Manila Standard - 2019 January 17 - Thursday

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LASTING TRANSFORMATION. File photo shows Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno announcing the P3.767trillion budget for 2018 to strengthen what he called the country’s foothold in implementing reform he said would bring about positive and lasting transformation. Norman Cruz VOL. XXXII • NO. 336 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

DFA sues for time on probe of passport snafu

By Maricel V. Cruz THE Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Privacy Commission have rescheduled the fact-finding inquiry into the passport mess.

Director Al Mandal of the DFA Law Division formally conveyed the agency’s request to postpone the supposed meeting on Wednesday for another 10 days, since there is an ongoing internal

probe into the matter.

The NPC, citing “urgency” in the issue, only granted the DFA a five-day extension.

When asked about its ongoing probe, Mandal declined to comment and noted the agency is still consulting different offices concerned.

“We would like to be certain that once we appear, our information is complete. We owe it to the public

that we have the full information laid down,” he said.

In a letter delivered by Mandal to the privacy commission, DFA Data Privacy Officer Medardo Macaraig clarified that the passport holders’ data stored by the previous printer are intact and still in the custody of the agency and the APO Production Unit Inc., the current passport maker.

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DBM a ‘super-bidding’ body Andaya accuses Budget chief of cornering P198-b projects

By Maricel V. Cruz

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OUSE Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. on Wednesday accused Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno of turning his department into a “super-bidding body” by allegedly bidding out P198 billion worth of projects last year for 20 different government agencies.

“The DBM [Department of Budget and Management] has become some sort of a one-stop mega-mall of government projects for contractors,” Andaya, chairman of the House committee rules, said at a news conference following his panel’s resumption of hearings Tuesday on the alleged irregularities in the budget preparation process.

The DBM is mandated by law to procure for the government commonly-used

PROCUREMENT SERVICE. DBM unit has morphed from a procurer of office supplies such as pens, folders and computers (left) into a ‘one-stop megashop’ of 20 bigticket projects such as railways, airports and even helicopters, says Andaya.

supplies such as envelopes, folders, pens, pencils, ink, computers and other office equipment because these are cheaper when bought in bulk.

But Andaya said the DBM Procurement Service has also become involved in the bidding of big-ticket infrastructure projects that include the building of airports, railways and mass transport systems as well as the purchase of military hardware, including helicopters.

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House, Senate agree to a deal, revise Road Board abolition bill

By Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on second reading a new bill abolishing the graft-ridden Road Board.

House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., chairman of the House committee on rules, led the introduction of the new measure with “perfecting amendments” to the original House Bill 7436, after the House and Senate reached a consensus.

Before the bill’s approval, Andaya said the bill will be sent to the Senate next week for its reconsideration.

“Common sense and real reform are winners in the agreement to genuinely abolish the Road Board. It is a victory for transparency, too,” Andaya said.

Andaya said the funding for the Road Board will go to the general fund under the annual national budget.

He said Congress will secure an “urgent” certification from the President to have the bill enacted the soonest.

Andaya said the House led by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has long advocated “a real, and not the fake abolition of the Road Board.”

Andaya said “the version that was pushed by the previous House speaker, Next page

Comelec sets dry run, holds mock polls in 26 areas

By Vito Barcelo THE Commission on Elections will hold simulated mock elections in at least 26 areas nationwide in preparation for the 2019 national and local elections.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the mock elections would be held on Jan. 19, Saturday, from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., and aimed at refining the process of polling and canvassing before the

THE LAST SMILE. Chinese fugitive Xie Haojie breaks into a full smile as he is escorted Wednesday by Chinese police at the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission office in Manila after his arrest in the Philippines. He is wanted by Beijing for his alleged involvement in economic crimes and corruption in China to the tune of P11 billion. Norman Cruz

May elections.

In the mock elections in 2016, he said, the Comelec observed a number of problems that were quickly corrected.

In Luzon, the mock elections will be held in Alaminos City and Dagupan City, Pangasinan; Tuguegarao City and Aparri in Cagayan; Quezon City 1st and 2nd districts; Manila, 5th district; Pasig, 2nd district; Taguig; Pateros; Valenzuela, 1st district; and Muntinlupa.

In the Visayas, they will be held in Cebu City, 1st district, and Santander, Cebu; and Cortes in Bohol.

In Mindanao, the mock elections will be held in Dapitan City and Sergio Osmeña Sr. in Zamboanga del Norte; Digos City and Bansalan in Davao del Sur; General Santos City and Surallah in South Cotabato; Jolo and Tongkil in Sulu; and Lamitan and Sumisip in Basilan.

Rice tariffication a signature away from enactment

China seed grows on the moon

A BILL that will allow the unimpeded importation of rice is awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature to become law, according to the Senate.

That bill would amend the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 and replace the quantitative restriction on rice imports.

The Senate said it transmitted to the Office of the President on Tuesday the harmonized version of Senate Bill 1998 and House Bill 7735, an “Act Replacing the Quantitative Import Restrictions on Rice with Tariffs, Lifting the Quantitative Export Restrictions.”

The measure, which was ratified by both Houses of Congress in November last year, will become law if the President fails to act on it after 30 days.

Duterte’s economic managers have identified rice tariffication as one of the means of addressing soaring inflation.

The measure would create the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or RCEF as a special rice safeguard duty to protect the rice industry from sudden or extreme price fluctuations.

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BEIJING—A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an outof-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said Next page Tuesday.

Rock band drummer plunges to death THE drummer of an iconic Filipino rock band fell to his death Wednesday in an apparent suicide—video of which went viral on Facebook before it was taken down. Next page

UK parliament rejects Brexit deal WORLD B3

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

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PH, Sri Lanka firm up five deals

By Nat Mariano

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HE Philippines and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka forged five bilateral agreements during the state visit of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, covering trade, defense, agriculture, and tourism, education, cultural and people-topeople exchanges.

on strengthening cooperation in defense and security. We know that the growth we desire can only be achieved with peace, order, and stability,” Duterte added.

Even as they address controversies in their own nations, the President renewed his commitment to adhere to the rule of law, act as a responsible member of the international community, and work together constructively in all relevant regional and international organizations.

“The Philippines recognizes that Sri Lanka can be a partner in advancing migrant workers’ rights and welfare, disaster risk reduction, response and management, as well as in strengthening our maritime security and addressing the trafficking of illegal drugs and human smuggling,” he said.

“It is in the spirit of mutual respect, sincerity, and collaboration that President Sirisena and I are now planting the seeds for rapid growth in our relations.

We are firm in our belief that with our commitment, we will reap a bountiful harvest for the benefit of our peoples,”

Duterte added.

During the state visit, a Memorandum of Understanding concerning Defense and Military Education and Training and Exchanges of Defense and Military Delegations was signed.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in agriculture, fisheries, and related fields between the country and Sri Lanka was also signed.

The other memoranda of understanding signed were focused on having academic cooperation in higher education between the country’s Commission on Higher Education and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of City Planning, Water Supply, and Higher Education; an understanding between the Department of Tourism of the Philippines and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs; and an understanding between the University of the Philippines Los Baños and the Sri Lanka Council for Agriculture Research Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Economic Affairs, Livestock, Irrigation, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development.

In a press statement, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was pleased with the “historic” visit of Sirisena to Manila, expressing optimism the two countries may “explore wider cooperation and greater collaborative action many fields in the international fora.”

“In the nearly six decades of our formal diplomatic relations, you are the very first Sri Lankan President, serving as Head of State and Government, to visit the Philippines. And indeed, your State Visit is held for a very good reason,” Duterte said in his speech.

Duterte said the decades-old relationship of Manila and Colombo have enabled them to share interests and face common challenges.

“We face common challenges, we

have shared interests, and we are united by our desire to provide greater peace, progress, and prosperity for our peoples,” he said.

“These realities and aspirations behoove upon us to work together even more closely to provide renewed impetus and clearer direction for a greatly expanded partnership,” Duterte added.

The President also emphasized that Sri Lanka recognizes that the proliferation of illegal drugs poses a threat to the two countries.

“We acknowledged that poverty reduction and long-term sustainable development are cornerstones of our efforts to improve the lives of our peoples,” he said.

“We also discussed mutual concerns

DFA...

Bacolod’s top cop a narco coddler, Rody insists

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. earlier said that the previous contractor, a French company, had “made off” with the data of passport holders after its contract was terminated early. He later retracted this statement and said the data was not taken, but “made inaccessible.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ruled out a congressional inquiry into the passport mess, saying she saw no new legislation coming out of such a probe.

“What legislation can we introduce in a few months?” Arroyo asked.

Instead of a congressional inquiry, Arroyo said, the House may invite officials of the DFA to brief lawmakers on the issue.

In a series of posts on his Twitter account, Locsin hinted that a crooked passport deal closed during the Aquino administration was to blame for the passport mess, and said the DFA needed to rebuild its database.

On Monday, the Palace said requiring people to provide birth certificates when renewing their passports, as the DFA was doing, was an unnecessary burden and “too cumbersome.”

Locsin has since done away with the birth certificate requirement. With PNA

THE sacked Bacolod City chief of police Francisco Ebreo was protecting a suspected narco-politician in Bacolod City, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday as he ordered as well the immediate relief of the five Bacolod policemen.

Even though Ebreo might not have direct links to the illegal drug trade, Duterte said the top Bacolod police official, however, was using his position to protect a narco-politician.

“At the very least, he’s a protector cop. He might not be in the trafficking business, but he was really a protector,” the President told Palace reporters.

“I cannot believe that with all the information available to every chief of police or city police director assigned in the province, you would [still] not review the record of the province in terms of criminality and drug trafficking. I think, it was studied,” he added.

According to the President, Ebreo was protecting Bacolod City Councilor Ricardo “Cano” Tan, who has been tagged as a drug lord by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

“There was this Cano. A councilor

[who] has been tagged by the PDEA almost a decade ago to be engaged in [drug] trafficking, he was ambushed,” the President shared.

“There were about three ambushes before that incident where they went to the hospital, the two of them with his deputy. What’s [their] f*cking business going to the hospital of [an ambushed drug lord?] They even assigned two security officers there,” Duterte added.

For the President, the assignment of the city’s first and second highest police officials to keep an ambushed drug lord safe seems to be a “strange behavior.”

“I could understand if you would send a topnotch investigator of the police, I would understand that. But if you would send the first and the second highest of police officials, I really doubted why it happened,” Duterte said.

In December last year, Tan and his wife Nita survived an ambush carried out by three unidentified suspects.

Tan walked away from the incident with only slight injuries caused by broken glass.

The Palace also earlier confirmed that Ebreo and his men were welcomed

by an angry Duterte in a meeting in Malacañang Tuesday evening.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte, who has been vocal that law enforcers must not misuse their power against the law, severely reprimanded the relieved police officers. Nat Mariano “PRRD gave the police officers a dressing down and castigated them for allowing the proliferation of illegal drugs to persist in Bacolod,” Panelo said in a statement.

“The President particularly expressed his frustration as to why they had no knowledge about the presence of certain personalities in Bacolod who are involved in the illegal drug industry,” he added.

Last weekend, the President announced the termination of Ebreo, Supt.

Allan Macapagal, Senior Insp. Victor Paulino, and Supt. Ritchie Yatar, and Supt. Nassrudin Tayuan for they were “in cahoots with a drug syndicate.”

Ebreo, Macapagal, Paulino, and Yatar were then reassigned to Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit in Iloilo through special order from the Philippine National Police. Nat Mariano

DBM...

get involved in the bidding and awarding of government contracts.

“The DBM is not only involved but its officials themselves conduct the bidding and even recommend as to who will get the projects,” Andaya said.

Andaya said Bingle Gutierrez, executive director of the DBM Procurement Service, told congressmen during the Tuesday hearing that several departments and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) have allowed her office to conduct the bidding for the bigticket infrastructure projects and other government contracts since 2017.

“We have unknowingly opened a can of worms at the DBM. First, the P75 billion insertion unknown to the DPWH secretary. Then, the DBM funds finding their way to the firm of Secretary Diokno’s in-laws. Now, the DBM turning into a super-bidding body for more than P179 billion worth of government projects,” Andaya said.

He said Gutierrez admitted that her office was responsible for bidding last

year more than P198 billion worth of government contracts, including bigticket infrastructure projects that form part of the Build, Build, Build Program, including P168.275 billion from the Department of Transportation.

“And the budget of the DOTr for the capital outlay last year was only P38 billion. How could you now have done that? You procure for one year worth P168 billion with just one department when that department’s budget was only P38 billion?” Andaya said. “So, I think that is the question that Secretary Diokno has to answer. He will give you the details of the projects’ tomorrow (Thursday), but for advanced information, these are all the Build, Build, Build projects of the national government.”

Gutierrez cited Republic Act (RA) No. 9184 or the Procurement Law as the DBM’s basis for conducting bidding for other department’s big-ticket projects, Andaya added.

accredited party-list groups which would determine the order in which From A1 they will be listed on official ballots, on the understanding that the numThe Comelec also said that it would bers of those who are later disqualimaintain the numbers as raffled to fied would be canceled.

On Wednesday, the Philippine National Police said 83 people were arrested and 82 firearms were confiscated in checkpoints nationwide in the first three days of the election period.

“One of the key features of the bill is the creation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which shall consist of an initial appropriation of P10 billion a year until all duties collected from the importation of rice can replace it,” said Senator Cynthia Villar, the

sponsor and principal author of the bill.

The Senate agreed on setting the RCEF at a minimum of P10 billion a year for six years, and tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion will be appropriated by Congress based on a menu of programs in the rice tariffication law.

The fund will be used to provide different forms of assistance to rice farmers, such as the development of inbred

seeds and rice farm equipment and skills enhancement.

Villar said rice is the only agricultural commodity in the country that has quantitative restriction or QR, limiting the inflow of imported rice in the country.

The bill would remove all unnecessary government intervention in the rice market as recently announced by Duterte, Villar said. PNA

in along Vito Cruz St. in Manila―in the middle of a Facebook video group chat with friends who were stunned by the outcome.

Citing an incident report from the Malate Police Station, police said the remains of Velasco were discovered by the guard on duty around 9:45 a.m.

The guard sought help from the city police, who found the drummer dressed in a white polo shirt and jeans with multiple wounds on his legs and body.

Velasco’s brother, La Salle student Gabriel Angelo, also told police in the same report that the musician was suffering from depression.

Velasco replaced original drummer Miguel Ortigas when he joined Razorback in 1996, and helped the band become a household name after the release of their second album, “Beggar’s Moon.”

His death came more than a week after Razorback headlined a benefit gig for Filipino music legend Wally Gonza-

lez, a founding member of the influential rock act Juan Dela Cruz Band.

Tributes were quick to arrive from fellow musicians and Velasco’s fans on social media following the news.

Razorback’s last album was released in 2015, titled “Acoustic ng Ina Mo,” a compilation of acoustic versions of their hits. Last year, their 28th as a group, the band released a new single, “Stargazer,” featuring Basti Atardi, the vocalist of fellow rock band Wolfgang.

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House,...

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Pantaleon Alvarez, created “three powerful road kings.”

“The present House leadership, on the other hand, insisted on treating MVUC (Motor Vehicle Users Charge) collections as part of General Fund, and not as an off-budget, hidden account, controlled by a few, a status retained by the previous bill,” Andaya said.

“We have also stood our ground in earmarking MVUC collections for transport-related activities. The spurious Road Board abolition bill inserted a provision that would have diverted funds to waste segregation,” Andaya said.

Andaya added: “The House-Senate consensus spared the President [from] signing a defective bill, which some powerful interests wanted him to. The attempt to hoodwink the President has been foiled.”

But Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte appealed to the bicameral conference committee members to set aside a share of the multibillion-peso Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC) collections for flood mitigation projects, particularly in Bicol, as President Duterte had committed.

Villafuerte recalled that during Duterte’s visit to Camarines Sur early this month following the onslaught of Tropical Depression ‘Usman,” the President had reiterated his desire for the Congress to abolish the Road Board and committed the use of its MVUC funds to solve the perennial flooding in Bicol.

Rock band...

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Brian Velasco’s death was confirmed by the band Razorback on its Facebook page, with a post that read: “Today we lost our brother and our hearts are broken. We love you and we will always miss you Bri.” Velasco, 41, apparently leapt off the high floor of the condominium he lived

From A1

“Now, it has morphed into a super body responsible for the bidding of multi-billion government contracts,” said Andaya.

“The DBM is responsible for the preparation of the National Expenditure Program. Now, under Secretary Diokno, the DBM not only allocates and disburses government funds. It now determines who gets government projects and who gets paid from public funds,” Andaya said.

“The Congress has given the DBMProcurement Service a P7-billion budget in 2018 for the procurement of commonly-used supplies. We have not given them the authority to conduct bidding for big-ticket government projects, the budget of which were lodged in other departments outside DBM,” he said.

Andaya said Diokno is not telling the truth when he said the DBM does not

Comelec...

Rice...

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‘Friendly dare’ outright silly, Panelo says MALACAÑANG said Wednesday the “friendly challenge” of a Catholic bishop to President Rodrigo Duterte to walk around without security aides was “outright silly, childish and absurd.”

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo slammed Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr. for daring the President to do what was possible, but something the Presidential Security Group would not allow.

“PRRD [Duterte] would have loved to accept the challenge but security protocols are observed for his protection as President―a position carrying awesome responsibilities requiring him to attend to the problems of the nation―a position that the good bishop has never held and might never assume in his lifetime,” Panelo said in a statement. “[The challenge] was evidently made with the sole purpose of getting publicity for the challenger.”

Panelo said Duterte does not have to prove his courage and selfless public service to the people.

He said Duterte once patrolled Davao City alone, disguised as a taxi driver, to go after criminals who prowled at night when he was mayor there.

“He also went around the city alone in his motorcycle to examine what was happening around his turf at a time when Davao City was a killing field,” Panelo said.

He also mentioned the time when Duterte made headlines as he offered himself in exchange for a woman and a three-month-old baby who were being kept as hostages by Felipe Pugoy and his prison gang during the 1989 Davao hostage crisis.

“No person in this country has ever done offering his life in exchange for the freedom of a hostage victim except this President,” Panelo said.

“We thus ask the good bishop to be more judicious when it comes to oratories against the President, especially when it comes to challenging the latter in his element, so as to avoid being embarrassed.”

On Tuesday, Bacani urged the President to prove his “bravery” by doing the simple things that church leaders do every day.

“It’s simple. You know, we bishops walk around, we don’t have bodyguards, bullet-proof vests, we don’t have security aids or with big entourages or guns. We’re like that,” Bacani told the Church-run Radio Veritas.

“My challenge to President Duterte, if he’s really brave, is simple, do what we do.”

Bacani has always been vocal about the Duterte administration, making him a target of the President’s spicy tirades in previous speeches.

In January 2017, Duterte claimed that the bishop had two wives like him, but Bacani shrugged it off, saying he would pray for the President.

Nat Mariano

China...

From A1

The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister since the Chang’e-4 lander set down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University.

“This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface,” said Xie Gengxin, who led the design of the experiment.

The Chang’e-4 probe―named after a Chinese moon goddess―made the world’s first soft landing on the moon’s “dark side” on Jan. 3, a major step in China’s ambitions to become a space superpower.

Scientists from Chongqing University―who designed the “mini lunar biosphere” experiment―sent a seveninch bucket-like container holding air, water and soil.

Inside are cotton, potato, and arabidopsis seeds―a plant of the mustard family―as well as fruit fly eggs and yeast.

Images sent back by the probe show a cotton sprout has grown well, but so far none of the other plants has taken, the university said.

Chang’e-4 is also equipped with instruments developed by scientists from Sweden, Germany and China to study the lunar environment, cosmic radiation and the interaction between solar wind and the moon’s surface.

The lander released a rover, dubbed Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit), that will perform experiments in the Von Karman Crater. AFP

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DOJ sustains ruling denying Rappler appeal

By Rey E. Requejo

PRESIDENTIAL PROBE. President Rodrigo Duterte interviews one of the witnesses in the Batocabe murder case along with Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde at the sidelines of the Joint Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police Command Conference at the Malacañang Palace on Jan. 15. Presidential Photo

Fugitive ex-Chinese official nabbed IN BRIEF Oversight committee on housing created SPEAKER Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will create an Oversight Committee to monitor the implementation of RA 9207 (National Government Center Housing and Land Utilization Act of 2003) or the law that facilitated urban poor housing in Quezon City.

Speaking during her consultation with beneficiaries of RA 9207, a law she signed when she was President in 2003, at the NGC West in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City Tuesday, Arroyo said she will constitute an Oversight Committee on RA 9207 at the House of Representatives to make sure that the law is properly implemented.

“When I was studying the law last night in preparation for the meeting today, nakita na meron pala oversight committee itong batas na ginawa noong panahon ko. Since meron pang nalalabing problema dito sabi ko dapat i-constitute ang oversight committee,” she said. Maricel V. Cruz

Batocabe replacement takes oath of office A NEW party-list lawmaker who replaced murdered Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Rodel Batocabe on Wednesday took his oath of office before Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during plenary session at the House of Representatives.

House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., chairman of the House committee on rules, named the new lawmaker as Ronald S. Ang. Ang is the fourth nominee of Ako Bicol who replaced Batocabe, the first nominee.

Batocabe, a mayoralty candidate in Dagara town in Albay, and his police escort’s, SPO1 Orlando Diaz, were killed last Dec. 22 while they were leaving a giftgiving event in Barangay Burgos in Daraga. Maricel V. Cruz

Another petition vs. ML extension filed at SC MILITANT lawmakers in the House of Representatives have asked the Supreme Court to declare as unconstitutional the third extension of martial law in Mindanao.

In a 39-page petition filed Wednesday, the Makabayan bloc led

by Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate prodded the SC to declare the extension of martial law unconstitutional and strike down the Resolution of Both Houses of Congress that approved the request of President Duterte for one-year extension or until December 2019.

The latest petition against the extension of martial law raised similar arguments in the earlier petition filed by opposition lawmakers led

by Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman. Rey E. Requejo

By Vito Barcelo

I

MMIGRATION operatives arrested a former ranking Chinese government official who is wanted in Beijing for corruption in Pasay City.

The arrest of Xie Haojie was carried out by BI-Fugitive and Search Unit in coordination with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission after the Chinese embassy sought the government’s help for the immediate arrest of the former Chinese official.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the 49-year-old Xie was arrested at his unit at the Shell Residences Condominium bldg. along Sunrise Drive, Pasay City.

Morente said Xie, who is wanted for corruption and economic crimes, hid in the country for almost a year after fleeing China to evade prosecution for his criminal offenses.

The Chinese government earlier launched an all-out campaign against corruption which cracked down against abusive government employees, including high-ranking officials.

“He will immediately be deported back to China so he could face the cases lodged against him. His name will also be included in our blacklist to prevent him from re-entering the Philippines,” said the BI chief.

“We will not tolerate the presence of undesirable aliens using the Philippines as a hideout. Fugitives will be sent back [to their country] to face their crimes,” he added.

The case was coordinated to the BI and the PACC by Chinese authorities.

The two agencies then conducted a coordination meeting to track and locate the whereabouts of Xie. “The PACC was informed of this case by their counterpart in China, and they immediately coordinated the details to us. We wish to thank PACC Chair Dante Jimenez and his team for their partnership in this case. This shows that if government agencies work together, they will be able to achieve so much,” he said.

“The Philippines and China will continue to strengthen our cooperation in going after Chinese fugitives hiding in our country, including former government officials wanted for corruption,” Morente said.

At the time of his arrest, Xie was already categorized as an undocumented alien because his passport has been revoked by the Chinese government.

Morente said he is looking forward to more partnerships with PACC and other government entities in tracking and locating illegal aliens in the country.

Duterte open to gov’t taking over Hanjin—DND A WIN-WIN solution.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Wednesday that President Rodrigo Duterte is open to the possibility of government taking over the management of the embattled Hanjin facility in Subic, which senators said would be a win-win solution for the debt-riddled company.

The defense chief said that a government takeover would be viable since the defense department can use Hanjin’s shipbuilding capacity for the country’s Navy and Coast Guard.

Lorenzana made the statement in response to the suggestion raised by some senators that government take control of the South Korean shipyard during the deliberations on the proposed 2019 budget of the Department of National Defense.

The takeover was first proposed by Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who said that it would be a “golden opportunity” for the DND to use the Hanjin facility for its exclusive use.

Lorenzana agreed, saying that while he sympathizes with the financial woes of Hanjin, they are elated by the possibility of the Philippines having its own ship building capability.

NAVOTAS DRUG DEN. Twenty-eight individuals were arrested by operatives of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency during a buybust operation in three drug den in Navotas Fishport in Navotas City on Wednesday morning. Andrew Rabulan

THE Department of Justice has sustained its earlier resolution recommending the indictment of Rappler Holdings Corp. and its president Maria Ressa for tax evasion.

In a resolution, the DOJ junked the appeal of RHC and Ressa seeking to reverse its resolution that found probable cause to hold them liable for tax evasion for violating the National Internal Revenue Code.

A separate resolution also turned down a motion for reconsideration by RHC independent accountant Noel Baladiang.

In ruling against the motion for reconsideration of RHC and Ressa, the DOJ stressed the respondents failed to raise new issues that would warrant a reversal of their earlier ruling for filing of the case before the Tax and Pasig courts.

“Now, after judiciously going over the evidence anew together with the issues raised in the motions, we have found no sustainable ground to reverse, set aside, or modify the assailed resolution,” stated the DOJ resolution released on Wednesday.

Last March, the Bureau of Internal Revenue filed a complaint against Rappler and Ressa for violating the NIRC, particularly one count of Section 254 and three counts of Section 255, for willful attempt to evade or defeat tax and for deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information.

Based on the complaint, RHC and Ressa failed to indicate in RHCs 2015 tax returns the total gain of almost P162.5 million, which was due to the issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to Washington DC-based NBM Rappler LP, a unit of North Base Media and Omidyar Network Find LLC. The DOJ said both RHC and Ressa insisted that the company was mislabeled as a dealer in securities whose PDR transactions are claimed to have yielded ordinary business income that ought to have been reported in its tax returns.

SC defers decision on Andaya plea on salary hike

By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court has deferred taking action on the petition filed by a group led by Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya seeking to compel the Department of Budget and Management to release the fourth and final tranche of salary increases for state workers.

During its en banc session on Tuesday, the SC resolved to defer deliberation on Andaya’s petition for next week, particularly the issuance of preliminary mandatory injunction against DBM and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

“The Court reset its deliberations (on the Andaya petition) for 22 January 2019,” the SC Public Information Office said in a media briefer.

An SC insider explained that the SC magistrates did not see the need to immediately decide on the plea in the petition.

In an advisory, the tribunal said it has reset the deliberation on the matter on Jan. 22.

Diokno had already said that the fourth tranche would be released next month once Congress passes the General Appropriations Act of 2019, which he said is necessary to fund the salary increases that would amount to P42.7 billion for the entire year.

The DBM chief also said that the increase for January of government workers would be covered by the funds to be released upon the passage of the GAA. Andaya’s petition filed last Monday asked the Court to compel the DBM to implement the salary adjustment schedule even with the government using a reenacted budget for the meantime due to delayed passage by Congress of the GAA for this year. With PNA

NTC changes 7-digit format to 8 in ‘02’ area codes starting March 18

By Rio N. Araja STARTING March 18, all telephone numbers in the National Capital Region, Cavite’s Bacoor, Laguna’s San Pedro and Rizal province having an area code of “02” will be changed from seven-digit combination to eight-digit format in compliance with the directive of National Telecommunications Commission.

NTC Commissioner Cordoba, in a public advisory, said Bayan Telecommunications Inc., Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc., ABS-CBN Convergence Inc., Globe Telecom INc./Innove Communications Inc., and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co./Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. would be affected by the migration of the existing seven-digit telephone number to eight-digit telephone number

Last Oct. 27, 2017, NTC issued Memorandum Order No. 10-10-2017, directing all telecommunications providers in the country to migrate all its customers to eight-digit telephone numbers.

It assigned Public Telecommunications Entity (PTE) identifier to each of the PTEs operating and providing local telephone service within the “02” local exchange area.

The identifiers assigned to each PTE

are 3000-YYYY to 3499-YYYY – Bayan Telecommunications Inc., 6000-YYYY to 6699-YYYY – ABS-CBN Converge Inc., 6700-YYYY to 6999-YYYY – Eastern Telecommunication Philippines/ Telecommunications Technologies Philippines Inc., 7XXX-YYYY – Globe Telecom Inc./ Innove Communications Inc., and 8XXX-YYYY – PLDT Inc./ Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc.

A4

Opinion

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

In the name of politics HOW much is enough? How low can some politicians go just to ensure victory?

Before the year 2018 ended, leading Daraga, Albay mayoralty candidate, Ako Bicol Representative Rodel Batocabe and his security aide was gunned down. Not surprisingly, the suspect tagged in the gruesome killing was no less than his political rival.

Merely four days before the election period commenced, which meant among other things, a ban on appointment and transfer of assignments of government personnel, Acting Eastern Samar Governor Marcelo Ferdinand Picardal issued a memorandum, tranferring 156 regular employees including hospital workers and officials to other field of assignments.

These politicians have betrayed the very essence of public service for power.

According to provincial employees, among those who were reassigned were a laundry worker in a hospital who was moved to a far-flung hospital and a lowly employee to a hospital which is closed.

To top it all, one employee, Arianne Faye Cabel, who had just reported back to work after giving birth through caesarian section, was transferred from Felipe Abrigo Memorial Hospital, Guiuan to Taft District Hospital, some 300 kilo-

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

meters away from her residence.

Thus, she has to take a 300-kilometer ride each day to and from work via public utility jeepney, to the detriment her fragile condition.

Their crime: They are supposedly identified in one way or another with Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, who will be slugging it out with Picardal for the province’s gubernatorial post this coming May. But even assuming they are indeed supporters of Evardone, does that justify the transfer of those employees to far-flung areas where travel time alone would eat most of their time they could have instead used in service to the people?

Even Evardone could not believe that his former partymate could resort to such “dirty politicking.”

“This is first time in the history of Eastern Samar that a massive illegal, immoral, anti-people and anti-family movement of Capitol employees has happened. There is no other reason for this harassment and intimidation but politics,” Evardone laments.

“One of the victims is a lowly emasployee who just gave birth who as signed to a hospital 11 towns away from her place,” he adds, referring to Cabel’s case.

The employees themselves are so disgusted with Picardal’s action saying that since he and Evardone used to be on the same side, they had also thrown their support for him before.

“We also campaigned and supported his [Picardal’s] candidacy as he was then a part of Team Evardone. Has he now forgotten this?” an employee asks.

Picardal cannot hide the motives his move behind the tapestry of the socalled “exigency of public service.”

The timing of the transfer was highly dubious because they were done just a few days before the election ban. He could have done that even last year. The exigency or urgency did not occur just overnight.

The irreverent

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte, the popular leader of this predominantly Catholic country, does not only criticize the Church's leaders—he insults and demonizes them at every turn.

While he was educated in Catholic schools, Mr. Duterte has felt the need to expose the wrongdoing of the religious, saying they had no qualms committing sexual abuse or stealing from the coffers for their personal benefit.

He has even exhorted bystanders and loiterers to steal from and even kill Catholic bishops because they had plenty of money.

This behavior is not new; he has cursed at Pope Francis for causing heavy traffic during his 2015 visit, called God stupid, challenged the dogma of the Holy Trinity, said saints were fools and drunkards. He said that when he was a boy, he was molested by a priest.

While there has been a lack of institutional reaction from the church, some leaders have spoken out. In November, for instance, Caloocan Bishop Virgilio Pablo David, whom Duterte had accused of stealing donations, said in a Facebook post that “sick people sometimes don't know what they are talking about, so we should just bear with them.” He asked the faithful to pray for Duterte, whom he described as a “very sick man.”

More recently, Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos said in a radio interview that the Duterte presidency is a disappointment

and a disgrace to our country, known for being “kill, kill, kill.”

Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani also challenged Mr. Duterte to walk around with no security detail.

As always, his underlings at the Palace help place Mr. Duterte's words “in the proper context” after an outburst, and hit back at the clergy who dare speak out.

For example, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Santos' statements, coming from a man of the cloth, were saddening. Panelo then lectured Santos who he said was uninformed about how appreciative Filipinos are of Mr. Duterte's leadership.

“Like the Bishop, the President is imperfect , but unlike him PRRD looks at the innate goodness of man. The President who could have preferred retirement and enjoy its bliss opted to rise to the challenge of the times and at the commencement of his presidency has waged a war against all fronts of illegality in the country,” Panelo, performing his job religiously, said.

“What is a disgrace is when a member of the clergy uses unsavory language against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte who only fulfills and complies with his constitutional mandate to lead the government in serving the Filipinos and protecting them from what bedevils our society. We find it very unfortunate that Bishop Santos fails to follow the teaching of Christ that if someone throws a stone at you, throw a piece of bread at him in response.”

Panelo also said Bacani's challenge was outright silly, childish and absurd.

The animosity between Duterte and church leaders was heightened by the latter's criticism of the way the war on

drugs was being conducted. A dialogue has done nothing to improve such relations.

It appears though that Filipino Catholics have been able to compartmentalize their faith and their politics. While many remain pious—they still go to Sunday Mass and support religious celebrations like the recent feast of the Black Nazarene—the irreverent chief executive also continues to enjoy phenomenal popularity ratings. In fact, this was challenged only briefly last year when prices of basic goods shot up.

Perhaps Filipinos themselves have come to regard the President's words as mere entertainment; they do not really pose a threat to their faith. These colorful words simply contribute to Mr. Duterte's reputation as a maverick and a rebel, perhaps even boosting his stock.

After all, other politicians bend over backwards to get on the church's good graces; what a brave man Duterte is for daring to challenge the faith.

Meanwhile, church leaders could only do a better job in their own spheres by showing that for all their criticism of violence and injustice in the country, they should in no way tolerate the violence and injustice committed by anybody of their own.

For the rest of us, Catholic or not, the unsavory exchange of words between supposedly respected institutions is not helping any cause. Whatever they say about or against each other, we would still have the problem of poverty, rising costs, poor health services, terrorism, corruption and many other ills. If they only channeled all their energy into addressing these real problems, then we would all be in a better, more enlightened state.

Turn to A5

PITX messes up transport down south POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE IT promised to be a godsend, but in reality the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange has so far failed the thousands of southbound commuters who are clamoring for better management of the hub.

Located in Parañaque City and accessible via the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard or the Coastal Road, the PITX was designed to be a hub “that consolidates both provincial transports and metro-bound public vehicles into one area in the south,” as Aurick Go wrote in autoindustriya. com October last year.

“Specifically,” he said, “it will become a link for transportation heading towards Cavite and Batangas, as well as [act] as a southern hub for public transport vehicles that ply the metro.

That said, the PITX is also expected to reduce the [number] of buses plying Taft Avenue and Pasay-EDSA.” PITX was inaugurated on Nov. 5 last year by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

On Nov. 7, the Philippine Information Agency’s Jerome Carlo R. Paunan called PITX the “first ‘world-class’ intermodal landport in the country,” that would make commuting “more comfortable for the riding public” by offering “a safer, state-of-the-art, and convenient terminal experience.”

PITX’s “multi-modal transport selection” includes “jeepney, bus, taxi, UV Express, point-to-point, and soon, light rail transit” options.

Paunan added that the hub is to be serviced by “all city buses, UV express service, and jeepneys whose endpoints are Baclaran and the Mall of Asia.” These are ordered by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to “extend and facilitate the transfer of passengers to PITX,” through Memorandum Circular 2018-20 dated Sept. 13, 2018.

Also in the MC: “All provincial public utility buses, UV Express service, and public utility jeepneys originating from provinces southwest of Metro Manila entering via Coastal Road and Manila Cavite Expressway shall end their routes at the [PITX] in Coastal Road Parañaque from the date PITX is fully operational.”

At capacity, the hub is expected to serve up to 200,000 passengers daily.

However, PITX is not working as it should. Commuters complain that there are few, if any, vehicles waiting for them there and it takes hours of waiting to get a ride.

Historian and author Jose Victor Z. Torres, who lives in Imus and teaches at a university in Manila, frequently posts social media updates with photos showing PITX swamped with hundreds of frustrated passengers waiting for a ride.

Describing the situation on 7:00 p.m. of Jan. 15, he said people had been waiting almost two hours for rides to Cavite. They would wait three or four hours more before being able to ride, arriving home at 10:00 or 11:00 at night, many after working an eight-hour day.

Vans would arrive to serve passengers, but they would be nabbed by the LTO (Land Transportation Office) “dahil ito ay mga kolorum,” said Dr. Torres. “Pero wala naman ipinapalit na sasakyan para makauwi ang mga pasahero. Basta huli lang ng huli.”

Dr. Torres pointed out that LTO and LTFRB are obliging passengers to use PITX but without guaranteeing that any vehicles would actually be there. He called upon transportation authorities and Cavite Governor Atty. Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla to take action.

Writer Beverly Wico Siy, a Bacoor resident, has documented on video her PITX experience. Last December, she said, “Nagpunta ako doon para sumakay. Dinala kami doon ng bagong dyip na ‘Dyipko’ ang name from Baclaran. Pagdating doon, [walang] Turn to A5

Money is everything Why run at all if you don’t have it?

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is openly and prematurely campaigning for his favorite senatorial candidates: Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino.

Isn’t he encouraging other candidates to violate the Comelec’s rules?

What is Duterte up to? Does he intend to pack the Senate with his minions and lackeys? The Senate is supposed to be an independent body.

And what would it all tell him when his candidates lose? Won’t it be a slap on his face?

I have covered 10 presidents in my almost 70 years as a journalist. I have never seen a president so eager to have his minions get elected to the Senate.

Sure, there were other chief executives

who had their favorite candidates, but nobody has come close to what Duterte is doing.

Recall that Duterte even accompanied Bong Go when filing his certificate of candidacy with the Comelec, and when visiting the Iglesia ni Kristo.

In his provincial speeches, Duterte tells the people—“if you don’t make my candidates win, bahala na kayo.”

The implications of what President Duterte is doing are obvious. LGUs, all under the Executive branch, will be spending for the sorties of the three.

And at the rate political ads on tv and radio are going, Bong Go must now have spent millions for his campaign!

Turn to A5

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Opinion

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

Just rewards via lateral attrition in tax collection, are equally compensated through their salaries from taxpayers’ money. It is only just that we demand from them efficient, transparent, and full tax collection.

This is then a good opportunity THE Department of Finance re- for the Finance Department to fully ported a revenue collection of 94.7 implement the Attrition Law. The percent for the period of January to Attrition Law was enacted in 2005 September 2018, including those contributed by the TRAIN Law. Of the total amount, the tax gain generated by TRAIN reached P41.9 billion. This is P2.3 billion short of the The temptation to targeted P44.3 billion. succumb to corruption Revenue collection is a vital faccan be hard to resist. tor in determining the annual budget that will fund the government’s programs. Full revenue collection also ensures elimination of corrupt practices. The 94-percent revenue with the aim of boosting revenue collection in 2018, along with the collection through a rewards and implementation of the TRAIN Law, incentive system where tax collooks promising. lectors who exceed expectations As with any government agency, are given incentives accordingly, the agents from the Bureau of Inter- whereas those who fall behind their nal Revenue and the Bureau of Cus- targets are imposed penalties. Time toms, the two important agencies and again, I have emphasized the

importance of this law. Any tax reform sans proper implementation of the Attrition Act will not be able to achieve its full potential.

The second tranche of the TRAIN Law, which imposes higher fuel excise taxes, is being implemented this 2019. Same as last year, we are expecting a higher revenue collection at the end of the year.

Meeting targets deserves rewards.

While the argument can be made that collectors here are doing jobs they are paid to do, in reality, the temptation to succumb to corruption can be hard to resist. This Lateral Attrition Law acknowledges this. It provides incentives for efficient collection and arrests the spread of improper collection practices. If the momentum is maintained and targets are met, finally, the rewards under the Attrition Law, had it been in effect, would be enjoyed across the board in the two agencies. Let us start the new year right by revisiting the Attrition Law and the revenue targets for this year.

A waste of talent LAST week, I was with my family having dinner at the Baguio Country Club when a dozen gentlemen belonging to the Philippine Military Academy class of 1985 walked past our table.

Since some of them worked with me while I was still in the active service, there were of course, the obligatory greetings. It seems that they were here in Baguio because one of their members will be retiring next month and will be accorded the customary parade and review given to all PMA graduates before they are finally put to pasture.

The one retiring is Chief Supt.

Arnold Gunacao, formerly the PNP Highway Patrol director but who is currently assigned with the Directorate of Integrated Police Operations.

To the uninitiated, this is a position created for people who cannot be given any line assignments like for instance a Regional Director. On paper, the position looks impressive because it is supposed to oversee the operations of three Police Regions.

In actual fact, however, it is a paper tiger. Those who are assigned to DIPO are mostly those who happen to be senior to the appointed Chief PNP. The practice that has developed in the PNP is that if an officer who is appointed as the Chief PNP happens to belong to a junior class like what happened to Bato de la Rosa and Oscar Albayalde, both members of the PMA class of 1986, officers belonging to the classes of 1984 and 1985 can expect radical changes in their assignments.

Why? Because the members of the class of 1986—now considered the ruling class—will now be occupying most, if not all, the important and critical positions. It does not happen to all seniors, but certainly to the majority of those officers who graduated earlier. In the class of 1985 for instance, Chief Supt. Rolly Nana who was my junior officer when I was provincial

Money...

From A4

The President says Go is a billionaire. Just how he became one would be a good question to ask.

In the end, it’s really up to the people if they want a rubber-stamp Senate. *** In my lengthy career in journalism, the factor that determines victory or defeat is still money.

Other factors—party affiliation, membership in a political dynasty, popularity—of course are also important.

But funding is the most important factor, I know that running for local office would entail P100 million to P300 million. Unless you are a candidate of the administration or its ally, you have to spend for rallies. You need to draw crowds and to do that you have to spend for entertainers. Also, people have to be fetched from where they live so you also have to spend for transportation.

commander of La Union, is the current regional director of the Cordillera Administrative Region. But most have been replaced and moved to DIPO. Given that the police and military already retire very early, it is not only a waste of talent but government resources as well to pasture of these officers a lot earlier than their actual retirement. The worst that can happen to an officer is to be given a “nothing” assignment in the twilight of one’s career.

Police leaders should leave the organization in a better shape than when they came to it.

One of those officers having dinner was Chief Supt. Eric Velasquez, who stopped by our table to exchange pleasantries. He too is assigned to DIPO. This officer is a lawyer and since there are not too many lawyer officers in the PNP, his expertise is certainly being wasted. This situation exists primarily because of the traditional upper class system practiced in the PMA. This is a situation wherein once an underclass, one is perpetually that even if the junior graduate eventually outranks an individual who graduated ahead of him.

Up to about 1986, most if not all those appointed as Chiefs of Constabulary came from a pool of officers who basically joined the service at the same time. The appointment of a Chief of Constabulary junior to others started when then President Cory Aquino designated General Cesar Nazareno who belonged to the class of 1961, as Chief, PC/INP over senior graduates of the PMA. This was followed by the appointment of General Recaredo Sarmiento over graduates four years senior to him. Then the practice became routine.

It is now 2019, and the upper class For some candidates, election times are happy times. They make the rounds of businessmen who dole out funds. It’s like winning the lottery!

On the national level, senatorial candidates need at least P500 million if they expect to win. In some cases, they need funds to cheat especially if they are at the tail end of the Magic 12.

So why run if you don’t have the money? *** Supreme Court insiders say that justices still have to conduct oral arguments on the two petitions brought up first by the government of Sulu led by Governor Abdusakur Tan II and second by the Philippine Constitution Association led by its chairman former Justice Manuel Lazaro and its president Martin Romualdez.

The petitions are basically the same, contesting the legality and constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law passed by Congress. The 1987 Constitution speaks only of two autonomous regions—the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera

system is still alive and well. One would think that due to the frequency of the practice of juniors being appointed over senior graduates, that there would have been some kind of acceptance on the part of both sides to adjust to the realities of the situation.

But it is not so.

Not being a graduate of the PMA, I do not think I can provide a satisfactory answer to this unhealthy practice.

But I think it is time to accept this phenomena of junior graduates being appointed over their seniors and adjust accordingly for the sake of the service.

If the Armed Forces have been able to adjust smoothly, there should be no reason why the PNP cannot also do it. The AFP was able to put in place regulations and policies which the leadership is enforcing uniformly and consistently. It may be harder in the PNP but there is no choice if it wants to reform.

There used to be a practice to give senior retiring officers what was called preferential assignments. This practice was to give them the opportunity to retire with honor and dignity.

Unfortunately, this practice is now dead and gone. Retiring officers can now wake up one morning to find out that they have been retired without any ceremony. It is sad, what has happened to the good traditions of the service.

The camaraderie, the esprit de corps— they are now things of the past. What remains are groupings of officers banding together to take care of their interests first instead of the interests of the whole organization.

The PNP has had a long and distinguished history. It is now 118 years old going back to Aug. 8, 1901 when Brig.

Gen. Henry T. Allen organized the Philippine Constabulary. Older still if we include the Guardia Civil during the Spanish colonial period. The ideal thing to happen is for every generation of Police leaders to make it their solemn duty to endeavour to leave the PNP in a better shape than when they found it, not worse. This means a more dedicated, competent and professional police organization that we can all be proud of.

Autonomous Region.

I also believe that Congress cannot amend the Constitution just by the BOL. The problem here is that in the absence of a temporary restraining order, the scheduled January 21 and February 6 plebiscite to ratify the BOL will proceed. Thus, any decision of the Supreme Court will come after the fact.

The question is: Would the High Court still rule on the unconstitutionality of the BOL after it has been ratified?

Can and will the Supreme Court override the plebiscite? *** Recent reports say that GMA 7 beat the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN in Metro Manila and rural areas per its Nielsen Audience Measurement survey against ABS-CBN’s Kantar.

I’ve always believed that the former is more credible, I commend Atty. Felipe Gozon for making GMA-7 the number one tv network. www.emiljurado.weebly.com

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

RJ on collision course with telcos, PCC The franchises of Smart and Globe allow them to perform any and every legal act that will be beneficial to their operations.

There is nothing in their franPRESIDENT Duterte’s adviser chises that compels them to do for information and communica- anything against their corporate tion technology and economic af- will. They may put up their own fairs Ramon P. Jacinto must have cell towers whenever and wherknown that his shared-cell-tow- ever they please; nothing in their ers proposal, when announced, franchises requires them to share would put him on a collision facilities with other entities, least course with the two existing tel- of all their competitors.

DICT can expect lawsuits from ecommunications companies— Globe and Smart—and maybe Smart Telecommunications Inc. newcomer Mislatel?—the moand Globe Telecoms—and the ment it makes a move to effectuPCC (Philippine Competition ate Mr. RJ’s proposal.

Commission).

Additionally, there is the high Mr. Jacinto—RJ to his legion likelihood of a collision with of music-loving admirers—is PCC. Competition is what PCC is proposing (1) that the telecomall about; the establishment and munication inmaintenance dustry playof competiers (telcos) tion is PCC’s be prohibited mission in from buildlife.

Words ing cell towHe will not survive like ‘limit’, ers, (2) that the competition. ‘ r e s t r i c t ’, the building ‘ban’, and of cell towers ‘ p r o h i b it’ be restricted are anathto two comema to PCC. panies seThe ones it falected by DICT vors are words like ‘open’, ‘fair’, (Department of Information and ‘free’ and ‘unlimited’.

Communication Technology), Verily, Mr. Jacinto is on a col(3) that the soon-to-be-three tellision course with PCC. As becos share the estimated 25,000 tween an agency that was created cell towers that the two selected specifically to deal with noncompanies would build and (4) competitiveness and an agency that the two companies enjoy a that lays down competition-reduopolistic status in the next four stricting agency that lays down years. competition-restricting regulaThat Presidential adviser tions, which is likely to be faJacinto is on a collision course vored by the courts?

The answer with Globe Telecoms and Smart Telecommunications is obvious is—to borrow one of Mr. RJ’s fafrom the foregoing citation of the vorite phrases—a no-brainer.

Yes, the Philippine telecommuterms of Mr. Jacinto’s proposal. nications industry needs a lot of These entities, which have been additional cell towers, and, yes, the mainstays of this country’s Smart and Globe should have telecom industry for decades and done much more in this regard have Congressional franchises, than they have.

But the thing for will be either restricted from doDICT to not do is to take legal ing things or forced to do things. and competition-related shortThat is the kind of language on cuts. which lawyers thrive: it is the Presidential adviser RJ has language of violation of rights— embarked on one big collision in this case, violation of contract course with the telcos and with rights. A franchise is a contract PCC. RJ will not survive the colbetween the government and a lision. citizen.

In the name...

From A4

Picardal’s action, Evardone said, was clearly inhuman.

And Evardone hit it right when he called on the Civil Service Commission to reverse Picardal’s order. And aside from filing a resolution calling for an investigation in aid of legislation regarding the Acting Governor’s action, Evardone also called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Office of the President to investigate Picardal and his “immoral act.”

Unlike in the Batocabe case, Picardal might not have ordered the killing of anyone. But transferring those employees to far-flung areas to the detriment of their health, meager income and their families, he surely is killing them slowly.

These politicians have ceased to be leaders of their constituents. They have betrayed the very essence of public service for power. And as such, they will stop at nothing in the name of their most coveted political post.

They should be stopped. They should not be allowed to stay in public office. Not a day longer.

PITX...

From A4

bus. Pinaghintay kami nang [isang] oras, walang dumating na bus. Ibinalik kami sa Baclaran. We were there [at PITX] 11 p.m. Nasa Baclaran kami past 12 midnight.”

These are just some of the stories that angry commuters have been sharing on social media. The PITX is well-conceived and, by the looks of it, wellconstructed, but it seems that few passenger vehicles are complying with LTFRB’s MC 2018-20.

Why the presence there of colorum vehicles instead of the legitimate passenger vehicle companies? Are the latter aware of the MC? If so, why are they avoiding PITX? Cavite and other points south are now the bedroom communities of the metro, because housing rental and purchase prices well beyond the reach of the majority of commuters who work in urban areas like Makati and Manila.

It’s difficult enough to put in a full day’s work without having to cope with a stressful commute.

A fix must be found for the PITX mess, and fast. Otherwise, it will continue being the white elephant it is today, a waste of resources and a monument to failed planning.

FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO

A6

News

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Nat’l Youth Commission: Some groups linked to commie rebels

T

HE National Youth Commission on Wednesday said some youth groups in the country had links to communist rebels and ordered 400,000 Sangguniang Kabataan officials to join the government’s fight against Leftist insurgency.

Ronald Cardema, NYC chairman, said these youth groups regularly criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration and the military yet had turn a blind eye on atrocities committed by communist rebels.

“Every week, you have the capacity to rally against our government troops but for the longest time Philippine society has not heard of your rallies against armed rebels of our country,” he told ANC, which was beamed nationwide.

The NYC is a government agency that specifically addresses issues surrounding the Filipino youth. It was founded on June 30, 1995, via Republic Act 8044 or the Youth in Nation-Building Act. It specifically addresses issues surrounding the Filipino youth and is the government’s sole policy-making body on youth affairs and also coordinates and implements some programs designed to help the youth be more aware of the issues surrounding them.

Its NYC mandate is enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution: “The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism and nationalism; and

encourage their involvement in public and civic affairs.”

On July 4, 2016, NYC was among the 12 agencies, formerly from the Office of the President reassigned to the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.

On Oct. 31, 2018, the Commission, through Executive Order No. 67, was transferred to the Department of the Interior and Local Government along with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos and the Philippine Commission on Women as part of the reorganization of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.

But, according to Raoul Manuel of Youth Act Now Against Tyranny, a group critical of the administration, a lot of youth groups like them had been advocating peace talks to resolve the roots of armed conflict.

DOH hands tied over marijuana THE Department of Health, and its regulatory and enforcement arm, the Food and Drug Administration, cannot go full-blast in studying the benefits of medical marijuana because it has yet to be considered a “registrable product” in the country, a health official said Wednesday.

Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo made this remark a day after House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vouched for the effectiveness of marijuana for medicinal purposes, admitting she herself had used it in a country where it was allowed to treat her spinal condition.

Domingo said the hands of both the DoH and FDA were tied because Congress had yet to pass a law enabling government agencies to conduct clinical studies on medical marijuana.

“We cannot go full-blast into studying the actual product [because] it’s not listed as a registrable product with FDA at this time. There is no law listing it as a registrable product,” Domingo said in a press briefing in Malacañang “The government cannot spend its own resources to conduct research on a product that is not registered in the Philippines,” he added.

Domingo, however, bared that other agencies, including the Dangerous Drugs Board, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care were already studying the benefits of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

He said that the DoH and FDA would have to wait for an enabling law before they could conduct their own clinical studies on medical marijuana.

“FDA will have to wait for an enabling law that will allow it to be a registrable product before we can actually consider pouring some resources into clinical researches for it,” he added.

Janitor returns thick envelope with $ bills

By Joel E. Zurbano A 30-YEAR-OLD building attendant proved the culture of honesty is present at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country´s premier gateway.

Jeffrey Almoguerra, an employee of Philcare Manpower Services, chanced upon an envelope containing huge amount of money.

He found the envelope while doing his job at the vicinity of a foreign exchange counter at the arrival lobby of NAIA Terminal 1.

Almoguerra immediately reported the matter to a security guard who accompanied him to the airport´s Lost and Found Section where he turned over the envelope.

Lost and Found section personnel inventoried and documented the money (US dollar bills) in the presence of Almoguerra and the security guard.

Officials of the Manila International Airport Authority-Media Affairs Division said as of noon Wednesday, Lost and Found authorities were waiting for the claimant who should be able to prove that he or she was the rightful owner because the envelope had no markings on it. ¨The amount is not being disclosed as it will be one confirmatory information to be asked by MIAA authorities to possible claimants. He or she should know the exact amount and that will be the basis in returning the money to the owner,¨ a MIAA-MAD staff said.

Almoguerra, a resident of Parañaque City, has been employed by Philcare Manpower Services for one year.

He is raising his two children out of his modest earnings as a janitor at the airport.

MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal commended Almoguera and ordered his men to include him in the roster of award recipients for the agency’s February flag raising ceremony.

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE? A substandard road, damaged by an overloaded truck along Amoranto Street in Quezon City last November, lies in piteous ruins, with children and other passers-by, including motorists complaining at the inaction of authorities—saying this can be very dangerous to commuters in the area. Manny Palmero

Military rescues Indonesian hostaged by Abu Sayyaf for 4 months AN INDONESIAN held captive by Abu Sayyaf bandits was rescued by government security forces on Tuesday in Sulu, the military said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom), identified the rescued hostage as Juragan Kapal Samsul Saguni who was held captive for four months.

The military said the victim was rescued through the efforts of former Sulu

Governor Abdul Sakur Tan and soldiers of the 41st Infantry Battalion, and the 5th Infantry Division and 11th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.

He was immediately brought to the residence of Tan in Poblacion, Maimbung, Sulu around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Soldiers from the Joint Task Force Sulu, for their part, facilitated the custodial debriefing of Saguni at the JTF Sulu headquarters in Barangay Bus-

bus, Jolo, Sulu.

The victim also underwent a medical check at Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Bautista Hospital in Barangay Bus-bus and his medical results showed he was physically healthy, according to Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo Jr. Saguni, however, will still be brought to the headquarters of the Western Mindanao Command for debriefing.

“Our Joint Task Force Sulu is com-

PCSO opens 67th branch in Agusan del Sur PHILIPPINE Charity Sweepstakes Office has opened its 67th branch in Agusan del Sur, General Manager Alexander Balutan said.

Agusan del Sur is a landlocked province in the Caraga region in Mindanao. Most, at 75 percent of the labor force, are engaged in agriculture and forestry.

In a data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing of the National Statistics Office, Agusan del Sur is considered as the most populous prov-

ince in Caraga region.

The population of Agusan del Sur in 2015 census was 7000,653 with a density of 70 inhabitants per square kilometer or 180 inhabitants per square mile.

Most common requests for medical assistance include common illnesses, hospitalization/confinement, dialysis and chemotherapy sessions.

Balutan revealed that the building was donated by the local government of Agusan del Sur through Gov. Adolf

Edward Plaza.

As per Command Operating Budget, the agency is planning to put up four more branches this year.

Priority include far-flung areas like Sarangani and Dinagat Islands. The agency is also planning to replace old and dilapidated buildings, and put up new ones.

Earlier, Balutan reported that the agency earned P63.55 billion in 2018, breaching the P60-billion target, but it will not aim higher than that.

KICK-OFF SEMINAR. George Barcelona (left) of Integrated Computer System Inc., and Assistant Secretary Allan Cabanlong of the Department of Information and Communication Technology during a news conference Wednesday after the Cyber Security Management System Kick-Off Seminar which tackled the issue on information technology. Manny Palmero

mitted in rescuing captives of the Abu Sayyaf and in ending the terrorist group’s kidnap and ransom ploys through the consistent conduct of counter operations against the militants and through the strengthened cooperation with the local government and the people of Sulu to encourage the capitulations of the rest of the Abu Sayyaf militants,” said Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Wesmincom commander.

12 minors rescued by PDEA agents

By Rio N. Araja OPERATIVES of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Wednesday rescued 12 minors, including a fouryear-old child, being used as “runners” and “drug den “maintainers” in an anti-illegal drug operation in a slum area in Navotas.

The children admitted using shabu, PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said.

Sixteen adults were arrested, he said.

Some 44 sachets of supposed shabu were confiscated.

“There are 16 adults who were arrested and 12 children were [also] in that area,” Aquino told a dzBB radio interview, aired nationwide.

“The minors were from four years old to 15 years old,” he said.

A suspected drug supplier known by an alias of “Negro” was nabbed during the raid.

He expressed alarm over the drug operation in the area, saying the children were being used as “runners” or couriers of the illegal drugs.

“We found out that these minors are the ones being used as pushers,” he said.

“What is cruel here is that these children were the ones maintaining the drug den[s],” he said.

At least three drug dens were discovered in the area.

Aquino said the children sold drugs within the Navotas fish port area.

Sports

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Sealteam Peenoise 2nd in Rules of Survival SEA SEALTEAM Peenoise won second place at the Rules of Survival SEA Survival Championship early January.

“From the Philippine tournament, it is our goal to represent the country in an international arena” John Kirk Magbanua, Team Captain of Sealteam Peenoise. “We trained and prepared hard for this, and we are proud of our achievement” Magbanua added.

Other teams which represented the PH include Savage Gaming, which ranked 4th with a final score of 1,555, Team Marshall (1,020 points) at 10th place, Comeback in 11th (915) and Evo Groundz at 12th spot (675).

The 15 squads, which competed,

are the best squads from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia with the aim of claiming supremacy.

“This kind of tournament hones local talents to be better,” said Henry Zhao, Nimo TV Overseas Executive. “We believe that by exposing them to this kind of tournament, we are helping them improve their talents and eventually be ready in competing globally.”

The Rules of Survival South East Asia Survival Championship was broadcast exclusively via Nimo TV. Download the Nimo TV app at Apple app store and Google Play store for more exciting and exclusive content.

Click link here. http://nimotv.onelink.

Sealteam Peenoise’s Squad Leader John Kirk Magbanua (right) and Jhoey Bhoy Buenaflor (left) during the tournament me/B6cW/25ba46b7

Warriors score record 51 st in 1 quarter, rip Nuggets LOS ANGELES—The reigning champion Golden State Warriors amassed an NBA record 51 first-quarter points Tuesday on the way to a 142-111 win over Denver in a duel for the Western Conference lead.

The Warriors moved half a game ahead of the Nuggets atop the West, seizing control with a blistering opening period that included 10 three-pointers—a franchise record for a first quarter.

They broke the previous league record for first-quarter points of 50, most recently achieved by the Phoenix Suns against Denver on November 10, 1990.

“That was a fireworks show,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, calling the first quarter display “beautiful, beautiful basketball.”

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson finished the night with 31 points apiece, Kevin Durant added 27.

Draymond Green scored just four points but delivered 13 of the Warriors’ 38 assists.

“I liked the way our guys moved the ball,” Kerr said. “A lot of shot fakes, playing with purpose, playing with a simple style of execution but aggressive at the same time.

“Finding that balance is always what we’re looking for and that was as good as it gets.”

Michael Beasley scored 22 points to lead five Nuggets players in double figures, but Denver simply couldn’t keep pace and the Warriors, who have struggled with injuries and inconsistency in the first half of the season, improved to 30-14 -- half a game ahead of the 29-14 Nuggets.

“I figured our guys would be excited to play,” said Kerr, noting that the Warriors were beaten on their last trip to Denver. “They came in focused and aggressive.”

- 76ers rout Timberwolves The Warriors’ statement win was just one of the lopsided results of the day.

Philadelphia forward Jimmy Butler’s first game against his former team was no contest as the 76ers destroyed the Minnesota Timberwolves 149-107.

Sixers center Joel Embiid scored 31 points and pulled down 13 rebounds and guard Ben Simmons fell just shy of a tripledouble with 20 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in an NBA clash that Philadelphia controlled from start to finish. AFP Steph Curry

Federer, Wozniacki stay on track; Anderson out M ELBOURNE—Roger Federer ground out a tough three-set win to make the Australian Open third round for an incredible 20th straight year Thursday and stay on track for a seventh title, with defending champion Caroline Wozniacki also safely through.

But it was curtains for South African fifth seed Kevin Anderson, who slumped out to young American Frances Tiafoe.

On an overcast day at Melbourne Park, former US Open champion and fifth seeded Sloane Stephens joined the big guns in progressing, but the women’s side also saw a top 10 player crash.

Ninth seed Kiki Bertens, who raced through the rankings last year after winning three titles, was whipped in three sets

by Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Federer might be 37 but he’s not showing his age, with British qualifier Dan Evans the latest to fall under his spell as he works

towards a third successive Australian crown and 21st major victory.

He defeated Evans at Wimbledon last year with the loss of just eight games, but it was a much harder assignment this time, winning 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.

“I think if I could have pulled away earlier in the match it might have been easier,” said the third seed. “I think he played very well, it was hard to pull away to his credit.”

The Swiss star’s Australian achievements so far put him on a par with other six-time winners Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson -- although the Australian great’s

victories all came before the Open era.

He next plays either France’s Gael Monfils or American Taylor Fritz.

If he goes on to win the tournament, he will become the first man ever to claim seven or more titles at two Grand Slams, having already won eight Wimbledons.

His long-time rival and 17-time Slam winner Rafael Nadal takes on local hope Matthew Ebden in a night match.

The Spaniard is bidding for his own slice of history by becoming the first man in the Open era, and only the third in history along with Emerson and Rod Laver, to win each Grand Slam on two or more occasions.

Anderson, beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final last year, was sent packing by Tiafoe 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

The fifth seed struggled with an elbow injury early in the clash and couldn’t cope with the 20-year-old power and finesse.

Baby Tams rout Jr. Archers, climb to 2nd spot FilOil Flying Sports Center in San Juan.

Renz Alforque added 17 points for the Baby Tams, who climbed to second place Games Sunday in the teams standings of the 81st University (Arena in San Juan) Athletic Association of the Philippines junior 9 a.m. UE vs La Salle Zobel basketball tournament.

11 a.m. UPIS vs UST This moved the Baby Tamaraws within 1 p.m. NU vs Adamson coach Allan Albano’s expectations, which 3 p.m. FEU vs Ateneo was to move up in the rankings. Now, they RJ Abarrientos fired 23 points for the Far are no. 2 in the leaderboard.

“In-expect ko kaming mag-1 o 2, and the Eastern University-Diliman Baby Tamaraws as they upended the La Salle Zobel Junior way na magtrabaho sila sa practice, I think Archers, 95-68, yesterday at the Arena at the hindi imposible ‘yun,” said Albano.

By Peter Atencio

The Baby Tams, who are now behind the solo-leading Nazareth School-National University Bullpups, took command in the third period.

After taking a 20-17 lead at the end of the first period, the Tams leaned on the leadership of Alforque, assisted Miguel Ona for a basket following a steal, touching off a 10-2 blast.

When it was over, the Baby Tams were in front by 15, 38-23, as Abarrientos and Alforque took turns in providing key baskets for FEU.

Patrombon, Arcilla head Actifit Open

Perpetual, JRU shoot for last a seat in Final Four

DAVIS Cuppers Jeson Patrombon and Johnny Arcilla set out as the top picks while Aileen Rogan and Clarice Patrimonio banner the women’s singles cast in the PPS-PEPP Actifit Open Tennis Championships unfolding Jan. 21 at the Actifit Sports Center in Valenzuela City.

A huge field is vying for top honors in the P300,000 event which drew some of the country’s leading players and rising stars, including Fritz Verdad, Mark Alcoseba, Noel Damian, Deo Talatayod, Rolando Ruel Jr. and Rodolfo Barquin.

Rachel Velez, Miles Vitaliano, Alexie Santos, Mikaela Vicencio, Patricia Lim and Nica Alanis, on the other hand, join the title hunt in the women’s side of the top-level event put up by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro and presented by Dunlop.

Meanwhile, 21 players, led by Athan Arejola and Rafael Liangco, dispute the last four berths in the men’s main draw in the qualifying round today (Thursday) while 13 bidders, headed by Alexa Milliam and Dana Uy, fight it out for the last two seats in the women’s draw of the event co-organized by John Mari Altiche and sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg. Spicing up the event is the Legends men’s doubles featuring the 40s, 50s and 60s age divisions set this weekend. For details, call PPS-PEPP Sports Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

UNIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta and Jose Rizal University gun for the last Final Four berth as the two collide today in the women’s division of the 94th NCAA volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Although the Lady Altas are placed higher at No. 4 with a 5-3 (win-loss) mark compared to the Lady Bombers, who are at No. 5 with a 4-4 card, the former would have to win their 12-noon duel to advance since a win for the latter would force a tie at fourth and eventually send it straight to the Final Four owing to a superior tiebreak.

The winner will then battle it out with College of St. Benilde, which ended up tied with defending champion Arellano University and last year’s runner-up San Beda at the helm with identical 8-1 slates but took the top seeding after emerging with the highest quotient score.

The Lady Chiefs wound up as the No. 2 seeds and the Lady Red Spikers the No. 3, which meant the former will boast of a twice-to-beat advantage when the two tackle each other in the Final Four.

Meanwhile, the Altas and the Junior Altas try to complete a nine-game elimination-round sweep and leapfrog straight to the finals as they battle the Bombers and the Light Bombers at 10 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., respectively.

Unscathed in its first eight outings, Perpetual Help is looking for a 12th men’s crown and 11th high school title in this tournament organized by a group chaired

by Paul Supan of JRU, which is incidentally celebrating its Centennial Anniversary this year.

Meanwhile, Lyceum of the Philippines University and Letran battle it out in a non-bearing game at 2 p.m. in the only other women’s schedule of the day.

WSC 2019 at the Big Dome will showcase the best breeds and bloodlines in the 9-cock invitational derby

Best breeders battle in World Slasher Cup at Big Dome A NEW breed of fighters is expected to go up against the vets and former champs as the World Slasher Cup 2019 unfolds this month.

The much-awaited international derby kicks off on Jan. 28 at the historic Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The long bout, which will have its Grand Finals on Feb. 6, will be the stuff cockfighting legends are made of.

With hundreds of entries already registered, the toughest breeders are just about prepared for their toughest battle yet. Even last year’s WSC 1 champ, Patrick “Idol” Antonio – who bagged his 7th solo WSC win in 2018 – isn’t known to take any chances. He will most likely pit his customary Boston Sweaters from Inguel Ignacio against opponents to hopefully score an 8th WSC title.

Other veterans like Doc Ayong Lorenzo will rely on his trusted Dan Gray crossed with Claret, and his Sweater Yellow-Legged Hatch to get him to the derby finals. PitGames CEO Manny Berbano, meanwhile, will depend on 5k Sweaters crossed with Yellow-Legged Hatch of Din-

kFair, and Mel Sims black Kelso Greys of Bobby Fairchild to vie for the win.

Recent champs are also not to be discounted. Frank Berin media man Rey Briones, the Escolin brothers, and Magno Lim and Gerry Tesorero may look to reclaim their glory.

Foreign participants raring to take the cup away from the crop of local champs that have come to dominate the WSC in recent years. Expected to participate this year are Marty Bently of Ohio; Erik Rosales, Robert Dominquez, Bruce Brown of California; Butch Cambra of Hawaii; Nathan Jumper of Mississippi; Tim Fitzgerald of Utah; Bobby Fairchild of Kentucky; Black Bonanza Brent Douglass and Ernest Atkins of Tennessee.

Those who are interested to join this year’s derby may still register their entries for this gruelling nine-cock invitational derby by calling the WSC Derby Office at 588-8227 or 911-2928; or via the registration page on the website www.worldslashercup.ph.

The first three days of 2-cock Eliminations are from January 28-30. The

3-cock semis begin on January 31 to February 2; and the 4-cock Pre-Finals will be on February 3-4, with the 4-cock Grand Finals on February 6. The number of entries will determine if there will be a one-day break before the Grand Finals.

Known to its numerous followers as the Olympics of Sabong, the World Slasher Cup is a smackdown of only the best breeds and bloodlines of winged warriors meticulously cared for in fowl farms here and abroad. The upcoming derby is also a chance for hundreds of hopefuls to outlast and outshine last year’s WSC 2 solo champ, Greengold Uno, owned by sabong enthusiast and newspaper executive Rey Briones and his farm manager Rod Advincula, whose father also has a long history with WSC. For more info and updates, WSC enthusiasts may follow us on our new Facebook page (@ realworldslashercup); visit the website www.worldslashercup.ph ; or email worldslashercupofficial@gmail.com and be part of our emailing list.

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

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Sports

Manny Pacquiao spars with trainer Freddie Roach during Manny Pacquiao versus Adrien Broner Media Day at Wild Card Boxing Club on in Hollywood, California. AFP

Explosive Bolick powers NorthPort N

By Jeric Lopez

O. 3 overall pick Robert Bolick put the league on notice right away.

Led by Bolick, NorthPort erected explosive runs in key junctures to manhandle Blackwater, 117-91, and start on a high note in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

In just his first game, highly touted combo guard already made a good account of himself, leading the Batang Pier charge with a game-high 26 points

on an astounding 83-percent (10-of12) shooting from the field, with no misses inside the arc (7-of-7), to go with three rebounds and three assists in a rousing debut.

“Talagang nag-complement si Bolick sa team eh,” said NorthPort coach Pido Jarencio of his prized ward. “We’re getting rebounds, we’re running and we’re executing. We were really ready.”

The San Beda product scored 10 markers right away in his first quarter as a pro to show that he has arrived.

Aside from Bolick, several NorthPort cagers were likely in the zone with Paolo Taha finishing with 21 points, Sean Anthony scoring 19 and Stanley Pringle getting 16.

The Batang Pier came out on fire,

Scribes to honor PBA board THE entire PBA Board, led by chairman Victorico ‘Ricky’ Vargas, gets its due recognition on the silver anniversary celebration of the PBA Press Corps Annual Awards Night on Jan. 21 at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center.

Vargas and the rest of the board will be the recipient of the special President’s Award from the group of sportswriters covering the PBA beat for getting its act together to uphold the spirit of harmony within the league.

Setting aside its differences to work for the common good, the board’s move paved the way for the league to successfully hold its 43rd season.

Aside from Vargas (TnT Katropa), the rest of the board were composed of Vice-Chairman Richard Bachmann (Alaska), Treasurer Atty.

Raymond Zorilla (Phoenix), Robert Non (San Miguel), Rene Pardo (Magnolia), Rod Franco (NLEX), Al Panlilio (Meralco), Atty. Mamerto Mondragon (Rain or Shine), Bobby Rosales (Columbian Dyip), Siliman Sy (Blackwater), Alfrancis Chua (Barangay Ginebra), and Eric Arejola (NorthPort).

Vargas, who is also the current president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, will serve as guest speaker during the special rite presented by Cignal TV. The Board will be joined by other

Ricky Vargas

major awardees who are going to be honored in the annual affair now celebrating its 25th year.

Alaska’s Vic Manuel is the recipient of Mr. Quality Minutes, Poy Erram of NLEX is the Defensive Player of the Year, with Chris Tiu getting the nod as Breakout Player of the Season.

The Game of the Season goes to the triple overtime match between Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine, while NorthPort’s Stanley Pringle will be crowned the year’s scoring champion.

Jason Perkins of Phoenix leads the All-Rookie team he shares with Jeron Teng (Alaska), Paul Zamar (San Miguel Beer), Christian Standhardinger (San Miguel Beer), and Robbie Herndon (Magnolia), the year’s All-Interview Team is composed of coach Yeng Guiao (NLEX), Chris Ross (San Miguel), Joe Devance (Barangay Ginebra), Mike Digregorio (Blackwater), Standhardinger, and Tiu, while June Mar Fajardo (San Miguel), Paul Lee (Magnolia), and Manuel are the recipients of the Order of Merit honor.

In observance of its 25th year, the PBAPC will be giving out its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award apart from the Danny Floro Executive of the Year, and the centerpiece Virgilio ‘Baby’ Dalupan Coach of the Year Award.

zooming to a 13-3 advantage right away just two minutes into the game, thanks to Bolick’s fiery start.

The Elite roared back by zipping the first two quarters strongly, taking a double-digit lead, 38-26, early in the second frame.

However, NorthPort was unfazed as it countered with a key attack as well, ending the first half on a 29-10 spurt to regain the lead, 55-48, at the half.

The Batang Pier then turned the game of spurts into a lopsided affair in the second half by fully taking charge.

By the end of the third, NorthPort already carried an 88-75 edge.

Few minutes later, the game was out of reach as the Batang Pier was already ahead by 24, 100-76, after a Bolick tri-

ple with 8:06 remaining.

Blackwater wasn’t able to find any rhythm in the second half, allowing NorthPort to run them out of the building.

NorthPort tied Barangay Ginebra at the top with their quick 1-0 starts.

Another rookie shone as Abu Tratter led Blackwater with his team-high 18 points in an impressive debut as well.

The scores: NorthPort 117 - Bolick 26, Taha 21, Anthony 19, Pringle 16, Guinto 12, Tautuaa 11, Elorde 5, Flores 4, Arana 3, Gabayni 0, Sollano 0.

Blackwater 91 - Tratter 18, Sumang 16, Maliksi 13, Javier 11, Belo 8, Digregorio 5, Jose 5, Desiderio 5, Alolino 4, Sena 2, Banal 2, Eriobu 2, Palma 0, Dario 0.

Pacman favored but Broner brags: He’s been to sleep before DUBAI—Adrien “The Problem” Broner is hungry for a knockout.

The 29-year-old former four-division world champion, who was once seen as heir apparent to boxing great Floyd Mayweather, needs to flash his old form that took him to a blistering 27-0 record with 22 knockout wins.

But humiliating losses to Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia derailed his quest for greatness.

Now with a record of 38 fights -- 33 wins, 24 by KO, 3 losses, 1 draw and 1 no contest -- Broner’s last fight in 2018 ended in a draw against Jessie Vargas who earlier lost via unanimous decision in 2016 to the man Broner wants to knock out – legendary Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.

Never at a loss for words though, Broner was quoted by World Boxing News as saying, “We’re boxers. We’re not afraid of nobody. We bleed the same, we walk the same, we put our pants on one at a time. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

I’m trying to knock this guy out. I might laugh, I might play around but I’m trying to get him out of here. He’s been to sleep before. I haven’t.”

Broner will get his chance when he faces Pacquiao on Jan. 20 (Saturday, Jan. 19 in North America), for the WBA World Welterweight Championship at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas Nevada. Viewers in the US can purchase the pay-per-view action on Showtime with PPV starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. ABS-CBN Europe, Middle East and North Africa Managing Director Arnie Garcia is proud to announce that ABSCBN’s flagship international channel – TFC (The Filipino Channel) – got the exclusive rights together with Showtime to carry live via PPV the Pacquiao-Broner fight in the Middle East.

“We at ABS-CBN EMEA are very pleased to share with all boxing fans that we are carrying exclusively the Pacquiao-Broner title fight on TFC Online or tfc.tv and TFC on OSN Satellite in the entire Middle East, on TFC on eLife and E-Vision on cable in UAE, on TFC on Ooredoo and Mozaic TV cable in Qatar, and at Reel Cinemas in UAE. We are committed to bringing the best of the Filipino in sports entertainment to our viewers in the region,” said Garcia.

In 2015, TFC was the exclusive distributor of the Mayweather-Pacquiao welterweight world championship unification fight on all the media platforms in the Middle East.

Course record 66 gives Swede Pradera lead LUBAO, Pampanga—Andreas Gronkvist put on a kind of finish that wins big-time championships but the Swede had to settle for the first round honors with a six-under 66 and a one-stroke over Thai Piya Swangarunporn in the $100,000 ICTSI Pradera Verde Classic here yesterday.

A birdie-eagle windup in windy condition checked a rollercoaster backside and netted a course record for the 27-year-old Gronkvist, who was just as surprised as the rest of the field to emerge the leader following a number of missed cut stints in the second season of the Philippine Golf Tour Asia.

“Great game. I managed the wind very well with my driver and irons,” said Gronkvist, who failed to advance at Riviera, Forest Hills and Summit Points stops of the region’s newest circuit put up by ICTSI while ending up tied for 27th at the CAT Open and 49th at Southwoods.

He also missed the cut by one in the recent Qualifying School Final Stage in Thailand.

But he turned in a solid start of 33 at the flat but challenging layout then came out of a pair of bogey-birdie stints on Nos. 11 and 15 with a birdie on the 17th before closing out with an eagle off a superb rescue shot from 235 yards that sailed over the water hazard guarding the green then drilled in a bending downhill putt from pin-length high.

Andreas Gronkvist hopes to build on a strong start for a PGTA breakthrough

Despite Gronkvist’s stirring start, a slew of players stayed within striking distance with Swangarunporn bouncing back from a bogey mishap on No. 3 with four straight birdies from No. 5 then eagled the par-5 12th to seize solo second with a 67 to take the cudgels for a Thai side seeking its first PGTA championship.

Jhonnel Ababa, who ruled the inaugural Pradera Classic last year via a twoshot win over Andrew Campbell, who set the previous mark of 67 in the final

round, also banked on a fiery finish to get into the early mix, birdying three of the last seven holes for a 68 for joint third with Clayton Bridges of Australia while American Sam Gillis stood at solo fifth with a 69 on three birdies in the first four holes at the back.

“I struggled early on wrong clubbing but settled down at back and birdied Nos. 12, 14 and 16,” said Ababa, the winningest player on the circuit with three victories, including romps at Eagle Ridge and Forest Hills.

PSC now involved in preparations of Palarong Pambansa

By Peter Atencio STARTING this year, the Philippine Sports Commission will be involved in the preparations of the Palarong Pambansa.

The government sports agency has been tasked to help the Department of Education in the management, officiating and other technical matters that are part of the operations of the annual school sports meet for the elementary and secondary level.

Technical officials will replace school teachers in handling the many events of the Palaro when it gets going from April 28 to May 4 in Davao City.

“Sa officiating at sa management. So hindi lang sa DepEd (Department of

Education) ito. Kasama na kami sa Palarong Pambansa, sa preparation,” said PSC Chairman William Ramirez.

The move to let the PSC get more involved in the running of the games of the Palarong Pambansa was forged last November following a meeting with DepEd assistant secretary Revsee Escobedo, who replaced Tonisito Umali as its General Secretary.

Ramirez said the face of the country’s grassroots development program will change because of this development.

So far, construction of an P8-billion Davao City-University of the Philippines Sports Complex is now 80% complete, now being readied for the Palarong Pam-

bansa.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio made this possible after she signed last Jan. 10 the memorandum of agreement between the city government and UP, through its president, Danilo L. Concepcion.

The Davao-UP Sports Complex is located in a 20-hectare area of the UP Mindanao complex in Mintal.

Ramirez explained that with the partnership with the DepEd, they have synchronized the staging of the Batang Pinoy to be held right before the Palarong Pambansa in the coming years.

Under the new program of the PSC, outstanding athletes of the Palarong Pambansa will undergo training camps in the future.

IN BRIEF DOTr supports bill to allow bike for hire THE Department of Transportation is supporting a bill filed before the House of Representatives to amend certain provisions of Republic Act 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, to legally allow motorcycles for hire.

The DOTr said this would be the right step so that motorcycles could function as a public transport service. The Supreme Court earlier issued a temporary restraining order against motorcycle ridehailing firm Angkas.

Some groups believe that motorcycles should immediately be considered as a mode of public transport, even if the amendments for the Land Transportation and Traffic Code have not yet been passed.

The DOTr said converting motorcycles to a public transport service required a thorough study, deliberation and assessment.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade ordered in December 2018 the creation of a technical working group to come up with a report on the proposed amendments. TWG discussions will begin on Jan. 18. Darwin G. Amojelar

Tanduay spending P500m for expansion BACOLOD CITY―Tanduay Distillers Inc., the liquor unit of beer and tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan, plans to spend P500 million as it aims to expand sales by 5 percent this year.

Tanduay chief finance officer Nestor Mendones said in an interview the group aimed to increase sales volume from 20 million cases sold in 2018.

The company is aiming to expand its already dominant leadership in the rum category in the Visayas and Mindanao and take a bigger market in Luzon.

Tanduay has a 70-percent share of the liquor market in the Visayas and Mindanao. The company is aiming to increase this to 80 percent. Its market share is only 2 percent in Luzon.

“We aim to double our market share in Luzon by 2020,” Mendones said.

This will be done through aggressive marketing, promotion and distribution of products, the company said. Tanduay is also looking to launch more premium brands in line with the increasing spending capacity of Filipinos.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Business Mitsubishi sells P11.7b worth of shares in Ayala M

By Jenniffer B. Austria

itsubishi Corp. sold P11.7 billion ($225 million) worth of shares in conglomerate Ayala Corp. as part of the Japanese group’s portfolio management and rebalancing of assets.

Mitsubishi unloaded 13 million common shares of Ayala at P900 apiece, a 7.3-percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price of P970.50.

The transaction, conducted through a series of block sales at the Philippine Stock Exchange, triggered a selldown

of Ayala shares.

Share price of Ayala Corp. closed at P919 on Wednesday, down 5.3 percent from the previous day’s finish.

This marked the second time Mitsubishi trimmed its shares in Ayala Corp.

Mitsubishi also unloaded 8.5 million Ayala shares equivalent to a 1.36-percent stake in the conglomerate for nearly P8 billion in March 2018.

Ayala Corp., which has interests in banking, real estate, telecoms, power generation, water utility, infrastructure and education, has been on expansion mode.

Ayala Corp.’s nine-month net income rose 3 percent to P23.9 billion, supported by strong earnings growth of its real estate, telecommunications and power businesses.

The growth was tempered by the par-

ent company’s higher interest expense resulting from increased borrowings to support Ayala’s capital expenditures and investments.

Equity earnings reached P29.3 billion, up 9 percent from a year ago. This was underpinned by robust contributions from Ayala Land Inc. and Globe Telecoms Inc., which expanded 17 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

The earnings were also boosted by AC Energy, whose contribution surged 40 percent in the first nine months of 2018.

The conglomerate’s balance sheet remained healthy with enough capacity to undertake investments and cover dividend and debt obligations.

Cash level at the parent level stood at at P16.7 billion while net debt reached P94.6 billion as of end-September 2018.

PNOC eyes stake in Tanglawan project STATE-RUN Philippine National Oil Co. plans to take a stake in the $2-billion integrated liquefied natural gas terminal and power plant of Tanglawan Philippine LNG Inc., a government official said.

Energy Secretary and PNOC chairman Alfonso Cusi said PNOC and Tanglawan had “agreed in principle” for the government to take a stake in the planned LNG facility. PNOC is the government’s oil and gas arm.

Tanglawan recently secured a notice from the Energy Department to proceed with the construction of the LNG project in Batangas.Under the plan, the regasification terminal would cost $686 million while an LNG power plant would require an investment of $1.3 billion.

Tanglawan plans to break ground this year for the LNG regasification and receiving terminal with a capacity of 2.2 metric tons per annum. Commercial operations are expected to start by 2023.

Tanglawan is a joint venture between Phoenix Petroleum Philippines of businessman Dennis Uy and CNOOC Gas and Power Group Co. Ltd. Alena Mae S. Flores

Spain offers 300-m euro loan to finance infra projects in PH THE Spanish government is offering a 300-million-euro loan to support Philippine government projects in infrastructure, agro-food and tourism, the Department of Finance said.

Spanish Ambassador-designate Jorge Moragas informed Dominguez during a recent meeting about the proposed memorandum of understanding on mechanisms involving the 300-millioneuro facility and another agreement on economic and financial cooperation between Manila and Madrid.

Moragas also expressed Spain’s interest in investing in President Rodrigo Duterte’s centerpiece ‘Build, Build, Build’ program, especially in railway projects.

Dominguez said Spain and its companies were most welcome to take part in the 75 flagship projects under ‘Build, Build, Build’ particularly in providing rolling stock and other equipment for the rail projects in Metro Manila and Luzon.

Dominguez thanked Spain for pledging in November 2018 an additional $50 million (P2.619 billion) support for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the damaged city of Marawi in Mindanao.

Spain’s pledge is on top of the technical assistance it provided to government agencies in preparation for the implementation of projects under the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program.

The proposed MOU on economic and financial cooperation between the Philippines and Spain aims to further enhance the bilateral relations between the two countries through the creation of a joint intergovernmental committee that will identify opportunities for cooperation in such fields as agriculture, transportation, basic infrastructure, disaster-risk finance, energy and environmental economics. Julito G. Rada

NATIONAL RESILIENCE. The government and the private sector sign partnership agreements that aim to build a resilient Philippines through science and technology during the quarterly National Resilience Council board meeting held recently at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. The NRC board meeting formalized partnership agreements between NRC, the Bataan Peninsula State University and AirSpeed International. At the board meeting are (seated from left) NRC co-chair Hans Sy, Bataan Peninsula State University president Dr. Gregorio Rodis, NRC co-convenor Ambassador Roberto Romulo and NRC co-chair and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. With them are other NRC officials.

DICT to sign deals with 3 foreign firms for telco towers

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Department of Information and Communications Technology said it is set to sign this week separate agreements with three foreign companies to build cellular towers nationwide.

The DICT said it would sign agreements with Nigeria’s IHS Towers, Malaysia’s Edotco Towers and China Energy to build common towers in the country.

Malaysia’s Edotco Group specializes in end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector, including co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission and operations and maintenance. It operates more than 29,000 towers in Ban-

gladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan.

IHS Towers, meanwhile, provides site build services for mobile network operators in Nigeria.

The DICT earlier said that there would be no limitation in the ownership structure of tower companies, with foreigners allowed to own up to 100 percent of these companies.

ISOC Infrastructure Inc., the first to sign an agreement with DICT in December, plans to build 25,000 towers nationwide in seven years for P100 billion.

The agreement will pave the way for the DICT to support a common tower company in facilitating per-

mits and right of way and provide other government support for infrastructure.

The department said it was looking to grant subsidies to common tower companies to build cellular towers in underserved and unserved areas.

The agency said the maximum rollout of one tower company would be 25,000 for a seven-year period.

Each tower company is projected to invest $2 billion.

It said the Philippines would need at least 50,000 cellular towers to have the proper coverage and provide adequate service to the Filipino consumers.

The Philippines has around 16,000 towers, covering 8,000 locations at present.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

B1

Fitch joins Moody’s in warning over Hanjin’s debt

By Julito G. Rada THE filing for corporate rehabilitation

by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Philippines highlights the risks to Philippine banks’ asset quality from concentrated loan portfolios, Fitch Ratings said Wednesday.

“Local banks’ loans to HHIC-Phil are equivalent to only around 0.2 percent of system loans, but some banks have more significant exposure, which could put pressure on their ratings,” Fitch said.

Fitch said some mid-sized banks in the Philippines showed higher growth appetite than the large banks in recent years, driven by their ambitions of gaining market share.

It said the aggressive growth increased the potential for banks to take on greater exposure to more vulnerable companies, which is a risk that the credit watchdog incorporates in its Philippine bank ratings.

“However, further large impairments could lead us to reassess banks’ risk standards and controls, which could be negative for the ratings,” Fitch said.

Fitch said larger banks also exhibited appetite for growth, but their larger capital bases, higher profitability and better access to capital and funding put them in a stronger position to withstand potential problems with large exposures.

Moody’s Investors Service earlier said the exposures of BDO Unibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. to shipbuilder Hanjin were “credit negative” because it would reduce their profits.

“The exposures are credit negative for the five Philippine banks because they will need to incur additional credit charges related to HHIC-Phil, which will reduce their profit,” Moody’s said.

The banks said in separate disclosures to the stock exchange Tuesday they would not be significantly affected by exposures to Hanjin.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also said in a statement the domestic banking system remained strong and stable.

“With its robust capitalization and sufficient liquidity buffer, the Philippine banking system is therefore well-positioned to manage about $400 million in loan exposure to Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines,” the Bangko Sentral said Wednesday.

It said the loan exposure represented only 0.24 percent of total loans of the banking system and 2.49 percent of the foreign currency loans of foreign currency deposit units.

“Moreover, based on the results of the BSP’s stress-testing exercise, an assumed write-off of the loan exposures to Hanjin will have minimal impact on the industry’s CAR [capital adequacy ratio],” the BSP said.

The Bangko Sentral said Philippine banks implemented strategic reforms over the past 20 years that resulted in higher capitalization and stronger risk management systems to manage potential threats, it said. Total assets of the banking system expanded 11 percent in 2018, the bulk of which were largely channeled to production loans.

Govt ready to take over Panay Electric Co.

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Department of Energy is looking at various options, including the government takeover of Panay Electric Co., to ensure uninterrupted power service in Iloilo City as the franchise of the existing distributor is set to expire on Jan. 19.

“One contingency measure is government takeover in case there will be problem. The DOE and ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission] are discussing other options which we can’t make public yet.

We want to assure the public that we will not allow service disruption,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, head of the Senate committee on energy, said his committee would coordinate with the DoE as the franchise of Panay Electric Co. would expire on Jan. 19. The House and the Senate already approved the franchise of More Electric Power Corp. of businessman Enrique Razon Jr. “We will write DoE to request for contingency measures just in case. The DoE has articulated that they have the power to

take over for the meantime because Peco technically can’t operate anymore. But it was not spelled out how. We are talking about 60,000 connections, so how will DoE do it?” Gatchalian said.

Cusi earlier said the government might take over the power distribution in Iloilo City if the Peco-More issue was not resolved.

Mario Marasigan, director of the DoE Power Bureau, said the Senate version of the More franchise set a two-year transition period “that will ensure continuous distribution services within Iloilo City.”

More cited Peco’s alleged inefficiencies which prompted it to apply for a franchise to distribute power in Iloilo City.

The company said Iloilo City residents had suffered from Peco’s “poor services, overcharging of power bills with some reaching more than 1,000 percent, accumulated billings due to erroneous meter readings, technical failures, poor customer service, high electricity rates, constant power interruptions and unexplained charges” for decades.

SECURITY BANK’S AWARD. Security Bank Corp. is awarded the country’s Bank of the Year 2018 by The Banker for its strong performance and innovation in products and services. This is SBC’s fourth time to receive the prestigious award known as the “Oscars of the banking industry.” SBC president and chief executive Alfonso Salcedo Jr. receives the award in London.

B2

Business

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market tumbles; Ayala declines T HE stock market slumped Wednesday on another bout of profit taking, with Ayala Corp. leading the losers after Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. trimmed its stake in the local conglomerate at a discount.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index tumbled 148.72 points, or 1.9 percent, to 7,864.70 on a value turnover of P20.1 billion. Losers overwhelmed gainers, 127 to 64, with 50 issues unchanged.

Ayala Corp. fell 5.3 percent to P919 after Mitsubishi unloaded 13 million common shares of Ayala at P900 each, a 7.3 percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price of P970.50 apiece.

Mitsubishi Corp. raised P11.7 billion ($225 million) from the sale of its stake in Ayala as part of the group’s portfolio management and rebalancing of assets.

The transaction, conducted through a series of block sales in the local exchange, triggered a selldown in shares of Ayala.

Ayala property unit Ayala Land Inc. lost 4.2 percent to P43.10.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. dropped 6.9 percent to P37, while International Container Terminal Services Inc., the biggest port operator, declined 2.4 percent to P104.80.

The pound, meanwhile, edged down Wednesday after the record defeat of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan but mostly held its ground as investors consider the next likely developments in the long-running saga.

Asian equity markets mostly rose after Tuesday’s rally that was fueled by Chinese plans to cut taxes in a bid to

and analysts say the positive news is that the options for the future are narrowing.

With May expected to win a vote of no confidence called by the opposition Labour Party on Wednesday, talk will move to what happens next.

Analysts say May could ask to delay Britain’s March 29 exit from the bloc as she looks for a more palatable agreement from her EU peers, while there is growing speculation of a general election and even another referendum.

“Momentum is shifting away from the harder Brexit route and towards a number of options ranging from postponement and second referendum. That is pound supportive,” said Gavin Friend at National Australia Bank.

But he added: “I don’t see the pound rallying much until markets are sure the (ruling) Conservatives have seen off the confidence motion.”

Meanwhile, London may still leave the bloc without a backup. With AFP

support the stuttering economy.

However, traders are growing increasingly worried about the lack of movement in the US over the government shutdown, which is now in its fourth week, with both sides digging their heels in.

Tokyo ended off 0.6 percent, but Hong Kong rose 0.2 percent to build on Tuesday’s two percent rally while Shanghai was flat.

Sydney and Seoul each rose 0.4 percent, while Singapore added 0.3 percent and Wellington put on 0.7 percent with Mumbai 0.2 percent higher.

The sterling tanked to a near two-year low soon after the government’s proposal on leaving the European Union was soundly beaten Tuesday evening, but it soon bounced back as traders bet there would not be a “no-deal” exit.

And while it was slightly lower in Asia, the pound managed to avoid the sort of pummeling many had predicted,

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2019

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

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

59.5 93.4 2.3 130.9 1.48 28.15 7.58 16.2 12.44 4.92 1.47 0.49 80.1 1.01 12.32 45.5 179.8 59.05 27.35 179.5 1,800 65

59.5 94.5 2.34 131.5 1.48 28.15 7.58 16.2 12.46 5.02 1.5 0.49 81 1.05 12.4 45.5 180 59.3 27.4 182.1 1,800 65

59.5 92 2.3 129.5 1.45 26.95 7.58 16 12.3 4.8 1.42 0.485 79.8 1.01 12.32 43.9 179.8 59.05 26.7 174.1 1,800 64.55

FINANCIALS 59.5 7,500 94.5 2,178,850 2.34 145,000 129.5 1,083,280 1.45 44,000 27.85 237,900 7.58 200 16.2 800 12.3 390,900 4.9 381,000 1.42 32,000 0.485 40,000 81 2,048,160 1.05 2,767,000 12.34 9,200 44.95 160,200 180 1,070 59.3 11,830 26.7 235,100 179.8 404,160 1,800 35 64.55 20,380

446,250 203,894,962.50 337,340 141,374,009 63,980 6,532,215 1,516 12,940 4,825,156 1,876,970 46,500 19,500 164,523,423.50 2,871,000 113,852 7,145,245 192,532 700,547.50 6,337,190 72,068,245 63,000 1,319,282

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

36.95 16.5 1.17 1.39 0.25 2.08 15.9 132.5 30.95 16.5 41 1.78 6.65 6.64 11.8 15.3 8.19 7.3 20.5 73.5 26 2.21 6.06 12.76 1.86 315.2 4.34 3.14 10.2 27.2 11.26 18.12 396 0.178 5.7 1.48 3.76 7.79 6.14 9.05 1.35 11 47.85 5.81 4.65 1.83 2.8 1.52 12.82 84.5 6.38 0.128 0.89 141.8 2.45 2.16 1.61

36.95 16.64 1.19 1.4 0.255 2.15 15.9 132.9 31.3 17 41 1.79 6.69 6.68 11.9 15.3 8.24 7.52 20.65 73.5 26 2.21 6.06 13.1 1.88 317.8 4.34 3.15 10.9 27.2 11.54 18.12 396 0.179 5.7 1.48 3.82 7.79 6.79 9.29 1.36 11 48 5.81 4.8 1.89 2.89 1.52 12.82 85.5 6.38 0.134 0.93 144 2.45 2.16 1.64

36 16.38 1.11 1.39 0.245 2.05 15.52 132.5 30.85 16.5 40.05 1.75 6.4 6.5 11.76 15.14 8.1 7.3 19.98 72.2 26 2.13 6 12.7 1.86 307 4.34 3.14 10.2 26.5 11.26 17.18 386.2 0.171 5.7 1.42 3.75 7.69 6.12 9.05 1.27 10.9 47.55 5.8 4.65 1.83 2.8 1.51 12.4 83.9 6.26 0.125 0.88 139 2.45 2.11 1.59

INDUSTRIAL 36.2 845,400 16.48 387,600 1.13 12,960,000 1.4 246,000 0.246 220,000 2.14 16,451,000 15.66 2,530,700 132.9 80 31.3 102,600 16.5 9,100 40.05 500 1.79 37,000 6.4 10,100 6.5 54,800 11.78 4,135,000 15.2 130,900 8.1 306,100 7.3 194,100 19.98 2,786,900 72.75 121,670 26 13,000 2.17 2,728,000 6.04 240,600 12.78 6,091,600 1.86 410,000 307 593,810 4.34 3,000 3.14 15,000 10.9 200 26.5 1,831,100 11.3 753,000 17.2 5,999,200 387 283,030 0.174 1,040,000 5.7 1,100 1.42 4,025,000 3.79 230,000 7.69 2,920,400 6.67 3,146,400 9.29 3,000 1.3 25,298,000 10.96 62,900 47.9 722,000 5.8 24,400 4.8 3,000 1.84 955,000 2.89 20,000 1.52 48,000 12.4 228,200 85.1 601,210 6.29 224,500 0.133 6,240,000 0.92 29,000 143 2,136,790 2.45 6,000 2.12 5,544,000 1.6 4,420,000

30,629,490 6,401,730 14,744,390 342,170 54,190 34,789,720 39,520,040 10,612 3,189,950 150,790 20,120 65,620 64,748 360,656 48,841,798 1,988,852 2,495,853 1,427,263 56,019,656 8,855,629.50 338,000 5,884,440 1,448,040 78,807,754 763,160 183,695,644 13,020 47,110 2,110 49,027,515 8,576,914 104,105,724 109,861,432 181,050 6,270 5,793,260 870,780 22,566,494 20,346,324 27,386 33,344,020 686,786 34,530,695 141,570 14,100 1,762,000 57,260 72,620 2,856,656 50,896,657 1,412,886 819,540 25,870 300,124,837 14,700 11,789,390 7,121,740

-16,389,140 631,904 162,630 -225,530 -203,610 -509,900 46,370 -359,336 22,235,478 -1,593,713 -983,027 1,931,772 2,681,993 332,800 -568,430 300,481 58,009,462 -54,430,970 -43,960 -5,260,770 -4,524,040 -14,732,558 -3,478,932 35,280 -3,149,840 -10,309,811 -65,744 11,800 480,166 -11,606,355 -624,636 -4,830,983 -235,230 -46,300 -930 34,271,506 4,180 610,030

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 FJ PRINCE B FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV MJC INVESTMENTS PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.73 64.7 13.44 0.8 6.55 27.65 1.45 1.44 916 7.17 12.54 13 5 0.207 1,000 6 65.9 5.48 0.62 5.3 15.58 0.64 5.08 3 0.038 1.17 2.64 152.4 980 1.43 475 249.8 0.255 0.217

0.73 64.8 13.46 0.8 6.55 28.3 1.45 1.44 930 7.19 12.58 13 5 0.23 1,010 6 66 5.48 0.62 5.48 15.6 0.64 5.15 3 0.038 1.18 2.64 152.5 980 1.43 475 251 0.26 0.224

0.67 60.7 13.04 0.8 6.5 27 1.39 1.42 915 7.03 12.2 12.7 5 0.207 988.5 5.9 64.05 5.48 0.6 5.26 15.24 0.62 5.01 3 0.036 1.17 2.61 149.5 950 1.38 475 242.6 0.25 0.212

HOLDING FIRMS 0.69 56,531,000 64.8 1,042,460 13.38 9,529,600 0.8 2,000 6.5 54,100 27.05 89,300 1.42 11,961,000 1.43 3,308,000 919 2,157,730 7.04 361,500 12.4 5,566,500 12.7 344,500 5 17,100 0.23 520,000 1,007 101,010 5.9 29,000 65 1,305,210 5.48 11,900 0.6 9,000 5.4 4,531,000 15.34 1,166,300 0.62 625,000 5.08 19,601,800 3 3,000 0.037 19,300,000 1.18 61,000 2.62 537,000 150 524,490 960 244,900 1.4 45,000 475 150 251 109,190 0.25 2,730,000 0.224 1,410,000

39,336,340 66,834,944 126,952,216 1,600 352,355 2,443,830 16,863,540 4,724,630 1,989,241,430 2,575,691 69,349,530 4,408,898 85,500 117,190 101,495,270 171,598 85,232,260.50 65,212 5,490 24,423,137 17,911,210 395,150 99,545,611 9,000 710,200 71,750 1,405,830 78,976,638 235,126,160 62,900 71,250 26,599,350 694,550 304,590

-530,200 -15,527,202.50 51,847,732 201,050 3,237,930 -779,573,000 629,381 -26,208,002 574,860 58,771,660 113,480 15,183,973 620 3,545,681 -4,568,036 9,630,290 -5,804,242 -28,600,055 218,700 -

28,452,339 3,749,320 105,240 1,730,060 514,275,845 1,988,500 1,093,690 12,136 562,100 9,900 5,332,150 17,824,666 22,959,460 527,070 13,579,650 2,787,010 66,938,896 5,817,600 110,500 6,511,300 441,100

918,759 960 -151,633,560 -570,080 273,000 383,498 5,539,945 -377,220 1,242,050 -11,800 47,860,537 -51,150 960,200 -

8990 HLDG A BROWN ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES DM WENCESLAO DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL INFRADEV PHIL REALTY

8.74 0.86 1.7 0.95 44.75 2.42 4.29 6.4 0.435 0.9 0.27 8.45 21.6 0.52 1.47 1.18 5.15 0.47 0.46 2.23 0.415

8.79 0.86 1.7 0.96 44.75 2.44 4.3 6.4 0.44 0.9 0.27 8.97 22.2 0.52 1.47 1.19 5.15 0.47 0.465 2.24 0.425

8.7 0.82 1.67 0.93 43.1 2.41 4.2 6.3 0.435 0.9 0.255 8.4 21.6 0.5 1.44 1.16 5 0.46 0.46 2.18 0.415

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

NAME

148,750 41,746,754.50 -29,726,079.00 -450,390 -2,164,274 -20,000 53,371,695 1,007,955 3,457,030 21,238,279 -350,738

NAME

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

3.55 22.8 2.04 3.12 39.6 1.3 6.17 0.74 5.89

3.57 22.9 2.04 3.15 39.6 1.34 6.18 0.74 5.91

3.54 22.2 2.03 3.12 36 1.28 6.02 0.71 5.81

3.54 22.5 2.03 3.13 37 1.34 6.16 0.71 5.86

952,000 1,740,700 57,000 57,000 43,535,700 1,799,000 254,200 17,000 2,314,200

3,380,920 39,363,825 116,080 178,310 1,626,202,460 2,372,500 1,553,906 12,520 13,543,995

-356,000 5,096,030 -508,481,130 -4,676,654

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

14.4 21.5 1.46 0.455 0.043 3.46 10.98 79.5 7.99 6.85 7.5 16.6 2,086 5.8 3.22 104.3 11.2 0.136 6.46 3.1 14.5 3.45 0.88 18.6 0.355 5.01 2.71 2.24 2.22 17.98 4.24 9.6 8.99 3.55 119 3.34 1,225 0.95 0.335 48.65 87.4 7.75 2.33 0.78 0.445 5.47 0.77 13.44

14.4 21.5 1.46 0.49 0.043 3.46 10.98 80.95 7.99 6.95 7.5 18.5 2,086 5.88 3.22 105.6 11.2 0.138 6.46 3.39 14.88 3.47 0.88 18.6 0.37 5.24 2.71 2.3 2.22 17.98 4.24 9.6 8.99 3.75 119 3.38 1,235 0.95 0.36 48.65 88 7.8 2.35 0.8 0.445 5.5 0.78 13.52

14.2 21.25 1.3 0.44 0.041 3.35 10.76 79 7.99 6.75 7.1 16.46 2,036 5.78 3.02 102.8 10.6 0.134 6.31 3.07 14.5 3.39 0.83 18 0.355 5.01 2.68 2.15 2.02 17.98 4.11 9.6 8.5 3.48 116 3.3 1,199 0.92 0.335 48 85 7.7 2.31 0.77 0.435 5.47 0.75 13.04

SERVICES 14.22 21.25 1.37 0.44 0.043 3.39 10.8 80.4 7.99 6.76 7.44 17.3 2,038 5.84 3.06 104.8 10.6 0.138 6.35 3.33 14.88 3.44 0.83 18 0.37 5.24 2.69 2.16 2.2 17.98 4.2 9.6 8.5 3.73 116 3.38 1,215 0.92 0.36 48.3 87.5 7.8 2.32 0.78 0.44 5.5 0.76 13.06

76,000 63,400 856,000 64,040,000 32,800,000 837,000 9,718,500 194,640 1,100 1,414,900 39,200 530,500 13,080 157,500 2,293,000 821,320 6,300 7,600,000 2,859,300 207,000 300 823,000 135,000 522,100 80,000 39,800 1,406,000 652,000 177,000 100 5,015,000 17,400 12,700 163,000 40 1,155,000 125,685 6,854,000 5,130,000 1,292,800 303,530 169,600 8,293,000 14,663,000 5,240,000 114,000 1,625,000 3,765,500

1,081,040 1,356,035 1,149,120 29,913,750 1,361,900 2,855,170 105,001,200 15,610,370.50 8,789 9,621,577 285,500 9,323,456 26,869,500 918,527 7,118,510 86,115,359 67,950 1,032,620 18,195,053 662,500 4,426 2,814,710 113,400 9,513,446 29,100 199,444 3,792,700 1,424,520 373,000 1,798 20,903,200 167,040 112,584 570,520 4,715 3,867,640 152,848,420 6,385,860 1,821,150 62,412,920 26,516,099.50 1,321,650 19,272,480 11,494,280 2,303,200 625,518 1,238,470 49,752,372

-272,700 46,500 -4,300 -356,990 27,563,222 9,085,136 -260,136 2,602,520 280,010 21,655,674 -893,829 -245,140 -2,689,458 1,776,510 -72,270.00 899 -1,194,880 29,367,575 523,180 -17,442,500 24,207,295.50 95,140 890,100.00 -2,446,530 136,400 -29,623 -33,906,960

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

0.0021 1.64 2.69 14.62 2.01 0.29 7.81 1.67 0.216 0.118 0.127 0.0071 1.21 2.51 1.08 0.96 0.013 0.013 3.77 4.21 15.92 24.4 0.0072

0.0022 1.65 2.69 15.38 2.03 0.29 7.81 1.68 0.218 0.118 0.127 0.0074 1.25 2.55 1.08 0.98 0.013 0.013 3.98 4.23 15.94 24.45 0.0072

0.0021 1.62 2.69 14.62 1.99 0.29 7.49 1.65 0.215 0.118 0.121 0.0071 1.21 2.45 1.06 0.96 0.013 0.012 3.77 4.11 15.7 24 0.0068

MINING & OIL 0.0022 174,000,000 1.63 585,000 2.69 6,000 15.38 600 2.02 1,723,000 0.29 120,000 7.7 1,600 1.65 1,401,000 0.218 80,000 0.118 2,080,000 0.126 130,000 0.0074 20,000,000 1.25 38,000 2.48 1,645,000 1.08 3,000 0.97 115,000 0.013 66,900,000 0.013 209,700,000 3.95 46,000 4.16 3,389,000 15.7 413,200 24.15 857,100 0.0069 25,000,000

365,800 955,020 16,140 8,848 3,465,140 34,800 12,226 2,332,500 17,390 245,440 16,140 146,100 46,860 4,099,110 3,220 111,450 869,700 2,588,000 179,050 14,138,880 6,517,392 20,777,425 171,800

11,690 122,020.00 1,252,820 -1,361,862 -1,787,590 -

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

19.2 473 99.9 98.5 103.5 455 5.62 870.5 900 96 1.02 100.5 106 1.8 970 75.45 76.5 73.5 74.5 74.5 74 74.25 73.4

19.2 473 100.9 98.5 103.5 455 5.69 870.5 900 96 1.02 100.5 106 1.8 986 75.45 76.5 73.5 74.5 74.5 74 74.25 73.45

18.9 472 99.9 98.45 103.5 455 5.62 870.5 900 96 1.01 100 105 1.8 968.5 75.4 75.85 73.5 74.5 74.5 74 74 73.4

PREFERRED 19 671,800 473 4,600 100.9 1,200 98.45 270 103.5 2,420 455 20 5.68 68,000 870.5 10,790 900 2,240 96 900 1.01 12,000 100 5,410 105 770 1.8 23,000 986 3,510 75.4 1,360 75.95 46,510 73.5 460 74.5 30 74.5 23,990 74 700 74 2,180 73.45 11,310

12,761,560 2,175,670 120,080 26,589.50 250,470 9,100 385,986 9,392,695 2,016,000 86,400 12,160 541,155 81,050 41,400 3,399,625 102,569 3,537,234.50 33,810 2,235 1,787,255 51,800 161,730 830,324

-1,754,050 47,250 -2,656,067 -

LR WARRANT

2.07

2.07

2

WARRANTS 2.01 292,000

587,360

ITALPINAS XURPAS

5.28 1.65

5.3 1.66

5.05 1.55

5.08 1.6

FIRST METRO ETF

118.7

118.7

116.8

MS

PROPERTY 8.76 0.83 1.67 0.94 43.1 2.41 4.2 6.4 0.435 0.9 0.26 8.6 21.8 0.51 1.45 1.19 5.13 0.465 0.465 2.2 0.425

3,256,100 4,470,000 63,000 1,845,000 11,804,800 822,000 258,000 1,900 1,290,000 11,000 20,310,000 2,052,500 1,046,000 1,031,000 9,373,000 2,395,000 13,143,000 12,500,000 240,000 2,959,000 1,060,000

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

OPEN

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

10,975,281

INDUSTRIAL

118,694,207

HOLDING FIRMS

156,992,477

PROPERTY

143,272,608

SERVICES

183,524,412

MINING & OIL

508,530,612

GRAND TOTAL

1,131,610,257

SME

575,700 9,035,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 117.2 8,250

2,963,940 14,500,450 968,178

-104,206 -748,990 15,288

VALUE 1,804.64 (up) 1.03 735,806,836.96 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,500.58 (down) 153.21 1,325,190,099.14 HOLDING FIRMS 7,833.12 (down) 143.47 14,773,734,088.45 PROPERTY 3,831.58 (down) 180.11 SERVICES 1,543.68 (down) 1.21 2,497,007,423.115 MINING & OIL 8,798.52 (down) 31.41 741,429,660.865 PSEI 7,864.70 (down) 148.72 57,130,425.528 All Shares Index 4,715.13 (down) 73.49 20,148,734,195.95 Gainers: 64; Losers: 127; Unchanged: 50; Total: 241

Chelsea drops plan to sell P5b worth of shares

By Jenniffer B. Austria CHELSEA Logistics Holdings Corp., the logistics and infrastructure unit of businessman Dennis Uy, canceled a planned P5-billion preferred shares offering even after securing the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission to acquire Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc. CLC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it decided not to proceed with the fund raising activity and withdrew an application earlier filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The company will disclose subsequent plans for fund-raising,” CLC said.

The company earlier planned to offer up to three million common shares with an oversubscription of up to two million preferred shares at an price up to P1,000 apiece.

The company was supposed to use the net proceeds from the fund raising activity to fund at he cquisition of shipping and logistics companies and the purchase of additional vessels.

CLC in a separate disclosure said the PCC informed it that it would not take action against a planned acquisition of two million common shares in Tasli.

CLC obtained the PCC approval after committing to conduct a price monitoring of passenger and cargo rates, submit semi-annual reports on all trips of passenger and cargo services in the critical routes, explain all extraordinary rate increases in the critical routes, and maintain the service quality of passenger and cargo routes based on a customer satisfaction index developed by a third party monitor.

The PCC in July voided CLC’s acquisition of Talsi for its failure to notify the antitrust body of the 2016 deal, even though the size of the transaction fell under the compulsory notification threshold of P1 billion at that time.

The PCC ruled that a notification should have been filed because Talsi at the time of share acquisition had gross assets of ₱1.1 billion, a little over the threshold.

The PCC also imposed a P22.8million million fine on CLC and parent Udenna Corp. The fine was later reduced to P11.4 million

LandBank cuts offering price to purchase PDS LAND Bank of the Philippines offered to acquire the shares of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp. for P281.96 million The PSE said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it received a letter from LandBank offering to purchase the bourse’s PDSHC shares for P215 apiece, or significantly lower compared with the price last year.

“The offer of Land Bank is valid until 31 January 2019. The company is studying the offer and will make a recommendation to the company’s board of directors,” the PSE said.

The PDSE in April reported it received an offer from LandBank to buy out its shares in PDSHC for P472.12 million, which was equivalent to P360 per share.

The PSE owns roughly a 20-percent interest in PDSHC, which operates the country’s fixed income exchange.

LandBank sought to take over the bond exchange operator after continued delays in the planned merger of PDS Holdings with the PSE that began in 2013.

The PSE also planned to take over PDS and even secured share purchase agreements with several PDS shareholders owning a combined 72-percent stake.

But until the expiration of the SPAs on March 31, the PSE failed to secure an exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission on the 20 percent single-industry ownership limit.

The PSE had failed to reduce brokers’ ownership in the stock exchange to 20 percent, one of conditions set by the regulator.

With the expiration of the SPAs, shareholders of PDS were free to entertain other offers.

Aside from PSE, the other big shareholders of PDS are Singapore Stock Exchange and Bankers Association of the Philippines, Tata Consultancy Services Asia Pacific Phils, San Miguel Corp., Philippine America Life and General Insurance Co., Development Bank of the Philippines, Social Security System and Citibank NA. Jenniffer B. Austria

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

TODAY extrastory2000@gmail.com

Business/World

B3

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF

Australian towns among hottest spots on Earth

‘Pig’ British tourists to be deported

PREPARING FOR THE LUNAR NEW YEAR. This photo taken on January 15, 2019, shows a worker preparing lanterns to be hung as decorations on light posts in a central plaza in Renhuai, in China’s southwest Guizhou province. The city is being decorated ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations, which begin on February 5. AFP

Open telecom access regime facing a snag THE Philippines has one of the lowest telecommunications tower densities in the world, with less than 20,000 towers serving 100 million people.

Recent studies indicate that an additional 50,000 towers should be erected to serve the current voice and data traffic. With such a backlog, it is simply illogical to insist that the solution is to place limits on tower building. Given the tedious permit application process just to erect one tower in the Philippines, the argument for the cap is tenuous.

The Philippine Competition Commission has already warned that the draft policy on common towers may be anti-competitive as it allows only two tower companies to operate in the first four years of its implementation.

“Approving the draft Common Tower Policy in its current form… may raise competition concerns and be in direct contravention to the open access regime that the government is advocating for,” the PCC said in its comments on the draft memorandum circular on common towers.

Several independent cell tower companies are actually eager to come in and help provide the network infrastructure sorely needed by incumbent and new players alike.

But the proposed two tower company limit of Presidential Adviser Ramon Jacinto is proving to be a major stumbling block to the delivery of better internet services, given the massive tower requirements in the country and the need for as many companies as possible to come in and build towers immediately.

How can the Mislatel Consortium of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy and China Telecommunications Corp., for one, deliver on its commitments to the government and to the public if it doesn’t have enough towers to use for its nationwide network?

Mislatel already promised the Department of Information and Communications Technology it would provide internet services comparable to that of Singapore in just five years. It will not succeed without the towers.

Industry stakeholders are naturally all up in arms against the two-company limit after voicing their disagreement with the proposal, while awaiting the entry of incoming Secretary Gregorio Honasan into the DICT. Outgoing DICT chief Eliseo Rio is vehemently against the tower company limit as well, saying that the government should not nurture the viability of selected tower companies when there are already a number of foreign viable tower companies operating worldwide that have shown interest in becoming tower providers in the Philippines.

These foreign tower companies, including American Tower Corp., China Energy Equipment Co., Telenor of Norway, Singapore-based Frontier Tower Associates and IHS Towers, have opposed the proposed limit on tower builders.

“Two tower company licenses does not make sense. If you look at markets that have the fastest rollout, the most number of towers, most successful industries, those are the ones often with no licenses at all. So to limit it to two companies, I think would be a recipe for not having a lot of towers built,” Frontier Tower executive chairman Patrick Tangney said.

Senator Grace Poe added that restricting the construction of cell towers would be counterproductive to the government’s aim of improving telecommunications infrastructure in the country.

“We need as much towers as we can have, which are compliant to safety and environmental standards,” she said.

Smart bonanza Smart Communications Inc. is turning 25 years this year, with a cornucopia of giveaways to be delivered on a monthly basis, ranging from free loads to data to smartphones.

Topping the promo bonanza is a P25-million grand prize as the company’s gesture of giving back to valued customers for their unequivocal support over the past 25 years. The silver jubilee promo dubbed “Amazing 25” may prove to be another amazing stroke of genius for the wireless unit of PLDT Inc. Industry analytics firm Ookla, reputedly the world leader in internet testing and analysis, has cited PLDT and Smart for being the country’s fixed and mobile service providers during the first and second quarters of the current year, respectively. Smart executives claimed they were on track to fulfill their commitment to cover 90 percent of the country’s cities and towns with 3G/4G services by the end of the year. Another industry pollster, OpenSignal, which specializes in studying the performances of telecom carriers in Asia, reported that Smart garnered a video experience score of 42.2, well ahead of competition in the Philippines and well above the national average. Smart’s performance, OpenSignal concluded, was at par with video experience on US carriers.

OpenSignal’s video experience metric measures exactly what consumers are experiencing in online video watching, using the International Telecommunication Union approach for measuring video quality. It is derived from several underlying parameters based on real-time measurements of video streams from the world’s largest video content providers.

E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or business@manilastandard. net or extrastory2000@gmail.com

WELLINGTON-Members of a British family have been branded “worse than pigs” and face deportation from New Zealand after a spree of bad behavior that left normally easygoing Kiwis outraged.

The family have been involved in a string of incidents in and around Auckland and Hamilton, including accusations of littering, assault, not paying for restaurant meals and intimidating behavior.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff led national outcry at the tourists’ antics, demanding the police take action. “These guys are trash. They are leeches,” he told a local radio station.

“If you say one time ‘I found a hair or an ant in my meal’ you’d believe it but they find it every meal that they have as a way of evading payment. That’s a criminal activity.

“They’re worse than pigs and I’d like to see them out of the country.”

New Zealand’s assistant general manager of immigration, Peter Devoy, said the family had been issued with a deportation notice on the grounds of “matters relating to character”.

One 26-year-old member of the family on Wednesday pleaded guilty to stealing NZ$55 ($37) worth of goods from a gas station.

The family attracted extensive media coverage in New Zealand after a video showed them leaving beer boxes, bottles and other rubbish strewn on a popular beach. AFP

SYDNEY―Australian towns were among the hottest places on Earth this week as a severe heatwave hit the continent’s southeast, with forecasters warning of more record-breaking temperatures before the weekend.

The past four days were among the country’s top 10 warmest on record, with temperatures nearing 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some spots, the Bureau of Meteorology said Wednesday.

“With South Australia breaking some all-time records yesterday, it would certainly put this region as one of the warmest parts of the world yesterday, if not the warmest,” the bureau’s senior meteorologist Philip Perkins told AFP. “The places that broke records yesterday are already warmer at this time today as they were yesterday.”

High temperatures are not unusual in Australia during its arid southern hemisphere summer, with bushfires a common occurrence.

But climate change has pushed up land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons.

Among the towns in South Australia state experiencing their hottest temperatures on record Tuesday was tiny Tarcoola in the region’s far north, which reached 49 degrees Celsius.

The city of Port Augusta recorded a temperature of 48.9 degrees Celsius, almost one degree higher than its previous record set on February 7, 2009—the same day Victoria state endured the devastating “Black Saturday” bushfires that left 173 dead in the nation’s worst natural disaster. AFP

Parliament rejects Brexit deal

L

ONDON―Britain’s parliament on Tuesday resoundingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, triggering a no-confidence vote in her government and plunging its plans to leave the EU into further chaos.

MPs voted 432 to 202 against May’s plan for taking Britain out of the European Union, the biggest parliamentary defeat for a government in modern British political history.

With a deal that took nearly two years to craft in tatters and her government’s future hanging in the balance, EU leaders sounded a note of exasperation, urging Britain to come out and say what it actually wants.

“If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?” EU president Donald Tusk tweeted.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, warned of a heightened risk of a “no deal” Brexit—an outcome that could disrupt trade, slow down the UK economy, and wreak havoc on the financial markets.

The government of Ireland —

the only EU member state with a land border with Britain—said it would now intensify preparations to cope with a “disorderly Brexit”.

And German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, representing the EU’s most dominant economy and leading political voice, called the vote “a bitter day for Europe”.

Most lawmakers have always opposed Brexit, as have some leading members of the government, creating a contradiction that has been tearing apart Britain ever since a June 2016 referendum began its divorce from the other 27 EU states.

Moments after Tuesday’s outcome, which was met with huge cheers by hundreds of anti-Brexit campaigners who watched the vote on big screens, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn submitted a motion of no-confidence in May’s government, calling her defeat

Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Sur Municipality of Narvacan BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE INVITATION TO BID THE MUNICIPALITY OF NARVACAN, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites contractors registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) to bid for the hereunder contract: Name of Contract: Improvement/Concreting of Farm to Market Roads and Bridges Location: Barangays, Abuor, Ambulogan, Banglayan, Bulanos, Cadacad, Cagayungan,San Pablo, Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Brief Description: Removal of Obstruction, Roadway Excavation, Subgrade Preparation, aggregate Sub-Base Course, Portland Cement Concrete Pavement, Stone Masonry Slope Protection, Embankment Fill, Cross Drains, and Bridges Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC): P 78,254,000.00 Contract Duration: 390 Calendar Days Source of Fund: R.A. 8240-FY 2014 Prospective bidders should possess a valid PCAB License applicable to the contract, and have completed a similar contract with a value of at least 50% of the ABC, and have key personnel and equipments (listed in the eligibility forms) available for the prosecution of the contract. The BAC will use nondiscretionary pass/fail criteria in the Eligibility Check/Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids. The BAC will conduct post qualification on the lowest calculated bid.

All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference, Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

The schedule of BAC activities are as follows: BAC Activities / Schedule 1. Issuance & availability of Bidding Documents 2. Pre-bid Conference

- January 17 – February 08, 2019 - January 25, 2019 – 2:30 PM, BAC Office

3. Receipt and Opening of Bids (includes submission of Eligibility Requirements and Eligibility Check) 4. Bid Evaluation 5. Post Qualification 6. Approval of BAC Resolution /Issuance of Notice of Award 7. Contract Preparation and Signing 8. Issuance of Notice to Proceed

- February 08, 2019 – 2:30 PM, BAC Office - February 11, 2019 - February 12, 2019 - February 13, 2019 - February 14, 2019 - February 15, 2019

The BAC will issue prospective bidders Eligibility Forms and Bidding Documents at the Office of the BAC Chairman, Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, upon their payment of a non refundable amount of P 50,000.00 to the Municipal Treasurer’s Office, Narvacan, Ilocos Sur. The Local Government Unit of Narvacan reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of Bidding, or not to award the contract and assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expense incurred in the preparation of their bids.

January 17, 2019 (SGD) ELEUTERIO G. INES BAC Chairman

“catastrophic”.

The vote is expected on Wednesday at 1900 GMT. May sought to strike a conciliatory tone, telling MPs they had the right to challenge her leadership and promising to hold more talks to salvage a workable solution by the rapidly approaching March 29 Brexit deadline.

She promised to hold discussions with MPs from across parliament to identify ideas “that are genuinely negotiable and have sufficient support in this House”.

“If these meetings yield such ideas, the government will then explore them with the European Union.”

Downing Street said May will then return to parliament with a new Brexit proposal on Monday.

With their nation again in tur-

Republic of the Philippines METROPOLITAN NAGA WATER DISTRICT 40 J. Miranda Avenue, Naga City InvItatIon to BId for SUPPLY, BUILd, InStaLLatIon, CoMMISSIonInG and ProCESS ProvInG of 60CMd SEPtaGE trEatMEnt PLant 1. The METROPOLITAN NAGA WATER DISTRICT, through its approved Corporate Budget,intends to apply the sum of ONE HUNDRED NINE MILLION NINE HUNDRED NINETY FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED PESOSONLY(Php 109,995,600.00) only, being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for theSUPPLY, BUILD, INSTALLATION, COMMISSIONING AND PROCESS PROVING OF 60CMD SEPTAGE TREATMENT PLANTCONTRACT REFERENCE NO.INFRA 2019-002 Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2. The MNWD now invites bids fortheSUPPLY, BUILD, INSTALLATION, COMMISSIONING AND PROCESS PROVING OF 60CMD SEPTAGE TREATMENT PLANTCompletion of the Works is required withinThree Hundred Sixty (360)Calendar Days. Bidders should have completeda contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a 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, cooperatives and partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

4. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the MNWD and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below starting from 8:00 AM – 12:00 NN and 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM. 5. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders starting on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16 TO FEBRUARY 4, 2019, from the addressbelow and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount ofFIFTYTHOUSAND PESOS (Php 50,000.00) only.

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

6. The MNWDwill hold a Pre-Bid Conference on JANUARY 23, 2019 at 1:30 PMat 2nd Floor, Board Room, MNWD Building, 40 J. Miranda Avenue, Naga City,which shall beopen to prospective bidders.

7. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before FEBRUARY 4, 2019; 1:30 pm. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid Opening shall be open on FEBRUARY 4, 2019; 1:30 pm. at 2nd Floor, Board Room, MNWD Building, 40 J. Miranda Avenue, Naga City.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. The MNWD 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.

9. For further information, please refer to: ENGR. GILBERT V. ELEAZAR Water Division and Restoration Division MNWD Compound, 40 J. Miranda Avenue, Naga City Tel No.: (054) 473-7813 local 105 Fax No.: (054) 473-9288 E-mail Address:mnwdbac@yahoo.com Website Address:mnwd.gov.ph

NOTED:

(SGD) ENGR. GILBERT V. ELEAZAR Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee

(SGD) ZURIEL S. ZARAGOZA Municipal Mayor (MS-JAN. 17, 2018)

moil, noisy supporters and opponents of Brexit, rallied outside the ancient parliament building in London.

“It could end up being the day that will lead to us leaving with no deal!” said 25-year-old Simon Fisher, who backs a swift and sharp break with the EU. A much larger rally nearby in support of a second referendum turned Parliament Square, dotted with statues of past UK leaders, into a sea of EU flags.

Economists said the scale of May’s defeat—on the upper end of most predictions—now also put pressure on Brussels to make more meaningful compromises.

The pound surged higher against the dollar and euro after the vote, seemingly buoyed by May’s promise to seek a compromise with her opponents. AFP

(MS-JAN. 17, 2019)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

BRIDGE REPAIR. Officials survey the Sta. Ana Bridge in San Pablo, Laguna on Monday, after it collapsed a week earlier. Built during the American regime, the bridge was scheduled to be rebuilt by the Department of Public Works and Highways at a cost of P36 million. Roy Tomandao

NV gov’t, workers reach win-win solution via court

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

By Abe Almirol

B4

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Before a five-year court battle between the provincial government and 49 dismissed provincial employees was ended by a Supreme Court order to execute its decision favoring the former, a winwin solution would likely render the decision overtaken by events.

A copy of the high court decision was shown to the media on Monday.

Based on a notice of resolution released by the central office of the Civil Service Commission, the high court upheld the dismissal of employees hired by then-governor Luisa L. Cuaresma few months before the May 2013 elections.

“Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the dismissal order has valid grounds contrary to the earlier decision of Civil Service Commission-Regional Office 02, we feel vindicated,” incumbent Gov. Carlos M. Padilla said.

“Political retribution was never the intention in the first place. It is a fact that most of the affected employees remained connected with the provincial government under my watch,” Padilla added.

After quoting some statements from the court ruling, Padilla said: “We have been doing everything we can to correct a wrong-doing which resulted in the promotion of employees without the backing of a legitimate provincial budget to pay for their salaries.”

Since he took over,Padilla managed to hire back many of the affected employees, and some even got higher positions.

LGUs

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

Makati expands Project FREE

By Joel E. Zurbano

T

HE Makati City government under the administration of Mayor Abigail Binay is expanding its Project FREE (Free Relevant Excellent Education) to increase benefits to more than 90,000 public school students in the city.

Project FREE covers the city´s public schools from preschool to senior high, including enrollees in the Special Education (SpEd) curriculum and Alternative Learning System (ALS).

The program, which has been providing free school supplies and school uniforms to students since 1995, has been expanded and now includes rubber shoes dubbed “Air Binay” by netizens, raincoats and rain boots, anti-dengue kits, and hygiene kits.

Last year, the city started to include ALS learners in its social development facilities as beneficiaries of Project FREE. A total of 43 boys in the Makati Youth

Home and 41 girls in the Makati Social Development Center received free supplies, uniforms and shoes from the city.

In her recent State of the City Address (SOCA), Binay announced that the second edition of “Air Binay” is already up for distribution this January to some 49,873 kinder to grade 6 students and SpEd learners, and 40,171 students from grades 7 to 12.

Innovative programs have also been launched in 2018 in line with Mayor Binay´s vision of “globally competitive Makatizens” emerging from the city’s public education system. These include free tutorials in mathematics, work im-

mersion programs for senior high school students and SpEd learners, and free educational trips, among others.

Last September, the city launched Project MILES (Mathematics Intensive Learning Enhancement for Students) aimed at improving the mathematical proficiency of public schoolchildren in the city. It uses worksheets and “KooBits,” a highly personalized Singaporean mathematics software.

With an initial budget of P12.5 million, the project currently provides two programs: 180 MILES offering regular lessons for students struggling in mathematics and 360 MILES with advanced lessons for students who are proficient in the subject.

Two teaching methodologies are being used in Project MILES. One is the worksheet-based approach where students are given worksheets to answer during their study sessions, while the e-learning approach uses KooBits, which provides Mathematics instructions through a series of computer-based interactive lessons.

Also in 2018, the city launched the

QC dads want to name hall after Amoranto

More workers regularized in Central Luzon

By Romeo Dizon SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga―The Department of Labor and Employment in Central Luzon said about 31,007 employees were regularized as a result of the intensified campaign of 33 compliance officers in the region.

Zenaida Angara-Campita, DOLE regional director, said that of the total 31,007 regularized, 19,162 were voluntary, while the 11,845 others was the result of the implementation of existing laws.

All the employees were working with the total of 272 enterprises in the region, Campita said.

Campita said last year’s regularized employees were higher than the previous year of only 12,689 in 2017 and 10,010 in 2016, respectively.

The higher rate of regularized employees was attributed to the massive campaign of the regional office in compliance to the order of Labor Secretary Silvestre Belo, she said.

Senior High School Work Immersion Program, in which senior high school students are deployed to various offices and project sites of the city government, and are provided with training related to their course. Some 410 students from public and private senior high schools in the city have participated in the program since it commenced last January.

The city government also launched SPEED for SpED, a training program for SpEd learners aimed at increasing their productivity and employability. Its first batch of beneficiaries composed of 150 SpEd learners received transportation and meal allowances while attending skills training in Makati’s public senior high laboratories, and during work immersion proper with industry partners and City Hall.

Meanwhile, the city has also allocated P100 million for free educational trips of public schoolchildren in Makati under the Talent Optimization Programs for Students aimed at stimulating their thirst for learning during the early years of their education.

‘TUPAD’ WORKERS. The local government of Muntinlupa strengthens its disaster mitigation initiatives and deploys workers in cleaning waterways as Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi leads the distribution of cleaning materials to TUPAD worker-beneficiaries from the city’s eight barangays on Monday. TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers) is a community-based shortterm employment for underemployed and seasonal workers for a minimum period of 10 days. It is facilitated by the Public Employment Service Office, the local Environmental Cluster, and Muntinlupa City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. Shown in photo are PESO Muntinlupa chief Glenda Aniñon, former vice mayor Temy Simundac, Brgy. Poblacion Kgd. Alexson Diaz, and Paty Katy Boncayao.

Runruno backs town’s Blood Donation Program for needy

By Ben Moses Ebreo

QUEZON, Nueva Vizcaya—Villagers of Barangay Runruno in this town have been giving their full support to the Blood Donation Program of the province to help the sustained availability of blood for the needy.

Barangay captain John Babli-ing said the strong support of the barangay residents on the BDP since 2010 has earned them an

award from health organizations to include the “Provincial Sandugo Award.”

The award was given by the Department of Health through the Southern Blood Services Zone Network during their recognition for the BDP partners and supporters last year.

“We hope that more villagers will do the same like villagers of Runruno so that we can help others and our families too when we need the same blood,” Bab-

li-ing said.

Binwag said Runruno recently held a blood letting activity sometime in the last quarter of last year, which drew 38 blood bags out of the 48 donors.

The blood letting activity was jointly sponsored by the LGU of Quezon, Veterans Regional Hospital, Barangay Local Government Unit and the Community Relations Office of FCF Minerals Corporation.

Sterling Bank donates tools to St. Martin hospital

Officials of St. Martin de Porres Charity Hospital receive the donations from Sterling Bank of Asia’s officers and staff.

STERLING Bank of Asia, one of the country’s leading thrift banks, donates to St. Martin de Porres Charity Hospital heir much-needed medical tools and equipment in a turnover ceremony held last December 2018, at the hospital’s function hall.

“When you give, you give with your heart.

As Sterling Bank of Asia is the ‘Bank with a Heart,’ we want this exemplified in our advocacy, hence we are continuing this work for the past 4 years,” said Cecilio San Pedro, SBA president and CEO. “We are grateful that during this time, Ster-

ling Bank of Asia keeps its doors open and reserves a space for us“ Dr. Gliceria Manlises, SMPCH medical director shared.

“Thank you for keeping your presence beside us just like the shepherds who were the first visitors of our Savior,” Manlises added.

SBA also gave out some Christmas baskets for the volunteer nurses for their dedication and selflessness in serving the community.

“We will only walk in this life once, so let’s do good things together and let future generations learn from our tagline—kind heart gives,’’ San Pedro said during the ceremony.

THE Quezon City Council wants to name a social hall after former Mayor Norberto S. Amoranto in recognition of his achievements as the city’s chief executive from 1954 to 1972.

City Resolution 7649-2018, introduced by Councilors Franz Pumaren and Godofredo T. Liban II, states that the central portion of the ground floor of the high-rise building inside the city hall compound should be named after Amoranto, who served as city mayor for 22 years.

It was under Amoranto’s term that the city hall’s iconic high rise was constructed.

At present, the 15-story structure houses the Office of the Mayor, Office of the City Administrator, City Treasurer’s Office, Human Resources Department, and the General Services Department.

According to former Councilor Alberto M. Galarpe, who served as a Business Permit and Licensing Office chief during late mayor’s term, Amoranto worked hard for building’s construction after the current site was bought from the People’s Homesite and Housing Corp..

After its completion in 1972, the structure became the home of the Quezon City government which was formerly occupying a two-story wooden building along EDSA in front of Nepa Q. Mart.

“As a fitting testimonial to the intense desire of the employees of Quezon City Hall during the said flag ceremony that coincided with the 104th birth anniversary of Mayor Amoranto to preserve the memory of the ‘Man that built Quezon City Hall’, the naming of that portion of the ground floor of the city hall as the Mayor Norberto S. Amoranto Hall was proposed,” the resolution reads. Rio N. Araja

Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE

HOUSEHOLD

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019

C1

SELF-STORAGE

for those in need of space

NO SPACE? NO PROBLEM. Self-storage facilities cater to individuals in need of space for items they can’t get rid of.

T

HERE are days when a person needs some “space”—quite literally—because their living space has been littered with clutter, from memorabilia to unused items, with which they can’t part despite Marie Kondo’s advice.

According to Frank Niles, Ph.D., a social scientist and life and business strategist, there are two main reasons why a person can’t toss things: security and nostalgia.

In this kind situation, self-storage, which is becoming a popular concept here in the Philippines what with the opening of several facilities, appears to be the best solution.

With self-storage, storage spaces or units are rented out to residential customers or small-to-medium business owners who need the extra space.

The concept is different from warehousing, which provides limited security and fire protection for the possessions, co-mingles clients’ items, limits

access, charges for movement in and out, and may well tie the renter down to a long-term contract.

Loc&Stor 24/7 is one of the self-storage facilities available in Metro Manila that offers professionally run facility for short- or long-term basis.

Its units range from 1.5-square-meter lockers that can fit eight balikbayan boxes to 18-square-meter jumbo-size units that can accommodate the contents of a 40-foot container.

The storage facility boasts convenience, safety, and security. Loc&Stor’s facilities are situated within a guarded, gated, and flood-free compound with 24/7 building security.

It also utilizes high-definition closed

‘A place for everything and everything in its place’ can be achieved when the home is rid of clutter and only houses what its residents need and use.

circuit television cameras with night vision to monitor and record all activities within and around the facility. Further, every storage unit has individual alarms, and renters use their own personal locks to ensure privacy. The PIN arms and disarms the unit’s alarm, and all access to it is electronically logged.

The system will even notify the renter through e-mail whenever their unit is opened without authorization.

Smoke detectors, fire alarms, and sprinkler systems have been installed throughout the facility. Loc&Stor 24/7 also offers climate-controlled areas where humidity is regulated—perfect for storing goods that are temperaturesensitive like leather goods, antique documents, books, artworks, winter clothing, shoes, and more.

For thorough protection of possessions, the facility also offers comprehensive, custom-designed insurance plan for the renters’ varying needs.

Moreover, it allows flexible monthto-month rental, which will renew automatically each month until the renter serves a 14-day written notification of move out.

Storers are also assured of no-sweat load-in and load-out procedures with the facility’s loading docks, which can accommodate up to a 40-foot container.

It also has heavy-duty trolleys and carts that can be freely used on-site to make moving items much easier.

Loc&Stor 24/7’s facilities are strategically located near the metro’s residential and business centers. Its flagship facility is in Bagong Ilog, Pasig. It also has a facility in Urban Makati.

To cater to more individuals in need of space, it recently opened its third facility in J.P. Rizal, Makati, where slots are now available for reservation.

Loc&Stor 24/7 is now accepting reservations for its newest facility at 155 J.P. Rizal Ave., Space Solutions Bldg., Brgy. Tejeros, Makati. This facility also offers more size options—locker, small, medium, large, x-large, xx-large, jumbo, and the new gigantic. Storers can also avail of two months free rental if they sign up for a 12-month contract.

For reservations, call (02) 810-9556 or 0917-7095390.

Self-storage facility Loc&Stor 24/7 offers a variety of storage units, each has individual alarms, to ensure the storer’s possessions’ safety.

The PIN arms and disarms the unit’s alarm; the renter is notified when their unit is opened without authorization.

New year means new appliances

Liven up the living room with smart home entertainment system, such as LG OLED ThinQ TV.

THE beginning of a new year is an ideal Instaview Door In Door Refrigerator time to upgrade and update household with its smart diagnosis system, and items to make homemakSamsung’s Top Mount Reing more fun, convenient, frigerators powered by a and efficient. twin cooling plus system SM Appliances invites that helps retain the food’s homeowners to its stores original flavor. which carries the latest Samsung’s Front Load home appliances, electronWasher-Dryer, on the other ics, and gadgets boasting hand, helps the household amazing designs and innosave energy as they do launvations. dry chores with a quieter Liven up the living room and cleaner wash, and its with state-of-the-art home Eco Bubble technology that entertainment centers such generates foam that quickly as LG OLED TV with AI activates detergent, thus it ThinQ and Samsung LED removes stains more easily.

UHD Smart TV, which let users automatically share Check out these new appliLG Door In Door mobile apps and photos on ances at all SM Appliance Linear Inverter Refrigerator TV via smart app feature.

Centers nationwide. Watch Transform the kitchen out for its upcoming Liinto a stylish and energy efficient breng Appliances Araw Araw promocookery with appliances like LG’s tions grand play-off on Feb. 25.

Doing laundry becomes easier and more efficient with Samsung Front Load Washer-Dryer.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 Standard C2 TODAY Manila

Officer (EO).

SECTION 4. Who May Be Allowed to Vote in the Special Polling places in Jails/Prison Facilities. -- Only PDL voters whose names appear in the EDCVL-PDL and/or PCVL-PDL may vote in the special polling places in jails/prison facilities.

Republic of the Philippines COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS Manila SUPPLEMENTAL RESOLUTION TO THE RULES AND REGULATIONS ON PERSON DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY (PDL) VOTING, COUNTING AND CANVASSING IN CONNECTION WITH THE MAY 13, 2019 NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS. x----------------------------------------x

SHERIFF M. ABAS AL A. PARREŃO LUIE TITO F. GUIA MA. ROWENA AMELIA V. GUANZON SOCORRO D. INTING MARLON S. CASQUEJO ANTONIO T. KHO, JR.

Promulgated_____________

c) Monitoring groups (maximum of 2 per special polling place) who shall stay in the space for watchers;

Watchers shall be subjected to all the security measures enforced in jails.

d) Representatives of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR);

SECTION 9. Qualifications of Watchers. - No person shall be appointed watcher unless he:

a) Members and support staff of the EB-PDL;

e) Representatives of this Commission;

RESOLUTION NO.____________ WHEREAS, on March 6, 2012, the Commission on Elections promulgated COMELEC Resolution No. 9371 to serve as the rules and regulations on PDL registration and voting for the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections and subsequent elections thereafter; WHEREAS, pursuant to the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 105751 a detainee, inmate, prisoner, or other person under confinement or custody in other manner shall be· called “Person Deprived of Liberty” (PDL) in compliance with Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); WHEREAS, in Section 2, Rule 1 of COMELEC Resolution No. 9371, PDLs who may vote are those: (1) confined in jail, formally charged for any crime/s and awaiting/undergoing trial; or (2) serving sentence of imprisonment for less than one (1) year, or (3) whose conviction is on appeal; WHEREAS, the Supreme Court, on April 19, 2016, in the case of Aguinaldo v. New Bilibia Prison (Bureau of Corrections) et.al., G.R. No. 221201, issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) enjoining the Commission on Elections, among others, from applying the following positions of COMELEC Resolution No. 9371 on the Local Level: (i) Rule 1 Section 1; (ii) Rule 1, Section 2(a) and (c); (iii) Rule 3, Section 1; and (iv) Rule 7, Section 1; WHEREAS, the TRO is not applicable to the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections on the national level; thus, PDLs are still allowed to vote but only for th e candidates on the national level if they so choose; WHEREAS, in line with the aforementioned, it is imperative to issue a supplemental resolution to the rules on PDL voting, counting and canvassing for purposes of ‘the May 13, 2019 National and ‘Local Elections; NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the powers vested in it by the Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code, COMELEC Resolution No. 9371 , COMELEC Resolution No. 104602 dated December 6, 2018 and other pertinent election laws, the Commission on Elections has RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to promulgate the following supplemental resolution to the rules and regulations on the conduct of voting, counting and canvassing of ballots of PDL voters in connection with the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections.

RULE 1 SPECIAL POLLING PLACES SECTION 1. Special Polling Places Inside Jails/Prison Facilities.Special polling places shall be established in jails/prison facilities with at least fifty (50) registered PDL voters who are registered as such in the municipality or city where the jail/prison facility is located.

Special polling places shall be established in the jail/prison facility with registered PDL voters irn the following manner: Number of Qualified PDL Voters 50 to 100 101 to 200 201 to 300 301 to 400 401 to 500

b) Watchers who shall stay only in the space reserved for them;

If, because of limited space, all watchers cannot be accommodated in the polling place, preference shall be given to the watchers of the dominant majority and dominant minority parties as determined by the Commission and the watcher of the citizens’ arm, with the latter being given preferential position closest to the EB-PDL. In case there are two or more citizen‘s arms, the one authorized by the Commission to conduct an unofficial count shall be given preference.

SECTION 5. Persons Allowed Inside Special Polling Places. Only the following shall be allowed to enter the special polling places inside jails: Chairman Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner

Number of Special Polling Places 1 2 3 4 5

In case there are more than 500 qualified PDL voters, one (1) special polling place shall be established for every additional 100 qualified PDL voters.

In case of cities with several districts, PDL voters of districts other than the district where the jail/prison facility is located are entitled to vote in the special polling places inside the jails/prison facilities.

To maintain order, the division of PDL voters shall be done by listing together POL voters belbnging to the same district.

In the preparation of the list of registered PDL voters where the jail/ prison facility is located, the following rules shall be observed : a) Only those who are in the custody of the jails/prison facilities as of the SECOND MONDAY of February of the election year shall be included; b) PDL voters who are registered but are released from the jail/prison facilities as of the Second Sunday of February of the election year shall be excluded from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) or provincial jail’s list, as the case may be.

For this purpose, the BJMP/BuCor/provincial jail shall submit to the election officer concerned and the Committee a list of released PDLs on or before second Monday of February of the election year; The election officers shall immediately update the list of PDL voters and submit the same to the Information and Technology Department (ITD) within seven (7) days thereafter; Further, the BJMP/BuCor/provincial jail shall, not later than three (3) days before the day of the election, give to the election officer an updated list of PDLs who are released from second Monday of February up to the date of the submission of the said list; c) PDLs who entered the jail/prison facilities after the registration period shall be indluded in the counting provided they are registered as voters in the municipality/city where the jail/prison facility is located and are in the custody of the jail/prison facility as of the second Monday of F,ebruary of the election year; d) In cities and municipalities where the jail/prison facility is comprised of male/female dorms/annexes located in one or in different compounds, the total population shall be the basis for counting; PDL voters included in the Election Day Certified Voter’s List for PDL Voters (EDCVL-PDL) but released before the elections shall be allowed to vote in the regular polling place where he is registered. The released PDL shall show to the Electoral Board (EB) his release order/paper.

For this purpose, the Electoral Board for PDL Voters (EB-PDL) shall manually cross-out the name of the released PDL in the EOCVL-PDL. Only one special polling place shall be created for jail/prison facility mentioned in Section 1, (d) of this Rule. When the jails/prison facilities are located in different compounds, PDL voters in the facility where the special polling place is established shall be joined by the voters coming from the other dorm / annex.

SECTION 2. Location of the Special Polling Place. -The special polling place should be established in an area inside the jail/prison facility spacious enough to accommodate more than ten (10) voters at a given time to ensure that voting shall be completed while there is still sufficient time to deliver all the accomplished ballots to the different precincts where PDLs are registered.

The guidelines on the physical set-up of regular polling places shall apply to the special polling places in jails.

SECTION 3. Preparation of the EDCVL-PDL and PCVL-PDL. -The EDCVL-PDL and Posted Computerized Voters List for PDL Voters (PCVL-PDL) shall be prepared by the Information Technology Department (ITD) containing the names of all registered PDL voters who are voting through the special polling places established inside jails/ prison facilities endorsed by the Committee on PDL Voting based on the BJMP/BuCor/provincial jail list duly verified by the proper Election

Duly accredited citizens’ arms of the Commission shall be entitled to appoint a watcher in every special polling place. Other civil, professional business, service, youth. and other similar organizations, with prior authority of the Commission, shall be entitled collectively to appoint one watcher in every special polling place.

f)

PDL voters accomplishing their ballots;

a) Is a registered voter of the city or municipality comprising the precinct where he is assigned;

g) PDL Voters waiting for their turn to accomplish their ballots;

b) Is of good reputation;

h) At least three BJMP/BuCor/provincial jails personnel (the number shall be increasedl as the need arises) who shall stay also in the space for watchers; and

c) Has not been convicted by final judgment of any election offense or of any other crime;

i)

Other persons who may be specifically authorized by the Commission.

SECTION 6. Persons Not Allowed Inside Special Polling Places.

- The following shall not be allowed to enter the special polling places in jails: a) Any officer or member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) or the Philippine National Police (PNP); b) Any peace officer or any armed person belonging to any extralegal police agency, special forces, reaction forces, strike forces, Civilian Armed Force Geographical Units, barangay tanods or other similar forces or paramilitary forces, including special forces, security guards, special policemen except the BJMP/ BuCor/provincial jails personnel mentioned in the immediately preceding section; c) All other kinds, of armed or unarmed extra-legal police forces; and d) Any candidate or barangay official, whether elected or appointed.

RULE 2 ELECTORAL BOARD FOR PDL VOTERS, SUPPORT STAFF, WATCHERS, ESCORTS AND MONITORING GROUPS SECTION 1. Electoral Beard for PDL Voters (EB-PDL) and Support Staff Per Voting Center. - The Commission on Elections, through its EO in districts/cities/municipalities where a special polling place is established, shall constitute the EB-PDL in accordance with the period provided in the calendar of activities for thel National and Local Elections.

In addition, the election officer shall designate EB-PDL support staff for every voting center with PDL voters. There shall be one (1) EB-PDL support staff with uniformed PNP escort for every voting center of the city or municipality where the jail is located The EB-PDL and its support staff shall have the same qualifications and shall be appointed in the same manner as the regular EB. SECTION 2. Powers and Functions of the EB-PDL. - The EB-PDL shall have the following powers and functions: a) Receive from city/municipal treasurer and bring the needed election paraphernalia to the special polling places in jails on election day; b) Receive from the EB-PDL support staff (assigned per voting center) the precinct-specific ballots (per precinct) contained in a properly sealed and signed envelope; c) Conduct only the voting in the special polling places (the scanning and counting shall be done in the PDL voters’ respectiive precincts); d) Seal and sign the envelopes containing the filled-up ballots (per precinct) and hand it to the EB-PDL support staff for counting in the PDL voters’ respective precincts; e) Act as deputies of the Commission in the conduct of the elections; f) Maintain order within the special polling place and its premises; keep access thereto open and unobstructed; enforce obedience to its lawful orders and prohibit the use of cellular phones and camera by the PDL voters. If any person refuses to obey the lawful orders of the EB-PDL or conducts himself in a disorderly manner in its presence or within its hearing and thereby interrupts lor disturbs its proceedings, the EB-PDL may issue an order in writing directing any BJMP/BuCor/provincial jails personnel to take said person into custody until the adjournment of the proceedings, but such order shall not be executed as to prevent the person from, voting, A copy of such order shall be attached to the Minutes; and g) Perform such other functions prescribed by law or by the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission.

d) Knows how to read and write Filipino, English or the prevailing local dialect; e) Is not related within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to, the chairman or to any member of the EB-POL in the special polling place where he/she seeks appointment as watcher; and f)

Is not a PDL of the jail/prison facility.

SECTION 10. Rights and Duties of Watchers. - Upon entering the special polling place, the watchers shall deliver to the chairman of the EB-PDL their appointment as watchers, and their names shall forth with recorded in the Minutes of Voting with a notation under their signatures that they are not disqualified to serve as such under the immediately preceding Section. The appointments of the watchers shall bear the signature of the candidate or duly authorized representative of the party, organization or coalition that appointed them. For this purpose, at least fifte.en (15) days before election day, independent candidates, registered parties, organizations, or coalitions, authorized by the Commission to appoint watchers shall provide the Election Officers concerned with the names and signatures of their representatives authorized to appoint watchers in the city or municipality and special polling places in jail/ prison facility in said city / municipality.

The watchers shall have the right to: a) Witness and inform themselves of the proceedings of the EBPDL; b) Take note of what they may see or hear; c) Take photographs of the proceedings and incidents, if any, during the voting in the special polling places in jails/prison facilities; d) File a protest against any irregularity or violation of law which they believe may have been committed by the EB-PDL or by any of its members or by any person, and e) Obtain from the EB-PDL a certificate as to the filing of such protest and the resolution thereof.

Watchers shall not speak to any member of the EB-PDL, or to any voter or among themselves, in such manner as would disturb the proceedings of the EB-PDL. SECTION 11. Monitoring Groups, Observers and Media Representatives. - Monitoring groups duly accredited by the Commission shall be allowed access to ~he special polling places inside jails to observe the proceedings; Provided, said groups present the necessary identification to the EB-PDL; Accredited media representatives and foreign observers shall also be allowed access to the special polling places upon presentation of the necessary identification to the EB-PDL. In all instances, the above-mentioned groups must follow all the security measures enforced within the jails/prison facilities and the guidelines established by this Commission.

SECTION 12. Documentation and Communication Devices Allowed in Special Polling Places. - Watchers, members of the EBPDL, EB-PDL support staff, CHR representatives, accredited monitoring groups, accredited citizen’s arms, and COMELEC representatives shall be allowed to bring cameras, cellular phones and laptops in the special polling places. Provided,these devices are to be used exclusively for official documentation and communication purposes only.

RULE 3 ELECTION FORMS AND SUPPLIES SECTION 1. Election Forms, Documents and Supplies. - Except when authorized to do earlier by the Commission , the EB-PDL shall get the forms,documents and supplies early in the morning of election day. The City/Municipal Treasurer shall distribu!e the following forrrs, documents and supplies to the EB-PDL of the special polling place of the city/municipality.

FROM TH E CITY / MUNICIPAL TREASURER CEF NO. ELECTION FORMS A3

SECTION 3. Duties of the EB-PDL Support Staff and PNP Escort.

- , The EB-PDL support staff shall: a) Collect the ‘ballots of the PDL voters from the different clustered precincts of the voting center of assignment;

Poster indicating Precint Number

1

Piece

A5 & A5-A

Appointment of Chairman/Poll Clerk/Member of the BEI and Support Staff

9

Pieces

A11

Minutes of Voting and Counting paper Seals for A15, A16, A16-A, and A16-B for A18 and A18-A for Expandable Envelopes for Official Ballots (from precincts with Detainee Voters Certificate of Receipt of Official Ballots other Forms and Supplies for BEI Instruction to Voters

1

Set of 2 pieces

8 4

Pieces Pieces

2 2

Pieces Pieces

2

Pieces

1

Piece

For Rejected Ballots, Half of Torn Unused Official Ballots, Other Half of Torn Unused Ballots, and Marked Ballota For Minutes of Voting and Counting of Votes Expandable Envelopes for Official Ballots (from Precincts with Detainee Voters

4

Pieces

1

Set of 2 Pieces

2

Pieces

Temporary appointment of Chairman/Poll Clerk/ Third Member/Support Staff Certificate of Challenge or Protest and Decision of the Board Oath of Voter Challenge for Illegal Acts Oath of Identification of Challenged Voter Election Watcher`s ID in Polling Place Election Day Monitoring Report

10

Pieces

10

Pieces

10

Pieces

10

Pieces

A12

b) Bring the collected ballots to the special polling place inside the jail; and c) Return for counting, not later than 4:00 P.M. on election day, the filled up ballots to the BEl of the different clustered precincts where the same ballots were taken.

The PNP escort shall accompany Ithe EB-PDL support staff from the special polling place in jail to the voting center, then from the voting center back to the special polling place in jail/prison facility and, finally from the jail/prison facility to the voting center. The PNP escort shall not enter any polling place from which the ballots are taken and to which sa’me ballots are returned or any other polling places except to vote.

In case there are no sufficient PNP escorts, BJMP/BuCor/provincial jails personnel shall be assigned by the Chief of BJMP, Wardens of Provincial Jails and Director General of BuSor to augment the PNP force in escorting the EBPDL support staff.

A14

ENVELOPES A15, A16, A16-A, A16-B

A18 & 18-A

SECTION 4. Proceedings of the EB-PDL. - The proceedings of the EB-PDL shall be public and shall be held in the special polling place designated by the Commission and the BJMP/BuCor/provincial jails.

OTHER FORMS A30/A31

SECTION 5. Voting Privilege of the EB-PDL. - Members of the EBPDL who are not availing of the Local Absentee Voting may, on election day, vote in the polling places where they are registered , provided that their absence in the special polling place shall not be more than thirty (30) minutes and that they schedule their voting so that only one member of the EB-PDL shall leave at any one time.

A35

SECTION 6. Prohibition Against Political Activity. - No member of the EB-PDL or its support staff shall engage in any partisan political activity or take part in the election except to discharge his duties as such.

SECTION 7. Honoraria of the EB-PDL and their Support Staff (Per Voting Center). - The chairman, members and support staff of the EB-PDL shall each receive honoraria, allowances, service credits as provided for under Sections 32-37 of Resolution No. “10460 dated December 6,2018.

SECTION 8. Official Watchers of Candidates, Political Parties and Other Groups. - Each candidate and registered political party or coalition of political parties duly registered with the Cqmmission and fielding candidates in the election, as well as duly accredited citizen’s arms may appoint two watchers, to serve alternately, in every special polling place. However, candidates for Senator, House of Representatives, candidates for Member, Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Sangguniang Panlungsod , or Sangguniang Bayan, belonging to the same ticket or slate, Shall collectively be entitled to one watcher.

FORMS AND SUPPLIES RATE OF DISTRIBUTION

A39 A40

20

Pieces

1

Copy per support staff

Ballpen

6

Pieces

Ballot Secrecy Folder Rubber band Bond paper packaging Tape

22 10 30 1

Pieces Pieces Sheets Piece

Thumbprint/Fingerprint Taker Marking Pen Indelible Ink

1

Piece

2 2

Boxes Bottles

SUPPLIES

FROM THE ELECTION OFFICER a) One copy of the PDL Voters List for each of the clustered precincts having PDL voters;

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C3

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, Manila 2019 Standard TODAY b) Copies of Appointment and Oath of Office of the EB-PDL and Support Staff (A5 & A5-A); and c) Copies of the Posted Computerized Voters’ List for PDL Voters (PCVL-PDL).

following manner: a) The PDL voter shall accomplish the ballot, using the ballot secrecy folder, in accordance with the General Instructions for Voting;

When the EB-PDL support staff reaches the regular polling place, the EB shall enter into the Minutes of Voting the receipt of the sealed envelope. The EB will open the envelope only when all the voters in the clustered precincts have finished voting, and, thereafter, the chairperson of the EB, in the presence of the other members and watchers shall feed the PDL voters’ ballots to the VCM for counting.

The EB-PDL shall carefully check the different election forms, documents and supplies and the quantity actually received. The EBPDL shall sign a Certificate of Receipt (A14) in three copies, the original of which shall be delivered to the City/Municipal Treasurer, who shall transmit the same to the ERSD, COMELEC, Manila, immediately after election day.

c) The EB-PDL shall apply indelible ink at the base and extending to the cuticle of the right forefinger nail of the PDL voter, or any other nail if there be no forefinger nail;

SECTION 1. Escorted PDL Voters. - The following shall avail of the escorted voting:

SECTION 2. Forms to be Reproduced When Needed. - The following forms may be reproduced when needed:

d) The voter shall affix his/her thumb mark on the corresponding space in the EDCVL-PDL; and

1) PDL voters who are residents/ registered voters of municipalities/ cities other than the town/city of incarceration; and

e) The voter shall then leave the special polling place.

2) PDL voters in jail facilities where no special polling places are established.

a) Temporary Appointment of Chairman/Poll Clerk/Member; b) Certificate of Challenge or Protest and Decision of the BEl; c) Oath of Voter Challenged for Illegal Acts; and d) Oath to identify a challenged Voter RULE 4 PROCEDURES OF VOTING SECTION 1. Date and Time of PDL Voting. - Voting for all qualified PDL voters shall take place on the same date as the national and local elections is conducted.

For jails/prison facilities provided with special polling places, the casting of the ballots shall not start before 6:00 A.M. and must be finished at 2:00 P.M. to have sufficient time to bring the accomplished ballots to PDL voter’s respective precincts before the close of voting hours on election day. In case all the expected PDL voters have voted before 2:00 P.M., the EB-PDL shall close the voting in the special polling places and dispose all election paraphernalia in accordance with Section 10 of Rule 4.

SECTION 2. Preliminaries to the Voting. a) Regular Polling Places with PDL Voters: Before the voting in the regular polling places, the Chairman of the EB using the PDL Voters List as reference shall annotate the PDL voters’ names in the EDCVL with “PDL Voter”_and shall affix his initial beside the annotation. The number of PDL voters and the fact that their names were annotated with “PDL Voter” shall be entered into the Minutes of Voting.

Upon the arrival of the EB-POL Support Staff, the Chairman of the EB shall count and segregate the ballots allocated for PDL voters in the presence of the former and thereafter insert the same in a folder. The EB shall place the folder inside an envelope carried by the EB-PDL Support Staff and close the envelope. The EB sha11 then seal the envelope using the paper seal (also brought by the Support Staff lof the EB-PDL).

The EB shall affix their initials on the paper seal and turn it over to the EB-PDL support staff.

The EB shall then enter into the Minutes of Voting the name of the EB-PDL Support Staff, the number of ballots received, the serial number of the paper seal of the envelope and the time the latter picked up the ballots. The EB shall require the EB-PDL Support Staff to sign the entry.

Thereafter, the support staff escorted by uniformed PNP/BJMP/ BuCor/provincial jail personnel shall immediately deliver the ballots to the special polling place.

DL and all the support staff of the EB-POL shall meet at the special polling place in jail at six o’clock in the morning, of election day and shall submit themselves to all the security measures enforced in jails/prison facilities.

The EB-PDL shall give to the EB-PDL support staff the envelopes [with one (1) paper seal] for each clustered precinct with PDL voter/s in the voting center where the latter is assigned. Upon receipt of the envelopes, the EB-PDL support staff shall leave the jail/prison facility escorted by armed PNP and/or BJMP/BuCor/provincial jail personnel for the voting center.

b) The voter shall then approach the table where the envelope for his precinct is placed and insert the same into the said envelope;

SECTION 5. Challenge Against Illegal Voters. - Any voter or watcher may challenge any person offering to vote for: a) Not being registered; b) Using the name of another; or c) Suffering from any existing disqualification.

In such cases, the EB-PDL shall satisfy itself as to whether or not the ground for the challenge is true by requiring proof of registration, identity or qualification. The EB-PDL shall identify the PDL voter through his photograph, fingerprint or specimen signatures in the EDCVL-PDL. In the absence of any of the above-mentioned proof of identity, any member of the EB-PDL may identify under oath a voter, and such act shall be reflected in the Minutes of Voting.

SECTION 6. Challenge Based on Certain Illegal Acts. - Any watcher may challenge any PDL voter offering to vote on the ground that he/she: a) Received or expects to receive, paid, offered or promised to pay, contributed, or promised to contribute money or anything of value as consideration for his/her vote or for the vote of another; or b) Made or received a promise to influence the giving or withholding of any such vote; or c) Made a bet or is interested directly or indirectly in a bet that depends upon the results of the election.

In such cases, the challenged PDL voter shall take an oath before the EB-PDL that he has not committed any of the acts alleged in the challenge. Upon taking such oath, the challenge shall be dismissed and the POL voter shall be allowed to vote. In case the PDL voter refuses to take such oath, the challenge shall be sustained and the PDL voter shall not be allowed to vote.

All challenges shall be recorded in the minutes including the action/s of the EB-PDL. SECTION 7. Rules to be Observed During the Voting. - During the voting, the EB-PDL shall see to it that: a) PDL voters shall vote in the order of the arrival of the PDL ballots per voting center; b) No watcher shall enter the place reserved for the PDL voters and the EB-PDL, nor mingle and talk with the PDL voters; c) No person carrying any firearm or any other deadly weapon, except officers and personnel of BJMP/BuCor/provincial jails and those expressly authorized by the Commission, shall enter the special polling place; and d) There shall be no crowding of PDL voters and disorderly behavior inside the special polling place.

SECTION 8. Prohibition on Voting. - It shall be unlawful for a PDL voter

RULE 5 ESCORTED PDL VOTING

Provided, that said PDL voters obtained court orders allowing them to vote in the poling place where they are registered .

Provided further, that it is logistically feasible on the part of the jail/ prison administration to escort the PDL voter Ito the polling place where he/she is registered.

Provided, finally, that reasonable measures shall be undertaken by the jail/prison administration to secure the safety of PDL voters, prevent their escape and ensure public safety.

SECTION 2. Applicability of the Temporary Restraining Order Issued by the Supreme Court - In case of an escorted PDL who personally appear to vote in the polling place, the Electoral Board (EB) shall instruct the PDL, in clear terms, that, pursuant to the TRO of the Supreme Court in Aguinaldo vs. National Bilibid Prison, et.al. (G.R. 221201), he or she can only vote for national candidates namely, candidates for the Senators and Parties and Organization under the Party-List System of Representation and not for the other positions.

SECTION 3. Express Lane for Escorted PDL Voters - PDL voters voting in their respective polling places shalll be given priority to vote.

When they reach their polling places, the escort together with the voter shall inform the Support Staff or the EB that the PDL is voting as such and the EB shall place the PDL voters in the priority/express lane.

SECTION 4. Jail/Prison Facility Escorts May Bear Arms. - To secure the PDL voter, the jail/prison facility escorts may bring firearms inside the polling place. Said escorts and PDLs shall immediately leave the polling place once the latter have finished voting .

RULE 6 COUNTING OF VOTES SECTION 1. - Scanning of PDL voters’ ballots from the special polling places. - The EB shall: a) Receive from the EB-PDL support staff the accomplished ballots by the PDL voters before the close of voting hours on the election day; b) Upon receipt of the sealed envelope containing the accomplished ballots, such fact shall be entered in the Minutes; c) Announce to the public that the accomplished ballots of PDL voters and torn unused ballots, if there are any, have been received. The EB shall also announce that pursuant to the TRO of the Supreme Court in Aguinaldo vs. National Bilibid Prison, et.al. (G.R. 221201), PDL voters can only vote for national candidates namely, candidates for Senators and Parties and Organization under the Party-List System of Representation and not for the other positions. d) Open the envelopes only when all the voters in the clustered precincts have finished votimg, or when the voting time has ended and there are no more voters within (30) meters of the polling place waiting to vote;

i. The EB-PDL shall ensure that a Itable shall be provided on which the envelopes (per precinct) are placed and in which POL voters insert their filled-up ballots; and

b. Speak with anyone other than as herein provided while inside the special polling place;

e) Examine each PDL voter’s ballot and separate those that contain votes for positions elected locally, that is, Representative, Governor, Vice-Governor, Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members, Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Sangguniang Panlungsod or Bayan Members (including Regional Governor, Vice-Governor, and Re!!lional Assemblymen for those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao);

ii. The EB-PDL shall post the PCVL ,for PDL voters near or at the door of the polling place.

c. Prepare his ballot without using the ballot secrecy folder or exhibit its contents;

f) Feed the ballots with the votes only for national positions or the ballots with no votes at all to the VCM;

Upon the arrival of the support staffs, the chairman of the EB-PDL (in the special polling places in jail/prison facility), in the presence of the other members shall open the same and count the number of ballots.

The time of arrival, name of voting center/s, the number of ballots and serial number of the paper seal of the envelope received shall be entered into the Minutes of Voting.

d. Fill his ballot accompanied by another, except in the case of an illiterate or PDL voter with disability/disabilities;

g) Ballots that contain votes for local positions shall be separated and not be fed to the VCM;

e. Erase any printing from the ballot, or put any distinguishing mark on the ballot;

h) Place the separated ballots referred to above back to the envelopes these were taken;

f. Use carbon paper, paraffin paper or other means of making a copy of the contents of the ballot, or otherwise make use of any scheme to identify his vote, including the use of digital cameras, cellular phones with camera or similar gadgets; and

i) Seal said envelopes and mark the same with the notation “POL voters” ballots with votes for local position/s,” and submit the same to the Election Officer;

The EB-PDL shall ensure that the special polling place in jail/prison facility is ready for the voting.

SECTION 3. Manner of Obtaining Ballots. The PDL voters shall vote in the order of arrival of the ballots from the voting centers. The voter shall: a) Look for his name in the PCVL-POL posted near the door of the voting center and determine his/her precinct number; b) Approach the EB-POL, give his/her name and address, together with the other data concerning his/her person; c) The EB-PDL shall verify if the name of the voter is in the PCVLPDL. If the name of the PDL voter is in the list, his/her identity shall then be established through the following: i. His/her photograph in the EOCVL-POL or any authentic documents/official records of the BJMP/BuCor/Provincial jails which may establish the POL’s identity except barangay certificate or community tax certificate. ii. In the absence of any of the above-mentioned proof of identity, any member of the EB-PDL may identify under oath a voter, and such act shall be reflected in the Minutes of Voting. iii. If the EB-PDL is satisfied with identity of the PDL voter, the name of the voter shall be distinctly announced in a tone loud enough to be heard throughout the polling place. Otherwise, the voter shall be directed to leave the polling place after informing him/ her the reason thereof. If the voter is not challenged, or having been challenged, the question has been decided in his favor, the voter shall be directed to the chairman of the EB-PDL. d) Before giving the ballot to the voter, the chairperson of the EBPDL shall: i. Check if any of the fingernails of the voter has already been stained with indelible ink. If stained, it shall be a conclusive presumption that he/she has already cast his vote. As such, the voter shall be directed to leave the polling place after informing him the reason thereof. This fact, including the name and the precinct of the voter, shall be recorded by the Poll Clerk in the Minutes of Voting; ii. After verifying that no finger nail has been stained , affix his/her signature in the EDCVL-PDL; iii. Authenticate the ballot by affixing his/her signature at the designated space at the front thereof; The failure to authenticate the ballot shall not invalidate the ballot but shall constitute an election offense. iv. Instruct the voter on how to fill-up the ballot properly; and v. Insert ,the ballot in the secrecy folder in such a manner that its face is covered, except the portion where his/her signature in the ballot appears, and give the ballot to the PDL voter.

Only the chairperson shall issue tille official ballots, and not more than, one (1) ballot shall be issued at one time.

SECTION 4. Manner of Voting. - Voting shall be conducted in the

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a. Bring the ballot, ballot secrecy folder or marking pen outside the polling place;

g. Intentionally tear or deface the ballot.

SECTION 9. Preparation of Ballots for PDL Voters who are Illiterate or with Disabilities. - Only PDL voters indicated in the EDCVL-PDL as illiterate or with disability/disabilities shall be allowed to vote as such. Said person may be assisted in the preparation of his ballot by any person who is a: a) Relative within fourth civil degree of consanguinity and affinity, if said relative is present in the jail premises; or b) Any member of the EB-PDL. All assistors must be of voting age.

No person may assist an illiterate person with disability/disabilities more than three (3) times, except the members of the EB-PDL. In all cases, the poll clerk shall first verify from the illiterate or PDL voter with disability/disabilities whether he/she had authorized the assistor to fill-up his/her ballot.

The assistor shall, in the presence of the illiterate or PDL voter with disability/disabilities, prepare the ballot using a ballot secrecy folder.

The assistor shall bind himself in writing and under oath to fill the ballot strictly in accordance with the instructions of the voter and not reveal the contents thereof, by affixing his signature in the appropriate space in the Minutes of Voting.

SECTION 10. Sealing of the Envelopes Per Precinct. - After all the PDL voters in a particullar precinct have already voted, the chairperson in the presence of the EB-PDL shall: a) Count the unused ballots, if there are any, and record in the Minutes of Voting the quantity of unused ballots indicating therein the Precinct ID of the ballots; b) Tear the unused ballots in half lengthwise and insert them in the envelopes containing the filled-up ballots; c) Close the envelope containing the filled-up ballots using a paper seal bearing the initials of the EB-PDL; and d) Hand the sealed envelope to the support staff for counting to the voting center.

j) One half of the torn unused ballots shall be placed inside the envelope for the purpose (CEF No. A 15) for submission to the Election Officer and the other half for the torn unused ballots inside the other envelope (CEF No. A 15) which will be deposited inside the ballot; and k) Enter such facts into the minutes.

SECTION 2. Disposition and Custody of the envelope containing PDL voters’ ballots with votes for local position/s - The envelope containing PDL voters’ ballots with votes for local position/s, if any, shall be handed over by the EB to the Election Officer, together with the other documents the EB is required to transmit. Said envelope shall then be transmitted, together with the other documents, to the COMELEC Manila for counting of the votes for national positions, if any, should appear in said ballots, an EB for counting (EB-C) shall be established for the purpose.

RULE 7 COUNTING AND CANVASSING SECTION 1. Electoral Board for Counting (EB-C). - The Persons Deprived of Liberly Voting Committee (PDLVC) may constitute as many EB-Cs for PDL voting as may be deemed necessary, to count the ballots of PDL voters with votes cast in favour of local candidates. The members of the EB-C shall be appointed by the PDLVC. To determine the number of EB-Cs to be constituted, the PDLVC shall use as basis the total number of PDFL voters at a ratio of four hundred (400) ballots per EB-C. The order of numbering of EB-C shall be determined through a raffle.

In case the PDLVC constituted more EB-Cs that what it is required, the EB-C ast in the order of numbering may be deactivated.

For every twenty (20) EB-Cs, if applicable, the Chairman of the PDLVC shall designate one (1) supervisor who shall supervise the counting, tabulation, preparation of Election Returns (ER) and other documents.

SECTION 2. Oath of Members of EB-C. - Before assuming their office, the chairperson and members of the EB-C shall take and sign an Oath (CEF NO. A5 & A5-A) before any ·officer authorized to administer oaths. Copies of the oath shall immediately be submitted to the PDLVC.

SECTION 11. Disposition of Election Documents. - The EB-PDL shall deliver to the Election Officer the PCVL-PDL, EDCVL-PDL and other election paraphernalia.

SECTION 3. Notice of Counting.- The PDL VC shall give notice to all senatorial candidates and party-list representatives, duly registered political parties or coalition of political parties which has nominated national candidates, sectors and organizations participating under the party list system, and accredited citizen ‘s arm of the date, time and place of counting, not later than May 7,2019.

SECTION 12. Counting of the PDL Voters’ Ballots. - The EB-PDL support staff shall ensure that all ballots of POL voters reach the regular polling places in the voting centers where POLs are registered before 6:00 P.M. on election day.

SECTION 4. Proceedings of the EB-C. - The EB-C shall meet at the place designated by the PDLVC at 1 :00 in the afternoon of May 15, 2019 to count the votes cast by the PDL voters and shall not adjourn until the counting is completed. AII proceedings of the EB-C shall be

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 Standard C4 TODAY Manila

done in public. It shall act through its chairperson and all questions presented before it shall be decided without dela’y by a majority vote of all members. During its meetings, not more than one (1) member shall be absent at the same time, and in no case shall such absence be for more thall twenty (20) minutes .

SECTION 5. Counting of votes to be public and without interruption. - The EB-C shall publicly count the votes cast and ascertain the results.

They shall not adjourn or postpone or delay the count until it has been fully completed or ordered otherwise by the Commission.

Any violation of this Section, or its pertinent portion, shall constitute an election offense and shall be penalized in accordance with BP. Big. 881, as amended.

SECTION 6. Preliminaries to the counting of votes. - The following activities shall be undertaken by the EB-Cs before counting the ballots cast: a) Unpack or remove the seal of the envelopes and take out all the ballots. b) Examine the ballots to determine whether there are torn/unused ballots. Torn/unused ballots shall not be read during the counting of votes. The envelope containing the excess and marked ballots shall be, signed and sealed by the members of the EB-C and shall be turned over to the PDLVC’s Reception and Custody Group. c) Pile all valid ballots in bundles of If our hundred (400) each.

SECTION 7. Appreciation of ballots. - In the appreciation of ballots, every ballot shall be presumed valid unless there is clear and good reason to justify its rejection. All entries in the ballot shall be presumed to have been filled out by the voter unless there is clear and good reason to consider it otherwise.

Any questions on the appreciation of ballots shall be decided by a majority of the members of the EB-C. A vote of two (2) members shall be considered the majority.

No watcher, candidate, or any other Iperson inside the polling place shall be allowed to participate in the appreciation of ballots, except that any watcher may file a protest which shali lbe recorded in the Minutes.

The EB-C shall only appreciate and count the votes for national positions These positions are limited to the following : 1)

Senators: and

2)

Part-List Groups/Coalitions

The EB-C shall observed the following rules for the appreciation of ballots bearing in mind that the objective of the election is to obtain the expression of tne voter’s will: a) The intent of the voter is expressed by fully shading the oval beside the name of the candidate. This is consistent with the instruction provided on the face of the ballot on how to vote; b) If the candidates voted for exceed the number of those to be elected, the ballot is valid, but the votes shall not be counted for any of the candidates for such position. This shall not, however, affect the validity of the votes in other positions. c) Marks encircling the ovals, showing that it is the intention of the voter to vote for the candidate corresponding to the oval shall be considered valid; d) Marks such as checks, crosses, etc., if such would clearly indicate that voter voted in that manner shall not invalidate the vote cast; e) Unnecessary marks outside of the oval such as but not limited to lines, circles, crossing-out of the names of the candidates, etc., that would give the impression that such were made in order to identify the ballot shall invalidate the vote; f)

When the oval beside the name of the candidate is not fully shaded, the EB-C shall consider the following points in appreciating the ballots: i.

Hesitation marks shall not be counted as valid vote. This refers to a mark in the ballot where the shade of the oval fails to meet at least 20% of the area of the oval, which includes a point or other marks, and is unique for a particular oval. In determining hesitation marks, the ES-C shall consider the manner of shading of the voter in other positions. In case of doubt, the ESC shall put all the matter on a vote.

ii. Improper marks on the oval using a cross, line, circles, check, or other marks apart from simply shading the entirely of the oval shall be considered as an expression of the will of the voter and shall be considered as a vote as long as the oval is sufficiently shaded; g) In, case the voter marked an oval and then subsequently crossed-out such oval or used other marks on the oval to show desistance from voting the candidate, it shall be considered as a valid withdrawal of tile vote; and h) Unless it shou’ld clearly appear that they have been deliberately put by the voter to serve as identification marks, marks outside of the oval shall not invalidate the ballot.

SECTION 8. Manner of counting of PDL Voters’ ballots. - The EB-C shall proceed with the counting as follows: a) The Chairperson, the Poll Clerk, and the Third Member shall position themselves in such way as to give the watchers and the public an unimpeded view of the ballot being read by the Chairperson, as well as of the election returns and Itally board being simultaneously accomplished by the Poll Clerk and the Third Member, respectively. b) The watchers and the public shall not touch any of the said election documents. The table shall bel cleared of all necessary writing paraphernalia. Any violation hereo~ shall constitute an election offense; c) The Chairperson of the EB-C shall take the ballots of the first pile one by one and determine whether there is an OVERVOTE in any of the positions voted for.

If there is none, the Chairperson of the EB-C shall proceed with the, reading of the names of the candidates voted for and the offices for which they were voted, as well as the name of the party, organization or coalition voted for under the party-list system, in the order in which they appear thereon.

If there is an OVERVOTE for certain position/s, the same shall not be counted but shall not invalidate the ballot and the votes for other positions. d) The Poll Clerk and the Third Member shall record simultaneously in the election returns and in the tally board, respectively, each vote as it is read. Each vote shall be recorded by a vertical line, except every fifth vote which shall be recorded by a diagonal line crossing the previous four vertical lines; e) The same pmcedure shall be followed with the succeeding piles of ballots, if any; and f)

The sub-total of votes in figures obtained by each candidate and party list candidate shall be recorded in the election returns and tally board after one hundlred (100) ballots are read.

canvassing center;

After the ballots have been read: a) Record, in words and in figures, th, e total number of votes obtained by each candidate and by each party, organization or coalition participating under the party-list system, both in the election returns and in the tally board;

4) The fourth copy, with attached copy of the SOVP/SSOV to the Chairperson of the BOC-PDL;

b) Ensure that the entries on the first copy of the election returns are clearly impressed on the other copies;

6) The sixth and seventh copies, to the representatives of two (2) of the six (6) major political parties in accordance with the voluntary agreement of the parties. If no such agreement is reached, the Commission shall decide which parties shall receive the copies of the Certificate of Canvass on the basis of the criteria provided in the Sec. 26 of RA 7166. The parties receiving the certificate shall have the obligation to furnish the other parties with authentic copies thereof with the least possible delay; and

5) The fifth copy, to the accredited citizen’s arm;

c) Close the entries by affixing their initials immediately after the last vote recorded or immediately after the name of the candidates who did not receive any vote; d) The Poll Clerk and the Third Member shall record in the election returns and in the tally board , respectively, the total number of votes obtained by each candidate and party-list candidate, in words and figures; e) Accomplish the certification portion of the election returns and tally board; f)

Require the watchers, if any, to affix their signatures and imprint their thumb marks on the right hand portion of the election returns and the tally board; and

g) Deposit the tally board in the envelope provided for that purpose.

The tally board as accomplished and certified by the EB-C, shall not be changed or destroyed.

The proceedings of the EB-C shall be recorded in the Minutes of Counting of Votes (CEF No. A11) to be accomplished in two (2) copies which shall be placed in separate sealed envelopes to be distributed as follows: a. b.

The first copy, to the Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD), this Commission; and

7) The eighth copy, to PDLVC’s Reception and Custody Group.

The copy of the COCV posted on the wall shall be open for public viewing at any time of the day for forty-eight (48) hours following its posting. Any person may view or capture an image of the COCV. After the prescribed period of the posting, the Chairperson of the BOC-PDL shall collect the posted COCV and keep the same in custody to be produced for image or data capturing as may be requested by any voter or for any lawful purpose as may be ordered by competent authority.

SECTION 18. Watchers. - During the counting and canvassing , each national candidate, duly registered political party or coalition of political parties which has nominated national candidates, sectors and organizations participating under the party . list system, and accredited citizen’s arm, shall be entitled to appoint, in writing, two (2) watchers serving alternately.

Civic, religious, professional , business, youth and any other similar organizations with prior authority from the Commission, shall collectively be entitled to appoint two (2) common watchers serving alternately.

RULE 8 FORMS,DOCUMENTS AND SUPPLIES

The second copy, to the PDLVC.

SECTION 9. Post-counting Procedures. - Upon termination of the counting of votes, the members of the EB-C shall: a) Place the counted official ballots in the envelope for counted ballots;

SECTION 1. Forms, documents and supplies - The following forms documents and supplies shall be provided for use on counting and canvassing: CEF NO.

FORMS AND SUPPLIES RATE OF DISTRIBUTION FORMS and SUPPLIES FOR ELECTION SBEI-C poster indicating Precinct A3 1 Piece number Appointment of Chairman/ A5 & A5-A Poll Clerk/Member of EB and 9 Pieces Support Staff 9 Election Returns 1 Set 10 Tally Board 1 Set Minutes of Voting and A11 1 set of 2 pieces Counting A12 Paper Seals 10 Pieces For election returns 8 Pieces For A18 and A18-A 2 Pieces A13 Certificates of Votes 10 Copies ENVELOPES 17, 17-A, 17B, 17-C,17-D, Envelope for Election Returns 1 set of 8 pieces 17-E, 17-F, 17-G Envelope for Minutes of Voting 18 & A18-A 1 set of 2 pieces and Counting of Votes A19 & A19-A Envelope for Key of Padlock 1 Piece OTHER FORMS Temporary Appointment of A30/A31 10 Pieces Chairman/Poll Clerk/Member Certificate of Challenge of A35 Protest and Decision of the 10 Pieces Board SUPPLIES FOR SBEI-C Ballpen 6 Pieces Rubber band 10 Pieces Bond paper 10 Pieces Packaging tape 1 Piece Thumbprint/Fingerprint Taker 1 Piece Marking pen (red) 2 Pieces Seal with steel sire 1 Piece Plastic Security Seal 5 Pieces Comelec Padlock with key 1 Piece Ballot boxes (AES) 1 Piece

b) Seal the envelope with paper seal land affix their signatures on the said paper seal; c) Deliver the envelope properly sealed and the eighth copy of the election returns to the PDLVCs Reception and Custody Group for custody and safekeeping; and d) Distribute the election returns in accordance with Section 10 hereof.

SECTION 10. Election Returns. - The election returns shall be prepared in eight (8) copies to be distributed as follows: a) The first copy, to be delivered to the Board of Canvassers for PDL Voters (BOC-PDL); b) The second copy, to the Commission through the Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD) c) The third copy, to the dominant majority party as determined by the Commission: d) The fourth copy, to the dominant minority party as determined by the Commission; e) The fifth copy, to the accredited citizen‘s arm; f)

The sixth copy, to be posted on a wall within the premises of the counting center;

g) The seventh copy, to PDLVC’s Reception and Custody Group; and h) The eight copy, to the chairperson of the EB-C. The copy of the election returns posted on the wall shall be open for public viewing at any time of the day for forty-eight (48) hours following its posting. Within the said period of time, any person may view or capture an image of the election returns.

After the prescribed period for posting, the Chairpersons of the EB-C shall collect the posted election returns and keep the same in their custody to be produced for image or data capturing as may be requested by any voter or for any lawful purposes as may be ordered by competent authority.

SECTION 11. Honorarium of the EB-C- The chairman, members and support staff of the EB-C shall each receive honoraria and service credits (excluding travel and communication allowance) as provided for under Section 32-37 of Resolution No. 10460 dated December 6, 2018.

SECTION 12. Board of Canvassers for PDL (BOC-PDL) - A Board of Canvassers for PDL (BOC-PDL)shall be iconstituted to be composed of ranking lawyers of the Commission and whose appointment shall be issued by the Chairperson of the PDLVC not later than May 6, 2019, SECTION 13. Honorarium of the BOC-PDL- The members of the BOC-PDL shall receive honorarium of Ten Thousand Pesos (PHP 10,000,00) each. The tabulators and the m:embers of the I Reception and Custody Group shall receive honorarium of Five ifhousand Pesos (PHP 5,000,00) each.

SECTION 14. Notice of Canvass- For the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections, the Chairperson of the, BOC-PDL shall give notice to its members, all presidential, vice-presidential, senatorial candidates, duly registered political party or coalition of political parties which has nominated national candidates, sectors and organizations participating under the party-list system, and accredited citizen’s arm of the date, time, and place of canvass, at lease five (5) days before the day of the election.

SECTlON 15. Tabulation Group- The BOC-PDL shall constitute a Tabulation Group, composed of two (2) members, which shall be under its direct supervision and control.

The Tabulation Group shall compute the sub-total of the Statement of Votes prepared by the BOC-PDL, The name of each tabulator and serial number of the Statement of Votes assigned to them for tabulation shall be properly recorded in the minutes of the proceedings.

RULE 9 MISCELLANEOUS SECTION 1. Campaign- Candidates shall be allowed to campaign inside detention centers during the campaign period provided that they shall be subjected to the existing .rules and regulations of the BJMP/ BuCor/Provincial jails and the COMELEC. SECTION 2. Use of the Term “PDL” - The use of the term “detainee” in any rules and regulations, forms and other documents previously issued shall be read as “PDL”, in so far as the same is not inconsistent hereto.

SECTION 3. Applicability of other COMELEC Rules- Rules and Regulations promulgated by the Commission in connection with the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections are, as far as applicable, hereby adopted, incorporated and made integral parts of this resolution.

SECTION 4. Effectivity - This Resolution shall take effect immediately after its publication in two (2) daily newspapers of general publication in the Philippines.

SECTION 5. Publication and Dissemination- Let the Education and Information Department (EID), this Commission, cause the publication of this Resolution in two (2) daily newspapers of ~eneral circulation in the Philippines.

The PDLVC immediately furnish copies hereof to the Department of Education, Commissiorn on Human Rights, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Corrections and all departments and agencies or instrumentalities of the national government, and all Regional Election Directors, Provincial Election Supervisors of the Commission, who shall in turn furnish copies thereof to their respective Election Officers.

SO ORDERED.

The tabulators shall affix their signatures above their printed names and imprint their thumb marks on the certification portion of the Statement of Votes.

SECTION 16. Convening of BOC-PDL - The BOC-PDL shall convene at 1:00 in the afternoon May 16, 2019 in a place designated by the Chairman of the PDL VC and proceed with the canvass of the election returns submitted to it by the EB-Cs, It shall not adjourn until the canvass is completed.

SECTION 17. Certificate of Canvass of Votes (COCV) - The BOCPDL shall prepare the Certificate of Canvass of Votes (COCV) in eight (8) copies for distribution as follows: 1) The first copy, with attached copy of the Statement of Votes by Precinct (SOVP)/Summary Statement of Votes (SSOV), to the Commission En Banc sitting as the National Board of Canvasses for use in the canvass of the election results for Senators and Party-List representatives; 2) The second copy, wit attached copy of the SOVP/SSOV to the Commission thru the ERSD; 1

3) The third copy, to be posted on a wall within the premises of the

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An Act Strengthening the Bureau pf Corrections (BuCor) and Providing Funds Therefor.

General Instructions for the Electoral Boards (EBs) on the Process of Voting, Counting and Transmission of Election Results in Connection with the 13 May 2019 National and Local / Elections.

(MS-JAN. 17, 2019)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK