Manila Standard - 2018 April 6 - Friday

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Paradise closed: Local, foreign tourists barred

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

VOL. XXXII • NO. 50 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

ABSOLUTELY no tourists will be allowed to enter Boracay once the six-month shutdown begins on April 26, and even establishments that comply with the law must close as a major cleanup begins on the country’s best-known holiday island, the government said Thursday.

“Everyone, whether compliant or not, will have to make a sacrifice here,” said Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, speaking in Filipino to radio dzMM. “Definitely, no tourists, local or foreign, will be allowed Next page inside,” she added.

Tourism, airlines take a hit; P20-b loss feared THE government stands to lose between P18 billion to P20 billion in revenue from the six-month closure of Boracay Island to tourists, Local Government Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III said Thursday.

In a Palace briefing, Densing said the government might lose roughly P20 billion in gross receipts if the closure of the island lasts half a year.

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UNMINDFUL TOURISTS. In this photo taken on Jan.16, 2018, foreign tourists relax along a beach on Boracay Island in Aklan. The government has recently announced that Boracay will be closed to tourists for six months over concerns the once idyllic white-sand resort has become a ‘cesspool’ tainted by dumped sewage. AFP

Aguirre quits, Guevarra takes over as DoJ chief

By Vito Barcelo, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon RamosAraneta

Netflix series on drug war premieres Apr. 9

By Cecil Morella THE deadly drug war waged by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is to be dramatized in the first Netflix series by award-winning director Brillante Mendoza, who says the internationallycondemned crackdown is “necessary.”

“Amo,” which premieres April 9, is about a high school student who starts selling crystal meth and ends up tangled in a nightmarish world populated by violent kingpins and corrupt officials.

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the resignation of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, following weeks of speculation that the President would fire a member of his Cabinet.

Brillante Mendoza

“I accepted the resignation of Vic Aguirre, my fraternity brother, as Secretary of Justice. I am now... looking for a replacement,” the President said during an awarding ceremony at the Palace Thursday.

Duterte named Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra as act- LIGHT MOMENTS. President Rodrigo Duterte shares radiating minutes with members of his Cabinet prior to the start of the 24th ing Justice secretary, until a replacement Cabinet meeting at the Palace Wednesday. Malacañang Photo is found, Palace officials said. Next page

Duterte sets terms of peace gab, scoffs at coalition govt with Reds

By Vito Barcelo

Acting DoJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra

Lucas Bersamin

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has agreed to resume the stalled peace talks with the communist rebels but subject to three conditions, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday.

He said Duterte wants the New People’s Army, the Communist Party of the

Francis Jardeleza

Diosdado Peralta

Philippines and the National Democratic Front to honor a genuine ceasefire, and that there will be no shooting if and when the peace talks resume.

Duterte also wants the CPP-NPA to desist from collecting its so-called revolutionary tax while the ceasefire is ongoing and that the communist rebels will not insist on a coalition government. Next page

Noel Tijam

Sereno wants four SC justices to inhibit from her ouster case

By Rey E. Requejo CHIEF Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday sought the inhibition of four Supreme Court associate justices from participating in the deliberation and resolution of the quo warranto petition filed

against her by Solicitor General Jose Calida, which seeks to nullify her appointment to the post.

In separate motions, Sereno asked for the recusal of Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam from the delib-

eration and resolution of the quo warranto petition, saying they were biased against her.

The magistrates had testified against Sereno in the impeachment proceedings conducted by the House of the Representatives committee on justice. Next page

Garin, 34 others face criminal raps over Dengvaxia

By Rey E. Requejo

THE families of four schoolchildren are asking the Justice department to prosecute former Health secretary Janette Garin and 34 other health officials and executives of the manufacturer and supplier of the anti-dengue Dengvaxia vaccine.

They claim in their complaints that the vaccine caused the death of the children after they were inoculated with it. They accuse Garin and the other respondents of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

The complaints were filed by the families of Aejay Bautista, 11; Angelica Pestilos, 10; Lenard Baldonado, 10; and Zandro Colite, 11, through the assistance of the Public Attorney’s Office.

The Justice Department had earlier tasked the office to conduct a fact-finding investigation and build up cases on the criminal liabilities of the government personnel and private individuals over the children’s deaths.

The PAO lodged the charges after its forensic teams established that all four victims died of organ failures that could be attributed to the vaccine. Next page

SOS for Filipino nurse on Obama’s heroes list THE Filipino nurse once praised by former US President Barack Obama for her heroism in the wake of Hurricane “Sandy” in 2012 needs help to beat a debilitating kidney disease, her daughter says.

Menchu Sanchez, the nurse who worked in New York’s neonatal intensive-care unit, is suffering from IgA nephropathy or Berger’s disease, her daughter Michelle says in GoFund Me.

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It’s unfair for compliant establishments to be affected by the closure.

—Boracay Foundation Inc. executive director Pia Miraflores

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News

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Leni’s lawyer fumes over fraud claim

By Rio N. Araja THE lawyer of Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday said a call from the camp of former senator Ferdinand Marcos that she resign over poll fraud was “nonsense,” and suggested that the person who issued the call resign instead.

Romulo Macalintal, Robredo’s lawyer, bristled at Marcos’ lawyer Vic Rodriguez call for the vice president to resign over some unused ballots found during the ongoing recount.

“I find his statement that our client should resign a nonsense statement.

It does not deserve space in print or in whatever media or mass communication because what he is saying is senseless,” he said.

“It does not deserve to be dignified with any answer at all,” he added.

Macalintal said Rodriguez should resign instead as Marcos’ spokesman for “supplying the wrong information and the wrong advice” to the former senator.

He also slammed Rodriguez for “inventing evidence” to back allegations that Robredo cheated Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential elections.

As early as January 2016, Marcos claimed he had evidence of 13 secure digital (SD) cards containing proof of massive electoral frauds.

“When we challenged him to meet at the Manila Cathedral to prove his claim, he never showed up. His first invented evidence,” Macalintal said in a statement.

Quake jolts Mindanao; no damage A MODERATELY strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck at sea off the main southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, though local authorities said they did not expect any damage.

The quake was recorded shortly before midday (0353 GMT) with the epicenter at 45 kilometres (28 miles) southeast of the town of Tarragona, the USGS added.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, which separately measured it at 6.0, said the quake was felt in the Mindanao cities of Davao, Mati and Bislig, but that it did not expect any damage.

Regional police in Davao City said they did not feel the quake, which the USGS recorded at a depth of 64.4 kilometers below the ground.

“We have not had any reports of casualties or damage,” police officer Hasmin Mondilla told AFP by telephone. AFP

Netflix...

From A1

It is the latest up-close examination of the dark side of Philippine life from Cannes-honored Mendoza, who is a Duterte supporter and has filmed two government advertisements promoting the President’s anti-drug campaign.

“Yes, it [the drug war] is necessary for the Philippines—not only for the Philippines but also other countries afflicted with the drug problem,” the 57-year-old Filipino told AFP in a telephone interview.

“The reason why I did this is so people can see the other side of the coin,” he said—from the point of view of the “victims” as well as the “victimizers.”

Philippine police say they have killed roughly 4,000 drug suspects who fought back during arrest since Duterte launched the war nearly two years ago, promising to rid his nation of narcotics.

But rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher and accuse authorities of slaying unarmed slumdwellers in a nation where a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

“Amo,” Filipino slang for “master,” explores the drug problem as experienced by different characters, including a student and his policeman uncle.

Mendoza said he would not like the series “to look like propaganda for the government... It is not.”

Nonetheless, the filmmaker stressed he remained an “advocate” against illegal drugs.

Netflix did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

‘Based on real events’ In a Filipino film industry dominated by syrupy, star-driven productions, Mendoza runs an independent production outfit that stands out for its choice of controversial topics. AFP

Finally, Bangsamoro bill gets priority in Congress P

By Vito Barcelo

Duterte on Wednesday promised to get the BBL approved because, he said, that would solve the long-festering conflict in Mindanao.

He made his remarks after meeting with the leaders of the Moro Islamic

Liberation Front, the members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission and the government’s peace negotiating panel in Malacañang before the Cabinet meeting started.

Roque said Duterte will talk to his

allies in congress and remind them of the administration’s commitment to pass the BBL, a measure seen by several quarters as key to addressing the decades-long strife in Mindanao.

He said Duterte will ask the leaders of Congress to work on their versions of the bill and to consolidate them, and he will then certify the consolidated bill as urgent.

In a speech in Sultan Kudarat, Duterte said he was keen on having the BBL passed this year as the MILF had given him a deadline that he had agreed to.

“I am racing against time. The MILF is in a hurry and has placed on us the burden of a time line and I agreed on that period,” Duterte said.

Aguirre...

Guevarra, who takes over as acting secretary, was a member of the 2010 Philippine Truth Commission, deputy executive secretary for legal affairs at the Office of the President in May 2015, and commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission in Febuary 2016.

He took up graduate studies in Economics at the University of the Philippines after obtaining his AB degree, major in Political Science, from Ateneo de Manila in 1974.

He worked as staff economist at the National Economic and Development Authority and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and took up law in the evening at the Ateneo.

He placed second in the 1985 Bar examinations. His first job as a lawyer was with the technical staff of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

He later joined a well-known law firm in Makati and formed his own law partnership in 1990. Until April 2015, Guevarra was in private law practice and a faculty member of the Ateneo School of Law. Galvez, the new AFP chief, was commander of the AFP force that retook Marawi City from Islamic State-inspired terrorists.

Albayalde was on the shortlist of officers whom Dela Rosa, who was originally scheduled to retire in January, had picked as his potential successor.

The President announced Albayalde’s and Galvez’s appointment in speech at Palace’s Rizal Hall.

Albayalde thanked the President for his trust and vowed not to betray his confidence.

The new PNP chief belongs to the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1986.

Before becoming Metro Manila police chief, Albayalde served as deputy director of the National Capital Region Police Office’s Directorate for Plans.

Albayalde said he will continue to work to support Duterte’s advocacies, especially against illegal drugs.

Lawmakers on Thursday had mixed

reactions to the President’s decision to accept Aguirre’s resignation.

Rep. Tom Villarin of the opposition Akbayan Party-list described Aguirre as “the epitome of injustice perpetrated under President Duterte’s watch.”

He said his replacement would still “blindly follow the dictates of the President.”

Rep. Gary Alejano of the opposition Magdalo Party-list crowed about Aguirre’s exit.

“It is ironical that the person designated by the President as his primary hitman to target critics and opposition members, the President’s legal lynchpin in his bloody drug war, the conjurer of the President’s terror campaign against human rights advocates is has fallen from grace,” he said.

Rep. Jericho Nograles of PBA Partylist said any secretary serves at the pleasure of the President. “They will know when it is time to go,” he said.

Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said Aguirre’s resignation was “too late the hero for justice zero.”

“The damage is done. By being allowed to stay in his post for the longest time, Mr. Aguirre turned the Justice Department into a leading purveyor of fake news, a manufacturer of fake legal cases to harass the opposition, and a refuge for drug lords, plunderers and other highprofile criminals,” Hontiveros said.

“Our justice system is now in shambles, with more and more people trusting it less and less. Mr. Aguirre’s resignation is a hollow gesture. Sorry, but too late the hero for justice zero,” Hontiveros said.

Liberal Party Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said he was happy that the opposition and Duterte were one in this issue.

In the eyes of the public, he said, the credibility of Aguirre has been diminishing due to the blunders he had committed.

He noted said the Filipino people deserve a credible, capable and respectable Justice secretary who will lead with integrity and rebuild our trust in the Department of Justice.

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is serious about making the Bangsamoro Basic Law a reality during his term and has vowed to certify the BBL bill as urgent and to crack the whip on his legislative allies to achieve that goal, Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday.

From A1

At the same time, Duterte named Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde as the next head of the Philippine National Police, to replace Ronald dela Rosa, whose term has already been extended twice.

The President also appointed Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., as the new Armed Forces of the Philippines chief to replace Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, who retired Dec. 17, 2017, but whose term was extended for three months.

Last week, the President hinted at possible changes in the Cabinet, saying he was “unhappy” with the performance of some members of his official family.

Aguirre’s resignation stemmed from Duterte’s statement that he would “replace” the Justice chief if drug charges against alleged drug lords Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa would be dismissed, as recommended by a Department of Justice panel.

The President was also dissatisfied with the decision of the DoJ to place alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet LimNapoles under the government’s witness protection program.

Aguirre was also linked to the bribery case involving former immigration officials Al Argosino and Michael Robles.

Argosino and Robles were recently charged before the anti-graft court by the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly extorting money from Chinese businessman Jack Lam. Argosino and Robles are fraternity brothers of Duterte and Aguirre at the San Beda College of Law. Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque had earlier said that there was no indication during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting that Aguirre was about to be replaced.

“There was no indication that he was on his way out,” Roque said at a press briefing. “There was nothing extraordinary... He was just there like always.”

Garin,...

From A1

PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said former President Benigno Aquino III had not yet been included yet as respondent in the complaints because they were still awaiting the recommendation of the legislative inquiries conducted by Congress into the Dengvaxia mess.

The complainants accuse the respondents of “malicious and arbitrary failure to inform the public of dangers and risks of Dengvaxia” and of their “undue haste” in administering the vaccine while it was still in the clinical trial stage.

The complainants also accuse Garin and the others of “failure to conduct proper screening of recipients” and “failure to initiate and effectuate a full-fledged, active and aggressive monitoring and

SOS...

From A1

Menchu’s ailment can lead to chronic kidney disease and kidney failure or endstage renal disease. The American Kidney Fund describes Berger’s disease as an illness in which immunoglobulin A (IgA), a protein that helps fight infections, forms clumps inside the kidney’s tiny filters.

Because Berger’s disease has no cure, the only way for Sanchez’s life to be saved is through a kidney transplant.

“As a family, we learned that there could be more potential matches in our motherland the Philippines, but her medical insurance won’t cover surgery outside the United States. The surgery would

Sereno...

From A1

Sereno said the refusal of the four SC justices to inhibit from the case would constitute “a willful and intentional violation” of her constitutional right to due process.

In seeking the inhibition of Jardeleza,

surveillance to address reports of serious adverse and life-threatening reactions.”

The PAO claims that the respondents should also be liable for torture for “intentionally inoculating the Dengvaxia recipients with an unsafe product undergoing clinical trial, which caused them not only severe pain, exhaustion, disability or dysfunction of one or more parts of the body but untimely death.”

Records of the agency showed that all four victims had no history of dengue when they were inoculated with the vaccine, and that all of them died after being vaccinated in their respective schools.

The vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and distributor Zuellig Pharma Corp. were also included as respondents in the complaints.

Acosta said Garin was included among the respondents because “she was the one who spearheaded the vaccination program.” cost $100,000 to have it done there,” Michelle said.

Sanchez has been on the transplant list for three years due to the delay in the gathering of the funds needed for her surgery.

In 2012, Sanchez devised a plan to save 20 at-risk babies at the New York University Langone Medical Center when its power was cut off at the height of Hurricane “Sandy,” the second-costliest tropical cyclone on record in the US. Obama and the Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York praised Sanchez for her ingenuity and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds.

“We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez,” Obama said during a State of the Union Address.

Sereno cited the latter’s testimony before the House committee on justice in relation to the charge that she manipulated the shortlist of the Judicial and Bar Council to exclude his name for personal and political reasons.

“There is a reasonable basis to conclude from Justice Jardeleza’s testimony that he harbored ill feelings towards the chief justice as a consequence of the lat-

Duterte...

Paradise...

From A1

Teo said the government will demolish some 900 structures within the 30-meter no-build zone along the shoreline, as well those on wetlands or forest lands.

The Tourism secretary said the government will also clean-up other top destinations after Boracay, including Panglao, Samal and El Nido.

“We will go to all the big destinations and see if there are any violations [of environmental laws],” she said.

On Wednesday, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced the six-month shutdown over concerns that the once idyllic white-sand resort has become a “cesspool” tainted by dumped sewage.

“Boracay is known as a paradise in our nation and this temporary closure is [meant] to ensure that the next generations will also experience that,” Roque told reporters.

The decision jeopardizes the livelihood of thousands employed as part of a bustling tourist trade on the island that each year serves two-million guests and pumps roughly $1 billion in revenue into the economy.

Experts said the measure also appeared to contradict the government’s own pro-development policy for the island, including the recent approval of a planned $500-million casino and resort on Boracay.

The threat of closure first emerged in February when Duterte blasted the tiny island’s 500 tourism-related hotels, restaurants and other businesses, accusing them of dumping sewage directly into the sea and turning it into a cesspool.

Authorities said Thursday some businesses were using the island’s drainage system to send untreated sewage into its surrounding turquoise waters.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources says 195 businesses, along with more than 4,000 residential customers, are not connected to sewer lines.

But within weeks of Duterte lashing out at the local businesses, the Philippines gave the green light for Macau casino giant Galaxy Entertainment to begin construction next year of a casino and resort complex.

“The casino contradicts all the efforts now of cleaning up and making sure Boracay goes back to the state where it doesn’t violate its carrying capacity,” former Environment undersecretary Antonio La Vina said.

He added that the area has seen “unlimited” development because “local government units and the national government agencies did not do their job of enforcing rules on land use, environmental impact assessment.”

Authorities said they would use the closure to build new sewage and drainage systems, demolish structures built on wetlands and sue officials and businessmen who violated environmental laws. With AFP

Tourism,...

From A1

In other developments: • The Duterte administration should withdraw its bid to declare the communist guerrillas as terrorists before fanning hopes of reviving the stalled peace talks with the group, their exiled leader Jose Maria Sison said Thursday.

The Justice department has a pending petition before a Manila court to cite the National Democratic Front’s ‘s political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines, and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as terrorist organizations.

• The government will push through with its petition seeking to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as terrorist groups, Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said Thursday.

“We are all for peace. However, the peace talks have not actually resumed.

For the time being, there being no order to the contrary, we will pursue the petition as filed,” Balmes said.

• The Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday supported Duterte’s decision to return to resume the peace talks with the communist rebels.

“The AFP supports the administration in all its efforts and initiatives to bring just and lasting peace and development for the country,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Bienvenido Datuin said in a statement.

• Two lawmakers on Thursday welcomed Duterte’s decision to resume the peace talks with the communists.

He said it was “not in the interest of everybody” to go the full six months in cleaning up the iconic destination, and that it was possible to open Boracay again in four months if all concerned parties participated in the governmentled environmental rehabilitation efforts.

In other developments: • The Philippines will struggle to meet its 7.4-million visitor target for 2018 with the closure of Boracay, ending three years of double-digit percentage gains, a Sydney-based aviation industry group said.

• Boracay’s closure has forced the country’s three main airlines to cancel both domestic and international flights to and from Caticlan and Kalibo airports, as the island accounts for approximately 6 percent of air traffic for Cebu Pacific, 22 percent of the smaller AirAsia, and an unspecified percentage for Philippine Airlines, the same industry group noted.

• Senator Nancy Binay, chairman of the Senate Committee on Tourism, said the government is still missing a detailed plan for the estimated 35,000 workers who will be affected by the closure.

Malacañang also said the P2 billion mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has called the island in Aklan province a “cesspool,” will be a fund for Boracay’s displaced workers.

“There will be a declaration of a state of calamity [for Boracay], but the President was insistent that the funds that will be spent will go only to the workers who will be displaced. He will not let any resort owners benefit from any sort of a calamity fund,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said. Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta, Joel Zurbano and Darwin Amojelar

ter’s challenge to his integrity during the nomination process for the associate justice position in 2014,” Sereno said.

In seeking the recusal of Tijam, Sereno cited his testimony before the impeachment hearing where he admitted that there may be a ground to impeach her and, therefore, remove her from office for culpable violation of the Constitution.

“With all due respect to Justice Tijam, the chief justice is of the honest and earnest belief that he cannot decide the quo warranto petition objectively and impartially. The chief justice has reasonable basis to believe that Justice Tijam has already formed an opinion that the chief justice should be removed from office,” Sereno’s motion said.

With Macon Ramos-Araneta

From A1

News

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FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

4,075 drug suspects slain in operations

Cops, govt employees in casinos monitored

By Rio N. Araja

By Francisco Tuyay

AT LEAST 4,075 drug suspects have been killed by authorities in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

From July 1, 2016 to March 20 this year, PDEA’s records showed the 180,000-strong Philippine National Police carried out a high incidence of killings in the anti-drug operations.

The figure recorded an increase of 107 deaths on Dec. 5, 2017, or when the PNP regained the lead of the drug war after a two-month respite.

Detractors, including international human rights advocates, hit Presiddent Rodrigo Duterte for the deaths of suspected drug pushers, traders and users.

Last year, Duterte ordered the PNP to back off from the anti-drug campaign over the death of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame, and the killings of teenagers Kian Loyd delos Santos and Carl Arnaiz in Caloocan City.

From Dec. 5 up to March 20, only one drug suspect died every day.

According to PDEA, drug-related killings beyond PNP and PDEA operations reached 2,467 from July 2016 until March this year, of which 1,752 were deaths under investigation and 715 were considered “solved.”

As of March 2018, the Duterte administration had confiscated 2,620.5 kilos of shabu worth P13.46 billion and arrested 123,648 drug suspects, 469 of whom were government employees.

Meanwhile, at the “War on Drugs: Looking Behind the Numbers” forum, the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center lamented that “in the war on drugs now, children died [along] with due process.”

LAW enforcement officials have vowed to arrest government employees and “more or less” 10 police officers who might be seen gambling in casinos, underlining government’s zero tolerance in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order.

National Capital Region Police Office head Director Oscar Albayalde said Thursday coordination had been reached with blue guard officials in casinos to tightly watch the identified but unnamed “more or less 10 police officers” and government officials for potential arrest.

Meanwhile , the Philippine National Police on Thursday reminded anew government employees regarding a memorandum circular prohibiting government personnel from entering, staying or playing at gambling casinos.

This comes after authorities arrested a policeman Tuesday after he got into an altercation while playing baccarat in a casino-hotel in Pasay.

The police officer who was caught gambling in a casino in Parañaque City leads a simple life even if P600,000 worth of casino chips were recovered from him, PNP Directorate for Operations chief Director Camilo Cascolan claimed on Wednesday.

Supt. Adrian Antonio, a 35-yearold administrative officer at the Office of the Directorate for Operations at Camp Crame who was nabbed Tuesday night at the City of Dreams Resort and Casino, “is a good officer,” according to Cascolan.

Cascolan is under the custody of the Southern Police District.

Cascolan said he has never received any report before about the gambling activities of his subordinate.

PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. John Bulalacao also confirmed that a lifestyle check was being conducted by the PNP Internal Affairs Service on Antonio.

Antonio faces criminal charges of disobedience and for violating Republic Act No. 6713, or the the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

In Memorandum Circular No. 6 dated Sept. 20, 2016, the Office of the President directed all government officials and employees to strictly observe and comply with the prohibition against going to gambling places, citing “its negative effect on the public perception of government service as a whole.” With PNA

Relampagos lawyers’ withdrawal denied

By Maricel V. Cruz THE Sandiganbayan has turned down the motion of the lawyers of fugitive former Budget undersecretary Mario Relampagos to withdraw as legal counsel in his various criminal charges filed at the anti-graft court.

Lawyers Godofredo de Guzman, Arnold Caga, and Christopher John Lao filed the motion to withdraw as legal counsel for Relampagos.

The three said they “can no longer carry out [their] responsibilities effectively for reasons beyond [their] control” after their client fled the country.

Relampagos is facing several charges at the anti-graft court owing to his alleged involvement in the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the P900-million Malampaya fund scams.

The lawyers said Relampagos refused to heed their advice to return to the Philippines and face the charges against him.

But the Sandiganbayan, in a minute resolution Thursday, junked the appeal of Relampagos’ lawyers.

“When the withdrawal is made without the consent of the client, the counsel must provide valid reasons to justify the withdrawal and, in his case, the court does not find the reason proffered by said counsel... as sufficient to justify its (sic) withdrawal as counsel for accused Relampagos,” the resolution read.

TRAFFIC BUILDUP. Vehicular congestion starts to build up Thursday at the Philcoa section of Quezon City as construction starts for the underground tunnel through the sprawling Quezon City Memorial Circle near the City Hall. Manny Palmero

Rice price manipulation cannot be done—traders T PCGA president Joji Co made the clarification in a television interview after National Food Authority Council chairman Leoncio Evasco claimed rice traders would increase the price of rice now that NFA rice in Metro Manila had been consumed.

Co explained it would take seven to eight channels before consumers would be able to purchase rice.

In a press statement, NFA administrator Jason Aquino, reacting to the call of the NFA Council for an independent audit by the Commission on Audit of the agency’s operations, said “Our documents are ready for scrutiny.”

Aquino said the food agency’s operations were transparent, deploring accusations that there were any irregularities in its rice distribution activities as insinuated by some groups.

The NFA Council is questioning NFA management why it released a lot of its rice stocks during the harvest season from October to December while

distribution was low during the lean months of July to September.

It is not correct to say that NFA’s rice distribution was high during the harvest season and low during the lean months, NFA said.

It added: “Over the last 10 years, records show that NFA rice distribution was in fact lowest in 2017 at 14 million bags. NFA rice distribution was highest during the rice crisis in 2008 at 40.5-million bags.

“In 2009, total rice releases was recorded at 37.4-million bags; 35.1-million bags in 2010; 22.2-million bags in 2011; 15.3-million bags in 2011; 15.1-million bags in 2012; 26.4-million bags in 2014; 18.8-million bags in 2015; and 22.9-million bags in 2016. The low distribution rate in 2017 was due to the agency’s depleting stocks.”

Part of NFA rice releases in October, November and December went to the relief agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and

Development, Office of Civil Defense and local government units for their relief operations totaling 292,848 bags, it said.

Total rice issued for relief operations in 2017 was 784,429 bags.

Aquino explained the government contracted 250,000 metric tons imported rice in 2017 started arriving in the country only on the last week of August.

Thus distribution during the lean months was calibrated due to low inventory, it said.

With the arrival of fresh buffer stocks, NFA said it had to release older stocks to its network of accredited retailers nationwide to avoid deterioration.

This is in line with the agency’s total quality management program, it added.

“There are more than 10-million marginalized Filipinos who are dependent on government subsidized rice. As part of our stabilization mandate, we have to continue distributing rice at any given time to be able to respond to the high demand for cheap rice as the price of commercial rice started to increase along with other commodities,” Aquino said.

“We also have to serve the rice requirements of island provinces and municipalities and critical areas like Batanes, Romblon, Masbate, TawiTawi and Basilan that are 60-80 percent dependent on NFA for their rice supply,” Aquino explained.

THE Sandiganbayan has denied the motion to travel of former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chief Augusto Syjuco Jr.’s co-accused for “misleading” the antigraft court.

The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division, in a minute resolution dated April 2, ordered former Tesda Bids and Awards Committee member Ernesto Beltran to explain in five days why he should not be held in contempt when he misled the court that he was jobless.

The anti-graft court division said Beltran sought its approval to travel to the United States from April 7 to

May 1 for a business trip to retain his consultancy post at Hytec Power Inc. He said he would also travel to Kentucky, Indiana and California for “business.”

But Beltran failed to convince the Sandiganbayan. “[Beltran is a] retired from government service with no other source of income or livelihood accused mostly rely on the generosity of their children for support and daily sustenance,” the Sandiganbayan said.

“The court cannot reconcile accused Beltran’s previous representation that he is jobless with his present claim

that he intends to go on a business trip to maintain his consultancy position with Hytec Power Inc.,” the anti-graft court added.

“Additionally, accused Beltran is directed to show cause within five days from notice why he should not be cited in contempt of court for deliberately misleading the court to grant his motion for reduction of bail by failing to disclose the consultancy position with Hytec Power Inc.,” it said.

Beltran is a co-accused of Syjuco in his graft case in connection with a P30-million Tesda computerization project in 2007. Maricel V. Cruz

HE Philippine Confederation of Grains Associations on Thursday relieved speculations rice millers were manipulating the price of rice in the country, saying it was impossible to do that considering the lengthy process involved in rice distribution.

‘No justice for OFW unless couple Sandiganbayan denies ex-Tesda official’s plea to travel punished’

Trillanes wants leadership change SENATOR Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday disclosed he had been praying for a change in the Senate leadership especially in the chairmanship of the Blue Ribbon committee which he said should go to an “independent-minded senator and not to a “lapdog” of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Speaking in the regular lKapihan sa Senado, Trillanes stressed the Senate Blue Ribbon committee would just be used by Duterte as his protection.

The committee is currently headed by Senator Richard Gordon, a known ally of the President.

The opposition senator also divulged that he had been telling Senate President Aqulino Pimentel III that changing the chairmanship of the said committee was the “key” to keep the Senate’s independence.

“Whatever it takes, the blue ribbon committee chairman must be replaced, but if the Senate President will be replaced and then he [Gordon] is again

the Blue Ribbon committee chairman, it’s just the same,” said Trillanes.

If there’s an opportunity to change the incumbent leadership in the chamber, he said he would “grab” the chance if only to make sure the Blue Ribbon committee, currently chaired by Gordon, would go to an “open-minded” senator.

The opposition senator even declared he would only be satisfied if Gordon would be kicked out as the committee chair, but if not, he would support any moves to change the Senate leadership.

Trillanes has been asking for Gordon’s head since last year.

Trillanes has been criticizing Gordon’s way of handling the committee’s investigation on the controversial P6.4 billion shabu shipment from Xiamen, China.

Pimentel said he was prepared to give up his post if his colleagues in the Upper chamber wanted another leader.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

BLOOD RELIC. Manila Cathedral Rector Fr. Reginald Malicdem unveils the first class blood relic of Saint John Paul II on Thursday at the Cathedral in Intramuros during the unveiling ceremony. Norman Cruz

A PARTY-LIST lawmaker on Thursday expressed hope President Rodeigo Duterte would lift the total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait in light of that country’s verdict sentencing to death the Lebanese man and his Syrian wife found guilty of killing Filipino household service worker Joanna Demafelis.

“We totally support the President, who has made it very clear that he wants justice for Joanna, and he wants justice for all Filipino household service workers in Kuwait,” ACTSOFW Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III said.

“The President wants the Kuwaiti government and [Kuwaiti] employers to respect the basic rights of Filipino household service workers to regular work hours and adequate rest and sleeping hours, regular days off work, and to have physical possession of their own passports,” Bertiz said.

“The President wants the Kuwaiti government to commit to enforce these rights so that employers there will comply,” Bertiz said.

Duterte earlier said he wanted the Kuwaiti government and employers there to agree to his terms first before he would consider lifting the deployment ban.

Bertiz said any memorandum of understanding or any agreement that could not be effectively enforced by the Kuwaiti government would be useless.

“Employers there will not comply if they know they won’t be penalized anyway,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bertiz said he did not expect the punishment meted out to convicts Nader Essam Assaf and his wife, Mona, to be carried out, simply because the Kuwaiti government was not in a position to enforce the judgment.

Maricel V. Cruz

A4

Opinion

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Irresponsible NFA

BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO

‘Let them eat cake’ MARIE Antoinette’s infamous and insensitive “let them eat cake” statement when the people were starving started the French Revolution.

Keeping this historic lesson in mind, President Rodrigo Duterte is exerting all the vast powers of his presidency to head off a social upheaval. For starters, Duterte served notice he might abolish the National Food Authority for mishandling the rice supply situation. Supply of the cheaper NFA rice is nearing zero level despite importation from Vietnam and Thailand.

Scrapping the NFA would need congressional concurrence. But that should not be a problem considering the supermajority in the House under the administration’s control.

There is a strong suspicion that commercial rice traders created an artificial shortage to drive up prices not affordable to the masses. Is there complicity between NFA officials and commercial rice traders? The possibility of such collusion was raised

by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco himself. The NFA denied such speculation and has made known it is willing to submit to an audit to show receipts where its rice stock went.

The fallout of the rice crisis could take its toll not only on NFA officials losing their jobs but could reach all the way to Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol. The NFA is under Piñol’s department and it is tasked to spur rice production from Day One when the Duterte administration assumed all the responsibilities and problems besetting the nation.

nation of NFA Administrator Jason Aquino. The current NFA officials, she noted, had been remiss in their duties and responsibilities after the agency miserably failed in managing the rice inventory.

It may also be timely for the government to ease the volume restrictions on rice importation. Cheap rice imports are readily available from the neighboring Asian nations if local production is not enough.

The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, should take the lead in increasing rice production in the Philippines. Local farmers have often complained of the high cost of credit and fertilizer inputs in rice production.

The department should offer credible measures to address the complaints. Thailand and Vietnam obviously found the answer that made them major rice exporters in the region.

T

HE National Food Authority again roiled the market when one senior official conceded that the agency has run out of cheap rice supply. The irresponsible statement, while it may be true, should not have been aired publicly given the sensitivity of rice to price fluctuations and as a commodity consumed by almost every Filipino.

The NFA statement brought confusion and panic to the public. The statement aired on television naturally caused rice prices to spike and gave some unscrupulous traders an excuse to hoard the commodity for profits.

The NFA in reality still has ample stocks of rice contrary to the impression created by one NFA executive. Cheap rice may no longer be available, but the more expensive stocks are still in the warehouses of the NFA. Managing the NFA or the country’s rice inventory, however, appears to be the problem. The agency, it seems, is not manned by competent

executives who know how to react to the vagaries of rice as a traded commodity in the world market. Senior NFA executives, for one, should recognize the comfortable level of the country’s rice inventory. They should time the purchase and importation of rice, given the palay output data available from the Department of Agriculture. The NFA, in short, should be run by professionals who are well versed in rice production and marketing and inventory management.

Senator Grace Poe summed up the inefficiency of the NFA when she called for the resig-

Is there complicity between NFA officials and commercial rice traders?

Digong is in a firing mood and Pinol could go the way of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. Boracay closure The government will close down the world-renowned Boracay Island resort for six months starting April 26. The temporary lockdown is to clean-up the beach and waters from deteriorating into a cesspool. It will mean the loss of income for the people whose livelihood depends on the revenues generated from foreign and local tourists.

Restaurants, hotels and budget inns on the island will be the most affected.

Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific will also suspend some of its flights to Caticlan and Kalibo.

While the government is at it, the Departments of Transportation and Tourism might as well put up a more modern water transportation from the Caticlan airport to Boracay instead of the medieval and decrepit motorized boats being used to ferry beachgoers.

The reason for Aguirre’s relief according to Palace sources was his inability to move forward the administration’s priority cases against drug traffickers and erring local government officials.

On another front, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is going to Kuwait to sign the bilateral Memorandum of Agreement protecting Filipino workers from being abused by their employers. This, even as 100 more undocumented OFWs returned home yesterday under an amnesty granted by the Gulf State.

Meanwhile, President Duterte served notice his government is giving peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines one last chance to settle the decades-long insurgency problem. While communism in the Philippines is the longest running movement in the world, it is in reality close to being irrelevant. The ones keeping it alive is the cabal of Jose Ma. Turn to A5

The benefits of honoring your parents EVERYMAN

By Eric Jurado

THE image of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of her son, Jesus, reminds me of the fourth of the Ten Commandments, which reads: “Honor your father and your mother.”

This commandment is so important that it is one of the only commandments in the entire Bible that gives a reason for observing it: “That you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Many people read that part of the Fourth Commandment as a reward. But while it may be regarded as a reward, the fact remains that it is a reason: If you build a society in which children honor

their parents, your society will long survive. And the corollary is: A society in which children do not honor their parents is doomed to self-destruction.

In our time, this connection between honoring parents and maintaining civilization is not widely recognized. On the contrary, many of the best-educated parents do not believe that their children need to show them honor, since “honoring” implies an authority figure, and that is a status many modern parents reject. In addition, many parents seek to be loved, not honored, by their children.

Yet, neither the Ten Commandments nor the Bible elsewhere commands us to love our parents. This is particularly striking given that the Bible commands us to love our neighbor, to love God, and to love the stranger.

The Bible understands that there will always be individuals who, for whatever reason, do not love a parent. Therefore, it does not demand what may be psychologically or emotionally impossible. But it does demand that we show honor to our parents. And it makes this demand only with regard to parents.

There is no one else who the Bible commands us to honor.

So, then, why is honoring parents so important? Why do the Ten Commandments believe that society could not survive if this commandment were widely violated? One reason is that we, as children, need it. Parents may want to be honored—and they should want to be—but children need to honor parents. A father and a mother who are

Flavored, low-alcohol Scotch?

Distilleries test whisky’s limits

By Mark McLaughlin DEMAND for more variety in Scotch whisky from fast-growing emerging markets and the request for lower alcohol varieties among health-conscious drinkers are challenging a closely guarded centuries-old tradition.

Drinks giant Diageo, producers of market leader Johnnie Walker, sent shock waves through the industry earlier this year when a “highly confidential” document, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, revealed potential innovations such as flavored infusions, low-alcohol variants and whisky finished in tequila casks.

But it is operating within very tight restrictions as British law states Scotch must be at least 40-percent alcohol—which means distillers cannot reach out to health-conscious millennials or tap into the lucrative Middle Eastern market with lower or zero alcohol Scotch.

“There is a lot of interest in lower alcohol spirit drinks across the spirit sector to do with things like the Dry January craze and minimum pricing of alcohol,” Matthew Pauley, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, told AFP. “A few people have been experimenting throughout the sector with lower alcohol spirits, and no alcohol spirit variants. Not all of them have been well received.”

Pauley’s shelves are packed with herbs, spices and flavorings used in experiments with gin—but they are kept well away from the whisky stills.

The law restricts Scotch ingredients to barley, water and yeast aged in oak casks, meaning flavoured infusions and tequila-cask finishes are also likely to attract the attention of the litigious Scotch Whisky Association.

Whisky with a hint of chocolate “Johnnie Walker can’t suddenly make strawberry whisky and send it off to China,” said Pauley.

“The SWA spend a lot of money sending people around the world collecting samples of things like random bottles of brown liquid with tartan on it, and there is a whole legal team who go and shut that person down.”

He also has bagfuls of an extraroasted barley called “chocolate malt” which has proved controversial.

French-owned giant Glenmorangie markets a single malt Scotch called Signet which uses a hint of chocolate malt—but the Eden Mill craft distillery in St. Andrews abandoned its own chocolate malt product when the SWA warned it not to stray too far from the traditional Scotch flavor.

“It’s the extra flavors that the chocolate malt will add that the distillers are looking for and that the SWA have issue with,” said Pauley.

“The different roasts will potentially add different flavors so that is what is being investigated, researched and has come into some controversy.

“Some of the easy wins have been won, so people naturally start to look at some of the more left-field suggestions and line extensions, and we get back to the issue of how you make a line extension without harming the core brand.”

A spokesman for the SWA said there is no bar to producing new products based on Scotch whisky but “the marketing of such products must not confuse consumers in any way—in particular they must not suggest the product is Scotch whisky when it is not.”

A beautiful drink The SWA said flavored whiskies are already marketed as liqueurs but must not be labelled Scotch, which has a similar geographical protection to Champagne.

“One would not add flavoring to Turn to A5

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Opinion Serious monkey business at Malaysia school for macaques

By Patrick Lee A PIG-TAILED macaque yanked at a coconut on a piece of string until it fell to the floor, a small victory for the simian student at a Malaysian school that trains monkeys to harvest fruit for farmers.

Thousands of monkeys have been taught the trade over the past four decades by a man known as Grandfather Wan in a small village in the north of the country.

For a small fee people across the country send their macaques to the famed school, where they are put on thin chains like leashes, and trained to clamber up palm trees and pick coconuts.

Teaching monkeys to pick fruit has in the past sparked protests from animal rights groups who have denounced it as cruel, but Grandfather Wan—real name Wan Ibrahim Wan Mat—insists he only ever treats his charges kindly.

“They are like our children,” said the 63-year-old, as macaques swung about and screeched in a training area consisting of a cluster of palm trees and some dilapidated wooden platforms for the macaques to climb on.

“When they drop the fruits, we show them love. We stroke them.”

He trains southern pig-tailed macaques, a medium-sized monkey found across much of Malaysia, as well as parts of Indonesia and southern Thailand.

They are mostly found in the region’s rainforests but as their natural habitat has been destroyed by logging and human encroachment, the monkeys have increasingly strayed into villages and cities.

Top-notch coconut pickers Wan Ibrahim first became interested in macaque training in his early 20s when he spotted the creatures climb up coconut palms to pick the fruit.

It was just a hobby to begin with but as he improved, word of his skills spread and people from far and wide started sending their macaques to him in the small village of Padang Halban in northern Kelantan state.

Coconuts are big business in tropi-

Flavored...

From A4

Champagne and expect to trade on the reputation of Champagne by selling it as such,” the spokesman said.

Murdo Fraser, convener of the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on Scotch whisky, also urged caution on innovation.

“My own preference would be that we don’t see any dilution of the Scotch whisky brand, and we therefore need to be careful about going down the route of innovating too quickly,” he said.

Patrons in the Roseburn Bar, near Murrayfield rugby stadium in Edin-

The benefits...

From A4

cal Malaysia which produces some 700 million every year and the country is home to countless smallholders some of whom use monkeys to carry out the labour-intensive work of harvesting.

Getting a monkey up to speed as a topnotch coconut picker can take anything from a few days to a month, depending on the animal, Wan Ibrahim said.

But once fully trained they can pick up to 800 coconuts a day, which he said makes his fee of 150 ringgit ($38) for a full course well worth it.

The course has several stages. The first is training a monkey to yank a coconut free that is attached by a piece of string to a wooden fence—aping the action of pulling one of the fruits from a coconut tree.

The creatures are then trained to pull coconuts from a plank of wood raised a few feet above the ground, and the final stage sees them clambering up palm trees to collect the fruit.

Mat Ali Zakaria, a coconut picker and customer from the town of Padang Rengas, more than 300 kilometres (180 miles) away from Padang Halban, praised Wan Ibrahim for his gentle training methods.

“I’ve seen other people training macaques—sometimes if they don’t want to take coconuts, the monkeys are dunked into a river,” he said.

Wan Ibrahim’s business won’t be around forever—he has slowed down since a stroke two years ago and now gets around with a walking stick.

None of his five children are interested in taking over the training centre but he said there are other monkey trainers in Malaysia who will continue the work once he retires.

Malaysian Animal Welfare Society president Shenaaz Khan said she was not against training macaques as long as it was not cruel, but raised concerns there was insufficient monitoring of the monkeys once they were returned to their owners.

“When you use them as a labour force, they don’t have protection.

Who’s going to look out for them?” she said. AFP

burgh, were divided on the debate between tradition and innovation.

Sipping a dram of Aberlour, stonemason Alan McGuire, 53, warned that unpalatable innovations would “contradict the whole thing that whisky is.”

“It’s a beautiful drink that has been laid down for years, and to add something like ginger, or lemon or raspberry or something to it would just kill the brand,” he added.

But nurse Christopher Gauld, 35, said he is “a big believer in change,” as he sampled a trendy looking Islay malt called The Classic Laddie.

“The whisky we have today wouldn’t be the way it is if people didn’t try things in the past so I’m open to experiments,” he said. AFP

first things totalitarian movements seek to do is to break the child-parent bond.

The child’s allegiance is shifted from parents to the state. Even in democratic societies, the larger the state becomes, the more it usurps the parental role.

Finally, there are many ways to honor parents. The general rule is this: They get special treatment. Parents are unique; so they must be treated in a unique way. You don’t talk to them in quite the same way you do anyone else. For example, you might use expletives when speaking to a friend; but you don’t with a parent. You don’t call them by their first name. And when you leave their home and make your own, you maintain contact with them.

Having no contact with parents is the opposite of honoring them.

And, yes, we all recognize that some parents have behaved so cruelly—and I mean cruelly, not annoyingly—that one finds it morally impossible to honor to them. There are such cases. But they are rare.

And remember this, if your children see you honor your parents, no matter how difficult it may sometimes be, the chances are far greater that they will honor you.

not honored are essentially adult peers of their children. They are not parents.

No generation knows better than ours about the terrible consequences of growing up without a father. Numerous studies have shown that fatherless boys are more at risk to grow up and commit violent crime, mistreat women, and act out against society in every other way.

Girls who do not have a father to honor —and, hopefully, to love as well—are more at risk to seek the wrong men and to be promiscuous at an early age.

Second, honoring parents is how nearly all of us come to recognize that there is an authority above us to whom we are morally accountable. And without this, we cannot create or maintain a moral society. Of course, for the Ten Commandments, the ultimate moral authority is God, who is therefore higher than even our parents. But it is very difficult to come to honor God without having had a parent, especially a father, to honor. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychiatry and an atheist, theorized that one’s attitude toward one’s father largely shaped one’s attitude toward God. Eric Jurado writes about the values There is one more reason why honof personal and economic freedom, and oring parents is fundamental to a good society. Honoring parents is the best their importance in advancing peace, antidote to totalitarianism. One of the prosperity, and human progress.

‘Let...

From A4

Sison, the Agcaoilis and the Ledesmas in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Funding for the CCP and its armed wing the New People’s Army is getting more difficult. China and Russia have long converted to a capitalist economy.

Their communist form of government is maintained only to continue repressive regimes to control the people. Both Beijing and Moscow are also now close

to the Duterte government. To continue its rebellion against the government, the NPA carries out kidnapping and extortion against businesses in rural areas.

Our thoughts on the matter: Joma and company should seriously consider Duterte’s offer to talk peace. Not to do so would leave the government no choice but to permanently end the on-and-off talks. This can only make Sison and his exile group irrelevant.

A few more years, and there will be Filipinos who will ask: “Joma who?”

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Sebastian

WHAT a difference a (Holy) Week can make.

Early last week, the Bangko Sentral reported that consumer confidence in the first quarter had dived to its lowest level in over a year. At only 1.7 percent, the overall confidence index (CI) was well below the previous quarter’s 9.5 percent, marking the third consecutive quarterly decline in confidence.

Just in time, though, our friends abroad came to the rescue. In their latest in-depth report on the country the other day, the US-based rating agency Moody’s declared: “We believe that overheating risks in the PH are not yet material. Our view is based on expectations that current inflationary pressures are in part due to transitory factors [such as the impact from TRAIN]. Infrastructure investment and favorable demographics will lift potential growth to meet rapid demand growth and the external position will remain roughly balanced.”

With any luck, we may also be seeing similar votes of confidence soon from the other rating agencies, like Standard & Poor’s and UK-based Fitch, especially since Moody’s usually tends to follow after them rather than taking the lead as it did in this case.

And earlier this week, the investment bank First Metro Investment joined the University of Asia & the Pacific in reporting that they expected economic growth to exceed 7 percent in the first quarter of the year. This would be fueled mainly by manufacturing and higher imports of capital goods.

On the employment side, for the year ending last January, the economy added a whopping 2.4-million jobs, said by many to be the highest in a non-election year.

All of this simply confirms what we’ve been saying all along: The only real recipe to create new jobs is not propoor redistribution of income, or charity disguised as subsidies, or tax-paid make-work, but simply…good old-fashioned economic growth. *** Also in the run-up to Holy Week, many of us were wringing our hands over the prospects of justice for the bereaved family of Joanna Demafelis, the household worker who was brutally

killed a year ago in Kuwait.

An angered President Duterte ordered a total ban on OFW deployments to that country. This may have prompted the Kuwaiti government to speed up the drafting of a new agreement on workers’ rights, which has already cleared the technical working groups of both countries.

Presidential anger may also have been a factor behind the subsequent decision of a Kuwaiti court to sentence in absentia the killers of Joanna to death, a most welcome Easter gift for our country. But the guilty couple continues to be sheltered by their respective home countries of Lebanon and Syria, in defiance of the court’s decision.

When relatives of the killers offered to pay “blood money” to Joanna’s family, they indignantly refused, insisting on justice instead. It’s clear that Kuwait will have to do a lot more to have the killers extradited to face justice. Failing

The only real recipe to create new jobs is not pro-poor redistribution of income, or charity disguised as subsidies, or tax-paid make-work.

would be a forming a new opposition coalition that they bravely dubbed “the Resistance.”

For their part, some half-dozen Duterte allies in the Senate who’d been excluded from an early PDP-Laban senatorial slate hinted that they might get together to seek a temporary home, either with the LP or with Davao City Mayor Inday Sara’s new regional party “Hugpong ng Pagbabago.” These homeless souls took to calling themselves “the Force.”

With all these Star Wars names, it was just a matter of time before “the Empire strikes back.”

When the bruited opposition coalition finally hit social media under the monicker “Coalition ng Demokrasya,” many personalities included in its slate disavowed any connections. The LP chair herself, VP Leni, admitted that her party might not even be able to field a full 12-man senatorial slate next year.

This may sound like music to the ears of the ruling party, but it really shouldn’t. The problem is that if no credible opposition slate emerges next year, even if for no reason other than Duterte’s Teflon popularity, it may just be cited by his human rights critics abroad as yet another example of “repression by his authoritarian regime.”

The bigger lesson here, though, may be the inherent shortcomings of a unitary state under an overly powerful presidency. Whether the top dog is weak or strong, problems are created either way. What suffers in the process are what ought to be strong and stable political parties who can provide principles-based governance and continuity.

It’s a problem that advocates of parliamentary federalism claim they can address in a new constitution. It’s time to hear these guys out. *** Now that I’ve gotten my readers— who were wondering about my column title today—this far, I can confess that I’m dedicating this column to my firstever grandchild, Sebastian George Olivar IV, born last Sunday in Virginia and my best Easter gift ever.

At age 65, when some of my friends are already sending their grandchildren off to college, I’ve waited a long time for this. There certainly can’t be anything worse than a long-overdue grandfather being gifted with a son’s son. The joy overflows.

Welcome to the world, Baste!

that, we can’t be blamed for suspecting that the court decision was simply a moro-moro among fellow Arabs.

For his part, Duterte continues to up the ante. Notwithstanding the latest agreement by both technical working groups, he’s demanding more concessions, including the possibility of government to government coordination on our OFWs that might even do away with the need for private recruitment agencies.

If the entire overseas labor sector ends up being effectively nationalized, that would be a profound change indeed. Whether or not its benefits would be worth the costs, it would certainly bring justice to the dead Joanna—the Dutertian brand of rough justice. *** Before Holy Week, with the May 2019 mid-term elections drawing closReaders can write me at gbolier, leading LP senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan announced they var1952@yahoo.com.

Sereno’s options: Quit or be ousted VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ MARIA Lourdes Sereno is the chief justice who the Judicial and Bar Council’s psychiatrists graded a 4 (fail), with 5 being the lowest. She has apparently a mental disorder, aside from having an IQ of 109 (normal or average intelligence).

Sereno is the CJ whom the House Justice Committee, voted 33-1 on March 19, 2018 to impeach, on six counts: 1. Culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayal of public trust.

Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayal of public trust when she repeatedly, deliberately, willfully and/or inexcusably could not submit her SALN from 1996 to 2006.

She failed to declare in her eleven filed statements of assets, liabilities and net worth for calendar years 1998, 2002, 2006, 2009, and 2010 to 2016, her 2.24 hectares of land in Mariveles, Bataan worth P44 million.

She failed to declare in her 2006 and 2009 SALN P13.8 million of her P32.49 million of PIATCO fees.

According to Rey Umali, Sereno failed to file her SALN 17 times: For the years 1987 to 1997, 1999 to 2001, and 2003 to 2005. She filed only three SALN, two of which were not even subscribed to.

Per the Solicitor General, Sereno did not file her SALN for 12 years— in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

She committed tax fraud in 2007 through 2009.

2. Corruption and betrayal of public trust when she misused P18 million of public funds for buying a P5 million bullet proof Land Cruiser (she already has 16 bodyguards), spending P11 million for an IT expert, and P3 million to stay at Shangri-La Boracay.

3. Culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and/or other high crimes when she arrogated unto herself the powers reposed upon the Supreme Court as a collegial, deliberative and consultative body by issuing and causing to be issued Resolutions and Orders without the approval

of, or contrary to what was agreed upon by the Supreme Court en banc.

4. Culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and/or other high crimes when she deliberately and maliciously abused her position as the Chief Justice and ex officio Chairperson of the Judicial and Bar Council.

5. Culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust when she deliberately undermined and violated the principles of separation of powers among the three branches of government (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary).

6. Betrayal of public trust when she willfully and deliberately failed to comply with her oath of office by tyrannical abuse of discretionary power.

“Should the Supreme Court be burdened with the leadership of one who has caused the erosion of public faith in the Judiciary, who has lost the respect of her colleagues and subordinates, and whose fitness has been challenged by her equals? Could the people lower constitutional standards and confer on their

She will fight back to the end.

leader merely tolerance, and not trust?

What will happen to the Supreme Court and the Judiciary, and to the government as a whole in the next 12 years if she is acquitted and allowed to remain in office?” asked the House Judiciary Committee headed by Rep. Umali.

All six counts need not be proved by the House which will serve as the prosecutor against Sereno when the Senate meets as an impeachment court. One count is enough to remove her.

Chief Justice Renato Corona was removed because of omissions in his SALN (certain peso and dollar deposits were not disclosed). “Sereno’s case on SALN is even worse,” says Umali. Impeachment is a political process. The senator-judges will simply go by perceptions or the political mood. Conviction does not require guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Offhand, 18 senators (of the current 23 senators) need to vote against Sereno

to impeach her. It seems Sereno is so damaged a good a senator voting not guilty will have a lot of explaining to do.

Interestingly, President Duterte has placed pork barrel queen Janet Napoles under the Witness Protection Program, in exchange perhaps, for a damaging testimony against the likes of a Drilon or a Pangilinan for allegedly receiving illegal pork barrel money.

Alternatively, Solicitor General Jose Calida has filed a quo warranto case against Sereno in a bid to remove her as chief justice. His argument: Sereno was not qualified from the start to be a justice or a chief justice because of failure to file SALN 12 times during the years she was a government official— as a law professor at UP and as a justice.

As a UP law professor, Sereno was/is a public official or a government employee.

SALN is required to be filed, yearly and on time, of government employees. When she was being considered for chief justice in 2012, Sereno lied to the Judicial and Bar Council, which by law and under the Constitution, screening applicants for justices, when she claimed she could not retrieve her SALNs, implying that they existed.

There were none, and therefore, they could not be retrieved.

Because of her repetitious or habitual non-filing of SALNs, Sereno, the SolGen insists, lacks integrity. Because she didn’t file her SALNs, Sereno violated the law and the Constitution. Therefore, from the very start, she was not qualified to be justice and later chief justice. A person who is not qualified from the very start, should be removed, by quo warranto, for being a usurper and for in effect, stealing taxpayers’ money because she is drawing salaries that do not belong to her in the first place.

Quo warrranto is a novel proceeding.

It questions by what right or warrant is a justice like Sereno holding on to an office she is not qualified to be in the first place. Under the Constitution, an official like the Chief Justice can only be removed by impeachment, and not by a sitting Supreme Court 13 of whose justices apparently are hostile to Sereno.

Sereno has decided to fight back up to the very end. “I will not resign,” she insists. biznewsasia@gmail.com

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News

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Lapeña conducts major reshuffle at BoC

By Vito Barcelo

C

USTOMS Commissioner Isidro Lapeña removed two major port district collectors and 64 other customs personnel for failing to meet their assigned revenue collection target for the month of March, as part of the major reshuffle of the organization.

In a statement, Lapeña said that Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III signed 66 personnel orders, including the district collectors of the ports who failed to meet their March revenue target.

Removed from their posts were Port of Manila district collector Vener Baquiran who was replaced by Erastus Sandino Austria, former district collector of Port of Davao while Manila International Container Port collector lawyer Balmyrson M. Valdez was replaced by former Port of Clark district collector Maritess Martin.

Baquiran has been transferred to the Compliance Monitoring Unit.

Export Coordination Division chief lawyer Romalino G. Valdez of the Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group will fill in the vacated position of Austria as district collector of Port of Davao.

Martin was replaced by lawyer Lilibeth S. Sandag of Revenue Collection Monitoring Group to head the Port of Clark.

Aside from Austria and Martin, Wivina B. Pumatong of sub-port of Mactan assumed her new post as the district collector of Port of Iloilo.

“I have given Austria and Martin bigger responsibilities to head the major ports since they are consistently hitting their targets with huge surpluses since I assumed as commissioner,” Customs chief Isidro Lapena said.

The two major ports, POM and MICP, had collected only P5.776 billion and P12.625 billion which is 14.9 percent and 9.28 percent lower than the target, respectively.

Lapeña also clarified that the district collectors of Port of Zamboanga and Ninoy Aquino International Airport will not be affected by this recent reshuffling since they assumed office only by midMarch.

“Their revenue performance in April will determine whether they will stay in their position as district collector,” Lapeña added. With PNA

PCSO, PNP raid ‘peryahan’ in Laguna PHILIPPINE Charity Sweepstakes Office General Manager Alexander Balutan on Thursday said his office together with operatives from the provincial police raided and padlocked the draw court center of “Peryahan ng Bayan” that was illegally being operated by the Globaltech Mobile Online Gaming Corp. in Barangay Uno, Cabuyao City, Laguna.

“We will not allow Globaltech to operate with impunity. This illegal activity pays no taxes to the government.

Only gambling financiers and protectors benefit from it,” Balutan said.

He said the operation was conducted on April 3.

“We would like to reiterate, PCSO has not authorized any other entity to operate peryahan. Any operation of peryahan is unauthorized and illegal,” Balutan.

Globaltech is illegally competing with Ramloid Gaming Corp., PCSO’s Authorized Agent Corporation which is playing the Small Town Lottery in the said city.

Balutan said that aside from Lotto, Keno, Digit Games, and Sweepstakes, STL is the only legal numbers game in

the country.

The raiding team seized computer sets, calculators, accounting ledgers, t-shirts with logo, identification cards samples of bet slips, and other equipment from a rented two-story house being used for Globaltech’s draw court.

According to retired Marine major Manuel Fraginal Sr., chief of the Nationwide Inter-Branch Security Monitoring and lead of PCSO raiding team, a peryahan cannot operate without the consent of some corrupt local and police officials.

Records show that the closure of Globalecth’s peryahan operation is based on PCSO Board Resolution No. 51, s 2016, which terminates the Deed of Authority of Globaltech on the grounds of several counts of under-remittance and non-remittance of sales.

Globaltech also failed to remit sales in the National Capital Region, Catanduanes, Rizal, Palawan, Marinduqe, Oriental Mindoro, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Bohol, Agusan del Norte, Davao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, and Zamboanga del Sur.

BOC INSPECTION. Bureau of Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña (middle), along with X-Ray Inspection head lawyer Zsae de

Guzman and district collector of the Port of Manila lawyer Erastus Austria, inspect a smuggled Payloader and Forklift inside a 40-footer container vans seized at the Port of Manila after X-Ray images revealed goods which appeared to be misdeclared. The contraband was valued around at P30 million. Norman Cruz

Don’t bring firearms to Naia—MIAA Ejercito lauds

By Joel E. Zurbano PCC probe of Grab-Uber deal GENERAL manager Eddie Monreal of the Manila International Airport Authority reiterated his call to air travelers not to bring firearms and other prohibited items such as live ammunition and amulet during their trips to avoid flight delays.

Security personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport continue apprehending passengers carrying guns and bullets despite the much publicized ban and numerous warnings about the danger of bringing in or carrying the prohibited items.

On Thursday, Monreal said, airport personnel caught a woman in possession of a .38 caliber revolver while she was at the initial screening check point at Departure Gate 6 of Naia Terminal 3.

Monreal said the departing passenger identified as Grace Castro was stopped by Office for Transportation Security officers Marry Grace Gangani (X-ray operator) and Dennis Lopez (frisker) for inspection when images of bullets were seen on her bag after it passed the X-ray security machine.

He said that the OTS personnel confis-

cated and turned over the prohibited items to the PNP-Aviation Security Group for proper documentation and disposition.

PNP-Avsegroup officials reminded the people traveling by air to secure documents, particularly a permit to transport from the Philippine National Police, when bringing guns and ammunition during their trips.

Avsegroup director Dionardo Carlos said he instructed his men to enforce strict screening procedure at all airports in the country in line with the implementation of Oplan Sandigan, the intensified anti-criminality campaign of the PNP under the leadership of its Director General Ronald dela Rosa.

Carlos advised air travelers to be more extra careful in handling their baggage and ensure they are not carrying security risk and prohibited items that would prevent them from boarding their flights.

The Firearms and Explosives Office of the PNP is the police unit handling clearances for passengers who wish to bring guns and ammunition when traveling. The FEO will issue the passenger’s Permit to Transport, the basic requirement for a passenger to be allowed to bring a gun in-flight.

Pag-IBIG Fund cites top housing partners in Northern Luzon PAG-IBIG Fund recognizes top partner housing developers in North Luzon PagIBIG Fund, led by its chief executive officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti, recognized its top 10 partner-developers in terms of takeout loan value and other top performers at the 2017 North Luzon Home Lending Accomplishment Report held in Clark Field, Pampanga.

“Last year, Pag-IBIG released P65.1 billion in housing loans, a 14 percent increase from 2016’s P57.3 billion, to finance 80,964

housing units. We have also reduced our interest rates to as low as 3 percent under our Affordable Housing Program so that our low-income earners can easily avail of our housing loan program. These are PagIBIG Fund’s ways to support President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive in helping minimum-wage earners, and also the BALAI Filipino (Building Adequate, Livable, Affordable and Inclusive Filipino Communities) program led by Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario, chairperson of the Housing and

Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees,” Moti said.

Pag-IBIG Fund holds the bi-annual HOLAR in the country to keep its operations transparent by reporting its home loan accomplishments.

Pag-IBIG Fund Deputy CEO for Home Lending Operations Cluster Marilene C. Acosta highlighted, “North Luzon aggressively grew in 2017. We saw a 16% growth in loan value takeout from P9.74

billion in 2016 to P11.35 billion in 2017.

The amount financed the purchase or construction of 11,772 housing units, up by 10% from 10,679 in 2016. From the regional takeout outside NCR, North Luzon contributed 30% of loan takeout and 29% of total housing units financed. Of the total socialized housing takeout in 2017 worth P8.9 billion, North Luzon released 10% or P893.14 million. This amount financed 2,174 housing units, which is 9% of the total 24,705 socialized housing units.”

Recto stays upbeat on ’maritime MRT’

House okays bill on ‘No Call and No Text Registration’

By Maricel V. Cruz

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has expressed hopes that the planned “maritime MRT—or Manila River Transport—to be led by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, will not suffer the same fate as the DOTR-run Metro Rail Transit.”

He cited two reasons why Diokno is the best person to lead the revival of a ferry service along “an underutilized nautical highway which can tremendously ease land traffic in Metro Manila.”

“One, DBM has the money. Diokno is the guardian of the coffers. Two, he is the only Cabinet man whose office is literally beside the Pasig River. He can see and smell the river from his office. The solution to Manila’s traffic is outside his window,” he said.

The Senate leader backs the DBMled rehabilitation and privatization plan for the Pasig River ferry. He beleives it is the best chance to rescue the service from the inaction of the Department of Transportation.

SENATOR Joseph Victor Ejercito on Thursday hailed the decision of the Philippine Competition Commission to investigate the merger of transport network vehicle service (TNVS) companies Grab and Uber, saying the merger “virtually eliminates any form of competition.”

“I welcome the decision of the PCC to investigate Grab’s acquisition of its rival, Uber. I am worried that the deal will be extremely detrimental to commuters because the merger will create a monopoly in the ride-sharing sector which has become very popular as a means to address transportation shortage and problems in the Philippines,” Ejercito said in a statement.

On March 26, Singapore-based Grab acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations, covering ride-sharing services in the Philippines, as well as Uber’s operations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Uber’s last day of operations in the Philippines will be on April 8.

Ejercito noted that the merger has virtually created a monopoly, raising the risks of higher fares. PNA

APPRECIATION. Leyte (1st District) Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez (second from left) receives a plaque of appreciation from Eastern Visayas State University president Dr. Dominador Aguirre (left) for supporting the educational and scholarship programs of the university during the 96th Commencement Exercises of Eastern Visayas University in Tacloban City. Romualdez served as guest of honor and speaker of the graduation. Also present are Dr. Felixberto Avestruz (right) and Dr. Christina Caintic (third from left). Ver Noveno

THE House of Representatives has approved a bill mandating the establishment of a registry of cellular phone owners who do not want to receive business solicitation in their telephones.

The approval of House Bill 7321, authored by Rep. Francis Gerald Abaya of Cavite, was a big boost to its final passage into law at the House of Representatives. The bill will be transmitted to the Senate for reconsideration.

If enacted into law, the measure imposes a fine ranging from P50,000 to P100,000 against violators.

“Non-registration of the caller or sender as required under the measure shall be considered a violation of the Act. PTEs who shall be found liable in providing access to subscribers’ numbers to any commercial or marketing agencies without the latter’s consent shall be penalized,” the bill said.

In filing the bill, Abaya invokes the policy of the State to ensure the protection of subscribers from unwanted calls and texts, including the purchase of goods and services and other forms of solicitation.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

Manila

Standard

TODAY

A7

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Volley tryouts to choose players for 2 Asian tilts THE Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. will conduct an open tryout next week in preparation for two major international tournaments ahead – the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia and the AVC Asian Senior Women’s Cup in Thailand.

LVPI vice president Peter Cayco said the one-day tryout is set at the Arellano University Legarda campus on April 13 with the country’s brightest volleyball stars tipped to fight for their respective slots in the national roster.

Cayco, who is in-charge of the national team program, added that they are also set to appoint a new head coach, who would be at the helm from the buildup in May up to the Asian Games and Asian Cup in August and September.

He, however, refused to reveal the identity of the coach as they are still waiting for his formal appointment.

“We will come up with a formal announcement about our new head coach any time soon,” said Cayco, adding that the new coach already has a “wish list” but they will still open their doors to those who want to prove their worth.

“Although we will send formal invites to those in the coach’s wish list, we will

Collegiate and age group standouts, among them national women’s player Rosejean Fadol of FEU (left), and national men’s player Ryan Jacolo of CSB (seventh from right), will see action in the 15th Uni Orient Cup TATAND Interscholastic Table Tennis League opening tomorrow at the San Beda University basketball court in Mendiola, Manila.

World tablenet champ to grace Uni Orient Cup SEVEN-TIME world women’s table tennis champion Liu Wei of China will be the guest of honor in the 15th Uni Orient Cup TATAND Interscholastic Table Tennis League featuring over 1,200 players from 308 teams, which opens tomorrow at the San Beda University basketball court in Mendiola, Manila.

Liu competed actively from 1989 to 1996 and dominated the global table tennis scene until she finally retired to continue her education, securing her doctorate degree in 2015. She presently is an associate professor at the prestigious Beijing University.

In recognition of her table tennis accomplishments and her efforts in promoting the

sport, France in 2017 awarded Liu with the Jurade de St. Emilion, a distinction given to people who have made their mark in their chosen discipline, becoming the first Chinese to receive such honor.

“We are proud and honored to have Ms. Liu as our featured guest in the 15th Uni Orient Cup,” said Kenny Wong, president of the organizing Table Tennis Association for National Development, of her presence at the local table tennis showcase.

Liu will also be available during the sports forum at the SBU audio-visual room shortly after the opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. of the two-day competition supported

by Uni Orient Travel headed by chairman Stephen Techico, the Philippine Sports

Commission and San Beda University.

“We welcome the staging of the 15th Uni Orient Cup TATAND Interscholastic Table Tennis League because this provides our aspiring table tennis players an opportunity to showcase their talents and skills,” said commissioner Ramon Fernandez, who is the PSC officer-in-charge.

“This is one way where the private sector can be an active and effective partner in promoting grassroots sports development,” Fernandez, who was also invited to the opening ceremonies, added.

Over P400,000 in prizes both in cash and in kind will also be at stake in the tournament, revealed TATAND organizing committee chairman Charlie Lim.

Motocross spices up CEZA summer events Newbies win at TRI-Factor TRIATHLON newcomers and those seeking to become full-fledged athletes in the ever-growing swim-bikerun races get the chance to hone up as top Asian multisport brand TRI-Factor holds the Asian Championship Series next month in Camarines Sur. The organizing Orange Room Pte. Ltd expects the slots in the third leg of the short-course series, slated May 2627 at the CamSur Watersports Complex, to be filled up just as quickly with limited berths allotted for the sprint and freshmen triathlon categories.

Registration is ongoing. For details, visit www.trifactor.ph.

To prime up participants, particularly the newbies, a boot camp (swimming) will be held on April 11 at Shangri-la EDSA under coaches Anthony and Angelo Lozada while the bike/run camp is set April 14 and 15 to be conducted by coach Andy Leuterio.

With triathlon gaining a mainstream appeal the last few years, TRI-Factor is putting its best foot forward to provide beginners, including the kids, proper education, training and a program to prepare them for the big competitions ahead.

“I look forward to participating in the TRI-Factor race at CamSur as a triathlon newbie. I bet it will be fun,” said Ms. Earth Air 2016 Michelle Gomez, one of the early celebrities who have signified their intention to join the event also staged to promote a balanced lifestyle and at the same time serves as a venue for family bonding.

STA ANA, Cagayan -- As many as 130 riders, including prominent national and Asian campaigners, are expected to gather in Sta. Ana, Cagayan for the first-ever motocross championship to be staged here, headquarters of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and home of Port Irene.

The race, dubbed the 2018 CEZA-Eastern Hawaii National Motocross Championship, is part of the 2nd round of this year’s Philippine championship series of the National Motorcycle Sports and Safety Association (MAMSSA), the sporting authority for motorcycle sports in the Philippines.

“Since July, it is on record that we have introduced many firsts in CEZA. This is another, and it marks a new milestone in our concerted efforts to promote CEZA as an investment hub and a tourism destination in Northern Luzon.” said Secretary Raul L. Lambino, Administrator and CEO of the Zone, as he stressed the importance of the event scheduled April 14-15 here.

The race is the first of the summer events lined up by CEZA in this sprawling special economic and Freeport town.

Philippine Motocross Rider of the Year Kenneth San Andres heads the cast of riders, and is expected to face a stiff challenge from Moy-Moy Flores and Gabriel “Bilog” Macaso, to name a few hopefuls.

Trophies and allowances are up for grabs in the 14 national categories and two local races, which are exclusive for Cagayan riders and athletes.

Lambino said he is expecting riders and race enthusiasts from Northern Luzon and motocross enthusiasts in the country to flock to Sta. Ana for the two-day event.

The new, rugged off-road race track is located in Centro Sta. Ana and meets the design, safety standards and technical guidelines of the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).

FIM is the world’s governing body for two-wheel motorsports and has NAMSSA as its authorized member in the Philippines. NAMSSA is affiliated with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

“Everything is set. The riders and teams are excited to take part in this national motocross event and are eager to give motocross fans a competition to remember.” said Stephan “Macky” Carapiet, president of NAMSSA Phils. and FIM ASIA. He thanked Sec. Lambino for “bringing motocross racing to Sta. Ana on a scale never before seen by locals.”

“We are proud to have this sport closely associated with CEZA,” he said.

This year’s race is being supported by Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company Limited.

Created by Congress more than two decades ago, the Cagayan Freeport is being developed into a selfsustaining industrial, investment, commercial, financial, sports and recreational center.

Cagayan’s natural wonders and pristine powdery white beaches, especially those found in Palaui Island, are being introduced as new destination spots for the adventure seekers and holiday makers.

LAUDED. Swimming Olympian Eric

Buhain shakes hands with Major General Chad D. Isleta (left), Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army, as he was honored during the flag-raising ceremony at the PA Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig on Monday for helping the Philippine Army Cycling Team through his Bicycology Shop in its pursuit for sports excellence. The Army-Bicycology Shop placed first runnerup in recent Ronda Pilipinas.

SCN FORM NO. 1 (R.A. NO. 9139)

am not defending or teaching the necessity or propriety of

001429

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NATURALIZATION IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF TOMAS KO ONG to be naturalized as Filipino citizen pursuant to Republic Act No. 9139.

SCN CASE NO. x------------------ x

PETITION Pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 9139, petitioner hereby submits a petition for naturalization to become a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines and respectfully declares: 1. My full name is TOMAS KO ONG, but I have also been known since childhood as TOMAS ONG, or I have been N/A . judicially authorized to use the alias name(s) 2. My present place of residence is 706 JADEGARDEN TOWN HOMES, DON PEDRO ST. City/Municipality of MARULAS, VALENZUELA Province of ____,and all my former places of residence are (please indicate periods of residence): 1993-2017, 706 JADE GARDEN TOWN HOMES, DON PEDRO ST. MARULAS, VALENZUELA CITY 1967-1993 1175 A. FERNANDO cor MA. GUERRERO St., MANILA 3. I was born on OCT. 11 1967, in MANILA, Philippines. I have been a resident of the Philippines since birth. At present, I am a citizen or subject of CHINA. 4. My father's name is ONG TIAN SEK and he was born on 21 JANUARY 1922, in CHINA. He is a citizen or subject of CHINA. My mother's name is KO KIM and she was born on 24 MAY 1932 in CHINA. She is a citizen or subject of CHINA. 5. My trade, business, profession or lawful occupation is GENERAL MANAGER and from which I derive an average annual income of P 240,000.00 , inclusive of bonuses, commissions and allowances. My wife's/husband's trade, business, profession or lawful occupation is HOUSEWIFE and from which she derives an average annual income of P N/A .

(Where the above does not apply): I am exempt from the requirement of lucrative trade or occupation and from submitting income tax returns for the past three (3) years because I am a college degree holder [please state (1) degree obtained:____ , (2) name of school: ________________ and (3) years graduated: ______who cannot practice my profession (the practice of which requires a government licensure examination) by reason of my citizenship.

6. My civil status is MARRIED, I was married on JULY 5, 1993 in MANILA. My wife's/husband's name is VIOLETA CRUZ ONG and she/he was born on JUNE 8, 1968 in MANILA. She/he is a citizen or subject of PHILIPPINES and presently resides 706 JADEGARDEN TOWN HOMES, DON PEDRO ST. MARULAS, VALENZUELA 7. I am legally separated from my spouse; my marriage was annulled, per decree of legal separation/annulment dated N/A granted by N/A. (please indicate the particular court which granted the same). I am a widower/widow and my spouse died on N/A in N/A. 8. I have 3 child/children, whose names, dates and places of birth and residences are as follows: Name ONG, KYLE SABRINA ONG, KURT JOSHUA ONG, KRISTINE SHAIRA

Date of Birth FEB. 2, 1994 JUN. 11, 1995 AUG. 29, 1996

Place of Residence Birth MANILA VALENZUELA CITY MANILA VALENZUELA CITY MANILA VALENZUELA CITY

9. I received my primary and secondary education from the following public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), where Philippine history, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality:

Name of School CHIANG KAI SHEK PHIL. CULTURAL HIGH P.S.B.A.

Place of Dates of Highest Grade School Study Completed MANILA 1976-1981 COMPLETED MANILA MANILA

1981-1985 1985-1987

COMPLETED 2ND YEAR UNDERGRAD

10. I am able to read, write and speak Filipino and/or any of the following dialects of the Philippines: TAGALOG. 11. I have enrolled my minor children of school age in the following public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), where Philipine History, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality:

LOTTO RESULTS

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

Name of Child

still welcome players who want to be part of the team. We want to make sure that everybody will be given a chance so that we can assemble the country’s best volleyball team.”

Among those expected to grace the tryout are incumbent national team members Jaja Santiago, Kim Fajardo, Mika Reyes, Kianna Dy, Dawn Macandili and Alyssa Valdez as well as veterans Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Rhea Dimaculangan and Maika Reyes.

Dindin Manabat, Myla Pablo, Kath Arado and MJ Philips are also expected to fight for slots.

Asian Games chief of mission Richard Gomez believes the Philippines has what it takes to come up with a strong performance in the Asian Games.

“We’re strongly considering their inclusion in the Asian Games,” said Gomez, who was part of the men’s volleyball team that saw action in the AVC Asian Men’s Club Championship in 2014.

“We want to repay his faith on us by coming up with a good performance in the Asian Games,” Cayco said of Gomez. “A strong finish in the Asian Games will boost our morale when we host the SEA Games next year.”

Name and Place of School

Date of Enrollment

ONG, KYLE SABRINA ONG, KURT JOSHUA

FEU - FAIRVIEW Q.C. CURRENTLY ENROLLED DELA SALLE GRAD. 2013-16 UNIVERSITY TAFT ONG, KRISTINE SHAIRA PHIL. LIANG SCHOOL- 2015-2016 MANILA

12. I shall never be a public charge. I am of good moral character. I believe in the principles underlying the Philippine Constitution. I have conducted myself in a proper and irreproachable manner during the entire period of my residence in the Philippines in my relations with the constituted government as well as with the community in which I am living. I mingled socially with Filipinos and have evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions and ideals of the Filipino people. I have all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications under Republic Act No. 9139.

I am not opposed to organized government or affiliated with any association or group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organized governments. I

violence, personal assault or assassination for the success and predominance of one's ideas. I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy. I have not been convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude. I am not suffering from mental alienation or from any incurable contagious disease. The country of which I am a citizen or subject is not at war with the Philippines and grants to Filipinos the right to be naturalized citizens or subjects thereof.

13. It is my true and honest intention to become a citizen of the Philippines and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and, particularly, to CHINA of which at this time I am a citizen or subject. I will reside continuously in the Philippines from the date of the filing of this petition up to the time of my admission to Philippine citizenship.

14. My character witnesses are MARTIN L. PAZ and GAVINO SIMON T. GO both Filipino citizens, of legal age, and residing at 2137 IPIL ST., STA CRUZ, MANILA and 21 ALVAR ST., LITTLE BAGUIO, SAN JUAN respectively, who have executed sworn statements attached hereto in support of my instant petition, together with: (a) brief biographical data about themselves; (b) detailed statements on the dates they first came to know me, the circumstances of our initial acquaintance and the reasons and extent of our continuing familiarity; and (c) the number of times they have acted as character witnesses in other petitions for naturalization.

15. Attached hereto as annexes and made part of this petition are the duplicate originals or certified photocopies of the following documents (please check the appropriate box): [ / ] a. Petitioner's birth certificate [ / ] b. Petitioner's alien certificate of registration (ACR) [ / ] c. Petitioner's native-born certificate of residence (NBCR) [ / ] d. Petitioner's marriage certificate, if married [ ] e. Death certificate of his/her spouse, if widowed [ ] f. Court decree annulling his/her marriage or granting legal separation, if such was the fact [ ] g. Birth certificates of petitioner's minor children [ ] h. ACRs of petitioner's minor children [ ] i. NBCRs of petitioner's minor children [ / ] j. Affidavits of financial capacity by the petitioner, duly supported by bank certifications, passbooks, stock certificates, or proof of ownership of other properties [ / ] k. Affidavits of at least two (2) credible witnesses who must be Filipino citizens of good reputation in petitioner's place of residence [ / ] l. Medical certificate from a government hospital stating that petitioner is not suffering from mental alienation or a user of prohibited drugs or otherwise a drug dependent and that he/she is not afflicted with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), or any incurable contagious disease. [ / ] m. School diploma and transcript of records of the petitioner from the school/s he or she attended in the Philippines [ ] n. Certifications stating that petitioner's minor children are enrolled in public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the DECS, where Philippine history, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality [ / ] o. Petitioner's income tax returns for the past three years [ / ] p. Petitioner's receipts of payment of income tax for the past three years 16. Other documents submitted by the petitioner in support of his/her petition: NBI CLEARANCE,R.O.C. PASSPORT, POLICE CLEARANCE, PROSECUTOR CLEARANCE, RTC CLEARANCE, PRAYER WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that petitioner be conferred Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No, 9139.

Dated at Makati City, Metro Manila, this 7th day of MARCH, 2017.

TOMAS KO ONG Name and Signature of Petitioner Address: 706 JADE GARDEN TOWNHOUSE DON PEDRO ST., MARULAS, VALENZUELA Telephone Number: 0917-5308803

Right Thumbmark of Petitioner

Petitioner's signature and right thumbmark

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES) CITY/MUNICIPALITY OF MANILA) S.S. I, TOMAS KO ONG of legal age and a resident of VALENZUELA CITY after being duly sworn, depose and say that I am the petitioner herein, that I have read the foregoing petition and know the foregoing petition and known the contents thereof, and that the same is true of my own knowledge.

TOMAS KO ONG Name and Signature of Petitioner SUBCRIBED AND SWORN to before me at MANILA, this 07 day of MARCH 2017.

(MS-MAR. 16, 23,& APR. 6, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

JuneMar Fajardo hoists his sixth Galvalum 55-PBA Player of the Conference award before the start of Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals. The San Miguel Beer superstar center received the plaque from Al S. Nieva (far left) and Vicky Z. De Leon (third from left), heads of sales for building products of conference sponsor Philsteel, and PBA commissioner Willie O. Marcial. With them is Games and Amusements Board commissioner Mario Masanguid.

Gilas jrs make quarterfinals BATANG Gilas took charge early and smothered Hong Kong, 103-61, Thursday in Foshan, China to advance to the quarterfinals of the Fiba Under-16 Asian Championship.

Kai Sotto made up for Batang Gilas’ loss to Australia with 11 points and 12 rebounds, with his two baskets in the last 8:15 of the first period allowing Batang Gilas to set the tone early, 7-2.

RC Calimag and King Balaga shot 12 points, while Rence Padrigao and Geoff Chiu had 11 each.

Mclaude Guadana made 10.

Two triples from Guadana and one from Calimag in the remaining 5:38 saw Batang Gilas climb to an 18-4 spread with 5:38 left.

With the win, Batang Gilas made it to the quarterfinals and will face Japan at 6 p.m. today at the Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium.

Japan is unbeaten in three matches in Group D. Peter Atencio

Rivero leaves Green Archers

RICCI Rivero, one of La Salle’s star players, has left the team.

Rivero made his decision known on Twitter, saying he is not expected to join the squad in the coming 81st University Athletic Association of the Philippines basketball tournament.

He is also not expected to transfer to another school, according to his father Paolo.

Rivera was taken out of the Green Archers’ roster after he reportedly got into a conflict for breaking a team rule prohibiting commercial endorsement deals.

Early this year, his father said that Ricci never had plans of leaving the school as he will concentrate on his studies.

“All good things come to an end. Thank You to the La Sallian community for the support you’ve given me. The Animo spirit will always be with me. Its now time to move forward,” said the young Rivero on Twitter.

Rivero was among the top players who helped La Salle reach the Finals of UAAP Season 80. His hard work earned him the Mythical Team honors. Peter Atencio

SMBeermen seek 4th straight All-Pinoy title W

By Jeric Lopez

ILL the balloons already fall for San Miguel Beer tonight?

The Beermen are surely looking to make history quickly by trying to finish off Magnolia as they gun for a fourth straight All-Filipino crown in the finals of the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.

Comfortably ahead at 3-1 in its best-ofseven series, San Miguel Beer can clinch the All-Pinoy title for the fourth straight time in Game 5 today at 7 p.m.

As a four-peat beckons for San Miguel, the defending champion still wants to make sure that it finishes the business accordingly and not look too far ahead.

“We still have to win one more game. We should keep our focus and not get too excited,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

However, the multi-titled coach also knows how his team can close out and achieve its goal.

“These players will show the heart of a

All eyes on hungry Tiger AUGUSTA—Elder statesman status is number eight Rickie Fowler. all very well, but 14-time major chamWoods will tee off at 10:42 a.m. (1442 pion Tiger Woods hasn’t battled back GMT) on Thursday alongside Australian from four back surgeries just to make up Marc Leishman and England’s Tommy the numbers at the Masters.

Fleetwood.

“I still want to compete, and I want “The first real Masters I watched was to beat these guys,” the 42-year-old su- 1997, when he won his first,” Fleetwood, perstar said as he looked forward to his 27, recalled. “A few years on and I get to first Masters in three years, and his first play with him and I don’t think you can major start since missing the cut at the get a better draw than Tiger at the Mas2015 PGA Championship. ters.”

Woods’s promising return from spiWoods’s compelling comeback bid nal fusion surgery last April has galva- isn’t the only story in a Masters shaping nized a golf world eager to see if he can up to be a classic. AFP resume his chase to break Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major titles.

Woods’s rivals in a talent-laden Masters field aren’t immune.

The build-up to the Masters has featured an array of 20-something players describing the Tigeresque feats that inspired them to pursue competitive golf.

The possibility that they could find themselves head-to-head against an inform Woods come Sunday is “an extra motivation for everybody” says world number three Jon Rahm, a 22-year-old from Spain.

“Tiger’s earned the attention. He’s been the biggest needle-mover in the game, and it’s going to be tough for anyone to come close to that,” said world TIGER WOODS / AFP

champion. They know how to win,” he said.

Still, don’t expect Magnolia to go down without a fight.

Despite the huge deficit his team is facing, Hotshots coach Chito Victolero remains hopeful as he emphasized that his team still has some fight in it.

“Itong 1-3, medyo mabigat na ‘to pero I’m still very positive,” said Victolero.

“Walang imposible.”

It may not be easy but still, the battlecry for Victolero and his wards is simple.

“We’ll try to live and fight another day.

We’ll just continue to try and fine ways to win and survive in Game 5,” Victolero said.

Cyna recovers to lead by 2 TARLAC – Cyna Rodriguez blew a four-stroke lead as she lost her touch off the mound but fought back from three down with superb putting to regain a two-shot edge despite a 75 as Thai Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang crumbled at the finish in the second round of the ICTSI Luisita Ladies Championship at the Luisita Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

In a bizarre twist, Rodriguez bogeyed the very three holes (Nos. 4, 5 and 7) she birdied that anchored her superb opening 70 card Wednesday but came through with a slew of par saves and a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th to move 18 holes away from breaking a long spell on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour with a 145.

From 4-up, the Filipina ace fell by three as Pattaranakrueang, who opened with a 74, scorched the frontside with three birdies in the first eight holes. Though she dropped strokes on the par-5 ninth and No. 11, the veteran Thai campaigner birdied Nos. 12 and 14 to move up by three with a one-under overall card.

Arcilla is PH team’s lucky charm VETERAN Johnny Arcilla could be the catalyst when the Philippines battles favorite Thailand in the 2018 Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II tie starting tomorrow at the Philippine Columbian Association clay courts in Paco, Manila.

Having won the prestigious PCA crown a record eight times, the 38-year-old Arcilla is perceived to be the lucky charm of the PH team aching to get back at the Thais after absorbing 5-0 drubbing in the same stage last year in Bangkok.

“He knows the shell-clay courts of the PCA like the back of his hands,” said PH Davis Cup administrator Martin Misa. “He’s the winningest player in the PCA Open so we are banking a lot from him.”

And that’s also the reason why Francis Casey Alcantara picked him as his doubles’ partner.

“He’s the legend in this court so we hope we can use it to our advantage,” said Alcantara.

Even AJ Lim acknowledged that he got valuable tips from the country’s erstwhile No. 1 player.

“He gave us tips during our almost three weeks of training, so we are ready for the Thais now,” said Lim who is likely be nominated to play in the singles’ events.

The draw will be held today also at the PCA with the singles matches scheduled tomorrow while the crucial doubles will be held Sunday morning. The reversed singles matches are set in the afternoon.

Yap to lead PH charge in Asian archery

By Peter Atencio PODIUM finishes are expected of the national men’s and women’s team when the Philippines hosts the Asia Archery Cup Leg 2, which officially reels off today at the Rizal Memorial Baseball field.

World no. 103 Earl Yap leads the Philippine campaign and he is expected to shine in the compound event.

Having made it to the second round of the World Championships in Salt Lake City, Yap boasts of a good chance to earn a medal/s.

Marlon de la Cruz and Joseph Vicencio will join Yap in coming up with medal finishes.

The national women’s compound team is led by Jennifer Chan, Amaya Paz-Cojuangco and Rachelle de la Cruz.

“This is Asian Cup level. The competition is really tough. Pero kakayanin,” said national men’s coach Clint Sayo.

The last time the Philippines had a great finish in the tournament was in the 2015 Asia Cup in Bangkok, where PazCojuangco led the nationals to seven gold medals.

Paz-Cojuangco claimed five gold medals, topping the qualification round of the individual women’s compound, women’s compound team with Jennifer Chan and Andrea Robles and mixed compound team with Jose Ferdinand Adriano.

Paz-Cojuangco joined Chan and Robles as they beat India, 224-223, in the finals of the Olympic round of the women’s compound team, before teaming up with Adriano in the Olympic round of the mixed compound team finals to beat China, 151-142, to also capture the gold.

IN BRIEF

Ayala’s power unit eyes 5-GW capacity

AC ENERGY Inc., the power unit of Ayala Corp., said it targets to exceed 5,000 gigawatts of power generation capacity by 2025.

“Our goal is to exceed five gigawatts of capacity by 2025. We will do this by growing both in the Philippines and around the region, “AC Energy president and chief executive John Eric Francia said.

Francia said AC Energy was prepared to invest “over $2 billion of equity” to reach its 5-GW generation portfolio. He said the company was looking at a mix of 50-percent renewables and 50-percent coal projects.

AC Energy said this year, it was expecting to reach 1,800 MW of attributable capacity.

“From a standing start, AC Energy has quickly grown into a significant power company. In just five years, it was able to exceed a thousand MW of capacity with strong platforms in both thermal and renewable energy,” Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.

He said Ayala saw the potential of the power industry as a sustainable business and a crucial driver for the nation’s progress. He said the country needed reliable and affordable power while reforms in the industry also enabled more open competition and opportunities.

“We’ve always viewed such structural shifts in an industry as opportunities for Ayala to make an impact and create value.

This is why we decided to throw our hat in the ring of the power sector,” Ayala said.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Business

Banks’ capital weaker in 2017

DEBT watcher Moody’s Investors Service said the robust loan growth lifted the earnings of Philippine banks last year but it would weigh on their capitalization this year.

Moody’s said in a report the capitalization of most Philippine banks deteriorated in 2017 as risk-weighted assets grew faster than internally generated capital.

“Without external capital raising, capital ratios will remain under pressure in 2018 from loan growth, outpacing increases in retained earnings,” Moody’s said.

“Currently, internal capital generation at Philippine banks is not strong enough to support rapid credit growth. The system’s pre-provision income more than covers anticipated credit losses but is insufficient for banks to sustain current capital levels given large increases in risk-weighted assets,” Moody’s said.

Moody’s said a key factor limiting improvements in profitability and internal capital generation was banks’ weak cost efficiency. It said operating costs would increase further as banks needed to improve IT infrastructure to keep pace with business growth.

Moody’s said the adoption of Philippine Financial Reporting Standards 9, the local equivalent of IFRS, would also result in reductions in capital ratios at some banks.

Julito G. Rada

DIGITAL DISRUPTION. The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, together with the EU-Philippines Business Network, hold the Digital Disruption Forum: Driving Philippine Competitiveness in the Digital Future at the New World Makati Hotel.

Shown during the forum are (from left) Department of Information and Communications Technology officer-in-charge Elliseo Rio Jr., EU Delegation Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen, ECCP executive director Florian Gottein and DICT Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim. Lino Santos

March inflation surged to five-year high of 4.3% I

By Julito G. Rada

NFLATION rate surged to 4.3 percent in March, the highest in more than five years, driven by higher rice prices and the impact of the tax reforms on commodity prices this year.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority which began using the 2012 price index this year said the March inflation was faster than the revised 3.8 percent in February and 3.1 percent a year ago. It also breached the government’s full-year inflation target of 2 percent to 4 percent.

Inflation in the first quarter averaged 3.8 percent, below the target range.

The PSA said using the old 2006 price index, inflation rate in March accelerated to 4.8 percent from 4.5 percent in February.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement that inflation, using the 2012-based CPI series, would likely

average near the high-end of the target range in 2018 before decelerating to the midpoint of the target range in 2019.

“The elevated path of inflation in 2018 along with rising inflation expectations will be continually assessed to guard against potential second-round effects from developing and inflation becoming broader based,” it said.

“Nevertheless, non-monetary measures such as institutional arrangements in setting transportation fares and minimum wages, unconditional cash transfers, as well as transport subsidies are expected to help mitigate these inflationary impulses,” it said.

The Bangko Sentral said the proposed reforms in the rice industry could help temper price pressures.

The Bangko Sentral said that its decision on the monetary policy stance would remain data-dependent and that it would remain vigilant in evaluating price conditions and ready to take appropriate measures as necessary to ensure that inflation would remain consistent with the target.

The National Economic and Development Authority said the government

Factory output increased 24.8% in February—PSA FACTORY production grew by nearly a quarter in February from a year ago, on higher output of food, electrical machinery, beverage and petroleum products, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.

Results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries showed that the growth in the volume of production index picked up from 21.9 percent in January and 9.8 percent a year ago.

The value of production index also increased 23.6 percent.

“This signals a continued improvement from its slowdown since the second quarter of 2017,” Neda officer-incharge and Undersecretary for policy and planning Rosemarie Edillon said in a statement.

“The increasing working-age population, rising productivity, improvement in business environment, and aggressive infrastructure development will also help spur growth in the sector,” she said.

She said the industries’ outlook for both the current and succeeding quarters remained bullish with the expectation of sustained robust demand, improvement in production capacity, new product lines and enhanced marketing strategies.

The positive business sentiment of Philippine industries mirrored the high business confidence among Asian companies in the first quarter of 2018.

Edillon said said risks to growth remained and the government should be cautious about the rising inflation rate which might lead to higher cost of production for manufacturing firms.

Julito G. Rada

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

B1

Neda endorses P735-b Bulacan airport project

More time sought for biomass projects

THE Energy Department asked the Energy Regulatory Commission to extend the installation target for biomass and run-ofriver hydro projects by another two years.

ERC spokesman Floresinda Digal confirmed that the department sent a letter to ERC regarding the extension of the installation target for the two undersubscribed technologies.

“Two years extension. We can’t say anything about the rate because it would have to go through the process and NREB [National Renewable Energy Board] has not submitted its recommendation,” Digal said.

NREB is the implementing agency of Renewable Energy Act of 2008, which grants feed-in tariff incentives to renewable energy developers.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi earlier said the department was “positively looking” at an extension for the biomass and run-of-river hydro projects.

The installation target for the two renewable energy technologies expired in December 2017. Alena Mae S. Flores

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

should continue to be proactive in maintaining price stability and cushioning the impact of higher consumer prices on the poor following the uptick in inflation.

Neda officer-in-charge and Undersecretary for policy and planning Rosemarie Edillon said proactive measures would be vital in managing inflation and mitigating its impact especially on the poor.

“The government remains vigilant to price pressures, especially on food consumed by the poor such as rice,” she said.

Prices of rice rose 3.6 percent in March, faster than the 2.8-percent in February. Farm gate prices of palay have been on an upward trend since the second week of January, which in part, contributed to higher wholesale and retail prices of rice.

Edillon cited the urgency to fast-track the amendments of Republic Act 8178 or the Agricultural Tariffication Act, which would remove the quantitative restrictions on rice importation, and eventually open imports to private traders and allow the National Food Authority to focus on ensuring buffer stocks for rice.

FIRST METRO WINS PDS AWARDS. Metrobank Group’s investment banking arm, First Metro Investment Corp. and stockbrokerage house, First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp., win honors at the 2018 PDS Annual Awards. First Metro bagged the Top Corporate Securities Market Maker, Top 5 Fixed Income Brokering Participant (ranked third) and Top 5 Fixed Income Dealing Participant (third), while FirstMetroSec won Top 5 Depository Brokering Participant (fourth). Shown during the awarding ceremony are (from left) PDEx president and chief operating officer Antonino Nakpil, deputy treasurer of the Philippines Sharon Almanza, First Metro vice president Annagraziela Banaad, vice president David Ignacio Estacio, senior manager Bernice Joyce Nobleza, SEC commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong and PDS Group president and chief executive Cesar Crisol.

Filinvest secures Pagcor permit to build $200-m casino in Clark

By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Gotianun family bagged a provisional gaming license from staterun Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to build a $200-million casino and leisure development in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga province.

Filinvest Development Corp., the holding company of the Gotianun family, said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the group, together with subsidiary Mimosa Cityscapes Inc. secured a provisional license for the development of an integrated resort called Filinvest Mimosa + Leisure City.

“We thank Pagcor for granting Filinvest Mimosa + Leisure City the provisional license. They have been very efficient and helpful since we submitted our application and all the necessary requirements in

2017. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with them. We believe that this is a worthy investment,” FDC president and chief executive Josephine Gotianun said in a statement to the stock exchange.

Under the plan, MCI will invest at least $200 million for the project which would be comprised of a casino, lifestyle mall, five-star hotel and events facilities.

It would rise within a 201-hectare prime mixed-use sprawling townscape envisioned to become a premier leisure and business destination in the heart of Clark.

The project also includes the renovation of existing Quest Hotel, two championship golf courses and villas. FDC said this would bring Filinvest Mimosa +Leisure City closer to its commitment of developing the area into a world class tourist and gaming destination.

“Filinvest Mimosa PLus Leisure City is

envisioned to become the lifestyle destination north of Manila. Its enviable location close to Clark International Airport makes it accessible to both domestic and inter national tourists,” Yap said.

“Now that we have secured the provisional license, we foresee further upsurge in tourist arrivals upon completion of the various project components. It is our intention to work with a leading casino operator who will align with our vision of a premiere destination. Visitors can look forward to Filinvest Mimosa + Gaming Estate with its offering of topnotch casinos and boutiques, among others,” Yap said.

The new development is expected to provide employment, investment and entrepreneurial opportunities, increased government income and more importantly a boost to the tourism industry.

THE National Economic and Development Authority said Thursday a committee composed of Cabinet secretaries endorsed a proposal by San Miguel Corp. to build a P735-billion international airport in Bulacan province.

Neda said the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee approved on March 28 the Bulacan International Airport Project in Bulakan town, which is hugged by Manila Bay. It was sent for the final approval of President Rodrigo Duterte, who heads the Neda Board.

Bulakan, a first-class town, is located northwest of Obando and Valenzuela City and is only 35 kilometers north of Manila.

Neda said the Bulacan Airport Project has a project cost of P735.63 billion. The unsolicited proposal involves the construction of a terminal, parallel runways and airport toll road, and will be able to accommodate 100 million passengers per annum by its opening year of 2023.

“Furthermore, ICC’s approval of the airport project includes recommendation to the Neda Board for negotiations between DOTr [Department of Transportation] and San Miguel Holdings towards conducting the prescribed Swiss Challenge, after finalizing the bidding parameters with the Department of Finance,” Neda said.

San Miguel decided to push for the proposal amid the congestion at the existing main gateway―Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Seven conglomerates submitted a bid to redevelop Naia, while SM and Solar Group proposed to build a new airport in Sangley Point, Cavite.

San Miguel’s proposed involved developing an “aerotropolis”on 1,168 hectares and a city complex on a 2,500-hectare area in Bulakan.

Meanwhile, the ICC-Cabinet Committee also endorsed for the approval of the president the Davao Food Complex. Julito G. Rada

Hyundai hikes PH investment program to P5b

By Othel V. Campos HYUNDAI Asia Resources Inc., the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, said it will increase its investments in the Philippines to P5 billion in a span of five years as a third industry player in the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program.

Hari president and chief executive Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo told reporters during the opening of the fourday Manila International Auto Show 2018 at the World Trade Center the company would deliver its commitment to the government and to the industry.

“We will pilot our CKD [completely knocked-downed] assembly plant on May 14. This will have all the important processes from welding to painting, among others, and the assembly of about 1,800 parts, both big and small, in one place” Agudo said.

The company said the investment in the CKD plant was around P2 billion.

It earlier invested P1.2 billion for the acquisition of an automotive logistics center in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Hari said the balance of the proposed investments would be spent on increasing the capacity of the assembly plant to 50,000 units annually by the fourth year of its implementation of the Cars program.

Commercial production is expected to start by September with target production volume of 3,000 to 5,000 units by end-2018.

The company earlier announced it would register two models under the Cars program, including the Eon sedan and the H350 model.

The Cars program is a P27-billion incentives package available to three automotive players that have the capacity to invest in local production of 600,000 units in six years.

The government hopes to generate 200,000 new jobs, bring in fresh investments worth $1.2 billion, stimulate local demand by increasing vehicle sales to $9.2 billion and effectively implement industry regulations to revitalize the Philippine automotive industry.

B2

Business

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market rises; ICTSI, Vulcan up

S

TOCKS rose Thursday, as concerns over a US-China trade war eased and on reports Philippine manufacturing grew strongly in the first two months of 2018.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, gained 24 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 8,022.16, as three of the six major sectors advanced.

The heavier index, representing all shares, went up 6 points, or 0.1 percent, to settle at 4,864.45, on a value turnover of P5.9 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 103 to 83, while 55 issues were unchanged.

Nine of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Vulcan Industrial & Mining which climbed 6.2 percent to P1.02. Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. rose 1.7 percent to P100, while conglomerate

SM Investments Corp. gained 1.5 percent to P974.

Meanwhile, most Asian markets also traded higher Thursday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.5 percent, or 325.87 points, to end at 21,645.42, while the broader Topix index was up 1.1 percent, or 18.48 points, at 1,724.61.

“The bullish sentiment has increased as the trade war between the US and China has entered into a phase of searching for common ground,” Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.

The escalating confrontation between Washington and Beijing had inched closer to all-out trade war on Wednesday after China threatened retaliation against key US exports.

Beijing unveiled plans for painful import duties targeting politically sensitive US exports, including autos, aircraft and soybeans, to retaliate against looming US tariffs on more than 1,000 Chinese goods.

Wall Street opened sharply lower on the news but investors eventually decided their fears might be overblown and stocks closed higher.

Analysts said the catalyst for the turnaround was a comment by recently installed White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who suggested President Donald Trump’s strident approach to China was a negotiating tactic to win concessions.

“I understand the stock market anxiety. I get that,” Kudlow told Fox Business. “I think at the end of this whole process, the end of the rainbow, there’s a pot of gold.”

Kudlow is well known to financial markets after many years as an analyst on CNBC. In Asian trade Thursday, the dollar fetched 106.90 yen, up from 106.82 yen in New York and 106.56 yen in Tokyo on Wednesday.

In Tokyo share trading, Monex Group,

which soared more than 20 percent on Tuesday after announcing that it was mulling the acquisition of Coincheck, plunged 10.31 percent to 400 yen amid media reports that the troubled virtual currency exchange had accepted the deal.

Last month, Coincheck refunded more than $440 million to customers following the hack of its systems, which was one of the largest thefts of its kind.

Thieves siphoned away 523 million units of the cryptocurrency from Coincheck—then valued at $547 million— during the January hack.

Banks were among gainers, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial advancing 1.90 percent to 699.7 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui trading up 1.90 percent to 4,440 yen.

Sony rose 1.47 percent to 5,213 yen and cosmetic giant Shiseido soared 2.70 percent to 7,179 yen.

Toyota edged up 0.16 percent at 6,750 yen, while Mazda fell 0.95 percent to 1,404 yen.With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 59.25 15,980 108 1,754,530 3.08 3,000 138.8 832,870 1.69 122,000 35.3 74,800 7.3 33,700 16.14 41,600 19.06 630,800 3.39 2,000 875 150 0.56 389,000 84.9 761,860 1.3 5,222,000 12.6 77,200 22 5,000 55.25 43,550 231 5,140 113.6 190 87.05 330 44.5 45,600 232.6 705,070 91 12,150 1.2 1,000

951,515.50 188,333,366 9,240 115,622,655 201,260 2,638,235 226,940 668,392 12,031,064 6,820 131,250 218,040 64,622,584 6,922,240 971,660 110,000 2,407,217 1,189,980 21,540 28,726.50 2,036,410 162,029,620 1,106,861 1,200

259,552.50 -30,433,501 -35,170,573 -568,485 4,102,672 131,250 19,025,071 -48,850 -133,000 153,631 25,410 -16,600 -31,870,714 586,818.50 -

INDUSTRIAL 38.4 434,200 13.86 765,600 0.63 5,452,000 1.29 107,000 20.05 19,400 0.238 43,800,000 3.61 1,331,000 17.18 280,600 299 10 51.7 475,750 33 172,500 81 1,100 2.04 1,271,000 10.38 86,500 11.14 923,100 15.14 2,021,800 11.76 1,018,900 7.46 22,000 5.5 422,900 17.12 1,323,100 65.35 71,880 25 55,500 9.79 3,300 17.56 411,200 2.62 3,194,000 280 497,530 5.07 84,600 3.3 3,000 26.95 4,143,900 16.18 115,600 21.5 4,203,800 323.4 102,680 0.191 60,000 7.8 800 2.89 1,635,000 5 259,500 9.15 441,700 5.32 144,800 8 16,700 1.52 199,000 12.58 5,700 52.8 888,350 4.87 32,000 2.19 83,000 3.6 163,000 2.23 649,000 14.4 65,400 69.4 1,321,030 5.45 6,200 1.05 114,000 150 207,230 2.77 5,000 1.98 2,999,000 1.02 191,535,000

16,703,160 10,603,042 3,374,790 136,200 387,228 10,772,900 4,828,450 4,793,512 2,990 24,542,244 5,881,670 88,421.50 2,651,650 907,736 10,300,060 30,573,670 11,684,850 164,821 2,321,916 22,672,498 4,697,901.5 4 1,406,965 31,819 7,248,698 8,229,170 141,051,486 426,804 9,940 111,526,265 1,878,916 89,986,160 33,178,626 11,490 6,243 4,701,800 1,297,576 4,031,436 ( 768,356 133,800 299,930 71,866 47,536,888 ( 155,360 179,400 577,190 1,455,110 949,412 89,808,107 33,330 118,620 31,088,673 13,400 5,963,860 203,358,940

-2,101,710 1,024,998 59,590 -347,660 -736,230 2,881,218 274,470 5,480 -215,796 -8,617,758 14,068,056 2,706,914 10,887 273,637 -12,378,964 ,505,005.9995 395,544 73,420 -10,567,188 -2,757,195 74,660.00 51,494,395 18,060,790 1,910 1,045,190 141,542 703,486.0001) 75,000 3,750 14,973,903.5) 145,630 32,250 3,700 -40,880 -54,204 9,662,777.50 -21,320 13,615,941 -1,684,310 1,394,620

262,900 94,544,251 46,290,026 29,740 88,306 1,674,070 1,657,210 363,807,390 82,000 868,424 81,986,938 525,973 163,893,875 356,902 53,858,525 76,608 119,960 720,102 17,685,148 9,188,570 88,080,596 414,300 6,177,020 8,215,340 70,170,089 166,821,195 57,880 456,250 269,860 64,800 36,780 453,490

1,665,501.50 34,738,974 1,248,230 -101,501,380 -95,148 -7,377,872 -20,095,320 772,984 -701,622 8,101,666 -3,000 -45,005,621 29,000 -475,320 13,880,459 65,199,140 37,800 -

NAME

OPEN

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

59.5 106.5 3.08 139 1.67 35.25 7.5 16.14 19.1 3.43 875 0.56 85.5 1.32 12.56 22 55.85 236 114 87.05 44.75 230 92 1.2

59.7 108.2 3.08 140.4 1.7 35.35 7.5 16.14 19.2 3.43 875 0.57 85.9 1.39 12.6 22 55.9 236 114 87.05 44.8 234.2 92 1.2

59 106.5 3.08 138 1.63 35.2 6.38 16 18.98 3.39 875 0.56 84 1.28 12.5 22 54.9 230 113.2 87.05 44.5 229 90.15 1.2

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

38.75 13.68 0.59 1.26 20 0.235 3.65 17 299 51.5 35 83 2.16 10.5 11.16 15.1 10.86 7.65 5.48 17.2 65.35 25.4 9.6 17.8 2.56 285 5.15 3.34 27.45 16.3 21.4 324 0.192 7.81 2.85 5.09 9.24 5.55 8.2 1.5 12.76 54 4.7 2.16 3.45 2.25 14.6 69 5.46 1.04 150.9 2.62 1.98 0.97

38.75 14 0.63 1.29 20.8 0.265 3.67 17.18 299 51.85 36 83 2.18 10.5 11.3 15.18 11.76 7.65 5.53 17.2 65.7 25.8 9.8 18 2.62 289 5.15 3.34 27.45 16.38 21.55 324 0.192 7.81 2.89 5.09 9.24 5.55 8.2 1.52 12.76 54 4.87 2.28 3.76 2.27 14.6 71.5 5.46 1.05 150.9 2.77 2.02 1.13

38.4 13.5 0.58 1.26 19.32 0.23 3.61 17 299 50.5 32 80 2.04 10.38 11.14 15 10.78 7.45 5.44 17.02 65.35 25 9.6 17.4 2.52 280 5 3.3 26.75 16.18 21 322 0.191 7.8 2.78 4.92 9.1 5.23 8 1.5 12.5 52.8 4.7 2.13 3.45 2.23 14.4 63.4 5.31 1.04 149.7 2.62 1.97 0.97

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

0.3 69.35 13.6 0.9 6.27 0.64 0.65 915 1,900 7.29 12.5 7.59 1,152 6.94 63.2 5.32 0.65 5.12 19.8 0.71 5.36 0.046 1.2 3.43 142 976 0.86 1.75 675 270 0.244 0.21

0.31 69.5 13.9 0.92 6.5 0.64 0.66 919 2,150 7.3 12.74 7.6 1,157 6.94 64 5.32 0.67 5.15 19.9 0.75 5.36 0.046 1.27 3.47 144 976 0.9 1.79 675 270 0.25 0.212

0.3 68.1 13.6 0.9 6.27 0.61 0.65 904.5 1,900 7.2 12.32 7.39 1,145 6.91 63.2 5.32 0.65 5.03 19.7 0.7 5.22 0.043 1.16 3.27 141.5 962 0.86 1.73 640 270 0.244 0.199

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

6.59 1.03 15.36 2.18 0.86 41.75 3.7 4.64 6.18 0.445 1.06 0.99 0.29 0.445 31.5 0.7 0.124 1.75 1.52 1.05 4.71 0.67 0.41 0.57 4.26

6.7 1.03 15.72 2.19 0.88 41.75 3.7 4.66 6.19 0.47 1.06 1.01 0.3 0.47 32 0.73 0.124 1.76 1.52 1.13 4.72 0.7 0.43 0.57 4.27

6.4 0.99 15.34 2.13 0.85 41.25 3.63 4.62 6 0.445 1.06 0.97 0.28 0.445 31.45 0.7 0.124 1.73 1.47 1.04 4.58 0.65 0.405 0.55 4

VOLUME

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VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

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

19.6 1.95 3.16 34.7 1 17.1 0.87 6.6

19.88 1.99 3.22 34.7 1.02 17.2 0.88 6.7

19.56 1.95 3.16 34 0.99 17 0.85 6.51

19.7 1.96 3.2 34.4 1.01 17.04 0.85 6.7

2,590,700 137,000 61,000 4,207,600 628,000 27,600 183,000 4,955,000

51,026,752 267,910 194,850 143,945,325 632,250 471,432 157,910 32,803,486

-44,551,216 64,710 102,690 7,887,785 -51,392 198,400

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR 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

18 29.35 1.26 0.54 0.047 12.56 5.26 13.9 0.068 93.6 7.76 7.56 2.4 32 1,601 6.37 302 5.3 2.35 98.5 13 8.15 0.122 1.45 3.23 14.7 6.55 1.03 26.5 0.5 5.75 8.1 3.49 17.02 9.2 11.4 10 3.08 124 6.78 1,485 1.07 0.445 52.25 90 7.38 2.7 1.45 0.45 4.15 0.91 11.2

18 29.5 1.31 0.6 0.051 12.56 5.26 14 0.068 94.6 8 7.56 2.4 32 1,618 6.55 308 5.41 2.45 100.4 13 8.3 0.125 1.45 3.33 14.8 6.83 1.08 27.15 0.5 5.76 8.16 3.5 17.02 9.27 11.5 10 3.08 125 6.86 1,497 1.08 0.445 52.3 90 7.63 2.77 1.47 0.45 4.66 1.03 11.2

17.7 28.9 1.26 0.51 0.047 12.54 5.26 13.02 0.065 91.95 7.7 7.26 2.22 28.3 1,601 6.32 300 5.25 2.35 98.5 12.7 8.15 0.121 1.44 3.21 14.7 6.12 1.01 26.5 0.5 5.43 7.99 3.44 17.02 8.64 11.38 9.75 3 122 6.69 1,468 1.07 0.43 51.25 87.75 7.2 2.69 1.45 0.43 4.03 0.91 10.82

SERVICES 17.7 29 1.31 0.52 0.051 12.54 5.26 13.04 0.065 92.5 7.7 7.4 2.24 28.8 1,611 6.4 301 5.32 2.45 100 12.8 8.29 0.121 1.45 3.33 14.8 6.19 1.06 27 0.5 5.57 8.1 3.47 17.02 8.64 11.38 9.75 3.04 124 6.73 1,474 1.07 0.445 52 89.3 7.33 2.7 1.45 0.435 4.55 1.03 10.84

43,600 71,100 12,000 49,709,000 105,800,000 13,500 100 24,282,200 27,010,000 113,720 1,371,300 68,600 138,000 292,100 21,905 2,217,200 16,480 963,200 3,000 1,630,790 29,000 52,600 7,230,000 432,000 58,000 2,900 23,830,200 1,283,000 2,978,800 28,000 960,900 1,840,200 585,000 800 9,854,000 9,500 11,300 46,000 207,770 205,200 86,625 1,524,000 2,610,000 480,450 209,180 421,200 658,000 1,312,000 10,680,000 11,544,000 39,830,000 1,777,100

778,422 2,067,950 15,170 27,642,170 5,254,800 169,350 526 321,071,456 1,770,670 10,564,221.50 10,681,394 503,792 314,350 8,656,775 35,211,420 14,311,948 4,976,118 5,145,040 7,200 162,775,582.50 370,944 429,595 884,130 625,060 187,150 42,850 152,929,329 1,352,190 80,357,530 14,000 5,317,920 14,828,341 8 2,028,760 13,616 87,408,778 108,342 110,600 140,440 25,762,770 1,388,393 127,661,155 1,644,470 1,146,700 25,017,640 18,638,286 3,111,452 1,783,880 1,905,200 4,680,750 51,230,260 38,803,170 19,335,996

1,798 23,040 -144,543,358 4,043,592.50 511,904 -2,800 -12,647,280 26,818 -172,024 -17,640,737 98,880 61,500 -42,050 2,104,533 7,922,730 -1,244,403 ,347,719.0003 138,280 -1,502,053 10,242 -108,450 -25,196 -53,512,190 -883,130 4,622,151.50 4,994,417 1,733,843 575,040 1,345,580 -272,950 -2,564,930 -19,530 1,801,280

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

0.003 1.79 4.65 1.64 0.32 8.26 2.6 0.212 0.15 0.155 1.44 6.05 1.23 0.59 0.88 0.012 0.012 2.23 6.09 16 32.85 0.0066

0.003 1.81 4.65 1.65 0.32 8.48 2.72 0.215 0.151 0.155 1.44 6.12 1.23 0.61 0.88 0.013 0.013 2.23 6.1 16.1 32.85 0.007

0.0028 1.72 4.64 1.62 0.32 7.7 2.47 0.209 0.15 0.154 1.41 5.99 1.18 0.57 0.87 0.012 0.012 2.23 6.07 14.7 31.7 0.0066

MINING & OIL 0.0029 2,221,000,000 1.72 6,308,000 4.64 39,000 1.65 482,000 0.32 280,000 7.98 38,900 2.48 62,558,000 0.212 830,000 0.15 2,410,000 0.154 1,690,000 1.41 15,000 6.01 971,800 1.22 79,000 0.57 406,000 0.88 139,000 0.013 355,900,000 0.013 6,000,000 2.23 2,000 6.1 1,238,500 15.4 4,357,800 32 1,089,200 0.007 16,000,000

6,299,300 11,128,230 181,060 789,750 89,600 309,654 162,814,510 174,680 361,510 261,610 21,240 5,847,316 93,420 238,580 121,870 4,606,500 74,000 4,460 7,551,900 66,960,690 34,878,890 109,300

40,600 -104,120 -4,640 -249,390 64,934,340 35,700 -3,541,509 32,800 186,675 -968,124 4,899,710 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2A PNX PREF 3A SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

27.85 508 510 101 6.18 991 101.5 1.06 107.5 1,035 104.6 1,000 77 79 75 77.7 76.5 77

28 508 512 101 6.37 1,000 101.5 1.06 107.5 1,035 104.6 1,009 77 79 75.4 77.7 76.5 77.1

27.7 508 502 101 6.18 991 101.5 1.06 107.5 1,034 104.6 982 77 79 74.95 76 75.3 75.1

PREFERRED 28 424,700 508 10 502 2,130 101 38,340 6.22 593,200 1,000 60 101.5 110 1.06 13,000 107.5 10 1,034 2,545 104.6 90 982 4,000 77 10 79 6,350 74.95 90,780 76 135,700 76.5 92,800 75.1 105,230

11,837,870 5,080 1,070,360 3,872,340 3,704,984 59,550 11,165 13,780 1,075 2,631,540 9,414 3,999,600 770 501,650 6,807,183.50 10,448,980 7,027,900 8,056,573

-943,240 5,080 -3,053,598 -2,003,700 7,650 -

LR WARRANT

4.29

4.3

3.87

WARRANTS 3.9 7,198,000

29,357,210

39,940

11,717,376 397,730 18,094,580

141,830 -974,220

446,392

4,899

102,530.40

-

NAME

MS

HOLDING FIRMS 0.305 870,000 69.5 1,372,380 13.9 3,361,000 0.92 33,000 6.28 14,000 0.62 2,676,000 0.66 2,542,000 906 401,020 2,150 40 7.21 120,400 12.64 6,511,900 7.5 69,600 1,148 142,670 6.91 51,600 63.85 845,570 5.32 14,400 0.66 181,000 5.04 142,000 19.8 893,200 0.74 12,650,000 5.27 16,739,600 0.045 9,500,000 1.25 5,081,000 3.33 2,446,000 143.5 490,070 974 171,960 0.9 67,000 1.73 262,000 669 410 270 240 0.25 150,000 0.2 2,170,000 PROPERTY 6.42 1.01 15.72 2.13 0.88 41.75 3.63 4.62 6.19 0.46 1.06 1 0.285 0.47 31.75 0.71 0.124 1.75 1.47 1.08 4.6 0.65 0.43 0.56 4.01

333,600 4,030,000 12,100 49,000 1,455,000 3,838,000 685,000 423,000 60,200 41,540,000 1,000 1,334,000 358,570,000 30,000 128,900 7,641,000 1,000,000 5,027,000 13,007,000 10,642,000 7,311,000 166,188,000 14,130,000 7,255,000 830,000

2,189,903 4,062,100 185,832 106,020 1,267,670 159,825,080 2,508,180 1,955,640 371,025 19,081,100 1,060 1,307,330 100,991,400 13,600 4,090,765 5,469,160 124,000 8,799,630 19,389,030 11,596,650 33,846,670 110,807,030 5,962,850 4,038,050 3,417,140

-14,614 -10,000 -42,600 20,074,415 -1,071,410 -27,960 314,049 -9,200,000 26,100 53,950.00 935,875 -2,970 1,670,120 274,230 -88,980 4,784,040 -951,070 8,300 -8,590.00

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

6.14 3.42 3.76

6.25 3.5 3.83

5.95 3.27 3.54

FIRST METRO ETF

122.6

123

122.3

USD TECH B2

1.02

1.02

1.02

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

10,894,706

INDUSTRIAL

275,392,802

HOLDING FIRMS

70,828,978

PROPERTY

658,439,997

SERVICES

347,944,036

MINING & OIL

2,683,193,507

GRAND TOTAL

4,053,723,193

5.98 3.45 3.55

SME

1,932,800 118,000 4,972,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 123 3,640 1.02

DDS

100,520

VALUE 2,049.83 (up) 4.92 588,914,074.06 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,295.39 (down) 14.70 1,170,676,461.115 HOLDING FIRMS 8,031.02 (up) 50.41 1,237,390,582.67 PROPERTY 3,696.21 (up) 8.67 1,653.81 (down) 4.66 734,878,948.46 SERVICES MINING & OIL 11,237.91 (down) 200.22 1,787,818,062.16 PSEI 8,022.16 (up) 24.49 302,941,415.29 All Shares Index 4,864.45 (up) 6.42 5,853,285,637.22 Gainers: 82; Losers: 104; Unchanged: 55; Total: 241

Bloomberry’s income surges 161% to P6b

By Jenniffer B. Austria BLOOMBERRY Resorts Corp., the owner and operator of Solaire Resorts and Casino in Parañaque City, said Thursday net income surged 161 percent in 2017 to P6 billion from a year ago, on record gaming revenues.

Blommbery said in a financial statement filed with the stock exchange gross revenues hit a record P48.26 billion in 2017, up 18 percent from P40.9 billion in 2016.

Solaire said gross gaming revenues reached P44.5 billion in 2017, the highest since the resort opened in 2015. The non-gaming segment also performed strongly in 2017 with revenues of P3 billion, up 41.6 percent from the 2016 level.

“Going into our fifth year of operation has become even more exciting with our 2017 results in sync with the growth trajectories we have aimed for.

This is largely due to our top notch management team and the thousands of Bloomberry and Solaire men and women, whose tireless drive and dedication keep us notches ahead,” Bloomberry chairman and chief executive Enrique Razon Jr. said.

Bloomberry said Solaire registered robust growth across all segments with record VIP volume, mass table drop and slot coin in 2017, posting 11.4 percent, 21.3 percent and 29 percent growth respectively.

Hotel and food and beverage revenue increased 31.7 percent to P536.7 million, with hotel occupancy improving to 90.7 percent from 85.4 percent in 2016.

Retail and other revenues also climbed 80.3 percent to P347 million last year, as a result of additional rental revenue from new tenants.

Bloomberry’s Korean operations under Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino also reported significant improvement in gaming revenues, doubling in 2017 to P407 million despite operating in a very challenging environment due to the 75.5-percent decline in Chinese tourist arrivals.

Jeju Sun narrowed its net loss to P206.9 million in 2017 from P1.1-billion net loss in 2016.

Alliance Global posted P14.9-b earnings in 2017 CONGLOMERATE Alliance Global Group Inc., the holding company of tycoon Andrew Tan, said net income attributable to common shareholders reached P14.9 billion in 2017, unchanged from 2017, as the weak results from liquor and gaming units pulled down the strong performance of real estate and quick service restaurant businesses.

AGI said despite the weak 2017 performance, it remained on expansion mode and budgeted P80 billion in capital expenditures for 2018, up 14.2 percent from P70 billion it spent in 2017.

The group said about 75 percent of this year’s capital spending would go to real estate arm Megaworld, mainly for the development and investment in property projects which would allow it to sustain healthy earnings growth.

Another 15 percent of the 2018 capex will be spent by Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. to complete the third phase of Resorts World and boost its hotel and overall gaming capacity.

“2017 has been a rather challenging year for the group but that never deterred us from pursuing our growth ambitions. As we move forward, we remain focused on investing in our future,” AGI president Kingson Sian said.

AGI said consolidated revenues went up slightly in 2017 to P141.8 billion as the strong results from real estate operations and quick service restaurants business cushioned the weakness in gaming and leisure operations and the modest rise in liquor sales.

AGI’s property unit Megaworld Corp. registered a 13-percent growth in net income to P12.8 billion in 2017 as consolidated revenues rose 8 percent to P50.4 billion.

Megaworld strong financial performance was boosted by the 18-percent expansion in rentals to P11.8 billion coming from Megaworld’s office buildings and lifestyle malls.

Golden Arches Development Corp., which holds the exclusive franchise to operate McDonald’s in the Philippines, also delivered strong results with net income rising 33 percent in 2017 to P1.6 billion. Jenniffer B. Austria

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

TODAY

World

Republic of the Philippines ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City

B3

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

TOMB SWEEPING DAY. A woman decorates the grave of her husband during the Qing Ming festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, at a cemetery in Beijing on April 5, 2018. Chinese traditionally tend to the graves of their departed loved ones during the Qingming Festival and make offerings to honor them and keep them comfortable in the afterlife. AFP

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR AUTHORITY TO RECOVER LOCAL FRANCHISE TAXES IN THE CITY OF PANABO AND THE PROVINCE OF DAVAO DEL NORTE, WITH PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY, DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY, INC. ERC CASE NO. 2016-037 CF (DLPC), Applicant. x-----------------------------------------------------------x, NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: Notice is hereby given that on 22 December 2016, Davao Light and Power Company, Inc. (DLPC) filed an Application dated 07 December 2016 (Application) seeking the Commission’s approval to recover local franchise taxes in the City of Panabo and the Province of Davao Del Norte, with prayer for provisional authority.

DLPC alleged the following in its Application: 1.

DLPC is a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, with office address at C. Bangoy Sr. St., Davao City. It is the grantee of a legislative franchise under Republic Act No. 8960 to operate the electric light and power distribution system in the Cities of Davao and Panabo, and in the Municipalities of Carmen, Sto. Tomas and Braulio Dujali, Province of Davao del Norte (the “Franchise Area”).

2.

DLPC filed an Application1 on 9 June 2014 entitled “In the Matter of the Application for Authority to Recover Local Franchise Taxes in the City in the of Panabo and the Province of Davao Del Norte” (the “Original Application”).

2.1. In the Original Application, DLPC prayed, among others, that it be allowed to recover differential local franchise tax payment made to the local governments of Panabo City and Davao bel Norte for 2009 to 2013.

2.2. DLPC likewise prayed that following December 2013, it be allowed to recover local franchise tax payments made to Panabo City and Davao Del Norte at the new rates of 0.75% of 1% for Panabo City and 0.55% of 1% for Davao Del Norte.

2.3. These were approved by the Honorable Commission in its Decision dated 17 August 2015 (the Decision) wherein the Commission decided that: Accordingly, DLPC is hereby authorized to: 1. Implement the new Local Franchise Tax (LFT) rate of 75% of 1% in the City of Panabo pursuant to the City Ordinance No. 0409, passed by the Sangguniang Panglungsod of the City of Panabo; 2. Recover from its customers in Panabo City the differential local franchise tax paid from years 2009 to 2013 to the local government of Panabo City the amount of PhP9,615,539.04 equivalent to PhP 0.0175/kWh; 3· Implement the new LFT rate of 55% of 1% in the Province of Davao Del Norte pursuant to Provincial Tax Ordinance No. 2011-001, passed by the Provincial Government of Davao del Norte; and 4. Recover from its customers in the Municipalities of Dujali, Carmen, and Sto. Tomas, all in the Province of Davao Del Norte, the differential local franchise tax paid from years 2011 to 2013 to the Province of Davao Del Norte the amount of PhP 565,944.85 equivalent to PhP0.0024/kWh; xxx xxx xxx 3.

DLPC received the Decision on ERC Case No. 2014-060 CF and pursuant thereto was able to recover the differential local franchise tax for the period covered by the Original Application.

However, as the Decision was docketed on 08 October 2015 and implemented on November 2015, DLPC was not able to apply the new recovery rates for local franchise taxes of 75% of 1% in the City of Panabo and 55% of 1% in the Province of Davao Del Norte as approved by the Honorable Commission, for the period covering January 2014 to October 2015.

4.

Put differently, for the period of January 2014 to October 2015, the Honorable Commission confirmed and approved that DLPC may recover local franchise taxes at the rate 75% of 1% in the City of Panabo and 55% of 1% in the Province of Davao Del Norte. However, for the period of January 2014 to October 2015, DLPC was only able to recover based on the original local franchise tax rates of: Local Government Panabo Province of Davao Del Norte

Russia calls for UN talks over spy poisoning case IN BRIEF T 50 years on, US honors Martin Luther King Jr.

\MEMPHIS―Bells rang out Wednesday to mark the moment Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 50 years ago, as Americans paid tribute to the civil rights leader and reflected on how to carry forward his legacy.

In a country still torn by racial and class divisions, thousands of demonstrators rallied in Memphis, Tennessee, where the pastor and Nobel Peace Prize winner was slain aged 39 on a motel balcony by a white supremacist sniper on April 4, 1968.

Bells tolled 39 times at 6:01 pm (2301 GMT), the moment King was shot, in Memphis and around the nation to honor the icon whose moral courage helped bring lasting changes to American life.

Prominent civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson, a member of King’s entourage, spoke from the Lorraine Motel balcony where King was gunned down and said “the sore is still raw” from the fatal shooting.

Addressing thousands of dignitaries and everyday Americans who gathered for an anniversary ceremony at the motel, which has been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, Jackson recalled the “pow!” of the gunshot that slew his movement’s leader.

But he insisted that civil rights freedom fighters “never stopped fighting, we never gave up” on bending American society closer to justice.

“From this balcony,” the 76-year-old Jackson told the crowd, “we decided we would not let one bullet kill a movement.” AFP

National Guard ordered to Mexican border WASHINGTON―US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered the National Guard to deploy to America’s southern border, ratcheting up pressure on Mexico and taking another step in his quest to clamp down on illegal immigration.

Trump’s latest border move came the same day that a caravan of Central American migrants―whose trek across Mexico had infuriated the US president―scrapped their highly publicized plans to try to enter the United States.

“The situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis. The lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security and sovereignty of the American people,” Trump said in a presidential memorandum.

“My Administration has no choice but to act.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen earlier said Trump had directed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to work with border state governors to determine how to deploy National Guard forces to assist Border Patrol agents.

The sudden action, which comes as lawmakers are out on Easter break, follows Trump taking to Twitter to rail against “ridiculous liberal” border laws, and warn of an inbound “caravan” of immigrants, threatening to axe the North American Free Trade Agreement if Mexico did not stop them.

Caravan leaders on Wednesday said most of the group―about 80 percent― would now remain in Mexico, where authorities are working with individual migrants and families to get temporary papers. AFP

HE HAGUE―Russia has called for urgent UN Security Council talks on the spiraling diplomatic crisis sparked by the spy poisoning scandal as a group of expelled US diplomats left their embassy in Moscow early Thursday.

Britain blames Russia for the March 4 poisoning on UK soil of former double agent Sergei Skripal with what it says was a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union, sending relations between Moscow and the West plummeting to new lows.

More than 150 Russian diplomats were ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations in the wake of the attack, a move that was met in kind by Moscow.

Early Thursday morning the first of some 60 US diplomats ordered out of Russia left their embassy compound in Moscow on their way to the airport.

The departure came a day after Russia found itself diplomatically isolated when it lost its bid at the global chemical weapons watchdog to launch a joint probe with Britain into the poisoning.

Moscow had convened a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Wednesday.

But Russia’s ambassador to the watchdog said Moscow was unable to get the required twothirds of votes from members to approve a joint investigation.

Diplomatic sources told AFP that six countries voted in favor of the Russian draft motion but 15

Lula faces jail after high court decision BRASILIA―Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was on the verge of going to prison Thursday after the Supreme Court rejected his bid to delay a 12-year sentence for corruption in a ruling that split the country and upended this year’s election.

Following the court’s narrow decision against allowing Lula to remain free pending new appeals, it was expected that Brazil’s chief anti-corruption judge, Sergio Moro, would soon issue an order for the two-term former president to be incarcerated.

It remained unclear exactly when this would take place. But legal experts said it would be no more than a few days away, possibly early next week.

The 11 judges deliberated for more than 10 hours from Wednesday into Thursday on Lula’s request to avoid going to prison while he mounts fresh appeals. At 5-5, it was court president Carmen Lucia who cast the tie-breaker, saying that postponing the serving of sentences “could lead to impunity.”

Broadcast live on television, the drama left Brazilians as divided as the judges themselves, and raised questions over the state of the country’s democracy after the top army general appeared to urge prison for the 72-year-old founder of the leftist Workers’ Party.

On the right, Lula is considered the face of corruption sweeping the country’s political elite. His imprisonment has long been the goal of prosecutors running Brazil’s “Car Wash” anti-graft investigation and he is now their biggest scalp.

Leftists, however, remember Lula’s 2003-2010 rule as a time when Brazil used its wealth to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty.

For them, the entire corruption case is a sham cooked up by a judiciary giving major political figures accused of corruption on the right―including current President Michel Temer―an easier ride. AFP

5.

This resulted in DLPC not being able to recover the following amounts of Local Franchise Tax: Panabo City:

Period Jan 2014December 2014 Jan 2015October 2015 Total

Local Franchise Tax Paid (PhP)

Local Franchise Tax Billed (PhP)

Unrecovered Local Franchise Tax Total (PhP)

7,303,189.49

4,868,792.99

2,434,396.60

6,151,693.66

4,101,129.11

2,050,564.55

13,454,883.15

8,969,022.10

4,484,961.05

Province of Davao Del Norte: Period Jan 2014December 2014 Jan 2015October 2015 Total

6.

were against while 17 abstained, mainly countries from the Non-Aligned Movement(NAM).

After the failure Moscow called for a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Thursday at 1900 GMT in New York.

Its ambassador to the UNSC, Vassily Nebenzia, said the meeting would focus on a letter sent by British Prime Minister Theresa May accusing Moscow of carrying out the attempted assassination.

Wednesday’s bid to secure a joint probe saw a day of bitter rhetoric between Moscow and Britain and its western allies.

London slammed the joint probe idea as “perverse”.

“We will not agree to Russia’s demand to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in Salisbury because the UK―supported by many other countries―has assessed that it is highly likely that the Russian state is responsible for this attack,” British chemical arms expert John Foggo told the OPCW’s governing executive council.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hailed the defeat of Russia’s bid.

“The purpose of Russia’s ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear―to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog,” he said, adding Moscow’s main goal was “to obscure the truth and confuse the public.”

Bulgaria’s ambassador, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the EU had “full confidence in the UK investigation”.

Ambassador Krassimir Kostov said the EU agreed with the British “assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.”

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin warned Wednesday in a speech in Moscow that both sides must avoid tensions escalating to the dangerous levels of the Cold War. AFP

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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 217 – QUEZON CITY

Local Franchise Tax Paid (Php)

JOSHUA AGAO, Petitioner, -versusSP CASE NO. R-QZN-18-00968-SP THE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF QUEZON CITY, THE ADMINISTRATOR AND CIVIL REGISTRAR GENERAL OF THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY (formerly NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE) AND ALL OTHER PERSONS WHO HAVE OR CLAIM ANY INTEREST IN THE INSTANT PETITION, Respondents. x-----------------------------------------------------------------x

ORDER

2,119,921.56

211,992.15

2,104,542.06

1,913,220.06

191,322.00

4,436,455.77

4,033,141.62

403,314.15

As DLPC has only been recovering local franchise tax payments made to both the Panabo City and Province of Davao Del Norte at the original local franchise tax rates for the period of January 2014 to October 2015, it submits this application for authority to pass through to the end-users of Panabo City and Province of Davao Del Norte, the amount of PhP 4,484,961.05 and PhP 403,314.16 respectively. Attached herein are the Official Receipts from the City of Panabo, marked as Annex “A” and “B” and the Official Receipts from the Province of Davao Del Norte as Annex “C” and “D”. Attached likewise are copies of excerpts of the Revised Revenue Code of Panabo City and excerpts of the Revised Revenue Code of the Province of Davao Del Norte as Annex “E” and “F” respectively.

It is worth reiterating that the Honorable Commission in its Decision has confirmed and approved that following December 2013, DLPC may implement the new Local Franchise Tax (LFT) rate of 75% of 1% in the City of Panabo and new LFT rate of 55% of 1%.

Further, in ERC Case No. 2004-11, the Honorable Commission recognized, as valid passthrough charges, the recovery of local franchise taxes to the end-users by the distribution utilities. It also ruled that the collection of the same from its customers is reasonable because these were impositions of the LGUs exercising their authority to tax, thus: “xxx The Commission recognizes that national or local franchise tax rates are billed to the end-users by the distribution utilities as passthrough charges. Thus, distribution utilities should neither earn any additional revenue nor incur any additional cost from the imposition of these taxes. xxx On the other hand, in areas where MERALCO intends to implement said local franchise taxes, the Commission finds it reasonable to allow it to collect the same from its customers because these are impositions of the LGUs exercising their authority to tax.” (ERC Order dated 05 February 2004)” [Emphases supplied] Moreover, in ERC Case No. 2013-038 CF, 28 April 2014, which likewise, involved a petition similar to the present case, the Honorable Commission allowed recovery of the local franchise tax as a pass-through charge based on gross receipts, thus: “Consistent with the foregoing, the Commission, in its Decision dated May 28, 2004 in ERC Case Nos. 2001-898 [In the Matter of the Application for Approval of the Revised Rate Schedules in Compliance with Section 36 of R.A. 9136 and ERC Order Dated October 30, 2001, with Prayer for Provisional Authority, Cotabato Light and Power Company (CPLC) Applicant] and 2001-503 [In the Matter of the Application for Approval of the Sound Value Appraisal of Applicant’s Properties and Equipment, CLPC - Applicant] already ruled that a LFT is a valid pass-through charge. xxx It bears stressing that the LFTS levied by the LGUs and subsequently remitted by MERALCO are legitimate expenses, which the law allows to be recovered from the customers, the same being a pass-through cost.” xxx As such, MERALCO prayed that it be authorized to implement the LFT rate on the customers’ bills in the City of Bacoor separate from the previous authority granted to it for the Province of Cavite at the rate of fifty percent (50%) of one percent (1%) of the gross annual receipts which include both cash sales and sales on account realized during the preceding calendar year, pursuant to the City of Bacoor City Ordinance No. 39, Series of 2012 and computed in accordance with the LGC beginning the 1st quarter of 2013.

The Commission deems it prudent to allow MERALCO to recover the LFT rate of fifty percent (50%) of one percent (1%) in the City of Bacoor pursuant to its City Ordinance No. 39, Series of 2012 and the proceeds thereof to be remitted already to the said City and no longer to the Province of Cavite.” [Emphases supplied] ALLEGATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY DLPC has incurred costs, in the form of payment of local franchise tax payments, as it has remained compliant with the respective local government codes of Panabo City and Province of Davao Del Norte imposing the said local franchise tax.

While DLPC has been able to recover said payments, this recovery remains partial, as DLPC continuously observed the previous approval2 of the Honorable Commission which fixed the recovery of local franchise taxes based on the rate of 50% of 1% for both Local Government Units until November 2015 wherein it implemented the Decision of the Honorable Commission granting authority to DLPC to recover local franchise tax payments at the rate of 75% of 1% in the City of Panabo and 55% of 1% in the Province of Davao Del Norte.

It is highlighted that the new rates of 75% of 1% based on annual gross receipts in the City of Panabo and 55% of 1% based on annual gross receipts in the Province of Davao Del Norte, has been previously approved by the Honorable Commission. The said approval likewise covers the periods contemplated by the present Application.

Given the foregoing, DLPC seeks provisional approval of the Honorable Commission pending trial on the merits to implement these rates and collect, through automatic recovery scheme, the amounts of PhP4,484,961.05 and PhP403,314.16 from the Cities of Panabo and Province of Davao Del Norte, respectively. In support of the prayer for the grant of provisional authority is the Judicial Affidavit of Annie Capacillo-Magno, Utility Economics Supervisor of DLPC as Annex “G”.

DLPC’s recovery of the differential local franchise tax, which is in the nature of a pass-through charge, from its customers residing within the City of Panabo and Province of Davao Del Norte is in line with the cases, which involved similar applications, decided by the Honorable Commission.

PRAYER

All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the instant case may become a party by filing with the Commission a verified Petition to Intervene at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure, indicating therein the docket number and title of the case and stating the following: 1) 2) 3)

The petitioner’s name and address; The nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and A statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the case may file their Opposition or Comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before Applicant rests its case, subject to the requirements under Rule 9 of the 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure. No particular form of Opposition or Comment is required, but the document, letter, or writing should contain the following: 1) 2) 3)

The name and address of such person; A concise statement of the Opposition or Comment; and The grounds relied upon.

All such persons who wish to have a copy of the Application may request from Applicant that they be furnished with the same, prior to the date of the initial hearing. Applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the Application and its attachments, subject to the reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Any such person may likewise examine the Application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the standard office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Chairperson and CEO AGNES VST DEVANADERA, and the Honorable Commissioners ALFREDO J. NON, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission, this 19th day of March 2018 in Pasig City.

FOR AND BY AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION:

(Sgd.) SANTIAGO M. ARENAS Judge

Office of the Solicitor General Quezon City

JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT Oversight Commissioner for Legal

Philippine Statistic Office Quezon City Divina Fe P. Agao B13 L9 SVH, Sta. Maria, Bulacan Joel Herrera (MS-Apr. 6, 13 & 20, 2018)

Unrecovered Local Franchise Tax Total (Php)

2,331,913.71

SO ORDERED. Quezon City, Philippines, February 20, 2018.

CC: PUBLIC ATTORNEY’S OFFICE Atty. Maureen Kascha L. Osoteo Counsel for the petitioner DOJ Building, Quezon City

Local Franchise Unrecovered Tax Billed (Php)

WHEREFORE, the foregoing considered, it is respectfully prayed that the Honorable Commission a) Pending trial on the merits, immediately ISSUE a PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY authorizing DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY, INC. to collect from the end-users of the City of Panabo and Province of Davao Del Norte, the amounts of PhP4,484,961.05 and PhP403,314.16, respectively, through automatic recovery scheme. b) ISSUE an Order granting applicant DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY, INC. the authority to collect/recover from its end-users in the City of Panabo, through automatic recovery scheme, the total amount of PhP4,484,961.05 representing the difference between the amount of local franchise tax that DLPC has paid and the amount of local franchise tax collected/recovered from its end-users from January 2014 to October 2015, over a period of 22 months, or at the estimated rate of PhP 0.0147/kWh; and c) ISSUE an Order granting applicant DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY, INC. the authority to collect/recover from its end-users in the province of Davao Del Norte, through automatic recovery scheme, the total amount of PhP403, 314.16 representing the difference between the amount of local franchise tax that DLPC has paid and the amount of local franchise tax collected/recovered from its end-users from January 2014 to October 2015, over a period of 22 months, or at the estimated rate of PhP 0.0029 / kWh; and Other reliefs just and equitable under the premises are likewise prayed for.

On 22 February 2018, the Commission issued an Order and Notice of Public Hearing, setting the case for hearing on 23 March 2018.

On 13 March 2018, DLPC filed a Motion to reset the 23 March 2018 Hearing of even date (Motion) praying that the 23 March 2018 be reset to another date due to lack of time to publish.

Finding the said Motion in order, the Commission granted the same. Hence, the hearing on 23 March 2018 is cancelled.

Accordingly, the Commission sets anew the instant Application for determination of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements, expository presentation, Pre-trial Conference, and presentation of evidence on 23 April 2018 (Monday) at two o’clock in the afternoon (2:00 P.M.), at the ERC Hearing Room, 15th Floor, Pacific Center Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City.

IN THE MATTER OF THE CORRECTION OF ENTRY IN THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE OF JOSHUA AGAO,

This is a verified petition for correction of entry in the Certificate of Live Birth of Joshua Agao filed by petitioner himself.

The petition alleges that petitioner Joshua Agao was born on December 29, 1999 at East Avenue Medical Center, East Avenue, Quezon City to his unmarried parents Divina Fe P. Agao and Joel Herrera; that the Certificate of Live Birth of petitioner issued by the Office of the Civil Registrar General reflected an erroneous entry on Entry No. 3: Date of Birth as August 29, 1998 instead of December 29, 1999; that the correct date of birth of petitioner is December 29, 1999 as evidenced by his Certificate of Baptism issued by Members of Church of God International, NBI Clearance and Police Clearance; that petitioner could not obtain additional pieces of evidence due to the fact that he has no supporting school records; that the instant petition was filed in order to avoid possible and unnecessary dilemma in the future and to correct the erroneous entry in his certificate of live birth.

Wherefore, the petition is hereby set for hearing on May 11, 2018 at 8:30 in the morning before this Court located at Room 238, Second Floor, Hall of Justice, Diliman, Quezon City at which place and on which date and time, all interested persons must appear and file their opposition/s to the petition.

Let a copy of this Order be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in the Manila Standard, a newspaper of general circulation throughout the Philippines.

Further, let a copy of the petition, and of this Order be served upon the Office of the Solicitor General, Local Civil Registrar of Quezon City and the Philippine Statistics Authority who may file their opposition thereto within fifteen (15) days from notice of this petition.

Rate of Recovery of DLPC 50% of 1% 50% of 1%

1 2

Docketed as ERC Case No. 2014-060 CF Decision in ERC Case No. 2001-897

(MS-APR. 6, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

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

B4

SMC offers to build bridge linking Boracay to Caticlan

LoCaL goveRNMeNt uNitS

friday, april 6, 2018

By Darwin G. Amojelar

SOGO CARES.

A volunteer hands over a relief package to an elderly woman as part of the ‘Sogo Cares’ program of Hotel Sogo as it supports ‘Oplan Mayon: Save Humanity,’ a threeday relief operation and medical mission conducted in Barangay Anoling and Barangay Tagaytay in Camalig, Albay.

Almost 800 families benefited from this activity with the help of 105 volunteers from different organizations.

In BrIef Dingdong to run for QC House seat?

ACTOR Dingdong Dantes is likely to join the congressional race in Quezon City’s District 2 in the 2019 elections.

Dantes surprised residents of Barangay Commonwealth when he visited barangay officials Wednesday evening.

Manuel Co, Barangay Commonwealth chairman, welcomed and introduced Dantes, and even announced the actor’s congressional candidacy in front of his barangay councilors, purok leaders and presidents of different homeowners’ associations, city hall sources told the Manila Standard.

“Dantes just made a thumbs-up sign when Co announced his political bid,” one of the sources said.

Residents and the actors’ fans alike were taken aback by Dantes’ arrival. Rio N. Araja

Manila to host CSR summit June 1 EnTERpRiSE Asia, Asia’s leading non-governmental organization for responsible entrepreneurship, has announced that its annual international CSR Summit will be held in Manila, philippines on June 1.

Held for the fourth time, iCS 2018 will take place at The Manila Marriott Hotel, bringing together 300 CSR thought leaders and practitioners from across Asia to catalyze inclusive growth and define change.

Themed “Building A Shared Future,” the iCS 2018 emphasizes on business organizations to lead “Transformational Change” to combat urgent issues threatening people and the planet to reach a “Shared Future.”

Navotas names 33 new scholars THE City Government of navotas has named 33 new scholars during the graduation ceremonies of its public schools.

Of the 33, 25 were incoming high school freshmen, four were incoming freshmen of navotas polytechnic College, two were incoming freshmen of the college or university of their choice, and two were teachers seeking high education.

“We want to give our youth opportunities to earn quality education, improve themselves, and reach their dreams,” Mayor John Rey Tiangco said. Jun David

Estrada asks Manila dads to cut back on politicking

By Vito Barcelo

E

ARlY politicking ahead of 2019 local elections in the country may disrupt the early passage of important local measures that need to be enacted by the Sangguniang panlungsod, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said Thursday.

Speaking before barangay officials, the former president said there were “strong indications” the significant local measures might not be fully implemented this year because of early campaigning.

Estrada instead appealed to all politicians in the city for unity and cooperation and to set aside politicking at this time.

He said the election is “still too far away” and advised city politicians to refrain from engaging in early politicking.

However, Estrada declined to name names

who are reportedly engaging in partisan politics, saying it is more than 12 months ahead of the filing deadline for candidates.

“To our friends, lets us focus to our work. i am calling the attention of the members of the City Sanggunian na madaliin ang pagaapruba ng mga nakapending na legislation that will contribute for reclaiming the city’s good name as the premier city of the philippines,” Estrada said.

He added that the delays in the passage of important local measures would result

to poor governance and “who will suffer? Manileños have been waiting for so long to see the changes that will make our city great again.”

Estrada observed that preparation for the 2019 elections has seriously affected the government business of serving well the Manileños. “i am appealing to our partners in government. i am pleading with the Sanggunian to pass the needed legislations as soon as possible to avoid poor implementation.”

Estrada said there’s much more work to be done in fixing the city, and high on that list is the fight against corruption, particularly in the city police force and a few departments in city hall; the regular cleaning and declogging of wastes and garbage from esteros, rivers and other waterways in Manila.

ACEF LAW REVIEW. Senator Cynthia Villar (left), chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, inquires from Edgardo Luzano, Program Management Department manager of Land Bank, the bank mandated by Republic Act 10848, which extended the life of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, on how the funds are given out as loans. LandBank reported that out of the P4.8 billion released to them, they were able to lend P4.4 billion. Villar also asked Luzano to make the application process easier and not intimidating to farmers who stand to benefit the most from cheap credit.

SAn Miguel Corp. on Thursday proposed the construction of a bridge to connect Boracay island to Caticlan in the Aklan mainland, as it supported the government’s decision to temporary close the iconic paradise to “transform it into a sustainable tourist destination.”

San Miguel currently operates the Boracay Airport in Caticlan and is upgrading it to turn the busy airstrip into a world-class airport.

“Addressing long-standing problems with sewage and solid wastes brought about by rapid growth of tourism, commerce and unfettered development now is critical to ensuring Boracay’s long-term sustainability,” said Ramon S. Ang, president and chief operating officer of San Miguel.

“The island needs to be rehabilitated and we have to support the government.

Yes, we will endure some short-term pain, but it’s a step in the right direction and in end we are hopeful it would bring about long-term gain for all,” Ang added. president Rodrigo Duterte earlier approved the closure of Boracay for six months starting April 26.

To ensure that Boracay will continue to thrive, Ang stressed that all concerned sectors, including government, businesses, developers, and its residents, must also look beyond the island and move to disperse tourism to nearby municipalities in Aklan province such as Caticlan and nabas.

This, he said, would result in higher tourism revenues for the whole of Aklan province, more jobs for locals, and increased competitiveness of the philippines as a tourist destination.

177 QC students to gain ‘Joy of Public Service’

By Rio N. Araja QUEZOn City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte will honor 177 graduating public school students who have devoted themselves to selfless service to their schools and communities through the “Joy of public Service” award.

The graduates, 30 from secondary schools and 147 from elementary for school year 2017-2018, will each receive a medal, a special certificate, and p2,000 cash gift from the Office of the Vice Mayor, she said.

“The point of the award is to recognize the most service-oriented students. These are the children who continue to practice the value of volunteerism. They have been active in different socially relevant organizations. They have volunteered themselves to help others,” Belmonte said. now on its seventh year, the award recognizes students who have demonstrated the value of “service above self” and have shown “exemplary commitment to the service of the school, its communities and its students.”

The awardees must have also shown interest and genuine concern on social issues, such as environmental protection and children’s rights and welfare, Belmonte said.

Ammungan Festival to showcase history, culture of Nueva Vizcaya IPs

By Ben Moses Ebreo

BAYOMBOnG, nueva Vizcaya—The 2018 “Ammungan” (Gathering) Festival will focus on the rich history and culture of nueva Vizcaya, provincial officials said Thursday.

The Festival, to be held from May 21 to 25, is an annual array of weeklong

festivities in the province where novo Vizcayanos from all walks of life will commemorate the province’s founding anniversary on May 24. it was declared as a non-working holiday here.

Ma. Carla lucia Torralba, the festival’s director-general, said the executive committee has chosen history and culture as the focus of the festivities to promote the

traditions of various indigenous peoples that compose 70 percent of the total population of nueva Vizcaya.

“This cultural and historical highlight of our festivities is timely considering the efforts of the provincial government in preserving the culture and traditions of various tribes here,” Torralba said.

Marichele Costales, provincial

tourism supervising officer, said since 2014, the provincial government through former governor Ruth padilla started an aggressive advocacy program to teach young ips on their vanishing cultural traditions, ranging from learning their local language to internalizing their native dances, songs and rituals, among others.

‘Nameless’ yet busy Malolos road aids growth of Bulacan State U

By Orlan Mauricio (Conclusion, continued from yesterday) MAlOlOS, Bulacan—From its original name “Daang-patubig” (“waterway” in Filipino), the name of the road just off the provincial Capitol here has evolved and is sometimes referred to as niA (national irrigation Authority) Road or niA-Mojon Diversion Road. Some residents call it “Mojon Bypass Road” or simply “Mojon Bypass.”

To Bulacan State University (BulSU) students using the university gate along the road that was inaugurated last year, it is simply known as Mojon road or diversion road.

Sometime in 2004, then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave 10 hectares of government property to the Malolos City government. Twenty-five hectares were allocated for the expansion of BulSU and the re-

mainder was given to the provincial government.

Then-Mayor Danilo A. Domingo initiated the widening of the road to become a regular two-lane highway, with walkways on both sides, electric posts and steel barriers to prevent accidents to speeding motorists. last year, the sprawling Malolos Central Transport Terminal, 75 meters away from the end of McArthur Highway, where a McDonalds store sits, was opened to the public and is now teeming with daily commuters to all points of Bulacan, Manila and nearby destinations in pampanga. noel Acuña, barangay captain of Mojon, said he will pass a Barangay Resolution calling for the naming of the road to Congressman Teodulo C. natividad Road, in honor of the late lawmaker who authored Republic Act no. 7665 converting the former Bulacan College of Arts and Trade (BCAT) to its present name, Bulacan State.

From less than 10,000 students in the early 90s,

BulSU now has a population of some 60,000.

“We owe this rapid development of BulSU and the spill-over growth to our barangay to Rep. natividad. BulSU now has 15 colleges, including a high school laboratory, a college of law, nursing, criminal justice education, engineering, architecture and fine arts, social science and philosophy, among others, including a college of fisheries which was a brainchild of the late congressman,” Acuña said.

A lawyer by profession, natividad served as representative of the 1st District of Bulacan from 1978 to 1986 and from 1992 until his death in January 9, 1997. natividad, who uses the moniker ‘Agila ng Bulacan’, is best remembered as author of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, probation law, Disability Act, and the first chairman of national police Commission (napolcom). lawyer Aida Bernardino, chief of the Malolos

City Bureau of permits and licensing Office, shares this view and said the road should bear a name. “new establishments, like the Malolos Central Transport Terminal and the expected hundreds of business establishments will open and operate in the new mall being constructed near the terminal. We definitely need a road address for these,” she told Manila Standard. in addition, BulSU is presently constructing three five-story buildings at its 25-hectare extension campus traversing the road. The new structures will house the university’s graduate school, infirmary, Engineering laboratory Testing Center, and integrated Science and Development Center.

Whether it will be christened Mojon by-pass road, Diversion road or natividad Road, the Malolos City Council has been urged to pass an ordinance soon to name the road, and not wait for another company to sponsor its name, like what Mighty Corporation did at Barangay Tikay.

Life

Bernadette lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife

culture and media

@MStandardlifE friday, april 6, 2018

c1

Manolo Sicat pays tribute to

‘deSaParecidoS’

DEPICTING DESAPARECIDOS. Manolo Sicat's MFA thesis exhibition, 'Resurfacing' showcases three dimensional images of the victims of state-enforced disappearances in the country. (Photo from UP Bulwagan ng Dangal's Facebook page) to inflict harm to the activists. Strategically, the state has been killing the prospect of social change for a just and HE state has been at war with the people it perceives to society amid hopelessness and be the enemy, unleashing all instruments of violence, like humane abject poverty under the present disthe police and military, in order to hold on and preserve its pensation. political power.

From the eight busts done in cold cast bronze resin, Sicat made another As some political scientists would say, for counter-insurgency psywar and eight negative casts made of ice, which the purpose of the state is to supress the covert operation to inflict damage on was controlled by a freezing machine class struggle temporarily in order to pre- the national democratic movement and in transparent glass cube. One can serve the status quo. As Friedrich Engels other civil society groups opposing the see through the hollow image copy of put it: “But in order that these antago- present dispensation. the busts as the ice slowly melts over nisms, these classes with conflicting ecoSicat made a cold cast of bronze from them. They call it the “phenomena of nomic interests, might not consume them- victims of alleged abduction by the mili- absence in the mold reversal sculptural selves and society in fruitless struggle, it tary from the Marcos dictatorship to the technique.” As in Derrida’s presencebecame necessary to have a power, seem- time of the regime of Gloria Macapagal- absence concept, the negative mold ingly standing above society, that would Arroyo. Among those who disappeared represents what is physically present alleviate the conflict and keep it within were Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Ca- while the positive mold represents what the bounds of ‘order’; and this power, aris- dapan, who were abducted in Hagonoy, is physically absent. en out of society but placing itself above it, Bulacan on June 26, 2006.

Derrida compared this concept to and alienating itself more and more from The theme of Sicat’s thesis is a tribute footprints, an evidence of one’s foot it, is the state.” stepping on something and leavto the victims of abductions The period after World War ii, the ing a mark, and the negative mold ruling elite, which had less carries with it the inherent tactile power while the labor movequalities of the cast object. A nega negaments were relatively strongtive mold is therefore a “trace” of a er, introduced neoliberalism positive form, Derrida added. to re-establish its power over The concept of time is being the working class. Eventuwithheld by freezing the tears and ally, the ruling elite was able to memories of the desaparecidos drastically take away the share in ice images. The tears of their of income and wealth from laloved ones that run dry preserve bor. There was upsurge in the the metaphorical tears—tears social movements in the ‘60s of hope, desperation, tenacity, and ‘70s—a period of political determination, and the like. For turmoil that threatened the powpractical reasons, the process er of the ruling class. of collecting the tears of their loved ones was done by simu Martial law under the Marcos simulating real tears using a chemi dictatorship was a manifestation chemical compound. Because real of restoring the power of the elite tears easily dry up, it’s impos because it could no longer rule impossible to gather them and place under the guise of democratic them in a container. principles. There was clear irreconcilable class interests and The dialectics of the presence and absence of an ob one class should dominate over object dramatized the concept the other. it was a war between of Sicat’s “Resurfacing” the national democratic forces and MFA thesis exhibit. The ab the Marcos dictatorial regime and absence of a thing resurfaces military establishment. ulpture of Manolo Sicat’s MFA thesis exfrom the traces left of the lution of the sc casted saline so Rosario ze ee Fr l hibit at the university of the Philipthing in a given space. One de lie Char pines’ Bulwagan ng Dangal (which cannot have a concept of ran from March 2 to 23) was about presence of a thing withthe victims of involuntary disapperpetrated out knowing the absence of it. As in pearance, which was perpetrated by by the state in the name of national secu- dialectics of a thing, one cannot exist the state in order to sow terror among rity. Many of the victims were young— without the other. the people, thus suppressing dissenters student activists who were advocates of Perhaps nature has its own way of and finally silencing them. human rights, anti-imperialism, genuine retribution for the people who unjustly There were many victims of involun- land reform, free education for all, uni- robbed the dreams of the youth, who as tary disappearance during martial law versal health care, against corruption, Rizal said were the hope of our future, under the Marcos dictatorship—and social justice, labor rights, and the like. as himself was robbed of his dream by in the regimes that followed. From the Their youthful idealism—their the Spanish colonizers.

About the author: Leonilo Doloricon is low-intensity conflict of the CiA to uS- dreams and aspirations—was cut short AFP Oplan Bayanihan of the present by their sudden involuntary disappear- a visual arts professor and former dean Duterte regime, these were all designed ance. The perpetrators’ objective was of the UP College of Fine Arts.

By leonilo doloricon

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Mangoes and mango products from Guimaras

aliwan Fiesta showcases regional trade

Booths at Aliwan Fiesta Shoppers Bazaar showcase local crafts and delicacies

SHOPPERS and festival-goers will once again get a chance to savor local delicacies and score specialty products during Aliwan Fiesta’s Shoppers Bazaar in front of Aliwan Theater on April 26 to 28.

The annual cultural event, produced

by Manila Broadcasting Company in partnership with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, hopes to guarantee the buying public with quality pasalubong made by the country’s finest craftsmen.

Aliwan Fiesta invites boutiques specializing in island RTW, footwear, jewelry, and accessories; handicraft shops; stores and restaurants selling gourmet delicacies; and fruit and flower farms to take out their respective kiosks in a unified effort to highlight national pride and regional identity. Weaving cooperatives, tribal showrooms, free-trade organizations, and other NGOs marketing local produce as part of the creative industries sector are also welcome to the affair.

The three-day bazaar will showcase terra-cotta, ikat, mother-of-pearls, t’nalak, embroidered piña, abel Iloko, rattan baskets, ifugao blankets, coco-shell lamps, bamboo instruments, wooden furniture, tribal beads, nito bracelets, malong and inaul, ube jam, strawberries, budbod-kabod, marang, espasol, longganisa, empanada, danggit, suka, and bagoong, among many others.

For inquiries on the Aliwan Fiesta Shoppers Bazaar, call Teray Rivas of MBC at (02) 832-3249 or 0917-8658699.

Vicky Pollisco stages exhibit at

Sunshine Place

Ma. Victoria Ortega-Pollisco displays her artwork at Sunshine Place

ViSuAl artist Ma. Victoria OrtegaPollisco mounts her first exhibit for 2018 at the Sunshine Place, a senior recreation center in Makati. last year, Pollisoc had two successful solo art exhibits, one at Chef Jessie Restaurant in Rockwell Club and another at the Rose Bowl exhibition in Bauang, la union—her home province.

Pollisco first met her oil/acrylic painting teacher and mentor Fidel Sarmiento who was then teaching kids at ECCA, in 2008. When ECCA closed in 2013, she asked around where she could get in touch with Sarmiento and when she found out that he was teaching at the Senior Hub, she asked him if she could join his classes even if she

was not yet a senior.

Thankfully, she was allowed to join the group. For Pollisco, who’s exhibiting her works at the recreation center, it is such a joy to do and learn new things in the company of her classmates at Sunshine Place who are mostly seniors, and heartwarming for students like her when their paintings get appreciated and sold.

“We have Sunshine Place to thank for providing us with the venue to use our time productively, and we have our mentors to thank in bringing out the creativity we never thought we had in us,” she said.

Pollisco’s paintings will be displayed until April 15.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018 nickie.standard@gmail.com

Kim Chiu ready to play mature roles

By Marane Plaza

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IM Chiu’s healthy lifestyle is seen all over her social media accounts, and her physique has been more fit, if not sexier.

How does Kim Chiu maintain a fit and sexy bod? She says it's all about exercise and some dose of vitamins.

“I enjoy joining fun runs, half-marathons, and duathlon races and I do Muay Thai on the side. My friends would ask me where I get the energy, I tell them I take vitamins,” Kim shared when she was introduced as the endorser of Berocca’s new single sachet pack together with Paulo Avelino.

Her more fitness-centered lifestyle has evidently trickled down to her figure. Does this mean she is ready to take on more mature roles and show more skin in her upcoming projects?

“I’m ready for more mature roles with Xian (Lim), we are in the right age anyway. But it still depends on the story and concept. Pero wag naman yung super and sobrang skin na tipong papunta na sa ibang istorya or film. Yung more mature lang, and as long as it has sense,” she said.

This interest from Kim might have been inspired by Xian’s recent racy film Sin Island with Coleen Garcia and Nathalie Hart.

“We watched it together. It’s really intense and mature, and it’s obvious that Xian’s acting skill was highlighted in the movie. That's the kind of mature role I am talking about,” she related.

While still waiting for an offer to do daring roles, she is keeping her focus on a unique film under Star Cinema. She is currently filming a horrorcomedy movie with comedian Ryan Bang.

“This is really something different. We will scare you while making you laugh,” she said in jest.

As Berocca’s ambassador, Kim recognizes how it helps her feel energized amid long taping days.

“It really helps me feel energized and allows me to do a lot of things.

Aside from work, I love making time for fitness and travelling with friends and family. I’m glad to do all those things with Berocca. It also helps in better brain function, especially in memorizing lines,” Kim shared.

Erich Gonzales flaunts her sensational curves in a recent shoot for a calendar.

Erich

Sexy like

Erich Gonzales has enjoyed the success that she has while remaining true to herself. She has never had a gimmick or played an angle.

Her breakthrough TV role on the sleeper hit Katorse was more about her skills as a thespian than about her undeniable good looks, as was her first hit movie, the acclaimed indie film Paano Ko Sasabihin?

Now at 27, Erich is already a senior in showbiz who has enjoyed a long and fruitful career, a career based on substance, despite her obviously considerable style. No wonder, big brands choose her simply for personality.

In a media event held at Seda Vertis North, Quezon City, mySlim formally announced Erich as the new face of the brand, underscoring the new meaning of sexy that mySlim has helped define. With this move,

Has Gerald won Bea’s affection back?

BEA Alonzo and Gerald Anderson ‘unfollowed’ each other on Instagram, but after a few days, the two started following each other again.

Netizens and showbiz peeps are asking if such is a sign of their reconciliation or if the actor has already won her affection back after rumors spread that they were in "love trouble" due to Gerald’s movie pairing with Pia Wurtzbach.

It’s good to note that Bea didn’t just unfollow Gerald, she also unfollowed Pia. Hence, netizens concluded that the former Miss Universe could be the culprit.

Except for Gerald's words to disprove rumors when he claimed that he and Bea's

mySlim cements its stand of encouraging women to see beyond weight loss regimens, fad diets, and even expensive and often dangerous aesthetic interventions.

According to Erick Armigos, brand architect of Vida Nutriscience, makers of mySlim, “In a country that consistently ranks among the best in the world in Gender Equality, especially in the work place, the sexy Filipina is one who embodies what it is to have self-worth and who takes care of her body for the sake of health and fitness, and not just to look sexy.”

Most people consider fit synonymous to sexy, but while the two do seem to overlap, these are two very different things. Sexiness is mostly about aesthetics, whereas fitness is about good health and wellbeing.

And that's what Erich wanted to highlight as the brand's ambassador.

GMA Kapuso Foundation bags three Silver Anvil Awards

relationship is "okay naman," neither Bea nor Pia gave any statement or answered any question on the controversial "unfollowing" incident.

They were not seen together during the Holy Week break and while the movie continues to earn huge bucks for Star Cinema, the couple's "following back" again is read by many as a sign of them, being together.

Interestingly, Bea still hasn’t followed Pia on Instagram. Would Pia just let the rumor die even if she became the subject of people's branding her as " ," "mang-aagaw," and "trouble maker?"

Was that the price of her being a leadGMAKF EVP and COO Rikki Escudero-Catibog (left) and Kapusong Totoo Producer Nico Joven Waje (right)

ing lady to a commercially successful movie, the career she has been dreaming of for a long time?

Gerald Anderson and Bea Alonzo

*** A younger version of "following back" incident also holds something for both Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia.

Just like their Kuya Gerald and Ate Bea, the two were reportedly on the verge of doing the same when Joshua was linked to a local beauty queen from Davao, who now lives in Laguna.

Speculations about their romantic involvement to be in trouble came out when Joshua, allegedly tried to make a pass at the local beauty queen whom he met on-line.

But nothing has been proven about such even when after the rumors, both teen stars posted some cryptic messages which the netizens concluded that it's the end of the youngsters' love issue.

"Mabuti pa sila, ang daming alam sa atin," or words to that effect common replies of Joshua and Julia about the whole thing. *** And what do we want to say about senior actors Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion's joining the bandwagon of "unfollowing" trend among showbiz celebrities?

Que horror, but if such will not

be used as another gimmick or publicity for any project in the future, then we will give it to them.

It's their right and their socmed accounts and their unending issue on moving on and the likes. Besides, they are already old enough to do whatever they want.

However, we seemed to have been victims of Sharon's posting of her and Gabby's throwback pictures with captions that made us believe that they indeed were okay and good friends. Then, we all found out later that everything was just made for a food joint TV commercial.

As soon as the TVC went viral on socmed and re-established their tandem's prowess, Shawie took down her posts and started talking about a movie project with Gabby that would no longer happen.

That triggered the exchange of unpleasant words between Gabby's fans and the megastar, who positioned herself as the one who did everything for the said project to push through.

The latest word we got is that Shawie asked for an apology as she felt being not so rational on things around her.

Whether such apology was intended for Gabby, she could no longer act the way she used to do some two decades back, when everything was all about her. She’s too old to be Taylor Swift, you know.

GMA Network’s socio-civic arm, GMA Kapuso Foundation (GMAKF), bagged three Silver Anvil Awards in the 53rd Anvil Awards held on March 23.

All three entries from GMAKF received recognition in their respective categories. GMAKF’s annual report entitled, “20 Years of Serbisyong Totoo: The GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc. 2016 Annual Report” won under the Public Relations Tools – Publications category.

On the other hand, GMAKF’s segment on primetime newscast 24 Oras dubbed “Kapuso Para sa Kawal Project, Layong Matulungan ang mga Sundalong Lumalaban sa Marawi" was commended under the Public Relations Tools: Multimedia/Digital Online Video/Online News as a “way to appreciate and uphold the commendable effort to honor a hero [in] Marawi and move for positive change.”

Also winning a Silver Anvil in the Public Relations Tools: Multimedia/Digital Online Video/ Online News category is GMA Kapuso Foundation’s poignant Rebuild Marawi MTV which calls on the public to help rebuild and restore war-torn Marawi City.

The awards were received by GMAKF Executive Vice President and COO Rikki EscuderoCatibog together with Nico Joven Waje, news producer for the Kapuso Para sa Kawal Project and Rebuild Marawi MTV. Escudero-Catibog expressed gratitude for winning three Anvils. “With this recognition, we are encouraged to do more relevant projects as well as more thought-provoking and encouraging tools so more people are moved to donate and give their support,” Escudero-Catibog said.

Known as the “Oscars of PR,” the Anvil Awards is organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines and honors the most outstanding public relations programs, tools, and practitioners in the country.

Motoring

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

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More changes to F1 racing rules loom

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Center of attraction: Centro shows wares

EADING truck body builder Centro Manufacturing Corporation is taking part in two major automotive and truck trade shows this week, showcasing its new products mounted on various truck platforms locally available.

Double exposure for Centro: The 14th Manila International Auto show and Isuzu Truck Fest

The 14th Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) on April 5 to 8, 2018 will be at the World Trade Center and the Isuzu Truck Fest 2018 on April 6 to 8, 2018 will be at the SMX Convention Center.

MIAS is considered the toughest, fiercest exhibition of automobiles, parts and accessories and thus attracts the grandest bunch of cars, SUVs and trucks with avid auto lovers and enthusiasts coming in droves. Centro Senior Sales Manager, Vic Belisario says that for this MIAS, Centro will display the truck-mounted European-made Hiab crane for various applications, which is now in demand for the government’s Build! Build! Build! infrastructure buildup.

On the other hand, the Isuzu Truck Fest is an annual display of Isuzu truck power and its various product applications. For this year, it will feature a powerhouse display of Isuzu’s new Blue Power Euro 4 trucks. Belisario adds that Centro will mount on

them the Nippon Fruehauf wing van body, the C-Van body with a Zepro tailgate lift, passenger van bodies for the new QKR and NLR truck series, and the modern PUV body for mass transport application.

He says that this week will be a very busy week for the auto and truck industries as there will be a flurry of new product launches and trade exhibits. “Centro will be in the thick of things as we have developed new products that cater to the demands and preference of the ever-growing truck industry. We’re excited to be a part of the expected growth spurred by various government programs such as the Build!

Build! Build! Program”.

MIAS 2018 happens this week, from April 5 up to April 8, from 10AM to 10PM at World Trade Center, while the Isuzu Truck Fest 2018 will be at Hall 4 of SMX Convention Center from April 6, 2PM to 8PM, until April 7 and 8, 10AM to 8PM.

Caltex opens three new service stations in Central Luzon CALTEX, marketed by Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), continues to expand its retail network in key growth regions by operating three new service stations in Central Luzon.

The newly opened Caltex stations are located in Iba, Zambales; Mariveles, Bataan; and Moncada, Tarlac, all surrounding the dy-

namic cities of Clark and Subic.

The development of commerce in Clark and movement of manufacturing companies and cargo services to Subic pose an opportunity for Caltex to provide safe quality fuels such as Caltex with Techron in Central Luzon.

“As new businesses form in Central Luzon areas with high

economic potential, Chevron continues to be aggressive with its efforts to expand retail operations.

Taking our products and services closer to our customers is a step forward in fulfilling our promise to make safe and quality fuels and lubricants more accessible to the Filipino community,” said CPI Country Chairman Louie Zhang.

Now Euro4 compliant, Caltex with Techron works molecule by molecule to prevent deposits from forming in vital engine parts and removes deposits left behind by inferior-quality fuel. Techron’s cleaning power gives motorists the five-star benefits of maximized power, lower emissions, and better fuel economy for a smoother and more reliable performance.

Motorists can gas up with Caltex’s loyalty reward cards, such as the Robinsons Rewards Card and the HappyPlus Card, to get amazing prizes and discounts. To find the nearest Caltex station, customers may use the stations locator on the Caltex website at www.caltex. com/ph.

Caltex, the retail brand of Chevron Philippines Inc., offers high quality products and services. There are close to 700 service stations strategically scattered throughout the Philippine archipelago and employees working in several areas of business such as Marketing, Lubricants and Terminal operations.

FORMULA One chiefs are weighing the prospect of changing qualifying to a sprint race in order to attract a wider audience.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Liberty have proposed a 100km sprint race on Saturday with no fuel or tyre limitations to determine the grid for the main event on Sunday, giving drivers the ability to race full throttle.

Initially, there was a suggestion of creating a reverse grid but that has since been abandoned because of fears that the racing drama would be too artificially created.

The qualification process was last toyed with during Bernie Ecclestone’s reign in 2016, where the controversial elimination system was promptly scrapped.

The current system sees five drivers eliminated in Q1 and Q2 respectively, before a top-10 shoot-out follows in Q3.

But, ahead of the release of the new 2021 blueprint on Friday, Liberty have surveyed each team to get their thoughts on how qualifying should be determined.

There are also potential plans to change FP1 and FP2 to two one-hour sessions on Friday and create time for fans to get a closer look at the cars, making the entry fee a little more value for money. Planet F1

VISUAL FEAST. Teaser display of Hyundai Automotive Resources Inc. drumbeats the four-day MIAS as the greatest annual exhibition of autos, parts and accessories at the World Trade Center.

Cleanfuel Formula V1 hogs limelight at Manila auto show FROM April 5 – 8, 2018 at World Trade Center, Pasay City, Cleanfuel Formula V1 Car will be one of the cars to be showcased in the Tuason Racing School (TRS) Booth at the Manila International Auto Show .

The MIAS event will officially launch the race series organized by TRS, the organizing body of the Formula V1 race challenge, and during the event, Cleanfuel’s champion racers Luis Gono and Dominic Roque representing the team shall grace the occasion.

For more information about Cleanfuel and its other locations, please call (02) 655-6407 ; (02) 655-9219 or visit its FB page, Cleanfuelph and website at www.cleanfuel.ph.

Motoring PRIZED TROPHY

RAMON L. TOMELDAN EDITOR

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FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018

Lamborghini Super Trofeo kicks off Asian edition at Sepang

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INGAPORE– The 2018 season of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia thunders off the starting grid next week with the mighty new 620hp Huracán Super Trofeo EVO making its championship debut.

As Lamborghini celebrates the 10th edition of the successful Super Trofeo concept, the Asian edition will see the most compelling international field in its history contest 12 races over six rounds, beginning at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit on April 14-15.

Commented Automobili Lamborghini Head of Motorsport, Giorgio Sanna: “Our customers are the reason we continue in our pursuit of excellence. With the EVO, we wanted to give our customers an even more thrilling experience at the wheel, with superior performance and improved safety. We hope our Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers enjoy the experience of driving the new car we have created for them.”

Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO Developed based on the two main pillars of Lamborghini technology of sophisticated aerodynamics and ultralight materials, the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO raises the bar yet higher. The rear wheel drive thoroughbred

SUPER CAR.

LAMBORGHINI CROWS ABOUT THE SUPER TROFEO EVO AS HAVING RAISED THE BAR HIGHER.

racing car, with a maximum speed of 280 km/h (electronically limited), is the ideal development platform for gentlemen drivers while providing a true challenge for professionals. Powered by a naturally aspirated 5.2 V10 engine, it is equipped with an X-Trac six-gear sequential shift and electric gearbox actuator by Magneti Marelli Motorsport.

Visibly striking, the new body kit was developed by the team of motorsport engineers at Automobili Lamborghini working in partnership with Dallara Engineering and Lamborghini Centro Stile. A considerable increase in overall aerodynamic efficiency directly translates to more speed and improved on-track performance, while the central fin aids high speed cornering stability.

With the performance of a GT3 but the running costs of a cup car, the new Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO represents the ideal customer racing car. This, combined with generous benefits included in the season entry package such as free entry and shipping to the World Final and a new, faster car, make participation in the 2018 season an irresistible proposition.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia 2018 The seventh season of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia will open with the electrifying spectacle of a fleet

of Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO racing cars with an intriguing international field of passionate privateers and ambitious professionals at the wheel.

The Malaysian season-opening double header is followed by stops at Thailand’s Buriram circuit, Japan’s famous Suzuka track and Fuji International Speedway, and at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. The final rounds will be held along with the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final at Italy’s Vallelunga Circuit in November.

Each race weekend comprises two hour-long free practice sessions, two 15-minute qualifying sessions, and two 50-minute races. Drivers compete in four categories for championship titles: PRO, for gold and silver FIA-rated drivers; PRO/AM, where a gold or silver driver teams up with a bronze-rated competitor; AM, for bronze drivers; and the Lamborghini Cup for motorsport newcomers. Single driver entries are permitted in the AM and Lamborghini Cup categories only.

For two driver entries, each must complete one qualifying session and take the start for the corresponding race. Each race will include a minimum of one compulsory mid-race pit stop for all entries, including singledriver teams.

Work and play: Sheer exhilaration at BMW THE exclusive importer and distributor of BMW in the Philippines is set to open a world of exhilaration as it joins this year’s Manila International Auto Show (MIAS), which will be home to rare and iconic BMW automobiles and motorcycles from April 5-8 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

“We are proud to host an especially curated exhibit of the best of BMW at the Manila International Auto Show 2018, under the theme ‘Work and Play.’ The models that we will present truly embody not only this year’s concept, but also our promise of ‘Sheer Driving Pleasure’ in every journey,” says Maricar Parco, president of SMC Asia Car Distributors Corp.

Visitors of MIAS are in for a visual feast as soughtafter driving machines from BMW’s growing lineup will be out on display. The All-new BMW X3, the M division progeny BMW M2, the elegant fourdoor BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé, the BMW S 1000 RR superbike, the urban dwellers’ favorite BMW G 310 R, and the first-ever BMW G 310 GS are among the exclusive highlights that will fuel the excitement.

Taking center stage and pumping additional adrenaline to the event will be a showcase of the most powerful letter in the world, the BMW M. BMW will unite the rich heritage of the brand’s celebrated performance division with present day innovations in precision and agility.

The first success story of BMW in motorsport and dubbed as one of the best supercars ever made, the only BMW M1 in the Philippines, will make a rare appearance that shouldn’t be one to miss. This will be complemented by a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with one of the limited 200 units of the BMW M4 DTM Champion Edition, which imbibes the latest motor racing technology and unique design that render it track-ready and an exceptional collector’s item.

Apart from the slew of vehicles, guests will be able to unlock a dynamic experience when they visit the BMW Pavilion. A chance to win limited BMW gifts await the young and young at heart while they indulge in the exclusive BMW Lifestyle, which will feature merchandise at special rates.

Iconic BMW cars and motorcycles will be sharing center stage at the BMW booth for the four-day duration of the Manila International Auto Show from April 5-8, 2018 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.