any title, we maintain we have title,” Roque said.

Palace...

Partial lifting of Kuwait work ban takes effect

Speaking at a forum at the University of Santo Tomas, Robredo highlighted the importance of empathy, and urged students to involve themselves in advocacy work, just like she did when she joined an advocacy group, Saligan, as a young lawyer. “The Filipino touch is a touch of empathy, something that we desperately need these times,” she said. She said she always advises her staff to stay from too much negativity because of what was happening around them, she called on the students to do the same thing, too. “We are at the receiving end of so much viciousness,” she said. Although the vice president spoke of dark times, she did not mention specifically Sereno’s ouster by a quo warranto petition. Also on Tuesday, the Commission on Human Rights said the Constitution was clear: a sitting chief justice can only be removed through impeachment. “We denounce the fact that this decision by the Supreme Court’s majority was made with justices who previously sat as accusers, a fundamental fairness issue that is expected most from the members of the highest court of our land. We decry that Congress was dispossessed of its exclusive power to decide whether an impeachable officer should be removed,” the commission said in a statement. “This decision has diminished our democracy. It erodes our obedience to the rule of law and departs from the will of the Filipino people,” it added.

THE Philippine government has ordered the partial lifting of the deployment ban on Filipino workers to Kuwait days after the signing of an agreement to protect them in the Gulf state, Malacañang said Tuesday. Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the Philippines could now deploy skilled and semi-skilled workers to Kuwait as a result of the labor pact signed by the two countries last Friday. Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said the government’s action was a step in the right direction as it brought the diplomatic relations between the Philip-

pines and Kuwait back to normal. He said that would guarantee the safety and welfare of the Filipinos working in Kuwait. “We hope that our government will remain steadfast in ensuring that the labor rights of all Filipinos working abroad, especially domestic workers, are upheld and protected at all times,” Angara said. Among the key features of the Philippines’ agreement with Kuwait are the provision for food, housing, clothing and the registration in the health insurance system for domestic workers, as well as the use of cellular phones so that

the Filipinos could communicate with their relatives in the Philippines. An employer is also obliged to open a bank account under the domestic worker’s name to allow the worker to remit his or her monthly salary to relatives in the Philippines. Roque said the ban on the deployment of household service workers would “eventually be lifted.” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has said reforms will be implemented on the recruitment of Filipino workers before the ban on their deployment is lifted. Macon Ramos-Araneta

Recount...

cidents in other precincts and that the uncounted votes for the President could reach 50,000 in cities and towns in Camarines Sur, Robredo’s province. Revisors have randomly checked votes for the presidency supposedly to check if there were also discrepancies in the presidential race after seeing discrepancies in the results in the official canvass for the vice presidential race. The recovered or uncounted votes for Duterte, however, are not relevant to the ongoing PET recount, which only covers votes for Robredo and Marcos. Duterte won the 2016 presidential poll with 16,601,997 votes or over 6.6 million more than his closest rival, Liberal Par-

ty’s Mar Roxas, per official tally by a joint congressional canvassing committee. The PET recount has so far finished the recount of all the collected ballot boxes from 22 towns of Camarines Sur - Baao, Balatan, Bato, Buhi, Bula, Camaligan, Canaman, Ocampo, Gainza, Garchitorena, Lagonoy, Magarao, Pili, Presentacion, Sangay, San Fernando, Milaor, Minalabac, Lupi, Pamplona, Pasacao and Del Gallego. The tribunal continued the revision of votes Tuesday for 15 more towns from the province, including Libmanan and Sipocot. The first six weeks of the PET revision of votes has raised several questions.

winners probably on May 26 or 27. He also reminded the candidates to submit their Statement of Campaign Expenditures within 30 days after the election. In Metro Manila, the post-election cleanup began. “So far, we have collected 15.81 cubic meters of garbage left during the recent Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections,” said Francis Martinez, chief of the Metro Manila Development Authority Parkway Clearing Group. The agency initially deployed at least 100 street sweepers and clearing

personnel to selected areas in cities of Parañaque, Taguig and Makati. The operation is being carried out in close coordination with the local government units in Metro Manila. “Aside from major thoroughfares, we have deployed personnel upon the request of local Comelec offices to clear campaign materials in some LGUs,” said Martinez. Two opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, dared Interior Undersecretary Martin Diño to identify the 100 congressmen whom he alleged to be behind vote-buying during the recent elections. Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin and Gabri-

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UN... From A1

The committee monitors the implementation of the UN Anti-Racism Convention, which the Philippines ratified in 1967. It said it was acting under its preventive mechanism—the “Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures” that aim to prevent existing situations “from escalating into conflicts and limit the scale of serious violations” of the convention. It expressed alarm at the inclusion of incumbent and former UN mandate holders on that list, including Tauli-Corpuz, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of IPs; Joan Carling, former member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; and Jose Molintas, former member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “The list aims to intimidate people struggling for their rights and indigenous people defending their lands. It is part of a wider campaign by the State party to narrow the democratic space and to target various groups of persons,” the committee said. Malacañang has yet to react to the decision as of press time. In its decision, the UN body requested the Philippines to take effective measures to protect IPs and human rights defenders, and to foster a conducive environment “enabling them to carry out their work without fear.” It also requested the Philippines to provide information on its moves on the issue “no later than July 16.”

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“We are not surprised by such a report because it just confirms what we have been saying all along—that the cheating was widespread and that it also affected President Duterte, but his lead was [so] insurmountable that all attempts [to derail his election] failed,” Rodriguez said. The Marcos camp was referring to reports last week that revisors in the ongoing recount counted 600 votes on precinct that showed only 500 votes cast in the 2016 national elections. Revisors supposedly saw similar in-

7 village... From A1

Of the 1,203 barangays in the province, the Comelec has yet to proclaim the winners in 10 villages, including the seven barangays in question. The election officer said 99.7 percent of the barangays in the different municipalities and cities in Cebu Province already had their proclamation of winners on Monday. Castillano said they will be posting the complete list of barangay and SK election

Monsod:... From A1

Regalado Maambong. “Commissioner Maambong justified that insertion by saying that the Constitution should be clear on who can be removed as provided by law and those that can only be removed by impeachment,” Monsod said. “The removal by impeachment is supposed to be an extraordinary and more difficult way of removing these high officials,” he added. Meanwhile, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said the Senate cannot convene as an impeachment court not unless it receives the Articles of Impeach-

Oversexed... From A1

The tiny black-tailed dusky antechinus and silver-headed antechinus—discovered in 2013 and found in wetter, higher-altitude regions of Queensland state—are known for suicidal mating habits that include up to 14-hour sex sessions. Climate change, habitat loss and feral

Tourism chief trains gun on promo head

ment from the House of Representatives. “The Senate is passive. We are waiting for the filing of the so-called Articles of Impeachment. So for as long as there is no articles of impeachment filed in the Senate, the Senate can’t constitute itself as an impeachment court. It’s a passive institution as the impeachment is concern,” said Pimentel in an interview. “If there’s no filing, we will continue to exist as a Senate, therefore we are talking as independent senators and maybe as an institution and not as impeachment court,” said Pimentel, adding that he had already issued a statement on the review of the SC decision. Voting 8-6, Sereno’s colleagues ousted her as Chief Justice last Friday, granting the quo warranto petition filed against her by Calida.

pests are also threatening the mouselike species, with scientists fearful they could soon die off in a country notorious for having the world’s highest mammal extinction rate. “They are very frantic and try and get from one mate to another and the mating itself can last hours, so it’s very tiring,” Queensland University of Technology mammalogist Andrew Baker said of the frenzied copulation. Males go from “absolutely prime

NEWLY appointed Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat on Tuesday asked Tourism Promotions Board Cesar Montano to explain why he allegedly paid P80 million in full for the “Buhay Carinderia” project, one of the government’s future programs for food tourism. Reacting to a column in one of the broadsheets, Puyat said she would summon Montano and ask him if the project had undergone proper bidding. “I have to look at all the contracts because I’ll be implementing all these programs,” Romulo-Puyat told ANC. “If I find out there’s a contract that did not undergo bidding, I will have to cancel.” Romulo-Puyat said she will check all existing contracts if those had undergone proper bidding. In his column, Philippine Star Columnist Boo Chanco wrote that Montano paid in full the amount of P80 million to a Linda Legaspi to organize an event that would feature Filipino street food and eateries. In an 11-page Memorandum of Agreement acquired by the Manila Standard, the P80-million Buhay Carinderia project was given to Marylindbert International Inc. president and owner Erlinda Legaspi. The deal consists of three stages: where the Carinderia will be held in North Luzon (Phase 1); Central Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao (Phase 2); and Region 4A, Region4B, and NCR (Phase3). “Buhay Carinderia...Redefined event/ project will play an important role in the promotion of gastronomic tourism, an emerging phenomenon that is developing into a new tourism product built on the image and brand of the destination,” the deal says. The deal was under financial sponsorship and not through bidding.

Princely... From A1

Here are some of the most striking:

Princely pleasure

“Artisan” condom manufacturer “Crown Jewels” has launched a “sumptuous new” product to celebrate the occasion, “tailored to a regal fit” and promising “discerning love-makers a royal union of pleasure and style.” The product comes in “a handsome souvenir case,” which plays a “musical arrangement of God Save the Queen and The Star Spangled Banner” upon opening, and is decorated with a popup picture of the happy couple and the inscription “your prince will come”.

Driving with Meghan and Harry

The Mini brand has designed a special version of its distinctive car, boasting a roof motif combining the British and US flags and the inscriptions “Meghan loves Harry” and “love is all you need” on the glove box. AFP ela Rep. Emmi de Jesus also urged Diño to file appropriate charges against them. “I think DILG Assistant Secretary Martin Diño should let his hands do the talking not his mouth by filing cases against those who violated election laws in the recent barangay polls,” Villarin said. “The DILG should know better and be prepared to prevent or even mitigate these things from happening prior to the elections through a vigorous information drive about the non-partisan nature of barangay elections,” Villarin added. Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta, Joel Zurbano, PNA

Duterte... From A1

“To erase all suspicions in the minds of people who really helped me along the way, I said I would simply not go,” he added in Filipino. A reliable Palace official, however, said the President was supposed to leave his house in Davao with his daughter, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on election day, but experienced pain in his back from a spinal disorder. Dutere, 73, the oldest Philippine president elected, earlier said he was late to the oathtaking of his appointees for the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission because his “spinal is acting up again.” Vito Barcelo with PNA

health... to falling to pieces before your very eyes” within the annual two-week mating period at the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter, Baker told AFP. They have so much sex while also trying to hang on to female mates and fighting off rivals that they produce excessive levels of testosterone. This stops a stress hormone from switching off, which then destroys their organs and kills them off.

“They’re honestly like the walking dead towards the end,” Baker said. “I’ve seen them stumbling around during the day—they are nocturnal mostly—still looking for mates, bleeding from various parts of their body and their hair has fallen out.” Females have a lifespan of about two years, with more than half only breeding once and giving birth to between six to 14 babies. The males die before their first birthday. AFP

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Koko wants to stay as Senate chief but would not cling to post

Ex-PNoy, 43 others told to answer Dengvaxia raps

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

By Rey E. Requejo

IF HE could have his way, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday said that he would want to remain in his post as he runs for reelection in the coming mid-term elections in May. “If you will ask me, it can be that this no longer happens,” said Pimentel when questioned when does he intend to step down as the highest leader of the Upper Chamber. “But we should not be too attached to the position if there is a change [in the Senate leadership] in sentiment, we follow the sentiment,” said Pimentel. He added that he would agree to leave his current position before the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy so he can prepare for his reelection bid and the slate of PDP-Laban, being its president. “I have to prepare for the slate of the party nationwide. So i am just busy with the filing of the COC of the entire party. I am busy nowadays on political matters.” He also conceded about a possible change in the Senate leadership since he will seek a reelection. At the same time, he warned of a leadership vacuum in the Senate once his term officially ends at 12 noon on June 30, 2019. “My term as senator ends at 12 noon on June 30, 2019 so even if I get reelected that doesn’t mean I bring the title of Senate President. Therefore at 12 noon on June 30, there is no Senate President if I’m still the Senate President at that time so I want to avoid that and that’s why I’m telling my colleagues,” he said.

BP urges police to arrest suspects in killing of QC prosecutors By Rey E. Requejo THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines on Tuesday asked the Philippine National Police to exert all efforts to arrest the killers of Quezon City Deputy Prosecutor Rogelio Velasco. “We call upon the authorities to do their jobs and hold to account the perpetrators of this dastardly act against Prosecutor Velasco,” the IBP through its president lawyer Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo said, in a statement. “The brazen daylight killing of QC prosecutor Velasco is the latest in a quick succession of murders perpetrated against officers of the Court without any regard to the sanctity of life, and with gross disrespect to their loved ones who will forever be scarred by the violence they had never imagined they would experience first-hand in their lifetime,” the IBP official added. Velasco was killed in an ambush last Friday, May 11 along Holy Spirit Drive in Barangay Holy Spirit around 4:55 p.m. He was the first prosecutor attacked this year but he was the 7th attacked since October 2016. On Oct. 26, 2016, Mati City Prosecutor Rolando Acido was killed outside Mati City Hall of Justice, then on Jan. 11, 2017, Quezon City Prosecutor Noel Mingoa was shot at close range outside a restaurant along Commonwealth Avenue.

LAST RESPECTS. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Secretary Bong Go of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President pay their last respects to the late former senator Edgardo Javier Angara at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig on the dawn of May 15, 2018. Angara died last May 13. Also in photo is Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, son of the late former senator. Presidential Photo

Duterte tells 2 Asecs: Resign asap or get lost By Rey E. Requejo and Vito Barcelo

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has asked two assistant secretaries to resign over their alleged involvement in corruption.

“The President has advised Justice Assistant Secretary Moslemen Macarambon Sr. and Public Works Assistant Secretary Tingagun Ampaso Umpa to tender their resignations or face termination for corruption,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Duterte had lost his trust in Macarambon.

“It’s a matter of trust and confidence. It’s the President who has the authority to terminate such appointment,’’ Guevarra said. Malacañang said an investigation conducted by the Presidential AntiCorruption Commission indicated that Macarambon had “been regularly intervening in behalf of suspected smugglers of gold and other precious

jewelry at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.” When asked if the Justice department would conduct an investigation of Macarambon’s alleged involvement in such activities, Guevarra said he “would gather more facts” before initiating a probe. Last month, Guevarra asked all Justice undersecretaries and assistant secretaries to resign to give him a free hand in performing his mandate. But Guevarra said until Malacañang acted on the courtesy resignations, all the officials concerned would continue to report for work and perform their usual duties.

Bello joins list of applicants for Ombudsman post By Rio N. Araja and Rey E. Requejo LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello III has applied to head the Office of the Ombudsman to replace Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who is set to retire on July 26. Bello joins the list of applicants who wants to take over the Ombudsman, as they were beating the May 15 deadline of submission of application with the Judicial and Bar Council. Also joining the short list for the Ombudsman post are former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Edilberto Sandoval and lawyer Edna Batacan, who lawyered for President Rodrigo Duterte in his several cases in Davao City and Sandiganbayan, and former first gentleman Mike Arroyo and his wife, ex-President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo. Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita de Castro was earlier nominated by her colleague, Associate Justice Arturo Brion, to replace Morales. Sandoval, who was appointed by the President in 2016, is now the chief of

the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor. Batacan is a San Beda College law graduate, just like the President. Solicitor General Jose Calida was believed to be interested in the position, but as of press time, there was still no report that he filed an application with the JBC. As this developed, the JBC has closed the nomination for the position of the Ombudsman. Aside from De Castro, also on the list of applicants for the post include Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., who like De Castro, will be retiring from the judiciary in August. Velasco was nominated by Integrated Bar of the Philippines national president Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo. De Castro has reportedly declined the nomination, while Velasco has yet to decide as of yesterday afternoon. The two other nominees are Davao City Regional Trial Court judges Carlos Espero II and Rowen Apao-Adlawan and Duterte’s law school classmate Rex Rico. A source said that House majority floor leader and Ilocos Norte Rep.

Rodolfo Fariñas and Solicitor General Jose Calida also did not accept their respective nominations for the post. Morales, 76, is also a retired SC justice who was appointed by former president Benigno Aquino III as Ombudsman in 2011. She succeeded Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who resigned on May 6, 2011 from the post to avoid an impeachment trial in the Senate, leaving an unexpired term until Nov. 30, 2012. Earlier, the SC dismissed petitions seeking to remove Morales from her post for alleged overstaying. The justices voted unanimously to dismiss the petitions filed last year by former Metro Rail Transit Line 3 general manager Al Vitangcol and lawyer Rey Nathaniel Ifurung for lack of merit. The SC found no basis in the prayer of petitioners to declare that the term of office of Morales had expired on Nov. 30, 2012. It held that Article XI, Sec. 11 of the 1986 Constitution, Secs. 7 and 8(3) of Republic Act No. 6770 provides for a full term of seven years for the Ombudsman.

Gov’t workers to receive bigger bonuses By Macon Ramos-Araneta AROUND 1.5 million government employees will receive bigger mid-year bonuses pursuant to the law that raised the ceiling of tax-free bonuses and benefits, said Senator Sonny Angara on Tuesday. Angara said that under Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, the 13th month pay and other benefits, including productivity incentives and Christmas bonuses, are exempted from tax if they do not exceed P90,000. “This is good news to our government employees especially to parents who are preparing today for the enrollment of their children,” he said. Angara, chairman of the ways and means committee, said that the bonus would be a big help to finance the studies and other expenses of the families. Before the TRAIN law was enacted,

Angara has pushed for the law that increased the tax exemption of 13th month pay and other benefits from P30,000 to P82,000 in 2015. Executive Order No. 201 mandates the grant of a midyear bonus or 14th month pay equivalent to one month’s salary to government employees who fit a criteria. Previously, government workers received a yearend bonus or 13th month pay in two tranches—the first in May and the second in November. According to the Department of Budget and Management, those eligible to receive the 14th month pay are employees who rendered a minimum of four months service between July last year and May 15 this year, who obtained a performance rating of “satisfactory” or better, and who were still working for the government on May 15. The total amount allocated for the midyear bonus of all government personnel this year is estimated at P36.2 billion.

POLL UPDATE. Top PNP officials, led by (from left), P/CSupt. Mao Aplasca, PNP Chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde and P/Dep. Dir. Gen. Fernando Mendez called a press conference to give updates on the 2018 barangay and SK elections held at Camp Crame. Lino Santos

FORMER President Benigno Aquino III, along with two members of his Cabinet and 41 other respondents have been ordered to answer the criminal charges filed against them in connection with the deaths of school children inoculated with the controversial anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine, which was implemented during his administration. During the preliminary investigation hearing on Tuesday, the Department of Justice required Aquino, former Health secretary Janette Garin and Florencio Abad and other respondents to appear in the next hearing set on June 4 to answer the complaint filed by anticorruption groups Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution Inc. last February. The DoJ’s panel of prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rossane Balauag directed the respondents to submit their respective counter-affidavits to charges of multiple homicide and physical injuries under the Revised Penal Code, malversation of public funds, and violations of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and R.A. 9184, otherwise known as Government Procurement Reform Act. The former leader did not show up during the hearing, but sent lawyer Mildred Umali, who received copy of the complaint and supporting evidence submitted by VACC and VPCI. Garin and Abad also skipped the hearing. The other respondents include incumbent DoH undersecretaries Carol Tanio, Gerardo Bayugo, Lilibeth David and Mario Villaverde; former retired undersecretaries Nemesio Gako, Vicente Belizario Jr. and Kenneth Hartigan-Go; assistant secretaries Lyndon Lee Suy and Nestor Santiago; former financial management service director Laureano Cruz; incumbent DoH directors Joyce Ducusin, May Wynn Belo, Leonila Gorgolon, Rio Magpantay, Ariel Valencia and Julius Lecciones; and Garin’s former executive assistant Yolanda Oliveros. Executives of Sanofi are also listed in the charge sheet—Carlito Realuyo, Sanislas Camart, Jean Louis Grunwald, Jean-Francois Vacherand, Conchita Santos, Jazel Anne Calvo, Pearl Grace Cabali and Marie Esther De Antoni.

Cebu’s Peter Lim a no-show at DoJ for probe on illegal drug links By Rey E. Requejo SUSPECTED drug lord and Cebubased businessman Peter Lim did not show up Tuesday at the Department of Justice during the preliminary investigation on the drug complaint filed by the Philippine National Police against him, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and several others because of the threat to his life. Lim along with other respondents are supposed to submit their counteraffidavits, but his lawyer Magilyn Loha told the panel of prosecutors that Lim could not come to submit his counteraffidavit due to threat to his life. Loha said that just last March 24, Lim’s brother, Wellington, was ambushed but survived. “We could not risk that he brought here because of the threat,” Loha told the probers. Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, who chaired the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors handling the drug case, gave Lim and his co-respondents until May 30 to appear at the DOJ and submit their respective counteraffidavits. However, Espinosa appeared during the preliminary investigation hearing and file his counter-affidavit. Aside from Lim and Espinosa, the other respondents include convicted drug lord Peter Co, alleged drug supplier Lovely Impal, alleged drug dealer Marcelo Adorco, Max Miro, Ruel Malindangan, Noel “Jun” Pepito, and 11 others, only known by their aliases “Amang, Ricky, Warren, Tupie, Jojo, Jaime, Yawa, Lapi, Royroy, Marlon, and Bay.” Impal and Co also failed to attend the hearing because they are both incarcerated: Impal at the Iligan City Jail, and Co at the New Bilibid Prison.

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Opinion

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Sereno lived a lie

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

the judiciary. But when the committee on justice of the House conducted hearings, we all discovered that Sereno failed to submit her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and THE Commission on Elections, Phil- Net Worth as required. ippine National Police and the Armed Solicitor General Jose Calida took Forces of the Philippines are saying the opportunity to file a quo warranto that Monday’s election was generally case against her as she was a usurper to peaceful. the chief justice post. Santa Banana, how can the election In other words, the Judicial and Bar be generally peaceful when we are told Council failed to consider that Sereno that some 1,000 barangay and Sanggu- was not qualified to be chief justice in niang Kabataan officials and 100 mem- the first place. bers of Congress were found guilty of And then at this point, Sereno porelectioneering? trayed herself as the paragon of judicial More importantly, 35 people were independence. killed and 27 were wounded. Things became worse for Sereno The Comelec and the Department when some of her colleagues testified of the Interior and Local Government against her and said she did not enfound that candidates bought votes for joy their respect as the “first among as much as P3,000 each. equals.” They gave numerous examples The authorities all knew what hap- of Sereno doing things on her own depened nationwide, and they must not spite the fact that the Supreme Court hesitate to enforce the law. Their fail- was a judicial body. ure only encourages those who are bent The Court acknowledged it had juon frustrating the risdiction over people’s will. the quo warranto *** case. It became With the ouster clear that there She portrays herself of Chief Justice was another remMaria Lourdes as the paragon of edy in the ConstiSereno, we know judicial independence. tution to oust an now that everyimpeachable ofbody is fair game ficial like Sereno. The noose began especially when to tighten around he or she opposes the Duterte administration—at least, her neck. that is what Sereno and her allies in the Sereno and her supporters preopposition insist. ferred impeachment because then she The premise is that Sereno is a vic- could answer all the charges against tim of a government that is out to sup- her. But wasn’t she given due process press all dissent. But if this were true, already during deliberations on the all of them would be in jail already! quo warranto petition? So what’s her What were the events that led to beef? the ouster of Sereno? Remember that *** former President Benigno Aquino III In the aftermath of the Sereno oustplucked Sereno out of nowhere to make er, there was a suggestion in Congress chief justice. that Supreme Court justices should be When lawyer Larry Gadon filed an nominated by the Commission on Apimpeachment case against her before pintemnts. the House of Representatives, and I remember that it was Justice J.B.L. when the complaint was endorsed by Reyes, then a delegate to the 1987 two Duterte supporters, Sereno started Constitutional Convention, who moved crying persecution. She said she was a for the creation of the Judicial and victim of the Duterte administration’s Bar Council to select members of the attempt to destroy the independence of Turn to A5

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

H terror?

A sick new twist OW depraved is a cause that uses children to sow

On Monday, an Indonesian family brought its eight-yearold daughter to a suicide bomb attack on police headquarters in Surabaya, just a day after members of another family—also with their children in tow—launched suicide bombings on three churches, killing 12 people. Police said the girl, who was with two of the attackers on a motorcycle, survived being thrown by the blast at Surabaya’s police headquarters. The two girls in the previous attack—aged eight and 12— were not so fortunate. The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for the church bombings. The flurry of bombings in Indonesia has raised concerns that militant networks in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation have been

reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who went to fight with the Islamic State in Syria. Experts have warned for several years that when those fighters return, they could pose a significant threat. Police said the church bombers and the police headquarters attackers were friends, as were another family whose homemade bombs exploded in their apartment Sunday night. Neighbors said the family that carried out three church bombings in Indonesia’s second-biggest city on Sunday were just “ordinary” people. Yet their father, 46-year-old Dita Oepriarto, dropped his wife, 42-year-old Puji Kuswati, and two girls aged 12 and 8 to one church, before driving a car packed with explosives to another, and blowing it up. At another church across town, the couple’s two sons, aged 17 and 15, rode an explosive-laden motor scooter into a crowd and set it off.

All told, 25 people have died since Sunday including a total of 13 militants and their children. The neighbors of the family were in shock, saying there were no warning signs of what they were about to do. Because of its battlefield losses in the Middle East, it is tempting to portray ISIS as a spent force. But the recent attacks in Surabaya, Indonesia, and, closer to home, the bloody takeover of Marawi City by ISIS-inspired terrorists last year are grim reminders that to do this would be foolhardy. The use of children is a horrifying new twist that clearly demonstrates the ability of ISIS to brainwash its followers, under the guise of religion, into furthering its destructive, hate-driven agenda. We can ill afford to underestimate this threat. It is imperative that we coordinate and cooperate with our neighbors to stamp out ISIS wherever it gains a foothold.

Grassroots exposure At stake in the SK and barangay elections were one seat for chairperson and seven seats for kagawad or councilmen in each of the 42,044 baALEJANDRO rangays nationwide. DEL ROSARIO Why has this election of local AT LEAST 36 people were killed in officials at the lowest level become last Monday’s Sangguniang Kabataan so hotly contested? The reason is and barangay elections. One hundred that big-time politicians, particularly congressmen and local officials were congressmen, governors, and mayor involved in vote-buying. It cannot be supports their own respective barangay fake news reported by the “trouble- candidates. Why? Elementary— some and irresponsible media.” This having the support of SK and barangay was according to the Department of officials are key components to the the Interior and Local Government election of congressmen, governors whose nationwide report was culled and mayors. This is crucial to winning from the Philippine National Police in next year’s senatorial, congressional and Commission on Elections reports. and local elections. What would be fake news is when This, plus the power and perks that certain officials come with the posts of the barandescribe the regay chairman and cent elections as kagawad (board “generally peaceful” which cerIs it any wonder why members). The tainly it was not. our culture of corruption kapitan barangay The political ex(chairman) has has been so ingrained ercise in “grassa salary ranging roots democracy” in the people that there from P17,000 to has become so might be little hope for P20,000 a month. dirty and no dif- meaningful change? He has power and ferent from the influence because big league politics he is the community’s point played the pros. man in local afThe Comelec and particularly public school teach- fairs. He’s the one you’re supposed ers who are always at the vanguard of to go to when one has a problem of our elections did their best. Around employment or financial nature. The 500,000 teachers were deputized to barangay chairman is a congressman’s serve as members of the Board Elec- extension to his constituents, The kaption Inspectors. But many voters com- itan or kapitana is the one who brings plained the list of voters was so mud- your problem for help with the district dled, and many of them could not find representative in the lower House. their names in polling precincts where Other local problems such as they are supposed to be listed. This re- road repair, building a community sulted in long lines and frayed tempers bridge, evacuation, rescue and with some unable to vote. Turn to A5

BACK CHANNEL

It was actually 10-4 VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ IN THE end, Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno brought down Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno. The issue against her is in Section 3 Article VIII of the Constitution— “A member of the Judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.” On Friday, May 11, 2018, the Supreme Court, voting 8-6, ousted Sereno

as chief justice of the land by granting the quo warranto petition of Solicitor General Jose Calida to remove her because she was not qualified to be chief justice in the first place. The ground for her removal is damning. She lacks in-

Sereno proved that by her failure, she lacked integrity.

tegrity. She lacked integrity at the time of her appointment as justice in Aug. 13, 2010 and her appointment as chief justice on Aug. 24, 2012. She lacks integrity because she failed to file her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in 11 years (1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006), of the 20 years she was teaching at the state University of the Philippines College of Law. SALN is required of all government workers, except casual workers and laborers. Also, the Supreme Court said Sereno Turn to A5

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Opinion Comelec Resolution 10088 CROSSROADS

JONATHAN DE LA CRUZ I WAS completely taken aback by the claim of Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp that the Commission on Elections, in its voting advisory for the May 2016 elections had actually approved the counting of votes which were only 25 percent shaded. Where did they get this information? And why are they fighting tooth and nail to the point of even filing a motion for the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to reconsider its decision to count only those ballots shaded up to 50 percent. There can only be one reason: Those 25-percent shaded votes make up a good part of Robredo’s total votes. If not of the entire 14 million-plus she got in 2016, then at least of the votes she got in the areas now being contested in the ongoing electoral protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Considering the slim margin of 243,000 votes she had over Marcos, the potentially invalidated votes in the first three pilot provinces being questioned— Camarines Sur (Robredo’s province), Iloilo (the key province in the concededly pro-Mar Roxas bailiwck of Region 6) and Negros Oriental (supposedly allied to Roxas as a result of the creation of the Negros Island Region in the run-up to the elections) can turn the tide against her. These three provinces have a voting population of about three million and if we go by the trend in the latest audit of the Camarines Sur count which now stand at 12 percent of votes cast, the invalidated votes can total more than 300,000—enough to overturn her slim margin, and her continuing stay as vice president. No wonder the lady was already talking about whisperings of her ouster from office even before the Supreme Court declared that a quo warranto case can be brought up against impeachable officials! Call it a kind of back-to-the-future slip of the mind, but it speaks volumes of the state of mind of Robredo and her circle of advisers. There is nothing in the voting advi-

It was... From A4

may be held liable “for disbarment for violating the sub judice rule by repeatedly discussing the merits of the quo warranto petition in different fora and for casting aspersions and ill motives to the members of the court even before a decision is made, designed to affect the results of the Court’s collegial vote and influence public opinion. This wrongful actuation exemplify a poor regard for the judicial system and may amount to conduct unbecoming of a Justice and a lawyer.” Sereno even claimed the quo warranto was a plot by President Duterte and would destroy Philippine democracy. The Court said it can no longer tolerate Sereno’s “public actuation showing disdain and contempt towards some members of the Court.” The youngest chief justice of the land, Sereno, 57, is the first chief justice to be ousted by her own peers. The decision found Sereno repeatedly lying about her SALNs and even misleading the Judicial and Bar Council, which nominated her as chief justice in July 2012, about the non-existence of her SALNs (she claimed it was “infeasible” to locate them). The high court tried to resolve three issues: 1. Whether the Court can assume jurisdiction and give due course to the instant petition for quo warranto against respondent who is an impeachable officer and against whom an impeachment complaint has already been filed with the House of Representatives. Yes. 2. Whether the petition is out rightly dismissible on the ground of prescription. No. The government has no pre-

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judiciary—from the municipal courts to the Supreme Court. The idea was to isolate the selection process from politics. The CA is composed of members of Congress. From the looks of it, the JBC has become politicized too. They select incompetent and corrupt members of the judiciary. The president is the

sories for the 2016 elections as issued and publicly released by the Comelec en banc which supports the Robredo assertion. The last such advisory was Comelec Resolution 10088 dated April 12, 2016 entitled “ Amending Certain Provisions of Resolution No. 10057 dated February 11, 2016 or otherwise known as the General Instructions for the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) on the Testing and Sealing of Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) and Voting, Counting and Transmission of Election Results in Connection with the 09 May 2016 National and Local Elections.” Nothing on record was issued by the en banc after April 12, 2016 to guide voters and the BEIs in the conduct of the elections. Unless the Robredo camp can come out with a later Comelec issuance, the PET should already dismiss the MR and proceed with the exami-

What are Robredo and her supporters thinking?

nation of the ballots in the three pilot provinces. Comelec Resolution 10088 dated is clear: voters should fully—not partially—hade the voting circle. In fact, not even the PET-approved 50 percent shading is provided for which is why the PET had earlier opined that by doing so they were already bending backwards for the parties in protest. The pertinent provision of the amended Comelec advisory reads in part: “Section 6. Section 40 of Resolution No. 10057 is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 40. Manner of Voting a. The Voter shall: 1. Using the ballot security folder and marking pen provided by the Commission, accomplish the ballot by fully shading the circle beside the names of the candidate and the organization participating in the party-list system of representation...” That’s it. It’s that simple. It needs no

further explanation or interpretation. Fully shaded is fully shaded. If the Robredo camp insists with its contention —which should be dismissed outright —then they and their friends from the Comelec and Smartmatic should be prepared to explain themselves about the breach of two other items in the same Section 6 which, again, were observed and reported by the revisors in the ongoing protest. First, the opening of the Vote Counting Machines to be used in the polls. Section 3 of Resolution 10088 which amends Section 37 of the earlier Resolution 10057 mandates that “...The VCMs shall be opened on May 9, 2016 not earlier than 5 o’clock in the morning and in the presence of watchers, if any..” The reports of the revisor teams show that votes purportedly coming from a number of VCMs were being transmitted a day earlier. There were also reports of VCMs opened beyond the voting time and transmitting after the polls were already closed and counting was already done. Second, the gangs which perpetrated the questionable acts should also be able to explain why in many recincts in Camarines Sur, the first province to be officially vetted, the Voter Receipt Receptacles which contains the “minutes of the voting,” as it were, including the list of those who voted and how they voted, among others, the ballot boxes did not contain the said receptacles. Indeed, the opening of the ballot boxes in the first protested province contains a heavy dose of information and evidence potentially damaging to Vice President Robredo. Which is why the PET should proceed with the opening of the boxes with all deliberate speed and determine the breaches committed in the service of the powers-that-be. Only then can the truth about the 2016 elections, at least for the vice presidency, can finally be put to rest. *** We join the family and friends of the late Senator Edgardo J. Angara and architect Toti Villalon in prayers for the eternal repose of their souls. They have served the country well and their deeds will be remembered long after they have been laid to rest.

scription when it complains with a quo warranto. 3. Whether respondent is eligible for the position of Chief Justice. No. Though the vote for quo warranto was 8-6, there was perceived dislike for Sereno among her Supreme Court colleagues. On the third issue (the eligibility of Sereno as chief justice), the vote is actually 9, not 8. Senior Justice Antonio Carpio disagreed that quo warranto was not the remedy to remove Sereno. It is impeachment. The most senior justice, Carpio considers Sereno guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, two grounds to impeach a justice of the Supreme Court. Thus, the Senate should impeach Sereno and remove her. Carpio agrees with the view that “culpable violation of the Constitution implies ‘deliberate intent, perhaps even a certain degree of perversity… to defy knowingly what the Constitution commands.’” Betrayal of public trust refers to acts “less than criminal but must be attended by bad faith and of such gravity and seriousness as the other grounds for impeachment.” Another dissenter, Justice Presbiterio Velasco, thinks the Judicial and Bar Council, not the High Court, should be the one to disqualify Sereno as chief justice by nullifying her nomination thru a petition for certiorari. The JBC, under the Constitution and by law, screens candidates for justice and chief justice, and thus establishes aspirants’ integri That should make the vote against Sereno 10-4. Justice Marvic Leonen also dissented against the grant of quo warranto which he calls “a legal abomination,” “even if

the Chief Justice has failed our expectations.” He argued for impeachment in removing impeachable officials. In his 64-page dissent, Leonen suggests one alternative for Sereno – “to have the grace and humility to resign for her office to protect the institution from a leadership which may not have succeeded to address the divisiveness and the weaknesses within.” Leonen also didn’t like Sereno showing up for work at the Supreme Court on May 8, 2018, ending her indefinite leave, “without the court’s approval en banc.” “For a party to do everything in her power to undermine the Court for fear of an adverse result not only judicial courtesy but also our professional responsibilities as a lawyer,” Leonen points out. The tribunal dismissed Sereno’s claim that she filed her SALNs, “only that she has no records of the same.” “It is, however, too shallow and impetuous for this Court to accept such excuse and disregard the overwhelming evidence to the contrary,” sneered the decision. The Court conclusively established that “for the years 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, respondent (Sereno) did not file her SALNs.” Sereno not only violated the Constitution and laws of the land by her habitually not filing her SALNs, she also proved that by her failure, she lacked integrity. Because integrity is a basic qualification for a justice and a chief justice of the Supreme Court, the high court thus found her not qualified to be a chief justice from the very beginning. She is a usurper to the position and thus must be removed immediately.

appointing authority. I know for a fact that in many instances, a judge or even a justice must have the endorsement of a mayor or governor, or even a senator. I really don’t know why the members of the ConCon agreed with Justice Reyes. Perhaps the consultative commission reviewing the charter can consider returning this function to the CA. *** Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra should look at the need to transfer the

New Bilibid Prisons from Muntinlupa to Nueva Ecija. The NBP was intended to house only 2,400 inmates. That plan had already been approved by past administrations. In fact, there was a pre-qualification process among bidders for the construction of a P57-billion facility in Laur. I never really understood why Guevarra’s immediate predecessor, former Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, would junk such a sensible plan.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

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Forming an opposition slate the administration slate. What about the opposition led by the Liberal Party? They have one incumbent, Bam AquiLITO no, who is gunning for reelection and shall lead the opposition slate. Add Rep. BANAYO Gary Alejano who hopes to replace Sen. WITH the barangay elections over and Antonio Trillanes who comes from the done with, focus on the political front same party. Quien mas? There has been speculation about will now shift to the forthcoming 2019 elections, which will be done through 2016 LP presidential candidate Mar Roxas, but Mar seems uninterested. automated voting machines. This means that the Commission In a previous column, I said that he on Elections will require candidates is being goaded to run for Roxas City to file their certificates of candidacy, mayor, but even this does not seem to along with their party nominations excite Mar. Neither Korina Sanchez, on or about the first week of Octo- his television celebrity wife. Hobbled though the numbers may ber, 2018. That is just four and a half be, the opposition is quietly trying to months away. A big number of congressmen will form a 2019 senatorial slate, and my be “graduating” from their third term, information says the following are some from their second round of three the names in contention: Erin Tañada terms each. The same goes with local of Quezon, son of Senator Bobby, government heads, whether municipal grandson of the illustrious Senator Lorenzo, fondly referred to as the or city mayors, and governors. But if the barangay elections with nationalist Ka Tanny. Jose “Chel” Dioprevalent votekno, son of another buying even for great nationalthe lowest unit of ist, Senator Jose government is Filing of certificates Wright Diokno, template of the of candidacy is just who was incarcerforthcoming elecated for years by toral exercise, it four and a half months Ferdinand Marcos is safe to predict away. along with Ninoy that it will be the Aquino immedisons and daughately after the decters, wives and laration of martial siblings of the dynasts who will once again rule both law. Hilario Davide Sr., former Chief Congress and the LGUs. Time has run out on constitutional Justice, former Comelec chairman, change, with federalism still misun- whose son and namesake is the incumderstood, or worse, not understood bent governor of Cebu. Rep. Teddy Baguilat of Ifugao, at all by our people. So come May of 2019, voters will still choose 12 sena- where the Banaue Rice Terraces are tors on a national scale, and their rep- located. Former party-list congressresentatives in Congress along with man and former undersecretary of political affairs Barry Gutierrez. their LGU heads. That makes seven, and still beWhen the current majority party was making noises about an entirely ing “wooed” or written down as part PDP-Laban slate to the exclusion of of a potential short list are: Former reelectionist senators who belong to presidential spokesman Edwin Laciother parties even if these were coa- erda; movie actor Dingdong Dantes; lesced with the administration, there telenovela mainstay and actress Agot was talk of an “independent” bloc of Isidro; former DSWD secretary Dinky senatorial candidates composed of in- Soliman; APO Hiking Society’s Jim cumbents Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Paredes, an active anti-administration Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara, JV Ejer- advocate, along with fellow Blackand-White Movement stalwart Leah cito running as a “third force.” A “third force” led by reelectionists Navarro. Another possible candidate in their could easily entice NP Pia Cayetano, and some other strong contenders, short list is former DENR Secretary leaving both the PDP-Laban and the Gina Lopez, the firebrand of an enLiberal Party opposition coalition hav- vironmental advocate who belongs to ing problems forming a complete and the ultra-wealthy Lopez media clan. Who among them will ultimately winnable senatorial slate. That prospect seems to have petered agree to run for the senatorial elecout when the surveys showed the tions next year is still up in the air. reelectionists are likely to win, and win Some of the names are political ilusbig. Could Koko Pimentel, the only trado. Some are celebrities. Some PDP-Laban candidate ranking well in will run if only to make a political the surveys, possibly lead a ticket with statement, the surveys on winnability many of his party-mates not faring notwithstanding. And after the 13th of May, Ma. well even on the awareness game a few Lourdes Sereno is another possible months before COCs are filed? And so unless events spoil the ad- Senate contender. Abangan. ministration’s plans, the reelection* * * ists in the majority coalition are likely We express our condolences to Mrs. to be part of the ticket. To enumerate, Pimentel, Poe, Villar, Binay, An- Gloria Angara, her son Senator Sonny, gara, Ejercito, Cayetano, Bong Go, and the rest of the loved ones left orHarry Roque, Francis Tolentino, plus phaned by the demise of Senator Ed two more. Imee Marcos’ numbers are Angara. Many in government now, pretty good, and it does not seem like whether in the executive or legislaBongbong would abandon his elec- ture, as well as in the private sector, toral protest against Leni Robredo. If were “graduates” of the SEJA school, that happens, only one more, likely a whether in ACCRA, the State Univerthree-term congressman, will fill up sity, or the Senate.

SO I SEE

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relief operations in the event of fire, typhoon or earthquake are brought by the barangay to the attention of higher officials. Woe to the barangay official who did not support the congressman in his district. There will be no public works projects for this community because the congressman won’t make any representation with the Office of the President for budget allocation. This is the irony of the SK and barangay elections specially on the young SK candidates who are exposed to how dirty the political game is played in this country. The elected local officials at this level should be the ones to control the traditional politicians to make a change in how government is being run. But by accepting money for their campaign, the elected SK and barangay candidates become indebted to the tradpols. Thus the cycle of corruption is perpetuated at the grassroots level.

Many forms of fraud and cheating were reported by voters. Aside from the direct vote buying, there is also the subtle form of coercion and payback time expected by the tradpols on their community scholars. “Either you vote for my candidate or you lose your scholarship.” Indigent students and parents are vulnerable to this “or else” blackmail. Aside from having access to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for medical assistance to indigent people, lawmakers have under their miscellaneous or pork barrel funds a list of scholars. Scholars of course are poor deserving students but often many of them are relatives of lawmakers or relatives of supporters. With this nefarious political practice, is it any wonder why our culture of corruption has been so ingrained in the people that there might be little hope for meaningful change? This may not be the right attitude or mind frame to have, but it is the reality in this benighted land.

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News

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

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House Oks PCGG abolition By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on third and final reading a bill abolishing the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel by a 162-10 vote. House Bill 7376, the consolidated bill with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez as one of the authors of the measure, proposes to create a special task force of at least five divisions to continue the PCGG functions. Alvarez said the bill guaranteed the absorption of PCGG and OGCC officials and employees who do want to avail themselves of the retirement and separation benefits on condition that they have the needed eligibility and qualifications for the available OSG positions. “The consolidation of the legal services in the OSG will specifically promote the wiser and more prudent use of public funds since this will do away with the practice of the OGCC of billing client GOCCs for legal services rendered,” said Alvarez. “The bill aims to eliminate the overlap of functions among government agencies, to consolidate state legal services into one office, and to effectively address the expanding needs of government-owned-and–controlled corporations towards the improvement of fiscal management and good corporate governance,” Alvare stressed.

RIGHT OF WAY. Officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways—Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, District engineer. Rey Francisco—Justice Assistant Secretary

Sergio Yap and DPWH Region 12 Legal Officer Jahara Ali-Macadatu testify in Tuesday’s resumption of the Senate Committee on Public Works and Highways inquiry into the reported faults in the system, resulting in the misuse of government funds for its Right-of-Way projects covered by allegedly spurious land titles in General Santos City. Ey Acasio

Du30 urged: Overhaul LRA B By Macon Ramos-Araneta

LUE Ribbon committee chairman Senator Richard J. Gordon on Tuesday called on President Rodrigo Duterte to overhaul the alleged graft-ridden Land Registration Authority as he urged the Justice department to probe the P2billion land title scam. During Tuesday’s hearing on the fake road right-of-way claims in General Santos City, Gordon said he would personally write a letter to Duterte and inform him about the anomaly in the LRA and overhaul it. The LRA is an attached agency of the DoJ under Secretary Meynardo Guevarra. Gordon said there was no point if the the LRA people would “no longer rely

on the most important pillars of business and property ownership which is the title.’’ He said the other effects of this anomaly would be the creation of doubts on real property ownership where nobody would come to the country to invest as commercial transactions were affected, ownership could no longer be sold or passed on as in-

heritance and it would be difficult to borrow from banks, he added. While the registration of land tiles at LRA has been digitized, Gordon admitted he was not convinced by the system as it could be corrupted. The modus of the syndicates was to manufacture titles that were already covered by the highway and then claim for just compensation. Using only a special power of attorney and deed of assignment, the syndicates were able to make a claim. In a news conference after the hearing, Gordon said his committee would seek the tightening of the systems at the Department of Public Works and Highways where it has to make public announcements of its projects to safeguard public coffers. He aired suspicions on the integrity of

the DPWH right-of-way expenditures as government projects could not still give a tax mapping of real estate properties in General Santos City. For the 2018 fiscal year, the ROW budget of DPWH is P18 billion. There are 167 ROW folders at GenSan City with a total value of P6 billion. The senator also said he told the justice department and the National Bureau of Investigation to begin filing criminal charges against those involved in the payment of more than P2 billion to ROW claimants as the evidence so far unearthed was enough. Gordon said he did not believe former DPWH secretary Rogelio Singson was involved as he undertook extra diligence in having the land titles verified. “But the guardians in government did not do their jobs,” he added.

Former BFP PAL to operate int’l flights out of Cebu chief beats estafa case By Joel E. Zurbano

THE Sandiganbayan has acquitted a former director of the Bureau of Fire Protection who was accused of estafa for the alleged irregular purchase of more than P2 million worth of office supplies in 2001. The antigraft court’s Second Division, in a 27-page decision dated May 11, dismissed “for insufficiency of evidence” the case of estafa through falsification of public documents against retired director Francisco Senot. Senot’s co-accused, former BFP Finance Service Unit chief Florante Cruz, was also acquitted of the same charges. Senot and Cruz were accused of paying P2 million to unnamed individuals for the office supplies, which include toner of photocopiers, bond papers, property stickers and fire lines, “on the basis of forged and falsified documents so they can use the funds for their personal benefit.” But the Sandiganbayan said the supplies were actually delivered based on the testimony of one of the defense witnesses, former BFP Supply Officer Aniceto Herrera. “To overturn the above, the defense presented Herrera who was the Supply Officer of the BFP from 1996 to 2009. His tasks included the reception and inspection of supplies coming into the BFP,” the Sandiganbayan said. Maricel V. Cruz

LEGACY carrier Philippine Airlines has announced it will operate international flights out of Cebu from the newly constructed state-of the-art passenger terminal facility of Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA - Terminal 2) beginning June 22. To depart from the MCIA T2 in Lapu Lapu City are PAL flights from Cebu to

PCSO bankrolls ‘Sagip Mata, Sagip Buhay’ THE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office has bankrolled the “Sagip Mata, Sagip Buhay” project of the Department of Health and the provincial government of Isabela through mobile eye clinics. The project was formalized through the signing Friday last week of a Memorandum of Agreement at PCSO led by Chairman Anselmo Simeon Pinili, General Manager Alexander Balutan and Director Bong Suntay; DoH Secretary Francisco Duque III; and Isabela Vice Governor Antonio Albano who represented Gov. Faustino Dy III, Isabela 1st District Representative Rodito Albano III, 1-PACMAN Party-List Rep. Enrico Pineda, and Isabela 3rd District Rep. Napoleon Dy. Balutan said the project provides free diagnostic and refraction services as well as free eyeglasses to the less privileged among Isabela’s local constituency who have no access to and cannot afford these services, specifically those who are elderly, women, and children suffering visual problems or impairments, he said in a press statement.

Bangkok (daily), Beijing (once-a-week), Chengdu (once-a-week), Nagoya (thrice weekly), Osaka (daily), Seoul (Incheon) (daily) and Tokyo Narita (twice daily). As of May 7, the construction of the MCIA passenger terminal building was 98.10 percent complete. GMR Megawide, the builder and operator of MCIA T2, is currently completing the construction of the terminal building which expects to serve

11.2-million passengers annually. The area spans 45,000 square meters with a 2-level forecourt segregating arrivals and departures with 48 check–in counters. The facility has seven passenger boarding bridges which can be expanded to 12 for both wide and narrow-body aircraft. It will be connected by a linkbridge to Terminal 1, which will be refurbished for domestic use.

Zarate hits plan to defer pension hike A MILITANT lawmaker on Tuesday criticized the plan of the Social Security System seeking to delay the implementation of the second tranche of additional P1,000 pension scheduled next year. “The SSS board is gravely insensitive if they push through with this plan,” Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said. Zarate, member of the Makabayan Bloc, said the SSS board was constantly harping on the need to increase the premium on the belief that the benefits would increase with the contribution hike. “But they remain silent on what they have done to increase their collections, among others, without raising the contribution,” Zarate said. “We have always pointed out, as what former [SSS] Chair Amado Valdez also believes then, that SSS contribution hikes should be the last resort in extending the pension fund life,” he added. The SSS earlier said it sought to defer the implementation of the second tranche of the P2,000 pension increase until the state-run pension fund was able to effect a contribution hike. More than two-million pensioners will benefit from the second tranche of the P1,000 additional benefit released on March 10, said SSS president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Dooc. Zarate said the state-run pension fund must be able to find a way to fund the pension hike. Maricel V. Cruz

ILLEGAL TERMINATION.

Contractual canned sardines workers under the ‘Samahang Manggagawa sa Slord Development Corporation’ storm the gate of their factory on C3 Road in Navotas City to protest the illegal termination of 41 workers by the management that happened on May 12. Norman Cruz

House panel approves BBL bill By Maricel V. Cruz A JOINTpanel in the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law which abolishes the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The House committee on local government voted 32-3 while the committees on

Muslim affairs and the special panel on peace, reconciliation and unity voted 27-3 each in favor of House Bill 6475 authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. This developed as House majority leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas said the House was eyeing the bill’s passage on third and final reading on May 30 or before Congress adjourns

sine die on June 1. “We are eyeing its passage on May 30 before the end of session,” Fariñas told reporters. Fariñas said the House would hold an all-party caucus next week to fine-tune the bill which provides the basic law for the Bangsamoro political entity and abolishes the ARMM.

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Bigger, tougher XTERRA back in Albay on June 17 By Reuel Vidal

XTERRA, the premier off-road triathlon series, returns to Bicol next month with the holding of the exciting off-road triathlon XTERRA Albay on June 17. While the basic principles of swim, bike, run remain the same, XTERRA off road racing is a vastly different experience from regular triathlon races. XTERRA is more than just a race. It is an experience like no other according to organizer Sunrise Events during the race launch yesterday at Seda Hotel BGC. “Our number one goal is to make sure that our athletes our safe. We want to make sure that the athlete experience is second to none. That they have the best possible race experience. On their way home, travelling abroad, to the UK or Australia. We want them to remember that they had a wonderful time coming to the Philippines,” said Sunrise Events Founder Wilfred Uytengsu. In holding the XTERRA race, Sunrise Events leads the charge in support of sports tourism which benefits the lesser known

Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal (second from left) and Fred Uytengsu, president and CEO of Sunrise Events Inc. (second from right) flash the thumbs-up sign with Legazpi City councilor Alex Ranola (left) and DOT Region 5 regional director Benjamin Santiago during yesterday’s launch of XTERRA Albay on June 17.

High hopes for PH at World U Golf F Tacloban, AMILIARITY will be the Philippines’ biggest advantage when the 17th World University Golf Championships kicks off today at the Pradera Golf and Country Club in Lubao, Pampanga.

To be represented by three male and two female student-athletes, the Filipinos hope do well in the four-day competition hosted by the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines, in cooperation with the FISU ( Federation Internationale du Sports Universitaire). Leading the Filipinos’ charge are Jonas Christian Magcalayo of Mapua, Ruperto Zaragosa of Lyceum of the Philippines and Lanz William Uy of Technological University in the men’s division; and An-

nika Victoria Guangko and Denize Angela Pineda, both of De La Salle UniversityManila, in the women’s category. Of the five, Magcalayo had previous experience in the FISU-organized golf competitions. Magcalayo, the 21-year-old student of Mapua, finished with a three-round total of nine-over par 225 during the 2017 Taipei Universiade golf tournament at the Sunrise Golf and Country Club in Taoyuan, Taiwan. “All the five (Filipino) players vowed

to do their best. They want to perform well, especially since we are hosting the event,” said FESSAP honorary president David Ong in his assessment of the Filipinos’ chances. The world-class 18-hole golf course located north of Metro Manila drew the highest praise from the FISU officials who visited the course last year. “I am quite impressed by this beautifully-designed golf course,” said the FISU Golf Technical Director Dominic Wall of Australia. “Expectations are high that the prominent university golfers from around the world will take part in this world competition to be showcased by the host country and FESSAP,” added Wall, who now resides in Singapore.

Games on Sunday (Pasig City Sports Center) 2 p.m. -- GSIS vs Senate 3:30 p.m. -- Ombudsman vs PNP 5 p.m. -- Judiciary vs AFP

THE Ombudsman Graft Busters stunned the Malacañang-PSC Kamao in Sunday’s first game of the UNTV Cup Off-Season Executive Face-Off at the Pasig City Sports Center, 76-57. The Graft Busters were led by Best Player of the Game, Director Nikki Laure, who made 19 points and 11 rebounds. Ombudsman head Coach Ricky Alcantara said his side prepared thoroughly for these off-season games. “Ang ginawa namin twice a week kami nagpa-practice. May mga pocket tournaments din na sinasalihan kami right now at nagkakaroon kami ng aqua training. ‘Yung conditioning talaga ‘yung pinaghandaan ko,” Alcantara said. Special Assistant to the President Secretary Bong Go scored 25 points, grabbed twp boards, made one assist and one steal for Malacanang-PSC Kamao. “No excuses, talo po talaga kami. Medyo hindi pa masyado magkakilala mga players. Halo-halo ito, composed ng PACC, meron ding Navy. Pangalawa, importante ang ensayo, masarap makalaro ‘yung ibang executives, mga ibang halos ka-edad namin. Bawi na lang po kami next time,” said Go. In the second game, the Judiciary Magis entered the win column after toppling the DOJ Justice Boosters, 73-58. “Kulang talaga kami sa ensayo. We started practice a week before the opening, so nakapag-practice kami twice lang. Sa tingin ko, conditioning, ‘yun lang ang naging problema. From first to second OK kami. Pagdating na ng third to fourth, medyo kinakapos na, hindi na pumapasok tira namin,” DOJ Coach John Agbayani Jr. said. Judiciary’s Joey Yabut, who made 24 points, 9 rebounds and one assist, was hailed as the Best Player of the Game. Magis Coach Warren Ybañez said they prepared well for the game particularly in the defensive department. “Pinaghandaan naming ‘yung depensa, sinabi ko sa kanila na kapag may open shot kayo tumira lang kayo, kasi marami tayo rebounder,” Magis Coach Warren Ybañez said.

Nocos wins 3 Cebuana titles

BanKo eye share of lead Games today (Filoil Flying V Center) 4 p.m. – BaliPure vs PetroGazz 6:30 p.m. – BanKo-Perlas vs Tacloban

TACLOBAN hopes to emerge strong coming off a long break while BanKoPerlas tries to recover lost grounds as they clash for a share of the lead today (Wednesday) in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Reinforced Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan. The Fighting Warays bounced back from a shutout loss to the PayMaya High Flyers in the inaugurals with a tough five-set win over the PetroGazz Angels last May 9. And they expect to come out from the week-long break a more solid unit as they seek to join the idle Creamline Cool Smashers and the High Flyers on top in the early going of the single round elims of the season-opening conference organized by Sports Vision. The Perlas Spikers are aiming at the same target in their 6:30 p.m. encounter, eager to rebound from their 1-3 setback to the Pocari-Air Force Lady Warriors in the league’s first out-of-town sortie in Tuguegarao last Sunday. BanKo-Perlas actually made an auspicious debut in the import-laced conference with a come-from-behind five-set thriller over fancied Creamline last Saturday but succumbed to a resurgent Pocari the following day, leaving idle Iriga-Navy as the lone unbeaten squad in the eight-team field.

Graft Busters turn back Malacañang

Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go taps the ball away from Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Armando Sanchez Jr. during the game between the Malacañang-PSC Kamao and Ombudsman Graftbusters at the Pasig City Sports Center in the UNTV Cup Off-Season Executive Face-Off.

Jr Blu Girls fall to Taiwanese, but whip Indians HOST Philippines bounced back from a tough loss to reigning champion Chinese Taipei with a 16-0 demolition of India but the Japanese stunned the Taiwanese, 5-4, in Day 3 of the Asian Junior Women’s Softball Championship at the Clark International Sports Complex in Pampanga yesterday. Junior RP Blu Girls starter Kianna Juan twirled a no-hitter in two innings and Alma Tauli took over with one hit in the fourth as they combined for eight strikeouts while the rest peppered pitcher Parkhe Poojah with a crippling 16-hit effort to post an abbreviated four-inning victory.

The lopsided win made up for the Junior Blu Girls’ 2-3 defeat to the Taiwanese earlier, hiking their record to 3-2, in the event sponsored by Cebuana Lhuillier which featured eight of the region’s leading teams. “Our Junior Blu Girls showed an amazing display of skills in their shutout win over India, underscoring their ability to slug it out with the best in the region,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, president of the organizing Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines. In the featured match, the Japanese

racked up five runs in the first two innings and reliever Yuki Masuda, who took over from Sone Hanna, retired the last three batters in the final seventh frame to preserve the hard-earned victory over the Taiwanese in the event sanctioned by the Softball Confederation of Asia and the World Baseball and Softball Confederation and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee. China, meanwhile, notched its fourth win in five starts, shutting out Malaysia, 160, in a game that lasted only three innings. Malaysia fell to 1-5.

UAAP greats assemble in ‘Legacy of Greatness’ BEFORE the 80th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines finally closes its curtains, ABS-CBN Sports is gathering a super lineup of legendary UAAP athletes for an exclusive interview at the Far Eastern University Auditorium that can be watched via livestreaming on sports. abs-cbn.com and the ABS-CBN Sports Youtube channel, and via Facebook Live on the ABS-CBN Sports Facebook page starting at 2 p.m. Dubbed “The Legacy of Greatness,” the online special hosted by ABS-CBN Sports digital head Mico Halili and “Upfront” host Janeena Chan brings together former UAAP women’s vol-

leyball stars led by Ateneo De Manila University’s phenom and current Creamline Cool Smashers’ skipper Alyssa Valdez, former UST Golden Tigresses star-turned-volleyball analyst Mozzy Ravena, and former De La Salle University Lady Spiker Manilla SantosNg, the first and only female athlete to have her jersey number retired by her school. Joining them are erstwhile kings and queens in their respective sports and teams like former National University Bulldogs captain Gelo Alolino, University of the East’s champion fencer and current coach Rolando Canlas, Jr., Adamson University’s

8-peat softball coach and two-time SEA Games gold medalist Ana Santiago, former University of the Philippines Lady Fighting Maroon Rep. Pia Cayetano, and the Philippines’ first woman grandmaster and UAAP Season 77 Athlete of the Year, Janelle Mae Frayna from Season 80 hosts Far Eastern University. These UAAP greats will take in looking back at their UAAP journey, the hardships they had to endure and triumphs they got to savor individually and as a team, as well as discuss how the times and competition have drastically changed the landscape of the UAAP, among others.

tourist destinations in the country. “We believe in social responsibility. We want to give back to the municipalities that we visit. That’s a very important part for Sunrise Events. We support Legaspi. We will make sure that everyone in Legaspi knows that we are appreciative of everything that they’ve done to ensure the success of the race,” said Uytengsu. Bradley Weiss, winner of the past two stagings of the race, returns to chase a threepeat of the 1.5km swim-28km mountain bike-8km trail run event, presented by the City of Legazpi. Austrian Carina Wasle leads the cast chasing the women’s crown. Weiss and Wasle will be looking to follow-up to their XTERRA Danao victories last month. They will be challenged by New Zealand’s Sam Osborne, who placed second to Weiss in Danao, third placer Kieran McPherson, also of New Zealand, 2016 XTERRA Asia-Pacific titlist Ben Allen of Australia, Japanese Takahiro Ogasawara, the 2016 XTERRA Saipan winner, Akihiro Maeda, also of Japan, Kiwis Alex Roberts and Olly Shaw and local ace Joseph Miller.

TIFFANY Claire Nocos from Lapulapu City, Cebu went 3 of 3 at the recent Surigao City leg of the 2018 Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Tennis Championship Series, winning both the girls’ 14-under and 16-under singles’ titles and a share of the 14-under doubles’ crown. Nocos took the 14-under title at the expense of local bet Bianca Pateno, winning 6-0, 6-1, then shocked perennial winner and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental native Bliss Bayking, 7-5, 2-6, 10-6. In the doubles’ event, she partnered with erstwhile rival Pateno and swept aside the duo of Leane Heart Escopete and Ezamae Boquilon in the tournament backed by Dunlop as the official ball. “I would not be surprised to see this girl making it good in the future and going all the way to the national team. Cebu is a regular source of provincial tennis talents that we are discovering through this annual series,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, President/CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier Group that has been bankrolling the grassroots tennis developmental program the past 12 years. Bayking maintained her hold though on the girls’ 18-under as she beat Butuan City’s Angelly Esguerra, 6-4, 6-2, in the finals and together with Shedel Aighey Gica, overpowered the duo of Ellaine Rose Bahonsua and Esguerra, 8-6, for the 18-under doubles’ crown. Joining Bayking as double winner was Ozamis City’s Ashton Benne Villanueva, who posted a come-from-behind 0-6, 6-4, 10-6 win over Zamboanga del Norte entry Dwayne Russel Daarol for the boys’ 14-under title and shared with Rupert Ohrelle Tortal the 14-under doubles’ crown with an 8-6 win over Daarol and John Vhristopher Sonsona. Local bet Vaughn Spencer Codilla joined the elite list as he edged out Jan Carlo Mari from Agusan del Sur, 6-4, 3-6, 10-7, in the finals of the boys’ 18-under and added the 18-under doubles’ title with partner Lex Estillore as

LOTTO RESULTS

Manila

StandardNOTICE TODAY

Please be informed that the Interim Unaudited Financial Statements with the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, or SEC Form 17-Q, as of 31 March 2018, of CONCRETE AGGREGATES CORPORATION will be available on the Company’s website by 10 May 2018. Upon written request, the Company’s stockholders shall be furnished copies of the said SEC Form 17-Q during the 17 May 2018 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting, free of charge. (Sgd.) JOSE ANTONIO V. EVANGELISTA III Corporate Secretary (MS-MAY 9, 2018)

Sports

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

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

UAAP fetes top athletes By Peter Atencio AS University of Santo Tomas hopes to continue its quest for excellence next season, Far Eastern University turns over the hosting rights for Season 81 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines today to National University. UST finished its campaign by winning its 42nd overall championship in the 80-year history of the league. Incoming chairman Nilo Ocampo of NU will receive the turnover flag from Dr. Michael Alba of FEU during the official closing of Season 80 at the newly renovated FEU Auditorium inside the FEU Morayta campus. Chito Loyzaga will no longer be sitting as head of the newly formed board of managing directors after he moved on to head the NU Sports Academy. A new managing director will be named in his place, according to former athletics’ director Marc Galido, now the university’s vice president for student affairs. The closing rites start at 4:30 p.m. The short ceremony will feature a tribute to the league’s greats over the years, highlighted by the awarding of the Athletes of the Year. During the season, UST claimed six titles from the total 16 sporting disciplines and collected 281.5 points. UST won its last crown from the women’s beach volleyball tandem of Cherry Rondina and Caitlyn Viray, who beat the team from FEU. Championships in women’s tennis, women’s track and field, and judo (men’s and women’s) were also among UST’s title conquests this season. They also finished second in both men’s and womens’ football, men’s beach volleyball, table tennis (men’s and women’s), men’s fencing and softball.

Casiguran hosts Children’s Games OVER 200 kids from 18 participating barangays gathered along the coastal town of Casiguran, Aurora gathered yesterday to celebrate peace through sports and play in the latest edition of the UNESCO-acclaimed Philippine Sports Commission Children’s Games. “This Sports for Peace program is focused on inspiring children to experience play and sports while teaching them early that no matter your belief, anyone can play with each other. Peace wins,” said PSC Chairman William Ramirez in his speech. The event coincides with the first anniversary of renaming the undersea region Benham Rise to Philippine Rise. Youngsters aged 8 to 12 will play various traditional games like Karerang Talon, Salok Dagat, Suot Lusot, Karerang Takbo, Mamita Went to Town, Alupihan and Pasahan Tubig. Casiguran Mayor Ricardo Bitong thanked the PSC for staging the games and assured that the event is “the first step in producing more sports-centered programs in the town.” The Philippine Rise is all about peace and through sports, we would like to maintain peace,” concluded Ramirez. Ramirez and Bitong are now in talks of staging the Indigenous People’s Games in the province in October this year.

Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket against Luc Mbah a Moute of the Houston Rockets in the first half in Game One of the Western Conference Finals of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Durant torched the Rockets with 37 points that lifted the Dubs to a 119-106 win . AFP

Houston, we have a Kevin Durant problem

W

ASHINGTON—Season wins leader Houston battled an entire campaign to seize a homecourt edge throughout the NBA playoffs, but defending champion Golden State stole it away with a 119106 victory Monday. Kevin Durant scored 37 points and Klay Thompson added 28 for the Warriors to capture the best-of seven Western Conference final opener in a rare series start on the road for a team seeking its third NBA crown in four seasons. “We can do a little better job against them mentally,” Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They are champions for a reason. If we want to beat them we have to be mentally sharp. KD was on. We can live with that. But we can’t have that and mental mistakes.” Stephen Curry added 18 points, six rebounds and eight assists while Draymond Green contributed nine rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors. “It’s a great start. We played well,” said Thompson, who scored 11 points in the

fourth quarter. “We’re not going to relax. We’re still not where we want to be. We still have a long way to go.” NBA scoring champion James Harden netted 41 points to lead the Rockets, who host game two on Wednesday. “We’ve got to do a better job of taking better shots, not turning the ball over and getting back on D,” Harden said. “We’ve got to make them rotate and take tougher shots. “They do a really good job if you take bad shots or turn the ball over. That’s what they thrive on. Those mistakes can’t happen.” Durant scored 17 first-half points and sparked Golden State after the Rockets played aggressively at the start, using two big runs to jump ahead only to have the Warriors overtake them by the middle of the second quarter.

Columbian eyes another shocker By Jeric Lopez TEAMS in the middle of the pack all look to move their way up in the resumption of the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup. Columbian Dyip (3-2) once again wants to pull off another shocker when it takes on the challenge from Magnolia (1-1) at 4:30 p.m. in the opening salvo at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight. Right after, GlobalPort (2-2) and NLEX (1-3) do their own battle at 7 p.m. As the elimination round gains steam, some teams continue to find the right and consistent winning formula. All four teams playing are still in the process of finding consistency. The Dyip, however, are showing that league that they belong

tion for upcoming jins is also backed by Smart Communications Inc., Philippine Sports Commission, the Philippine Olympic Committee and PLDT. Outstanding participants may eventually get a chance to join the list of fighters who aspire to represent the country in international events. Filipino jins are always considered among the top contenders in prestigious world tournaments like the World and Asian Championships, Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games. Sports enthusiasts, especially parents who would like to enroll their children in the popular martial art, are invited to watch the tournament.

Rashawn McCarthy

despite the criticism they received the past year in terms of personnel movements. In five starts, Columbian had shown that it has a new identity along with its new name. Columbian’s latest victim was Rain or Shine as it dealt the erstwhile unbeaten and league-leading Elasto Painters their first taste of defeat, 104-96, last week. The backcourt duo of Rashawn McCarthy and Jerramy King along with import John Fields are all doing wonders for the Dyip. For McCarthy, one word motivates the team. “We got a lot of pride,” emphasized McCarthy, who is proving to be one of the rising guards in the league. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened last conference, where everything’s disappointing. That’s why we’re putting the work to turn it around.”

New Face Championships lure 1,500 jins AROUND 1,500 taekwondo newcomers will bid for honors when they compete in the 2018 Meralco/ MVP Sports Foundation National New Face of the Year Championships on May 19-20 at the Rizal Memorial coliseum. The participants will come from Metro Manila and provincial affiliates and chapters of the Philippine Taekwondo Association as well as the military services. Competition will be conducted in various categories, namely senior men and women, junior men and women, Cadet division (men and women) and gradeschool (boys and girls). The two-day event supports the PTA’s commitment for the development of sports, particularly the government’s grassroots program. Aside from Meralco and MVP Sports Foundation, the competi-

“You know they are going to come out with a lot of energy,” Durant said. “We just tried to take their best punch and keep fighting.” “To withstand that run says a lot about our team,” Green said. “The further you get along in the playoffs, the more intensity you need to bring.” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni knows that all too well. “If we’re going to knock these guys off we have to get a better mental focus,” D’Antoni said. “We ran out of gas a little bit in different spots and they didn’t. “It’s just a bunch of stuff we can clean up and we will. We’ll come out and attack them Wednesday.” - ‘They made us pay’ Chris Paul had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who fell behind in the third period and couldn’t catch up in the fourth. “Every time we made a mistake they made us pay,” Paul said. “Some of it was breakdowns, things we can clean up and do better. We have to communicate better.”

James Dean Ribuca of Ilocos Sur (right) delivers an axe kick at Quezon Taekwondo Academy’s Juwan Franco Fontarum in a previous newcomers’ event.

3x3 gains NCAA ground THE NCAA is gearing towards the inclusion of 3x3 basketball as part of its regular calendar in the near future. League president Anthony Tamayo of 94th NCAA host Perpetual Help said the movement to make the event, which is currently one of the fastest-rising sports in the country today, is gaining ground within the Policy Board and Management Committee. “For Season 94, 3x3 basketball will be played as a special event,” said Tamayo. “We will tackle it in the next meeting and hopefully it will be included as regular event in the future because we feel

3x3 basketball is one sport Filipinos are good at.” It will mark the second year the event will be held in the NCAA after debuting last year using two divisions—under-14 and under-16. Next to regular basketball, 3x3 is now gaining popularity after past feats in international events as well as the country’s hosting of such events including this June’s FIBA 3x3 World Cup at the Phl Arena in Bulacan. The Palarong Pambansa, a multi-sports event for elementary and high school student atheltes, has also embraced the sport after it included 3x3 as a regular discipline in last month’s edition in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

SEAG execs meet to chart united program for ‘19 games SOME 80 sports leaders from 10 countries of the Southeast Asian region arrived yesterday for the first meeting of the SEA Games Federation with host Philippines today and tomorrow at the Bonifacio Global City. Philippine Olympic Committee President Ricky Vargas will meet the biggest delegation yet of the SEA Games Federation-- which he also heads-- to chart a united program for the success of the 30th Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting in 2019. Representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam will join sports leaders from the host country in crafting the overall look of the SEA Games, including the approval of several sports to be contested in the biennial tournament. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Philippines SEAG Organizing Committee Executive Board chairman, had rolled the red carpet to welcome the foreign delegates. Vargas, who is also the boxing association chief, is co-vice chairman of the Phisgoc, together with Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez. Also to be present are the other members of the board in Bases Conversion and Development Authority president Vince Dizon, POC chairman Rep. Abraham Tolentino, PSC commissioner Arnold Agustin, POC secretary-general Patrick Gregorio and Planning and Coordination Office executive director Tats Suzara. Phoenix Petroleum CEO Dennis Uy and PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan are the board advisers. It is going to be a busy day today for the SEA Games Federation members as they meet from 9 a.m. 12 noon to discuss key issues on Sports and Rules, Medical and Women and Sports, before the SEA Games Federation Executive Committee convenes in the afternoon.

Perpetual jrs edge Staglets GELO Batayon drilled in 19 points for the University of Perpetual Help Junior Altas in their 84-82 triumph over the San Sebastian Staglets in the ongoing 24th Fr. Martin Cup summer tournament at the St. Placid gymnasium inside the San BedaMendiola campus in Manila. Batayon’s drive and free throw in the last 14 seconds carried the Junior Altas to their fourth straight win in the junior division of this cagefest supported by Cocolife. Dave Balo made 17 points for the Staglets, who are the defending champions. The La Salle Greenhills Greenies, led by Joel Cagulangan, demolished the San Beda Red Cubs, 106-54. In other games, the Enderun College Lady Titans won by default over Far Eastern University, allowing them to move ahead in the women’s division with three straight victories. Ria Nabalan banged in 16 points for the National University Lady Bulldogs, who whipped University of Santo Tomas in another women’s encounter.

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Ban gko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

52.0980

Japan

Yen

0.009120

0.4751

UK

Pound

1.355800

70.6345

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.127395

6.6370

Switzerland

Franc

0.999600

52.0772

Canada

Dollar

0.780579

40.6666

Singapore

Dollar

0.748559

38.9984

Australia

Dollar

0.752500

39.2037

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652872

138.2093

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266652

13.8920

Brunei

Dollar

0.745768

38.8530

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000072

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

0.031427

1.6373

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

14.1856

Euro

Euro

1.192900

62.1477

Korea

Won

0.000934

0.0487

China

Yuan

0.157806

8.2214

India

Rupee

0.014804

0.7713

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.253293

13.1961

New Zealand

Dollar

0.691300

36.0153

Taiwan

Dollar

0.033548

1.7478

Source: PDS Bridge

Business Govt, Japanese agency agree to expand MRT 3 By Darwin G. Amojelar

Shell’s income declined 19.7% in first quarter

T

By Alena Mae S. Flores

The two parties signed Friday the minutes of discussion for the appraisal mission over the Japan-financed MRT-3 Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project. It contained the final details on project cost, scope of works and schedule of implementation. Under the agreement, Jica will finance the rehabilitation and maintenance project of MRT-3, covering the system’s trains, power supply system, overhead catenary system, radio system, CCTV

PILIPINAS Shell Petroleum Corp. reported a 19.7 -percent decline in net income in the first quarter to P2.32 billion from P2.89 billion a year ago, on higher expenses during the period. PSPC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange “softer regional refining margins” during the quarter contributed to the roughly 20-percent decrease in overall earnings. Sales rose to P49.53 billion in the first quarter from P41.64 billion in the same period last year on higher product prices, driven by the increase in the average global oil prices. Expenses in the three-month period soared to P3.385 billion from P2.977 billion in the same period last year as a result of increase in marketing, advertising, throughput fees, higher depreciation and amortization from additional capital investments. PSPC said the P2.32-billion net earnings at the end of the first quarter translated into an industry-leading return on capital of 27 percent on a trailing 12-month basis, demonstrating the company’s continuing prudent and effective utilization of shareholder capital. Operational cash flows also increased 23 percent to P3.5 billion yearon-year, driven by total sales volume growth of 4 percent, higher premium fuel penetration and better working capital management. PSPC said it sustained delivery of strategic priorities by maximizing cash generation while optimizing shareholder returns, disciplined expansion and capital allocation and attractive dividend policy. The company said sales volumes were sustained while increasing premium fuel sales, closing the quarter with 27 percent V-Power penetration.

SEC approves Wenceslao’s P15.5-b initial public offering By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved the P15.5-billion initial public offering of D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc., a leading construction and real estate development company. Documents filed with the SEC showed DM Wencesalo would offer 679.2 million common shares at P22.90 apiece. It also has an overallotment option of 101.876 million shares that could push total proceeds to P17.88 billion. Net proceeds from the IPO will be used to expand the company’s real estate development footprint through a mix of commercial and residential projects within the 204-hectare Aseana City. The offering period is tentatively set on June 18 to 22, while listing date is scheduled on June 29. The company tapped BPI Capital and Maybank as the joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the IPO. This is the second time D.M. Wenceslao planned to conduct an IPO. It first filed an IPO application with the SEC in 2015. The company was looking to raise as much as P21.7 billion from the sale of 429 million shares at an offer price of P44 apiece, but deferred the plan because of volatile market conditions then. It reported a net income of P1.56 billion in 2017, up 30 percent from P1.2 billion in 2016, as revenues improved to P3 billion from P2.1 billion.

HE Transportation Department and Japan International Cooperation Agency agreed to undertake the P16.98-billion rehabilitation and expansion of Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

system, PABX public address system, signaling system, rail tracks, road rail vehicles, depot equipment, elevators and escalators, and other station building equipment. Discussions between Jica and the Transportation Department showed that the rehabilitation and maintenance of MRT 3 would take 43 months. This would include 31 months for the simultaneous rehabilitation and maintenance works to restore MRT-3 to its original design condition and capacity and 12 months for the defect liability period. The two parties also agreed to commit to best environmental management practices and social considerations through the procurement of a supervision consultant who would facilitate the implementation of an environmental management plan and an environmental

monitoring plan. The supervision consultant, to ensure the project’s sustainability, is required to draft and institutionalize new MRT-3 manuals that will update methodologies on appropriate asset management, project monitoring and supervision and operations and maintenance activities. After completing the appraisal mission, the transport agency and Japan would move on to signing of the loan agreement and the mobilization of the new maintenance and rehabilitation provider for MRT-3 in June 2018. MRT 3, which runs along Edsa from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, serves over 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000. The line has a fleet of 73 Czech-made air-conditioned rail cars.

PLDT-CATHAY PARTNERSHIP. PLDT Alpha, the business-to-business arm of PLDT Inc. and Smart, teams up with top international carrier Cathay Pacific to provide their customers with enhanced travel experiences through Smart Wifi and Smart Infinity membership perks. Sealing the agreement are (from left) PLDT head of enterprise wireless solutions Chet Alviz, PLDT Alpha head of corporate relationship management Luigi Casas, PLDT Alpha head Vic Tria, PLDT and Smart head of enterprise groups Jovy Hernandez, Cathay Pacific Airways country manager Robin Brandshaw, people manager JojoVeneracion, assistant manager for direct sales Sunshine Ramos and assistant manager for marketing Anna Maria Lee.

Vehicle sales slowed down 11% to 25,583 units in April By Othel V. Campos VEHICLE sales dropped 11.3 percent in April from a year ago, as the industry continued to feel the impact of higher excise taxes. Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturing of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association showed their members sold a total of 25,583 units in April, down from 29,038 units delivered in the same month in 2017. Both groups reported a decline in sales since January, following the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law. Monthon-month sales also fell from 28,216 units in March.

Sales in the first four months dropped 9.3 percent to 111,620 units from 123,064 units purchased a year earlier. The two industry groups said that while sales of passenger cars slight improved by 0.5 percent to 9,910 units from 9,862 units in April 2017, demand for commercial vehicles sank 18.3 percent to 15,673 units from 19,176 units a year ago. Among commercial vehicles, Asian utility vehicles suffered the biggest setback of 41.5 percent to 3,439 units from 5,878 units, followed by a 9.7-percent decline in demand for light commercial vehicle sales to 11,045 units from 12,237 units. Data showed sales of passenger cars

weakened in the first four monthsn declined 7.2 percent to 38,817 units from 41,813 units a year, earlier while purchases of commercial vehicles decreased 10.4 percent to 72,803 units from 81,251 units. Demand for AUVs posted a 24.2-percent decline in the first four months to 18,612 units from 24,550 units, while orders for commercial vehicles fell 3.7 percent to 49,974 units from 51,873 units. Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. remained the top seller in April, followed by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp., Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc., Honda Cars Philippines Inc.and Nissan Philippines Inc.

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

B1

IN BRIEF Petron bares capital expenditure of P15b PETRON Corp., the biggest oil company, announced Tuesday a capital expenditure budget of P15 billion for 2018, almost the same level as the previous year’s. Petron senior vice president and chief finance officer Emmanuel Erana said Petron would earmark P10 billion for domestic operations and P5 billion for its Malaysian business. He said about two-thirds of the P10 billion for local capex would be spent for network expansion while one-third for refinery improvement. Petron plans to put up around 150 to 200 new retail stations in the Philippines and around 50 in Malaysia this year. Petron general manager Lubin Nepomuceno said the company planned to invest in a continuous catalytic reforming unit that would pave the way for the company to produce petrochemicals, such as mixed xylene, toluene and xylene, for sale in the export market. Petron plans to complete the basic engineering design study for the CCRU this year and investment decision by the first quarter next year. Alena Mae S. Flores

Bloomberry eyeing $308-m cruise port BLOOMBERRY Resorts Corp. of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. submitted a proposal to the government to build a $308-million cruise port facility in Parañaque City, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority said. TIEZA said in a late statement it forwarded to the Office of the President the proposal of Sureste Properties Inc., a wholly owned unit of Bloomberry, to develop Solaire Cruise and Yachting Centre. The proposal includes marine and terminal facilities, homeport and portof-call operations, an expanded harbor offering dining, shopping, entertainment and maritime recreation, and walkable esplanades and plazas. The timeline for the implementation of the project is set in the next 2 to 10 years. The project is expected to a catalyst for economic development as the company aims to develop a Philippines-centric cruise industry with a domestic itinerary. It also hopes to decongest traffic on airports. Jenniffer B. Austria

GT Capital’s Q1 profit surged 21% to P3.7b GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty said first-quarter net income climbed 21 percent to P3.7 billion from P3.1 billion year-on-year, as the weak performance of its automotive and property businesses was offset by the positive results from the banking and insurance units. GT Capital, in a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, attributed the strong first-quarter performance to the 37-percent growth in equity in net income of associates and joint ventures to P2.88 billion, led by Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., AXA Philippines and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. The conglomerate’s automotive operations, comprising the sale of assembled and imported auto vehicles and spare parts, declined 12 percent to P37.8 billion due to a 12-percent drop in volume from 38,576 units to 33,877 units. GT Capital’s property companies Federal Land Inc. and Property Company of Friends Inc. registered a combined net income of P423.8 million in the first quarter of the year, down 28 percent from a year ago. Jenniffer B. Austria

Remittances decreased 9.8% in March after repatriation of OFWs from Kuwait By Julito G. Rada MONEY sent home by Filipinos working overseas declined 9.8 percent yearon-year in March, the biggest drop in 15 years, following the repatriation of Filipinos from Kuwait. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed the decline in remittances in March was the sharpest since the 10.9-percent fall in April 2003. Cash remittances in March reached $2.36 billion, down from $2.615 billion registered a year ago. They were also a reversal of the 4.5-percent expansion in February. The figure brought cash remittances in the first quarter to $7 billion, up by 0.8 percent from $6.953 billion in the same period last year. “The negative growth during the month was primarily due to base effect following the sharp increase in remittances in March 2017 at 10.7 percent,” Guinigundo said. “Further contributing to the decline was the lesser number of banking days in March 2018 compared to the same

month in 2017 since the celebration of the Holy Week happened during the last week of March as opposed to April in 2017,” Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said. Guinigundo said the continued repatriation of overseas workers from the Middle East countries could have affected the inflows of cash remittances. Preliminary data from the Labor Department showed that as of Feb. 8, 2018, some 1,124 OFWs were repatriated from Kuwait. President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the repatriation of thousands of OFWs from Kuwait where they were allegedly maltreated. The president also appealed to OFWs in Kuwait to return to the country after Kuwait expelled the Philippine ambassador for launching rescue missions for Filipinos abused by their employers in the Gulf state. The countries that registered the biggest declines in cash remittances in March were Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the United States.

JOLLIBEE’S AWARDS. Jollibee Foods Corp., along with partner creative agency McCann Worldgroup Philippines, brings home seven trophies for its 2017 #KwentongJollibee ‘Valentine’s Joy for the Heartbroken’ series from the APAC Effie Awards 2018 in Singapore. Shown are Jollibee brand chief marketing officer aFrancis Flores ((fifth from left) and Jollibee Philippines president JJ Alano (third from right) flanked by (from left) McCann Worldgroup Philippines chief strategy officer Gino Borromeo, executive creative director Joe Dy, associate managing director Mitzie Lim-Nacianceno, Jollibee brand engagement manager Cat Triviño, head of PR and digital Arline Adeva and MWG PH creative director Bong Legaspi.

B2

Business

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market jumps; SM Prime advances T HE stock market sustained its rally Tuesday, with select blue chip issues leading the new surge on improving economic prospects.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 133.86 points, or 1.7 percent, to 7,885.97 on a value turnover of P8.7 billion. Gainers beat losers, 110 to 91, with 47 issues unchanged. SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. surged 7.4 percent to P38.30, while major property developer Ayala Land Inc. advanced 3 percent to P42.25. MacroAsia Corp., which provides aviation-related services, climbed 5 percent to P27.50, while Wilcon Depot Inc. rose 2.2 percent to P11.82.

But Asian markets mostly fell on Tuesday as trade moves back into view with China and the US holding more high-level talks this week, while oil prices held gains as tensions in the Middle East simmer. Hong Kong was one percent lower after racking up gains of more than five percent over the previous six sessions, while Tokyo ended 0.2 percent down. Sydney shed 0.6 percent, Singapore fell 0.4 percent and Seoul sank 0.7 percent, with Wellington, Taipei, Bangkok and Jakarta also lower. However, there were gains in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. And Mumbai’s Sensex jumped 0.6 percent as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP looked on course to win a key state election just a year ahead of national polls. A recent run-up in equities over the past week has also led to profit-taking,

with Hong Kong hit after six straight days of gains. US markets rose again as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He—President Xi Jinping’s right-hand man on economic issues—headed to Washington on Tuesday for a new round of talks aimed at heading off a trade war between the economic giants. There are hopes the two sides can hammer out an agreement to end a spat that has seen both sides threaten tariffs on billions of dollars of goods. Donald Trump’s call to help get Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE “back into business fast” soothed nerves, while Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday he was exploring “alternative remedies” for the firm, which was in April banned from buying crucial US technology for seven years. “China is reportedly close to remov-

ing tariffs on agricultural products in exchange for relief for ZTE,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at OANDA. “It helps explain why President Trump said he’d work with President Xi on this company.” The talks come as US officials try to reach agreements with Canada and Mexico on revising their three-way trade pact, while EU steel tariff exemptions are due to end on June 1. Concerns about the already tinderbox Middle East have helped put upward pressure on oil prices, with deadly clashes in Gaza during the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem coming less than a week after Trump ripped up the Iran nuclear deal. “In general, the market is wholly focused on the hornet’s nest in the Middle East that is an accident waiting to happen,” Innes added. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 59 25,000 98.9 1,983,090 3.04 5,000 133.9 3,216,040 1.46 218,000 34.95 105,100 6.78 4,200 16.58 127,500 16.8 501,800 3.89 543,000 0.67 5,000 880 160 0.57 6,345,000 85.9 1,562,840 1.08 1,277,000 12.76 20,100 23 200 52 64,850 214 3,970 38.95 252,100 201 682,100 1,940 335 89 20,910 1.2 736,000

1,473,500 196,055,171.50 15,320 434,726,671 320,740 3,674,785 28,492 2,108,832 8,451,960 2,075,510 3,350 140,800 3,662,560 133,790,036 1,345,000 256,012 4,600 3,373,833.50 844,910 9,476,995 137,640,312 642,850 1,861,923.50 883,200

1,117,781.50 -38,111,840 61,398,768 -3,000 -275,980 1,963,992 -189,600 58,320.00 -17,240,696.50 232,430 4,600 -1,719,166.50 -18,900 -2,201,682 -224,336.50 -88,800

38.7 14.6 0.59 1.23 19.86 0.226 125.1 3.05 16.9 250 51.4 24.5 56.95 66.4 84.35 1.94 5.15 9.3 10.92 16.1 11.8 7.17 5.1 1.66 15.44 63.8 19.6 8.78 18.18 2.06 279.4 5.03 3.13 27.15 13.42 22.6 322.4 6.65 2.4 4.49 9.59 5.81 7.9 1.47 12.22 53 6.27 4.7 2.01 3.7 1.87 14 64.65 5.28 0.133 0.98 141.4 3.37 0.83

INDUSTRIAL 39 1,207,500 15 3,277,300 0.61 1,279,000 1.23 275,000 20.05 42,300 0.231 1,620,000 149 50 3.05 16,244,000 17 356,200 250 40 51.4 1,219,890 25 12,900 57 89,220 68 4,540 84.35 100 1.98 57,000 5.15 4,000 9.41 25,600 11.06 1,352,800 16.2 1,920,000 12 2,324,500 7.2 8,339,900 5.2 2,886,400 1.66 5,000 15.44 328,200 64.4 61,090 19.82 249,300 8.78 41,400 18.62 7,951,700 2.14 1,268,000 283 1,041,560 5.03 130,200 3.13 3,000 27.25 423,300 13.74 187,700 22.8 1,465,100 322.4 225,090 6.66 36,000 2.46 2,464,000 4.5 87,000 9.62 1,513,600 6 381,300 7.9 89,700 1.47 65,000 12.3 118,700 53.05 178,580 6.27 100 4.7 1,000 2.04 199,000 3.7 2,000 1.88 582,000 14 243,200 64.8 519,180 5.41 126,700 0.134 210,000 0.98 1,000 144.2 1,091,020 3.68 20,523,000 0.84 1,984,000

46,982,475 48,626,272 773,520 343,810 843,854 366,630 6,494 50,832,080 6,091,546 10,000 63,229,081 322,795 5,085,903.50 304,617 8,435 112,070 20,600 240,672 14,912,784 31,198,466 27,899,568 59,963,152 15,026,757 8,760 5,078,274 3,937,133 4,965,086 365,515 147,395,516 2,661,150 292,545,014 657,463 9,390 11,538,715 2,574,192 33,410,630 73,476,176 240,918 6,027,160 391,960 14,577,104 2,314,857 709,655 95,710 1,491,318 9,533,809 627 4,700 401,960 7,400 1,095,670 3,420,984 33,639,429 677,502 28,030 980 156,814,617 73,115,510 1,675,630

1,454,705 39,116,136 -12,000 6,200 100,150 -25,855,370 1,050,004 519.5 -4,532,564 -13,580 -86,475 -819,496 19,517,562 4,783,562 50,400 -5,087,977 -1,660,874 510,634.50 184,610.00 -160,266 -20,443,204 -551,890 -127,595,872 7,668,120 9,590 -9,691,395 -9,411,554 -386,640 3,844,164 -618,420 -304,756 -2,811,703.50 -66,010 -2,716,158 1,349,940.50 -2,693,860.00 808,810 -

0.265 64.9 13.76 0.9 6.54 0.68 0.69 996 6.7 11.06 7.54 0.212 1,060 7.16 61.5 0.64 4.75 22.15 0.61 5.49 0.04 1.17 3.26 2.8 140 937 1.64 580 263 0.237 0.27 0.193

0.25 61.4 13.52 0.88 6.39 0.65 0.65 962 6.53 10.8 7.35 0.211 1,035 7.16 59.1 0.63 4.64 21.5 0.57 5.29 0.039 1.13 3.22 2.73 138.5 911 1.63 578 258 0.237 0.255 0.193

HOLDING FIRMS 0.26 3,410,000 64.5 1,065,950 13.64 9,526,100 0.9 67,000 6.54 1,700 0.68 15,423,000 0.68 2,844,000 985 327,200 6.58 1,835,800 10.98 7,838,700 7.54 900 0.212 310,000 1,043 140,140 7.16 2,400 60.2 2,118,580 0.63 5,000 4.64 27,262,000 22 11,004,600 0.59 1,598,000 5.4 25,074,600 0.04 9,400,000 1.17 68,000 3.23 938,000 2.8 39,000 139.2 294,570 937 500,480 1.64 268,000 579 70 258 2,810 0.237 20,000 0.255 9,820,000 0.193 10,000

865,900 68,684,463 129,939,638 58,980 10,968 10,300,560 1,914,950 321,649,545 12,190,671 85,985,552 6,710 65,670 146,093,265 17,184 128,021,110.50 3,160 126,772,320 241,805,090 932,630 135,630,130 373,900 77,200 3,028,840 108,320 40,960,732 464,748,100 437,970 40,550 725,330 4,740 2,564,150 1,930

25,000 10,627,169.50 9,142,526 3,924 -1,039,920 47,768,355 -412,057 -10,221,068 -23,855,470 -20,455,816 108,520 -21,186,985 -12,323,650 -3,900 -290,700 4,322,793 -78,827,240 -130,000 -

7.18 1.05 2.06 0.86 42.3 3.46 4.95 6.6 6.28 0.485 1.06 1.01 0.25 0.445 31.8 0.63 0.12 1.7 1.35 1.12 4.65 0.66 0.49 0.56

6.95 1 2.01 0.83 40.55 3.41 4.83 6.6 6.28 0.465 1.03 0.98 0.239 0.445 31.05 0.62 0.119 1.64 1.26 1.06 4.38 0.63 0.475 0.54

20,698,927 16,018,910 14,370 1,156,780 751,211,340 1,243,630 6,659,640 660 5,024 8,744,450 11,390 657,240 3,380,180 115,700 9,580,185 405,360 23,900 28,797,260 4,592,540 4,241,860 153,036,620 20,178,040 2,949,800 1,311,340

-5,225,201 -339,230 233,370,390 223,080 -73,350 -4,708,300 -306,860 -4,985,500 -356,500 -13,482,360 -4,980 56,000 37,913,090 1,864,300 -44,240

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

58.95 98 3.07 133 1.5 34.9 6.81 16.4 16.92 3.6 0.67 880 0.61 86.1 1.06 12.74 23 53.1 214 37.8 200.8 1,920 88.95 1.2

59 99.2 3.07 138 1.55 35 6.81 16.58 16.94 3.99 0.67 880 0.61 86.1 1.08 12.76 23 53.1 214 38.95 204 1,940 89.1 1.2

58.9 97.9 3.04 132.5 1.45 34.9 6.78 16.3 16.78 3.6 0.67 880 0.56 84.2 1.04 12.72 23 51.9 209 37.5 200.6 1,915 88.95 1.2

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

39 14.66 0.59 1.27 20.15 0.231 125.1 3.2 17.04 250 51.4 25.2 57.95 68 84.35 1.97 5.15 9.3 10.92 16.3 11.88 7.32 5.29 1.79 15.58 64.55 19.9 8.9 18.5 2.14 283 5.06 3.13 27.4 13.42 22.65 326 6.8 2.46 4.59 9.6 5.99 7.95 1.49 12.44 53.85 6.27 4.7 2.02 3.7 1.91 14.4 64.85 5.3 0.133 0.98 144.7 3.49 0.86

39 15 0.62 1.27 20.2 0.232 149 3.25 17.18 250 51.95 25.3 57.95 68 84.35 1.98 5.15 9.5 11.06 16.32 12.28 7.32 5.3 1.79 15.64 65 20.5 8.9 18.88 2.15 283.6 5.14 3.13 27.45 13.92 23 329 6.98 2.46 4.59 9.67 6.29 7.97 1.49 12.76 53.9 6.27 4.7 2.04 3.7 1.91 14.4 64.85 5.45 0.134 0.98 144.9 3.68 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 FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.26 62.85 13.62 0.88 6.54 0.65 0.66 970 6.7 10.86 7.35 0.212 1,038 7.16 60.85 0.64 4.75 21.5 0.61 5.44 0.04 1.14 3.22 2.73 138.5 917 1.63 580 258.2 0.237 0.27 0.193

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

7.17 1.04 2.01 0.85 41 3.44 4.93 6.6 6.28 0.465 1.03 0.99 0.25 0.445 31.05 0.62 0.12 1.65 1.27 1.06 4.4 0.65 0.485 0.56

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 VISTA LAND

3.98 18.92 2.1 3.23 36.3 1.15 11 6.71

4.04 20 2.1 3.23 38.7 1.15 11.1 6.73

3.9 18.92 2.04 3.2 36.25 1.12 10.6 6.59

3.9 19.8 2.09 3.2 38.3 1.15 10.68 6.6

1,807,000 4,111,600 206,000 614,000 30,151,600 1,732,000 392,500 2,520,000

7,104,160 80,254,472 427,690 1,964,920 1,143,695,315 1,963,860 4,210,090 16,776,970

11,760 6,181,490 -10,250 303,983,860 251,678 -3,961,950

2GO GROUP ABS CBN 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 HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA BULLETIN MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

16 27.1 0.48 0.047 12.8 5.39 12.4 0.056 92 8.7 7.4 7.7 2.17 21.2 1,750 5.65 301 4.16 2.2 83 13.3 8.1 0.118 1.42 3.42 15.28 4.61 1.02 28 0.54 4.3 6.49 3.29 17.98 8.1 11.3 9.54 2.89 130 6 1,400 1.04 0.38 46.25 90 7.01 2.3 1.29 0.435 4.84 0.86 11.5

16 27.1 0.48 0.047 13 5.39 12.6 0.057 92 8.8 8.19 8.05 2.17 21.4 1,771 5.65 306 4.21 2.2 83 13.3 8.24 0.118 1.42 3.49 15.28 4.61 1.03 28.15 0.54 4.35 6.73 3.29 17.98 8.2 11.3 9.54 2.89 131 6.02 1,433 1.05 0.39 48 90.7 7.1 2.38 1.32 0.435 4.84 0.87 12.1

15.5 26.95 0.465 0.047 12.8 4.98 12.12 0.056 91.4 8.7 7.4 7.7 2.17 20.7 1,745 5.6 300 4.15 2.11 81 13.08 8.1 0.118 1.39 3.33 15 4.55 1.01 27.3 0.53 4.19 6.05 3.21 16.6 7.97 11.24 9.49 2.89 128.8 5.91 1,360 1.02 0.38 46 88.4 7 2.26 1.29 0.42 4.75 0.85 11.2

SERVICES 15.56 27 0.465 0.047 13 5.38 12.5 0.057 91.4 8.7 8 8.04 2.17 20.8 1,752 5.63 306 4.17 2.2 82.2 13.1 8.22 0.118 1.39 3.49 15 4.56 1.02 27.5 0.54 4.33 6.15 3.21 17.96 8.04 11.26 9.49 2.89 128.8 5.99 1,411 1.02 0.39 47.5 89.9 7.1 2.32 1.31 0.425 4.8 0.86 11.82

109,600 61,900 3,390,000 8,900,000 66,100 1,800 9,018,300 5,740,000 62,200 7,000 19,434,100 994,300 1,000 58,000 29,385 74,000 9,440 459,000 92,000 3,870,470 7,000 38,000 420,000 124,000 9,000 13,000 656,000 60,000 6,915,600 60,000 19,000 8,749,500 220,000 1,200 3,273,500 7,600 2,300 1,000 37,740 863,700 59,925 951,000 1,920,000 1,101,700 225,180 20,900 805,000 1,451,000 5,540,000 1,246,000 1,820,000 13,428,800

1,707,634 1,673,375 1,599,500 418,300 849,240 9,613 112,194,168 322,910 5,705,432.50 61,307 153,927,408 7,947,426 2,170 1,214,190 51,534,625 416,449 2,855,402 1,917,390 201,750 317,600,906.50 91,630 312,461 49,560 172,940 30,990 195,084 2,991,400 61,010 191,253,405 32,300 80,500 54,232,897 711,870 21,146 26,313,893 85,666 21,832 2,890 4,869,540 5,173,493 84,568,320 983,420 737,600 51,423,250 20,169,113 147,777 1,866,720 1,897,280 2,354,250 5,964,060 1,562,090 159,132,270

7,912 -155,100 -52,000 4,851 26,446,256 -316,337 -23,296,235 -8,440 14,463,235 -19,886,915 150,000 22,980 66,798,540 -29,625,016 10,230 447,981 815,609 -11,340,850 180,530 -15,040,070 -2,049,632.50 -768,630 464,920 -17,000 -2,684,560.00 -3,440 7,292,760

352,900 3,145,580 300,700 1,103,090 354,400 736 2,028,620 599,890 194,040 16,820 25,500 81,500 14,650 3,485,502 411,680 37,300 635,830 353,800 7,800 452,700 102,210 2,959,371 25,117,536 57,212,140 25,200

1,730 -243,000 -342,000 -140,940 -288,470 -1,420 -935,731 -2,508,045 -1,028,092 -33,804,050 -

MS

PROPERTY 7.1 1 2.06 0.83 42.25 3.46 4.89 6.6 6.28 0.475 1.06 1 0.243 0.445 31.35 0.63 0.119 1.68 1.33 1.12 4.65 0.64 0.475 0.56

2,929,200 15,777,000 7,000 1,386,000 17,944,600 362,000 1,356,000 100 800 18,420,000 11,000 664,000 13,960,000 260,000 305,800 653,000 200,000 17,334,000 3,520,000 3,845,000 33,461,000 31,299,000 6,140,000 2,389,000

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

0.0028 1.69 4.32 1.62 0.31 7.36 2.35 0.201 0.139 0.141 0.0085 0.0091 1.42 5.12 1.22 0.54 0.98 0.013 0.013 0.012 2.02 5.6 13.4 29.1 0.0063

0.0029 1.69 4.4 1.65 0.31 7.36 2.36 0.201 0.139 0.141 0.0085 0.0091 1.47 5.19 1.22 0.56 1.01 0.013 0.013 0.012 2.05 5.6 13.4 29.8 0.0063

0.0028 1.67 4.32 1.61 0.3 7.36 2.3 0.19 0.138 0.14 0.0085 0.009 1.42 5.09 1.17 0.54 0.96 0.012 0.013 0.011 2.02 5.5 12.92 29.1 0.0063

MINING & OIL 0.0028 126,000,000 1.67 1,874,000 4.39 69,000 1.65 680,000 0.3 1,180,000 7.36 100 2.34 872,000 0.199 3,080,000 0.139 1,400,000 0.141 120,000 0.0085 3,000,000 0.009 9,000,000 1.47 10,000 5.1 679,500 1.19 351,000 0.56 69,000 0.99 646,000 0.012 29,400,000 0.013 600,000 0.012 38,900,000 2.05 50,000 5.55 536,700 12.94 1,921,200 29.3 1,935,100 0.0063 4,000,000

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B LR PREF PCOR PREF 2B PNX PREF 3A SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

25.7 495 504 100.8 108 505 5.5 986 1.07 1,020 104.2 985 77 78.7 76.4 77 75.9

26 500 510 100.8 108 505 5.66 986 1.08 1,020 104.2 985 77 78.7 76.4 77 75.9

25.7 495 504 100.3 108 505 5.5 984 1.06 1,020 104.2 976 76.9 78.7 76.4 77 75.9

PREFERRED 25.9 46,000 500 240 510 2,760 100.3 10,000 108 365,380 505 700 5.66 200 984 2,310 1.06 1,597,000 1,020 20 104.2 940 976 210 76.9 270 78.7 2,000 76.4 150 77 13,400 75.9 10,000

1,195,690 118,900 1,391,100 1,003,759 39,461,040 353,500 1,116 2,273,060 1,703,340 20,400 97,948 205,050 20,777 157,400 11,460 1,031,800 759,000

-7,800 -550 -26,750 -

LR WARRANT

2.74

2.74

2.66

WARRANTS 2.66 370,000

998,460

-

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

5.33 2.88 3.17

5.39 2.96 3.55

5.31 2.83 3.15

5.34 2.92 3.5

2,389,268 491,210 15,995,030

48,523 -2,426,440

FIRST METRO ETF

119.3

121.3

119.3

1,783,908

-

USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2

10.14 10.2

10.14 10.2

10 10.2

134,344.40 69,666

-

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL HOLDING FIRMS

SHARES

20,562,190 88,852,357 131,334,726

PROPERTY

413,818,201

SERVICES

108,107,421

MINING & OIL

227,740,936

GRAND TOTAL

995,801,591

SME

447,800 172,000 4,748,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120.2 14,810

10 10.2

DDS

13,410 6,830

VALUE 1,943.47 (up) 9.81 1,209,867,433.90 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,185.74 (down) 3.10 1,470,273,299.536 HOLDING FIRMS 7,850.22 (up) 104.72 1,929,898,484.87 PROPERTY 3,870.50 (up) 177.13 SERVICES 1,553.86 (up) 7.94 2,572,558,765.685 MINING & OIL 10,191.34 (down) 2.83 1,326,567,230.47 PSEI 7,885.97 (up) 133.86 133,536,834.004 All Shares Index 4,770.14 (up) 60.99 8,663,371,589.28 Gainers: 110; Losers: 91; Unchanged: 47; Total: 248

AGI posted net income of P3.5b in first quarter By Jenniffer B. Austria ALLIANCE Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan said net income in the first quarter of 2018 inched up 1 percent to P3.5 billion on year after higher interest charges and unrealized foreign exchange losses tempered the gains of the property, liquor and fastfood businesses. AGI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-quarter revenues rose 5 percent to P35.3 billion from the year ago level of P33.7 billion as all of the group’s major subsidiaries delivered a good performance, led by Megaworld Corp., Emperador Inc., Golden Arches Development Corp. and Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. “Our operating performance in the first quarter 2018 remained stable, attributed to the hefty investments we continue to pour into our various businesses as part of our long-term growth strategy,” AGI president Kingson Sian said. Megaworld reported an attributable net income of P3.2 billion in the first quarter, up 11 percent year-on-year. Consolidated revenues rose 9 percent to P13.1 billion, boosted by a 17-percent growth in rental income to P3.4 billion and a 6-percent improvement in residential revenues to P8.8 billion. Liquor unit Emperador registered an attributable net income of P1.6 billion in the first quarter, up 6 percent, after consolidated revenues increased 8.5 percent to P9.7 billion. Whisky revenues rose 13 percent year-on-year, while brandy revenues climbed 6 percent from a year ago. TIHGI, owner and operator of Resorts World Manila, registered a 28.2-percent decline in net income to P444 million on lower gross gaming revenues. The decrease in gross gaming revenues was due to lower revenue contribution from the non-VIP segment as a result of lesser gaming capacity and despite a 22-percent growth from the VIP segment.

JG Summit’s Q1 net profit fell to P4.8b JG SUMMIT Holdings Inc., the listed holding company of the Gokongwei Group, posted a 35.8-precent decline in first quarter net income to P4.8 billion on weaker earnings from the petrochemicals and food businesses, coupled with foreign exchange losses due to weaker peso. Core net income, which excludes non-operating and non-recurring items, amounted to P6.35 billion, down 22.9 percent from P8.23 billion in the same period a year ago. The group’s consolidated margins in the first three months of 2018 were also diluted by rising input costs given the inflationary pressures and weaker peso. First-quarter consolidated revenues, however, rose 4.7 percent to P70.6 billion from P67.51 billion on year, according to JG Summit’s financial report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange. “Going through the business cycle is indeed tough but we are confident that JG Summit can withstand the volatilities in foreign exchange rates and commodity prices, and ultimately overcome these challenges as we continue to maintain a well-diversified portfolio with a balanced income stream and healthy source of recurring cash flows,” JG Summit president and chief executive Officer Lance Gokongwei said. Net income of the group’s food manufacturing unit, Universal Robina Corp., declined 12.4 percent to P2.95 billion, while revenues inched up 1.6 percent to P31.19 billion. Airline business Cebu Air booked a 12-percent increase in first-quarter net income to P1.28 billion as total revenues rose 8.3 percent to P18.2 due to a 10 percent increase in the average fares Net income of property unit Robinsons Land Corp. increased 12 percent to P1.5 billion on the back of a 17-percent hike in revenues to P6.4 billion. The group petrochemical business registered a 65.5-percent decline in first-quarter net income to P826.3 million, after revenues fell 3.2 percent to P10.4 billion on lower sales volume. Jenniffer B. Austria

Standard

TODAY

IN BRIEF Retailer sorry over China map omitting Taiwan

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

World

Manila

Fresh protests seen against Israel G

BEIJING—US clothing retailer Gap has apologied to China over a T-shirt with a map showing the mainland but omitting Taiwan, becoming the latest foreign firm to run afoul of Beijing’s policy on the self-ruling island. China, which considers Taiwan a rebel province awaiting reunification, has taken airlines, hotels and other companies to task in recent months for listing the island as a separate country on their websites. The Gap shirt, which was sold in overseas markets, features a map of China, but Taiwan does not appear to the southeast of the country, according to a photo of the company’s online store posted on the Twitter account of the official People’s Daily newspaper. The state-run Global Times newspaper said the map also omitted South Tibet and the South China Sea, and that the issue sparked a social media frenzy in China after a photo was posted of the shirt at an outlet store in Canada. AFP

AZA―Fresh protests were expected Tuesday a day after Israeli forces killed 59 Palestinians during clashes and protests along the Gaza border against the US embassy opening in Jerusalem in the conflict’s bloodiest day in years.

Chinese tourists’ shirts spark ire in Vietnam HANOI—A photo of Chinese tourists wearing T-shirts depicting Beijing’s claims to the disputed South China Sea has sparked online anger in Vietnam, prompting calls for the visitors to be deported. The shirts featured a map of China and its so-called nine-dash line— the sea boundary found on some 1940s-era maps that Beijing says proves its claim to most of the waterway, despite partial claims from Vietnam and other nations. The territorial dispute is a hotbutton issue in Vietnam, which has a turbulent history of conflict with its powerhouse neighbor. The visitors arrived in southern Cam Ranh airport on Sunday night and were stopped by security at the immigration desk, an airport police officer confirmed to AFP. “We asked them to take the Tshirts off before allowing them to leave the airport,” said the officer, without providing his name because of the sensitivity of the issue. Photos of the tourists in their nationalist attire made the rounds on social media—with the nine-dash line crossed out with an “X”. AFP

Heavy fighting as Taliban attack Afghan city EHART, Afghanistan—Heavy fighting has broken out in the western Afghan city of Farah after the Taliban launched a major offensive overnight to capture the restive provincial capital, with residents reporting air strikes, explosions and gunfire. Government forces including 100 commandos have arrived and are clashing with the insurgents, a local provincial council member told AFP, as residents said the situation was “very bad”. The attack, which comes as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive, began around midnight, with the insurgents capturing one district and parts of another, local provincial council member Jamila Amini told AFP Tuesday from inside the city. “Heavy fighting continues inside the city and aircraft have just started bombarding Taliban positions,” she said. AFP

Dismantling of North Korea nuke site ‘well underway’ SEOUL—Satellite photos indicate North Korea has begun dismantling its nuclear test site ahead of a historic summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, a US monitor said Tuesday. In a move welcomed by Washington and Seoul, North Korea said at the weekend it will “completely” destroy the Punggye-ri test site, in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25 in front of invited foreign media. But no observers from international atomic monitoring agencies have been invited, raising concerns over the openness of the process. Punggye-ri, in the northeast of the country, has been the site of all six of the North’s nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb. North Korea pledged to close the testing ground after Kim last month declared the country’s nuclear force complete and said it had no further need for the complex. The respected 38 North website said Tuesday that satellite images dated May 7 showed “the first definitive evidence that dismantlement of the test site was already well under way.” AFP

B3

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

CASUALTY. The mother of Leila al-Ghandour, a Palestinian baby of eight months who, according to Gaza’s health ministry, died of tear gas inhalation during clashes in East Gaza the previous day, holds her at the morgue of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on May 15, 2018. Fresh protests are expected a day after Israeli forces killed 59 Palestinians during clashes and protests along the Gaza border against the US embassy opening in Jerusalem in the conflict’s bloodiest day in years. AFP

Palestinians on Tuesday mark the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” commemorating the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It comes a day after the United States transferred its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem in a move that infuriated the Palestinians and was widely condemned. Most of the 59 Gazans who died Monday were shot by Israeli snipers, Gaza’s health ministry said. The toll included a baby who died from tear gas inhalation along with eight children under the age of 16, the ministry said. At least 2,400 others were wounded in the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 Gaza war. Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya vowed protests in Gaza would continue on Tuesday. Hamas’s armed wing and other militant groups “will not prolong their silence over the crimes of the

Romancing the maid: Indian film tackles taboo CANNES―As a child, Rohena Gera never understood why her family’s live-in nanny, the “woman she loved like a second mother” was kept at arm’s length by her Indian family. “I didn’t understand why this person who took care of me, who I loved... was so separate.” In a country where millions of servants sleep on the floor of the homes they work in, the idea that a “master” might fall for the meek low-caste woman who is there to cook and scrub for him seemed “inconceivable”, she said. But that is the premise of Gera’s new film, “Sir”, an upstairs-downstairs love story of a kind she says has never been seen in an Indian movie. That the maid is a widow―whose lives can be severely circumscribed in India―adds another layer of taboo to the tenderly told tale which premiered at the Cannes film festival Monday. Young property developer Ashwin and his maid Ratna may live “under the same roof but they are in completely different worlds,” said Gera. “They do not even speak the same language,” with him coming from the English-speaking Mumbai elite and her a poor villager. Even if by some miracle he married her, his family and friends might object

to sharing a table with her. Nor would she “be able to sit on a sofa with his sister”, Gera told AFP. “Indian society is pretty rigid. It not so much the caste system as class these days which plays out as caste... And we accept it. No one is doing anything actively to challenge it.” The director saw the divide more starkly when she returned from college in the US. “You see these dramatic inequalities but I didn’t know what to do about it. “I couldn’t be holier than thou because I am part of the problem,” Gera admitted. So rather than making “some preachy story or tell people what to think”, instead she spun a subtly revealing study of thwarted love. It is more Bergman than Bollywood, but as Gera joked, “it does have two dance numbers”. “As you get older, you begin to realize how love operates, how we allow ourselves to love who we love,” he said. “They are both victims in a way. He is in his gilded cage of privilege but he can’t live his dreams.” Ratna the maid, played by rising star Tillotama Shome, is in some ways freer than him, Gera claimed, fired by a fierce determination to make the best of

Republic of the Philippines Office of the President

Elephants help displaced Myanmar villagers flee DANAI, Myanmar―Mahouts and their elephants help sick, young and elderly villagers displaced by conflict cross a chest-deep river in Myanmar’s remote Kachin state, where thousands of people recently completed a trek through dense jungle to safety. The people of Awng Lawt in Kachin state were forced from their homes by escalating fighting between rebels from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myanmar’s military earlier this year. It is a grinding conflict that plays out away from the more prominent global headlines generated by violence in the country’s west, where the army has driven out some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims since August to fierce international condemnation. For three days, the villagers took shelter in their paddy fields as the sound of gunfire and fighter jets came ever closer. But as shells started to fall among their homes, village leaders ordered an evacuation to IDP camps dozens of kilometers away. The slowest and most vulnerable could only manage to hack through the jungle undergrowth for three or four hours a day. On May 2, after nearly a month and with food running out, they reached the river where some local elephant owners came to their aid. Remarkable footage shows Kachin villagers in bright traditional headdresses hoisting youngsters onto the backs of several of the giant creatures to cross the waterway. “We had some elderly, sick and blind people,” said one villager, preferring not to give his name. “So we asked the mahouts for help to carry those people.” Working elephants are widely used in the rough terrain of Kachin state, including by rebel groups fighting Myanmar’s army, which is equipped with helicopters and fighter jets. Most of the villagers are now in camps but, as the fighting rages, they do not know how long it will be before they can return home. Myanmar has been mired in almost continuous conflict with ethnic insurgent groups for more than 70 years. AFP

her circumstances. “People not familiar with India might think, ‘Oh my god, she sleeps on the floor in this little tiny room,” but in Indian terms she is in a relatively privileged situation for a maid, the director insisted. “She is earning money and she has her dreams. She is not judging where she sleeps. It is not so different to what happened in England and Europe a few generations ago.” Following those dreams as a widow sets her apart in a country where patriarchal attitudes have become more entrenched under the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Widows are still seen as cursed or bringers of bad luck by some, Gera said. “They are denied a lot of joy and from wearing certain colors... Even in the supposedly progressive cities I have friends whose mothers lost their husbands in their forties and they never really moved on. You can’t date in India if you are a widow and you have a child. “For a widow to have desire is seen as preposterous.” But in the film Ratna-who has been brought up to be docile and deferential, anticipating her employer’s every whim―manages not just to free herself but also her master, without losing her dignity. AFP

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS Manila ENBANC IN RE: MANIFESTATION OF INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PARTY-LIST SYSTEM OF REPRESENTATION IN THE 13 MAY 2019 ELECTIONS. SPP NO. 18-111 (PLM) TINGOG SINIRANGAN (TINGOG SINIRANGAN), AS REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT GLENN J. CAPUClON, Petitioner x-----------------------------------------------x NOTICE 1. TINGOG SINIRANGAN (TINGOG SINIRANGAN) Petitioner c/o Glen J . Capucion, President of the Party 3rd Floor, The Community Center, Corner Real St. and Calanipawan Road, Tacloban City GREETINGS: Attached is a copy of the ORDER of the Commission (EN BANC) in the abovementioned entitled case dated 4 May 2018. Given this 7th day of May 2018, City of Manila, Philippines. FOR THE COMMISSION: ABIGAIL JUSTINE CUARESMA-LLLAGAN Acting Clerk for the Commission

Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS Manila EN BANC IN RE: MANIFESTATION OF INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PARTY-LIST SYSTEM OF REPRESENTATION IN THE 13 MAY 2019 ELECTIONS. SPP NO. 18-111 (PLM) TINGOG SINARANGAN (TINGOG SINIRANGAN), as represented by its President, GLENN J. CAPUCION, Petitioner. x------------------------------------------------ x ORDER Acting on the Manifestation of Intent to Participate1 filed on 26 April 2018 (“Manifestation” ), the Commission En Banc hereby directs TINGOG SINIRANGAN to publish at its own expense the said Manifestation together with the instant Order in two (2) newspaper of general circulation. Any interested party may file with the Office of the Clerk of the Commission a verified petition seeking to deny due course to the Manifestation within five (5) days from the date of publication pursuant to Rule 3, Section 7, paragraph 12 of Comelec Resolution No. 93663. SO ORDERED. Given this 4th day of May 2018, Manila Philippines. FOR THE COMMISSION:

PDEA Bldg., NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Barangay Pinyahan Quezon City 1100, Philippines www.pdea.gov.ph

AL A. PARREÑO Acting Chairman

INVITATION TO BID SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOT TRAINED NARCOTIC DETECTION DOGS (CANINE)

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Bid Ref. No. 2018-18-1 1.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of FORTY TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS (P42,500,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2018 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOT TRAINED NARCOTIC DETECTION DOGS (CANINE).Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected during bid opening.

2.

The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for the SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOTTRAINED NARCOTIC DETECTION DOGS (CANINE). Delivery of the goods is 15 calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within ten (10) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.”

occupation”, he said. In the West Bank, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared a general strike on Tuesday after accusing Israel of “massacres”. On Monday, tens of thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers positioned on the other side. The death toll led to strong condemnation from rights groups and concern from a range of countries. But the United States blocked the adoption of a UN Security Council statement that would have called for an independent probe into the violence, diplomats at the United Nations said. Despite the violence, the embassy inauguration went on as planned in Jerusalem, attended by a Washington delegation that included US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides. AFP

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. Records, Office of the Clerk of the Commission Case Folder, pages 1-2. . “ Sec.7. Petition to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to participate. - A verified petition seeking to deny due course to a manifestation of intent to partiCipate.” . Rules and Regulations Governing the: 1) Filing of Petitions for Registration; 2) Filing of Disqualification Cases Against Nominees or Party-List Groups or Organizations Participating under the Party-List System of Representation in Connection with the May 13, 2013 National and Local Elections, and Subsequent Elections

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183. 4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00pm).

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on May 10, 2018 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (Php 25,000.00).

6. 7.

The Invitation to Bid and Checklist of Requirements may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on May 16, 2018,09:00 AM at PDEA ODDGA Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City, 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before May 29, 2018, 9:00 AM. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18. Bid opening shall be May 29, 2018, 9:00 AM at PDEA ODDGA Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City, 1100. 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.

8.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat Mr. Armando B. Macalalag Jr. at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 08:00 AM to 04:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting May 10, 2018 at Tel No. (632)920-8082.However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

9.

PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Arvin E. Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082

(MS-MAY 16, 2018)

(Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-MAY 16, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

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

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wednesday, may 16, 2018

LocaL government units

Bong Go visits fire victims in QC, Parañaque SPECiAL Assistant to the President Secretary Christopher “Bong” Go continues to make the rounds in Metro Manila despite his already busy schedule as President rodrigo Duterte’s right-hand man. Go visited fire victims in Quezon City on Sunday, May 13, then proceeded to Barangay Tambo in Parañaque City to inspect the condition of the hundreds of affected families in another fire that destroyed homes and claimed six lives. The secretary visited and extended financial assistance to the casualties in the Parañaque fire. He condoled with Marlon Amata, whose wife Anna and children Jake and Angelo perished in the tragedy, as well as with Josesel Canaria, whose wife Mary and children Jomarie and Daniel died as well. He then visited other victims with various illnesses. He also led the distribution of relief goods to the victims composed of food packs, hygiene kits, and cash assistance. Go also gave the assurance that the Duterte administration is ready to help return their lives to normalcy. in his regular “Sapatos ni Sap, Tsinelas Ka Swap,” Go gave his shoes to a fire victim. This has become the practice of the secretary every time he visits fire victims across the country. Joining Go were Presidential Communications and Operations Secretary Martin Andanar and officials from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, and the National Housing Authority.

In BrIef Mining firm trims paper use by 54% BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya— Mining firm FCF Minerals Corp. has trimmed down its paper consumption through its resource conservation on bond paper. Peter Storey, general manager for operations, said the decrease is part of the achieved objectives and requirements of the Environmental Management System which the company earlier committed to. “This is not just to demonstrate the requirements but more importantly, to reduce the company’s environmental footprints and benefit from the efficient use of resources,” he said. For 2017, Storey said they have set their target on the reduction of bond paper use at 5 percent but FCF has achieved 54 percent using the unit of kilogram over number of workers. Storey said they posted a consumption rate of 9.7 kilogram per worker last year and achieved the 4.6 rate. “Despite our company’s transition phase from commissioning to commercial operations and other challenges, the company was able to reduce bond paper consumption beyond the set target, decreased environmental footprints and above all, executed responsibilities as a sustainable agent to the world,” Storey stressed. Ben Moses Ebreo

QC orients city on junk food law TO rAiSE public awareness, the Quezon City government recently conducted a three-day orientation on the Anti-Junk Food and Sugary Drinks Ordinance at the barangay level. Dr. Maria Lourdes Eleria of the city health department said the move was part of a massive information dissemination drive to ensure the strict implementation of City Ordinance of 2579 passed in August 2017 in a bid to promote the health and welfare of the people, especially the children. Barangay officials were invited in the orientation since they would take charge of the implementation of the ordinance in respective communities. “We are not only talking to school officials, but also to barangay officials to ensure the measure would be strictly implemented at the grassroots level,” Eleria said. She accounted for the cooperation between the city government and barangays in a huge role in the successful implementation of the Anti-Junk Food and Sugary Drinks Ordinance. Rio N. Araja

Special Assistant to the President Secretary Christopher ‘Bong’ Go (center) condoles with a family who lost several members to a fire in Barangay Tambo in Parañaque City, along with Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez (left), on Sunday. The next day, Go cast his vote (inset) in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections at Precinct 1658A, Cluster No. 1146, in Buhangin Central Elementary School in Davao City.

Makati opens 31 new card payment centers

By Joel E. Zurbano

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HE city government of Makati on Tuesday announced that holders of Makatizen Cards can now pay their household and utility bills to the newly opened 31 payment centers in the city.

The 31 establishments, dubbed @ urSerBis Bayad Center, are in 28 barangay halls, at the Ospital ng Makati, University of Makati, and Makati City Hall where Card holders can pay their bills for utilities and other fees and do other transactions, including prepaid loading and e-money loading for their GCash accounts. “As we have promised, we will make transactions more convenient for Makatizens through the Makatizen Card. With these facilities now within their reach, cardholders can already experience the benefits of the ongoing digital transformation of the city,” Mayor Abigail Binay said.

Bills payment accepted under the Makatizen Card Program include Globe, Meralco, Manila Water, Maynilad, University of Makati, Bayan Telecommunications, Bank of the Philippine islands, PLDT, SMArT, Equicom, and Manulife. Also included are Cocolife, Sun Life Financial, Fortune Care, Manila Memorial Park, Eternal Plans, inc., innove, Sky, Magnificat, UNiCEF, Asian Vision Cable Holdings, and Home Credit. Mayor Binay pointed out that for every peso paid through the Makatizen Card, the cardholder will earn one Loyalty Point, which can be used to get

special products and services from the Makatizen rewards Program. The Loyalty Points can also be converted to GCash and can be added to the Makatizen Card mobile wallet. The loyalty points can be checked in the payment centers. The @urSerBis centers are now available in Barangays Dasmariñas, East rembo, Forbes Park, Guadalupe Nuevo, Guadalupe Viejo, Kasilawan, La Paz, Magallanes, Olympia, Palanan, Pembo, Pinagkaisahan, Pio del Pilar, Pitogo and Poblacion. They can also be found in Barangays Post Proper Northside, Post Proper Southside, rizal, San Antonio, San isidro, San Lorenzo, Singkamas, South Cembo, Sta. Cruz, Tejeros, Urdaneta, Valenzuela, and West rembo. The rest of the @urSerBis bayad centers are in place at Makati City Hall, Ospital ng Makati and University of Makati.

Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leads the ribbon-cutting for the inauguration of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation emergency operation center in Clark Freeport Zone with the top officials of the different private member companies. Joining the former President are (from left) UNDP resident coordinator Ola Almgren, NDRRMC Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, PDRF chief officer Guillermo Luz, PLDT president and PDRF co-chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, Ayala Corp. chairman and PDRF co-chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, PDRF president Rene Meily, Magsaysay Group chairman Doris Magsaysay-Ho, Aboitiz Equity Ventures CEO and president Erramon Aboitiz, and other PDRF officials and business executives.

Baguio sees 700-percent hike in HIV cases By Dexter A. See BAGUiO CiTY—Human immunodeficiency virus cases in the city increased by 700 percent last year, causing health authorities here to press the alarm button and alert people on the unprecedented rise in the number of persons affected by the disease. City Health Services Office Nurse Cristina Juan said that from 4 HiV cases in 2016, Baguio recorded 32 HiV cases at the office’s social hygiene clinic in the city last year, an alarming increase according to concerned sectors. Of the recorded HiV cases last year, two were heterosexual males, one was a pregnant woman, while the rest were men having sex with me. From January 2018 to date, Juan said the local health department discovered 10 new HiV cases, all men who had sex with men. Geeny Anne i. Austria, a nurse at the regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Cordillera office of the Department of Health, said Baguio was elevated to the category of a high-risk area in terms of the proliferation of the illness with the drastic increase in the number of cases in the city—the same as the National Capital region, Cebu and Pampanga. Austria reported that Baguio City accounted for 301 HiV cases out of the 405 cases recorded by the regional agency from 1984 to January this year. Based on the agency’s recent studies, men having sex with men or those involved in unprotected sex topped the list of new HiV cases. Those in the vulnerable sector like commercial sex workers registered a significant decline in cases because of the constant monitoring done for them by the health authorities and personnel. Austria explained that individuals who initially contracted HiV could result in full-blown Acquired immune Deficiency Syndrome that could eventually lead to death, once their immune system is compromised.

PLDT opens PDRF Emergency Operations Center disaster hub in Clark

PLDT, the country’s largest telecommunications and digital services company, strengthened its role in establishing a disaster-resilient Philippines by helping create a disaster preparedness hub through the Philippine Disaster resilience Foundation (PDrF). The disaster preparedness facility was recently inaugurated in Clark, Pampanga and identified as the world’s

MOMMY WORKSHOP.

In celebration of Mother`s Day, mommies in aprons were taught easy recipes at SM Taytay`s ‘Mommy Camp,’ a three-day workshop where moms learned new techniques in cooking, beauty, dish gardening, and essential oils. Norman Cruz

first private sector-led emergency operations center. “Disaster resilience and disaster preparedness have always been an advocacy of PLDT, both in our business services and our corporate social responsibility projects. We believe that these are imperative in nation-building and in creating a sustainable future,” said PDrF co-chairman and CEO of

PLDT-Smart and Metro Pacific Groups Manuel V. Pangilinan. According to the 2017 World risk report, the Philippines is the third country with the highest exposure to natural hazards such as earthquakes, flooding, and hurricanes and the third highest disaster risk worldwide. As a result, the Philippines also ranks high in the United Nations in-

ternational Strategy for Disaster reduction list of countries with high social expenditure due to annual damage caused by disasters. Due to the frequency of typhoons and hurricanes as well as being along the Pacific ring of Fire, natural disasters are a regularity in the country and disaster resiliency continues to be a major challenge.

Joy: Time to unite for greater good By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday lauded local candidates and voters for Monday’s relatively peaceful barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. She challenged the winners and those who lost to “unite for the greater good now that the elections is over,” saying to win “this bigger, more important battle, we need to be magnanimous victors and gracious losers so that we may unite for the greater good.” “Congratulations to everybody who

participated in this democratic exercise—whether as candidates or as voters. Yes critics, democracy is alive and well in the Philippines,” Belmonte said. “The elections are over. The people have spoken. Let the work of building the future begin,” she added. Citing the report from National Capital region Police Office director Camilo Cascolan, the elections in Metro Manila, including Quezon City, were generally peaceful and orderly despite reports of vote-buying in Barangay Bagbag, Novaliches. She described the recent elections as “very grueling.”

Life

fashion and beauty

Summer outfit for different destinations W

ith the temperature rising, most of us are planning our itineraries to take advantage of the bright, sunny weather.

Whether you’re simply chilling out in the city, riding waves in surf capitals, lounging by the beach, or taking the active route of fun and fitness, it’s important to dress the part. Surplus, a one-stop shop for fashion apparel, offers a wide variety of stylish summer outfits including rash guards, board shorts, versatile denims, chic tops, and other essential pieces for a day under the sun. Surplus stores are located in most SM Supermalls.

Go on any sunny getaway in chic tops and bottoms for men and women

Uniqlo opens largest store in the Philippines JapaneSe fashion brand Uniqlo is set to open a Global Flagship Store at Glorietta 5 in Makati, the largest in the country and in Southeast asia. the philippine store will be Uniqlo’s 15th Global Flagship Store across 11 markets in the world. it is scheduled to open in the fall/ winter 2018 season. according to a statement, Uniqlo has chosen Manila as the location of its newest flagship store to strengthen the foundation of its business in the philippines and in Southeast asia. “We are honored and excited to open our first Uniqlo Global Flagship Store in the philippines. having been a member of the local retail scene since 2012, we remain committed to contributing to the local community and to being an integral part of Manila’s growth and future,” said Satoshi hatase, chief executive officer of Uniqlo Southeast asia and Oceania. Set over a sales floor area of 4,100 square meters, the newest flagship store will offer a world-class immersive shopping experience featuring large visual displays and state-of-the-art design concepts. as with other Global Flagship Stores, the store will also showcase the full lineup of LifeWear for men, women, kids, and babies.

Facade of Uniqlo Manila Global Flagship Store in Makati

Ride waves in style in vibrant and comfortable rash guards and board shorts

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE wEdnESday, May 16, 2018

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Life

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wednesday, may 16, 2018 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

by raye sanchez

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AKING care of one’s body is important especially in a country where smoke, dirt, dust, and pollution are prevalent. Miss Esthe Facial Salon and Skin Care offers face and body detoxification treatments that promise to give you that covetable youthful and healthy glow. With its name “Miss,” a byword for youth, and “Esthe,” a short term for esthetics, the facial salon uses simple but clever facial techniques that result in younger, more glowing skin. Miss Esthe wants its clientele to look and feel beautiful inside and outside. Estheticians trained by Japanese Master Trainer Chiharu Nagano guide clients on their journey to radiance. These highly trained estheticians follow strict Japanese methods and are trained in using the salon’s top-notch Neo Energy EX facial machine to give their customers high quality services. The estheticians also build up professional relationships with their clients so they will be able to relax and entrust their skin to them. The process starts off with Miss Esthe’s new-to-the-business method, Skin Navigation System, where face and lifestyle assessments are done to know the “age” of your skin. Estheticians will look at your spot age, based on the appearance of age spots; wrinkle age, based on the appearance of wrinkles; and skin texture, based on face texture. It will determine the

A journey towards youthfulness

Chinky Gabas and Japanese Master Trainer Chiharu Nagano welcome clients to Miss Esthe Facial Salon and Skin Care at Uptown Mall.

best treatments and cosmetics that suit your skin condition. Miss Esthe offers nine complex treatments, all modified to fit different

Miss Esthe’s highly trained estheticians follow strict Japanese methods and are trained in using the salon’s Neo Energy EX facial machine.

skin types. If you want to experience Japanese-style facial, Miss Esthe offers Perk Me Up, their version of facial massage that lasts for 30 minutes and costs P750. They also have Poreless for P1,500, Acne for P1,500, Whitening for P1,700, and Sensitive for P1,800. On the more luxurious side, Miss Esthe also offers Instant Lifting for P2,000, Bio Acne for P2,100, Bio Whitening for P2,300, and Anti-Aging for P3,000. Also available in store are the salon’s very own skin potions formulated for different types of skin age. Miss Esthe has created essence lotions with different formulations that suit either inductive skin, skin with too much pigmentation, or severe or older skin. Their essence lotions are partnered with moist gels. While getting your facial treatment, the estheticians offer a complimentary neck, shoulder, and upper back massage. Miss Esthe Facial Salon and Skin Care is located on the 2nd floor of Uptown Mall. Visit their website at www. missesthe.ph to know more or contact 0935-336 4720 to book a reservation.

Confidently bare your skin SUMMEr is the time for less clothing—because you’re at the beach or it is the comfortable thing to do especially when the heat is unbearable. Certain skin issues, however, prevent some from showing their skin. Bianca Festejo Beauty Lounge comes to the rescue offering treatments to help you achieve that confidence-boosting, head-to-toe glow.

remove unwanted hair

NourishiNg body yogurt The Body Shop introduces a new game-changing formula that nourishes and moisturizes skin. Body Yogurts feature a refreshing gel-cream formula that sinks into damp skin in seconds, providing 48 hours of lightweight moisture. It’s perfect for a morning or night routine, and is ideal for balmy summer days when you don’t want a sticky finish. The entire range is 100 percent vegan, made with community trade almond milk and fruit extracts: strawberry, mango, coconut, moringa, British rose, and special edition banana. Body Yogurts contain bio-fermented hyaluronic acid to keep your skin moisturized and quench dry, sensitive skin. These are also infused with vegetable derived glycerin to help retain moisture on the upper layer of the skin, helping it maintain its smoothness and moisture. Further, the range is made with Community Trade organic almond milk sourced from Manan in Alicante, Spain. The Body Yogurt Body Care Collection is available in all The Body Shop stores nationwide.

LoNg-LastiNg brow iNk peN

It’s a dread for most women to go to the beach in their favorite bikinis, worried about unwanted hair, chicken skin, dark, or discolored underarms. The Diode Hair removal treatment uses laser lights to eliminate hair growth. It’s a safe and noninvasive treatment that targets the dark pigment in the hair follicle and disables its ability to regrow. The precise procedure also keeps the surrounding skin free from burns or irritations that cause skin discoloration. The treatment is also proven to permanently remove hair, usually after three to six months with top up treatments depending on the person’s hair type. Prices for the treatment start at P2,500 for underarms, P3,500 for half arms, and P5,500 for full arms per session.

Grooming your brows everyday takes time, patience, and not to mention some skill to perfect. So when your well-groomed arches suddenly fade midday, it’s quite a painful goodbye not only to your “on fleek” brows, but to all the hard work you’ve done. Maybelline New York provides a long-lasting solution to brow makeup with its newest Tattoo Brow Ink Pen. Maybelline’s Tattoo Brow Ink Pen is formulated with highly concentrated ink that makes it last for 24 hours. It’s waterproof, sweat-proof, smudge-proof, and transfer-proof, but can be removed without hassle by a makeup remover. The product, when applied, looks perfectly natural, mimicking brow hairs with its fine comb-tip applicator that can easily draw natural hair-like strokes. The brow ink pen comes in three shades: Dark Brown, Gray Brown, and Red Brown, and is available in all Maybelline New York counters and partner online retailers nationwide.

bring back glow

Dull, dry, and lifeless skin? Bring back the lost glory of your face with the nourishing benefits of Oxygen Facial for only P1,500 per session. A recommended twice or thrice a month treatment that’s highly prized for its restorative benefits, this soothing and rejuvenating treatment painlessly enhances the skin’s glow. This treatment also removes impurities with the anti-aging burst of fresh oxygen on the epidermis. Additionally, it gently wards off dirt, dust, and oil that get clogged on the pores.

va n i t y c o r n er

refreshiNg body mist Lighten your skin

We all know that too much sun and UV exposure is harmful, not to mention causes discoloration and uneven skin tone. The Xlite Whitening treatment helps in improving melasma, sun spots, dark spots, fine lines, and wrinkles. Safe, painless, and satisfaction guaranteed for only P5,000 per session, the beams of short pulsed lights from the machine target the areas of the skin and also help stimulate the growth of fresh skin cells that ultimately leads to a lighter skin tone.

Bianca Festejo Beauty Lounge is a one-stop hair, skin, and body treatment salon located in three Metro Manila branches. For more information, visit www.biancafestejo.com.

Keep yourself feeling and smelling fresh with a few spritz of Caronia Body Mist. Packed in handy, travel-sized bottles, Caronia Body Mist is available in five light and refreshing scents, namely Watermelon Burst, Mango Mania, Sugar Love, Green Tea Splash, and Guava Brava. This new body mist label is available at Caronia counters in Unimart, Super 8, Metro Department Store, Makati Supermarket, Isetann, Ever, Cash & Carry, AllShoppe, Allday, LCC, CSI, Boramart, and Landmark.

Entertainment

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

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Sofy tells stories with the Botflies

By Robbie Pangilinan

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INDIE ACT. Sofy Aldeguer started singing when she was 14 and was inspired by her dad, who is also a musician, to form a band.

HE sings significant, soul-stirring songs. She tells sensible, satirical stories. She makes music meaningful and relevant. Her name is Sofy Aldeguer and with her band, Bita and the Botflies, she is making a noise in the music industry. The 24-year-old started singing when she was 14. Inspired by her dad Rebel Aldeguer, Sofy formed her band which includes her dad on bass guitar. Originally named Adobo Toothpaste, their name was later on changed to The Botflies (which are parasites that grow inside human flesh). Bita, Sofy’s childhood nickname, was added as an alliteration. Bita and the Botflies sound “groovy, trippy, and kind of creepy; blues rock with poppy melodies,” as Sofy describes it herself. They take inspiration from local icons Up Dharma Down and IV of Spades. Personally, Sofy idolizes Amy Winehouse, Lorde, Laura Marling, and Alabama Shakes. When Sofy sings or creates songs, she tries to tell stories. So what truly sets the band apart from the rest is the sad, sometimes painful and ugly truths that their songs convey. Sofy says these truths are not yet fully accepted by the society. “We’re exploring the roles of women in society. ‘Sisikat Ka Iha’ exposes the sad reality of women objectification in showbiz and the music industry. We are in the process of writing our next songs: one about women taking control of her sexuality and another tackling domestic abuse,” shares Sofy. Aside from their originals, BATB also covers songs from artists they love, to relate more to their listeners. The band members are from different age brackets, so they all have different influences that contribute to the way the band’s layers sound together. “We’re basically a group of misfits who decided to make music together, and that shows in the output,” adds Sofy. Band members are Sofy on vocals, Rhey Concepcion on bass, Rebel Aldeguer on guitar, Kevin Novenario-Navea on guitar, and Mark Lincallo on drums. Right now, the band is focused on releasing its EP. “We’re trying to be meticulous with the last few songs we’re working on. Hopefully, our listeners will love them. After that, we’ll do more bar tours and keep meeting new people,” says Sofy, who also likes to try reggae, jazz, and even hip hop with BATB. Bita and the Botflies regularly plays in Saguijo. They have also played in 70s Bistro, The Minokaua, 19 East, UP Los Baños, Craft BGC, and Pablo’s BGC.

Beauty queens and models wearing the creations of the country's top designer in this year's Flores de Mayo ‘Sagalahan’ 2018 at MOA Arena.

Flores de Mayo ‘Sagalahan’ 2018 at MOA Arena

It’s the merry month of May, a time for the holding of the annual tradition known as Flores de Mayo or Sagalahan, a celebration of flowers in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary which culminates in the grand Santacruzan. This year, the Congregacion Del Nombre De Jesus broke the ice for annual Filipino-Spanish tradition with its Ginintuang Ani “Our Lady of Guadalupe” Flores de Mayo held at the Music Hall of the Mall of Asia Arena on May 6. Written and directed by Ogee Atos, the 39th Annual Sagalahan was participated by beauty queens and models wearing outstanding creations by the country’s top fashion designers. Bb. Pilipinas International 2018 Ahtisa Manalo, Miss Multinational 2018 Sophia Senoron, Bb. Pilipinas Supranational 2014 Yvette Marie Santiago and Miss Global Philippines 2017 Mary Ann Mungcal joined the colorful procession of beauties which also featured the cre-

ations of world class designers Rene Salud and Oliver Tolentino. Chosen unanimously as Rosa Mistica was Tourism Queen of the Year 2016 Leren Mae Bautista, wearing a creation by Chico Estiva. Named Reina delas Flores was Miss Lumiere International 2017 -1st runner-up Sammy Ann Legaspi with designer Ole Morabe while named La Flor de Manila was ramp model Sirene Sutton with designer Paolo Blanco. Chosen La Flor de Pasay was Kitkat Yuiki with designer Pepe Quitco and Eimeeverlee Fren Canimo, the youngest sagala at 13, was the committee’s choice as Honorary Rosa Mistica. Reigning Miss Philippine Youth Simone Nadine Bornilla wore an Oliver Tolentino creation. Hermanos and Hermanas were businessman-philanthropist Nelson Mendoza, beauty queen Jessie Maloloes of the Bless Amare restaurant chain and Universal Harvester’s Dr. Milagros Hao. (Words by Eton B. Concepcion / Photo by Joy Arguil)

'Tawag ng Tanghalan’ pits 9 contest regulars against each other phone and beat the best singers in his own country. After years of working as a voice coach in China to give his family a better life, Douglas Dagal of Dagupan is determined to win the competition so he can finally be with them and properly save up for their future. Tragedy and strength are the primary motivators of Arbie Baula of Paranaque, who joined “Tawag ng Tanghalan” to make his father and singing mentor – a stroke victim – happy. She also continues to fight for her family, who has had to endure a house fire twice. Through “Tawag ng Tanghalan,” Janine Berdin of Cebu hopes to successfully return to her other passions – music and singing – after failing to make a crack in showbiz and appearing in various Kapamilya TV series. Like the previous semifinals, the judges’ scores and the madlang people’s votes will determine the contenders that will make it to the grand finals. They will be judged based on how they perform their audition song, fight song, song for their families, song of their musical influence, the judges’ choice, and song about their life.

It’s Showtime’s “Tawag ng Tanghalan” sees nine singing competition regulars from all over the country fight tooth and nail to get the golden microphone as the Quarter 4 semifinals continues this week until May 19. Teenagers Arabelle dela Cruz of Calamba, Laguna and Adelene Rabulan of Calumpit, Bulacan may be the youngest in the competition, but having faced defeat several times in the past, their optimism and confidence continue to make them dream. College students Aljun Alborme of Kidapawan, South Cotabato and JM Bales of Iloilo, meanwhile, both consider “Tawag ng Tanghalan” a ticket to success that will help their parents financially. Aljun’s father is a rubber farmer, while JM’s parents are a fireman and a market vendor. Competing is what also shaped Reggie Tortugo of Ormoc, Leyte, who at a young age had to join singing contests in order to win cash prizes and support his family. Christian Neil Bahaya of Davao, had snagged a gold medal in the World Championship of Performing Arts, but this time, he will attempt to win the golden micro-

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, May 16, 2018

ACROSS 1 Cut calories 5 Mischief 10 — Hashanah 14 Porpoise relative 15 Comedy 16 Jacques’ girl 17 Apparel 18 Used a skillet 19 Pinch 20 Tumbledown 22 Hormel competitor 24 MNO on a phone 25 Radium discoverer 27 Chop 30 Karate level 31 Grind, as teeth 35 Black-andwhite snack 36 Sap the strength of 38 Part of mpg 39 Chided 40 Shad’s eggs 41 Marks in a textbook 43 Diner freebie 44 “My Cousin Vinny” star 45 Informal parent 46 They may be spliced 47 Farm enclosures

49 Not cooked 50 Exactly like this (2 wds.) 53 Whirlybird landing area 57 Sicily’s erupter 58 Collar sites 61 Microwave 62 Mild brews 63 Lacking the ability to react 64 Tap defect 65 Glimpse 66 Boxlike enclosures 67 On its way DOWN 1 Keeps following 2 Jordan neighbor 3 Pantyhose color 4 Hot sauce 5 Stick on 6 Ancient ointment 7 Numerical prefix 8 Sorbet 9 It repels moths 10 Apparel 11 Melville title 12 In — (as found) 13 Get word of 21 Untruth 23 Uncompromising

25 Beach huts 26 Became one 27 Clean, as a spill (2 wds.) 28 “Good night” girl 29 Brainy bunch 30 Mock or knock 32 Burr or Copland 33 Pirated 34 Dressy attire 36 Tierra — Fuego 37 “— Miserables” 39 Londoners 42 Bliss 43 Runs backward

46 Four qts. 48 Column type 49 Takes a break 50 Leap in a tutu 51 Arapaho foes 52 Break 53 Not there 54 Immaculate 55 Comparable 56 Corp. section 59 Literary compilation 60 Golf gadget

Nickie Wang, Issue Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

Entertainment Gri t + Glam 2018

A night filled with music, fashion and inspiration

Who is

YOUNGoff-cam? P

By Louise Lizan STRUTTING on the runway with must-have outfits for the summer, the Queens of the Universe, along with the World’s Strongest Men, made the night fun and fashionable as possible as they joined forces in the Grit + Glam 2018 held at the Cove Manila Club of Okada Manila in Parañaque on May 8. Reigning Miss Universe DemiLeigh Nel-Peters, Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere, and our very own Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach shared the Cove Manila stage with the World’s Strongest Men Hafthor Bjornsson, Matins Licis, and Robert Oberst. Grit + Glam kicked off with Yheen and Yuki performing their self-composed songs. They were followed by Mr. Guam 2017 Sam Hashimoto’s rendition of Shawn Mendes’s “Nothing Holding Me Back,” Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect,” and DNCE’s “Shut Up and Dance,” which brought the audience to their feet and dance to the music.

JV

ROBABLY, you are familiar to Young JV because of his regular appearance on TV, his sleek dance moves, his music, and the “scandal” that made him a hot topic among netizens not so long ago.

But little did many people know, Young JV, born Eduardo JV Arancillo Kapunan III, isn’t just lucky for enjoying music as passion while doing it for a living, or having a comfortable life being the son of Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Eduardo Kapunan Jr., who is now Philippine Ambassador to Myanmar. The 27-yearold urban pop artist who regularly appears in ASAP uses his status to give back and help others. When he was 19, with the support of his dad and mom Elsa Kapunan, he started helping children of soldiers through Lahing Bayani Foundation, an outreach program that grants scholarships. “I am very passionate about helping children get good education and pursue their dreams. That’s what we do in the

Composer and urban pop artist Young JV with Megasoft Vice President for Sales and Marketing Aileen Choi Go.

From left: The World’s Strongest Men Hafthor Bjornsson, Matins Licis, and Robert Oberst and Miss Universe queens Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (2017), Iris Mittenaere (2016), and Pia Wurtzbach (2015).

foundation, which helps children of soldiers who perished in the line of duty,” he said and proudly added that the foundation has already produced six graduates to date. Young JV must have been the role model of these children, too. Why not? He went to London at Cambridge University where he studied in high school then finished his studies at St. Joseph School in Iloilo. This year, he plans to continue his Comm Arts course at Entrepreneurs School of Asia (ESA), which was sidelined due to his showbiz commitments. “I want to go back to school for myself and my parents who really would want me to have a diploma,” Young JV stated. With an advocacy that has been running successfully for eight years now, Young JV has found an ally in Megasoft that recently introduced him as its brand ambassador. As the latest celebrity endorser of the

personal care company, Young JV will represent the brand’s continuing “School is Cool Tour,” whose goal is to encourage young Filipinos to complete their education. Speaking before some member of the press, Megasoft Vice President for Sales and Marketing Aileen Choi Go said that they are fortunate to have the young artist on board. Not only that he serves as an effective role model and endorser, Young JV also complements the company’s goal of prioritizing and valuing education. “Celebrities really help promote our products, but more than just business, our company’s goal is to promote the value of education. We go outside the cities and see the situation, knowing that Young JV has already been doing work for the sons and daughters of soldiers, we feel blessed to have him in our roster [of endorsers],” the

Megasoft executive stated. Go further said that they have a few activities lined up for Young JV. Starting tomorrow, Young JV will perform at the Gaisano Grand in Antique. Then, on June 14, the tour will head to Butuan City for the Naligayan Festival, and on July 16, Ororama Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City. “We might also work with JV’s foundation, that is still in the wraps but expect JV to be in all our collaterals in social media, posters, images, and shows,” Go added. “I’m thankful to Miss Aileen because they still trust me no matter what,” Young JV retorted alluding to the video scandal that spread on the Internet, “They saw my capabilities as an artist, as a performer. I promise to bring my music to the Megasoft stage and entertain the students in the different schools that we will visit nationwide.”

The fun didn’t stop there as the beautiful queens and the strongest men played the grit and glam challenges. It made the beauty queens run with dumbbells, and the strongest men dominate the runway. Roles changed, indeed, but both groups equally shined throughout the first part of the program. Talking about staying glam under the sun, stunning models took center stage wearing summer themed clothes. Some of the models that graced the event were Anjo Damiles, Sophia Baino, Andre Lagdameo, and Tasha Ang, who carried themselves with grace while showing the audience summerready outfits. They were joined by the beauty queens as the fashion show came to an end, bobbing their heads along with the beat of the music. Everyone had their spirits up as a party followed the event almost immediately. Spearheaded by the Miss Universe Organization and Front Row, Grit + Glam 2018 is a continued partnership of the two organizations for Hope For Change, a project that provides help and inspiration for children all over the world.

Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach strikes a pose for her Filipino fans at the Grit + Glam event.