Manila Standard - 2018 October 26 - Friday

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VOL. XXXII • NO. 253 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net

IN: Guerero takes over

OUT: Lapeña goes to TESDA

Shabu in ‘lifters’ contained P11b and not P6.8b, PDEA chief claims

By Rio N. Araja, Vito Barcelo and Maricel V. Cruz PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino said Thursday the four magnetic lifters found in a Cavite warehouse in August could have contained shabu worth P11 billion, not P6.8 billion as earlier estimated.

Aquino, who said the missing shabu has already found its way into the market, said the new estimate was obtained by comparing the weight of the lifters and a truck similar to the one used to carry them, with its gross and net weight

in the bill of lading.

The difference, 1.6 tons, if it were shabu, would have a street value of P11 billion, he said.

During a House inquiry earlier this week, Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña backtracked on his insistence that the lifters contained no shabu, after testimony from a Public Works official said the lifters found in Cavite were larger and thicker than standard lifters.

Aquino on Thursday said he felt vindicated by Lapeña’s admission, but said he was blaming neither Lapeña nor the Bureau of Customs.

Next page

‘Bloody Thursday’ at Customs

He said Lapeña’s experience as a law enforcer would help him head TESDA. “Sid, the job at TESDA is quite something. it could be messy at times, but I’m sure your training as a military man… would augur well for the country,” he said.

This will be Lapeña’s third appointment in the Duterte administration. Before he was Customs commissioner, he headed the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

The President also announced he appointed Maritime Industry Authority Administrator Rey Leonardo Guerrero to take over Lapeña’s job as BOC chief.

He then ordered all top Customs officials removed.

“Everybody’s out. To the last man, the commissioners are out, the department heads are out,” Duterte said, telling Guerrero that he may bring his own people to the bureau.

“I know you don’t want to leave Marina… I know you are reluctant… I know you are happy there and content, so I’ve heard, but the demands of public service

By Nat Mariano and the need for honest men require your presence there,” Duterte told Guerrero.

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he Guerrero will be the third Customs chief has reassigned Bureau of Customs Commissioner under Duterte, following Lapeña and Bureau of Corrections Chief Nicanor FaelIsidro Lapeña to the Technical Education and Skills don.

Development Authority after the former military man The President said he would announce became embroiled in a controversy over the smuggling of Guerrero’s replacement in Marina in due time, adding that there would be “minor billions of pesos worth of s habu. revamp” in the lower parts of the government.

The Palace said the President did not “General Lapeña will move to TES- the 117th anniversary celebration of the DA. I will promote you to a Cabinet Philippine Coast Guard Thursday eve- think Lapeña had failed as BOC chief, and said his transfer was a promotion. Next page member position,” Duterte said during ning.

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Ex-Customs man in drug mess may turn state witness

By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta FORMER Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban will become a state witness in cases that will be filed in connection with the shipment of shabu—estimated to be worth at least P6.8 billion— that slipped past the Bureau of Customs in August.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday said that orders of President Rodrigo Duterte, Guban will be transferred to the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation as the government builds its case against officials and other people implicated in the drug smuggling case.

Guevarra said Guban is considered a “vital witness.”

Next page

Sagay slay victims NPA recruits—AFP

By Nat Mariano THE Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday said most of the Sagay City massacre victims were not land beneficiaries and were not even residents of Negros Occidental.

AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said the military had recovered documents linking the victims as new recruits of the Communist Party of the Philippine-National People’s Army.

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SWS: PH moving in right direction

New, improved Boracay: DENR chief exhorts people to learn some lesson

By Rio N. Araja and Francisco Tuyay ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy Cimatu is hoping the significant improvements in Boracay Island will be sustained in the long run.

“It is our fervent hope that the people of Boracay have learned their lesson well and that they are now ready to lead efforts to ensure the sustainability of Boracay as a world-class ecotourism destina-

tion,” he said.

Cimatu is the head of the inter-agency task force that led the six-month cleanup of the island, which is set to reopen Friday, exactly six months after its closure on April 26.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said Boracay’s environmental sustainability would depend largely on how the residents, stakeholders and tourists would adhere to the guidelines Next page of the task force.

DASHING DESCENT. Members of a rescue team rappel from a helicopter during a rescue exercise (above) as part of an anti-terrorism drill on a beach in Boracay due to reopen Friday after a six-month cleanup intended to fix the damage inflicted on the resort by unrestrained mass tourism. The island sports a new look (inset) with physical improvements and innovations and, authorities hope, ‘a change in the behavior of the people—locals and foreign tourists—which is the real change.’ AFP

THREE in four Filipinos surveyed by the Social Weather Stations think the Philippines is moving in the “right direction,” the pollster said Thursday.

More Filipinos at 75 percent believe the country is in the right direction, five points higher than the 70 percent in June this year.

Those who said it was going in the “wrong direction” was at 22 percent, with three percent not providing an answer, SWS said.

Workers insist on P334 wage increase

By Vito Barcelo

Next page

THE EXODUS BEGINS. A K9 dog helps troops in inspecting luggages at the Araneta Cubao provincial bus terminals, as hundreds of passengers start the flight back to their respective provinces south of Manila in time for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in this predominantly Christian nation of 106-million people. Manny Palmero

THE labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on Thursday said it would not yield to the P20 wage increase proposed by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines but would continue to insist on a P334 wage increase they petitioned before the Metro Manila wage board.

“The P20 being proffered by ECOP is unacceptable particularly at this point

where prices are high and buying power of wage is falling. Such a measly wage increase won’t uplift millions of Metro Manila minimum waged workers now living below poverty,” ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.

“We are not backing down with our P334 wage increase petition because we are not asking for lavish and extravagant wage increase. We are just demanding for a survival wage hike to recover lost Next page

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News

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Spate of bomb threats probed as Trump hits out at media NEW YORK―US authorities pressed ahead Thursday with an all-out probe into who was behind the pipe bombs sent to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, other top Democrats and CNN, all of them hate figures for the supporters of President Donald Trump.

Trump’s critics accused him of encouraging violence just days before a bitterly divided America votes Nov. 6 in elections.

Trump reacted to the rapid fire spate of bomb alerts by first calling for unity, but then reverting to attacking the media and its “endless hostility.”

CNN is known for its often critical coverage of the Trump administration and has constantly provoked the ire of the president, who succeeded Obama and defeated Clinton in 2016.

The spree began Monday with a device at the New York home of billionaire liberal donor George Soros.

“So far the devices have been what appear to be pipe bombs,” said FBI agent Bryan Paarmann.

“Whether it’s one person or a network, not really sure at this point,” New York police chief James O’Neill told CNN, saying he expected those responsible to be identified and arrested within the next few days.

At least seven suspicious packages were sent in New York, Washington and Florida, including to prominent African American Democrats, Obama’s attorney general Eric Holder and Maxine Waters, a California lawmaker.

Late Wednesday, police in Los Angeles said another suspicious package had been found at a mail facility, also addressed to Waters. Bomb disposal experts rendered it safe, authorities said.

The packages were sent in manila envelopes with bubble wrap, marked with computer-printed address labels.

Each listed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, as the sender.

The return address included misspellings of Wasserman Schultz’s last name, the Miami Herald and other news outlets reported.

A photo of the device sent to CNN showed it to be a short length of pipe wrapped in black tape, with wires sticking out of either end.

From the White House, Trump initially appealed for unity, saying “acts of political violence” have “no place in the United States.”

“Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective,” he later told a campaign rally in Wisconsin before switching his criticism back to the media.

“The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative, and often times false attacks and stories,” he added. AFP

Ex-Customs man...

From A1

“Mr. Guban shall be considered for coverage under the witness protection program, upon full compliance with all the requirements under the WPP law,” Guevarra said, in a text message.

He said he discussed Guban’s custody with Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Senator Richard Gordon.

Guevarra said the NBI will conduct further investigation on the basis of the Senate committee report and “file the appropriate complaints as evidence will warrant.”

The NBI is also conducting a parallel investigation into the smuggled shabu shipment that was allegedly contained in four empty magnetic lifters that were found in a Cavite warehouse in August.

On Wednesday, Duterte ordered the police to arrest Guban and have him detained at the NBI office.

Guban, who was called to testify before the Senate, was being detained thereafter he was cited for contempt for lying to the committee.

The House of Representatives is also investigating the shabu shipment.

Despite Duterte’s arrest order, Guban will stay with the Senate until the Blue Ribbon committee is done with its investigation, Senator Richard Gordon said Thursday.

“We are a co-equal branch of government… we can’t turn over Mr. Guban right away because we are still continuing the hearings,” said Gordon, an ally of the President.

“I respect the President, but we do follow certain rules…and a part of that would be to make sure that the status of the Congress as co-equal branch of government is respected,” Gordon said.

Once the Blue Ribbon finishes its probe, he said, Guban’s testimony can be evaluated to determine if he can be placed under the witness protection program.

Peace adviser, newsman named special envoys

By Nat Mariano

By Nat Mariano and Macon Ramos-Araneta

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday appointed Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza and broadcaster Ramon Tulfo as special envoys to the European Union and China, respectively.

The appointment papers released by Malacañang said Dureza will serve as a special envoy to the EU from July 1 to Dec. 31, taking over the post of the late former Senate President Edgardo Angara.

Tulfo’s appointment paper showed he will hold the post of special envoy for public diplomacy to China for six months.

Tulfo, a broadcaster and columnist, had previously expressed interest in serving the Duterte administration.

“The President said he wanted me to help him, so I broached the idea of becoming a special envoy to China, which he approved,” Tulfo wrote in his column almost a year ago.

“As a special envoy to China, which pays only one peso per year, I could retain my public service program Isumbong Mo kay Tulfo on dzRP, my bread and butter. Helping people is my passion.”

Tulfo said the President had asked him to seek an elective

DUREZA

TULFO

post and even offered to spend for his campaign but he refused, saying he didn’t want Duterte to spend for him.

“That was very flattering but I told him I didn’t want him to spend for me... If I run for senator, I would have to give up my radio program and my columns for the Inquirer and Bandera,” Tulfo said.

“But as a special envoy to China, I could bring in Chinese investors on agriculture and fisheries.”

Duterte also appointed PTV News Operations head Raquel Rodriguez Tobias as an undersecretary at the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

‘Bloody Thursday’...

and that is to stop corruption and increase revenue collection,” he said in a Palace briefing. “And I have been delivering and I From A1 still have to do a lot to accomplish that mission.”

Lapeña made the statement following his public acknowlPresidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, however, did not edgement on the possibility that the four magnetic lifters found cite the reason for the abrupt “promotion.” in Cavite could have contained shabu that had been smuggled Before his reassignment, Lapeña insisted he would not resign, through Customs. and shrugged off calls for him to step down.

He had earlier denied that billions worth of shabu slipped past “The President placed me there to accomplish a job, a mission the bureau in August.

Shabu...

From A1

President Rodrigo Duterte later reassigned Lapeña to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, a move he described as a promotion.

In another development, the Manila Regional Trial Court on Thursday acquitted the daughter of alleged drug queen Yu Yuk Lai of drug charges and ordered her release from detention.

Manila RTC Branch 49 said the search warrant against Diana Yu Uy was “invalid for lack of probable cause.”

The supposed contraband seized from Uy in a PDEA raid was “inadmissible in evidence” as the court found “strong compelling evidence” that they were “planted.”

Uy was arrested in November last year at her condominium unit in San Miguel, Manila, near Malacañang.

PDEA believes her to be an illegal drug dealer from inside the Bureau of Corrections in Mandaluyong City.

Sacked Customs deputy collector Lourdes Mangaoang said she also felt vindicated by Lapeña’s admission.

Lapeña sacked her after she insisted

New, improved...

From A1

More than the physical improvements and innovations, “a change in the behavior of the people—both the locals and tourists—will bring real change to the island,” he said.

He said he is optimistic the task force has “successfully laid the foundations for a sustainable Boracay” during the island’s six-month rehabilitation.

A day before Boracay was set to reopen, the Office of the Ombudsman suspended Malay town Mayor Ciceron Cawaling, the DILG said.

The DILG filed criminal and administrative charges against Cawaling and 16 other officials in Aklan province in June for alleged neglect of duty that resulted in environmental problems on Boracay island.

The charges were filed two months after the top tourist spot was closed to tourists so sewerage systems could be improved or put in place, and so illegal structures could be torn down.

Boracay is under the jurisdiction of Malay town in Aklan.

The Philippine National Police has permanently deployed hundreds of uniformed personnel in key areas to en-

SWS:...

From A1

“Believers” rose in all areas of the country, led by those surveyed in Mindanao, President Rodrigo Duterte’s home region, at 89 percent, followed by Balance Luzon (73 percent), Visayas (69 percent), and Metro Manila (65 percent).

Net satisfaction with the performance of Duterte and his administration was higher among those who say the Philippines is in the right direction, and lower among those who say

AFP takes time to assess ML situation in Mindanao

the empty lifters had, in fact, contained shabu.

“All the evidence now points to Commissioner Lapeña. He now admitted that the magnetic lifters contained drugs after repeatedly denying that [they did],” she said in a press conference Thursday.

Accompanied by officers of the Coalition Against Corruption, Mangaoang called on President Duterte to fire Lapeña, who she said might be covering up the shabu smuggling.

Also on Thursday, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said Customs should conduct a physical examination, in addition to X-ray scanning, on all suspicious shipments in various seaports and airports.

Barbers’ panel and the House committee on good government and public accountability on Wednesday resumed their probe into the shabu smuggling scandal.

“We will conduct one more hearing to shed light on the matter,” Barbers said Thursday.

He added that drug syndicates would not be able to smuggle in billions of pesos of shabu without conniving with corrupt Customs officials.

Sagay...

From A1

force law and order and to ensure the newly formulated rules on proper use are observed.

PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said about 400 to 500 policemen would conduct roving patrols along the beach front and in the inner portion of the resort to ensure and protect the safety of thousands of tourists who are expected to pour back into the island.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government to monitor all beach tourist destinations nationwide, to prevent them from deteriorating as Boracay did.

On Boracay, some 2,100 frontliners—boatmen, jetty port checkers, ticket collectors, land transport drivers, tour guides, travel and tour operators, hotel and restaurant waiters and food servers, massage and spa therapists, manicurists, vendors, souvenir gift shops salespersons, and water sports activities front-liners have undergone free training sessions to better deal with the influx of tourists.

“While Boracay is still a work in progress, we are optimistic that these front-liners will help us in showcasing the ‘Better Boracay’ we are working towards,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.

“We gathered eight of the victims were new recruits... The recruits possibly were not beneficiaries. Most of them were not from there, some were tricycle drivers, some lived in nearby municipalities,” Galvez told a Palace press briefing.

According to the AFP chief, the NPA negotiated with the victims two days prior to the attack, promising them land areas in exchange for P500, saying it was part of the Left’s plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.

Asked what was the motive of the NPA in having a hand in the killings, Galvez said the communist rebels wanted to put the Duterte administration in bad light.

“The CPP has been hatching plans to oust the Duterte administration and this incident is part of their plan to rouse civil unrest and discredit the government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the President warned the communists he was determined to mobilize government forces to stop them from sowing terror and violence in communities loutside the metropolis.

Galvez said the recovered documents in an encounter with NPA rebels in Sorsogon revealed the communists’ “sinister plot” to occupy private and public lands, creating tense situations which would result in violence.

“From the documents we got, we saw this Oplan Okupasyon and Oplan Bungkalan. This is what we call forcible occupation of private and public lands, this is like what the Kadamay did,” he told Palace reporters.

“They will create situations to manipulate and arouse people,” he added, claiming CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison gave the order.

According to him, the military and police authorities were closely looking into the three leads.

“We have three leads. Maybe one of the landowners or claimants [did the attack], second is maybe the land owner’s private armed group, and the third is an indication that there is the hand of the CPP-NPA because there was one warning shot or agitation shot,” Galvez said, explaining that the same incident happened in Mendiola and Hacienda Luisita attacks.

“A shot came from the ranks of the protesters. Then that’s when the shooting began,” he said.

On Saturday, nine farmers were killed when when they were shot at while resting in their tents at the Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon in Sagay City.

the country is in the wrong direction, SWS explained.

Duterte recorded a +72 “excellent” net satisfaction rating among those who say the country is in the right direction, while his administration registered a +66 “very good” net satisfaction rating.

The President got a “neutral” minus-3 score among those who say the Philippines is in the wrong direction. His administration received a “neutral” plus-1 rating.

A September SWS survey released earlier this month showed the President’s overall net satisfaction rating dropped

to 48, classified as “good” from “very good,” as less Filipinos say they are satisfied with his performance.

Belief that the country is in the right direction increased in classes D and E, particularly among non-college graduates, SWS noted.

In class D, belief that the country is in the right direction rose by five points to 75 percent in September this year from 70 percent in June. Class E, the lowest class, saw a two-point rise to 72 percent from 70 percent in June this year.

A four-point drop was seen in class ABC from 80 percent to 76 percent.

THE military said Thursday the assessment to find out whether or not it will recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte another extension to the martial law regime in Mindanao will start next week.

“Next week, we will start the assessment with the visitation of Eastmincom [Eastern Mindanao Command] and Wesmincom [Western Mindanao Command],” Armed Forces Chief Carlito Galvez Jr. told reporters.

“We have already asked some religious [groups] and also some of the LGUs [local government units], but we need to know, we need to assess further considering that the assessment coming from the AFP should be joint with the PNP [Philippine National Police].”

Galvez made his statement even as Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros raised the possibility that Duterte had turned Mindanao into a “martial law laboratory” to test the sustainability of “full authoritarian rule.”

“The entire Mindanao is under martial law for more than 500 days already.

This is on top of the declaration of a state of national emergency last year in response to the Davao City bombing. PostMarcos, this is now the longest-running martial law in the country,” Hontiveros said.

“Is this now the new normal in the region? Or is Mindanao Duterte’s guinea pig for complete authoritarian rule?”

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said there was no actual threat in Mindanao that justified the declaration of martial law in the first place. He said martial law was also not needed to rebuild war-torn Marawi.

“We don’t need martial law to rebuild,” Aquino said.

Galvez said the imposition of martial law had been effective in ensuring peace and order in Mindanao. It even increased the business activities in the region.

“There is a commensurate correlational increase of business activity because of the seemingly relative peaceful conditions in the area,” Galvez said.

Malacañang said it was only waiting for the recommendation of both the AFP and PNP on whether or not to extend martial law in Mindanao.

“As I have said yesterday, it will depend on the recommendation of the military... They said it is still needed there as martial law helps control the peace and order,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a radio interview.

“There is no proposal yet, but of course we are waiting for it from the military. The President relies on what will they say as they are the ones on the ground, they know better,” Panelo said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Defense department had been assessing the situation in Mindanao through its consultations various groups.

The Duterte administration put Mindanao under martial law to defeat the Islamic State-inspired terrorists in Marawi.

At the Palace’s request, the Senate and the House of Representatives decided to extend martial law in the region declaration twice.

Workers...

From A1

real value of our wages so that we can be able to cope with rising inflation and avoid hunger,” Tanjusay said.

“We urge the ECOP to get real.

Why don’t they try to take a ride [in] a jeepney or a bus. Go to the market and ride LRT or MRT with their P20,” said Tanjusay.

Meanwhile, the Partido ng Manggagawa said the P20 wage offer by employers was “an insult to hard working Filipinos.”

The PM chairman Rene Magtubo said the proposed wage hike would not make a dent in group’s daily cost of living estimate of P1,300.

Magtubo criticized the regional wage board hearings as a “moro-moro” as Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello and the ECOP had already agreed on “a P20 alms to workers.”

The regional wage boards are composed of three representatives from the government, two from employers and two from labor.

“Wage regionalization has been weaponized in the employers’ war to cheapen wages and increase profits. An evaluation of the policy performance of wage regionalization that started in 1989 will show that it has consistently resulted in measly salary hikes that are below inflation rates and disregards economic growth,” Magtubo said.

He said the P3,150 monthly are needed to buy daily 2.5 kilos of the cheapest commercial rice at P42.

News PH 5th most competitive economy in Southeast Asia THE Philippines is fifth most competitive economy in Southeast Asia and 56th out of 140 economies worldwide, according to the latest Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.

With an overall score of 62.1 out of 100, the Philippines follows Singapore (83.5, 2nd), Malaysia (74.4, 25th), Thailand (67.5, 38th), and Indonesia (64.9, 45th. ); overtaking four of its ASEAN peers, namely: Brunei Darussalam (61.4, 76th), Vietnam (58.1, 77th), Cambodia (50.2, 110th), and Lao PDR (49.3, 112th).

The GCR contained an assessment of the competitiveness landscape of countries based on several productivity indicators grouped under 12 key pillars— institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, education and skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, business dynamism, and innovation capability.

Of these pillars, the Philippines excelled in the market and innovation ecosystem components, particularly on the following indicators: market size (32nd), labor market (36th), financial system (39th), and business dynamism (39th).

On the other hand, the country faces its biggest challenge with respect to the quality of its institutions which has a ranking of 101st , the lowest score among all pillars.

According to the WEF, public

sector efficiency and the absence of corruption are critical determinants of institutional quality.

To improve the quality of services of Philippine public institutions, the government is taking the necessary steps to minimize, and ultimately eliminate, red tape and corruption in the bureaucracy.

Among these are the implementation of the Anti-Red Tape Act and the Ease of Doing Business Act of 2018, establishment of the National Identification System, and the launch of the PhilGEPS Virtual Store.

In addition, the government— through the initiative of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno—is pushing for the immediate passage of the Budget Modernization Bill.

The BMB aims to institutionalize an annual cash-based budgeting system, which limits incurring contractual obligations and disbursing payments, to goods delivered and services rendered and inspected within the fiscal year.

This means that contracts should be fully delivered by the end of the fiscal year, ensuring the prompt delivery of public goods and services.

This year’s GCR was generated using the new Global Competitiveness Index 4.0, which introduces emerging drivers of growth and productivity. It highlights human capital, innovation, resilience, and agility as “defining features of economic success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Malacañang hopeful Aunor will get award ‘in God’s time’

By Nat Mariano THE Palace on Thursday expressed hope that Nora Aunor, who appeared delisted in the roster of named 2018 Order of the National Artists, would be thus named in God’s “perfect time.”

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said he was not knowledgeable whether Aunor was removed from the list of National Artists over her alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

“I’m not aware of that. All I know was that she was nominated,” Panelo told a Palace press briefing.

He explained the National Commission for Culture and Arts and the Cultural Center of the Philippines had the final say on Aunor’s qualification.

Panelo added: “Her non-inclusion does not diminish her iconic stature as the country’s superstar.”

The Palace official added Aunor’s non-inclusion did not reduce her massive influence and significant contribution to the local film, theater, television and music industries.

“The artistical and musical legend that is Nora Aunor may not have passed the critical eyes of a select juror and the awarding authority to be bestowed the National Artist award but her enrapturing film artistry and musicality and mass acceptance surpass any technical recognition given by any entity or authority,” Panelo said.

The Palace official called Aunor the crowned people’s artist and acknowledged that her phenomenal rise left many “mesmerized.”

The actress earlier said the respect she was getting from her fellow artists was already merit of an award.

“She [Aunor] got majority votes, it’s not unanimous. So, there are also jurors who believed she’s not qualified,” said Panelo.

“But, of course, the power and the privilege to appoint rest on the President. So, that’s discretionary,” he added.

Panelo made the comment as he issued a statement on the delisting of Aunor in the roster of this year’s seven National Artists.

“Nora Aunor is still young and in God’s perfect time we are optimistic that she will be proclaimed as a National Artist,” said Panelo.

Books for remote schools

By Maricel V. Cruz IN TECHNOLOGY-starved remote areas, lack of textbooks and learning materials are a challenge for teachers and learners trying to keep up with the fast-paced world.

To address this challenge, House Deputy Speaker and AAMBIS-OWA Party-list group’s “One Child, One Book Project” brought books to schools in far-flung areas in the towns of Cabatuan, Maasin, San Enrique, Dumangas, and Lambunao in Iloilo on Sept. 24 and Oct. 11 to 19.

AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin and Vice Gov. Christine Garin of Iloilo, along with former Fourth District Rep. Hernan Biron Jr. of Iloilo personally oversaw the distribution of 2,790 books to 14 public schools in Iloilo, four of which cater to tribesmen.

“These schools barely have access to the Internet and other web-based tools. They only have books to turn to for research.

AAMBIS-OWA will continue to be of assistance by ensuring that enough reference materials are within the reach of these students to help them perform well in school,” Garin said.

The Department of Education said the earmarked funds for Learning Tools and Equipment in the 2019 National Expenditure Program shows a 47.2-percent drop from the P7.8-billion allocation in the General Appropriations Act for 2018.

This cutback is expected to affect the basic education input and the production and distribution of textbooks, the DepEd added.

“We do our best to fill the gap.

The books will keep the students well-informed. It will also help them with subjects they find challenging,” said Vice Gov. Garin who led the distribution of 4,991 books in the Second and Third Districts of Iloilo.

Now on its eighth year, the “One Child, One Book Project” aims to provide supplementary reading and reference materials on various subjects published abroad to public schools in far-flung areas.

It is a continuing advocacy project of AAMBIS-OWA Party-list group, in partnership with Children International, as a response to the widespread lack of school resources in the poor areas in the Visayas. The series of turnovers were facilitated with the help of the Office of Vice Gov. Garin.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Gaps make Comelec helpless

By Vito Barcelo

HE Commission on Elections on Thursday admitted it was helpless against premature campaigning by major senatorial candidates due to some loopholes on election campaign rule.

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Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in his twitter account that many candidates, especially running for national posts, were engaged in premature campaigning.

The poll body said it could not even slap the wrists of politicians who have resorted to premature campaigning because there was no specific law that allowed the Comelec to reprimand or act against candidates engaging in premature campaigning.

Jimenez said the Comelec could not

put a stop to this, as well as the posting of tarpaulins and campaign posters with politicians’ faces.

The Comelec spokesperson cited Republic Act 9369, Section 13 stating “that any person who files his certificate of candidacy within this period shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy: Provided, that, unlawful acts or omissions applicable to a

candidate shall effect only upon that start of the aforesaid campaign period…”

The campaign period for those running for national posts starts from February 12, 2019 to May 11, 2019.

For local positions, the campaign period is from March 29, 2019 to May 11, 2019.

“It is very clear that the acts you can prohibit of a candidate, you can only prohibit at the start of the campaign period. Unless the campaign period starts, everyone gets to do whatever they want,” Jimenez said.

However, the Comelec said the candidates who placed posters on the streets could be charged with vandalism and littering, but only the local government units have the authority to do it.

Jimenez appealed to all political aspirants for sense of delicadeza and avoid premature campaigning.

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Opinion

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

It ain’t over till it’s over

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

remain closed.

After getting that heave-ho he tried CROSSROADS a more brazen but ultimately criminal act - he faked his compliance paJONATHAN pers. He will now have to clean his DE LA CRUZ act many times over and pray that the Task Force and President Duterte will DESPITE President Duterte’s instruc- be as forgiving. Otherwise, all his options to ban “thank you” streamers as erations in other parts of the country Boracay opens to the public today after will be checked and his compliance a six-month shutdown, I will have to documents possibly including his BIR say “thank you” to him and members payments and related papers subjected of his Cabinet as well as the hundreds to severe tests. of men and women in various agenIn any event, as we thank all those cies, local and national, who labored who worked hard to bring Boracay out day and night to bring back this gem of the cesspool we have to doubly reitof an island to its pristine beauty. erate that a lot of hard work and creaThe various Boracay stakeholders, tive thinking remains to be done if we especially the workers and others who are to bring back depended on the tourism trade which Boracay to its old glory as the best made the island one of the most vis- island tourist destination in the world. ited destinations in the world also de- It ain’t over yet. serve our thanks. *** They managed to Speaking of unkeep their cool finished business, and their senses it is clear from the Let’s not jump like and did not do latest reports that anything which chimpanzees just yet.

Senator Antonio would have dis“Sonny” Trillanes rupted the çleanIV will be in for up of this cessa long goodbye. pool, as President Despite the latest Duterte described it, prior to the clo- ruling of Makati RTC Judge Andres sure last May. Soriano denying the government’s peOf course, we have to thank citizens tition for the issuance of an arrest warall over the world who encouraged rant and hold departure order against us to proceed with this clean-up plan him, Trillanes will have to reckon with which has been postponed many times the government’s petition to have the over in the past on various guises by same overturned. those who were raking it in without Justice Secretary Meynard Guevara regard for its long-term sustainable has directed his prosecutors to file a development. motion for reconsideration. If that One of those who boasted of con- fails, then I have every reason to benections all the way to Malacañang in lieve that the government will appeal the past and who managed to expand the ruling with the Court of Appeals his empire beyond recognition defy- and eventually the Supreme Court uning the rules tried to wiggle his way all til a final judgment is arrived at. These over again with this recent clean up us- perfectly legal remedies will take time ing all kinds of ruses and connections. to be resolved and definitely beyond He was flatly told by the Boracay Inter the senator’s end of term next June.

Agency Task Force to comply or else.

As a layman and without meaning to Well, he tried, first, by bringing in a debate with the legal eagles on either highly placed Malacañang connec- side of the debate on the Soriano ruling, tion to meet with Task Force chairman I found the same confusing. On the one and DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu hand, Judge Soriano refused to grant who told him to his face to go by the the government’s requests saying that rules—otherwise, his operations will Turn to A5

T

Sustainable tourism

HE government and the private sector should draw lessons from the six-month closure of Boracay Island. Years of unrestricted mass tourism have degraded the world-famous beach destination and threatened its existence before President Rodrigo Duterte stepped in to prevent the total ruin of the island.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat is taking the right direction when she declared the start of a “culture of sustainable tourism” in the Philippines starting with the reopening of a cleaner Boracay today, and warned other tourist destinations will be next in the government’s drive to protect the environment.

The tourism chief sent a written “warning” to other top Philippine tourist draws including El Nido and Panglao islands in Bohol province. She might as well include Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro province, Coron Island

in Palawan and other exotic coastal areas that have been luring thousands of local and foreign tourists.

Boracay has been overdeveloped to meet the rising tide of tourists visiting its white powdery sands. Several hotel accommodations with no decent sewerage facilities were erected on the island, resulting in sea pollution that prompted President Duterte to describe Boracay as a cesspool. Mountains of garbage, an overflowing sewer system and a carnival-like atmosphere have stained the image of Boracay and

endangered its ecosystem.

The government could have prevented the degradation had it enforced existing strict environmental rules. Local authorities were either lax on implementing the rules or turned a blind eye on the situation in exchange for favors.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Tourism, meanwhile, should lead the cleanup in other major tourist spots. An inadequate sewer system and the uncontrolled influx of tourists are stretching the resources of similar tourist destinations.

But authorities first and foremost must impose fines on local officials who failed to implement the country’s strict environmental rules. They must be held accountable, or put behind bars, for the environmental disaster they caused in Boracay.

Smaller government; $10 million for startups To further economic prosperity, the Duterte administration should consider a modified policy to encourage more public-private partnerships.

ERIC They should look into ongoing infraJURADO structure projects, and those to be imBASED on recent news reports, the plemented in 2019, that could be taken government is prepared to suspend over by private companies (we all the 2019 fuel tax hike to decrease in- know they’re better at this), provided it flationary pressures and help Filipino is technically and legally feasible to do consumers. so. This modified policy will help susFinance Undersecretary Gil Bel- tain the government’s “Build, Build, tran said that the estimated net loss Build” program without significantly to government will amount to P27 cutting the budget for non-infrastrucbillion (P41 bilture programs lion in foregone like education revenues from and health. the fuel tax hike There are many Allowing suspension micompetent and nus P14 billion in foreign investors credible compaadditional VAT to participate in nies that can be collections from tapped to assume higher oil prices). strategic industries, some portions of Beltran added like transport and the “Build, Build, that the govern- telecommunications, Build” program ment is also cut- will increase even before the ting down on operations and some non-prior- competition, lower management ity expenditures prices, and free phase. such as travel, up government Financing, renovations, and resources to fund through state purchase of motor funding, or aid, other priorities like vehicles. could be chanThat’s good education and health. neled instead to news. missionary areas Gover n ment and major prodoesn’t like tax jects that have losses. There’ll be less money to spend a high social impact, such as large on the non-productive. Tax savings, on dams and bridges, while those with the other hand, are always good for us. commercial potential could be done There’ll be more money in our pocket through public-private partnerships. to spend on ourselves and the producThe restrictive economic provisions tive. Smaller government leads to eco- of the 1987 Constitution should also nomic prosperity.

Turn to A5 FROM WHERE I STAND

Social media in the spotlight in Brazil presidential race

By Marc Burleigh BRAZIL, like other countries, is facing a very electronic election. WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter are the weapons of choice to sway the country’s 147-million voters—and abuse of social media has been widespread.

Facebook and its WhatsApp messenger service—hugely popular in the Latin American nation—have been thrust into the spotlight for being used to traffic in disinformation.

The extreme-right frontrunner in the run-off election on Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro, has largely eschewed Brazil’s established media, preferring to woo voters online in a manner very reminiscent of US President Donald Trump.

Bolsonaro’s trailing rival, leftwing candidate Fernando Haddad, has raged

against “fake news” and “lies” targeting him and his Workers Party, as Bolsonaro’s support has grown into what looks to be an unassailable lead.

Surveys suggest Bolsonaro could pick up 59 percent of the vote, to 41 percent for Haddad.

If the race goes in that direction, Brazil—a country that threw off military dictatorship just three decades ago—will veer to the far right, under a president Bolsonaro vowing a relentless crackdown on crime and corruption.

This week, the 63-year-old former paratrooper, a pro-gun lawmaker backed by influential evangelical groups, warned the “red marginals” of the Workers Party “to get out or go to jail.”

The language online is just as blunt, mixing truth with lies, or presenting

opinions as fact. Many shared posts amplify the Workers Party’s past corruption. Some portray Haddad as trying to promote homosexuality in schoolchildren. Others, those backing Haddad, call Bolsonaro a “fascist” bent on destroying democracy.

Closed accounts Accusations of defamation and campaign dirty tricks are flying back and forth. The federal police have opened an investigation into online “fake news” against both candidates.

The potential of social media to influence Brazil’s election also evokes the revelations of meddling that came out in the wake of the US election and the Brexit referendum in Britain, both in 2016.

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Features

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

Venezuelan exiles turn to prostitution to feed families Smaller...

From A4

CALAMAR—Back in Venezuela, they were teachers, police officers and newspaper carriers, but were forced to flee their homeland in search of work and money to survive.

But the women, without identity papers, ended up working as prostitutes in sordid bars in Colombia, saving all they can to provide for their families back home, still in the throes of economic crisis.

Mother-of-three Patricia, 30, was beaten, raped and sodomised by a drunken client—but she keeps on working in a brothel in Calamar, in the center of the country.

“There are customers who treat you badly and that is horrible,” she says. “”Every day, I pray to God that they are good [to us].”

Alegria is a teacher of history and geography but in a Venezuela gripped by chronic hyperinflation, she was earning just 312,000 bolivars a month: Less than a dollar.

Her salary was not enough “even for a packet of pasta,” the 26-year-old mother of a four-year-old boy told AFP. In February, she crossed the border into Colombia.

She initially worked for three months as a waitress in the east, a job which offered room and board, but Alegria was never paid, getting by on tips.

“I sent my tips home to my family,” she said. Six people, including her son, were relying on her.

Eventually, even those were confiscated, so Alegria made her way south to Calamar, which is located in an area scarred by decades of armed conflict.

The region is a hub for drug-trafficking, and a bastion of dissident former FARC guerrillas.

With nine other women, Alegria–a pseudonym she gave AFP for this story that means ‘happiness’—prostitutes herself every night in a bar in the town of 3,000 people.

Each client pays between 37,00050,000 pesos ($11-16), of which 7,000 is kept by the establishment’s manager. On a “good night,” Alegria can earn the equivalent of between $30 and $100.

“We never intended on prostituting ourselves. We’re doing it because of the crisis,” says Joli, her voice cracking.

This 35-year-old lost her job as a newspaper carrier in 2016 because “there was no more paper to print them.”

After four years of recession and years of financial mismanagement, Venezuela’s crisis has seen poverty soar as basic necessities such as food and medicine became scarce.

Inflation is set to hit a staggering 1.4 million percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, which says 2019 will see that figure reach an astronomical 10 million percent.

Exiles face difficult decisions. AFP

Joli left her three children with her mother before trekking from town to town and job to job looking to make ends meet.

When she crossed the border into Colombia without a passport, she had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.

Some 1.9-million Venezuelans have fled the crisis-ridden country since 2015, according to the United Nations.

Joli’s story is a painful one.

She is divorced from the father of her children, but he died of renal failure, denying her the help she needed to raise them.

Then, she said, the man she was due to marry “died of a heart attack due to a lack of medication.”

“My back was against the wall,” Joli said.

She said she couldn’t even find work as a cleaner because of her Venezuelan accent so ended up in Calamar, so she turned to sex work. In June, her 19-year-old niece, Milagro, joined her at the brothel.

“At first I felt terrible,” said the teenager.

But she stuck to it, trying to help her sick mother, her brothers and a two-yearold child.

Her mother has since died.

Beside the financial hardships and obvious unpleasantness of the work, many women struggle with hiding the truth from their families.

“They don’t know what I do, even my mother,” admits Alegria. “It would be too difficult for her after sacrificing five years of her life to pay for my studies.”

She dreams of teaching in Colombia but without a passport, it’s impossible.

She tells her loved ones she works in a bakery but, sick of lying, she finally confessed the truth of an emergency team of medics from Doctors of the World in Calamar.

Jhon Jaimes, an MDM psychologist, says the women suffer from “anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Their fear of the armed men in the region is very real.

On top of that, the tropical climate exposes them to run-of-the-mill infections as well as dengue and malaria, he added.

Then there are sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies that result when clients refuse to wear condoms.

At the MDM hospital, a doctor treats them, fits them with birth control implants and offers advice. Some break down in tears.

Around 60 Venezuelans work as prostitutes in Calamar. MDM gives them food, hygiene products and contraceptives.

Back at the bar, they emerge from their siesta into the steamy humidity and start preparing for work: Applying lipstick, brushing their hair and squeezing into hot pants and tiny, revealing tops.

It’s an unforgiving life, but one not entirely without hope.

Former police officer Pamela, 20, went to San Jose del Guaviare, a three-hour drive from Calamar, for an abortion and managed to continue on to the greater Bogota area.

She now works as a waitress for $10 a day–only 10 percent of what she could have in the brothel, but one she prefers over the one she started with in Calamar, where she was basically her pimp’s property.

“This guy lied to us,” she says ruefully.

Milagro has also found a way out, in the form of a pilot she is now dating.

Mother-of-four Alejandra, 37, says she isn’t looking for a husband.

“One man isn’t enough. I need a lot to feed the little ones,” she says.

Her youngest child, just two months old, was fathered by a client. AFP

Show me the money: Wealth-flaunting meme goes viral in China

By Dan Martin and Kelly Wang CHINESE social media users have seized on a viral meme in which people are pictured literally rolling in their own wealth, spawning a range of cheeky counter-posts poking fun at the country’s nouveau riche.

Posts related to the aptly-named Wealth-Flaunting Challenge on China’s popular Weibo platform had been viewed more than 2.3-billion times, drawing more than a million comments.

In the meme, which originated in Russia, social media users post pictures of themselves falling face-down to the pavement as they exit their cars, the ground strewn with their cash, credit cards, jewellery, designer bags and shoes, and other luxury items and electronics.

Decades of skyrocketing economic growth have given China the most dollar billionaires of any country in the world with 620, according to Shanghai-based magazine publisher Hurun Report, and many of China’s newly wealthy are not shy about showing off their luxury cars and accoutrements.

But the meme has inspired a wealth of parodies in China, with people seeing it as a golden opportunity to mock the rich.

In one, a man labelled as a “hard-working” staff member is shown on the ground in front of what appears to be an office building surrounded by an array of cleaning supplies, brooms and mops.

Even government agencies have joined the party, providing a propaganda bonanza.

Shanghai’s fire department showed personnel splayed on the ground next to fire trucks and surrounded by firefighting equipment, while the Hubei province police department depicted a gun-toting officer standing next to his vehicle over four men on the ground in civilian clothes, representing “evil forces.”

And companies have seized on the frenzy to advertise their goods.

A woman who works for a subsidiary of China National Gold Group posed belly down with her feet up on an luxurious armchair and bullions strewn around her.

‘Out of their mind?’

Other tongue-in-cheek posts include a woman surrounded by an array of lipsticks with her feet resting on a white sofa, or a man on the ground with six cats.

“Everyone has something he or she thinks is the most valuable or what he or she cares about the most. To me, it’s my

cats,” said Li Dong, 33, the cat owner who joined the challenge on Weibo in midOctober.

“It’s an exaggerated way of expression.

I think it’s fun so I showed my cats off,” Li told AFP. Much of the online reaction to the wave of postings dismissed them as a waste of time compared to the altruistic objectives of the previous “Ice Bucket Challenge,” which went global.

“Are these people out of their mind?

How empty must their life be so that they are figuring out different ways to prove their existence,” said one posting on Weibo.

music producer Andrey Shirman, known as DJ Smash, on July 30, showing him in tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt sprawled face down at the foot of the gangway of a private jet.

It was quickly followed by similar posts from a succession of high-profile models and socialites—most wearing swimwear or short shorts—photographed stretched out near private jets and luxury yachts. Their posts garnered tens of thousands of likes.

One famous contributor was Ksenia Sobchak, former TV star and 2018 presidential candidate, who in mid-August put up a photo of herself in a swimsuit

This picture from Wen Siyuan shows a woman lying on the floor as she poses with lipsticks and handbags in Xian as part of the viral ‘Wealth-flaunting’ meme. AFP

Others, however, were more positive about posts by university students and young workers using the meme to present academic and professional accomplishments.

“It’s disheartening to see young people being impacted by the pursuit of money and power. I support the young people who are hard-working. That’s where the country’s hope lies!” read one post on Weibo.

Russian socialites The first “falling stars challenge” was posted on Instagram by Russian DJ and

falling down the stairs of what appears to be a yacht.

Criticism of this public flaunting of wealth has been muted in Russia, with commentators suggesting the whole fad was just a bit of summer fun.

Like in China, as the #fallingstars2018 hashtag gained momentum, Russians started putting up parodies. One shows a young woman falling off a deckchair in a bikini; in another, a man is face down in front of a couch with his head on a fashion magazine. AFP

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be removed as soon as possible. Congress, acting as a constituent assembly, should try to approve this and have it ratified by the people in the 2019 elections, without having to wait for the entire 1987 Constitution to be amended.

The other provisions can be amended starting in the second half of 2019 up to the end of 2021, and later ratified on or before the 2022 elections.

Allowing foreign investors to participate in strategic industries, like transport and telecommunications, will increase competition, lower prices, and free up government resources to fund other priorities like education and health.

Over-reliance on foreign loans will be reduced and help maintain our fiscal deficit at a manageable level of not more than three percent of the nation’s wealth.

More economic freedom will also improve the quality of infrastructure because foreign investors will be allowed to fully invest in areas where they are currently restricted, like airports, seaports, and mass transport systems, and operate them as well. *** Speaking of foreign investors, Core Capital, a Philippine-based venture capital firm, has partnered with Gobi Partners, a top Asian venture capital firm with over $1.1 billion in assets, to launch a $10-million fund dedicated to support seed-stage and pre-Series A companies in the Philippines.

The Gobi-Core Philippine Fund will be co-managed by Core Capital, founded by Carlo Delantar (Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018), Jason Gaisano, and its Managing Partner Ken Ngo. The fund’s initial focus is on B2B e-commerce, platform-as-a-service (PaaS), health tech, and logistics companies, and plans to expand into others sectors including travel, entertainment, and retail tech in the future.

Gobi Partners, led by its Founding Partner Thomas G. Tsao, its managing

It ain’t...

From A4

the coup d’état charges pending before the Court were already dismissed with finality on June 2011. “The Court loses jurisdiction over the case when its decision has become final and executory.” It was almost at the same time that the amnesty proclamation issued by then-President Noynoy Aquino was put in place.

That issuance was used by then-Branch 148 Judge Oscar Pimentel to order the suspension of the coup d ‘etat hearings without prejudice to its resumption in some future time. The government will now argue that there was no dismissal at all, only a suspension.

On the other hand, Judge Soriano also said that he was “powerless” to disturb’ President Duterte’s proclamation voiding the amnesty given to Trillanes. Thus, the ruling stood with all the attendant repercussions. For example, with that ruling it is now very pos-

Social...

From A4

by those revelations, said on Monday it has closed 68 pages and 43 accounts linked to a Brazilian marketing group, Raposos Fernandes Associates, that media reported was promoting Bolsonaro online on a massive scale.

WhatsApp said it has shuttered hundreds of thousands of accounts to counter “spam or disinformation” after a report saying several companies had been hired for $3 million each to send bulk messages attacking Haddad and the Workers Party. Bolsonaro has denied having anything to do with the contracts.

A WhatsApp executive, Victoria Grand, vice president for policy and communications, told reporters in Sao Paulo on Tuesday that the company had no plans to lift a 20-recipient cap for forwarded messages imposed in July, down from a previous limit of 250 recipients.

“We’re pretty comfortable with that number,” she said, implicitly rejecting a call Bolsonaro made last week for the smaller cap to be overturned.

Grand stated: “I know this is a critical moment for Brazil.”

WhatsApp is one of preferred methods for communicating in Brazil. The country, population 210 million, has 120 million WhatsApp users.

‘Emotionally-charged’ Bolsonaro, a previously obscure lawmaker, is a deft user of social media, just like Trump, for whom he has expressed admiration.

After being stabbed last month by

partner Kay-Mok Ku, and supported by its teams across China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia will contribute its proven track record, tested processes, and best practices to provide fund administration, advisory, and investment support to this new partnership.

Speaking on the fund, Tsao said, “We are very excited to make our first foray into the country together with Core Capital. We’ve been consistently amazed by the level of entrepreneurial talent in the Philippines. The same growth patterns that occurred in China and Indonesia are now happening in the Philippines.”

Core Capital Managing Partner Ken Ngo adds, “We believe in the Philippines, and at the same time, we also understand that there’s still so much that we can learn from other countries and venture capitalists. With this partnership with Gobi, we are confident that we can strategically connect local and regional stakeholders. The creation of the Gobi-Core Philippine Fund puts us in a unique position to add value and support founders in the country’s growing startup ecosystem.”

Both Core and Gobi believe that there’s more to this partnership than just the establishment and management of the fund. Now, Philippinebased startups will have access and can also leverage not just on Core’s vast Philippine network and business operating experience but also Gobi’s regional platform to help them scale across China and other Southeast Asian countries.

Founded in 2002, Gobi has invested in many key emerging sectors through its ten funds under management and 200 companies in its portfolio.

Despite its 16-year history, this will be Gobi’s first entry into the Philippines and the newly launched Philippine fund shall act on Core and Gobi’s belief in the favorable timing, the potential of the country’s economy, and the growing purchasing power of our young population. eric.jurado@gmail.com sible for the government to proceed with its implementation.Can the government now insist that the warrant of arrest issued by Makati RTC Judge Elmo Alameda be implemented to the full by seeking the recall of the bail? Together with that effort and the subsequent findings of both judges that the voiding or recall of the Aquino amnesty can the government now order the convening of the court martial panel hearing the coup ‘d etat’ case and proceed with its operation? If the AFP moves and proceeds with the hearing then it is very possible that Trillanes will be taken into custody as the leader of that coup d’ ‘etat. That is non-bailable and something he will fight hard to overcome.

So, as we earlier said this is going to be a long goodbye for Senator Trillanes. And much like all things in limbo it ain’t over until it’s over. As the late Senator Joker Arroyo once said, let us not jump with joy like chimpanzees until the Fat Lady sings. a lone assailant, Bolsonaro intensified his online use while convalescing. His Facebook videos, tweets and Instagram posts have millions of followers, far more than Haddad, a 55-year-old former mayor of Sao Paulo who is telegenic but restrained in manner.

Further frustrating Haddad, Bolsonaro has dodged the usual televised debates. Instead of dueling over policies, he has harangued and attacked his rival on the internet.

According to an Oxford University study of Brazil’s presidential election, Bolsonaro dominated Twitter conversations and “Bolsonaro supporters spread the widest range of known junk news sources,” though Haddad supporters shared the biggest volume.

But Twitter is used by a much smaller, better-informed niche than the more generally adopted WhatsApp. One of the researchers on the study done by the Oxford Internet Institute, Nahema Marchal, cautioned that it was “extremely difficult to make causal claims between what people see online and how they vote” and that “every election is different.”

“Like the US, however, Brazil has seen a number of popular political Facebook groups hacked. There has also been an uptick in political violence, in what has been a bitter and divisive campaign,” she told AFP. While digital technology use differs from country to country, “research indicates that disinformation and conspirational content circulates faster than factual information on social media,” she said, in large part because online content “is often the most emotionally-charged.”AFP

News

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

MIAA: 4 airlines want to transfer flights from NAIA Terminal 1 to 3

By Joel E. Zurbano FOUR airlines have signified their intention to transfer flight operations from Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 next year.

This, according to Manila International Airport Authority general manager Eddie Monreal, is happening despite the decision of his agency in July to defer the implementation of the Terminal Rationalization Program.

Monreal said the four international airlines that would be relocated to Terminal 3 are Qantas Airways, United Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines.

The transfer will coincide with the P606-million rehabilitation of NAIA Terminal 2. The airport authority, however, said there is no tentative date yet for the start of the civil works at the facility.

The new airline assignments at four NAIA terminals, aimed to decongest terminals and improve passenger convenience, was supposed to begin last August but the airport management deferred the plan.

In a statement dated July 30, the MIAA said the discussions gave rise to unforeseen operational constraints that require longer time to resolve.

The MIAA said that using Naia Terminal 2 exclusively for domestic flights will necessarily increase passenger traffic from an average of 26,000 to 60,000 per day.

“This traffic in addition to all pending construction in Terminal 2 such as the expansion of its lobby, expansion of equipment parking at the Northwing and Southwing areas, the construction of additional bus gates and the canopy by the bridge will render it difficult to conveniently accommodate such volume of passengers,” it said.

“Additionally, the forthcoming and much-needed rehabilitation of Terminal 2 will further limit the capacity of the Terminal to handle the exponential increase in passenger traffic if the (Rationalization) Program will be implemented prior all major construction works for rehabilitation.”

Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Board announced on Thursday that beginning Dec. 21, air travelers will experience a mobile application program that will show real time data flight.

CAB director Carmelo Arcilla said the mobile app using digital technology to improve passengers’ experience is very important as it contain real-time information about canceled and delayed flights.

The mobile app, he said, would enable airline passengers access to important data about flights.

Win: Culture of innovation needed in gov't

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Win Gatchalian urged the government to develop a culture of innovation to boost the country’s economic competitiveness.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, made the call during the World Economic Forum which released the latest Global Competitiveness Report where the Philippines ranked 56th out of 140 economies.

While the country’s ranking improved by 12 notches from 68th in 2017, Gatchalian said implementing certain policy reforms would help boost the country's economic competitiveness even further.

“The improvement of the Philippines’ ranking in the latest Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum shows that the government's initiatives to improve the ease of doing business have been working,” he said.

He said that in fact, President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed into law the Ease of Doing Business Act of 2018 (Republic Act No. 11032), which has helped build a more business-friendly environment in the Philippines.

“The challenge for the government now is to sustain these gains and improve our ranking even further. The government needs to continue pursuing measures that will foster a more productive business environment for MSMEs and spur growth in key domestic industries,” he added.

Citing the latest WEF report, Gatchalian noted that the Philippines continues to trail behind Southeast Asian neighbors Singapore (2nd), Malaysia (25th), Thailand (38th) and Indonesia (45th).

The WEF report, which measures a country’s competitiveness using a set of criteria that determine level of productivity, said that the Philippines’ strength rests in its market size (32nd), labor market (36th), financial system (39th) and business dynamism (39th).

UN crafts assistance plan for PH Leni to voters: T Don’t fall for

HE United Nations is crafting an assistance plan for the Philippines that is focused on food security, the peace process, and environmental protection for the next five years.

“We’re working with the Philippine government in designing our next fiveyear plan on how our assistance is going to be. I'm hoping to launch that in 2019 across the UN system” Ola Almgren, UN Philippines resident and humanitarian coordinator, said during the reception of United Nations Day in Taguig City on Wednesday night.

Almgren said the Philippines is facing challenges on food security and is “bringing together [a] policy” in line with the Sustainable Development Goals related to prosperity.

He added that there is a way of “sharing the wealth” and “generating the wealth of the country” without exhausting its natural resources.

While there are challenges, Almgren said the Philippines is “doing quite well” in pursuing the SDGs compared to other countries.

“The Philippines, if you look back and look at the achievement of Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], the Philippines didn’t achieve them all fully, but it made good progress, and I believe com-

pared to the global benchmark now, the Philippines is advancing quite well towards 2030” he added.

The SDGs are a set of 17 aspirational goals that seek to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

These build on the MDGs and seek to address the economic, social and environmental aspects of development.

The Philippines is a strong advocate for its achievement and has embedded it in its national plans and programs through the Philippine Development Plan.

During the reception, Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo highlighted the Philippines’ major contributions to the work of the UN in areas of migration, SDGs, climate change, human rights, and peacekeeping. PNA

TOKEN GIFT. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte receives a token from Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Awardee for Master of Mabal Tabih Yabing Masalon Dulo during the awarding ceremony at the Malacañan Palace on Oct. 24, 2018. Assisting the President is Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. Presidential Photo

Sison committed atrocities vs PH—Lorenzana

By Francisco Tuyay DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday reminded Filipinos of the atrocities that Communist Party of the Philippines founding Chairman Joma Sison has perpetuated in the 50 years of existence of the communist movement, including the infamous Plaza Miranda bombing during the martial law years.

Lorenzana said it was Sison who masterminded the Plaza Miranda bombing that left nine people dead and injured 95 others including dozens of prominent opposition candidates during a political campaign rally of the Liberal Party on Aug. 21, 1971.

Two hand grenades were hurled at the stage as a crowd of about 4,000 gathered to listen to the speeches of LP candidates

during the campaign rally.

The bombing killed the five-year-old son of Manila Times photographer Ben Roxas and wounded senators Jovito Salonga, Eddie Elarde, Eva Estrada-Kalaw, LP president Gerardo Roxas and several others.

Reports said the attack was carried out by the CPP to provoke the government of President Ferdinand Marcos into declaring martial law, which, in turn, drove thousands of political activists to go underground.

The defense chief also blamed Sison for the purging of hundreds of NPA cadres suspected as government agents.

“Yeah right! Coming from the mastermind of the Plaza Miranda bombing, the killing of hundreds of New People’s Army [NPA] cadres suspected of being agents of the government, as well as as-

sassination/killings of innocent civilians in the past 50 years,” Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana made the statement came after the CPP-NPA pointed to the military as behind the killing of nine sugar farmers in Sagay City last Saturday.

Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez on Wednesday blamed the CPP as behind the killing of the nine newlyrecruited members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers in Sagay City which he said was part of a wider sinister plot linked to the “Red October” ouster plot against President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Come on, Mr. Sison! Don’t be quick to point your finger as your other fingers are pointing back at you. You have been unmasked as the man behind these atrocities by no less that your former comrades,” Lorenzana said.

PINK POWER.

Hundreds of breast cancer survivors, patients, doctors, national supports groups, families and friends of breast cancer advocacy supporters and officials of the Department of Health and SM Cares participate in Thursday’s 'Power in Pink' walkathon with the theme 'United we Fight' which aims to unify all groups nationwide to strengthen their network in raising awareness, early detection and early intervention in the fight against breast cancer in line with Breast Cancer Awareness Month celebration at SM North EDSA. Ey Acasio

Anti-graft court clears ex-Heart Center official Sanchez THE Sandiganbayan has exonerated a former executive of the Philippine Heart Center of criminal charges in connection with the purchase of a 27,106-square-meter lot of the Government Service Insurance System valued at P380 million in 1999.

In a 30-page decision dated Oct. 19, 2018, the anti-graft court's First Division cleared former PHC Deputy Director Zylma Sanchez of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the “Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices act”, malversation through falsification of public documents,

falsification of public documents and malversation of public funds.

Having ruled that there exists no conspiracy between Sanchez and the other accused—former PHC Director Lutgerio Torres, PHC Deputy Director Adonis Mella, also a legal officer of PHC, and Edna Cruz, a contractual employee of the Quezon City Treasurer’s Office (QCTO)—the anti-graft court said “only the individual acts of accused Sanchez will be used as basis to determine her criminal liability.” “...the charges against accused Torres had already been dismissed by the Supreme

Court more than 10 years ago. It would be the height of injustice if accused Sanchez will be held criminally liable for her actions, which were merely the result of her having followed the instructions of her superior, accused Torres,” it added.

Court records showed that the four accused allegedly conspired to make it appear that the QCTO issued a memo-assessment to the PHC, dated Sept. 25, 2000 in the amount of P1,985,301.75, for payment of transfer tax, including the amount of P714,708.75, for the property acquired from the GSIS. PNA

sweet words

By Rio N. Araja VICE President Leni Robredo on Thursday urged voters not to fall for the sweet words and promises in the 2019 midterm elections, but instead fall for sweet actions only.

She called on the voting public to consider the track records of those running in the 2019 elections, and not to easily believe glib-tongued candidates.

“We should not be persuaded easily by sweet words. Election period is the time of promises. But what is important is, you have studied who that person is,” she said on the sidelines of the Angat Buhay YouthAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao summit in Cotabato City.

“What is one's track record? What has one done in the past even before the election [period]?” she asked.

“We should demand more from [our] leaders whom we have elected,” she said.

The Vice President said the voters must not support candidates promising them financial aid and other assistance support.

“Let us get away with patronage politics. Persuading [the voters] through the offer of material things as if we voters owe [our] leaders a lot.

That should not be that way. It should be the other way around,” she added.

Meanwhile, a total of 95 certificates of candidacies from aspirants for the 2019 midterm polls, most of whom are “potential nuisance candidates” will be subjected to intense screening by the Commission on Elections.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that they will give these potential nuisance candidates to justify their capability to bid for the 2019 elections.

Jimenez said the screening will at least take a month.

“Magkakaroon ng conference and then they will be asked to submit their Memoranda, these are written position papers…If the issue is complex then it might take a little longer to resolve the question,” Jimenez explained.

He cited the disqualification case against Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimental as among the most complicated as its needs thorough scrutiny before the poll body comes up with a decision on whether or not to elevate the case to the Supreme Court.

DOH exec: Fix public health system now DOH-CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo on Thursday urged health workers to start modifying concepts, change the rules and start fixing the Philippine Public Health System Towards a CALABAZON Prime during the first Regional City and Municipal Health Officer’s Conference held at the Cocoon Hotel in Quezon City.

“We keep on repeating the same oversights and blunders in the health care system and it becomes already a disease because we keep on doing the same things over and over again.

“So our problems in health do not stop because the DOH would not change and we really do not know why,” he said.

“And the problem with the department is papalit palit ng leader and paulit ulit lang naman ang ginagawa. Even your kind of trainings na paulit ulit na ginagawa dahil galing sa consultant na binabayaran dahil maganda ang report pagkatapos mabayaran. That’s how simple DOH is.”

“We need to have value creation because if not, we keep on doing the same things and continue to waste resources which could be used for more important and immediate concern” he added.

“We need to fix the public health system within the department by changing things from within ourselves, as public servants, and prioritizing the interest and welfare of our people whom we serve.

We also need to change the health seeking behavior of our people. We need to remind them that health is their right and our purpose is to lay-down their choices and assist them to choose the best option for them and their children.”

Janairo noted that patients, especially the underprivileged, should not be disheartened when a member of a family is sick, and death should not be their choice due to financial constraints.

“We, as health workers must provide all the support they need. We need to be active and intervene.”

Macon Ramos-Araneta

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

Manila

Standard

TODAY

A7

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

MJC hosts charity races for movie workers, lensmen, Senate Spouses M

Petalcorin guns for IBF light fly title

first to fourth placers (excluding the additional prizes being given by the Philippine Racing Commission on rating based handicapping system races).

Each organization will get the prize of the day of their corresponding charity races in support of their various social welfare projects.

This festival is part of the Philracom’s noble undertaking to support charitable initiatives that will alleviate struggling conditions of marginalized Filipinos.

The charity races will be handicapped in accordance with the Philracom’s Rating-Based Handicapping System, a result of the commission’s affiliation with the International Federation of

ANILA Jockey Club Inc., the premier horse racing club in the country and one of Asia’s oldest, is hosting a Charity Racing Festival sponsored by the Philippine Racing Commission on Sunday (October 28, 2018) at the worldclass San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

ANOTHER Filipino boxer fights for glory as Randy Petalcorin faces Nicaragua’s Felix Alvarado for the vacant IBF world light flyweight title on Oct. 29 at the Midas Hotel and Casino Tent in Pasay City.

The fight will be open to the public and will be televised live on ESPN5 at 7 p.m., while the undercards will be shown on AkysonTV starting at 4 p.m.

The match is being promoted by ESPN5 Boxing, MP Promotions, Sanman Promotions and Peter Maniatis Events.

“I have worked so hard to prepare for this fight and claim the world title. I have been so prepared and will remain focused despite this small setback. I am so hungry for a world title belt. Alvarado’s record is very impressive but I will treat this fight as a matter of life and death. I will go for the win,” said Petalcorin.

Petalcorin (28-2-1, 22 KOs) has won his last six fights, the latest being a knockout win over Jade Yagahon in May 2018 in South Cotabato, Philippines.

Meanwhile, Alvarado (33-2, 29 KOs) is on a 15-match winning streak, capped by a stoppage victory over Ivan Meneses Flores in April 2018 in Managua, Nicaragua.

“Another world title fight for Sanman Boxing. This has been a good year to us and we pray and hope we will have another world champion come Oct. 29. We are happy to have disciplined and dedicated fighters. Please watch out for Petalcorin.

He will come out and win big,” said Sanman Promotions CEO JC Manangquil.

As preparation for the fight, Petalcorin has been training at the Sanman Gym in General Santos City under the watchful eyes of head trainer Fernando Lumacad and assistant coaches Jonathan Baat and Marquil Salvana. He has sparred with four boxers for a total of 110 rounds and counting.

“Manila Jockey Club is honored to be working with the Philippine Racing Commission in its efforts to reach out to the less fortunate members of our society through exciting racing events that will benefit not only the local industry, but Philippine society as well,” said Jose Ramon Magboo, MJC Racing Manager.

Eleven races will be held for the

benefit of the following organizations: Press Photographers of the Philippines, Buhay Isang Awit Foundation Inc., Dalampasigan Manila Bay, Movie Workers Welfare Foundation Inc. (MOWELFUND), and the Senate Spouses Foundation Inc. Each race will have a guaranteed prize of P200,000.00 distributed from

Horseracing Authorities, whose mission is to promote good regulation and best practices on international matters pertaining to the sport.

Also slated for the day is the Philracom Sampaguita Stakes Race to be participated by top 4YO above local mares.

The 1750-meter race will have a whopping total prize of two million pesos. The winning breeder will also receive seventy thousand pesos.

The Manila Jockey Club was established in 1867. It is one of the oldest existing racing clubs in the Asia Pacific region. Manila Jockey Club Inc., as a business entity, was formally incorporated in 1937.

Betten shoots for Black Arrow 5150 crown AUSSIE Sam Betten gears up for another crack at an Olympic distance triathlon series crown on a course he’s very familiar with as he heads the elite field vying in the inaugural Black Arrow Express 5150 on Nov. 4 in Subic Bay. Back to what has long been considered as the country’s triathlon capital, the 6-foot-4 Betten is actually gunning for a fourth straight 5150 championship after completing a threepeat in wet conditions last year, making him the man to beat in the upcoming 1.5k swim-40k bike-10k run event.

“Subic Bay is one of my favorite places in the world to race in. For me, this is a great triathlon location,” said Betten, who, however, expects a tougher challenge from his fellow pros and race condition with forecast of sunny weather on Black Arrow

5150 weekend.

Fellow Aussie Mitch Robins heads the early roster of challengers that includes Jakub Langhammer of the Czech Republic and American Tim Linn with a host of others tipped to join the title hunt in the event organized and produced by Sunrise Events, Inc. and sponsored

by Black Arrow Express.

The event, backed by venue hosts Subic Bay and ACEA Subic Bay and major sponsors David’s Salon, Pioneer Insurance and Wicked Active Gear, also serves as SEI’s final triathlon on its milestone 10th year of staging the premier endurance race in the country.

For details, visit www.blackarrowe xpress.5150philippines.com.

Triathletes from 21 countries are competing in the event, including seven from Australia, six from Great

Sam Betten

Britain, five from the US and four from Japanese. Three bets each from France and Hong Kong are also vying in the event which also drew participants from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Guam, Guatemala, India, Italy, New Zealand, Malaysia, Norway, Russia, Portugal and Vietnam.

Other titles to be disputed are the Asian Elite and various age categories along with relay events for male, female and mixed.

Backing the event are TYR (official swim cap), GU (official energy gel), Active Network (official registration partner), marketing partners Alaska, AlcoPlus, Cetaphil, DeVant, Nuun, PLDT Subictel, Smart, Sanicare, Regent, Storck and Timex and media partners Hyper HD, Cignal, The Philippine Star, AsiaTri. com and Finisher Pix.

Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS Manila

1.

Laptop Computer Branded and Brand New

3.

Supply and Delivery of Secure Digital (SD) Cards for Use in the May 13, 2019 Automated National and Local Elections (SBAC Reference No. AES2019NLE-14-SDC)

Invitation to Bid

For

For

Supply and Delivery of Laptop Computers (SBAC Reference No. AES2019NLE-10B-LAP)

Supply and Delivery of Laser Printer with Three (3) Original Toners (SBAC Reference No. AES2019NLE-13-LPT)

Quantity Price per Unit

2,200 units

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)

1.

Amount of Bidding Documents

Php86,500.00 Php190,300,000.00

Description

Php50,000.00

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) now invites bids for the Supply and Delivery of Laptop Computers.Bidders should have completed,within eight (8) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

1.

The COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC), through the CY 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA),intends to apply the sum of Fifty-Nine Million One Hundred Sixty-Five Thousand Three Hundred Twenty-Six Pesos (Php59,165,326.00), being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) in payment for the procurement of the following items, inclusive of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax (VAT), income tax, local taxes, and other fiscal levies:

Laser Printer with three (3) original toners

Bids received in excess of the ABC per item shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The above items are being bidded out as one lot.

2.

For

Invitation to Bid

The COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC), through the CY 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA),intends to apply the sum of One Hundred Ninety Million Three Hundred Thousand Pesos(Php190,300,000.00),being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) in payment for the procurement of the following items, inclusive of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax (VAT), income tax, local taxes, and other fiscal levies: Description

Invitation to Bid

Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS M a n i l a

Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS M a n i l a

Quantity Price per Unit

2,200 Php26,893.33 units

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)

Amount of Bidding Documents

2.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) now invites bids for the Supply and Delivery of Laser Printer with Three (3) Original Toners. Bidders should have completed, with in eight (8) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, acontract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidderis contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

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

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

Description Secure Digital (SD) Cards

Price per Unit

Quantity 104,165 units

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)

Php753.98

Php78,538,326.70

Amount of Bidding Documents Php50,000.00

Bids received in excess of the ABC per item shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The above items are being bidded out as one lot.

Php59,165,326.00 Php50,000.00

Bids received in excess of the ABC per item shall be automatically rejected at bid opening. The above items are being bidded out as one lot.

The COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC), through the CY 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA), intends to apply the sum of SeventyEight Million Five Hundred Thirty-Eight Thousand Three Hundred Twenty-Six Pesos and 70/100 (Php78,538,326.70), being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) in payment for the procurement of the following items, inclusive of all taxes, such as, but not limited to, value added tax (VAT), income tax, local taxes, and other fiscal levies:

2.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) now invites bids for the Supply and Delivery of Secure Digital (SD) Cards for Use in the May 13, 2019 Automated National and Local Elections.Bidders should have completed, within eight (8) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids,a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, inSection II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

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

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

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

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

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the SBAC Secretariat and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 am to 5:00 pm from Mondays to Fridays.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the SBAC Secretariat and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 am to 5:00 pm from Mondays to Fridays.

4.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the SBAC Secretariat and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 am to 5:00 pm from Mondays to Fridays.

5.

A completeset of Bidding Documents maybe acquired by interested Bidders on October 26, 2018 to November 22, 2018 (before the deadline of the submission of bids) from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents.

A complete set of Bidding Documents maybe acquired by interested Bidderson October 26, 2018 to November 23, 2018 (before the deadline of the submission of bids) from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents.

5.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents maybe acquired by interested Bidders on October 26, 2018 to November 19, 2018 (before the deadline of the submission of bids) from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity.

6.

The BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on November 08, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila,which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat on or before 9:00 a.m. of November 22, 2018,at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause18.

6.

The BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on November 09, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor.

Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila,which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat on or before 9:00 a.m. of November 23, 2018, at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

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

8.

9.

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

The BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on November 05, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila, which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat on or before 9:00 a.m. of November 19, 2018, at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITBClause18.

Bid Opening shall be on November 19, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor.

Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders ’ representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8.

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

9.

For further information, please refer to:

For further information, please refer to: ATTY. MARIA THERESA C. YRAOLA Commission on Elections 4th Floor, Shipping Center Bldg., 707 A. Soriano Ave., Intramuros, Manila Telefax No.:(02) 526-07-48 and (02) 527-31-39 E-mail Addresses:sbac.secretriat@comelec.gov.ph or comelecsbac2018@gmail.com COMELEC Website: www.comelec.gov.ph

9. For further information,please refer to: ATTY. MARIA THERESA C. YRAOLA Commission on Elections 4th Floor, Shipping Center Bldg., 707 A. Soriano Ave., Intramuros, Manila Telefax No.:(02) 526-07-48 and (02) 527-31-39 E-mail Addresses:sbac.secretriat@comelec.gov.ph or comelecsbac2018@gmail.com COMELEC Website: www.comelec.gov.ph

ATTY. MARIA THERESA C. YRAOLA Commission on Elections 4th Floor, Shipping Center Bldg., 707 A. Soriano Ave., Intramuros, Manila Telefax No.:(02) 526-07-48 and (02) 527-31-39 E-mail Addresses:sbac.secretriat@comelec.gov.ph or comelecsbac2018@gmail.com COMELEC Website: www.comelec.gov.ph

J. THADDEUS P. HERNAN SBAC Chairperson

J. THADDEUS P. HERNAN SBAC Chairperson

(SGD) J. THADDEUS P. HERNAN SBAC Chairperson

(MS-OCT. 26, 2018)

6.

Bid Opening shall be on November 23, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Bid Opening shall be on November 22, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the Basement Conference Room, Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Gen. Luna cor. Postigo Sts., Intramuros, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity.

(MS-OCT. 26, 2018)

(MS-OCT. 26, 2018)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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

A8

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

Curry explodes for 51 to carry Dubs OAKLAND—Stephen Curry had 11 three pointers en route to a 51-point performance as the Golden State Warriors throttled the Washington Wizards 144-122 on Wednesday.

The two-time NBA MVP Curry moved into fifth on the league’s alltime three point scoring list and heard chants of “MVP, MVP” from the Warriors’ faithful.

“He was, I don’t even know how to describe what I witnessed tonight, amazing, video-game stuff,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Nobody has ever done what he is doing.”

Curry, who played just three quarters against the Wizards on Wednesday, drained his 11th three from 32 feet late in the third quarter.

“To have a night like tonight where everything is clicking, I just want to embrace it,” said Curry, who now has 2,162 career threes. “I put a lot of work in over the summer and I got a great group of guys that I get to go to work with every night.

“I am just playing with confidence and playing within myself.”

It marked his sixth career 50-point game and he finished just three shy of his career high when he scored 54 points against New York in 2013.

Curry shot 15-for-24 from the field, 11-for-16 from beyond the arc and 10for-10 from the free throw line.

He chipped in five rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes of action.

“The last three in the first quarter was probably the funniest thing I’ve experienced on the court,” Curry said.

“Two guys on our team are yelling at the time, from the time I was at the free throw line: ‘Don’t pass it. Don’t pass it. You better shoot it.’

“That’s going through my head while I’m dribbling down. That’s kind of all the motivation you need just to launch it. Thankfully it went in.”

Kevin Durant added 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Draymond Green added 12 assists to help two-time defending champions finish with 37 total assists.

“It was a joy to be on the same court with that. That was sick,” Durant said of Curry.

Curry has scored 30 or more points in four of his first five games to start the 2018-19 season for the Warriors who have won four consecutive games against the Wizards. AFP

Maroons believe they can reach UAAP semifinals

By Peter Atencio THE University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons are getting confident, believing that they might just make it to the Final Four semifinals this time.

Fighting Maroons’ coach Bo Perasol expressed his confidence on the team after they held off the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 95-82, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

In taking their their second straight win in the 81st University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament, UP improved its win-loss record to 5-5 and has tied FEU in fourth place.

The Tamaraws, playing without Prince Orizu because of injury and Arvin Tolentino due to suspension, slumped to their their third straight loss.

“This is a big win for us not only as far as the standings are concerned,” said Perasol.

In this game, the Maroons drew big numbers from Paul Desiderio, who came up with a career-high 31 points against the undermanned Tams after averaging 11.9 points.

Desiderio drilled in 18 points to lead UP to a 54-43 halftime edge.

“I have to make sure to commend Paul in his very hot start. It gave us the confidence that we can do it,” added Perasol.

UP aims to stretch its winning streak to three in a row when they meet the Adamson University Soaring Falcons on Sunday.

If they prevail, the Fighting Maroons will further improve their chances of reaching the Final Four.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors does the “Michael Jordan shrug” after scoring another three-pointer during the game against the Washington Wizards at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. AFP

Magnolia, Alaska try to boost bids for Top 4

By Jeric Lopez

C

O-LEAGUE leaders Magnolia and Alaska aim to strengthen their bid for a top four finish when they face separate opponents in the homestretch of the elimination round of the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup. Alaska (7-2) hits the floor first against NLEX (4-5) at 4:30 p.m. before Magnolia (7-2) collides with TNT KaTropa (4-5) at 7 p.m. at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City today.

With both teams already safely into the quarterfinals, the goal now for the Hotshots and the Aces is to make sure they stay in the top four.

Victories over their respective opponents will help them get there.

The top four teams at the end of the eliminations will enjoy a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarters.

At the moment, Magnolia, Alaska and Barangay Ginebra are in joint first place as they all tote identical records.

The Aces are gunning for their third

Games Today (Ynares Center) 4:30 p.m. Alaska vs NLEX 7 p.m. Magnolia vs TNT KaTropa

straight win against the inconsistent Road Warriors.

In the other pairing, both the Hotshots and the Tropang Texters are looking to get back on track after losing their last assignments.

While the jockeying for position up top is intense, the same can be said for the teams in the middle.

The Road Warriors and the Tropang Texters are still in danger of falling out of the top eight.

Both teams are aiming to move a step closer to getting a ticket in the quarters by trying to top their higher-ranked foes.

Lam ties Carlos, Sullivan at top with a 67 TARLAC—James Ryan Lam banged in a 28-foot birdie putt on No. 18 for a 67, capping his fightback from four down to a rare spot on top with Jobim Carlos and Aussie Jack Sullivan in a topsyturvy third round of the CAT (Central Azucarera de Tarlac) Open at the Luisita Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

First round leader Elmer Salvador recalled his fierce form and regained the lead with a solid five-under card after 10 holes but fell behind again with a missed green bogey on No. 11 and a three-putt miscue on the 13th for a 69, enabling Sullivan, who shot a 69, Carlos, who saved a 71, and a fired-up Lam to seize control at 10-under 206.

“I’ll just play my usual game and see what happens in the final round,” said Lam, 30, seeking to finally nail the big one after four runner-up finishes, including at PGT Del Monte last June.

Despite his backside meltdown, Salvador kept the leaders within sight with a 207 while Joenard Rates and American Josh Salah shot identical 68s for 208s, guaranteeing a shootout for the top $17,500 purse in the $100,000 championship serving as the sixth leg of the Philippine Golf Tour Asia sponsored by ICTSI. “I played relatively good but made a double bogey on No. 9. When you make a mistake here, it’s hard to recover, so I have to play better and try to keep my game in check tomorrow (today),” said Carlos,

Given a rare chance to shine, James Ryan Lam hopes to seize the moment in the final round

who blew a two-stroke lead in the face of Salvador’s hot start but birdied the 16th from 10 feet to at least keep a share of the lead.

“I was playing solid but made two bogeys at the back and never recovered,” rued Salvador.

While Carlos and Lam refused to predict the winning score, Sullivan, who hit four birdies against a bogey, said he would need to shoot a 68 to win and become the second Australian to win in the second

season of the region’s newest circuit after David Gleeson topped the kickoff leg in Luisita Championship also here last April.

Last week’s ICTSI Luisita Invitational winner Clyde Mondilla also turned in a 68 and stayed on course for a second straight victory with a 209 while Michael Bibat likewise produced a 69 and remained in contention at 210 in one of the most crowded leaderboards heading to the final round of a PGT Asia event.

Red Sox take 2-0 lead in World Series BOSTON—David Price and three relievers pitched 5 1/3 perfect final innings and J.D. Martinez singled in the deciding runs Wednesday as Boston defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 to seize command of the World Series.

The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 edge in Major League Baseball’s best-ofseven final, which shifts to California for game three Friday with Boston a perfect 5-0 in road playoff games.

“We’re playing good baseball,” Price said. “We’ve got to keep it going.”

Price, a 33-year-old US left-hander, baffled Dodgers batters much of the night with five strikeouts and three walks over six innings, surrendering his only two runs and three hits in the fourth.

“I take a lot of pride of being able to evolve from pitch to pitch, being able to adjust, and I did that really well,” Price said.

“I made a lot of good pitches that inning. They hit some. That was a tough inning, it could have spun out of control pretty fast. Being able to stop it at two right there, that was big for us.”

Designated hitter Martinez, with the season’s second-best major league batting average, hit a bases-loaded single to right in the fifth to plate the winning runs—three hits and two walks coming with two outs.

“That was a perfect example of grinding at-bats out, getting guys on and finding ways to score,” Martinez said.

Price was then followed by Boston relievers Joe Kelly, Nathan Eovaldi and Craig Kimbrel in retiring the final 16 Dodgers batters over the last 5 1/3 innings to secure the Red Sox 100th all-time playoff victory on a cold and windy night at Fenway Park.

“We pitched extremely well. David was amazing. And then the bullpen did what they’ve been doing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “David is a huge part of what we’re trying to accomplish. Without him going six, it was going to be tough.”

‘A long way to go’ Price, who lost his first 11 career playoff starts before beating Houston last week in the American League finals, threw 58 of his 88 pitches for strikes.

“Give credit to Price. He made pitches when he needed to. We had him on the ropes. We stressed him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The difference is they got the big hit when they needed it and we didn’t.” AFP

AFP Cavaliers attempt to extend streak to 4

Bureau of Corrections Officer 1 Justine Arvie Lopez (79) hopes to lead the DOJ Justice Boosters to their second win against PITC Global Traders in the UNTV Cup on Sunday.

TWO-TIME champion Armed Forces of the Philippines looks to extend its winning streak to four games when it battles GSIS on Sunday, even as Judiciary goes for its first win in the 7th UNTV Cup at the Pasig City Sports Center.

Bannered by former Letran star Boyet Bautista, Jerry Lumongsod, Jeffrey Quiambao and Darwin Cordero, the AFP Cavaliers are heavily favored over GSIS in their 5 p.m. duel in Group A elims.

For the Furies to improve their 1-3 record, they should contain the wily Bautista, who has already piled up 58 points and 11 assists in three games in the event organized by UNTV presi-

dent and CEO Dr. Daniel Razon, One thing going for the Cavaliers is that the Furies are still smarting from a 94-61 beating at the hands of the PITC Global Traders.

Though the Judiciary Magis have dropped their first three games, they remain confident in their 2 p.m. showdown with the Ombudsman GraftBusters in Group B action.

Out to lead the Magis are former PBA players Chester Tolomia and Warren Ybanez and Supreme Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez.

Tolomia is averaging 22 points a game, but the absence of former UST star Don Camaso weighed heavily for the two-time champions in the annual

Games Sunday (Pasig City Sports Center) 2 p.m. – Judiciary vs Ombudsman 3:30 p.m. – PITC vs DOJ 5 p.m. – AFP vs GSIS

tournament for public servants.

The Global Traders hope to notch their second straight win in five games when they tackle the Justice Boosters at 3:30 p.m. in the event offering P4 million to the chosen charity of the champion team.

Group A: AFP (3-0), Senate (31), DOJ (1-1), PNP (2-2), GSIS (1-3), PITC (1-3).

Group B: NHA (3-0), DA (3-1), Malacañang-PSC (2-1), PhilHealth (22), Judiciary (0-3), Ombudsman (0-3).

IN BRIEF

Pryce earned P1.1b in first nine months PRYCE Corp. posted a consolidated net income of P1.11 billion in the first nine months, up 18.2 percent from P943.07 million in the same period in 2017.

Pryce said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the higher income “was primarily due to the group’s growing revenues” which improved to P7.57 billion from last year’s P6.44 billion, registering a 17.51-percent increase.

“Pryce Corp. remains positive that it will achieve its target of P1.5 billion in net income [plus or minus 10%] for the year 2018 coming into the fourth quarter, it being the strongest one historically in terms of sales volume and income,” the company said.

Ninety-two percent of the group’s consolidated revenues was derived from the sale of liquefied petroleum gas, while the remaining eight percent came from sales of industrial gases, real estate and pharmaceutical products.

Pyrce said that for the third quarter, all segments registered positive revenue growths.

LPG and industrial gas division posted a 15.79-percent increase, while real estate and pharmaceutical products had 112.05-percent and 26.15-percent improvements, respectively. Alena Mae S. Flores

Business

Aboitiz Power lists P10b worth of bonds ABOITIZ Power Corp. on Thursday listed its fixed-rate bonds worth P10.2 billion and due 2024 and 2028 with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

The bonds are comprise of series b fixedrate bonds due 2024 worth P7.7 billion with an interest rate of 7.5095 percent and series c fixed-rate bonds due 2028 which carry a rate of 8.5091 percent.

“Despite market volatility, our base offer is fully subscribed. While the purpose of this second offering is to refinance and repay some of our existing loan obligations, it is part of a larger goal of providing the country 4,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2020,” Aboitiz Power chief finance officer Liza Montelibano said during the listing ceremony.

The bonds form part of the second tranche of Aboitiz Power’s P30-billion debt securities program registered in 2017 with the Securities Exchange Commission. Aboitiz Power successfully listed the first tranche amounting to P3 billion in July last year.

“We will offer this in several tranches within a period of three years. This exercise enables us to further our brand promise of advancing business and communities. By raising funds for Aboitiz Power, we are able to give our investors a chance to be part of a growth story they are in,” Montelibano said.

Alena Mae S. Flores

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

B1

By Othel V. Campos

SM EXPANSION IN CLARK. Property developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. signs a sublease agreement with Global Gateway Development Corp. of businessman Dennis Uy to develop 10 hectares in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga province. Signing agreement are (from left) GGDC vice chairman and president Wilfredo Placino, GGDC chairman Dennis Uy, SM Prime chairman of the executive committee Hans Sy and SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim.

Dennis Uy buys P4-b shares in PXP Energy

By Alena Mae S. Flores

D

AVAO City-based businessman Dennis Uy is infusing more than P4 billion, representing a 14.8-percent stake, in oil and gas exploration company PXP Energy Corp.

PXP Energy Corp., formerly Philex Petroleum Corp., said its board approved the subscription by Dennison Holdings Corp., a company led by Uy, to 340 million common shares at a price of P11.85 apiece, or a total of P4.029 billion.

PXP Energy said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the price represented a 20-percent discount to the 90-day volume weighted average price of the company’s shares. It is subject to the execution of a definitive subscription agreement.

The board also approved the subscription by Philex Mining Corp. to 260 million common shares of PXP under the same terms for P3.081 billion, subject

to the execution of a definitive subscription agreement.

Total subscription of both Dennison and Philex in PXP reached P7.11 billion which the oil and gas firm plans to use to fund exploration projects.

“PXP intends to use the proceeds it expects to raise from the private placement to Dennison and Philex to fund its exploration activities and other oil assets within the Philippines and in Peru, and to repay its advances from Philex,” the company said.

Philex owns 19.76 percent of PXP prior to the new subscription. Other shareholders are Asia Link B.V., Social Security System, First Pacific Co. Ltd. Group and Two Rivers Pacific Holding Corp.

Dennison, a company beneficially owned and controlled by Uy, signed a non-binding term sheet with the company Thursday.

This is the first oil and gas exploration investment of Uy, whose investments include downstream oil and retail network, shipping, liquefied petroleum gas, food and education.

“Details of the transaction will be disclosed upon execution of the definitive subscription agreement,” PXP said.

After the subscription of Dennison and Philex to the foregoing shares, Dennison will have a total ownership interest in PXP of 14.78 percent while Philex will increase its stake to 25.91 percent.

PXP is an upstream oil and gas company that directly and indirectly owns oil and gas exploration and production assets in the Philippines and abroad.

PXP, through Forum Energy Ltd., a 78.98 percent owned subsidiary, is waiting for guidance from the government concerning Service Contract 72 (Recto Bank) and SC 75 (Northwest Palawan).

Both service contracts are under force majeure because of the territorial dispute with China.

“The company is mindful that the Malampaya gas resource, which supplies about 40 percent of Luzon’s power requirements, could be exhausted within the next decade; in that light, resumption of exploration in SC 72 is of national interest. The company, therefore, remains hopeful that the force majeure imposed on SC 72 and SC 75 will be lifted by the Department of Energy soon for the Company to be able to resume exploration works in these SCs,” PXP said.

DoF wants list of companies with tax perks to be made public

ASPEN HOTEL AGREEMENT.

C-5 Mansions Development Corp. vice president Herbert Tan (right) signs a memorandum of agreement for the sale and automatic lease of hotel units for Aspen Hotel near Bonifacio Global City with Novel Residential Concepts Inc. president Roberto Alvarez Jr. (third from right), as chief operating officer Meredith Ngo and board director Cris Chiong look on.

Aspen Hotel is now being constructed near SM Aura Premier.

Plan to set up 2 tower companies draws flak in the Senate SENATOR Grace Poe criticized the plan to limit to two the number of independent and private companies that could be allowed to build cellular towers in the country.

“In the case of cell towers, someone suggested to the president or the DICT [Department of Information and Communication Technology] that there should be only one or two companies that can build cell towers. That is stupid,” Poe said during the hearing of the Senate committee on public service.

“Whoever can build cell towers should be allowed to, as long as it follows regulation. There should be no monopoly. The more cell towers there are, the better our [telecom] signal will be,” Poe said.

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

Chinese steel firm asking for cheaper rent in Phividec

Phoenix forms Singapore unit PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines said its board approved and authorized the company to organize, form and establish a whollyowned subsidiary in Singapore to manage investments in the Asia Pacific region.

Phoenix said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that the Singaporean subsidiary would be named as PNX Energy International Holdings Pte. Ltd. for purposes of managing international investments including expansion of related business activities and operations in the Asia Pacific region.

“The company’s board further approved the initial investment of $10,000 for its initial operations,” the oil firm said.

Phoenix also established in September PNX Petroleum Singapore Pte. Ltd., the group’s trading and supply. The office serves as springboard for regional expansion of the group.

The Phoenix board previously approved the issuance of up to P10-billion commercial papers wherein proceeds will be used for working capital requirements and/or to refinance existing short-term loans of the Issue. Alena Mae S. Flores

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

Presidential adviser on information and communications technology Ramon Jacinto allegedly suggested to President Rodrigo Duterte a policy that will mandate two independent tower companies registered with the National Telecommunications Commission to build and share their towers for use of the existing telcos and the prospective new major player in the industry within the first four years of its implementation.

Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. claimed the proposal of Jacinto would violate their congressional franchise.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology expressed confidence that the third telecommu-

nications player would be operational next year, if the bureaucratic glitches could be resolved immediately.

“If anything goes as planned, we will have a bidding on Nov. 7. Let us give the third telco six months or so to roll out its infrastructure. By middle part of next year, they can start getting subscribers,” DICT acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. told Poe, chairman of the committee, when asked about the target date for the third telco’s operation.

Senator Francis Escudero expressed concern over the issue of using a common tower managed by the government because this might create a monopoly or oligopoly in the internet service.

Darwin G. Amojelar

THE Finance Department wants Congress to amend the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act law to enable the government to make public the list of corporations that receive such subsidies and how much they translate into foregone revenues.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the proposal would be a part of government efforts to make fairer, targeted, more accountable and transparent the current system of corporate taxation, which he described as a “chaos of priorities that demand harmony.”

Chua said by amending the Timta law and making incentives transparent, the public would know which group was receiving incentives and which one was paying for it in the form of higher taxes. He said the public should have the right to know who were benefiting from their hard-earned money.

Data from the Finance Department showed that in 2016, some 3,102 corporations paid discounted corporate income tax rates of 6 percent to 13 percent granted by 14 investment promotion agencies on the strength of 336 special laws for corporations.

Chua said while these corporation were enjoying reduced taxes, some 90,000 small-and-medium enterprises that were employing 2.5 million Filipino workers in the country paid the regular CIT rate of 30 percent, the highest in the region.

Darwin G. Amojelar

CHINESE steel conglomerate Panhua Group is asking the government for better lease terms on a 300-hectare property within the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental for a proposed $3.5-billion integrated steel manufacturing plant.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority director-general Charito Plaza said Panhua was one of the Chinese companies seeking to relocate to the Philippines to escape the high tariff imposed by the US on China-made products.

Plaza said locators in China and Vietnam were enjoying incentives such as low lease for the first 25 years on top of affordable power cost and other subsidies.

She said to make up for the high power rates in the Philippines, Panhua was asking for lower rental rates.

Peza already reduced Panhua’s rent to P40 per square meter from P150, but the Chinese firm wanted further reduction.

Panhua proposed to produce ten types of steel products in its Mindanao plant for the local and export markets.

Plaza said Peza was also reviewing the proposals of three Chinese investors who were interested to relocate to the Philippines.

“This is due in part to the trade war between China and the US with soaring tariffs for products traded between these nations,” she said.

Peza expressed concern that the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High Quality Opportunities, or Trabaho bill, might affect the companies’ desire to relocate to the Philippines.

She said the Trabaho bill would dramatically alter the current set of incentives given to foreign investors.

Duterte to open modern bus hub in Parañaque

By Darwin G. Amojelar PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is set to lead the inauguration of the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange on Nov. 5 this year, according to the Department of Transportation.

PITX, located along Coastal Road, is the first integrated and multi-modal terminal in the southwestern part of Metro Manila, serving as a transfer point between provincial buses from Cavite, Batangas and in-city modes of transportation.

It will also provide interconnectivity between different transport modes and services that will help ensure efficient and seamless travel for the riding public.

“This is not just your ordinary terminal, but a landmark transportation hub that is set to uplift the overall terminal experience of our countrymen,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

Once operational, PITX is expected to reduce the number of provincial buses plying Metro Manila, specifically along Taft Avenue-Pasay and Edsa.

The PPP project undertaken by MWM Terminals Inc. aims to improve overall ground transport options for commuters, modernizing transfer of passengers among private vehicles and public transport options to surrounding road networks such as Cavitex and the LRT1 extension.

Tugade negotiated for the removal of the annual grantor’s payment amounting to P100 million for 35 years. The initiative saved the government P3.5 billion.

PITX features a design on par with world-class standards, passengerfriendly systems, multi-modal connections and a wide range of commercial services.

B2

Business

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 extrastory2000@gmail.com

PH, global stock markets slump T HE stock market tumbled Thursday, joining the rest of Asia and tracking a plunge on Wall Street, with trading floors awash with negativity on geopolitical concerns and following weak US economic and earnings data.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index plummeted 162.58 points, or 2.3 percent, to 6,966.84 on a value turnover of P5.5 billion. Losers routed gainers, 146 to 38, with 34 issues unchanged.

Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, slumped 7.1 percent to P130, while Security Bank Corp., the sixth-biggest lender in terms of assets,

dropped 5.2 percent to P137.50.

BDO Unibank Inc., the largest bank, declined 3.6 percent to P115, while International Container Terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator, fell 3 percent to P90.20.

The rest of Asian markets plunged.

The bloodletting is the latest to hit global equities, which have been pummeled this year by a wave of problems led by the China-US trade war and rising Federal Reserve interest rates.

On top of those headwinds in recent weeks has been a brewing nuclear standoff between the US and Russia, the high-profile killing of a Saudi journalist, Brexit and Italy’s budget row with the European Union.

US stocks have broadly managed to avoid the hefty selling witnessed elsewhere—even clocking up a few record highs—thanks to a strong economy and mostly positive corporate results.

However, New York has finally succumbed as investors contemplate an end to the decade of cheap credit and the imposition of steep tariffs by the US and China in their ever-deepening trade row.

The Dow and the S&P 500 wiped out their gains for the year, while the Nasdaq dived more than four percent as the under-pressure tech sector took another beating.

The selling came after data showed US home sales were at their slowest pace for nearly two years, while the Fed said firms nationwide are worried about the tariffs as well as labour shortages.

And those losses filtered through to Asia, where Tokyo was scythed 3.7 percent and Sydney sank 2.8 percent to its weakest level in a year.

Hong Kong lost one percent, with Cathay Pacific collapsing 3.8 percent after it admitted to suffering a major data leak affecting up to 9.4 million passengers

worldwide. The airline had fallen 6.5 percent to a nine-year low at one point.

Seoul shed 1.6 percent as data showed the South Korean economy expanded at a slower pace than expected in the third quarter.

Wellington lost 0.9 percent, while Taipei fell 2.4 percent. Bangkok, Mumbai and Singapore were also sharply lower.

However, Shanghai ended with a marginal gain thanks to a late afternoon rally with speculation state-backed funds stepped in to prop up the troubled market, which has lost a fifth of its value this year.

“With the S&P and Nasdaq having been drawn into the global equity maelstrom, the US bellwethers are no longer the invincible titans that have held up global market sentiment for what seems like an eternity,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at OANDA. With AFP

San Miguel unit reduces share sale price to P85

By Jenniffer B. Austria

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

58.5 82.35 2.43 118 1.33 28.25 15.8 11.7 4.12 0.485 66 0.9 41.35 188.4 105.2 71.3 27.8 144 65.9

58.5 82.35 2.43 118 1.4 28.25 15.8 11.7 4.12 0.485 66 0.91 41.35 190 105.2 71.3 28.85 144 65.9

58.2 81 2.43 113.1 1.33 27.95 15.8 11.38 3.91 0.465 64.3 0.86 40.8 185 104.1 71.3 27.8 137.5 65.9

FINANCIALS 58.5 3,550 81.35 1,695,530 2.43 10,000 115 2,377,240 1.4 24,000 27.95 186,400 15.8 300 11.42 918,400 4.1 4,000 0.465 180,000 65.3 2,800,310 0.87 131,000 40.8 24,000 190 2,260 104.1 540 71.3 10 28.5 19,300 137.5 1,144,160 65.9 3,000

207,660 137,567,555.50 24,300 272,831,080 32,900 5,221,635 4,740 10,536,404 16,040 85,100 182,054,577 117,050 981,060 418,995 56,258 713 541,780 159,186,057 197,700

58,500 -99,318,602.50 -127,920,209 31,500 2,960 -893,810 -104,509,539 -53,300 -730,860 139,390 -43,934,835 -54,038

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

33.7 18 0.97 1.27 0.22 2.24 13.22 35.8 16.2 38 1.6 4.11 6.8 10.9 14.9 9 6.9 7.3 1.52 16.18 64.4 24.3 6.2 11.5 1.7 261.6 4.81 25 11.6 17.32 351 0.172 1.74 4.12 8.2 4.52 9 0.99 10.76 49.5 5.6 4.79 2.24 3.06 1.52 10.98 83 5.2 0.97 140 1.55 2.52

33.7 18.1 0.97 1.27 0.22 2.25 13.3 36 17 38 1.6 4.69 7 10.9 15 9.14 7 7.3 1.52 16.22 64.5 24.5 6.2 11.5 1.71 262 4.82 25.4 11.6 17.78 353 0.173 1.74 4.12 8.2 4.76 9.04 0.99 10.8 49.5 5.99 4.79 2.24 3.06 1.57 11.08 83 5.2 0.97 140 1.63 2.63

32.5 17.88 0.91 1.27 0.209 2.14 13.22 35.5 16.16 38 1.56 4.11 6.79 10.76 14.9 8.66 6.85 6.95 1.46 15.98 63.75 23.8 6.2 11.2 1.61 255 4.8 25 11.14 17.02 346.8 0.172 1.64 4.11 8.13 4.46 9 0.96 10.38 48.5 5.55 4.79 2.17 3.06 1.48 10.9 82 5.18 0.88 130 1.54 2.44

INDUSTRIAL 33 566,100 18.1 1,412,600 0.91 7,458,000 1.27 12,000 0.22 570,000 2.15 9,819,000 13.22 606,300 35.85 320,600 17 1,400 38 400 1.58 140,000 4.69 9,000 7 2,200 10.88 2,556,100 14.98 10,100 8.88 254,000 6.99 546,700 6.95 31,300 1.46 11,000 16 235,400 63.75 22,510 24.5 16,500 6.2 10,500 11.2 316,800 1.62 1,347,000 262 469,150 4.82 132,000 25 65,800 11.3 98,900 17.4 5,753,000 352 135,980 0.173 520,000 1.64 8,000 4.11 14,000 8.2 812,400 4.76 56,000 9 93,600 0.96 747,000 10.72 301,700 48.5 509,400 5.55 93,500 4.79 5,000 2.18 113,000 3.06 2,000 1.55 241,000 10.9 53,700 83 1,360,280 5.2 55,400 0.94 17,000 130 1,823,230 1.55 7,555,000 2.57 37,094,000

18,614,690 25,470,262 6,967,980 15,240 120,100 21,291,940 8,015,524 11,492,170 22,908 15,200 221,420 38,200 15,054 27,735,522 150,518 2,253,829 3,809,009 221,465 16,660 3,767,462 1,442,160.50 398,420 65,100 3,575,704 2,204,400 121,399,176 634,440 1,652,510 1,118,134 99,743,100 47,612,636 89,940 13,620 57,550 6,626,644 253,640 842,700 725,620 3,181,542 24,769,530 520,615 23,950 247,050 6,120 362,420 589,342 112,509,394 287,286 15,110 241,828,481 11,911,320 94,263,670

-12,226,545 12,860,492 -140,590 41,730 -16,096 -218,380 -15,200 10,841,534 -488,943 -1,782,346 -105,712 -669,372 305,648.50 74,318 64,800 -23,358,646 -103,965 -193,390 3,661,538.00 7,111,896 -1,730.00 -2,057,882.00 -18,600 -8,910 -23,178,910 -515,536 -23,950 -302,960 -63,317,168.50 15,600 -47,655,075 445,710 150,040

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ASIABEST GROUP ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.495 47.25 11.68 0.78 6.2 26.05 1.26 1.24 900 6.92 12.1 7.22 784 48.4 0.55 4.4 14.5 0.57 4.8 0.037 1.16 2.37 155.5 873 1.36 321.2 0.23 0.216

0.495 47.25 11.68 0.78 6.2 26.1 1.26 1.24 900 6.92 12.18 7.23 785 48.4 0.55 4.48 14.64 0.58 4.8 0.038 1.16 2.37 159.8 879.5 1.4 321.2 0.23 0.216

0.45 45.45 11.42 0.78 6.2 25.25 1.17 1.2 885 6.6 12 7.22 740 46.5 0.52 4.3 14.12 0.54 4.65 0.037 1.15 2.25 155 855 1.36 300 0.226 0.216

HOLDING FIRMS 0.46 82,189,000 45.7 824,800 11.5 6,117,400 0.78 2,000 6.2 36,600 25.85 21,400 1.17 18,003,000 1.2 3,104,000 890 215,770 6.85 1,818,700 12.08 2,911,000 7.23 200 785 68,560 47.4 1,501,200 0.54 101,000 4.3 135,000 14.64 7,405,800 0.58 2,990,000 4.77 27,380,000 0.038 8,100,000 1.15 82,000 2.29 633,000 159.8 181,710 860 241,250 1.4 19,000 300 110 0.227 550,000 0.216 10,000

38,302,155 37,672,995 70,333,214 1,560 226,920 545,835 21,524,980 3,752,400 192,011,290 12,436,983 35,065,576 1,445 52,487,905 71,152,835 52,660 591,490 107,040,514 1,671,270 129,995,290 301,400 94,470 1,437,690 28,686,909 207,665,385 26,200 33,612 125,090 2,160

392,810 -21,188,265 -39,689,954 226,920 -10,545 826,670 -108,851,035 4,854,340 -6,031,392 7,606,050 -13,793,555 -229,250 18,172,360 -10,235,160 45,200.00 13,230,847 -49,031,325 -2,800 -

472,141 671,840 431,764 991,410 686,196,330 4,191,010 1,452,080 1,216,700 14,620 35,600 222,040 151,900 22,423,251 13,818,664 81,640 4,472,530 1,214,190 73,805,500 21,420,910 261,100 2,854,680 47,126,455

-270,607,125 -1,428,670 -95,040 -4,500 20,470 -794,846 -171,340 -15,029,160 56,000 -110,700 -126,350 15,839,552.00

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

6.96 0.78 11.44 0.64 39 2.43 4.38 0.42 0.9 0.89 0.223 0.39 8 19.7 0.52 1.43 1.07 4.3 0.58 0.4 3.18 20.65

7.01 0.78 11.5 0.66 39.05 2.44 4.4 0.42 0.92 0.89 0.223 0.39 8.05 19.7 0.52 1.44 1.07 4.31 0.59 0.41 3.2 20.65

6.96 0.76 11.44 0.64 38 2.4 4.3 0.41 0.9 0.89 0.215 0.385 7.8 19.4 0.52 1.42 1.06 4.18 0.56 0.4 3.11 19.78

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

NAME

NAME

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS VISTA LAND

1.94 3.18 34.4 1.14 7.98 5.29

1.95 3.18 34.4 1.14 7.98 5.35

1.9 3.18 33.55 1.1 6.81 5.09

1.93 3.18 33.7 1.13 6.87 5.1

141,000 2,000 8,383,800 600,000 4,307,400 10,145,700

269,990 6,360 282,871,760 673,260 31,010,581 52,098,859

72,880 -109,301,010 -1,140 1,128,759 -28,542,728

2GO GROUP ABS CBN APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC EASYCALL FAR EASTERN U GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER ISLAND INFO JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA BULLETIN MANILA JOCKEY MELCO RESORTS METRO RETAIL METROALLIANCE A NOW CORP PAL HLDG 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

11.02 21.5 0.45 0.04 1.71 8.16 65.5 6.08 7.71 11.62 900 2,030 5.15 313 2.83 1.9 93.5 0.108 3.06 14.7 3.4 0.83 17.58 0.41 5.45 7.07 2.25 1.35 4.7 8.3 109 3.4 1,395 0.84 0.365 41 79 6.8 2.58 0.81 0.52 5.2 0.61 11.4

11.02 21.6 0.455 0.04 1.71 8.23 65.95 6.15 7.71 12 900 2,052 5.15 320 2.92 1.95 93.5 0.108 3.29 14.7 3.47 0.83 17.58 0.41 5.45 7.08 2.25 1.35 4.7 8.3 109 3.4 1,395 0.84 0.365 41.9 79 6.8 2.59 0.81 0.53 5.2 0.61 11.4

10.2 21.35 0.43 0.039 1.58 7.97 64.55 5.9 7.66 9.01 900 2,000 5.1 300.8 2.77 1.9 89.5 0.107 3.06 14.7 3.38 0.83 17.1 0.41 5.34 7.02 2.22 1.26 4.25 8.28 105 3.26 1,368 0.76 0.345 39.9 77.5 6.79 2.45 0.75 0.5 5.15 0.57 11

SERVICES 10.32 21.45 0.43 0.039 1.62 8 64.55 6.04 7.66 9.8 900 2,050 5.13 316 2.78 1.95 90.2 0.107 3.23 14.7 3.4 0.83 17.26 0.41 5.4 7.02 2.23 1.33 4.26 8.28 105 3.27 1,380 0.77 0.345 41.9 78 6.8 2.51 0.75 0.5 5.19 0.58 11.3

35,100 47,300 790,000 2,200,000 2,649,000 7,719,300 69,920 3,542,000 20,500 306,700 110 66,890 177,900 7,890 3,219,000 4,000 4,328,090 1,350,000 29,000 1,900 352,000 134,000 635,400 330,000 59,400 7,164,800 450,000 12,000 6,650,000 1,400 285,890 440,000 55,200 12,065,000 750,000 293,000 617,800 27,100 11,316,000 5,382,000 28,979,000 1,592,500 919,000 2,335,900

367,716 1,019,045 346,750 86,100 4,359,610 62,142,630 4,542,906 21,367,267 157,055 3,251,774 99,000 136,352,220 909,569 2,452,400 9,098,120 7,700 389,823,393.50 144,680 92,240 27,930 1,194,840 111,220 11,003,860 135,300 318,875 50,354,755 1,002,900 15,770 29,225,760 11,612 30,026,080 1,461,840 75,999,450 9,596,330 262,500 11,979,990 48,186,880 184,174 28,468,450 4,143,550 14,814,360 8,251,555 537,260 26,441,742

4,000 -200 -37,186,221 -675,914 -221,090 74,287 -2,040.00 99,000 49,439,990 415,186 -393,660 2,704,880 -53,500 4,410 -60 3,252,112.00 -35,465,224 -15,630 397,470 -13,688 -9,840 -36,610,470 480,270 -4,244,185.00 -12,331,850.50 5,382,480 344,270 3,270 -3,368,252 11,516,154

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

0.0023 1.64 2.64 15.18 1.2 1.1 1.89 0.3 7.32 1.85 0.227 0.112 0.109 0.0076 0.0072 1.29 2.71 1.05 0.58 0.97 0.012 0.012 4.19 3.25 16.32 28.2 0.0067

0.0023 1.83 2.67 15.7 1.3 1.25 1.92 0.3 7.35 1.85 0.227 0.112 0.111 0.0076 0.0072 1.34 2.71 1.06 0.58 0.98 0.013 0.012 4.25 3.66 17.62 28.2 0.0067

0.0022 1.6 2.64 14.1 1.2 1.1 1.89 0.3 7.29 1.8 0.211 0.111 0.109 0.0073 0.0068 1.29 2.6 1.02 0.57 0.96 0.012 0.012 4 3.2 15.98 26.9 0.0062

MINING & OIL 0.0022 194,000,000 1.71 34,507,000 2.67 17,000 15 133,300 1.3 11,000 1.25 18,000 1.91 358,000 0.3 10,000 7.29 900 1.83 1,744,000 0.221 560,000 0.112 520,000 0.111 210,000 0.0073 12,000,000 0.0068 60,000,000 1.3 160,000 2.61 755,000 1.06 62,000 0.57 194,000 0.96 964,000 0.013 2,200,000 0.012 29,300,000 4.18 170,000 3.5 11,107,000 17.6 13,613,700 27.2 1,304,100 0.0062 8,000,000

442,100 60,473,280 45,090 2,034,742 13,790 20,810 684,130 3,000 6,583 3,168,550 121,070 58,230 22,910 88,200 420,000 209,870 1,991,920 64,030 111,630 927,880 27,400 351,600 695,340 38,887,730 235,034,486 35,542,500 52,600

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR HOUSE PREF A LR PREF SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

20.25 465 487.6 99 96.75 489 4.93 96.8 1.01 976 75.1 76.15 74.5 74.25 73.45 73.6

21.55 465 487.6 99 97 489 4.95 96.8 1.01 1,000 75.1 76.15 75 74.95 74 73.6

20.25 464.6 487.4 99 96.2 489 4.91 96.8 1.01 976 75.1 76.15 74 74.2 73.35 73.45

PREFERRED 21.45 18,700 464.6 8,010 487.4 700 99 1,000 97 19,400 489 10 4.91 89,000 96.8 1,030 1.01 155,000 1,000 5,900 75.1 1,520 76.15 40 75 14,800 74.95 30,540 74 15,690 73.45 19,600

401,505 3,723,450 341,280 99,000 1,876,590 4,890 438,850 99,704 156,550 5,850,150 114,152 3,046 1,098,950 2,266,613 1,156,515 1,440,743

197,915 -345,080 -3,046 37,100 -

LR WARRANT

2.35

2.37

2.31

WARRANTS 2.37 156,000

362,050

-

ITALPINAS XURPAS

4.68 1.63

4.75 1.63

4.6 1.49

4.61 1.5

FIRST METRO ETF

107

107

105

MS

PROPERTY 7.01 0.76 11.5 0.65 38 2.4 4.4 0.41 0.92 0.89 0.221 0.385 7.87 19.4 0.52 1.42 1.06 4.3 0.56 0.41 3.19 20.5

67,400 881,000 37,600 1,527,000 17,933,500 1,741,000 334,000 2,960,000 16,000 40,000 1,030,000 390,000 2,857,500 709,300 157,000 3,145,000 1,144,000 17,374,000 37,586,000 640,000 908,000 2,351,200

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

OPEN

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

12,507,381

INDUSTRIAL

84,415,770

HOLDING FIRMS

164,786,457

PROPERTY

118,373,355

SERVICES

107,877,280

MINING & OIL

372,279,424

GRAND TOTAL

870,530,057

SME

293,000 9,963,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 105.2 30,810

-2,200 -7,262,950 12,480 -78,060 68,000 -505,340 -6,350 -11,963,520 14,146,878 -856,690 -

1,360,780 15,239,040

3,500 -1,740,080

3,249,074

26,310

VALUE 1,562.08 (down) 40.44 848,511,550.69 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,432.05 (down) 253.49 915,108,167.02 HOLDING FIRMS 6,811.83 (down) 134.70 1,057,861,342.23 PROPERTY 3,423.68 (down) 92.92 SERVICES 1,457.97 (down) 22.06 1,284,437,430.69 MINING & OIL 9,426.18 (down) 39.02 991,882,263.11 PSEI 6,966.84 (down) 162.58 381,526,575.24 All Shares Index 4,281.24 (down) 81.07 5,499,187,768.48 Gainers: 38; Losers: 146; Unchanged: 34; Total: 218

SAN Miguel Food and Beverage Inc., a unit of San Miguel Food Corp., priced its planned share sale at the bottom range of P85 apiece amid falling equities markets.

At P85 per share, SMFB is now looking to raise as much as P34.07 billion from the sale of 400.94 million secondary shares. The figure could go up to P39.19 billion if the 60.14 million over allotment shares are taken up during the offering period.

“Payment and delivery of the offer shares shall be on November 12, 2018,” SMFB said in a disclosure.

The size of the planned share sale has been significantly reduced from the original estimate of P142.8 billion.

SMFB during its initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August has planned to sell up 1.02 billion secondary shares at a price of up to P140 per share.

But the Philippine market has fallen by more than 16 percent since the start of the year on continued foreign selling.

Several companies like consumer tech firm Cal-Comp Technology (Philippines) and Campos-led Del Monte Pacific Ltd. have deferred their initial public offering plans because of volatile markets.

Cal-Comp Technology (Philippines), a member of the Taiwanese technology conglomerate New Kinpo Group, was looking to raise P6.77 billion while Del Monte had planned a P17.55-billion maiden offering.

URC registers profit of P6.8b in 1st nine months UNIVERSAL Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, posted a net income of P6.8 billion in the first nine months of 2018, down 17 percent from P8.21 billion year-on-year, on lower operating income and foreign exchange losses arising from the weaker peso.

URC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange net sales rose three percent to P95.5 billion during the nine-month period.

Operating income decreased 6.4 percent to P10.08 billion from P10.76 billion reported in the same period last year as cost of sales rose 3.8 percent to P66.55 billion.

The company also booked a net foreign exchange loss of P244 million for nine months of 2018, a reversal from a gain of P768 million in the same period last year, due to the combined effects of the depreciation of local currencies of international subsidiaries and the Philippine peso against the US dollar.

“The environment remains to be very challenging with macro-economic pressures especially in the Philippines. The weaker peso and inflation continue to affect our conversion and operating costs, thus margins are continuously affected,” URC president and chief executive Irwin Lee said.

“We will be proactive and look for opportunities to manage our portfolio better and implement plans and programs to mitigate the effects to our top line and bottom line in the near term,” he added.

The company has three core businesses—branded consumer foods group (BCFG), agro-industrial products and commodity food products.

BCFG registered sales of P76.16 billion in the first three quarters of the year, up 1.7 percent from a year ago, boosted by international sales.

BCFG’s domestic operations declined to P43.43 billion in the first nine months of the year from P43.69 billion for the nine months of 2017.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

World

TODAY extrastory2000@gmail.com

B3

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Rohingya’s persecution continuing’ U

NITED NATIONS―A genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims is still continuing, UN investigators said Wednesday as they presented a report to the Security Council, calling for the issue to be referred to an international tribunal.

AFTER THE COURT APPEARANCE. Former Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak

greets supporters after a court appearance in Kuala Lumpur on October 25, 2018. Razak and an ally were charged with allegedly looting 1.6 billion US dollars of public money. AFP

IN BRIEF Guns removed from truce village SEOUL―The two Koreas were removing the last remaining firearms and guard posts on Thursday from a Cold War era truce village where armed soldiers have stared each other down for decades, Seoul’s defense ministry said.

The Joint Security Area―also known as the truce village of Panmunjom―has historically been both a flash point and a key location for diplomacy between the two Koreas ever since their split in 1953.

It is the only spot along the tense, 250-kilometer frontier where soldiers from North Korea and the US-led United Nations Command stand face to face.

By Friday, all guards will be disarmed, ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said, part of a recent diplomatic thaw between the two foes that has gathered pace.

“I am aware that it is going according to plan,” Choi told reporters.

Panmunjom was where the armistice that ended the bitter Korean War was signed.

It was a designated neutral zone until the “ax murder incident” in 1976, when North Korean soldiers attacked a work party trying to chop down a tree inside the Demilitarized Zone, leaving two US army officers dead.

Once demilitarized, the JSA will be guarded by 35 unarmed personnel from each side and “freedom of movement” will be allowed for visitors and tourists, according to a military pact signed between the two Koreas last month. AFP

Jailed for feeding kids Coca-Cola LIMOGES, France―The father of two boys, aged three and four, has been jailed in France for feeding them nearly exclusively Coca-Cola, the children’s lawyer said.

The father, who can “neither read, nor write, nor count, doesn’t realize the seriousness of the situation and spent all his welfare money on alcohol,” Carole Papon, a representative of the association French Victims 87, said Wednesday.

Within a few days of welfare payments being made “the family had nothing to eat. They only had Coca-Cola to drink,” she said.

The father, who was described as violent towards his wife and children, was jailed for three months Wednesday in Limoges, central France.

The eldest boy had to have seven sugar-rotten teeth removed, and the second does not speak. Both have been taken into care where they have been introduced to meat and vegetables.

“There was nothing in their flat,” Bruno Robinet, the deputy public prosecutor, told AFP. “There was no fridge, the children slept on a mattress without covers and there were no toys... Their father fed them cakes and coke,” he added. AFP

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES TARIFF COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING AND SUBMISSION OF COMMENTS / POSITION PAPERS In the exercise of its function to conduct investigations in connection with any recommendation for tariff modification under Section 1608(b) of R.A. No. 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), and its functions to “study the impact of tariff policies and programs on national competitiveness and consumer welfare in line with the economic objectives of the govemment’ and to “provide the President and Congress with independent analysis, information and technical support on matters related to tariff and nontariff measures” under Section 1603 (b) and (e), respectively, of the CMTA, the Tariff Commission will conduct a public hearing on the petition of the Board of Investments (BOI) for the extension of the grant of duty-free importation of capital equipment, spare parts, and accessories to new and expanding enterprises registered with the BOI (Investigation No. MFN-2018-Review of EO 57). The product cove rage is as follows : Chapter Product Description 40 Rubber and articles thereof 59 Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics; textile articles of a kind suitable for industrial use.

68 Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials 69 Ceramic products 70 Glass and glassware 73 Articles of iron or steel 76 Aluminium and articles thereof 82 Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal; Parts thereof of base metal 83 Miscellaneous articles of base metal 84 Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof 85 Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers; television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles 86 Railway or tramway locomotives, rolling-stock and parts thereof; railway or tramway track fixtures and fittings and parts thereof; mechanical (including electro-mechanical) traffic signaling equipment of all kinds 87 Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and parts and accessories thereof 89 Ship, boats and floating structures 90 Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof 96 Miscellaneous manufactured articles The hearing will be conducted on 06 November 2018 (Tuesday), 9:00 a.m., at the Tariff Commission Conference Room, 4th Floor West Insula Condominium, 135 West Avenue, Quezon City.

Comments/position papers relative to the subject matter should be submitted on or before 20 November 2018 to the Commission. For reference, please see the position paper template provided on the Commission’s website, www.tariffcommission .gov.ph.

For inquiries, please get in touch with Director Elvira C. Ignacio, Research, Investigation and International Trade Analysis Service (RIITAS), who may be contacted at Telephone Number 926-7476.

Issued this 25th day of October 2018, Quezon City, Metro Manila.

Exiles turn to prostitution to support their families CALAMAR, Colombia―Back in Venezuela, they were teachers, police officers and newspaper carriers, but were forced to flee their homeland in search of work and money to survive.

But the women, without identity papers, ended up working as prostitutes in sordid bars in Colombia, saving all they can to provide for their families back home, still in the throes of economic crisis.

Mother-of-three Patricia, 30, was beaten, raped and sodomized by a drunken client―but she keeps on working in a brothel in Calamar, in the center of the country.

“There are customers who treat you badly and that is horrible,” she says. “”Every day, I pray to God that they are good [to us].”

Alegria is a teacher of history and geography but in a Venezuela gripped by chronic hyper-

inflation, she was earning just 312,000 bolivars a month: less than a dollar.

Her salary was not enough “even for a packet of pasta,” the 26-year-old mother of a fouryear-old boy told AFP. In February, she crossed the border into Colombia.

She initially worked for three months as a waitress in the east, a job which offered room and board, but Alegria was never paid, getting by on tips.

“I sent my tips home to my family,” she said. Six people, including her son, were relying on her.

Eventually, even those were confiscated, so Alegria made her way south to Calamar, which is located in an area scarred by decades of armed conflict.

The region is a hub for drugtrafficking, and a bastion of dissident former FARC guerrillas.AFP

INVITATION TO BID

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said that beyond mass killings, the conflict included the ostracization of the population, prevention of births, and widespread displacement in camps.

“It is an ongoing genocide,” he told a press conference.

“We consider the genocide intent can be reasonably inferred,” he said as he presented the team’s report to a United Nations Security Council meeting.

The 444-page report, first made public last month, called on the council to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, or to create an ad hoc tribunal, as was done with the former Yugoslavia.

The explosive report said that Myanmar’s top generals, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in Rakhine state.

Myanmar has rejected accusations that its military committed atrocities in the crackdown last year that forced 720,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh.

The conflict has also seen about 390 villages destroyed and 10,000 Rohingya killed, Darusman said.

“The conditions are not in place for a safe, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh” to Myanmar, he warned, adding any attempt would just risk more deaths.

At the end of an October 10-

20 visit to the country, the UN’s Special Envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, said that accountability and “inclusive dialogue” were the two important pillars for national reconciliation.

“Credible fact-finding is the first step towards accountability,” she said.

The Myanmar government rejected the UN mission’s findings, questioning its independence and pointing out that it had itself established an independent investigative commission made up of Asian diplomats.

Darusman said however that Myanmar’s internal inquiries have “proven to be ineffective failures” so far.

The Security Council meeting was called by Western powers but opposed by China and Russia, allies who have friendly ties with Myanmar’s military and have regularly shielded the nation from criticism.

Myanmar maintains that the violence in Rakhine was triggered by Rohingya extremists who attacked border posts in August 2017.

The military has denied almost all accusations of genocide leveled against it, insisting that “clearance operations” were necessary to fight Rohingya militants.

But the UN fact-finding mission said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the atrocities were committed with the intention of destroying the Rohingya. AFP

INVITATION TO BID

FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BACK-UP AREA AND PORT OPERATIONS BUILDING, PORT OF MAUBAN, QUEZON

FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORT OPERATIONS BUILDING & RORO RAMP, PORT OF MAASIN, SOUTHERN LEYTE

The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2018, intends to apply the sum of P 136,670,234.17 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Construction of Backup Area and Port Operations Building, Port of Mauban, Quezon (LFP MRQ No. 039-2018). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The Philippine Ports Authority, through the Corporate Budget of the Authority for CY 2018, intends to apply the sum of P 48,544,352.27 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Construction of Port Operations Building & RORO Ramp, Port of Maasin, Southern Leyte (LFP WLB No. 040-2018). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Construction of Back-up Area and Widening of Rock Causeway B. Construction of Port Operations Building. Completion of the Works is required in 450 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

The Philippine Ports Authority now invites bids for A. Demolition & Removal Works B. Construction of Port Operations Building C. Constructiuon of RORO Ramp. Completion of the Works is required in 420 calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

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

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

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

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

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for Engineering Projects and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for Engineering Projects and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 26 October 2018 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P 50,000.00).

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on 26 October 2018 from the address below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS (P 25,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Philippine Ports Authority, provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Philippine Ports Authority, provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

The Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 05 November 2018 at 10:00 a.m. at the PPA Function Room, 7th Floor, PPA Bldg., Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila, which shall be open to all prospective bidders.

The Philippine Ports Authority’s Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 05 November 2018 at 10:00 a.m. at the PPA Function Room, 7th Floor, PPA Bldg., Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila, which shall be open to all prospective bidders.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:00 a.m. of 20 November 2018. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:00 a.m. of 20 November 2018. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the bidding documents.

Bid opening shall be on 20 November 2018 at 10:00 a.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Bid opening shall be on 20 November 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at the 7th Floor, PPA Building, A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidder’s representatives who choose to attend. Late bids shall not be accepted.

•

Required PCAB Registration: Medium A – Port, Harbor and Offshore Engineering

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

For further information, please refer to:

•

Required PCAB Registration: Medium A – Building and Industrial Plant

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

For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat, Philippine Ports Authority 5th Floor, PPA Bldg., A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila

BAC Secretariat, Philippine Ports Authority 5th Floor, PPA Bldg., A. Bonifacio Drive, South Harbor, Port Area, Manila

Telephone/Fax No. 527-47-35 527-83-56 loc. 539

Telephone/Fax No. 527-47-35 527-47-35 Loc. 539

PPA Website: www.ppa.com.ph

PPA Website: www.ppa.com.ph

ERNESTO L. ALBANO Commissioner Officer-In-Charge (MS-OCT. 26, 2018)

MARK JON S. PALOMAR Chairperson, PPA Head Office Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects (HO-BAC-EP)

MARK JON S. PALOMAR Chairperson, PPA Head Office Bids and Awards Committee for Engineering Projects (HO-BAC-EP) M. Standard – Oct. 26, 2018

M. Standard – Oct. 26, 2018

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

Manila

Standard

TODAY

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

B4

Human milk bank in Quezon City draws mothers

ILLEGAL DEVICES. Chief Supt. Roberto B. Fajardo (left), director of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group, presents to the media some of the illegal commemorative plates and LED lights confiscated by the Calabarzon HPG led

by Sr. Supt. Jonathan Calixto on Thursday at Camp Gen. Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna.

Roy Tomandao

By Rio N. Araja

Eisma: Complementation key to CL tourism growth

By Butch Gunio

C

LaRk FREEPORt—the Subic Bay Metropolitan authority is seeking to integrate tourist destinations in the neighboring provinces of Pampanga, tarlac, Bataan and Zambales to sweeten the pot for the cruise tourism program of the Subic Bay Freeport and create inclusive growth in the region.

in a briefing with the Pampanga Press Club at the Park inn by Radisson Clark recently, SBMa Chairman Wilma t. Eisma said there is a need for local communities in Central Luzon to open up more attractions and strengthen each other’s tourism offerings through tactically-coordinated programs.

NOTICE “Our strategy is for Subic to beNotice is hereby given that the intestate of the come the anchor cruise ship destiLate Ma. Jennifer Cecilia nation, but it’s actually not only for J. Macatangay, who died without living any will on Subic but for the inclusive growth April 19, 2017 has been

For fast ad results, please call Advertising Department 832-5547

of all of us as well,” Eisma explained.

She pointed out that cruise ship passengers disembarking in Subic have frequented various destinations in Clark Freeport, as well as attractions like Las Casas De acuzar in Bataan and mango farms in Zambales. “the idea is to come up with curated experiences that we can commonly sell to tourists,” Eisma said. “Zambales will have agro-tourism, Bataan and tarlac their historical sites, while we can bring cruise ship

passengers for a food trip in Pampanga to sample the popular local cuisine.” “there is a lot of opportunity, and a lot of dreams that we can realize through the cruise ship program. the key is complementation and the strategy is to sell your own destinations as well as those of your neighbors,” she added. as of now, the SBMa’s cruise ship tourism program is running smoothly, Eisma said, with Subic hosting 17 ship arrivals since February and expecting up to 10 more arrivals before the end of the year.

She added that Subic has already confirmed the arrival of 20 trips for next year, including “Spectrum of the Seas,” a 5,000-capacity cruise ship being built for launching next year by Royal Caribbean international, one of the biggest cruise lines in the world.

settled by way of Selfadjudication by her sole heir and mother, Ma. Teresa J. Macatangay as per Doc. No. 18, Page No. 18, Book No. I, series of 2018 of notarial register of Atty. Henson M. Montalvo Notary Public for and in the City of Makati.

PARADE OF NATIONS.

Some of the hundreds of student dressed in vibrant costumes pose at SM San Mateo as they participate in the Mall’s Parade of Nations event. The parade, celebrated annually across all SM Supermalls in the country, commemorates the founding of the United Nations on Oct. 24, 1945.

Manny Palmero

(OCT. 19,26 & NOV. 2, 2018)

TO ALL STOCKHOLDERS: NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of Medco Holdings, Inc. will be held on December 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. at Brasserie 21, 21st Floor, Security Bank Centre, 6776 Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Only stockholders of record in the books of the Corporation at the close of business on November 6, 2017 (record date) will be entitled to vote at the meeting. Please bring some form of identification, such as passport, driver’s license or company I.D. in order to facilitate registration, which will start at 9:00 a.m.

(Sgd.) Pauline C. Tan Asst. Corporate Secretary 31/F, Rufino Pacific Tower 6784 Ayala Ave., Makati City 811-0465 to 66, 840-3549 (fax) (MS-OCT. 26, 2018)

IN THE MATTER OF

: : REGISTRATION OF COMMERCIAL PAPERS CITYLAND, INC. : : x--------------------------------------------x

NOTICE Notice is hereby given that on 17 October 2018 a sworn Registration Statement was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of CITYLAND, INC., for the registration of Eight Hundred Five Million Pesos (Php 805,000,000.00) worth of Commercial Papers.

According to the papers presented, the following persons are the officers/directors of the corporation:

Melita M. Revuelta Melita L. Tan Romeo E. Ng Rosario D. Perez Winefreda R. Go Emma G. Jularbal Dorothy U. So

Position Director/Chairman of the Board Director/Vice Chairman of the Board Director/Deputy Vice-Chairman of the Board Director/President Independent Director Director (until October 13, 2018) Director Executive Vice President/Treasurer Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer/ Compliance & Corporate Information Officer & Data Protection Officer Vice President/Assistant Corporate Secretary/ Alternate Compliance Officer & Alternate Corporate Information Officer Vice President Vice President Vice President-Executive Affairs Vice President Vice President-Legal Affairs/Corporate Secretary Asst. Vice-President-Head of Internal Audit Department

As of the date of the prospectus, the Company is still in the process of selecting the replacement of Mr. Paul Y. Ung, as Independent Director.

Said registration statement and other papers/documents attached thereto (collectively known as *RS*) are open to inspection by interested parties during business hours, and copies thereof, photostatic or otherwise, shall be furnished to any party, upon request, at such fees as the Commission may prescribe. The RS and the Prospectus dated 17 October 2018 and the corresponding updated version may be downloaded from www.cityland.net.

VICENTE GRACIANO P. FELIZMENIO, JR. Director Markets and Securities Regulation Department (MS-OCT. 26 & 29, 2018)

Makati Mayor abigail Binay has proudly announced that the Ospital ng Makati now offers mammography and portable X-ray services for residents. this after the Digital Mammography and Portable X-ray machines recently acquired by the city government have been cleared for use by the Department of Health and the Food and Drug administration Center for Device Regulation, Radiation Health, and Research, based on the Radiation Protection Survey and Evaluation checklist.

“We have made these modern diagnostic equipment available to our residents in line with our thrust of preventive health care. We want our residents to have access to quality health care provided by competent doctors and medical staff who are equipped with advanced and reliable diagnostic tools, without having to spend a fortune,” Binay said. the mayor assured Makati residents that health remains a top priority of her administration.

“Makatizens can look forward to enhanced health programs and services because my administration puts a premium on their health and wellbeing,” she assured. the city government this year has allocated P4.1 billion for the Health sub-sector out of its P8.4-billion total budget for the Social Development sector, which also includes P2.8 billion for Education and P1.5 billion for Social Welfare.

Binay also noted that the clearance given by the government agencies was very timely, as October is Breast Cancer awareness Month. She said she has directed the hospital director, Dr. Vergel Binay, to ensure that patients will be properly accommodated and scheduled for a mammogram.

CL expressways gear up for big ‘Undas’ volume

By Romeo Dizon SaN FERNaNDO, Pampanga—Police and expressway authorities had combined their resources to assure the safety and security of people who will troop to their respective places and cemeteries in the annual Christian observance of all Saints’ Day on Nov. 1. the combined mobilization of resources include the fielding of 6,500 police personnel in the cemeteries and the establishment of 124 additional toll booths along the two expressways for the convenience of motorists who will be going home to share the love and memories of their departed relatives on “Undas.”

Glenn Campos, corporate vice president for technology and Operation manager of the North Luzon Expressway, said the additional toll booths spread out along the 93.77 kilometers of the Subic Clark tarlac Expressway and the 84-kilometer NLEX should cut the travel time of the motoring public.

Campos said they will also be giving pre-encoded transit tickets to motorists coming from the tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway entering the SCtEX at the tarlac toll plaza.

29 Navoteños finish ‘Bidahan’ community-based rehab course

By Jun David

Republic of the Philippines Department of Finance Securities and Exchange Commission

Name Stephen C. Roxas Andrew I. Liuson Grace C. Liuson Josef C. Gohoc Peter S. Dee Alice C. Gohoc Helen C. Roxas Emma A. Choa Rudy Go

Mammography, portable X-ray tools at OsMak

LocaL government units

friday, october 26, 2018

MORE mothers have become aware of the Quezon City government’s human milk bank and its role in saving the lives of sick and premature babies. a total of 630 lactating mothers have donated to the human milk bank in the fourth quarter of 2018 from July to September. in the third quarter from april to June, there have been 560 donors in the third quarter.

On March 23, 2015, Mayor Herbert Bautista ordered the creation of the human milk bank in compliance with the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion act of 2009 requiring government and private health-care institutions to set up milk banks. the mayor has recognized the significant contribution of the social media to popularize the city’s human milk bank program.

“We were able to reach out to donors through our Facebook at instagram platforms,” human milk bank director Dr. Shahani Duque said. “there are more walk-in donors, plus the scheduled milk-letting activities by local health of the city and barangays, too. We have a very effective information dissemination this time,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Department of tourism has commended Bautista for the city government’s vision to be the center of film tourism in the Philippines through its annual QCinema international Film Festival.

Launched by Mayor Bautista and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte in 2013, QCinema is the city’s official film festival funded by its local government.

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tWENty-NiNE Navoteños with prior substance use disorders (SUD) have been given a new lease in life after graduating from Bidahan, the communitybased treatment and rehabilitation program of the Navotas City Government. the 17th batch of Bidahan partici-

pants underwent a three-day retreat where they learned about the effects of drugs in their body and ways to avoid getting hooked on illegal substances. they were further taught proper grooming, healthy lifestyle, as well as how to value themselves and their loved ones. the 29 residents will then engage

in twice-a-week counseling sessions for six months, and undertake random drug testing to ensure their compliance to the program.

“Bidahan is just the start. the process of healing and recovery takes time but we are hopeful that with everyone’s constant support and vigilance, our SUD patients will soon be healed com-

pletely,” Mayor John Rey tiangco said.

During the graduation ceremony, actor CJ Ramos, who was released in august on bail, shared his experience and struggles with drug abuse.

Ramos was invited by NBBS kaunlaran Barangay Captain toto Natividad, director of the popular tV series “ang Probinsyano,” to speak at the program.

NGCP boosts Hermosa drug tack HERMOSA, Bataan―True to its commitment to help communities, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines has donated P2.785 million to the Hermosa local government for the rehabilitation of drug reformists. a memorandum of agreement was signed by NGCP Corporate initiatives and advocacies Division Head Lida May C. Lopez, tESDa Bataan Director Virginia Bondoc, Police Bataan Director Marcelo Dayag, and Hermosa Mayor Jopet inton for the program dubbed “Bukas na Pintuan tungo sa Pagbabago” in a ceremony on Monday at municipal hall.

“NGCP is grateful to help especially host communities,” said NGCP president and CEO anthony almeda in a

message read by the state firm’s OiC Head of Right of Way Division atty. yasha Paredes.

“We hope the fund we donated will be able to truly help drug reformists,” almeda added.

Hermosa is the 4th town in Bataan to receive donation from NGCP for the drug reformists’ rehabilitation program that started in 2016, Lopez said. “this is a pilot project. We came to pick Bataan for your successful antiillegal drugs campaign,” Paredes told local officials.

NGCP has already donated P4.3 million for the drug surrenderers’ reformation program of three Bataan towns.

Dinalupihan and Orion towns received P1.74 million each and Balanga City got P800,000. Butch Gunio

STRATEGIC PACT. The Philippine International Trading Corp. and the Sugar Regulatory Administration sign an agreement for a strategic partnership. The agencies are represented by PITC president and CEO Dave M. Almarinez (second from right) and SRA Administrator Hermenegildo R. Serafica (second from left). Witnessing are PITC vice president Christabelle P. Ebriega and Jason M. Esguerra. Roy Tomandao CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE

culture and media

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

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TREASURES FROM THE TIMES PAST.

Several age-old relics, including vintage comics and antique items, that can be bought from Evangelista Street in Makati City.

The past for sale on Evangelista Street

By Diana B. Noche

O

nCE in a while, we owe it to ourselves to get out of the house or office and come to Evangelista Street, a busy stretch of machine shops and metal works stores starting from Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Pasay Road) in Makati City up to a few meters to Edsa.

It’s a popular area with those seeking an alternative shopping adventure— away from the usual malls.

As much as most people grumble about digging through used clothes and shoes at ukay-ukay outlets, the charisma of shopping on Evangelista Street, plus the full-contact shopping experience, is undeniably alluring, a treat to explore on foot, just like going to a carnival— tiring but rarely disappointing.

Buying something at flea markets isn’t an exact science: you can’t always get what you want. Somewhere there lurks an element of unpredictability and a pretzel logic, at the most, that makes us slaves to our own impulses.

To understand our present, we need to understand the past (not necessarily our own), the diverse and innominate cultures we were not party to. To understand this past we have to become part of it, tear the

veil off it and live it so that the past and our present cohere, if not completely, transitorily.

The place hums with dynamic and committed purpose: buy, buy, buy things that attest to an age now past; things that are palpable evidence of age-old cultures and glimpses of the ordinary lives of ordinary people that have somehow endured and survived and are n o w st a r i ng at us ex-

actly, some with a dent or a glitch here and there, as they were.

Shopping starts at midmorning on weekends when heavy plastic awnings are put away and you immerse yourself in the center of the jumble of shops and the ensuing driftage.

You’ll meet a buzzing crowd of women shouldering Chanel bags and women in well-worn sandals and blue jeans.

At some point, you’ll likely bump into a popular interior designer going on the road from stall to stall—fingering a blue porcelain or having optical intimacy with an antique oil lamp, or simply scrutinizing a thing of a very particular appeal or oddity—lobbing ideas back and forth and revising them to get to a certain look: Retro?

Tribal? Art deco?

Sixties? Rock-androll? Reeeally cute or kitschy? Indulge yourself.

It takes a shrewd and patient eye to enjoy a trip to Evangelista Street. Small, miraculous wonders are easily missed. An eye needs a certain perspective to see beyond what others may see as cheap chic.

Sometimes the effort pays off huge, like finding a good Kandinsky reproduction. Sometimes it backfires, bringing home a turkey dressed as a peacock.

Every stall is bursting with old memories.

Prowl through the bigger storerooms on the ground floor of some of the houses and find yourself crossing through portals into the past, across time, inside the attic of a decades-old home with an assortment of cluttered objects, bric-abrac, and other eldritch things, and if you are lucky, some treasures. An old maroon sofa largely depilated of its velvet nap may yield a tiny precious relic in one of those crevices. Who knows?

It goes without saying that on Evangelista Street haggling is always highspirited and, to a certain point, can become an art itself with plenty of amiable growling between seller and buyer. Stall owners can easily identify the serious buyer from the merely curious.

The prices range from extortionate (because the past has slipped away forever, rarity can create a higher value), to rock-bottom. It’s a gut check, really.

Most probably, you would haggle for

something that reminds you of your callow youth, or it can be a matter of emotional affinity to it, or it is merely a passion for the unusual.

If you hear that tiny voice in your head that says, “Get over it,” then you know you should listen. Of course, you have to be willing to accept the few caveats that go with the items.

The idea of buying the perfect object should be inimical to your purpose of being on Evangelista Street in the first place, because with a few minor improvements—a dab of glue, a little sandpapering and varnishing—they can take on a new life again. The flaws, after all, make these things human. It is exactly the humanity of these objects that we reidentify ourselves. The moment we bought them and claim as our own, we take up where their previous owners left off, and some years thereafter, if we take good care of them as they have been carefully taken care of, they would resurface from some dusty attics and claimed by their new owners.

Once you’ve made your purchase, you easily tote them out the shopping block— there’s no buffer—you’re directly into a gridlock of traffic on Evangelista Street to take a back-in-time jeepney travel.

Photos by Diana B. Noche

Snapshots of a happy childhood A SIx by 14-foot Lomo Wall composed of 1,000 individual snapshots of children taken by Lomography and analogue cameras was recently exhibited at SM Malls.

The Austrian Embassy in Manila, in partnership with Lomography, SOS Children’s Villages Philippines, Sunny16 Lab, and SM Supermalls, present-

ed the "Snapshots of a Happy Childhood Lomography" exhibition.

The exhibition, which toured SM Malls, was launched at The Podium, made a stop at S Maison, and closed at SM Aura Premier.

The photos for the exhibition were taken by children living in the SOS Children’s Village in Manila; with

The children from the SOS Children's Villages Philippines perform during the exhibit's closing reception at SM Aura Premier.

Various Lomo cameras models, such as the 25th Anniversary LC+A camera, 25th Anniversary LC-A 120, and 25th Anniversary LC-Wide displayed during the 'Snapshots of a Happy Childhood Lomography' exhibition at SM Malls.

others submitted by the international Lomography community.

Lomography is a recent type of photography invented by the Lomographic Society, founded in the early '90s in Austria. The founders first experimented with a Lomo LC-A, a Russian toy camera. They were taken by the unique, high contrast photos with vignettes and soft focus.

The original lomo cameras are the

LC-A, Fisheye, Colorsplash, and Supersampler. Lomography today is considered an art movement; with different groups around the world spreading and supporting the art.

Side exhibitions included Captured Moments in a Loving Home Exhibition, which highlights photos taken by the SOS children film cameras. Mallgoers also had the rare chance to view Lomography analogue, instant cameras,

and art lenses up close in the Lomography Classics Exhibition.

The event is part of the Austrian Embassy’s initiatives with its Presidency of the Council of the European Union this year. The project focuses on Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which states the “right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.”

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Entertainment

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

nickie.standard@gmail.com

Which love song will win the hearts of Pinoys?

IF YOU’VE been watching ASAP in the last two Sundays, you would have noticed a segment in the show in which four singers/performers dishing out new songs written specifically for the Himig Handog 2018 competition.

The songs are being judged by singers Jed Madela, songwriter/singer Yeng Constantino, songwriter/producer Jungee Marcelo, DJ Toni of MOR 101.9, and ASAP Business Unit Head Joyce Liquicia.

They are tasked to judge the preliminaries of the contest, the winners of which will be announced on Nov. 25.

The performances in ASAP started on Oct. 7 and the second four performed last Sunday, Oct. 14.

Ten songs were chosen from over 5,000 entries sent by Filipinos from all over the Philippines and across the globe and they are vying to become this year’s Best Song from the country’s biggest and much-awaited songwriting competition.

These original compositions are being interpreted by some of today’s hottest and rising music performers in the tradition of Himig Handog, with this year’s theme “Love Songs and Love Stories.”

Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids season 2 contestants Krystal Brimner and Sheena Belarmino, together with the all-female idol group MNL 48, are interpreting “Dalawang Pag-ibig Niya” by Bernard Reforsado of Albay, a cheerful tune about a girl who is falling for a guy with two loves.

“TNT” singer Eumee sings “Hati Na Lang Tayo Sa Kanya” by Joseph Santiago of Quezon City, a woman’s plea to another woman that shares with her the man she loves.

Kyla returns for the fourth time as Himig Handog interpreter joined by upcoming rapper Kritiko for “Kababata” by John Michael Edixon of Parañaque City, a ballad about a lost love, the childhood friend died in a gruesome incident of rape and murder.

“Mas Mabuti Pa,” by Mhonver Lopez and Joanna Concepcion of Laguna, is interpreted by this year’s “Tawag Ng Tanghalan” grand champion Janine Berdin.

BoybandPH, meanwhile, perform “Para Sa Tabi,” by Robert William Pereña, an entry all the way from Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the Middle East.

Araw Gabi lead actor JM de Guzman sings Davao’s pride Kyle Raphael Borbon’s “Sa Mga Bituin Na Lang Ibubulong.”

“Sugarol” by Jan Sabili of Muntinlupa City is performed by Star Pop artist Maris Racal.

Jona also returns to Himig Handog as interpreter for the third consecutive year, this time for the entry “Tinatapos Ko Na by Sarah Jane Gandia from USA. “Wakasan” by Philip Arvin Jarilla of Antipolo is being performed by OPM band Agsunta, while “Wala Kang Alam,” by Martin John Arellano of Manila and Mel Magno of Pampanga, is being sung by Sam Mangubat.

Himig Handog 2018 will be awarding P1 million to the grand prize winner, while P500,000 will be brought home by the 2nd Best Song.

The composers of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Best Songs will receive P200,000, P150,000, and P100,000, respectively.

Now on its 9th year, the ABS-CBN and Star Music project continues to discover

Filipino talents and champion OPM in its search for compositions that will make its mark in the local music scene.

Last year, Libertine Amistoso’s “Titibo-Tibo” interpreted by Moira dela Torre earned the Himig Handog 2017 Best Song and won the hearts of many listeners.

For details, like @HimigHandog2018 on Facebook.

You may also visit starmusic.ph, like Star Music on facebook.com/starmusicph, and follow it on Twitter and Instagram @ StarMusicPH. *** MTRCB celebrates 33rd anniversary THE Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) celebrated at its office another year of service for the Filipino people as it reached its 33rd Anniversary on Oct. 5. At the head of the event was the Chairperson Rachel Arenas with the Board Members as they showed their support.

The simple celebration began with a thanksgiving mass with Fr. Jerome Marquez, Provincial Superior from Catholic Trade Manila, officiating and attended by the Board Members and staff of the agency.

Celebrating with MTRCB were also the sisters from the Daughters of St. Paul, also singing as a choir during the holy mass.

In line with this celebration, the MTRCB also formalized its partnership with the Quezon City Film Development Commission (QCFDC) in the interest of empowering the movie industry further.

Chairperson Arenas representing the agency and QCFDC Executive Director Eduardo Lejano, Jr. for QCFDC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the presence of Quezon City International Film Festival (QCIFF) Executive Director Manet Dayrit; QCIFF Technical Consultant Ricardo Salomon, Jr.; MTRCB Board Members Atty. Gaby Concepcion, Atty.

Jerermiah Jaro, and Bibeth Orteza.

The MOU is also in anticipation of the QCinema International Film Festival that seeks to encourage the Filipino filmmakers to create well-crafted movies based on nationalism positive Filipino values, and gender sensitivity, which is welcomed by MTRCB. To commemorate the occasion further, Chairperson Arenas also led the signing of the renewed Collective Negotiations Agreement (CNA) formed by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Employee Association (MTRCBEA) together with the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (C.O.U.R.A.G.E.) National President, Ferdinand Gaite, as well as the newly appointed officers of MTRCBEA. At the signing, Chairperson Arenas expressed her appreciation towards the agency’s staff and commended them for their genuine and continuous dedication in service of the Filipino people through MTRCB. Chairperson Arenas also stressed, that unity, is the fundamental element which keeps the office together and that the agency move forward as one family.

Rapper and songwriter Kritiko for the entry ‘Kababata‘

‘LA LUNA SANGRE,’ ‘ANG PROBINSYANO,’

other ABS-CBN shows to air in Thailand

M

ORE Kapamilya shows are set to air in Thailand and Laos after JKN Global, the top content provider and channel operator in Thailand, bought over 290 hours of content from ABS-CBN at the recent MIPCOM, an annual trade event in France.

‘La Luna Sangre’ lead stars Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo

The World’s Entertainment Content Market is where content producers, buyers, financiers, and distributors in the fields of entertainment and advertising from all over the world, can connect, make deals, and learn future trends in the industry.

The deal gave JKN Global the right to distribute six titles, which are La Luna Sangre, Magpahanggang Wakas, The Promise of Forever, Till I Met You, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach’s lifestyle travel show Pia’s Postcards, and the longest-running primetime series on TV, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.

ABS-CBN shows like Got To Believe, The Legal Wife, and Bridges of Love have already aired in Thailand and were well received by Thai viewers. The shows have become so popular that Kapamilya stars, Jericho Rosales, Maja Salvador, Kathryn Bernardo, and Daniel Padilla were invited to the biggest media event in Thailand last July, the JKN Diamond Blue Mega Showcase, an annual trade

event of JKN Global.

ABS-CBN and JKN Global have been partners in providing quality Filipino content to Thai audiences since 2016. The two network giants of their respective countries are currently discussing possible coproduction opportunities.

ABS-CBN’s content, popular for its heartfelt Filipino stories, is made available across other territories through ABS-CBN International Distribution, recognized in the global arena as a reliable foreign content provider.

It has been a premier source of high quality Filipino programming in over 50 territories all over the world and has sold over 40,000 hours of content worldwide. Living up to this recognition, ABS-CBN International Distribution commits to add to its line-up of high-caliber programs and movies with cast and storylines that appeal to various cultures.

SocMed phenom Mader Sitang rocks Manila

By Eton Concepcion THAI online sensation Mader Sitang Buathong took the country by storm on her tour visit of Manila arriving to a wildcheering fans at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Friday afternoon.

Dubbed as Asia’s top transgender model, Mader Sitang’s signature hairflipping, head-throw dance moves has already garnered over 16 million views on Youtube. Also a professional lawyer, the 59-year-old native of Bangkok, Thailand held a press conference and meet-andgreet with fans at the H&H Makeover Salon at SM City North EDSA. She took a quick visit at the Rizal Park monument and rode on a calesa around Intramuros.

The Youtube overnight sensation revealed her intention of retiring in Manila and to do a movie and television shows appearances under her new manager, Wilbert Tolentino, Mr. Gay World Philippines national director and Web Mar-

Mader Sitang’s Charity Day held in Brgy. Mariana in Quezon City. Photo by Domz Ramos

keters Specialist Association of the Philippines, Inc., (WEMSAP) founder and president.

According to Tolentino, Mader Sitang

Nickie Wang, Issue Editor

will go to Europe for a series of appearances and may do a movie with box-office queen Vice Ganda. A perfume collection for men and women named Simply Sitang

was also unveiled.

On her second day, Mader Sitang was a special guest at the Fahrenheit Café Night Club and 690 Entertainment Bar in Quezon City where she performed a sexy number with the good looking male dancers of the gay club.

A top product endorser in Thailand, Mader Sitang returned to her country to finish all her commitments which include an on-going TV series and a movie. Her dresses and costumes while appearing in local events were designed by Domz Ramos.

Mader Sitang, who is married for 12 years to her 44-year-old husband, showed she’s got a generous heart helping the victims of typhoon Yolanda. She handed out a P500 bill to a poor baby she chanced upon in the city. Mader Sitang also played Santa Claus to the poor children in Barangay Mariana in Quezon City where she could not help but shed tears during the meeting.

2018 grantees take center stage in QCinema WITH a little push and with an ample dose of enablers, creativity takes form. Organizers of QCinema International Film Festival (QCinema) know this too well. For its sixth edition, QCinema continues its thrust to advance the local film industry with grants provided for a select set of new independent features and documentaries.

QCinema’s steady pursuit to make Quezon City the cradle of arts and culture bears fruit with the lineup of films for the Circle Competition and DocQC section.

Helping emerging filmmakers to have the opportunity to showcase their work, the festival provides substantial grants for film production.

Selected filmmakers under the Circle Competition section received a grant of one and a half million pesos each while filmmakers under DocQC section received P300,000.

The grantees will also be able to retain their rights to the films they have created.

The films selected under the Circle Competition section of the festival are Samantha Lee’s Billie & Emma, Timmy Harn’s DOG DAYS, Dan Villegas’ Hintayan ng Langit, Dwein Baltazar’s Oda sa Wala, and Gutierrez Mangansakan II’s Masla A Papanok.

The five filmmakers will vie for the Pylon Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Artistic Achievement, as well as NETPAC Jury Prize and Gender Sensitivity.

Billie & Emma explores the fleeting nature of love and life. Billie, who is forced to move to the province, meets Emma, an ambitious model student who suddenly gets pregnant. Together, they go on a journey of growth, laughter, and music.

DOG DAYS shows the story of half-black, half-Filipino Michael

Billie hides herself from the world until she meets Emma, the ambitious, star student who coaxes her out of her shell.

Jordan Ulili who wants to chase his dreams of becoming a basketball superstar. The rookie player believes he has special God-given powers to have what it takes but his journey leads him somewhere where he is faced with the reality of his fate.

In Hintayan ng Langit, a woman in limbo comes to grips with her past. Lisang, who has been waiting for two years in purgatory, is finally set to crossover. But a shortage of rooms forces her to share a room with a man from her past.

Oda sa Wala tells the story about Sonya, an old maid that crosses path with a mysterious corpse in her family owned funeral shop which suddenly brings her strange luck and fortune.

In Masla A Papanok, Mangansakan goes back to 1892 when a giant bird mysteriously appears in Maguindanao foretelling the fall and rise of colonial empires.

Meanwhile, The DocQC section of the festival for documentaries will show Wena Sanchez’s All Grown Up and Hiyas Baldemore Bagabaldo’s Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala.

QCinema is running until Oct. 30 at Gateway Mall (Cineplex 10); Robinsons Galleria (Robinsons Movieworld); and Ayala Malls Cinema in Trinoma and U.P. Town Center. There are local screenings, too, at SM Fairview, SM Megamall, SM Manila, and SM Southmall.

For more information, visit qcinema.ph.

Motoring

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

C3

LTO adopts

online payment

for car

registration fee

T

HE Department of Transportation’s Land Transportation Office is adopting an online payment system for the initial registration fees for 3 years of new motor vehicles and motorcycles in t Luzon by November 2018, and the rest of the country, before the end of the year.

The online system for LTO new registration transactions, which is currently available in Metro Manila, will soon expand to the rest of Luzon by November 2018, while it will be implemented in Visayas and Mindanao regional offices before the year ends.

The LTO-National Capital Region (NCR), under Regional Director Clarence V. Guinto, shared its experiences and insights on the online assessment and payment systems through orientation seminars atother regional offices in Luzon, in preparation for the Luzon-wide implementation of the online assessment and payment for registration of new MVs/MCs. “People are not only expecting, but are demanding the availability of our services online. In the few months that we have been implementing this in Metro Manila, we reduced processing time and avoided heavy queuing for new registration transactions.

“In NCR, with the implementation of ‘Moving Forward’ and online payment project, OR/CR and motor vehicle plates are made available within 3 days after MV/MC dealers submit the documents.

“Dapat lang na mapatupad natin ito nationwide para mapabilis ang pag-proseso ng kaukulang dokumento gaya ng Official Receipt (OR), Certificate of Registration (CR) at plaka ng mga bagong sasakyan, bahagi ng ‘moving forward’ o sabay ng paglabas ng mga dokumento at bagong biling sasakyan sa casa,” said LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante.

LTO is using the Electronic Payment Assessment Tool (e-PAT), a web-based facility that computes the amount to be paid without human intervention thus eliminating the opportunity to bribe or extort. At present, LTO is one of the government agency which has adopted the tool.

Other forms of payments such as fees for license application and renewal, as well as MV/MC renewal can be paid on-

LTO targets Luzon-wide implementation of the online payment scheme for new cars and motorcycles. MS file photo

line by next year, the DT-LTO said.

LTO has partnered with Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for this online payment transaction and with its current IT service provider, Stradcom Corporation.

The computed amount from the e-PAT and other details for the payment are then cascaded to the Land Bank of the Philippines - Electronic Payment Portal (LBP-

EPP), where the motor vehicle/motorcycle (MV/MC) dealers can use their LBP account to pay for the transaction online.

The payment will then be reflected at the LTO-Information Technology (IT) System. This enables faster issuance of the vehicle’s Official Receipt (OR) and Certificate of Registration (CR).

The agency launched the use of Inter-

net-based payment system for Metro Manilatransactions last June. This initiative is in response to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte to eradicate corruption and red tape transactions in government agencies and in accordance to Republic Act No. 11032, otherwise known as “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.

Vettel keeps

F1 title

hopes alive

Brave men behind the wheel SMOKE belchers, road hogs, takaw-aksidente. These are some of the things that trucks bring to mind. What about truck drivers?

Joaquin Rimando, fondly called “Jake,” is 62 years old, father of two. A soft-spoken native Ilonggo, his face is leathery and brown from years of driving his truck with the windows down, under the glare of the sun, and in the soft moonlight by night.

Jake has spent 25 years driving a truck, a jeepney driver of 10 years before switching trades, Jake has been making a living driving trucks ever since.

Jake’s son, Jojo, now 25, has followed in his footsteps as a second-generation truck driver.

“Maraming galit sa mga drayber ng truck, pero alam ko na importante ito sa ating pamumuhay. Hindi namin ikinahihiya ang trabaho naming mag-ama kasi dahil dito napapakain ko ang aking pamilya at napagtapos ko ang anak kong babae sa UE (It’s a thankless job, but somebody’s got to do it, and my son and I are not sorry because it’s put a roof over our family’s head, food on the table, and seen my daughter, his sister, through her college education. She’s a graduate of UE),” Jake declares with a proud lilt of his head.

Very few people know it, but Jake puts his life on the line every single day. Just like most truck drivers, Jake’s job is to deliver from Point A to B, but what people don’t notice, or care about, is that means

as much as 16 hours on the road per day— traffic, weather, and road conditions permitting. From smooth highways to rutted dirt roads, no matter the cargo, whether perishable or fragile, Jake is responsible for seeing it gets there intact, and on time.

“Hindi mo masabi kung ano ang makakatagpo mo sa biyahe. Swerte nga lang kung trapik lang ang kalaban, pero kadalasan bumibiyahe ako sa dilim na wala ako halos nakikita. Buti na lang kabisado ko na ang mga daan (You don’t know what you’ll meet on the road, if you’re lucky, it’s only the traffic you have to contend with, but most days, it’s pitch black countryside roads… I could navigate the provinces with my eyes closed,” he adds with a chuckle.

Jake thumbs his bill of lading, hands gnarled, fingers calloused from gripping the steering wheel and the stick shift, “Pag nahatid ko na ang kargado at napirmahan na ang resibo, pwede na akong umuwi sa aking pamilya (When I reach my destination, the person signs it, and I’ve done my duty, and I can go home to my family,” says Jake. “Kadalasan pag-uwi ko, tulog na sila o paalis na rin para pumasok, pero sapat na iyong nakikita ko sila (I make it back and they’re either fast asleep, or on their way out the door, but it’s enough for me to see them).”

A rosary hangs on the rear-view mirror and Jake kisses it with a fervent prayer before he goes behind enemy lines again,

the city streets where trucks are despised, and are easy targets for law enforcement.

“Lagi kong pinagdarasal na makaiwas ako sa aksidente at ako’y maging alisto, at ang kargada na dadalhin ko ay hindi kabigatan. Pero hindi ko naman pwedeng piliin ang aking dadalhin. Ako ang pinipili (I always ask for a safe journey, to stay alert and for my load to be light, but we can’t choose, we’re chosen,” muses Jake.

Chosen by the bags of cement going into building classrooms in the barrio, chosen by medical supplies going to rural hospitals, chosen by the sacks of rice going to the public market, all these are goods Jake has brought from North Harbor pier to the far corners of Luzon for the building up of communities.

“Pag nagmamaneho ako, binubulungan ko ang truck ko na sana hindi ito tumirik, pero hindi ako gaanong kinakabahan dahil alam kong alaga ang truck na lagi kong dinadala (When I’m in the driver’s seat, and put the truck in gear, I whisper for it to have my back and not get into engine trouble, but I worry less because what matters is inside,” says Jake, patting his chest, “Alam ko na hawak ko kung saan ako papunta (I know I’m in control of where I need to be).”

“Masarap namang magmaneho basta alam mo na kondisyon ang truck na dala mo. Basta kondisyon ang truck na dala ko, pakiramdam ko kaya ko pang magmaneho ng 25 taon (There’s something

about going the distance, and the pleasurable feeling of a smooth drive when the truck is in tip-top shape, when it’s in the proper condition. I can keep on driving another 25 years, if you ask me),” jokes Jake.

Jake relies on his efficiently-running vehicle, without which his crucial role in the economy could not be played. As Jake reveals, the fleet mechanics of the trucks he drives take care of the vehicles well and use first-rate lubricants, such as Shell Rimula engine oil. Shell Rimula’s heavy duty engine oil keeps Jake’s truck on the right track—to progress. This is what Shell Rimula brings to the table, as the oil that helps keep trucks moving, the oil that helps drive progress.

Logistics is big business, yet the truck drivers, the first ones in, and last ones out, driving the economy by transporting goods, go by unseen, as they go the last mile. Their camouflage? The lumbering truck, big monsters on the road, taking up too much space, creating traffic jams, and not caring at all about smaller vehicles.

The truth is that Jake, and truck drivers like him are responsible for making our economy—or any economy, for that matter—move. Without them, business would come to a screeching halt and everything would be in chaos. A vital link in the supply chain, truck drivers are one of the main drivers of our country’s economy, and the key to the Philippines’

SEBASTIAN Vettel said he felt mixed emotions after keeping his slender title challenge alive by finishing fourth in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, won by Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

The four-time champion, who started fifth on the grid after taking a three-place penalty, recovered from an opening lap spin to fight through the field in a tactical contest that left Lewis Hamilton frustrated in his bid to clinch his fifth drivers world title.

“My feelings? Mixed,” he said.

“Happy. Really happy for Kimi.

But not much for me. It should have been a better day.”

Vettel can only stop Hamilton taking his fifth drivers title next weekend in Mexico by winning the race and hoping Hamilton hits problems that keep him out of the top seven places.

He said he suffered a major blow when he clashed with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap.

“I must have been in his blind spot. I’m not sure he saw me. The corner kept tightening and we hit. It was a big loss for me.”

Vettel’s disappointment took nothing away from a resurgent Ferrari’s satisfaction in recovering their mid-season pace, after abandoning several recent upgrades, and claiming a revitalising victory.

“I am very proud of them all,” said Ferrari team chief Maurizio Arrivabene.

“I was always proud of the guys and even more when we are winning races. It’s been hard for us recently and we had a race engineer pass away last weekend…. I have nothing more to add. It was great today. Thank you USA!” Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff admitted that Ferrari had been faster than his team, as he had feared.

“We lacked the pace and I said don’t close it too early. They are very fast. Kimi winning is great for him and for Ferrari, so let’s go to the next race in Mexico now.

“It was difficult to overtake, but for us it was a strategy that got worse as it progressed. We need to re-think and see what we can do better. We put on a good show altogether and that’s what’s more important.” AFP

RAMON L. TOMELDAN Editor

C4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018

Motoring

7th PIMS

Mother Earth and Mobility Text and Photos

by Diana Noche

I

T DIDN’T disappoint. The 7th Philippine International Motor Show which kicked off Wednesday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City was another opportunity to go back over the past, delight in the present, and take stock of the future of our lifestyle.

The biennial auto show, brought back once again by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. presented the latest in automotive technology from manufacturers and distributors plus a lot more to be ecstatic about.

This year’s theme, “Future Mobility”, aims to promote a dynamic interaction between the arts and optimistic technology. The show assembled an impressive line of motor vehicles covering multiple categorizations from BAIC, BMW, Daewoo Trucks and Buses, Foton, Fuso, Honda, Isuzu, Jaguar, KIA, Land Rover, Mahindra, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugot, Ssang Yong, Suzuki, Tata, Toyota, and Volkswagen.

Toolbox Joy The five-day show of new model launches, test drives, vehicle demos, car club meets, workshops, and refreshed stocks of parts and accessories was were all the right stuff was. Put together, they did not overlook important details when it comes to coming up with ergonomically designed bodies and fuel-efficiency technology to save the world from an everincreasing levels of ecologic pollutants. Inventive engineering to raise the performance bar was incorporated in each unit with added amenities usually only associated with luxury vehicles were adopted.

Toyota Motors Philippines centered the spotlight on its headliner, the Tj Cruiser Concept, or Toyota’s “Toolbox joy”. It was first introduced at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show where its square design was an instant seducer. It boasts of a sturdy suspension and go-anywhere SUV tires for stability and bite. On hand, likewise, was a full complement of Toyota’s reliable standards: Vios, Rush, Fortuner, Innova, Prius C, and a decidedly upscaled Land Cruiser LC200.

Not to be outshone were the Wakudoki Vios and the One Make Race (OMR) pace car.

Isuzu Blue Power Isuzu injected into its diesel engines the Blue Power technology which will provide maximum output, cleaner emission, fuel sparingness, and durability. Great for hauling a passel of schoolchildren and everyday folks on their way to work, and for schlepping heavy cargo without cracking under pressure. The Isuzu mu-X RZ4E, Isuzu mu-X Luxe, Isuzu D-MAX RZ4E, Isuzu Modernized PUVs, and the Isuzu’s latest, the Isuzu EXZ GL will do just that.

Honda discounts Honda Car Philippines has been providing the motoring public a most excellent line of vehicles for seven decades. Its more popu-

lar cars are the Honda Civic Type R, Honda BR-V, the Honda City, and the Honda CR-V. As a thankyou expression, a substantial discount of Php35,000 off each subcompact and compact sedans was offered during the motor show.

The savings were for the City E, VX Navi CVT, Civic 1.8E, and RS Navi Variants. Hop in the car. Enjoy the great discount by tearing up the country sides.

Mitsubishi delivers Mitsubishi Motors’ “Drive Your Ambition” watchword promises to deliver vehicles with cutting-edge automotive science and style—the e-Evolution Concept and Outlander PHEV, XPANDER, Montero Sport, Strada, and Mirage G4— every unit ready to meet the road.

The 2019 Strada (aka Triton aka L200) will make its global debut on November 9, 2018 with a new

facelift and a modernized front end to gain the Dynamic Shield Design concept combined with futuristic X-shaped fascia.

Bayan pride How can a company with such a prideful name as “Bayan” go wrong with the BJ20? BAIC, or Bayan Automotive Industries, Corp., had the juvenal appeal installed in the car. Boxy with wraparound toughened bumpers, with seats worthy of a limo and impressive safety and security features, the BJ20 is built to be driven and enjoyed equally by first-time car drivers and pros alike.

Bimmer lover BMW’s tradition of excellence and a well-earned reputation for reliability is a given in the world of wheels. Its latest line of cars will appeal to numerous senses for the absolute driving pleasure and the

most recent technologies involved to enhance connectivity, proficiency, and electro-mobility. Drawing upon BMW’s extensive knowhow, driving any of the BMW 6 Series, Gran Turismo, BMW X4, BMW M5, BMW X2, and the BMW M2 will certainly rev up any driver’s style.

Daewoo Daewoo’s Clean and Green Technology aims to support the government’s Clean Air Act program and has introduced functional additions to create environment-friendly vehicles like the Daewoo Bus 120SN and Daewoo Truck equipped with Euro5 Emission Standard Engine with SCR System.

Foton Foton’s latest line of commercial vehicles --- Gratour IMG and the Gratour TM, Tornado M5.2C light-duty truck, the EST-400 4x2 Tractor Head, GTL 6x4 Miner Truck, Hurricane ESTM 6x2 Cargo, and GTL 8x4 high roof Dump Truck --- looks rugged and dependable. A partnership between Foton and Cummins, an established diesel expert, has agreed to a shift to Euro4 Compliant Cummins engines for their trucks using the Blue Energy Technology for power, durability, reliability, and clean emissions.

Fuso Fuso’s forward-thinking approach to its line-up of Light-, Medium-, and Heavy-Duty Trucks and shuttle models from Light Bus to the PUV Modernization Program models is appreciable for its safe handling, cleaner emission, and fuel economy refinements.

Jag Paces A Jaguar car continues to separate itself from other sedans and has geared it resources for the future with a line of an all-electric, autonomous cars with artificial intelligence that interfuses the driver, passengers and the world.

Its E-PACE and F-PACE feline quality sports coupes are outfitted with ovoid headlights, 18-inch wheels, front and back parking sensors, rear parking camera, and wraparound taillights. More sporty now, with a devil-may-care attitude for cornering, a Jaguar will always stand out in any sea of parking slots.

Land Rover Velar Land Rover is likewise focused on its responsibilities for the environment so they made fuel-efficient vehicles that help lower environmental impact. The new Land Rover Velar and the Land Rover Discovery will have the flexibility to meet the twists and turns of any road and maintain Earth’s habitability.

Mazda must-haves For 2019, Mazda offers a lineup of vehicles with modernized style and technology. Its line-up of refreshed Mazda 6, MX-5, and its most luxurious, the flagship CX-9 Signature has an updated Skyactiv body, chassis, driving dynamics technologies to merge with today’s demands with tomorrow’s automotive must-haves Skyactiv body, chassis, engine, driving dynamics technologies to merge with today’s demands with tomorrow’s automotive must-haves.

Nissan’s “Intelligent Mobility” offers the Nissan Terra, Nissan Navara, the Nissan X-Trail, and the Nissan LEAF, touted as the company’s icon of what the automotive world’s future will be thru electrification, autonomous drive, and connectivity.

Suzuki The next generation cars from Suzuki would be just the right vehicle for urban mobility—Swift,

Dzire, and Vitara. Its focus on fuel economy, innovation, and sleek styling, plus a minimized dimension makes it an ideal car for easy parking in tight and highly urbanized areas.

VW Blue Motion Volkswagen, a brand known for its reliable transportation and value, is using the Blue Motion Technology that is meant to improve fuel economy of the Santana 1.5 MPI automatic transmission

Trendline and Comfortline, Santana GTS 1.5MPI AT Comfortline, and the Lamando Comfortline and Highline.

For the many innovations detailed in all the motor vehicles at the motor show, it is quite a relief to know that preservation of the environment has not been neglected.

With that in mind, the future coming generations will breathe plenty of clean air. It’s time to raise that champagne glass again.