Manila Standard - 2019 February 1 - Friday

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Pinay convict executed in Saudi

By Rey E. Requejo

A 39-YEAR-OLD Filipina domestic convicted of murder was executed in Saudi Arabia Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

“The department regrets that it was not able to save the life of the Filipina after the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council classified her case as one in which blood mon-

VOL. XXXII • NO. 351 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

ey does not apply under Shariah law,” the DFA said in a statement, referring to the compensation that is paid to the family of murder victims in the hope that the death penalty will not be carried out.

The DFA declined to identify the Filipina’s identity, citing her family’s request for privacy.

It said the Philippine Embassy had Next page

300 families flee as troopers clash with Ajang-Ajang

By Francisco Tuyay

NONSTOP GUN BURSTS.

Government troops and members of the Abu Sayyaf-affiliated Ajang-Ajang, blamed by authorities for the bomb attack on a Catholic cathdral in Joly that killed at least 21 on Sunday, exchange inccessant gunfire Thursday in Patikul, Sulu, sending almost 900 people fleeing from their homes.

AFP WestMinCom

FIGHTING broke out between government troops and members of the Abu Sayyaf-affiliated Ajang-Ajang in Patikul, Sulu Thursday morning, sending more than 300 families fleeing from their homes.

Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said the fighting broke out after troops from the Joint Task Force Sulu encountered 20 members of the Ajang-Ajang, which has been blamed for the bomb attack on a Catholic church in Jolo that killed 21 people and wounded scores of others on Sunday.

While the soldiers moved quietly closer to the bandits’ position, gunfire broke out and a battle ensued.

The ground troops were supported by artillery and airstrikes before the terrorists withdrew.

Besana said the Scout Rangers were continuing the pursuit of the Ajang-Ajang bandits, who were hiding to avoid direct confrontation with the pursuing government forces.

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2 Zambo blast suspects eyed Cops looking at factional strife; Palace eases fears

Bangladesh vows to sue PH bank over $81-m heist DHAKA, Bangladesh—Bangladesh will Wednesday file a lawsuit in New York against a Philippine bank over its involvement in one of the biggest-ever cyber heists, the country’s central bank governor said.

Unidentified hackers stole $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank’s account with the US Federal Reserve in New York in February 2016.

The money was then transferred to a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., swiftly withdrawn and laundered through local casinos.

A case will be filed against RCBC and “all others” involved in the heist to try and retrieve the stolen funds, Bangladesh central bank governor Fazle Kabir told AFP. An agreement between the bank and the US Federal Reserve in New York had been signed to assist Dhaka in the case, he added.

Bangladesh has sent a legal team to New York and is prepared to fight for the money to be returned, Kabir told reporters in the capital Dhaka.

The Philippines in 2016 imposed a record $21 million fine on RCBC after investigating its role in the audacious cyber heist.

The bank has rejected the allegations and in 2017 accused Bangladesh’s central bank of a “massive coverup.”

This month former-RCBC manager Maia Deguito was handed a lengthy jail term and $109 million in fines in the first conviction over the massive theft.

Deguito, who was a branch manager where the money landed, was accused of coordinating the illegal transfer.

She plans to appeal and can remain free on bail until the conviction is finalized.

Deguito is the only person who has been convicted in the case, drawing international concern.

Next page

By Francisco Tuyay

AMBOANGA City police have identified two persons of interest in the grenade attack on the Kamardikaan mosque that killed two Tabligh missionaries and wounded four others on Wednesday.

Z IMMACULATE BLESSING. Snow covers new cars parked in a giant parking lot at the International Car Operator terminal in Zeebrugge on Wednesday prior to their being shipped. ICO is a giant global leader in handling roll on-roll off vehicles from cargo to storing new cars. AFP

House, Senate agree to break budget impasse

By Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATORS and congressmen have agreed to limit budget realignments to P2100 billion in the hopes of approving the P3.757trillion 2019 national budget by Feb. 6.

The members of the bicameral conference committee on the 2019 national

budget were able to break a budget impasse during their meeting at the Manila Polo Club Wednesday night.

“Feb. 6 is the deadline. Contrary to some rumormongers that we will operate under a reenacted [budget], we have been saying since Day 1, we will have a new budget” said Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., chairman of the House

committee on appropriations and head of the House contingent in the bicameral conference committee.

The committee is now working on where the P200 billion will come from and where it will go.

Earlier, Andaya disclosed that the Senate made P190 billion in “insertions” Next page

Cops issue sketch of suspect in Beltran slay THE Quezon City Police District on Thursday released the facial composite illustration of one of the suspects in the fatal attack on Barangay Silangan chairman Crisell “Beng” Beltran, who was running for Congress.

Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr. said police investigators interviewed eyewitnesses who described one of the suspects and that resulted in a

facial composite illustration.

In other developments: • The Commission on Elections on Thursday expressed alarm over the spate of fatal attacks against candidates in midterm elections in May. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said some 10 candidates had fallen prey to such attacks over the past five months.

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The Palace, meanwhile, allayed fears that the attack on the mosque and the bombing of a Catholic church three days before would be used as a pretext to expand martial law, which is in effect in Mindanao.

“There is no necessity for any expansion of martial law, as the President has repeatedly declared,” said Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, who added that there has been no spillover of violence to other parts of the country.

Three days after the Jan. 27 Jolo Cathedral bombing that left 21 people dead and 112 others wounded, a grenade hurled by unidentified men exploded inside the Kamardikaan mosque, killing two transient missionaries and wounding four of their companions early Wednesday.

In a TV interview, Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde said the men who attacked the mosque had shot out the light from the nearby lamp post before throwing the grenade.

He added that one possible motive for the attack was an internal conflict among religious factions in Basilan.

Like Panelo, Albayalde said he doubted if martial law would be expanded to cover the rest of the country, noting that “there is no threat outside Mindanao.”

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Pope makes history with UAE visit

Trump has God on his side—Saunders

Early El Niño onset feared

VATICAN City—When Francis becomes the first pope to visit the Arabian peninsula on Sunday, he takes another important step in his efforts to build bridges with Islam and confirms interreligious dialogue as a keystone of his Next page papacy.

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has plenty of detractors, but for spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, he has support from above.

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think

EL NIÑO has a 70 to 80 percent chance of emerginginthefirstquarteroftheyear,the weather bureau says.

El Niño is a weather pattern associated with reduced rainfall, dry spells and droughts. These phenomena have been

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News

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

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Palace urged to oppose China center

By Nat Mariano

T

HE Philippines should be thankful that China has built a maritime rescue center in the Philippine-claimed Kagitingan Reef, the Palace said Thursday, insisting that Beijing’s facilities would not affect the Philippines’ claim to the West Philippine Sea.

“Maybe we should be thankful. I share the sentiment of Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that it could help distressed seamen in that area. It could help everybody,” Panelo said.

“The position of the Department of National Defense is it will do nothing because it’s even helpful. It’s a distress center, this means it can assist those who need help in that region.”

Panelo also downplayed the fact that Beijing has erected a facility in the country’s territory, insisting that China’s distress center, which is located in the country’s territory, was “not bad.”

“Personally, I don’t think establishing a distress center is bad. [It’s not bad] because it will be helping everybody in distress,” Panelo said.

But he said China should have asked

the permission of the Philippine government, adding that the government would only move if it saw inconsistencies with the announcement of China.

“We will give them the benefit of the doubt. If we see anything that will be inconsistent with what they are saying, then we will make our [move],” Panelo said.

“Of course, the government will always protest anything that intrudes into our sovereignty.”

Pressed about the issue, Panelo admitted he did not know if the government was aware of the launching of the rescue center before a report from the state-run Chinese news outfit Xinhua.

He also deferred to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., but the country’s top diplomat has yet to release a statement.

Cops...

From A1

• The Palace on Thursday condemned the recent killing of a leftist peace consultant and a village chief in Quezon City, urging the authorities to conduct a swift investigation on the incidents.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Palace was extending its sympathies to the families of National Democratic Front peace consultant Randy Malayao and Barangay Bagong Silangan captain Crisell Beltran.

“There can be no act of violence against anyone regardless of whether they agree with the government or not. We belong to the same ideology or religious belief. We will never tolerate any unlawful killing in this country,” Panelo told reporters.

• The Commission on Elections on Thursday released a final list of 63 senatorial candidates, which includes a former senator facing perpetual disqualification.

The list, which will be printed on the official ballots starting Feb. 7, was down from 76 following the removal of 13 names earlier considered as “nuisance” candidates.

The Comelec also gave 134 party-list groups the go-signal to participate in the May elections, with the leftist Bayan Muna occupying the No. 1 slot on the ballot.

• The Commission on Elections warned it will disqualify the senatorial candidates who will defy the poll body’s call to pull down their billboards in time for the start of the campaign period on Feb. 12.

Jimenez said they will conduct “Operation Baklas” to remove the big billboards and posters put up either by the candidates’ supporters or their camps.

“We will not announce the schedule of our operation to see if anyone of the national bets will comply with the poll body’s campaign rule,” he said.

Based on the description of one of the eyewitnesses, one of the suspects was described to be in his 40s, 5’4” to 5’5” tall, slim, fair complexioned, and black hair and wore long sleeves, a black jacket and long pants.

Police are now reviewing other closed circuit television recordings to help establish the identities of the suspects.

Esquivel has formed task group Beltran, led by deputy district director for operations Sr. Supt. Erson Digal, to lead the investigation.

He announced that the city government had raised the reward money from P3 million to P5 million.

Rio N. Araja, Nat Mariano and Vito Barcelo

But Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio said the Philippines should protest China’s building activities on Fiery Cross Reef, locally known as the Kagitingan Reef, in the West Philippine Sea. Carpio, a known advocate of Manila’s rights in the disputed waters, said the Philippine government should file a note verbale over China’s building of a maritime rescue center on the reef.

“That’s an exercise of administration

and we should contest that because under our law that’s Philippine territory,” Carpio told reporters.

“If a foreign country will say ‘we will use this as a rescue center,’ it should not do without our approval because that’s ours, so we should protest,” Carpio said.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo echoed the previous stance of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that the reported rescue hub might even aid Filipino seafarers in distress.

2 Zambo...

Senate makes a pitch for motorcycle taxis

In President Rodrigo Duterte’s bailiwick of Davao City, the military and local government units will enforce a “no backpack” police for churchgoers, to prevent terrorists from sneaking explosives into places of worship.

The policy is in line with a measure suggested by Archbishop Romulo Valles in the wake of the bomb attack in Jolo.

“We appreciate the advisory and directive of the Catholic Church and Davao City as it strengthens the implementation of martial law in Davao City,” said Eastern Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen. Felimon Santos Jr. “It provides our implementing units additional legal basis and authority in preventing terrorism, and ensuring the safety and well being of our people. We want to assure everyone that our soldiers assisting the police will be prudent in the conduct of implementation of the policy.”

THE Senate on Thursday urged the Transport department to give ride-hailing service Angkas provisional authority to operate while lawmakers are moving to craft a law allowing motorcycle taxis to be considered public transportation for hire.

In a Senate Hearing on motorcycle taxis sponsored by the Senate Committee on Public Services, Senator Ralph Recto said the provisional authority to operate would allow lawmakers to monitor and assess the service.

Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the public services committee, recommended that the department come up with an order to regulate motorcycle taxis in the meantime.

“We will definitely strengthen it by supplementing it with a law,” Poe said.

She gave the department 30 days to come up with the order.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has approved on second reading a consolidated bill allowing the use of motorcycles as alternative public utility vehicles.

House Bill 8959 amends Republic Act 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, to make travel faster.

Once the bill becomes law, motorcycle taxis such as Angkas and HabalHabal will be allowed to operate.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, one of the bill’s principal authors and chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila development, welcomed the bill approval.

Poe earlier filed Senate Resolution 993 urging the committee to conduct an in-

quiry in aid of legislation on the possibility of allowing motorcycle taxis to operate as public transportation for hire.

P.S. Resolution 993, written by Poe herself, has the goal of amending Republic Act 4136, also known as the Land Transportation and Traffic Code. The resolution also urges the committee to formulate rules ensuring the safety of the riding public and motorcycle riders.

In the resolution, Poe noted the “horrendous traffic” in Metro Manila and all other cities in the country, as well as the increasing prices of petroleum products.

“It is understandable that Filipino commuters, motorists and entrepreneurs relying on transportation would explore other more speedy, convenient and cheap modes of transportation,” Poe said. Maricel V. Cruz

300 families...

House, Senate...

From A1

Earlier, the Palace rejected a proposal from Senate President Vicente Sotto III to implement a reenacted budget for 2019 amid alleged insertions of pork barrel in the 2019 spending plan.

“A reenacted budget as a result of a budget impasse would hurt our economy,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo said a reenacted budget would be “fatal” to the country’s growth, saying that the economic managers are estimating a loss of 1 to 2.3 percentage points in the full-year gross domestic product if the Congress fails to pass the 2019 budget.

Panelo said the administration’s flagship “Build, Build, Build” projects would be delayed, hurting thousands of workers.

“The ordinary Filipino would be the one greatly affected as there would be fewer openings of employment, not to mention lesser work productivity for those employed as a result of delays in the completion of badly needed transport and road network [improvements],” he said.

“Programs of various departments this year intended for poverty reduction, health promotion, and peace and security advancement, to mention a few, would be inevitably affected as

well,” he added.

He then called on the Congress to pass the 2019 General Appropriations Act, saying the Palace “eagerly awaits” its passage.

“We are appreciative of the statement made by some members of the bilateral committee that it will endeavor to pass the general appropriations bill next week. The executive branch has already done its part in the budgeting process, we eagerly await Congress to complete the process,” he said.

Frustrated over the alleged irregularities on the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget, Sotto had earlier said he would recommend a reenacted budget for the entire 2019, saying he would ask Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate budget committee, to withdraw the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2019.

But in a Palace press briefing Thursday, Panelo said Legarda already declined the move to have a reenacted budget.

Last year, the House of Representatives suspended budget deliberations because of lawmakers’ opposition to the cash-based budgeting and the socalled last-minute insertions allegedly prepared by the executive.

“We lose the argument of respecting our culture which abhors the taking of a human life by a cold formal state justice system when we believe that a state exists to protect life,” he said in a Twitter post.

The Palace said the government “tried very hard” to save the overseas Filipino worker, and expressed its condolences to the family of the household worker who was found guilty of murder in 2015.

In previous cases, Filipino prisoners in the oil-rich kingdom were saved from the death row by paying blood money to the families of people they had killed in

self-defense.

In 2014, Carlito Lana was beheaded for shooting a Saudi national and running him over with a car.

Saudi authorities then executed Filipino construction worker Joselito Zapanta the next year for killing his Sudanese employer.

A report released last year by the Philippine Statistics Authority shows a quarter of the 2.3 million Filipino workers abroad were in Saudi Arabia, making the oil-rich kingdom the top job destination. With Nat Mariano

The theft exposed the Philippines as a haven for dirty money, where some of the world’s strictest bank secrecy laws protect account holders from scrutiny.

The hackers bombarded the US Federal Reserve with dozens of transfer requests, attempting to steal a further $850 million.

But the bank’s security systems and typing errors in some requests prevented the full theft.

The hack took place on a Friday, when Bangladesh’s central bank is closed. The Federal Reserve is closed on Saturday and Sunday, slowing the response.

The US Federal Reserve, which manages the Bangladesh central bank account, has denied its own systems were breached. AFP

months of 21 to 60 percent rainfall reduction, while drought is either a dr y spell that extends to f ive months―or at least a 60-percent rainfall reduction for three consecutive months.

Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Bukidnon, Basilan, Maguindanao and Sulu are experiencing a

dry spell, while Ilocos Norte, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur are coping with a drought, climate monitoring chief Analiza Solis told DZMM. By the end of March, Abra, Bataan, Palawan, Ilocos Sur and Zambales may also experience drought, she said.

El Niño, triggered by periodic

warming in the eastern Pacific Ocean, could last for five months to two years, Solis said.

The weather pattern generally results in reduced rainfall.

El Niño also causes tropical cyclones to become erratic, pushing their track northwards and making them stronger, the weather bureau said.

From A1

From A1

Two days after the bomb attack in Jolo, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the military to pulverize the Abu Sayyaf.

A day earlier, one Ajang-Ajang bandit was killed in a shootout with army troopers in Barangay Latih.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Benjamin Madrigal has reinforced troops in Sulu in a bid to crush the ASG. The entire Sulu has been sealed off to deny the terrorists food and armaments.

A GMA News report said families who fled the fighting took shelter in neighboring towns of Jolo and Indanan.

Many evacuees left town in vehicles, but some reportedly set out on foot to reach locations up to seven hours away just to get away from the fighting, GMA News reported.

Police in Sulu said four people who were seen in CCTV footage outside the church on the day of the bombing were deemed to be innocent, after they surrendered to clear their names.

“They were removed as persons of interest in connection with the bombing incident in Jolo, Sulu. Yesterday, they freely went to the police station to give their sworn statement that they were not involved in the incident,” Senior Supt. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesman, said Thursday.

He said the four were immediately released upon verification of their statements.

Also on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the Chinese embassy in Manila is donating about P38.9 million to the victims of Sunday’s bomb attack in Jolo, Sulu.

In a tweet on his official account, Locsin thanked Ambassador Zhao Jianhua for the assistance, noting that “a friend in our grief is a friend indeed.”

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier extended his condolences to the Philippine government in a letter sent to Locsin and reaffirmed Beijing’s resolve against all forms of terrorism.

On Wednesday, Hungary also extended 10 million forints (about P1.89 million) to those affected by the blasts. With PNA

Pope...

From A1

In the long, complicated and often bloody history of papal relations with the Muslim world, Argentine pontiff Jorge Bergoglio stands out for his fraternal language and broader desire to reach out across religious divides.

Pope Francis said he was looking to write a new page in relations between religions with his visit to the United Arab Emirates.

“I am happy... to write on your dear land a new page in the relations be-

compared to the P51 billion by the House of Representatives.

“I am happy that we can reach an agreement, Andaya said Thursday.

At the same time, Andaya and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon have sought to extend for two years the validity of the 2019 national budget or the obligation-based budgeting system, junking Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s cash-based budgeting system.

They said 2019 is an election year where the ban on the release of public funds will be imposed, affecting the implementation of projects.

“There is no legal basis for this cashbased budget, and the implementing agencies have spoken that it will cause more harm than good. COA [Commission on Audit] has also said that it will result in accumulation of accounts payable,” Andaya said.

“I propose that we abandon this cashbased system and make the life of the appropriations for capital outlay and maintenance and other operating expenses active for two years,” he added.

Pinay...

From A1

provided her with a lawyer to assist her in all stages of the trial, sent representatives to visit her, and gave her family in the Philippines regular updates about her case.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the recent execution was one reason the Philippines should not reinstate the death penalty as the administration wants to do.

Early...

From A1

observed in several provinces in Luzon and Mindanao from September last year to mid-January 2019.

The weather bureau def ines dr y spell as three consecutive tween religions, confirming that we are brothers although different,” he said in a video message to the Emirati people released Thursday.

Francis has made boosting ties between Christianity and Islam a cornerstone of his papacy.

“Pope Francis is different from his predecessor Benedict XVI because he prefers interpersonal encounters to theological subtleties,” said Valentino Cottini who teaches Islamic-Christian relations at the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in Rome.

Retired German pope Benedict XVI, a theologian, spoke the most about Is-

lam, giving 188 speeches on the subject.

But years of glacial relations followed his decision to quote a XIVth century Byzantine emperor who spoke of “the evil and inhuman things” brought by Prophet Mohammed.

He insisted the comment during a 2006 speech at Regensburg in Germany did not reflect his own views, but the damage was done and street protests erupted in the Muslim world.

be welcomed, many of whom are Muslim, have helped win him support from the community, just as when he brought three Muslim families back on the papal plane from the Greek island of Lesbos.

In 2016 and 2017, the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics met with the imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s highest body, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb.

Tayeb, an Islamic philosophy lecturer critical of jihadists who draw inspiration from hardline salafism, will again ‘Dialogue or war’ Pope Francis, however, avoids ana- meet with the pope on Monday in the lyzing the Koran.

United Arab Emirates for an internaHis constant appeals for refugees to tional interreligious meeting. AFP

Bangladesh...

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Trump...

From A1

that he wanted Donald Trump to become president,” Sanders says in an interview to be aired by the Christian Broadcasting Network.

CBN journalist David Brody tweeted Sanders’ claim after the interview was taped.

Trump, a Republican, has strong backing from the politically influential US evangelical movement, which early on decided to overlook multiple lurid reports regarding his private life.

News Revilla camp told to answer court motion

By Maricel V. Cruz THE Sandiganbayan’s First Division on Thursday asked the camp of former Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. 20 days to comment on the prosecution’s motion that he owes the government millions of pesos due to his dismissed plunder case.

The court believes Revilla is still allegedly liable, along with plunder convicts businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles and lawyer Richard Cambe, to return to the government some P124.5 million.

Revilla’s lead counsel, lawyer Estelito Mendoza, welcomed the anti-graft court’s order, saying the 20-day period will allow them to respond to the motion.

After granting the request, Sandiganbayan First Division chairperson Associate Justice Efren dela Cruz ordered the prosecution to comment 10 days upon filing of Revilla’s response.

Earlier, the prosecution said the Sandiganbayan ruling purportedly did not specify Revilla is free of any civil liability after he was acquitted from plunder case last December. “[The decision was] based merely on reasonable doubt and not due to the absolute failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt,” said the prosecution.

“Had the Court wanted to exclude Revilla, it could have simply and easily named Cambe and Napoles in the third paragraph, as it did in the first paragraph. It would not have used the collective term accused without exception and distinction,” said the prosecution.

But Ramon Esguerra, Revilla’s lawyer, expressed belief that the senatorial candidate was not among those “accused” in the plunder case that were ordered by Sandiganbayan First Division to return to the government some P124.5 million.

Esguerra said Revilla was acquitted for failure of the prosecution to present enough evidence.

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Gordon blasts ‘absentee’ senators S

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

ENATOR Richard Gordon hit some members of both the Senate Minority Bloc and Senate bloc, especially reelectionists, for their absences which he claimed have been causing the delay in the enactment into law of some important legislative measures.

He also expressed sympathy towards Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, who was usually left alone in interpellating a proposed bill.

“We have not tackled the minimum age for criminal responsibility or liability, but we can do that on Monday.

Unfortunately, the minority leader has gone and I really feel for him,” said Gordon after delivering his sponsorship

speech on Senate Bill 2195.

The bill seeks to authorize courts to require community service instead of imprisonment as penalties for arrested minors or those of legal age.

After his speech, he asked for a manifestation from Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III before strongly criticizing his colleagues.

“It’s a pity that Frank Drilon is al-

ways alone when we have other minority senators. Our jobs here in the Senate were delayed. We are sacrificing here, the Senate president, the majority floor leader, and me,” he said.

Gordon said that while they work until night time, others were not around which resulted to their failure to pass laws in the Senate.

“Sinasabi ko lang ho yan. Eh batobato sa langit ang tamaan huwag magagalit,” he said.

Gordon said that if other minority senators would attend the Senate sessions, they can help Drilon whom he described as already growing old. He added that the Senate might also be blamed if something bad happens to Drilon.

Aside from the measures that cannot be immediately addressed, Gordon said

Solon backs call to expand airports’ capacity TWG created to assess Ro-Ro routes sales

public funds paid to senators to craft and pass laws were being wasted.

“So if that’s the case, we cannot achieve something here. We will be questioning the quorum. I don’t want to raise that Mr. President because that is tradition and that is part of our rules,” he said.

In appealing to everyone concerned, Gordon reminded them to go slow. He said the Senate is a place where debate is necessary.

“Whether you vote, disagree with the proposal coming out of a committee, you should allow it to find air in the Senate. It is there where we can debate,” said Gordon.

In further attacking “absentee senators,” the veteran lawmaker urged them not to run in the Senate if they don’t want to debate.

PRACTICE BY THE BAY. Martial arts enthusiasts practice their routines in a portion of Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard, which is currently undergoing massive rehabilitation. Ey Acasio

By Maricel V. Cruz

A PARTY-LIST lawmaker today joined the call of House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to expand the passenger capacity of airports that are operating way beyond their capacity.

Rep. Jesulito Manalo of ANGKLA party-list made the call during the Transportation Oversight Committee hearing called by Speaker Arroyo to address the reported congestion of airports particularly in Iloilo, Bacolod and Cagayan De Oro, airports that were built during her presidency.

Manalo said the Iloilo International Airport was built with a capacity of 1.2 million per year but is now operating with 2.4-million passengers.

The Bacolod Silay Airport, meanwhile, has a capacity of 1.2-million passengers but is now accepting 1.6-million passengers per year while the Laguindingan Airport in Cagayan De Oro has a 1.6-million capacity but is now accommodating 2.4-million passengers.

He pointed out that the three airports have asked for a combined budget of P2.955 billion (Iloilo airport for P855 million, Bacolod for P850 million and CDO for P1.3 billion). But under the proposed 2019 budget, airport expansion was only given a P90million budget.

Manalo said that the inconsequential budget given to the country’s airports is lamentable considering the P70-billion allotted by the Department of Budget of Management for departments without their knowledge.

THE House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation, has created a technical working group to assess the status of Roll-On Roll-Off Port System missionary routes.

The TWG, to be chaired by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, would oversee the Maritime Industry Authority as it acts on the committee’s suggestion

to sell to the private sector the RO-RO routes that are not being plied.

Arroyo launched the RO-RO system during her presidency in 2003, which connected the three main islands of the Philippines, making travel faster and increasing trading among provinces.

Arroyo wants the RO-RO system to be revitalized and expanded to further spur growth in the regions.

During the House transportation

committee meeting chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, last Wednesday, MARINA OIC Administrator Vice Admiral Narciso Vingson Jr. said the agency has identified 21 missionary RORO routes that may be sold to private operators.

He assured the panel that MARINA will issue an advisory to the private sector to inform them of the availability of the routes.

PARTNERSHIP.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency led by Director General Aaron Aquino with Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero renewed their partnership to prevent the entry of illegal drugs and controlled chemicals and substances into the country during the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement held at the PDEA office in Quezon City.

Manny Palmero

DENR creates four NCR field offices

By Rio N. Araja THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Thursday created four field offices in the National Capital Region to strengthen the enforcement of environmental laws in the region, home to over 12-million people.

Secretary Roy Cimatu said the initiative is also part of the Duterte administration’s ongoing effort to make government services more accessible to the people, particularly those in Metro Manila.

“The creation of the four field offices in the DENR-NCR aims to strengthen the enforcement of environment and natural resources laws and promote focused and area-based operations,” Cimatu’s Administrative Order No. 2019-02 read.

“Thus, this brings the programs, projects, and services of the department closer to the public.”

The new field offices would enhance coordination between the DENR, other government agencies and the 17 local government units in the metro tasked by the Supreme Court to clean-up the heavily polluted Manila Bay. The DENR-North Metro Manila field office would cover the cities of Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Navotas.

Health advocates to reject sin tax hike below P60 Greggy’s properties ordered released

HEALTH advocates will reject “anything” below the P60 increase in the sin tax on cigarettes based on the proposal by Senator Manny Pacquiao, citing the Department of Finance preliminary model.

The DOF model states that any rate below P73.30 will not produce significant impact on the demand for tobacco products.

However, PhilHealth Independent director Dr. Anthony Leachon considered as “a sweet spot” the P70.00 rate proposed by Senator Win Gatchalian.

During the second hearing of the Senate ways and means committee chaired

by Sen. Sonny Angara, Gatchalian asked how much the government collects to treat tobacco-related diseases.

Leachon said this question highlighted the low sin tax collections compared to the costs that the country incurs.

He cited a study of Fajutrao and Dans in 2017, which placed the economic burden from four tobacco-related diseases at P210 B. He noted that this is much higher than the P124-billion yearly collections from sin taxes.

Pacquiao said taxing tobacco—a highly addictive substance—will protect the youth and help raise revenues for health.

“We want the youth to stop smoking.

We are also thinking of the [tobacco] farmers. We are likewise thinking how to generate revenues for the government and avoid deaths among Filipinos [due to smoking],” Pacquiao said.

Leachon said the Philippines is the seventh lowest in terms of tax burden for tobacco products which makes cigarette prices cheaper than our neighbors.

Advocates of raising tobacco tax expressed alarm on the reported 17,000 new cases of lung cancer in 2018 which translates to 1,400 lung cases a month or 50 lung cases per day. Macon Ramos-Araneta

THE sequestered properties of Gregorio “Greggy” Araneta III, son-in-law of the late President Ferdinand Marcos were ordered release by the 4th Division of the Sandiganbayan.

The propetries include the North Express Transport Inc., IMEXCO Enterprises Inc., Golden Needle Inc., High Five Philippines Inc., and the Philippine Semi-Conductor Devices Inc. Sandiganbayan granted the decision on Jan. 14 after Araneta filed a motion to release the sequestered properties.

In 2005, the Sandiganbayan issued a

resolution granting all the demurrers in the case except the one filed by former First Lady Imelda Marcos.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government immediately brought the case to the Supreme Court by filing a petition for review, arguing that the determination whether the properties were part of the ill-gotten wealth of the former dictator will be made only after there is a final adjudication on the case.

In 2012, the Supreme Court affirmed the Sandiganbayan resolution.

A4

Opinion

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Mislatel’s mission MISLATEL (Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co.) promises to be the best telco network in the Philippines.

It is a big promise given than there is no such economic animal in the country today— given the bad service, bad network, bad internet speed, and bad and atrocious rates of the telecom duopoly of Smart/PLDT of the Manuel V. Pangilinan-Salim of Indonesia group, and Globe Telecom of Ayala and Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel)

It does not want to be just the third telco; it wants to be the best telco.

How bad is the service? Of 69 countries studied by presidential adviser RJ Jacinto, the Philippines ranked 67th—the third slowest. In terms of price, internet cost is the second highest in Asia. Smart and Globe have only 16,000 towers to carry cellular signal (10,000 if you net out the duplications) serving a population of 107 million. Compare that with the 100,000 towers of Indonesia (a much poorer country though larger in population, 250 million).

Vietnam, which started late in the telco business, already has 50,000 towers. To reach the level of Vietnam, it will take Smart and Globe together 81 years, according to Jacinto who has a very good sense of timing, being a musician. In 2018, Globe planned only 461 cell sites; Smart 156.

Smart and Globe blame the government for their poor service. It takes 26 permits and eight months to start a cellsite or tower.

Many permits are ridiculous—among them according to Senator Frank Drilon: “You have height clearance, you have radiation evaluation study, you have the building permit, you have the memorandum of agreement with DENR-NIPAS, you have the waiver of the steward—Jesus Christ! The application for free, prior and informed consent. You will die before you get these—in

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

other words, city or municipal resolution, occupancy permit, application for local power connection, mayor’s permit, tower fee ordinances, LGU, special use permit for each cell site, compliance with DPWH Department Order No. 73 on right of way, permit to operate generator set, registration of generator set.”

Filipinos, of course, can always dream of better things. Which is why they welcome the delayed arrival of Mislatel of Davao businessman Dennis Uy and his China Telecom partners.

As is normal for somebody trying to disrupt the monopoly and profits of a long-entrenched duopoly and using unconventional business tactics, Dennis Uy and his Mislatel have come into a firestorm of controversy, thanks to an equally entrenched political elite and an economic elite that has control of captive and influential media.

“We don’t want to be just the third telco,” hearDennis Uy assured the senators at the hear ing on Jan. 24, 2019. “We want to be the best telco. A telco that is fast, affordable, and most importantly, secure.”

Uy pointed to the senators his track record of over 20 years as a businessman. “I am chairman and officer of various publicly listed companies. I have complied with the very stringent standards on public disclosure by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE),” he said. “My companies operate on the highest standards of accountability,” he assured the senators, speaking in English.

The Mislatel Consortium outlined their plans to the Grace Poe Committee on Public Services. The plan is full of jargon, even balderdash, but basically, the group is saying they will be better than either Globe or Smart because of wider coverage, faster speed, better quality service, and yes, more reasonable pricing.

“Our vision is to ‘become the most innovative integrated information services provider in Philippines, be committed to provide intelligent information services and world-class ICT technologies witcontinuous innovation’. When the network is ready, Filipinos will enjoy faster and more affordable high quality services ensuring an excellent customer experience.”

“We will initially build a high-quality 4G network and then start the evolution to 5G at an appropriate time. Based on the wireless network, Philippine consumers will get services such as voice call, text, MBB (Mobile Broad Band) and OTT content (video and gaming). Based on a high-speed and quality optical fiber broadband networks, customers will enjoy versatile services such as fixedline IP telephony, 100-Megabit or higherspeed home internet, 4K or 8K online video Turn to A5

The Manila Bay challenge

C

LEANING up Manila Bay cannot be done overnight but it is one government task that should be pursued vigorously to prevent the body of water from becoming a permanent dump.

The filth deposited underneath Manila Bay has destroyed its ecosystem as well as its tourism potential. Many economic opportunities have also been lost as a result of degradation. Its 190-kilometer coastline stretching from Cavite in the east to Bataan in the northwest should be ideal for aquaculture production and other livelihood opportunities that can benefit the communities along the shore.

President Rodrigo Duterte's

directive to start the rehabilitation of Manila Bay is timely and his warning not to hesitate to order the closure of establishments along the area should send a strong message.

Some hotels, restaurants and other establishments have been polluting the bay because of their failure to treat their water discharge. But Manila Bay's problem is worse than that of Boracay. Informal settlers along Metro Manila's rivers and canals have been dumping their trash into the waterways that ultimately empty into Manila Bay. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has promised to put up communal septic tanks and waste water treatment facilities in slum areas to ensure human waste does not end up in the bay.

Relocating the informal

settlers along Metro Manila's waterways, meanwhile, should begin soon to effectively clean up Manila Bay. (Their household waste contributes 70 percent of pollution in the area.) The government has the responsibility to provide decent housing to the poorest of the poor and end their exposure to inhumane conditions.

Saving Manila Bay is a gargantuan job. The DENR has estimated that some P47 billion will be needed to clean the entirety of Manila Bay. Saving Manila Bay also requires a comprehensive and holistic approach. Its cleanup should be done simultaneously with the rehabilitation of Pasig River and other estuaries linked to it. The restoration job should include the polluted Laguna de Bay, which also empties into Manila Bay.

Not helping the country CROSSROADS JONATHAN DE LA CRUZ IT IS understandable that critics’ bashing of President Duterte and his administration is par for the course.

They have to scour (scrape the bottom is how some die hard Duterte followers call it) to find some lapses, broken promises and missed opportunities in the administration’s governance. Nothing wrong with that.

But to propagate false news and fear, or otherwise fanning the fires of discord is another matter. That is already bashing for bashing’s sake.

That is politics at its lowest. That is politics for power’s sake, never mind the country’s interest. That is the kind of politics which our people should expose and do away with altogether. That is the politics which the political opposition seems to be practicing to the hilt if we go by the latest pronouncements of their most visible leaders in the wake of the developments just over the past week or so.

Take the reported statement of “LP/Otso Diretso/Team Pilipinas” senatorial bet Samira Gutoc.

The lone female and Muslim candidate of this group, Gutoc reportedly bashed President Duterte for being the“inspiration,” as it were, of the deadly twin blasts at the Mt. Carmel Church in Jolo causing the death of 23 people and injuries to at least 65 others. Gutoc’s exact quote was garbled but in effect she was saying that PRRD’s demonization of the Catholic Church and its leaders may have led the bombers to do this dastardly act. Wow. How far out can that be?

So, without any kind of proof and while the investigation is still ongoing, Ms. Gutoc is convinced that the bombers are cold-blooded fanatics and are part of the network of “Dutertards” who will do the kind of grave, outrageous thing like bombing a church full of people just so the administration can be put to shame.

What an illogical, disjointed stream of thought that is. But that’s Ms. Gutoc.

After all, she was also quoted early on during the Marawi siege which led to the declaration of martial law in the entire Mindanao that

Securing the peace and cleaning up the bay are two of those matters requiring the utmost in bipartisan support. there was need for its imposition as there was no ongoing invasion or rebellion in Marawi or elsewhere.

What again? And what did the siege and takeover of Marawi by Islamic State adherents look like to her— war games?

And then this statement from my friends in the Makabayan bloc demanding that the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Project be stopped as it will only lead to more reclamation activities and, get this, the displacement of informal settlers living along the banks of the Pasig River and its tributaries, esteros and even along the bay itself.

I can’t get over this reported statement from people who should know Turn to A5

Violent extremism in Mindanao IF THE January 27 bombing of the Jolo Cathedral that killed 27 people and injured more than 100 others, and the January 30 grenade attack in a mosque in Zamboanga City that killed two people and wounded 4 others, tell us something, it is this: Peace is likely to remain elusive in Muslim Mindanao even with the recent approval in a plebiscite of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that

NGO”, has analyzed the Jolo bombing based on its concrete experience on the ground. Let me cite pertinent portions of their statement: Peace is likely to “The cathedral bombing will not be the last tragic event in Muslim Mindanao as the remain elusive. entire region transitions from war to peace and from deprivation to development.

“The transition that we speak of goes beyond the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law or the cre crewould give the region greater autonomy. ation of a new Bangsamoro regional The bombings, we must stress, took place government. In fact, there is no creddespite the imposition of martial law in ible evidence that the bombing had anythe entire Mindanao. thing to do with the recent plebiscite or International Alert Philippines, which the NO vote carried by the province. describes itself as a “peacebuilding Turn to A5 Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher

ManilaStandard

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Opinion

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Women and men

Saving a life

By Portia Carlos MY BOYFRIEND, Brian Velasco, committed suicide on Jan. 16. This is the first time I am speaking about what happened and I disown all statements attributed to me in articles published before this.

Brian had bipolar disorder. It's a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings.

On our first year together, he told me he had post-traumatic stress disorder. I believe he used PTSD as an explanation for his sudden mood swings because it did not have the stigma of other conditions. PTSD is just a consequence of a traumatic event.

But having seen all the extreme behavior, and knowing about major life events in his past, I knew it could not be PTSD. A not-so-happy event can make him giddily happy, just as a manageable issue or problem could make him feel as if it’s the end of the world.

He was staying at their family home during our first year but would go to his condo and call me when he was having an episode because he did not want his family to see it.

Early last year, he asked me to stay with him because he said thoughts of ending his life were creeping in in short waves.

I tied his wrist to mine while we slept, asked him to stand in front of the bathroom when I had to pee, took a bath or bought something downstairs only when somebody else could keep him company, and missed work for a week. It was when he saw me do all these that he finally agreed to see a doctor.

The doctor said that when you have the disorder, a part of your brain (not the mind) does not function in the way it should. Neurotransmitters that are supposed to meet/ pair/ connect—these make persons without the condition react to events normally—do not meet/pair/connect in a person with bipolar disorder.

The manifestations of this disorder are behavioral. The usual go-to of most doctors is to prescribe antidepressants, to address

just the depression part, which just pulls them all the way up, at risk of crashing all the way down. Another is anti-psychotic meds. This makes people on it feel numb, dead, and like a zombie, incapable of reacting to any happy or sad event.

Brian was put on medication and he agreed to take it religiously. Knowing that I was watching him 24/7, the doctor told me I could rest when he’s in the low state.

The doctor explained that people with bipolar disorder, unlike people with functioning depression, do not have the energy to kill themselves.

So, no. He was not depressed.

The doctor said what I had to watch out for was the manic episode or a mix of both manic and depressive, because it is during such an episode when they can have an impulse and are capable of killing themselves.

But the medication was not a forever thing. A combination of regular physical activity, plus a special diet, would produce the same effect as the meds, the doctor said.

Brian also loved his drink—drinking was “part” of their profession, and it was always present at gigs. We all knew this.

Just like everyone else, he either had bad or happy normal drunk episodes.

A few weeks ago, he started being snappy. Outside of this, he was his usual kind and patient self 95 percent of the time. The 5 percent I just attributed to stress: from losing his dog last November, seeing to me when I was recently ill, and taking care of a new puppy—an extra-hyper one—24/7.

So yes I could agree he was snappy because he was exhausted. And no—what happened was not because of the death of his dog.

During the wake, the helper who cleaned his condo unit and bought his meds said he did not ask her to get the meds. And then, a few days before Jan. 16, he also had been drinking with a friend. His manic episodes were very similar to his bad drunk episodes.

And we all thought he was taking his meds.

I lived just a few floors up and even

though I could not go down much in those days, we had our meals and usual routines together. His brother was staying at his condo because of his internship and classes. His mother was also messaging him.

So he was neither alone nor isolated in his last few days. Brian was actually making plans prior to Jan. 16.

On Jan. 12 and 13, we spent hours training our dogs to co-exist because we had been planning to live together this May. On Jan. 13, he messaged a friend, another drum teacher, to ask her when their drum recital was.

That day, over dinner, we talked about the color of his suits for two upcoming weddings in my family. On Jan. 15, he asked the mother of his student if their family was planning a trip because he was scheduling a recital soon.

Based on his medical condition, Brian had a manic-depressive episode on Jan. 16.

If you have a relative who has bipolar disorder, please talk to his or her psychiatrist so that you will understand your loved one and know how you can help. Those suffering from bipolar disorder can indeed have suicidal thoughts and behavior.

Please read up on bipolar disorder to know the symptoms if you suspect your loved one has the same problem. If the symptoms are present, please bring your loved one to a psychiatrist as soon as possible for the proper diagnosis and for a suitable treatment plan. This may include therapy and medication.

If you are bipolar and contemplating ending it all, please seek help. I have always sensed that Brian was embarrassed about having the condition. Please do not be.

Your illness is not something to be embarrassed about. Do find the help that you need.

To those who genuinely were affected

by Brian’s death, you can help by not judging people with this illness. Please be kind to everyone you meet. Your small act of kindness might save a life.

Review: Puki Usap POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE AN OFFENSIVE word for some, a magical mystery for others, an ordinary part of the body for many, ‘puki’—vagina—is a subject that is not discussed enough, so someone finally wrote a book about it.

Anvil Publishing, Inc. recently released under its Pride Press imprint ‘Puki-Usap,’ a translation by Beverly Wico Sy of Swedish writer Liv Strömquist’s ‘Fruit of Knowledge: The Vulva vs. the Patriarchy.’

It is a history of how women’s genitalia have been praised, blamed, used and abused, and politicized by the men who control the public discourse and the construction of culture around women and women’s bodies.

The stigma and sense of shame about women instilled by the patriarchy is largely responsible for the scant public discussion about normal female bodily functions such as menstruation and menopause, which puts pubescent girls and mature women at a disadvantage in terms of information. Pregnancy and childbirth are softened and idealized, the pains of the latter glorified, and wifehood and motherhood touted as the ultimate roles of a woman.

Mislatel’s...

From A4 and AR gaming, etc. In addition, with sufficient submarine cable resource, we will also provide services for different types of enterprise customers, such as Enterprise IP telephony, Lease Line, Dedicated Fiber Access, Ethernet, IP-VPN and many others.”

“With the brand positioning of being ‘simple, high-value, and transparent’, we will focus on data services, and provide cost-effective 4G/5G convergence services and Fiber broadband services.”

Violent...

From A4

“State security forces were aware of the heightened risks against the diocese of Jolo long before the chain of events that led to the ratification of the BOL. Targeted attacks against the Abu Sayyaf Group that killed many of its leaders and combatants in 2018 had induced revenge killings against military and police personnel.

“Instead, the target and the timing of this attack shows that a wedge is being driven between Muslims and Christians in Sulu, particularly in the capital city. The death and destruction that came at Holy Mass in a Christian house of worship combines insult and injury to the longstanding, robust, and peaceful communion between Muslims and Christians in the island.

“This is what violent extremism does.

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Using the medium of comics, Strömquist explores such issues using a feminist lens that demystifies and destigmatizes the puki.

Various female characters act as narrators in this collection of graphic essays with Siy’s translation fitting comfortably in the speech bubbles Strömquist drew.

In the chapter “Mga Lalaki na Lubhang Nahumaling sa Bahagi ng Katawan na Kung Tawagin ay ‘Ari ni Babae’” (Men Who Have Been Too Interested in the Female Genitalia), some of the worst male offenders against womanhood are named and shamed.

For instance, John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of cornflakes, forbade women from even touching their own puki. He wrote a book claiming that female masturbation brought about cancer of the uterus, epilepsy, insanity, and feebleness of the body and intellect. He also advocated wiping carbolic acid on the vulva to prevent self-pleasure.

Certainly the burns caused by the acid would have brought about quite a different sensation.

And that’s not the worst of what men have done to women in the name of religion, science, politics, and culture.

Meanwhile, in the chapter “Ang Baliktad na Palong ng Tandang” (Upside-Down Rooster Comb) Strömquist draws what female genitalia and the reproductive system really look like, which is often nothing like

what young boys imagine it to be.

Strömquist also points out that the vulva has consistently been negated and erased throughout history; as some philosophers insisted, a vagina is nothing but the absence of a penis. Cultural historian Mithu M. Sanyal is quoted as putting it this way: “Ang kapukihan ng mga babae ay madalas na inilalarawan bilang bakanteng espasyo, isang uri ng kakapusan, o kawalan ng titi.”

For many women, them’s fighting words, and feminists have for decades been pushing back against this patriarchal mindset that dominates the societies of the world, and that has contributed to the detriment of the status and condition of women over centuries.

By means of comics, Strömquist conveys all this information in a way that is simple, engaging, and interesting, while Siy’s translation makes it accessible to Filipinos.

Thanks to Anvil’s general manager lawyer Andrea Pasion-Flores, Anvil did a wonderful job publishing this book, which is a solid contribution to the literature on gender studies, sexuality, and women’s studies. We look forward to more from Anvil and its Pride Press.

“To guarantee the best experience, flexible business models can be customized based on the demand of our customers.”

“At the same time, differentiated measures and products will be offered to cater to both SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and large enterprises.”

“A variety of product portfolios with different combination of QoS (speed, availability, etc.) at competitive prices will significantly promote BPO, FSI, and government digitization, which will facilitate sustainable economic growth. Filipinos will greatly benefit from the national digitalization and continuous innovation brought by advanced ICT technologies carried by our

world-class telecommunication networks.”

All 145 PH cities and 84 percent of the population covered in five years, with Metro Manila in the first year plus 38 other cities nationwide.

Part of Central Luzon, Calabarzon and the Ilocos region will be covered as well.

Construction in Cebu and Central Visayas will also start at the end of this year.

In the fourth and fifth year, all 145 Philippine cities will be well covered with massive capacity already in place. The coverage of suburban and rural areas will be enhanced greatly.

It creates fissures where there are none, and fractures inter-community relationships that make it easier to radicalize and recruit. It weaponizes religious and ethnic differences as a tool in destabilizing peace, including the sort of peace that the BOL can bring.

“The evidence now points in this direction. The Abu Sayyaf Group and its many factions, whether connected to ISIS or not, are the greatest source of instability and continuing violence in the island.”

A plausible conclusion, from where I sit, and worth looking into by the national government and security officials.

Bad luck hounds casino mogul Lady Luck apparently doesn’t want to smile upon beleaguered casino mogul Kazuo Okada, at least for now.

Okada recently took a big blow to the solar plexus when a Tokyo court ruled in favor of his daughter Hiromi who had filed

a lawsuit regarding the validity of a 30year Trust Agreement that led to his ouster from management of his corporate empire under Okada Holdings Limited (OHL) that includes Okada Manila, touted as the largest luxury casino hotel in the country.

Hiromi and her brother Tomohiro had originally signed a Trust Agreement, but Hiromi later disowned it, saying that she was duped into signing the document. But Tomohiro maintained its validity and that Hiromi signed with full knowledge. Tomohiro filed a case in Tokyo to confirm the validity of the agreement, while Hiromi filed a case in Hong Kong questioning its validity and asking for interim relief in relation to her shares in OHL. To make a long story short, the Hong Kong court rejected Hiromi’s request for interim relief to await the outcome of the Tokyo case initiated by Tomohiro. The decision in the Tokyo case favoring Tomo-

As my friend writer Alma Anonas-Carpio said about this book, “Let me give the author, translator and publishing house a standing ovulation.” Damn, I wish I’d written that. FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO

biznewsasia@gmail.com

AFTER years of observing men and women, I’ve come to realize that a key to a happy relationship with the opposite sex is to recognize that we have two natures. One I call “human animal” and the other “human spirit.”

Human spirit is the elevated part of us. It enables us to be our best selves.

Human animal is the more primitive part—the instinctive part that lashes out, often in response to a primal fear of scarcity or competition.

When that happens, I call it an attack of human animal. It’s a cave woman or a caveman attack. And what happens is there’s literally an eclipse of human spirit. So human spirit is still there, but it’s in the background, overshadowed by the animal reaction that is driven by a perception of a threat to one’s survival.

So, when men and women perceive a threat to their survival, they react by instinct, and instinct is defined as a primal, biological urge, impelling a response that brings relief of tension.

Now, I bring that up because it’s a good place to look. Whenever you’re experiencing tension, there’s a very good chance that you’re reacting instinctively from your caveman or cavewoman, and not from human spirit.

Now, if we’re going to bring out the best in ourselves and in each other, we have to understand what causes an attack of human animal; and what does that, is anytime that we perceive that our survival is in jeopardy.

So it could be a threat to our physical safety, it could be a threat to property we’re attached to, it could be a threat to our identity, to our sense of self. Now, if we’re going to bring out the best in each other, we have to understand that the masculine and feminine aspects of our nature experience survival, and therefore safety and security, in different ways.

For the masculine, survival depends upon one’s ability to produce results. So the masculine will feel safe and secure when they have the greatest opportunity to produce results. And that comes when they are respected and trusted by the people that they work with and the people they care for.

The feminine, on the other hand, experiences safety and security when she feels connected, when she’s getting the attention and the interest that she needs from the people around her that give her a nearly constant sense of being connected and therefore safe and secure.

Not...

From A4

better. The bay as we know it is no longer swimmable, to say the least. Its rehabilitation is long overdue. Long before the mandamus ruling for its total cleanup was issued by the Supreme Court in 2008, there was already a clamor for a massive clean up which includes a total, comprehensive redevelopment of the Manila Bay area and an inventory of all the Manila Bay “pollution contributors” from lack of a metro-wide water treatment and sewerage system, land use and air control to relocation of all informal settlers, among others. How can our Makabayan friends raise any objections to this laudable undertaking?

If the beef against the rehabilitation is reclamation, they should be advised that such is a separate issue altogether. The cleanup should proceed even as the matter of further—and I em-

hiro was eagerly awaited as it was critical in determining the chances of a spectacular corporate comeback by Kazuo. With this, Kazuo’s hopes of invalidating the trust agreement have been dashed to the ground.

It was in 2017 when Kazuo was ousted from the management of OHL by Hiromi and Tomohiro. OHL is a Hong Kong company that owns 67.9 percent of Universal Entertainment Corporation (UEC). UEC fully owns Tiger Resort Asia Limited, which in turn owns Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc.(TRLEI), the owner and operator of Okada Manila casinohotel. UEC had claimed that it discovered wrongdoing by Kazuo Okada when he headed the group.

The Tokyo ruling in the ongoing dispute between Kazuo Okada and the current management of the UEC group is believed to effectively confirm the legality of his removal and makes it well-nigh impossible

Now one of the problems is that men and women have instincts that literally antagonize the other’s caveman or cavewoman.

So, for example, the way that a man thinks, which we call “single focus,” will cause him to pay attention to one thing at a time. So if he’s watching television the woman in his life may feel ignored, and she’ll get this incredible sense of tension in her body, and she’ll try to do things to try to connect with him, and connect with him, and connect with him, which, as a “single focus” person, he’s going to experience as an interruption and be annoyed by it, and cause a downward spiral.

They can bring out the best in each other instead of causing an attack of human animal.

On the other hand, women have an instinct that causes them to want to be scrupulously accurate in their details.

So, if a man is telling a story and he says something happened on a Tuesday, that she thinks happened on a Wednesday, she’ll interrupt him and correct that story. If this is in front of other people, it’s going to cause a problem, because if it’s someone whose respect and trust he needs, and she’s now intimated that he lies or exaggerates, that’s going to be a problem.

Now, on the other hand, by understanding these ways that we antagonize each other’s instincts, we can behave in a way that instead brings out the best in each other. So, for example, for a man to overcome his natural respect for privacy, and instead ask questions that show that he’s interested in her.

He can even ask her, what are her favorite questions to be asked, and for a woman to recognize the tension she feels about the accuracy of details and realize that maybe this isn’t so important. Just let him tell the story.

You don’t have to correct him on that, and then he can maintain the respect and trust that he needs. By understanding the differences in the way that men and women think, communicate, process information, and solve problems, men and women can learn to bring out the best in each other instead of causing an attack of human animal. eric.jurado@gmail.com

phasize further, since a good part of the Manila Bay frontage is reclaimed land—action is under consideration.

In fact, experts now concede that a well-designed and engineered reclamation plan can complement, not obstruct, the cleanup as it will give planners a lot more leeway by providing for more spacefor the installation of basic services such as sewerage systems, canals and the like and of course more breathable places of work and living as the metropolis does not have any more leg room to grow inwards.

Bashing the President and his development agenda is par for the course.

But such an opposition “sport,” as is now on the upswing should not stand in the way of helping enhance the country’s standing and our people’s welfare. Securing the peace and cleaning up the bay are two of those matters requiring the utmost in bipartisan support. It’s not simply a matter of bashing a leader and his administration regardless of the greater national interest.

for him to regain control of OHL and its allied companies, including Okada Manila.

Kazuo Okada’s legal setback in Tokyo isn’t something new for him. In November last year, the Parañaque Regional Trial Court dismissed the intra-corporate case he filed seeking reinstatement in the TRLEI Board. In December, the Department of Justice ordered his indictment for estafa for misappropriating more than $3 million in salaries and consultancy fees that he had received from TRLEI without approval by the TRLEI Board. The indictment was followed by the issuance of an arrest warrant by the Parañaque Regional Trial Court in connection with the estafa case. Okada has not surrendered to the Philippine court and is believed to be cooling his heels outside the country as a fugitive from justice. ernhil@yahoo.com

News

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Recto: Exempt infra projects from ban

Marcos asks military, police: Save newsmen

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

By Francisco Tuyay ILOCOS Norte Gov.Imee Marcos has called on Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal to devise measures to protect journalists from potential hazards during the campaign season and election coverage for the May polls.

Marcos observed that as the elections was getting in full swing, journalists faced vulnerability to threats and harassment from individuals, especially from what she called unscrupulous politicians whose political, economic and criminal interest was being imperilled.

Citing increasing statistics of violent incidents against the members of the press, Marcos said it was high time for the security sector to include journalists in its security coverage.

Marcos predicted that attacks against the media would go up during the campaign season.

“Politicians are now doubly sensitive about their image and would go [to] extraordinary lengths to protect it,” said Marcos, a senatorial candidate in the May elections.

At least 12 journalists have been killed under the present administration, nine of them in the line of duty, a journalists’ group claimed.

During the incumbency of then President Benigno Aquino, there were 35 journalists killed from July 1, 2010 to November 2015.

The World Press Freedom Index reported and identified in April 2017 that the Philippines was one of the most dangerous countries for media.

Media killings during the Duterte administration declined as law enforcement agencies, upon the President’s directive, formulated measures to ensure safety of journalists, acknowledging the significance of press freedom.

S

ENATE Presisent Pro Tempore Ralph Recto aired Thursday his support to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s call to exempt infrastructure projects from the election period ban as it further stalled the already-delayed government projects.

In fact, Recto said, he authored a provision in the Senate version of the 2019 national budget which states that: “Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, infrastructure projects funded under this Act shall be exempt from the prohibitions against release, disbursement or expenditure of public funds and against construction of public works and delivery of materials for public works.”

He said majority of the infrastructure

projects were already behind schedule.

“Instead of alleviating the delay, we aggravate it by suspending work simply on account that it is the season for candidates to shake hands and kiss babies,” said Recto.

“How can a beneficial enterprise that is the construction of schools and hospitals be placed in the same category as the carrying of firearms and other prohibited activities?” he asked.

He stresssed that both people and

progress would lose if the building of facilities that they need would be stopped during the campaign period, more so if the latter coincided with summer— which is the best time, weather-wise, for construction.

“We should take advantage of this socalled good weather window before the typhoon season kicks in,” he said.

“That this forced work interruption happens every 36 months speaks of how elections delay the delivery of vital projects. We should be working on projects round the clock. But we stop the clock during the elections,” he added.

At present, the Senate leader said election laws allowed work on projects to continue provided these commenced before the start of the campaign period, provided no funds were disbursed when

the ban was in effect.

Also, during the period of 45 days before election, he said the delivery of materials for public works was prohibited, except on exempt projects like those built with foreign assistance.

The effect is that it is almost impossible to roll out projects one and a half months before the elections.

And even when projects qualify for exemption, government employees would rather err on the side of caution, fearful of being haled to court, which is a possibility in a highly-charged political atmosphere.

With the delay in the enactment of 2019 national budget, he also said the above exemption provision is needed for government to catch up with its “Build, Build, Build” timetable.

BI arrests scam leader

By Vito Barcelo BUREAU of Immigration operatives arrested an overstaying American citizen tagged as leader of a notorious pyramiding scam syndicate reportedly victimizing residents of Davao City and other areas in Mindanao.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the American as Edward Booyer III, who was nabbed in his residence at the posh Fairlanes Subdivision in Damosa District, Davao City.

Booyer’s arrest was made at the request of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio whose office has received numerous complaints from victims of the syndicate that defrauded them of large sums of money.

“We also received a report from the anti-scam unit under Mayor Duterte’s office regarding the results of its investigation into the nefarious activities of this American and his cohorts in the syndicate,” the BI chief said.

He said the Davao City government was expected to file criminal complaints against members of said syndicate after it had gathered more evidence and built up its cases against the suspects.

“Booyer will be detained at the BI pending the filing of criminal cases against him in court and will be deported after he is convicted and has served his sentence,” Morente said.

SMUGGLED VEHICLE. Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero presents to the media the smuggled vehicle and other items worth P12.61 million including a one unit of used Bentley car. The shipment which came from Japan arrived last December with the consignee declaring the shipment as used forklift, used diesel engine and other household items. Norman Cruz

MMDA mulls exclusive motorcycle lane

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Metro Manila Development Authority on Thursday announced it was considering designating a separate and exclusive lane for motorcycles once the Road Diet traffic scheme pushed through along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

The Road Diet proposal seeks to reduce the width of the lanes along EDSA by up to three meters to create a new lane for motorcycles.

At present, EDSA has five to six lanes, with an average of 3.5 to 3.7 meters width per lane.

“Even if we narrow the roadways, it is still safe for the motorists,” said MMDA general manager Jose Arturo

Garcia Jr. following a meeting conducted by the Metro Manila Council, the agency’s policy-making body.

Garcia said the agency was considering converting the new lane to “exclusive motorcycle lane,” right next to the yellow lanes, which are only for public utility buses.

The existing motorcycle lane or blue lane along EDSA is non-exclusive, which means that private vehicles may also use them.

During the MMC meeting in Makati City, Metro Manila mayors approved the drafting of a resolution to study the Road Diet plan.

MMDA was tasked to conduct traffic evaluation studies to determine the appropriate speed for the proposed

3.05-meter lanes.

“A technical working group will be created. We shall also invite the stakeholders to know their take on the Road Diet plan,” said Garcia.

Based on the studies of the Department of Public Works and Highways, roads can be reduced to 3.05 meters.

Under the plan, Garcia said EDSA roadways would be segregated accordingly: two lanes are exclusive to passenger buses, one lane for motorcycles, and three remaining lanes are for private vehicles.

Other ideas considered for the creation of new lane are wider sidewalks, pedestrian islands, crossways, bike lanes and green space.

‘SerBus to humanity’ project inked by JCI, DOTr, Megawide STRESSING that service to humanity is the best work of life, the Junior Chamber International Senate Philippines has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Transportation and Megawide Corporate Foundation Inc. to provide free bus rides at designated areas going to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.

Dubbed as the “SerBus: A Service to Humanity Project,” public commuters who are going to and from Lawton, Baclaran and Pasay can get free rides to PTIX including those coming from Monumento and going to EDSA, Baclaran and back also get their free share of rides.

“This noble project is anchored on one of the six tenets of JCI and we thank Megawide Foundation and Transportation Secretary Art Tugade for partnering with us that will surely help many of our riding public using the six air conditioned Serbus,” says JCI Senate Philippine national president Domingo “Jun” Roque Jr. “We plan to officially launch this in time for Valentine’s Day as our collective expression of love and ser-

vice to our fellowmen.”

Aside from SerBus, JCI Senate Philippines has other equally noble projects and programs this year among them: loyalty cards that will provide JCI Senators special benefits every time the card is presented during purchase of participating Unioil products; the massive propagation of JCI Creed Markers in key strategic areas all over the country inscripted with JCI Senate Philippines logo; the yearly search for Outstanding Filipino Award or the TOFIL Awards that recognizes Filipinos above 41 whose “exemplary achievements have contributed to public welfare and community building worthy of emulation”; the construction of anew JCI Senate Headquarters building; the construction of waiting sheds along national roads to be adorned with “Green Link” trash cans.

Meanwhile, the JCI Senate Philippines has strongly condemned the dastardly bombing in Jolo, Sulu that left 21 people dead and scores wounded inside the Jolo cathedral last Jan. 27.

MOA SIGNING. JCI Senate Philippines president Dominador Roque (center), Megawide

Foundation president Manuel Louie Ferrer and Transportation Undersecretary Mark Richmund de Leon who represented DOTr Secretary Art Tugade sign the memorandum of agreement on the deployment of six air conditioned buses that will provide free transport service year-round going to PITX and from designated pickup points.

Pedia group opposes lower age for crime responsibility

By Rio N. Araja THE Philippine Pediatric Society Inc. on Thursday opposed the lowering of the minimum age for criminal responsibility, saying the existing Republic Act 10630 had not been fully implemented.

Dr. Bernadette Madrid, the group’s child protection chairperson, questioned the approval of the bill setting the minimum age for criminal liability from 15 to 12.

“We don’t see why there is a need to lower the age,” she told the Manila Standard.

“If we put children at the Bahay Pag-asa center, what will happen to them? Aside from the lack of facilities, these facilities are not good enough,” she said.

She called on lawmakers at the Senate to maintain the minimum age of 15.

“How can one say that RA 10630 was not that effective when it was not even fully implemented?” she asked.

She said pediatricians backed the law and the implementation of interventions.

“We can provide proper services and therapy from professionals, and not buildings,” she said.

“If you put together those 17-year-old ones and the 12-yearold ones, the younger ones would always be get bullied,” she added.

While the House of Representatives had passed on third and final reading the lowering of the minimum age for criminal responsibility, the Senate has yet to take up the bill for deliberation on Monday.

Sports

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Predator Thonos Gaming Chair unveiled

Towns lifts Timberwolves to win; Celtics rout Hornets

OVER P200,000 in cash prizes and the chance to represent the country in one of the most prestigious PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds competitions in Pan Asia Pacific were at stake in the Predator League PUBG Philippine Finals on Jan. 26 at the High Grounds Café and Jan. 27 at Glorietta Activity Center.

The Predator Thronos Gaming Chair was also revealed during the competition.

A total of 16 top teams from all over the Philippines—Team No Future, Miraculum, TNC, ArkAngel, Anonymous Ilonggos, Nirvana, Vulture Gaming, Mistah, DPT, AdMiral, Ronin, 5peaks, Patriots, Vortexfarm, NCGC Vortex, and Bosons—competed for the Philippine championship title.

ArkAngel, the team with the highest score won, determined by a pointing system with a total of 12 action-packed rounds. The team represent the Philippines at the Predator League Finals 2019 in Thailand on Feb. 15 —17, for a chance to get a slice of the US400,000 pool prize.

With the addition of PUBG on its second year, Predator League is one the biggest eSports tournaments worldwide.

Only the best of the best teams from 13 participating countries will fight for the Predator Shield and prove to be the greatest e-sports team in the region.

Predator has the most complete line of gaming devices ranging from laptops, desktops, and monitors with the latest technologies, enhancing the eSports community’s gaming experience—truly the best gaming monitor in the market.

“Predator’s support for this tournament reinforces the brand’s commitment to the gaming industry in the Philippines and in the region. We are very happy to share the opportunity to show the world how exceptional our homegrown gamers are, not only in DOTA2 but also in PUBG,” said Sue Ong-Lim, Predator Philippines Sales and Marketing Director.

To also give the public of what an ultimate gaming experience feels like, the Predator Thronos Gaming Chair was also revealed during the competition.

The majestic Predator Thronos’ steel structure is 1.5-meter tall. Its motorized cockpit for adjusting your screen setup comes in dual-tone black with blue-white accents. The reimagined gaming chair lets the gamer live inside the game as it vibrates in synchronization with sound the games produce.

The chair is adjustable and includes an ergonomic seat design, footrest, and a cabin that reclines up to 140 degrees. The overhead brace supports three 27-inch gaming monitors and a space for a Predator gaming PC. Integrated with a Predator PC and triple Predator monitors plus gadgets, the Predator Thronos is really more than a gaming chair—it’s a gamer’s wild, ultimate cave.

LOS ANGELES—Karl-Anthony Towns sank a fade-away jump shot at the buzzer to lift the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 99-97 overtime victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Towns grabbed an Andrew Wiggins rebound and dribbled once before draining the winning shot from the right side as the Timberwolves won their sixth consecutive game.

Towns celebrated by throwing his hands in the air as his teammates ran out onto the floor to mob him. Towns said the last shot was designed to go to Wiggins.

“Wiggins wanted the shot and we gave him the shot,” Towns said. “I just wanted to be there for an offensive rebound in case he missed it. I am glad that when my team needed me the most, I made the shot.”

Towns scored all 16 of his points in the second half and added 10 rebounds as the Timberwolves were behind twice in the extra session.

Jerryd Bayless had 19 points and a career-high 12 assists in the win.

Mike Conley had 26 points and eight assists for Memphis, which lost for the 12th time in 13 road games in front of the announced crowd of 13,000 at the Target Center.

Elsewhere, Jaylen Brown stepped in to fill some big shoes, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds as the Boston Celtics crushed the Charlotte Hornets 126-94 despite the absence of all-star Kyrie Irving.

Jayson Tatum also chipped in with Irving out with a hip injury, scoring 20 points, and Terry Rozier finished with a career-high 10 assists at the Boston Garden arena. Irving has missed the last two games.

Marcus Morris scored 15 points, Al Horford had 14 and Gordon Hayward 12 for the Celtics, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 21 points, well shy of the 43 points he delivered in a 117-112 home win over the Celtics in November.

Malik Monk scored 16 points, Nicolas Batum added 13 and Marvin Williams 10 for the Hornets, who lost for the third time in five contests.

Morris drained a three pointer halfway through the third quarter to spark a 25-6 run by the Celtics.

Boston led 98-75 after three quarters and extended the lead to 35 points in the fourth.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he hopes to get Irving back for Friday’s game against New York. AFP

Mickelson aims for 4th Phoenix win LOS ANGELES—Phil Mickelson played college golf in Arizona and he would like nothing more than to become the Phoenix Open’s first fourtime winner in the same place where he excelled as a amateur.

The PGA Tour makes it lone stop in Arizona this week and the 48-yearold, who attended Arizona State University on a golf scholarship, will be making his record 30th start.

He won the last of his three titles here in 2013 by four strokes. In his opening round he sizzled to a 60 and almost managed a rare 59 but his putt on the ninth lipped out.

Mickelson is playing with confidence after his near victory in the Desert Classic 10 days ago.

“The time has really flown by...

30 years, gosh,” Mickelson said. “I remember when I was in college, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was playing in my first Phoenix Open.

“What a great feeling I experienced with the crowd and the many memories that I’ve had here. It’s a special place.”

This is the only event on the Tour’s west coast swing that doesn’t take place in California.

The tournament has finished in a playoff each of the past three years with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama winning two of those. The defending champ is Gary Woodland.

Organizers put Mickelson, Matsuyama and Woodland together for the first two rounds as the trio have won this event a combined half-dozen times, including the past three years.

Influencer Alodia Gosiengfiao tests the Predator Thronos Gaming Chair.

Mighty Sports quintet oozing with confidence

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—Team Mighty SportsGame Friday (February 1) Philippines arrived in this ultra-modern metropolis Thursday (Shabab Al Ahli Club, Dubai) 11 p.m. (Manila time)—ac vs Mighty Sports afternoon, oozing with confidence that it can get the job done this time in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Championships. night, also at 7 p.m., before it squares Handled by Charles Tiu and beefed up by three American reinforcements that include former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom, Mighty Sports is seeking to redeem itself after a forgettable debut two years ago when it only had one victory to show in eight matches.

The apparel and accessories team will have an immediate chance to prove it is as good as advertised when Mighty Sports raises the curtains in the prestigious 10-team tournament against fellow Group A member American University in Dubai on Friday night at 7 p.m. (11 p.m., Manila time) inside the Shabab Al Ahli Club.

“We barely have any scouting report on who we will be facing right on the opening day, but I am optimistic that we are more than ready to do well to make our Kababayans here proud,” said

Mighty Sports team owner Alex Wongchuking.

Resident Barangay Ginebra import Justin Brownlee is determined to showcase his scoring prowess on his second tour of duty, while Chinese league veteran Randolph Morris is expected to provide enough presence in the lane for the team backed by SMDC, Go For Gold, Healthcube and Oriental Group.

“I am expecting nothing less than a tough grind. Every game here is important so we have to keep our collective focus on the task at hand. How we will perform in the first game will set the tone for our campaign,” said Tiu, younger brother of recently retired Rain or Shine star guard Chris.

Mighty Sports will barely have 24 hours to recharge and recover as it takes on host UAE national team on Saturday

off with formidable HomenetmenLebanon on Sunday at 9 p.m.

The Philippine-based squad will finally get a breather on Monday before it closes out its preliminary round campaign against Al Wahda-Syria on Tuesday at 9 p.m.

Pooled in Group B are Al RiyadiLebanon, Sports Club Beirut-Lebanon, Sala-Morocco, Al Nift-Iraq and the Jordan national team.

The 10 protagonists are divided into two groups and will figure in a singleround preliminaries. Only the Top 4 teams from each side will advance to the knockout stages, starting with the crossover quarterfinals on Thursday.

The winners of those pairings will make it to the semis on Friday and the two survivors will figure in a winnertake-all showdown on the final day on Saturday.

La Salle tossers 6-leg PPS Mindanao swing kicks off in GenSan gun for 4th straight title

SYDNEY Enriquez and Bruce Hurtado hope to live up to their billing as they banner the cast clashing for top honors and ranking points in the PPS-PEPP Gen San National age group tennis tournament beginning today (Feb. 1) at the GenSan City Tennis Club.

Enriquez, 15, is actually eyeing a twotitle feat with the Salug, Zamboanga del Norte ace gaining the top seeding in both the girls’ 16- and 18-and-under divisions while Hurtada heads the boys’ 18-U roster of the Group 2 tournament presented by Dunlop.

The event, sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro, also serves as t he kickoff leg of the six-stage PPS-PEPP Mindanao swing with Sultan Kudarat hosting the next stop on Feb. 5-11, including a free tennis clinic, followed by Kabacan Christine Patrimonio (center) and Jeson Patrombon (right) hold their trophies as they on Feb. 14-17, Kidapawan City on Feb. pose with co-organizer John Mari Altiche after clinching the singles crowns in the 21-25, Digos City on Feb. 28-March 4 PPS-PEPP Actifit Open. and Tagum City on March 7-11.

For details and listup, call PPSPEPP Sports Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

Tipped to foil Enriquez in the 16-U University of Visayas Green Lancers,

By Peter Atencio side are Trisha Diaz, Princess Haro 95-71, for the Philippine Collegiate and Sandra Mosqueda while Febe THE Ateneo Blue Eagles will be de- Champions League national crown last Lagarde, Rose Deniga and Haro are fending the University Athletic Asso- Monday. fancied to crowd the top seeded bet So far, the Blue Eagles will have ciation of the Philippines men’s basketin the premier division of the five-day Isaac Go, RV Berjay, BJ Andrade, ball championship without one of their tournament sanctioned by the Unified and SJ Belangel taking charge in veterans, Aaron Black.

Tennis Philippines made up of PPStheir rotation with big man Angelo The son of coach Norman Black PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, ToKouame. has spent four years playing for the by’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg. Black was the Sixth Man of the Blue Blue Eagles, will move back to the Hurtado, meanwhile, braces for a United States after he graduates Eagles and averaged a career-high 8.1 spirited duel with the likes of Reyfrom his Communications’ course points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists man Saldivar Jr., Rey Napala and on his second year with the team. this March.

Kurt Haro in the 18-U class with He will train at Joe Abunassar’s Saldivar, Yazzan Al Anazi, Napala Black’s decision came after the Blue and Kurt Haro are expected to disEagles beat three-time Cebu School Impact Basketball program while in pute the 16-U diadem.

Athletic Foundation, Inc. titlist, the the US.

6th Man Black leaving Blue Eagles

WITH a fourth straight title in mind, defending champion De La Salle opens its campaign in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament against archrival Ateneo on Feb. 17 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Gametime is 4 p.m., right after University of Santo Tomas battles Adamson University at 2 p.m.

The Season 81 begind a day earlier at the Filoil Flying V Centre, as last year’s runner-up Far Eastern University and National University duel at 4 p.m., following the 2 p.m. game between University of the Philippines and University of the East.

On the same day, the Bulldogs will begin their title-retention campaign in the men’s division against the Tamaraws at 10 a.m.

Despite the graduation of Kim Kianna Dy, Majoy Baron and libero Dawn Macandili, the Lady Spikers, who with 11 titles are the third winningest behind the Lady Tamaraws (29) and the Tigresses (14), are still favored to win.

All eyes will be on the Lady Maroons, who made an early statement by winning two off-season tournaments, while the Lady Eagles are looking good under new coach Oliver Almadro with an impressive campaign in the PVL Open Conference late last year.

FEU and UST, two of the league’s storied women’s volleyball programs, hope to make it all the way this time with their veteran-laden roster and with a talented rookies around.

Sports

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

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Phoenix battles Blackwater, eyes 4th win Game Today (Ynares Center) 4:30 p.m. Phoenix vs Blackwater 7:00 p.m. Rain or Shine vs San Miguel Beer

By Jeric Lopez

Sarah Princess Verutiao of Defending Champion Arellano Lady Chiefs tries to save the ball during their match with challenger Perpetual Help Lady Altas last January 10, 2019, won by the Legarda based spikers. The two teams start their Best of Three Finals today at the Fil Oil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. Dennis Abrina

PH tracksters to train at Narciso Ramos Sports Complex

By Peter Atencio IT WILL take sometime before the venues at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila and the Philsports Complex in Pasig will be ready for national athletes to train there again.

For the meantime, the national track team is all set to go to the Narciso Ramos Sports Complex in Lingayen, Pangasinan to train for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association chief Philip Ella Juico said this as the PATAFA is having difficulty looking for places in Metro Manila for national athletes to train in.

“We don’t have a venue to train. The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex has become (a) football (training area).

But I understand it will be converted back to track and field,” said Juico.

Over the last two months, the Philippine Sports Commission has stepped up on its efforts to improve the facilities inside the athletes’ dormitories that are under its control.

Beddings, lockers and shower rooms have been refurbished with the better facilities by the government sports agency at the Rizal Memorial, the Philsports Complex and in Baguio.

The improvements have been done in order for national athletes to have places to train and seek shelter.

Such changes took place and got fast-tracked following the death of wushu junior athlete Rastafari Daraliay at the athletes’ quarters in the wee hours of the morning last October.

Juico said they are thankful for the support of the provincial government of Pangasinan, behind Governor Amado Espino III as many national athletes are expected to train full time in Lingayen.

3 Perpetual Help teams seek rare volley sweep U

NIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta eyes a rare sweep of all women’s, men’s and juniors’ championships in today’s start of the 94th NCAA volleyball finals at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

The Lady Altas pulled off the most dramatic victory among the lot after shocking the top-seeded College of St. Benilde Lady Blazers twice, capped by a come-from-behind 25-17, 27-29, 19-25, 26-24, 16-14 win last Tuesday that was highlighted by a mighty rally from 11-12 down in the fourth set.

That win set UPHSD up against defending champion Arellano University, which trampled last year’s finals foe San Beda University in the Final Four to book the first slot to the best-of-three finale.

The Macky Carino-mentored Lady Altas also joined the Altas and the Junior Altas in the finals for a chance to scoop up all crowns in one season that would put them in the elite company of Ateneo,

a former member, and San Sebastian, who both accomplished such rare feat.

Ateneo did it in the 1976 season, while San Sebastian lorded it over a record five times in 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2002.

Both the Altas and the Junior Altas are tipped to win it against the Blazers and the Letran Squires, respectively, after the former two hammered out a nine-game sweep of the elimination round to leapfrog straight to the finals.

The Altas, mentored by Sammy Acaylar, have also been dominating men’s volleyball the last eight seasons when they won six of their 11 crowns, while the Junior Altas were untouchable the last four years when they won four in row to hike their total to 10.

In contrast, Perpetual Help will come into its series with AU as a complete underdog as the latter won three of the last four women’s crowns.

Carino, however, is hoping they could carry their giant-slaying ways in the Final Four to the finals.

“If we play the way we did against Benilde, why not? Nothing is impossible if you play with heart,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Lady Altas-Lady Chiefs’ game will be aired live on ABSCBN S+A, S+A HD, LIGA, LIGA HD, and via livestream on sports.abs-cbn. com, the ABS-CBN Sports YouTube channel, and iWant.

Before their championship match, the men’s game airs at 2 p.m.

The NCAA will recognize the top volleyball players of the season on Feb. 8, followed by Game 2 of the Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Finals, with the live telecast and livestream starting at 1:30 p.m.

UNTV Cup semis blasts off

Marvin Mercado (right) hopes to lead NHA to a big win over top seed AFM at the start of their semis series in the UNTV Cup on Sunday at the Pasig City Sports Center.

TOP seed Armed Forces of the Philippines and second-ranked Philippine National Police hope to seal a grudge title rematch as they go for big wins at the start of their respective best-of-three semis series on Sunday in the 7th UNTV Cup at the Pasig City Sports Center.

The AFP Cavaliers collide with the National Housing Authority Builders at 3 p.m., with the former hoping to sustain their winning run despite a month-long hiatus after advancing outright to the semis for the topping the two-phase elims.

On the other hand, the PNP Responders collide with the Senate Defenders at 5 p.m., with PNP determined to settle an old score with the defending champion.

The Responders likewise advanced to the semis automatically after owning the second-best record in the tournament organized

by UNTV president and CEO Dr. Daniel Razon for public servants.

Led by former Letran star guard Boyet Bautista and Dale Cordero, the Cavaliers finished with an 8-1

Games Sunday (Pasig City Sports Center) 3 p.m. – AFP vs NHA 5 p.m. – PNP vs Senate

mark, while the Responders, led by ex-University of the East player Olan Omiping and Harold Sta. Cruz wound up with a 7-2 record.

The winners in both series will fight it out for title with chosen charity of the champion team receiving a tax-free P4 million prize.

The foundation selected by the runner-up gets P2 million.

Also expected to deliver for the two-time champions Cavaliers is Fred Casulla.

Out to spearhead the Defenders are Jeff Sanders, Marlon Legaspi and Sen. Joel Villanueva – the same players, who keyed the team’s massive 82-61 win over MalacanangPhilippine Sports Commission last Sunday.

In what could be his most explosive game in the tournament, Sanders finished with 24 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the field highlighted by five triples.

LEAGUE-LEADER Phoenix Petroleum eyes to stretch its winning streak to four as it continues its quest in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. The scene shifts to Ynares Center in Antipolo City, where the rampaging Fuel Masters (3-0) get tested by a rejuvenated Blackwater (1-2) side at 4:30 p.m. today, while Rain or Shine (2-1) and San Miguel Beer (2-2) meet at 7 p.m.

Currently enjoying its best start in franchise history, the Fuel Masters have found the right formula thus far.

However, Phoenix coach Louie Alas doesn’t want any part of complacency as he very much knows that a good start doesn’t mean a whole lot if it can’t be sustained.

“It’s always good to have a good start, but we need to continue being hungry,” said Alas. “Last conference, we also had a nice start and even had a twice-to-beat, but we still fell short.

That’s what I always remind the boys.”

Alas’ wards last took down Columbian Dyip, 108-98, last week to gain some separation at the top.

The Elite will be an interesting challenge, though. After starting out with a 0-2 slate, Blackwater rose up the last time out, listing its first win with an impressive 111-99 rout of Rain or Shine.

The Elasto Painters will now look to vent their ire on the Beermen, who are having a roller-coaster run so far.

The defending champions have alternated wins and losses so far, losing their last assignment against TNT KaTropa, 93-104, last Sunday.

GenSan is now playing like a title contender THE Gen San Warriors are now beginning to play like title contenders.

One by one, the Warriors have dismantled some of the top favorites in the tournament and they’ve added the Zamboanga Rapidos to their growing list of victims following their 78-69 win late Wednesday night at the Navotas Sports Complex.

John Orbeta knocked in 12 of his 15 points in the third period at the height of the Rapidos’ rally, while teammate Joren Morada led the way with 16 markers to give the Warriors an insideand-out threat, which resulted to the team’s fourth consecutive win.

GenSan has improved its win-loss record to 11-9, just half a game behind third placer and inaugural staging champion Batangas City in the southern division of this tournament put up

by Senator Manny Pacquiao with PBA legend and former MVP Kenneth Duremdes serving as commissioner.

Head coach Ramon Pido mentioned consistency as one of the keys to beating yet another crack squad in Zamboanga.

“I just told the players to stay consistent on what we’re doing. We know that it’s not impossible to beat any team in the MPBL. In this tournament, I think anybody can beat anybody,” added Pido.

Right from the get-go, the Warriors went business as usual, racing to a 17-2 lead before the Rapidos chopped down that big lead with a big scoring binge in the second period to trail by only six, 35-29, at the half.

Navotas finally snapped a two-season long skid at home and made their local folks proud by winning over Basilan, 102-97.

Korean foils Superal, wins pro debut LAUREL, Batangas—Korean Hwang Minjeong lived up to the promise, winning her pro debut by edging reigning Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit champion Princess Superal no less for the ICTSI Splendido Ladies Classic crown on a closing 70 here yesterday.

Hwang, who showed her potentials way back in 2015 when she topped a pro tournament at Mt. Malarayat as a 14-year-old amateur, leaned on a two-shot swing against Superal on No. 12 to hike her lead to four then kept her poise in the face of the latter’s makeor-break charge in the stretch to pocket the title by the slimmest of margins.

Superal, who closed to within one after 36 holes with a 68 Wednesday, also pounced on a birdie-bogey swipe on No. 14 and threatened to within one with another birdie on

the 15th. But she failed to cap her rally with muffed birdie putts in the last three holes, also ending up with a two-under card that enabled Hwang to preserve the lead and take the victory at six-under 210 worth P150,000.

“I was nervous every time Princess putts because I know she’d make it anytime,” said Hwang. “In contrast, I struggled with my putting but I’m glad my father was there to help me read my lines of putt.”

It was a sorry setback for Superal, who had looked forward to an explosive windup after shooting back-to-back birdies from No. 14 that pulled her within a shot. She finished with 211 and received P95,000.

Hwang, who also posted a record 16-stroke romp to win the Philippine Amateur Open crown last year, also became the second Korean to win

in the first four legs of the 2018-19 LPGT put up

by ICTSI after amateur Lee Ji Hyeon reigned at Camp John Hay in Baguio last October.

Chonlada Chayanun, tied with Hwang at the start of the final round, crumbled under pressure, reeling back with an opening 38 and limping home with a 73 to wind up third at 213 worth P60,000.

Despite going four strokes down with six holes to go, Superal knew she still had a chance. She birdied No. 14 against Hwang’s bogey and applied more pressure on the Korean by hitting another birdie on the par-4 15th.

But Hwang steeled herself up in the pressure-packed stage, matching Superal’s pargame and nailing the victory that augured well for the lanky, 17-year-old shotmaker from Incheon’s young pro career.

Hwang Min-jeong holds her trophy.

IN BRIEF

PH to become Asia’s next success story

BUDGET Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the Philippines will remain one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia and in the world.

“In the next four years, we expect the economy to grow at 7 percent to 8 percent. We are confident that the growth target is attainable in the medium term, especially with the key structural reforms and expansionary fiscal program that the Duterte administration has adopted,” Diokno said in a forum sponsored by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines at the Makati Shangri-La. Meanwhile, the Finance Department said the Philippine economy became more investment-led in 2018.

“As percentage of GDP, capital formation which is the most comprehensive measure of investment, rose from 24.4 percent in 2016 to 25.1 percent in 2017 and further to 27.0 percent in 2018,” the DoF said in an economic bulletin.

“Capital formation is one of the foremost determinants of future growth, in addition to employment and factor productivity,” it said.

Julito G. Rada

Business

Govt confiscates P23.6-b fake goods

THE National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines as vice-chair, confiscated a record P23.6 billion worth of pirated and counterfeit goods in 2018, up by 188 percent from 2017.

The value of seized illicit items was the highest collected since IPOPHL was established in 2008.

“In terms of enforcement, 2018 has proven to be a banner year with the NCIPR, spearheaded by IPOPHL and the Trade Department, capturing record levels of counterfeit goods.

Consistent with the trend we’ve seen all year, fake cigarettes and alcohol led this record haul - the formula for which we believe is the firm determination and vigilance of brand owners to pursue these counterfeiters,” said IPOPHL director general Josephine R. Santiago.

The agency noticed that illegal traders are apparently shifting to heavily-taxed goods and called for more proactive cooperation of brand owners. Othel V. Campos

Salceda: Congress keen to pass budget

ALBAY Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said Congress is determined to pass the 2019 national budget.

He said a “reenacted budget is bad policy since it does not reflect changes in needs of our people and does not respond to our economic imperatives.” Salceda is a member of the House panel in the bicameral conference committee and is strongly pushing its approval.

A respected economist, the lawmaker said the fears in the public mind that a reenacted budget will endanger the increase in salaries of military and civilian state workers, the 2019 elections, the Southeast Asian Games hosting, the expansion of college scholarships to private schools, and the safety nets against inflation, are not entirely baseless.

“Our people, not Congress, are the biggest losers in a reenacted budget which government agencies will simply operate on the basis of the previous year’s appropriations. A reenacted budget also sends a wrong signal to investors about the ability of the Philippines to maintain the reform momentum,” he said.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

B1

By Darwin G. Amojelar

TOPPING-OFF CEREMONY. State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority leads the topping-off ceremony of The Residences at the National Government Administrative Center in New Clark City in Tarlac province. Shown are (from third left) BCDA vice president for business development Arrey Perez, Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan, Tarlac 2nd District Rep. Victor Yap, Development Bank of the Philippines president and chief executive Cecilia Borromeo, Bases Conversion and Development Authority president and chief executive Vivencio Dizon, Landbank Leasing Corp. president and chief executive Manuel Lopez, Office of Civil Defense Deputy administrator Kristoffer James Purisima, UP-Philippine Eye Research Institute Director Dr. Leo Cubillan and MTD Philippines Inc. president Patrick Nicholas David.

Inflation expected to fall below 4% in first quarter I NFLATION rate is expected to decelerate to below 4 percent in the first quarter which will bring the 2019 full-year average to within the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent, economists from First Metro Investment Corp. and University of Asia & the Pacific said in a joint report Thursday.

The economists said the first-half inflation rate would be a continuation of the easing print in December 2018 that settled at 5.1 percent, bringing last year’s average to 5.2 percent.

“With the huge fall in inflation in December, we now see a faster deceleration of inflation rate to below 4 percent in the first quarter 2019 and below 3 percent by the third quarter, with the full-year at 3 percent to 3.5 percent, fairly midway BSP’s [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] 2 percent to 4 percent target,” they said in the Market Call report.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said inflation in January likely softened to as low as 4.3 percent from 5.1 percent in De-

cember 2018, amid the lower rice prices and electricity rates. The BSP’s Department of Economic Research saw inflation settling within a range of 4.3 percent to 5.1 percent in the first month of the year.

“Domestic oil price hikes, due to higher international crude oil prices and the second tranche of the excise tax adjustment from the Train [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion] law, is seen to be the primary driver of inflation for the month,” it said.

The Banko Sentral said higher fish and vegetable prices said colder weather conditions and the annual adjustments in the excise taxes of alcoholic beverages from the Sin Tax Law could result

in upward price pressures.

“These may be partly offset by lower rice prices, downward adjustment in electricity rates and the slight appreciation of the peso,” it said.

First Metro and UA&P economists said weak crude oil prices, projected by the US Energy Information Administration to average 17 percent lower than in 2018, “should contribute much to this downward trend.”

“With the new expected trajectory of inflation, we think that monetary policy tightening has ended, and with inflation down to below 4 percent [y-o-y] in Q1, BSP will likely provide more liquidity to banks [especially due to Basel-3 requirements] via lower reserve requirements and more purchases of foreign exchange, also as BSP rebuilds its GIR [gross international reserves],” they said.

Bangko Sentral Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said last week the regulator might consider the resumption of reserve requirement reduction following the deceleration of inflation rate.

VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION. Leading

venture capital and private equity players in the Philippines come together to establish the Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of the Philippines that will act as a unified voice representing professional and institutional investors in the Philippines. Shown are founding members (from left) Juan Carlos Camara, associate at Navegar; Jennifer Alcabao, director at ICCP SBI Venture Partners; Dan Ichikawa Siazon, senior vice-president and treasurer at Kickstart Ventures; Honorio Poblador, managing partner at Navegar; Gladys Enhaynes, director at ICCP SBI; William Valtos Jr., senior managing director at ICCP SBI; Minette Navarrete, president and vicechairman at Kickstart Ventures; and Manny Ayala, managing director at Endeavor Philippines.

Money supply and bank loans sustain growth

By Julito G. Rada BOTH money supply and bank loans sustained their expansion last year amid strong demand for credit, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.

Data showed domestic liquidity or money supply rose 9.2 percent year-onyear to about P11.6 trillion in December 2018. This was faster than the revised 8.5-percent expansion in November.

The Bangko Sentral said M3 decreased 0.2 percent on a month-onmonth seasonally-adjusted basis, .

“Demand for credit remained the principal driver of money supply growth.

Growth in domestic claims was unchanged at 14.6 percent in December 2018 due mainly to the sustained growth in credit to the private sector,” it said in a statement.

Net claims on the central government grew by 16.4 percent in December, faster than the 12.2-percent growth in the previous month.

Net foreign assets in peso terms expanded 1.3 percent year-on-year in December, following a decline by 3.2 percent in the previous month. The BSP’s NFA position improved in December relative to November, reflecting the increase in gross international reserves.

Meanwhile, the NFA of banks contracted, albeit at a slower pace, even as banks’ foreign assets continued to increase as a result of higher loans and investments in marketable debt securities.

Meanwhile, outstanding loans of commercial banks, net of reverse repurchase placements with the BSP, grew 15.6 percent in December, slower than 16.8 percent in November.

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

Cebu Air allots $700-m capex to buy aircraft

Airfare expected to decline soon

THE Civil Aeronautics Board said Thursday it expects cheaper airfare in starting February because of lower jet fuel prices.

“Right now we reduced level 4 to level 3.

Hopefully it will continue to [go down]. In general it’s going down, although it is still erratic in the sense that sometimes it will spike up but the general trend is going down,” CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla told reporters.

Under level 4, the fuel surcharge for passengers of one-way domestic flights would range between P108 and P411, while those flying overseas would be charged P543 to P5,189.

Under level 0, the price of jet fuel is P21 per liter and below; level 1, more than P21 to less than P24 per liter; level 3, P27 to less than P33; level 5, P33 to less than P36; level 6, P35 to less than P39; and level 7, P39 to less than P42.

“We will just review the trends in the past two months. By Feb. 15, we will announce the fuel surcharge rate,”Arcilla said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

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

European Union supports 7 renewable energy projects in PH THE European Union, through the Access to Sustainable Energy Programme, agreed to co-finance seven renewable energy projects that would provide power to around 40,000 households in remote areas of the Philippines, the Energy Department said Thursday.

“Our goal is to provide electricity throughout the entire archipelago by 2020.

These projects will bring more progress in Mindanao as thousands of Filipino families, particularly those living in far-flung areas of the region, will have access to power,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

The launching of the renewable energy projects was led by Energy assistant secretary Redentor Delola, EU head of development cooperation Enrico Strampelli and Mindanao Development Authority Undersecretary Janet Lopoz.

Strampelli said the project awardees signed their respective contracts on Dec. 13, 2018, right after the extension of the ASEP implementation period.

“Over the next three years, ASEP will continue to work with the DOE in improving the lives of vulnerable communities in the country,” he said Under the program, the EU will contribute 21 million euros to co-finance up to 80 percent of the projects which involve energy investments in several areas.

These include hybridization and income-generating activities through the introduction of productive uses of electricity; innovative provision of basic electricity supply and services for poor, disadvantaged areas; electrification for livelihood generation through the solar photovoltaic home system in the Bangsamoro area; support to decentralized and mini grids; capacity building on rural electrification; energy efficiency measures; and renewable energy management.

The seven projects include Strengthening Off-grid Lighting with Appropriate Renewable Energy Solutions which would grant 5 million euros to Mahin-

tana Foundation Inc. The Improving the Lives of People in Off-Grid Communities in Mindanao through the Provision of Sustainable Energy gave 4.5 million euros to Yamog organization while SolarBnB Microhotel & Island Livelihood Energizer—Platform allocated 3.9 million euros to Kabang Kalikasan ng Pilipinas ng Pilipinas or WWF Philippines.

The EU also gave a 4.2-million-euro grant to United Nations Industrial Development Organization for its renewable energy technology for seaweed value added in Tawi-Tawi projects and 3.7-million-euro grant to People in Need for its Renewable Energy Access for off-grid Communities and Households.

The others projects are Renewable Energy for Livelihood and Youth which provided 2.2 million euros to Sequa and 3.8 million euros to Clean Energy Living Laboratories of Ateneo de Manila University. Alena Mae S. Flores

CEBU Air Inc., the operator of Cebu Pacific and Cebgo, is spending $650 million to $700 million this year to partly finance the acquisition of new aircraft and accelerate growth.

Cebu Air president and chief executive Lance Gokongwei told reporters the 2019 capital expenditures would be funded through internal generated funds and some borrowings.

The airline is set to receive 12 brand-new aircraft this year to support expansion. The aircraft deliveries include six Airbus A321neo, five A320neo and an ATR 72-600.

The airline received its first A321neo out of its 32 orders from Airbus.

The aircraft is capable of operating routes in excess of 5,000 kilometers or fly up to seven hours, allowing the carrier to explore new destinations like India, Russia, northern Japan and other cities in Australia.

“2019 is the year we accelerate growth. On average, we will be receiving one brand-new aircraft per month which can use to increase capacity in key markets or even launch new routes,” Gokongwei said.

“For 2019, we expect capacity to grow from low to mid-teens,” he said.

The airline has a fleet of an Airbus A321neo, 36 Airbus A320, seven Airbus A321ceo, eight Airbus A330, eight ATR 72-500 and 12 ATR 72600 aircraft.

“Cebu Pacific is expanding rapidly and plays and important part in the transformation of the Philippines’ aviation sector and has played a key role in supporting tourism, trade and business links between the Philippines, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East,” said Jean Francois Laval, executive vice president of sales in Asia of Airbus.

Cebu Pacific is aiming to fly 200 million passengers by 2020, as it expands its route network and upgrades its fleet to bigger and more fuelefficient aircraft. The carrier hit the milestone of 150 million passengers flown since inception in late 2017.

Cebu Pacific and subsidiary Cebgo fly to 36 domestic and 26 international destinations with more than 107 routes spanning Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the US.

Kepco plans to build 1,000-MW coal-fired plant in Pangasinan

By Alena Mae S. Flores KEPCO Philippines Corp. plans to build a 1,000-megawatt advanced ultra supercritical pulverized coal technology in Barangays Baquioen and Pangascasan in Sual, Pangasinan, documents showed.

Kephilco said in a submission to the Environment Management Bureau under its notice for public scoping that the project would address the need for additional capacity amid a growing economy.

“Currently, the municipality of Sual hosts the largest operating coal-fired power plant in the country. The said power plant was built last 1996 and is expected reach end-of-life by year 2024. On the other hand, the Department of Energy recognizes the rapid growing demand for power in the country,” Kephilco said.

It said the proposed project would ensure the reliable delivery of electricity supply in Luzon by 2020 and beyond and would be a key infrastructure in sustaining the development of the country which achieved remarkable growth compared to neighboring countries.

“Moreover, inasmuch as coal is still the cheapest source of power generation, the project will help in at least maintaining the current price levels of electricity which is the second highest in Asia,” it said.

The proposed project aims to bring progress to Sual town as it would generate more taxes prioritize the employment of local residents.

The company said the proposed project would provide cheaper and more reliable electricity to meet future demands while economic and sociallyuplifting program would be implemented.

The originally-planned power plant proposal involved a 3x300 circulating fluidized bed coal power plant at the same site with TansAsia Oil and Energy Development Corp., now Phinma Energy, as the original proponent.

B2

Business

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Bargain hunting lifts stock market T HE stock market rose Thursday on bargain hunting on expectations of lower inflation rate in January and improving economic prospects.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 27.53 points, or 0.4 percent, to 8,007.48 on a value turnover of P10.8 billion, after profit taking in late trading capped the market gains. Losers, however, beat gainers, 110 to 97, with 41 issues unchanged.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo on Wednesday said the government’s economic growth target range of 7 percent to 8 percent for 2019 was doable on the back of higher public spending and household expenditures.

Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which

operates a casino on a reclaimed part of Manila Bay, climbed 4 percent to P11.02, while Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. gained 3.9 percent to P2.67.

Greenergy Holdings Inc., a renewable energy company, jumped 33.5 percent to P2.99, while ISM Communications Corp., a member of the consortium declared by the government as the country’s third major telecommunications firm, advanced 7.3 percent to P6.75.

The rest of Asian equities rallied and the dollar extended losses after the Federal Reserve signaled it would slow down its pace of interest rate hikes, providing some much-needed respite to investors fretting over the cost of borrowing.

Dealers are also keeping an eye on top-level talks between China and the United States aimed at resolving their long-running trade war, which kicked off on Wednesday.

Wall Street rallied, with dealers there also cheering healthy earnings from bighitters, including Facebook and Boeing.

Those gains filtered through to Asia, where Tokyo and Hong Kong each climbed more than one percent.

Shanghai was up 0.4 percent as a gauge of factory activity in China improved slightly in January from last month.

While the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) showed contraction, it beat forecasts, though observers warned the figures were helped by producers stepping up work ahead of the Lunar New Year next week.

Elsewhere, Singapore rose 0.7 percent while Wellington, Mumbai and Jakarta were sharply higher.

Seoul and Sydney, however, dipped.

The US central bank sparked a flurry of equity buying after chairman Jerome Powell said the case for lifting rates had “weakened somewhat” as the global economy stutters.

“In this environment, we believe we can best support the economy by being patient in evaluating the outlook before making any future adjustment to policy,” he said.

The Fed also said it could slow down the reduction of its securities holdings, which would also help keep rates lower.

“Wow—Powell to markets—we hear you and we have adjusted policy accordingly,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, said.

The Fed “also caved on the balance sheet by saying interest rates are still the primary policy making tool, but they are prepared to adjust the pace of balance sheet normalization if economic and financial developments require it,” Rupkey added.

The news provided a further boost to markets, which were dragged for most of 2018 by concerns that rising rates would make it costlier for them to borrow to invest. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 59.5 11,350 91 2,515,690 2.17 108,000 135 5,543,800 1.41 172,000 28.2 135,700 17 275,000 12.42 310,000 4.87 13,000 7.78 8,600 785 200 0.465 460,000 84 3,795,400 1.09 1,585,000 14.1 309,300 21 1,000 45 127,800 185.8 310 120 330 58.5 14,440 26 447,000 179 1,421,070 1,800 105 64.55 43,100

670,150 230,703,998 234,330 762,018,213 243,850 3,859,130 4,649,976 3,847,104 61,350 66,908 157,000 209,700 317,998,236.50 1,749,890 4,343,658 21,000 5,746,455 57,598 39,280 846,325.50 11,584,875 255,542,687 189,000 2,781,107

80,150 -18,205,867.50 46,135,095 -2,218,615 -331,908 78,500 71,630,799 -901,210 8,400 1,271,585 8,792.50 4,363,110 -20,059,292 -889,993

INDUSTRIAL 38.4 1,867,300 16.38 599,400 1.02 5,001,000 1.39 318,000 0.255 7,000,000 2.67 76,402,000 15.92 940,800 140 390 30 105,000 17 60,000 40.05 1,500 1.75 111,000 6.3 43,900 6.6 15,700 11.34 5,278,100 16 1,024,000 8.08 678,200 7.5 2,230,900 1.57 15,000 20.4 2,041,500 72.8 60,700 27.8 521,000 2.99 267,107,000 8.57 4,553,400 12.38 779,700 1.61 1,461,000 316 1,041,850 4.28 161,000 3.27 10,000 10.2 3,700 27.5 473,000 12.3 8,522,000 18 2,819,100 365.8 454,250 0.177 830,000 6.6 14,200 1.34 5,744,000 3.63 36,000 7.48 5,283,600 6.06 780,300 8.91 2,400 1.28 17,244,000 10.74 29,200 48 971,000 6 404,900 4.8 4,020,000 1.9 503,000 1.34 305,000 12.18 140,600 95 392,970 6.47 2,000 0.121 120,000 0.93 89,000 148.1 1,409,320 2.48 1,755,000 1.67 36,597,000 16.98 100 1.4 6,597,000

72,537,140 9,769,000 5,056,620 423,830 1,758,310 204,398,250 14,986,526 54,600 3,169,930 1,024,276 60,180 195,280 267,634 102,900 60,249,994 16,285,750 5,455,871 16,712,589 23,610 41,573,230 4,421,910 14,055,555 810,703,350 39,138,778 9,617,434 2,345,700 332,073,624 690,390 32,030 37,740 12,983,025 104,589,360 50,783,712 167,705,962 145,150 87,321 7,679,510 132,670 39,879,314 4,677,126 21,429 21,870,050 312,060 46,619,580 2,429,404 19,296,690 941,180 412,430 1,704,576 37,058,256.50 12,940 14,520 81,120 208,531,925 4,370,550 61,754,530 1,698 9,305,230

28,120,715 -32,810 70,700 -10,975,510 2,251,750 -132,425 44,650 34,320 -31,428,904 13,476,280 1,875,430.00 137,955 30,401,745 -294,431.00 -16,678,110 -10,771,114 1,949,716 1,626,446 -3,270 -851,100 398,960 -17,485,044 28,533,888 105,000.00 2,060,370 -11,100 -5,775,767 -1,595,050 74,620 -18,884,165 1,613,400 -12,418,040 20,350 -2,700 669,602 10,850,901 124,118,822 -14,832,190 -1,830

11,724,820 125,152,786.50 187,069,336 78,540 406,900 3,950,740 8,640,140 527,400 390,741,755 3,804,333 66,459,074 26,167,140 2,270 112,203,420 1,845 103,289,287.50 79,110 10,049,203 16,782,806 405,470 123,535,450 494,800 479,340 3,207,760 60,341,975 474,649,130 96,550 57,090 17,840 27,880,000 282,840 1,257,070

3,510 10,116,181 16,706,932 1,540 406,250 -300,080 -5,839,240 487,322 -9,660,338 2,939,332 36,669,925 12,792,141.50 -340,435 -785,240 -13,749,190 -124,500 12,573,478 150,269,590 -4,640 -17,500 -

33,551,096 1,712,470 2,220 180,040 1,422,500 902,824,200 4,191,950 2,229,000 165,435 8,763,250 8,200 870 2,764,810 26,600 14,966,244 33,726,655 249,650 33,600 20,306,790 473,470 112,299,590 8,940,800 954,450 38,112,730 213,100

-1,657,676 8,000 21,500 214,543,950 -886,160 -471,700 939,850 -100,000 7,163,707 710,800 -196,000 8,598,260 41,214,115 479,600 95,760 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

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

59 91 2.17 136.1 1.39 28.6 16.8 12.5 4.88 7.78 785 0.475 83.8 1.09 13.68 21 44 185.8 116 60 26 176.5 1,800 64.55

59.5 92.7 2.17 140 1.46 29 17 12.5 4.88 7.78 785 0.475 84 1.15 14.4 21 45 185.8 120 60 26 182 1,800 64.6

59 90.55 2.16 135 1.39 28.2 16.2 12.3 4.67 7.78 785 0.45 82.1 1.09 13.68 21 44 185.8 116 58.5 25.6 176 1,800 64.35

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 EUROMED 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 SFA SEMICON SHAKEYS PIZZA SMC FOODANDBEV SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VIVANT VULCAN INDL

38.25 15.96 1.02 1.33 0.255 2.64 15.92 140 30.4 17.2 40.2 1.75 6.11 6.6 11.58 15.56 8.02 7.37 1.58 20.05 73.9 27.2 2.42 8.3 12.06 1.67 317 4.3 3.28 10.2 27.5 12 18.28 371 0.175 6 1.36 3.6 7.62 6.17 8.91 1.27 10.74 47.95 6.02 4.84 1.86 1.4 12 94 6.48 0.121 0.93 146 2.4 1.85 16.98 1.46

39.5 16.44 1.02 1.39 0.255 2.8 15.96 140 30.4 17.2 40.2 1.79 6.4 6.61 11.68 16.02 8.14 7.51 1.58 20.45 73.9 27.95 3.36 8.71 12.48 1.68 320 4.3 3.28 10.2 27.5 12.72 18.28 374.4 0.177 6.6 1.37 3.7 7.67 6.17 9 1.28 10.74 48.2 6.02 4.85 1.9 1.4 12.2 95 6.48 0.121 0.94 149 2.63 1.85 16.98 1.46

38.25 15.5 1 1.33 0.245 2.59 15.9 140 30 17 40.05 1.74 6.08 6.45 11.28 15.5 7.99 7.37 1.57 20.05 72.75 26 2.39 8.27 12.06 1.56 315 4.28 3.18 10.2 27 12 18 365.6 0.17 6 1.31 3.6 7.48 5.92 8.91 1.26 10.66 47.8 6 4.8 1.84 1.34 12 93.5 6.46 0.121 0.9 145.6 2.4 1.57 16.98 1.38

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

0.63 64.4 13.64 0.77 6.5 28.8 1.46 1.47 924 7.45 12.38 12.28 0.227 1,021 6.15 64.9 0.62 5.2 15.26 0.58 4.94 0.039 1.16 2.45 165 979.5 0.78 1.33 464 278.8 0.26 0.229

0.64 66.55 13.94 0.77 6.5 29.3 1.46 1.48 927 7.45 12.58 12.78 0.227 1,068 6.15 65.9 0.62 5.32 15.56 0.58 4.99 0.039 1.16 2.58 167 997 0.78 1.35 464 278.8 0.26 0.249

0.6 64 13.64 0.77 6.5 26.8 1.43 1.46 915 7.38 12.38 12.2 0.227 1,021 6.15 63.8 0.58 5.15 15.26 0.56 4.86 0.038 1.15 2.45 163.8 975 0.77 1.32 440 278.8 0.247 0.227

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

9.7 0.81 11.1 1.7 0.89 43.75 2.45 4.17 6.2 0.48 0.82 0.87 0.239 0.38 9.12 20.6 0.49 0.12 1.47 1.16 5.16 0.445 0.46 2.22 0.435

10 0.82 11.1 1.7 0.89 44.75 2.5 4.3 6.2 0.49 0.82 0.87 0.25 0.38 9.12 20.95 0.49 0.12 1.53 1.19 5.29 0.445 0.47 2.44 0.44

9.65 0.8 11.1 1.69 0.86 43.75 2.42 4.16 6.1 0.475 0.82 0.87 0.238 0.38 8.9 20.35 0.485 0.12 1.46 1.16 5.16 0.435 0.45 2.21 0.43

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PRIMEX CORP PTFC REDEV CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS VISTA LAND

3.2 44 22.55 2 39.1 1.38 6 5.84

3.24 49.5 23 2 39.6 1.38 6 5.88

3.12 43.9 22.05 1.98 38.1 1.33 5.8 5.8

3.2 46.05 22.05 1.98 38.1 1.37 5.82 5.84

548,000 3,600 2,952,400 65,000 11,119,400 401,000 546,400 2,337,100

1,729,000 163,864.50 66,071,670 128,730 429,915,690 540,680 3,189,355 13,633,457

-20,090 -30,470 15,840 -18,038,795 2,915 -1,789,186

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC EASYCALL FAR EASTERN U GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY METRO RETAIL METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B 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

13.38 22.8 1.31 0.455 0.04 15 2.85 10.62 0.059 88 6.75 7.27 15.74 900 2,084 5.78 343.2 2.86 1.85 106.3 11.16 7.27 0.122 6.46 3.18 14.86 3.23 0.79 19 4.77 2.63 2.15 2.37 3.43 9.23 14.12 3.55 121.5 3.05 1,310 0.9 1.52 45.8 86.1 8.28 2.39 0.85 0.47 5.5 0.71 13.6

13.38 23 1.34 0.455 0.04 15.1 2.85 11.14 0.061 88.5 6.95 7.27 15.9 900 2,086 5.85 350 2.87 1.95 109.5 11.16 7.27 0.127 7.35 3.25 14.86 3.28 0.79 19.18 4.95 2.64 2.17 2.37 3.45 9.49 14.12 3.6 125 3.07 1,324 0.97 1.65 46 88 8.28 2.42 0.86 0.475 5.54 0.72 13.78

13 22.75 1.31 0.44 0.039 15 2.69 10.62 0.058 85.1 6.5 7.08 14.6 892 2,020 5.77 330 2.8 1.82 106.3 11.16 7.27 0.121 6.32 3.11 14.86 3.2 0.79 18.84 4.76 2.54 2.05 2.1 3.05 9.23 12.7 3.55 121.5 2.98 1,290 0.89 1.43 45.15 85 8.15 2.38 0.79 0.445 5.49 0.69 13.6

SERVICES 13.06 22.75 1.31 0.445 0.039 15.1 2.72 11.02 0.061 88 6.62 7.08 14.9 892 2,020 5.79 350 2.84 1.95 108.2 11.16 7.27 0.124 6.75 3.25 14.86 3.2 0.79 19 4.95 2.54 2.1 2.3 3.3 9.25 12.8 3.6 121.6 2.99 1,290 0.94 1.61 45.5 88 8.18 2.39 0.8 0.455 5.5 0.69 13.72

94,500 264,100 789,000 1,970,000 6,800,000 59,600 1,764,000 24,550,400 46,410,000 165,420 4,861,200 4,600 364,500 200 92,925 64,600 8,830 2,233,000 57,000 3,840,200 900 1,500 5,190,000 71,089,800 19,000 200 1,350,000 107,000 3,310,300 112,000 1,782,000 735,000 19,000 9,195,000 52,400 1,679,900 4,000 12,800 1,503,000 184,135 33,243,000 288,486,000 2,767,200 535,330 154,000 3,329,000 55,452,000 50,600,000 641,000 1,651,000 4,143,100

1,240,052 6,037,085 1,033,820 873,250 265,500 899,170 4,832,300 269,879,950 2,778,090 14,565,453.50 32,837,540 32,682 5,468,810 178,480 189,283,770 375,280 3,037,704 6,317,220 106,310 415,460,993 10,044 10,905 640,340 487,417,474 59,640 2,972 4,341,210 84,530 62,769,768 535,390 4,588,070 1,521,290 41,750 30,161,120 488,702 21,930,604 14,250 1,565,262 4,506,170 239,997,135 31,330,650 445,242,090 126,446,980 46,941,578.50 1,264,746 7,987,880 45,485,520 23,161,600 3,527,812 1,146,650 56,893,982

2,560 17,700 757,670 161,260 80,096,944 2,245,324 963,768 -43,482 -38,242,560 195,604 -8,520 20,733,897 -8,820 11,267,385 37,265,322 619,650 -6,720,220 50,728 560,950 -1,146,640 -64,049,255 -408,270 -6,460,490 26,028,825 4,935,359 -1,339,980 -1,049,180 8,350 -999,631 38,460,548

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

0.0021 1.59 2.84 13.5 1.35 2.03 0.29 7.9 1.45 0.214 0.131 0.136 0.0075 0.0073 1.1 2.49 1.1 0.67 0.97 0.013 0.013 0.013 3.65 4.27 14.42 23.3 0.0073

0.0021 1.59 2.89 13.5 1.5 2.05 0.29 7.9 1.53 0.22 0.138 0.14 0.0075 0.0073 1.12 2.5 1.1 0.67 0.98 0.013 0.013 0.013 3.67 4.27 14.66 23.7 0.0078

0.002 1.56 2.84 13.48 1.35 2.02 0.29 7.6 1.41 0.213 0.131 0.132 0.0075 0.0073 1.1 2.43 1.02 0.66 0.94 0.012 0.012 0.012 3.65 4.03 14.34 23.3 0.0069

MINING & OIL 0.0021 344,000,000 1.56 2,591,000 2.87 180,000 13.5 7,600 1.49 52,000 2.05 673,000 0.29 80,000 7.6 8,800 1.53 9,364,000 0.218 240,000 0.134 12,550,000 0.132 4,330,000 0.0075 5,000,000 0.0073 7,000,000 1.12 12,000 2.45 865,000 1.07 434,000 0.66 285,000 0.98 653,000 0.013 32,400,000 0.012 676,500,000 0.012 52,100,000 3.67 28,000 4.03 2,421,000 14.4 1,326,700 23.7 524,200 0.007 95,000,000

721,900 4,063,280 514,240 102,574 76,450 1,363,280 23,200 67,527 13,712,230 51,800 1,703,420 579,060 37,500 51,100 13,410 2,137,460 447,970 188,200 622,300 415,000 8,123,100 639,600 102,270 10,118,270 19,142,848 12,351,980 672,900

-1,241,590 143,230 627,980 347,170 -66,300 -628,250 3,038,116 5,928,275 -

ABS HLDG PDR DD PREF GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

19.82 98.5 5.67 900 95 0.99 102 1,050 985 75.15 76.5 73.95 74.85 73 72.6 73.1

20 98.5 5.69 900 95 0.99 102 1,050 985 75.15 76.55 74 74.9 73 72.6 74

19.74 98.5 5.6 900 94.05 0.99 101.6 1,050 985 75.1 76.5 73.95 74.85 73 72.5 73.1

PREFERRED 20 290,600 98.5 12,880 5.6 170,600 900 210 94.05 500 0.99 500,000 101.6 110,420 1,050 20 985 3,090 75.1 4,280 76.55 2,000 74 1,250 74.9 4,760 73 11,470 72.6 17,400 74 540,400

5,781,306 1,268,680 959,463 189,000 47,490.50 495,000 11,220,836 21,000 3,043,650 321,492 153,055 92,494 356,449 837,310 1,261,900 39,539,450

3,856 3,390 19,800 -472,310 -

LR WARRANT

1.91

1.97

1.9

WARRANTS 1.91 265,000

508,600

-

ITALPINAS XURPAS

4.55 1.57

4.55 1.57

4.33 1.46

4.42 1.48

5,599,870 35,583,210

-13,260 -9,904,950

FIRST METRO ETF

118.5

120

118.5

1,194,345

83,300

USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2 USD TECH B2

10.1 10 1.01

10.1 10 1.01

10.1 10 1

1,717 2,000 23,598.80

-

MS

HOLDING FIRMS 0.62 19,050,000 64.25 1,924,040 13.7 13,581,800 0.77 102,000 6.5 62,600 27.8 141,400 1.43 5,996,000 1.46 360,000 927 423,480 7.39 513,700 12.58 5,326,300 12.5 2,088,500 0.227 10,000 1,067 105,595 6.15 300 64.65 1,594,720 0.6 134,000 5.2 1,918,000 15.5 1,085,000 0.57 711,000 4.86 25,155,000 0.038 13,000,000 1.15 416,000 2.58 1,266,000 165 365,770 990 478,750 0.77 125,000 1.35 43,000 440 40 278.8 100,000 0.25 1,130,000 0.231 5,390,000 PROPERTY 9.65 0.8 11.1 1.7 0.89 44.4 2.43 4.16 6.2 0.475 0.82 0.87 0.247 0.38 9 20.45 0.49 0.12 1.49 1.16 5.16 0.435 0.46 2.3 0.44

3,418,500 2,125,000 200 106,000 1,634,000 20,312,100 1,719,000 528,000 27,100 18,270,000 10,000 1,000 11,310,000 70,000 1,673,700 1,647,900 510,000 280,000 13,581,000 407,000 21,511,700 20,360,000 2,090,000 16,347,000 490,000

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

17,777,947

INDUSTRIAL

475,491,728

HOLDING FIRMS

103,303,106

PROPERTY

162,322,087

SERVICES

634,084,994

MINING & OIL

1,249,408,917

GRAND TOTAL

2,667,074,122

SME

1,268,000 23,399,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 119 9,980 10.1 10 1

DDS

170 200 23,580

VALUE 1,825.20 (UP) 2.12 1,672,646,535.43 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,667.18 (UP) 30.25 2,568,323,205.781 HOLDING FIRMS 7,968.46 (UP) 75.39 1,837,053,055.93 PROPERTY 3,921.56 (DOWN) 22.69 1,582.29 (UP) 5.17 1,944,439,262.49 SERVICES MINING & OIL 8,503.37 (UP) 34.13 2,668,544,833.005 PSEI 8,007.48 (UP) 27.53 78,069,290.255 All Shares Index 4,829.85 (UP) 5.32 10,811,488,814.73 Gainers: 97; Losers: 110; Unchanged: 41; Total: 248

Stockholders of ISM clear share swap with Udenna

By Jenniffer B. Austria SHAREHOLDERS of ISM Communications Corp. approved a share swap with Udenna Corp. of businessman Dennis Uy, paving the way for the backdoor listing of Uy’s holding company.

Udenna shareholders approved during a special stockholders’ meeting Thursday an increase in the company’s authorized capital stock to P75 billion from P2.8 billion.

ISM will will issue 24.05 billion shares to shareholders of Udenna at an issue price of P3 apiece to support the capital increase.

In exchange, ISM will obtain 2 billion Udenna shares, representing 100 percent of the outstanding capital stock of Udenna. Udenna will own an 89.57-percent stake in ISM after the share swap deal.

Shareholders of ISM also approved the change in the corporate name of the company to Udenna Holdings Corp.

Udenna is one the fastest growing holding companies in the country. It has ventured into key sectors, including petroleum and ancillary services through direct and indirect shareholdings in Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. and shipping and logistics through majority shareholdings in Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp..

It also went into hospitality, tourism and gaming through Philippine H2O Ventures Corp., property and land development through Udenna Development Corp., educational institution and facilities via Enderun Colleges Inc. and infrastructure projects through Udenna Infrastructure Corp.

Meanwhile, ISM chairman Eric Recto said in an interview after the annual stockholders’ meeting the group would conduct a fund raising activity to widen the public float to between 15 percent an 20 percent.

Recto said ISM would secure approval of the regulator to conduct the fund raising activity.

ISM will be the second backdoor listing deal involving Uy’s companies.

Uy last year also acquired Philippine H20 Ventures Inc. from a group led

by Jolliville Holding Corp., which has been transformed as the listed casino company of Uy and renamed PH Resorts Holdings Corp.

Udenna Corp. posted a net income of P4.1 billion in 2017 against P779.6 million in 2016, while revenues grew to P50.9 billion from P31.39 billion in 2016.

Share price of ISM on Thursday rose 7.3 percent to P6.75. ISM was originally incorporated under the name Itogon-Suyoc Mines Inc. to engage in the mining business.

Megawide clinches P4.4-b deal to build Megaworld project MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. bagged a contract to build the P4.3billion residential complex project of Megaworld Corp.

Megawide said in a statement it was named the engineering and procurement contractor for Gentry Manor, a new township along Seaside Boulevard in Westside City, Pasay City.

“Megawide is proud to help deliver Megaworld’s first-world vision for Gentry Manor,” Megawide chairman and chief executive Edgar Saavedra said.

“Megaworld is one of our most valued long-term clients and we are grateful for their continued trust in Megawide.

As a partner, we are committed to delivering only the highest standards of construction technology and excellence for Gentry Manor,” Saavedra added.

Gentry Manor involves the construction of a podium and four 16-level towers, with a total contract price of P4.36 billion.

Initial works started in January, with completion set in January 2023.

Gentry Manor is within the 31-hectare Westside City township, which is being developed as a mixed-use development with gaming, entertainment, mall, hotels and residential components.

Aside from Gentry Manor, Megaworld is set to build two new homegrown hotel brands in Westside City.

These are the 529-room Kingsford Hotel and the 685-room Grand Westside Hotel, which will be conveniently linked to the casino complex and will have the unparalleled views of Manila Bay. The group of property tycoon Andrew Tan earlier committed a higher capital spending budget of P121 billion for the 31-hectare Westside City.

Jenniffer B. Austria

B3

World

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF NEW KING. This

handout photo taken and released by Malaysia’s Department of Information on January 31, 2019, shows the sixth Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah Ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah Al-Musta’in Billah, center, taking his oath as the 16th King of Malaysia at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia on January 31 installed a new king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, after the last monarch abdicated in a historic first following his reported marriage to a Russian ex-beauty queen. AFP

In Vietnam, reburials send souls on their final journey HANOI―In the dead of night in a Hanoi cemetery, Nguyen Van Thang’s casket is unearthed; his bones carefully cleaned, wrapped in silk and then reburied, so he can finally segue into the next life.

The ceremony is one of Vietnam’s most sacred death rituals, an ancient custom usually carried out before the Tet lunar new year, which falls in early February this year, as the final act in life’s journey.

Many Vietnamese, especially in the north, honour their dead with reburials—normally three years after their loved ones are first laid to rest.

Modernity is chipping away at the tradition with cremations preferred as a more simple, clean and cheap passage into the afterlife.

For Thang’s relatives, however, meeting his wishes of a reburial three years after he died of cancer aged 59 was never in question.

“Finally, he can rest in his nice new home. I feel so blessed and happy,” said his wife Ha Thi Thua from his graveside at a cemetery on the outskirts of Hanoi.

The hours-long ceremonies are not for the impatient—or faint of heart.

Beginning in the evening, a shaman makes offerings to the spirit guardian and the deceased—in Thang’s case, sticky rice, boiled chicken, a paper horse model for the spirit guardian to ride on and fake US dollar bills among a cornucopia of items.

Then the shaman chants and tosses coins to gain “permission” from the dead and the grave’s spiritual guardian to begin the ritual, before the coffin is dug out by gravediggers and relatives.

Once the coffin has been carefully lifted out of the ground, the bones are gently removed.

If the remains are black and bare of flesh, as Thang’s were, it’s a relief. Otherwise, the grim but essential task of scraping the flesh off must begin.

The sight of her dead husband was too much for Thua to bear, and she fainted as his skull, ribs, tiny hands and feet were washed by bone cleaners in a pot of herbal water.

“Did the man have all his teeth when he was alive?” a bone cleaner asked the family, a sour odour wafting in the air. “Yes,” replied a daughter, knowing the importance of reburying her father with all his parts in place. AFP

Sub-zero temperatures bring Midwest to a halt C HICAGO―A brutal cold wave moved eastward Thursday after bringing temperatures in the US Midwest lower than those in Antarctica, grounding flights, closing schools and businesses and raising fears of hypothermia.

The extreme weather has now been blamed for as many as eight deaths, US news outlets reported.

Mail deliveries were suspended and people were encouraged to stay home in nearly a dozen US states where the mercury plunged into the negative double digits, the worst freeze to grip the region in a generation.

The phenomenon stemming from a blast of Arctic air caused surreal scenes throughout the region, such as steam rising off the waters of Lake Michigan—the result of extremely cold air passing over warmer water below. Parts of Niagara Falls solidified into frozen stillness, and blocks of ice covered the river winding through downtown Chicago.

America’s third city was in the direct path of the harsh weather and experienced its second-coldest day ever. Chicago was on track to break new records overnight when temperatures were forecast to reach their lowest points in the early hours Thursday.

“This is a historic cold, obviously,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told a Wednesday night news conference.

“They are life-threatening temperatures, and they should be treated accordingly,” he cautioned.

The most intense cold was expected overnight Wednesday into Thursday, said Ben Deubelbeiss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, The New York Times reported.

The Wednesday morning temperature in the Windy City was -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius), which felt like -50 degrees (-46 Celsius) with wind chill.

It was colder than Alaska’s state capital and even colder than parts of Antarctica.

“It feels like being close to dry ice,” Leon Gilbert, 31, told AFP. “I can feel my skin tighten up.”

Unlike most Chicago residents, Gilbert was required to report to his job at a Starbucks on a downtown street largely devoid of its usual bustle of people and traffic.

Sandwich shop manager Daniel Gon-

zalez, 37, also reported to work—at 5:00 a.m.

“I have two shirts on... I have a hoodie, I have my big winter coat, I have a face mask and a skullcap and still cold,” Gonzalez told AFP. At Chicago’s O’Hare airport, a major regional hub for airlines, ground crews struggled with freezing equipment and were told to avoid spending more than 15 minutes at a time exposed to the cold, causing delays for flights that managed to take off.

More than 1,800 flights were canceled at Chicago’s two major airports, while rail operator Amtrak scrapped train services from its hub in the city.

The US Postal Service suspended deliveries in parts of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, the Dakotas and Nebraska.

The cause of the sub-zero chill affecting tens of millions of Americans was a swirl of Arctic air that broke away from the polar vortex that usually encircles the North Pole.

The National Weather Service said temperatures would remain 25 to 45 degrees below average through Thursday, with wind chill values as low as -25 to -55 degrees Fahrenheit (-32 to -48 Celsius).

“The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as five minutes,” NWS said. AFP

River agency pilloried amid mass fish deaths SYDNEY―The authority that oversees Australia’s largest river system was accused of “maladministration”, “gross negligence” and ignoring climate science Thursday, as its waterways were carpeted with hundreds of thousands of dead fish.

A Royal Commission report into the Murray-Darling Basin Authority — which happened to coincide with a series of mass fish kills—was scathing in its assessment, accusing the body of illegality.

The Murray-Darling Basin is a river network sprawling for one million square kilometers, about twice the size of Spain.

It affects the livelihood of millions of people, but it had been over-exploited for years and seriously depleted by drought.

A South Australian inquest said the authority acted unlawfully in setting water levels while it “completely ignored” climate change projections.

“Politics rather than science ultimately drove the setting” of limits on the amount of water that could be taken out of the river, the report said.

The commission charged that the authority failed to be guided by “environmental priorities”, as required by law. “It is an unlawful approach. It is maladministration.”

An investigation by the national broadcaster the ABC in 2017 found billions of liters slated for environmental flows was being used to irrigate farmland in New South Wales. AFP

Foreign journalists arrested in Venezuela CARACAS―Venezuelan authorities have detained five foreign journalists covering the standoff with opposition forces seeking the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro.

Two others, from Chile, were deported as the crisis spilled over to hit journalists covering the oil-rich but economically crippled nation’s latest taste of crisis.

Two of the detained are from France, two from Colombia and one from Spain.

The latter three worked for the Spanish national news agency Efe and had all come from Colombia to cover the growing turmoil.

Their detention was reported by the Efe bureau chief in Venezuela, Nelida Fernandez.

Two French journalists working for a TV program called Quotidien were detained Tuesday while filming outside the presidential palace, diplomatic sources said. A local producer working with them was also detained.

Two Chilean TV journalists were detained Tuesday night near the presidential palace and held for 14 hours before being expelled from the country, Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero said. AFP

Hospitals filling up in Skopje, Europe’s most polluted capital SKOPJE―Children are missing school and hospitals are running out of beds as a noxious smog smothers Skopje, earning the small Macedonian city the grim distinction of being Europe’s most polluted capital.

“This is not human any more,” says Marina, a mother who has been forced to take two months off work without pay to stay with her 16-month old baby David at the hospital.

“He was born healthy. There was nothing wrong. And now we are probably facing asthma for lifetime,” she says of her son, who is being treated for severe asthma that has been aggravated by the toxic air.

The infant is among more than 100 children being treated in an institute for respiratory diseases in Skopje, a small city home to around 500,000 people.

The youngest patient is two months old.

Country-wide data on the number of children seeking medical care for pollution is hard to come by.

But doctors say children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the air pollutants, a mix of fumes from homeheating fires, car emissions and coalburning industries.

Geography is also a key factor, with a ring of mountains around Skopje helping trap smog in the valley.

For two consecutive days last week the concentration of PM10—particulate matter less than 10 micrometres in diameter —hung above 188 micrograms per cubic meter—nearly four times WHO’s recommended daily safe limit.

In response, the government closed schools for two days to limit children’s exposure to the air.

Authorities also temporarily halted construction projects and made public transport free to discourage the use of cars.

But many residents feel these soft measures are doing nothing to address the root causes of a problem that has plagued the capital for years. AFP

Venezuela’s Guaido, protesters call on military to reject Maduro CARACAS―Thousands of opposition protesters, led by Venezuela’s self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, on Wednesday called on the armed forces to abandon President Nicolas Maduro and allow humanitarian aid into the crisis-wracked country.

People took to the streets in the capital Caracas and various other cities, banging pots, blowing whistles and horns, and carrying banners that read: “Armed forces, regain your dignity,” “Maduro usurper,” “Guaido, president” and “No to the dictatorship.”

“Don’t shoot people who are making demands also for your family,” Guaido said in a message to the military delivered from the central university in Caracas.

He also wrote in a New York Times op-ed pub-

lished Wednesday that the support of the military was key to efforts to oust Maduro, saying secret meetings had been held with members of the security forces.

“The military’s withdrawal of support from Mr Maduro is crucial to enabling a change in government, and the majority of those in service agree that the country’s recent travails are untenable,” Guaido wrote.

The 35-year-old National Assembly president, an engineer by training, is attempting to force the 56-year-old Maduro from power so he can set up a transitional government and hold new presidential elections.

Guaido quickly earned the support of the United States and several Latin American countries. Six ma-

jor European nations have told Maduro to call those elections by the weekend or they too will recognize Guaido.

“Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro. The fight for freedom has begun!” US President Donald Trump tweeted after speaking with Guaido.

The political upheaval has exacerbated the general disarray in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves but has suffered an economic meltdown marked by hyperinflation and shortages of basic necessities.

Millions have been left in poverty, while 2.3 million more have fled the country, unleashing a migration crisis in South America. AFP

ARRIVAL. Annie Wersching arrives at Excelsior! A Celebration Of The Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible And Uncanny Life Of Stan Lee, at TCL Chinese Theater on January 30, 2019, in Hollywood, California. AFP Manila

StandardERRATUM TODAY

In the Notice issued by the Department of Trade and Industry regarding the “Initiation of a Preliminary Investigation on the Application for Safeguard Measures on the Importation of Ceramic Floor and Wall Tiles from Various Countries ”that appeared in this publication on 28 December 2018, the word stated in item number 2, second bullet should be read as ceramic floor and wall tiles instead of cement.

LGUs

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

B4

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

E. Samar project brings needed hospital reforms

By Ronald O. Reyes

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ACLOBAN CITY—“Proyekto 25,” a banner project of Eastern Samar Acting Governor Marcelo “Dindo” Picardal, has yielded reforms to the hospital operations in the province.

“Governor Picardal doesn’t like that people have to line up and wait for a long time, so we have put up a mechanism to speed up the transactions,” said Provincial Administrator George Erroba on Thursday.

To fix the bureaucracy, Picardal put up a Provincial Governor’s Office in the hospitals to “immediately respond to the problems and monitor the needs of the patients” who are confined there.

“Picardal did this to deliver better service to the constituents. This is one of the goals of ‘Proyekto 25,’ to provide transparency and good governance in Picardal’s administration,” said Erroba.

He said Picardal is “keen on implementing inclusive solution through ‘Proyekto 25’ for the province to move out from the list of poorest provinces” Eastern Samar Acting Governor Marcelo ‘Dindo’ Picardal (right) discusses with Provincial Administrator George Erroba the province’s ‘Proyekto 25’ that focuses on the development of agri-fishery, health, tourism, and good governance, for Eastern Samar to lessen its poverty incidence in the Philippines.

According to Erroba, the full imple- from 46.3 percent to 25 percent for the next five to eight years. mentation of the “No Balance Billing” policy and the establishment of PGO “regained the trust of the public in terms of the services of the health care facilities in the province.”

LANDBANK has launched its Gawad ter, where psycho-social support activi- evacuation sites and 11 other barangays “With the availability of the mediAngat Bayan, a social responsibility pro- ties were piloted for the children. are expected to benefit from this procines and supplies, more people opted gram that aims to support the psycho-soDubbed as “Bahay Pag-asa,” the trangram. to go to government hospitals because cial needs of internally displaced persons sitional shelter houses child-beneficiaries The main components of the program of the availability of logistics,” he said. affected by the siege of Marawi City, espeas young as 6 years old.

As part of the include a trainers’ training for commuPhilHealth officials around the councially its children.

PSS activities for children, books that nity leaders, conduct of PSS activities, try already visited the province and recThe launch was held on Jan. 17 in promote children’s rights were also dis- eco-therapy through organic farming, ognized the mechanism established by Marawi, led by LandBank executive vice tributed onsite. post-activities support communication, Picardal in all government hospitals in president Liduvino Geron and officials Funded by the Department of Finance and other interventions needed by the Eastern Samar. from partner organizations led by Hous- under the Kreditanstalt für Wieder- participants, including possible liveliAs of November 2018, about 18,230 ing Secretary and Task Force Bangon aufbau-Interest Differential Fund, the hood opportunities. in-patients (admissions) were accomMarawi Chairman Eduardo del Rosario, GABAY Program is implemented in The GABAY Program is implemented modated in all of its hospitals, with 44 City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra, partnership with Balay Mindanaw. in close coordination with the TFBM, percent or 8,194 admitted in Eastern and Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc. BMFI is an internationally recognized and the Islamic City of Marawi LGU ofSamar Provincial Hospital. president Charlito Manlupig. non-government organization from Ca- ficials.

On the average, the monthly bed ocAlso present during the launch were gayan de Oro City that specializes in disas“Having programs like GABAY cupancy rate is 80 percent, a PhilHealth officials and representatives from the ter response and preparedness initiatives. complement the government’s massive report said.

LandBank Corporate Affairs DepartThe program aims to provide PSS rehabilitation efforts for Marawi is Five out of nine hospitals had more ment, Marawi Branch, and Cagayan de for affected individuals, and to develop very important. This will help us make than 85 percent monthly bed occupancy Oro Lending Center. community leaders especially among the sure we are addressing all the needs of rate, the report added.

Part of the launch was a visit to Baranyouth and women. the affected individuals,” Del Rosario Erroba maintained that Picardal’s gay Bito Buadi Itowa Transitional ShelAt least 2,000 IDPs from the identified said. administration brought “a significant overall increase of 32 percent in bed occupancy rate in most hospitals” in Eastern Samar.

The “Proyekto 25” is part of Picardal’s medium-term plan which aims to lower the poverty incidence of 46.3 percent in the province into 25 percent by focusing on the development of health, good governance, tourism, and agri-fishery.

LandBank goes green for GABAY, Marawi children

Caloocan, church youth unite for village cleanup

By Jun David THE City Government of Caloocan, led

by Mayor Oscar Malapitan, joined in a cleanup drive organized by the Church of God ASEZ, a university student volunteer group of the World Mission Society of God. Students from University of Caloocan City volunteered during the cleanup drive in barangays 135, 136, 137, and 140.

“I am very much thankful to such efforts and initiative of private organizations organized for the benefit of our city and constituents,” Malapitan said.

Volunteers used cleaning materials provided by the City Government of Caloocan. Plastic bottles, soda cans and other biodegradable trash were collected.

“I am inspired by these students. It is even the young blood who are ready to inspire the leaders of the government and the local communities. You are a group that keeps your words,” said Councilor Marilou Nubla, who also attended the event.

Also present during the cleanup drive were barangay captains, policemen, students from other cities, and other force multipliers.

Leading the launch of GABAY Program are (standing behind table) LandBank executive vice president Liduvino Geron and first vice president Catherine Rowena Villanueva, first vice president Khurshid Kalabud, HUDCC Secretary and Task Force Bangon Marawi Chairman Eduardo del Rosario, Marawi City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra, and Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc. president Charlito Z. Manlupig. They are joined by other representatives from the LandBank and The Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc.

Cebu City gives South Road lot to SC, judiciary

By Rey E. Requejo CHIEF Justice Lucas P. Bersamin on Wednesday graced the signing of the deed of donation between the Supreme Court and the Cebu City government over the 1.5-hectare South Road Properties in Cebu City envisioned to be the site of a Judiciary Complex.

Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez and Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña signed the deed of donation for the Supreme Court and the city government, respectively.

In the deed, the city government donated the property in exchange for the 7,123 square meter lot it earlier donated to the court, originally intended solely for the Court of Appeals Cebu City Station.

The Judiciary Complex will house the Court of Appeals Cebu City station as well as the Regional Trial Courts and the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities of Cebu City.

Also included in the Complex are the hearing rooms of the Sandiganbayan, a training center for judges and court personnel in the Visayas, and the Office of the Deputy Court Administrator for the Visayas.

In his speech, Chief Justice Bersamin expressed his gratitude to the Cebu City Government, saying the offer is advantageous to the Court since the CA and all the city trial courts will have more working space, as well as “permanent and continuous enjoyment thereof.”

The chief magistrate said the court litigants also stand to benefit, as they will not have to travel to different locations if they have official business in both the CA and the Cebu City trial courts.

“I consider myself the lucky man who gets to announce this acceptance of donation and to witness the actual signing of the Deed of Donation. I know many Chief Justices before me have worked with the Court Administrator and the Cebu City local government unit regarding the site of the judicial complex, but the fulfilment of all their hard work has thankfully landed on me,” said Bersamin.

Albay solon seeks bigger, upgraded Bicol RTT hospital DARAGA, Albay—To better address and serve the health and medical concerns of his region, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda seeks to upgrade and expand the capacity of the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, a state regional medical center in Legazpi City.

In a bill he recently filed in Congress, the Albay lawmaker seeks to increase the BRTTH’s bed capacity from its present 250 to 800 beds, upgrade its facilities and augment its medical staff to meet the needs of the entire Bicol region.

Salceda said his House Bill 8856 aims to establish the hospital—which has been existing for over 100 years and now stands as the Philippine General Hospital of the South—as a facility that can ably cater to more patients from Albay, Sorsogon, and the island provinces of Masbate and Catanduanes, many of whom are disadvantaged by rising costs and travel distance to Metro Manila.

Even with its limited capacity and resources, he said the BRTTH has been expanding its services to meet the health demands of Bicolanos and cope with the mandate of the Department of Health to become the combined Heart, Lung, Kidney, and Cancer center in the Bicol Region.

The hospital has also expanded and upgraded its PhilHealth Z package benefits accreditation to help attain President Duterte’s Philippine Health Agenda 2016-2022 of “All for Health Towards Health for All,” said Salceda.

The Heart, Lung, Kidney and Cancer centers of BRTTH cater to the entire region, being the sole service provider against these chronic illnesses, and is therefore expected to cope with increasing patients in the coming years, he added.

Pasay police arrest 30 in drug raids

By Joel E. Zurbano THIRTY persons were arrested in simultaneous police operations in Pasay City late Wednesday night as part of the government’s crackdown on drug dealing in Metro Manila.

Pasay City police commander Noel Flores said the latest operations conducted in Barangay Malibay also led to the arrest of 29 other individuals caught violating local ordinances.

The authorities confiscated a bulk of prohibited substances, particularly shabu, and assorted deadly weapons.

Flores said four of those arrested were caught in possession of firearms in violation of the election gun ban, and four others were apprehended with hand grenades.

Metro Manila police director Guill-

ermo Eleazar commended Flores and his men for their successful operations, which he said is in line with the National Capital Region Police Office’ support to the directive of Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde to go against illegal drugs and criminality.

Eleazar had also ordered his men to fully enforce the PNP’s anti-crime campaign dubbed as SACLEO, or the Simultaneous Anti-Criminality and Law Enforcement Operations, aimed to ensure peace and order in the community.

SACLEO is an all-out police operation simultaneously conducted in identified areas against illegal drug personalities, most wanted persons, bearers of loose firearms, illegal gamblers, and city ordinance violators.

OUTREACH PROGRAM. Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, Police Regional Office 13 director, personally leads the PNP-Caraga’s outreach program to teachers, children, and barangay officials of Taod-oy, Agusan del Norte. The activity was also attended by Agusan del Norte Provincial Police Director Senior Supt. Ramir Perlito Perlas. Roy Tomandao

Life

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

CULTURE AND MEDIA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

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Philippines’ natural wonders shine in European photography tilt

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ORLD-renowned photographer for National Geographic Per-Andre Hoffman’s image of a carabao won in the prestigious PR-Bild Awards 2018, a public relations photography award in Europe.

Conducted by News Aktuell, a sister company of the leading German press agency Deutsche PresseAgentur GmbH (DPA), the PR-Bild Awards aims to honor the importance of PR photography as it recognizes the performances of the companies and agencies in the field of PR and communications.

The Department of Tourism joined various national tourism offices, travel and tourism companies, and professional and international public relations organizations in the competition, more popularly known as the PR-Photo Awards.

Hoffman’s photo entitled “Interracial friendship beyond prejudice,” bagged the first prize in the Tourism and Travel category.

The image of the carabao with a bird perched on its nose stood out from over 2,000 entries selected by a panel of judges composed of editors-in-chief of sterling publications, multi-awarded accomplished photographers, and leading global PR and media experts.

The top 10 images chosen per category were those that exhibited the exceptional balance between technical quality, visual storytelling, production efforts, and the success of a campaign.

Margarita Valdes, Tourism Attaché of the DoT based in Frankfurt, Germany received the trophy at the awarding ceremony held at the famous Hamburger Grünspan Building.

Bigger ‘Pasinaya 2019’ opens today THE largest multi-arts festival in the country, Pasinaya Open House Festival begins its three-day affair today.

Following the theme “Karapatan, Kalayaan, Kultura,” the Cultural Center of the Philippines decided to add an extra day to the growing festival, making it a much longer art journey than just a weekend affair. On its 15th year, the festival continues its two-part program, dubbed “Palihan at Palabas.”

Registration for today’s Palihan, the “Experience-All-You-Can, Pay-What-YouCan” part of the festival, starts at 6:30 a.m., at the CCP Ramp and Little Theater lobby.

For a suggested donation price of P50, participants may go in and out of the different CCP venues to attend the 30-minute workshops in various art disciplines conducted by leading artists, resource persons, and teachers.

There will be two days of Palabas, with more than 3,000 artists from different fields such as music, theater, dance, spoken word, and visual arts.

On Feb. 2, performing groups and artists from Bulacan, Quezon, Boracay, Laguna, Cavite, Tarlac, Batangas, Bicol, Rizal, Pangasinan and other provinces in the Philippines will take center stage.

The center’s resident companies, namely the Ballet Philippines, the Philippine Ballet Theater, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, Tanghalang Pili-

STUNNING STILLS.

Per-Andre Hoffman's photographs of the Philippines shine at PR-Bild Awards 2018. His 'Interracial friendship beyond prejudice' (top left) bagged the top prize in Tourism and Travel category.

Hoffman's other images (clockwise from top right) 'Paradise Palawan,' 'Milky Way over Chadpidan Beach,' 'Ifugao Dance,' and 'Yakan Bride with traditional makeup,' were also shortlisted in the same category.

The other photos by Hoffmann, which were also submitted by the DoT, entitled “Yakan Bride with traditional make up, Basilan Island;” “Milky Way

over Chadpidan Beach, Batanes IsHoffmann, who has been creating lands;” “Ifugao Dance, Cordilleras;” promotional photography and workand “Paradise Palawan” were shortlist- ing as media consultant of the DoT ed in the same category. since 1993, currently shares his ex-

pertise as Senior Industry Fellow of the Photography Program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts.

World’s biggest 24-hour book sale returns to Manila

The three-day Pasinaya 2019 features more activities and performances.

pino, the UST Symphony Orchestra, and the National Music Competitions for Young Artists will present their season’s offerings on Feb. 3.

Another highlight of the festival is the museum-hopping, featuring various partner museums around the metro. This year's new museum partners are CSB Center for Campus Art and Calle Wright.

In partnership with the Museum Foundation, shuttle vans are provided to enable audiences to visit participating museums and galleries in Pasay and Manila such as Met Museum, Museo Marino, Museo Pambata, National Museum’s National Art Gallery, Museum of the Filipino People and Museum of Natural History, Intramuros Administration’s Casa Manila and Fort Santiago, Mono 8, Bahay Tsino, Destilleria Limtuaco, FDCP Cinematheque, Galleria Duemilla, UP Manila’s The Museum of A History of Ideas, Avellana Gallery, 98B Collaboratory, and NCCA Gallery.

There will also be film screenings, visual arts exhibitions in the various CCP galleries, Arts Market at the Little Theater Lobby, and tiangge in the South Parking area, among others.

The festival will culminate with a parade, featuring performances of the CCP resident companies and other guest artists.

Call the CCP Marketing Department at (02) 832-3704 or 832-3706, or visit www. culturalcenter.gov.ph for more details.

BOOKWORMS, rejoice!

Following its successful first run, the world’s biggest book sale, Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is returning to Manila this February. About two million books across different genre will be offered at 50 to 90 percent off at the World Trade Center in Pasay from Feb. 22 to March. 4.

“We had such an exciting time in 2018 and we are thrilled to return to the Philippines this year. We’re happy to continue our long-term commitment to make books affordable and accessible,” enthused Jacqueline Ng, founder of the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale.

In response to customer demand, the 24-hour book sale is bringing in more young adult fiction, romance, science fiction, crime thriller, business, self-help, architecture, design, cooking, children’s fiction, and activity books, among others.

It is also bringing in augmented reality (AR) books for children. The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is known as Asia’s exclusive seller of the Little Hippo AR books. Book lovers are expected to find a range of classic children’s stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears all coming to life through AR.

Big Bad Wolf Books founder Jacqueline Ng

“Children will be able to read, play, and learn through the Little Hippo AR books, which use cutting-edge AR technology to revolutionize reading for the next generation. These books ‘come

to life’ as the characters speak, dance, and sing. This creates a ‘magical’ feeling for children which will help them get excited to read more,” shared Ng. Aside from expanding in the Philippines last year, the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in October 2018 donated P5 million to Gawad Kalinga to support their initiatives in building homes to end poverty. These donations built and refurnished libraries in many Gawad Kalinga communities.

“Working together with the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale has enabled us to provide quality books to our communities.

Their support has helped us build better reading corners for our Gawad Kalinga families,” said Luis Oquiñena, executive director of Gawad Kalinga.

The book sale and the NGO will once again team up this year.

“We are glad that we are able to continue this relationship this year and we hope to move forward together in making affordable books accessible to the other parts of Philippines,” said Oquiñena.

Prior to the opening, a VIP Day, wherein select book sale goers can get first dibs on the books, is scheduled on Feb. 21.

Check out Big Bad Wolf Book Sale’s social media accounts to know more.

The world's largest 24-hour book sale, Big Bad Wolf Book Sale returns to Manila this year. (Inset) Little Hippo Augmented Reality book

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Entertainment

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

nickie.standard@gmail.com

Ignore Bato movie boycott—Binoe Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla

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HE biggest and the brightest Star Magic artists ushered in 2019 as a family through the sparkling gathering touted as “Pure Magic.”

‘Bato the Movie’ lead star Robin Padilla with leading lady Beauty Gonzales and Gen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa himself

said. “At lahat ng ito ay dahil sa kanyang pagpupunyagi.”

Padilla is also hopeful that Bato will push for the revivification of the Pinoy action movies. “Matagal-tagal na ring panahon na namahinga ang mga action movies, kaya itong Bato ay isang THE movie Bato opened in theaters malaking pagkakataon na maibalik last Wednesday despite calls from natin ang ganing klase ng pelikula sa some movie workers call to boycott it, ating bansa.” for obvious reasons.

And he’s just hoping that movie auFirst, the former PNP Chief is gun- diences will give the film a chance, not ning for a seat in the Senate in the for whatever the bashers are throwing coming midterm elections. Second, at it as a political propaganda, but as the actor portraying the one time con- a movie that deals with the struggles troversial yet colorful law enforce- of one personality to rise and become ment personality is Robin Padilla, a the person that he thinks he could be known supporter of President Rod- among his fellow men. rigo Duterte and his government Bato is screening in theaters nationand policies. And, third, the movie wide. is screening weeks before the actual *** campaign period set by the CommisDOT announces winners of toursion on Elections (Comelec) for senaism campaign contracts torial candidates.

As the Department of TourRobin Padilla, during the press con- ism (DOT) welcomes 2019 with many ference for the movie at the Valencia changes, one thing remains the same: it Events Place (Bato’s distribution is be- will always be “more fun.” ing handled by Regal Films), appeals Retaining the tagline: It’s More Fun for reason amid the call from certain in the Philippines, Tourism Secretary sectors in the industry (mostly known Bernadette Romulo Puyat confirms anti-Duterte) to boycott the movie. plans to launch its refreshed campaign He said, “The boycott will nega- internationally in the first quarter of tively affect those who worked at the 2019 with a spotlight on sustainable ALV (Arnold L. Vegafria) produced tourism. movie.”

In the fourth quarter of last year, the According to him, the movie is just DOT posted four major projects, up for about than the rise of a young police bidding by interested advertising agenrookie in Davao to becoming the cies. These are the (1) creative agency country’s PNP Chief under the admin- to refresh the “It’s More Fun in the istration of President Duterte.

Philippines” branding campaign, (2) It also shows his hard work, ideals, media planning and buying agency for and principles, and the constant strug- the strategic international placements gle of a policeman, such as having to of the branding campaign, (3) creative face life-changing decisions that could agency to communicate sustainable affect many lives including those of tourism in the Philippines and (4) digiinnocent ones. tal marketing agency to promote the It also shows that De la Rosa or Philippines as a model of sustainable Bato is just like any other human, tourism in Asia. struggling with doubts that confused After three months and two rounds him before finally realizing that his of highly competitive bidding, adverchoice to be a policeman is not just tising agency BBDO Guerrero Inc. choosing a profession, but answering was awarded the contract to “refresh” a deeper calling to make a difference, the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” such as to make people’s live safe. branding campaign and complementThat, says Padilla, which eventually ing them is Touch XDA Inc. which made him understand his deeper pur- will serve as the media planning and pose in life. buying agency that will steward the This movie also stars Beauty Gon- campaign’s strategic international zales, Alvin Anson, Archie Alema- placements. nia, Chanel Morales, Efren Reyes, DDB Philippines Inc. was chosen to Gardo Verzoza, Gina Alajar, Jess promote sustainable and responsible Mendoza, Joko Diaz, Jun Hidalgo, tourism in the country, using a compreKiko Estrada, Kiko Matos, Ma- hensive research study as basis, while nuel Chua, Marx Topacio, Menggie BBDO Guerrero Inc. will be responCobarrubias, Mon Confiado, Polo sible for the development of a digital Ravales, and Ricky Davao. public relations campaign for the PhilPadilla, after being presented with ippines as a premiere sustainable tourthe offer to star in the movie and after ism destination. going through the screenplay based Under her leadership, the DOT, for on the life of the former Philippine the first time, will market the PhilipNational Police (PNP) Chief Ronald pines as one of the pioneering countries “Bato” de la Rosa, was easily won to for sustainable tourism. This direction be on board the project. He said, the puts a focus on carrying capacity, biodilife of Bato is inspiring and should versity preservation, and sustainability be seen by many Filipinos here and in the tourism industry. abroad. *** “Isa itong kwento ng isang ‘CinderVisit www.isah.red for more stories. ella man’ dahil naiangat nya ang kan- Follow me on Facebook (@isahvr), yang sarili mula sa kahirapan n’ung Twitter (@isahvred) and Instagram (@ siya na musmos pa lamang,” the actor isahvred). ΙR

Maymay Entrata and Edward Barber

Stars sparkle

in ‘Pure Magic’ New Year party

Kisses Delavin

Vivoree Esclito and CK Kieron

Piolo Pascual

YUGEL LOSORATA THE late Pinoy rock icon Joey “Pepe” Smith, whom I got to interview multiple times, took me back as far as 1966 during our last chat with my voice recorder on. It was by way of a post-presscon casual talk in late 2017 when he shared his memory of encountering The Beatles “few minutes before showtime.”

By that he meant right before John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr played in front of a massive Filipino crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in July of that year.

His then affiliation The Downbeats played frontact.

“We talked about the area and they were asking how big it is,” he reminisced, “I told them ‘You are the first ones who filled this up!’”

Pepe joked that when he heard and saw The Beatles play live, he felt like wanting “to stop playing in a band already.” And that was even before he led a

Kim Chiu

The all-star New Year’s party had the country’s popular stars walking the blue carpet and partying the night away in their glittery and shiny ensembles.

Among those who walked the blue carpet were couples and tandems like Bea Alonzo and Gerald Anderson, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, Loisa Andalio and Ronnie Alonte, Maymay Entrata and Edward Barber, and Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia.

While leading ladies Angelica Panganiban, Shaina Magdayao, Jessy Mendiola, Janella Salvador, Elisse Joson, Jane Oineza, Sofia Andres, Barbie Imperial, Maris Racal, Sue Ramirez, Yen Santos, Coleen Garcia, Denise Laurel, Pokwang, Kisses Delavin and Kim Chiu, among others, came in full regalia.

Dashing leading men Piolo Pascual, Enchong Dee, McCoy de Leon, RK Bagatsing, Jameson Blake, Sam Milby, Elmo Magalona, Donny Pangilinan, Arjo Atayde, Ejay Falcon, and Zanjoe Marudo, among others, meanwhile, brought their A game as they took the blue carpet.

Performers Vina Morales, Klarisse de Guzman, Liezel Garcia, Tippy Dos Santos, Nyoy Volante, and Jed Madela, among others, took their singers hat off to have fun that night, as well as the talent management’s most promising teen stars.

As the night went on, KZ Tandingan, Eric Nicolas, Nyoy Volante, PJ Endrinal, Alexa Ilacad, and Jed Madela entertained the vibrant crowd by jamming with the Six Part Invention band.

While all came made up, a few stars stood out as they took home special awards.

Kim Chiu bagged the Wilkins Pure Star of the Night; KZ Tandingan was awarded the Pure Glam of the Night while Piolo Pascual was named the Pure Lit of the Night.

Before the program wrapped up and before the dancing began, AC Bonifacio and Riva Quenery first sizzled on the dance floor with their individual performances.

To say that the first ever “Pure Magic” night has been a success would be an understatement. The starstudded gathering wouldn’t have been possible if not Pascual, Wilkins for Keren Pascual and Marquis Events place.

Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia

Pepe in Pepperland group called Juan Dela Cruz Band to fame and forever. He mused, “I told myself, ‘Ayoko na tumugtog.

Ang gagaling ng mga ‘to!’”

Yesterday, Jan. 30, happened to be the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ iconic performance on the roof of their Apple Studios building in 3 Savile Row, London. It was their last public gig. Last Monday, January 28, Pinoy rock was reduced to a dirge with the passing of its most beloved senior statesman.

Admittedly a big John Lennon fan, Pepe specially liked the quartet’s version of Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music” which he fondly noted as that concert’s opening number. “They’re an awesome band and they sound fantastic, ang sarap ng tugtugan,” he stressed.

Asked about his thoughts on the costly miscommunication that marred the Fab Four’s Manila visit,

he somewhat fumed, “Kawawa naman sila. They came here to play and perform and entertain the Filipino people. Hindi nila intensiyon to snub the First Family at pinalala lang yun ng mga nakapaligid sa First Family. Sila dapat ang pinagbubugbog!”

Himself later becoming a poster boy especially for the early days of Pinoy rock music scene, Pepe’s first impression of The Beatles in person eventually mirrored his remarkably hippy stance that sweepingly characterized his career and life, both private and public. He ultimately said of The Beatles: “They were as cool as ever. They’re the ones.”

For many Filipino music fans who grew up knowing he wrote, lead-sung the anthemic “Himig Natin” and lived a devil-may-care, rock n’ roll life to the fullest, he was also undoubtedly the one.

Filipino rock legend Joey “Pepe” Smith

Motoring

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

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2018 DUCATI PANIGALE V4

Making superstars out of mere mortals

By Lester Dizon

I

N THE October 1977 issue of Car and Driver magazine, Technical Editor Don Sherman wrote a sidebar entitled “Electronic Wizardry: Better Living Through Microprocessors.” He predicted that “one day, electronics will manage all automobile control functions.” Forty-one years later, Sherman’s prediction is now a fact of life.

Electronics and onboard computers not only manage most automotive control functions, it also manages the performance functions of most superbikes.

What he didn’t predict was how electronics can help improve our driving or riding skills.

Take the case of the 2018 Ducati Panigale V4. Its 90° V4 engine is packed with a myriad of electronic sensors and microprocessors to maximize performance and wring out 214 horses at a dizzying 13,000 rpm. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h before you can even finish reading this sentence. But unlike wild horses, the Panigale V4’s electronics allow you to do it safely and confidently with riding aids such as traction and drift control, wheelie control, and a new racing ABS system for high speed cornering. Heck, even the optional Öhlins suspension is electronically adjustable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Panigale V4 Experience We were invited by the good people of Ducati Philippines to test ride the new Panigale V4 at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga last November 21, 2018. The exciting activities of the aptly-titled “Panigale V4 Experience” included a chance to ride around the circuit with motorcycle racing superstars like former MotoGP rider and World Superbike (WSBK) 2011 Champion Carlos Checa; WSBK Superstock 600 rider and Women’s European Supersport Champion Rebecca Bianchi; European Superstock 1000 Championship contender Federico Sandi; and Ducati Riding Experience Technical Director Dario Marchetti.

We were also privileged to ride around

CIS with TJ Alberto, the only Filipino rider to successfully race in the European Superstock 1000 series in Italy. The young Alberto will undoubtedly become instrumental in assisting his proud parents, Toti and Joy Alberto, proprietors of Access Plus-Ducati Philippines, bring the desirability of the new Panigale V4 among local riders to brave new heights. After being awarded as the “Best Ducati Importer/ Distributor in Asia”, Access Plus-Ducati Philippines needs to up the ante.

Derived from MotoGP Named after the small manufacturing town of Borgo Panigale in Bologna, Italy, the 2018 Ducati Panigale V4 is the successor to the Superquadro V-Twinequipped 1299. Its Desmosedici Stradale V4 engine was derived directly from the Desmosedici MotoGP racing engine while most of its electronic riding aids were derived from the 1299 Superleggera. The Panigale V4 was created by Ducati to combine the features of its MotoGP racing machines but in a more entertaining and easily rideable package, and with a 24,000-kilometer service interval now common on production superbikes.

Ducati initially wanted to use the MotoGP race bike’s chassis for the Panigale V4 but instead went with a completely new front frame that weighed less and provided more stability. Unlike the previous 1199 and 1299 models where the engine is a stressed member of the frame, the V4 engine is now surrounded by an aluminum perimeter frame. Despite its V4 engine, the Panigale V4 is only slightly wider than the 1299 and weighs only 4.5 kilograms heavier.

Ducati’s superbike is put through its paces by no less than the writer, a seasoned motoring journalist.

Engineering the Chassis As expected of a Ducati superbike, the liquid-cooled 1103cc 90° V4 engine features desmodromic valve actuation.

However, unlike previous Ducati models, the Panigale V4’s engine rotates in the opposite direction of the wheels, which counteracts the gyroscopic effect and decreases the force necessary to change the bike’s inclination. To help harness these traits, Ducati rotated the V4 engine further backwards and mounted the swingarm pivot near the rear cylinders instead of near the crankshaft.

For better handling, Ducati equipped

RIDE AND SHINE. Motorbike racing champions prepare to burn rubber in an all-Panigale torture run of sorts. Photo by Lester Dizon

the Panigale V4 with that a 43mm Showa inverted front fork and mounted a Sachs rear shock absorber to its aluminum single-sided swing arm. To shorten braking distances and improve control, Ducati collaborated with Brembo to have the 330mm front disc rotors gripped by new Stylema M50 monoblock brake calipers that are 70 grams lighter than those on the 1299. They also worked with Pirelli to develop the new Diablo Supercorsa SP with its rubber compounds to improve traction and tire mileage.

Riding the Panigale V4S When the CIS’ PA system blurted out, “The track is now open for the Panigale V4 Experience media ride”, I felt a little uneasy. After all, it has been some time since I’ve swung a leg over a superbike, let alone a beautiful red Ducati with a price tag approaching a two million pesos. Luckily, Ducati Philippines’ John Neri and Marc De Joya allowed me to have a couple of 15-minute sessions around the track before the main event. I first rode a Hypermotard 939 and then moved on to a Monster 821 when other riders wouldn’t go out because of the drizzling rain and wet track.

The two 15-minute seat time on the wet track were enough for me get reacquainted with the straights, twists and turns of the

4.6-kilometer Speedway. So, when time came to mount the brand new luscious red Panigale V4 S superbikes, I had quieted my nerves and gained more confidence straddling the expensive Ducati between my legs. Curiously, I mounted demo bike number 4. I got so confident that I had my bike’s Engine Power settings adjusted to “Medium” instead of “Low”, which the organizers recommended in anticipation of the wet track condition.

Luckily, the rain stopped and the track dried a bit as TJ Alberto led our convoy of media riders out of the pit lane and into the track on board our respective Panigale V4 S rides. You can feel the excitement in the air as some riders were “blipping” the throttle to hear the wonderful staccato of the 4-cylinder Desmosedici Stradale.

Sandwiched between me and TJ Alberto were the V4s of Aris Ilagan of Top Gear Philippines and Bing Basit of The Big Ride. TJ signaled all the riders to follow his line as we crested the first corner into a left-hand bend followed by a left hairpin and a sharp right corner. As we exited the corner, I used the majority of my V4 S’ 124 Newton-meters of torque to zoom pass Aris and Bing, and then immediately tucked into the back of TJ as we sped through a short straight.

Falken Wildpeak Tyres engineered for adventure THE Philippine exclusive distributor of FalkenTyres, JM Far East, has launched the newest range of Falken high-performance and all-terrain tyres, the WILDPEAK M/T, WILDPEAK A/T 3W and AZENIS FK510-SUV at the Clark Marriott Hotel in Clark, Pampanga last January 25.

After the product launch and presentation, the Philippine motoring journalists together with Falken executives and dealers hied off to Sacobia River and Natural Hot Springs for an Off-Road Ultimate Experience with the new tyres, which were mounted on 13 4×4 vehicles.

Falken is known as a leader in high performance tire technology for cars, trucks and SUVs all over the world. The company’s products were first launched in its native country of Japan in 1983. It started as a Sumitomo Rubber Industries brand, which was widely known for its innovative design, precision engineering and manufacturing quality for more than 100 years. During its inception, Falken was created as the flagship high performance radial tire brand. Three decades later, Falken has become a popular, standalone brand that focuses on high performance products while utilizing professional motorsports to further develop and improve its products globally.

After ending their joint venture partnership with Goodyear Tires USA by the end of 2015, Sumitomo Tire and Rubber Company has pivoted its approached to the market through making FALKEN Tire as its strategic global brand by turning the brand to an Original Equipment supplier to major international automotive manufacturers like Mercedes Benz, Porsche, VW, Nissan, Subaru, and other known European car brands.

Setting the need for continuous technological advancements as a priority, Sumitomo developed a superior ‘4D Nano

Design’, which is their cutting-edge proprietary simulation technology that supports the development of new materials for high-quality, high-performance tyres such as the Falken. Utilizing the K Computer, one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, 4D Nano Design combines ‘Investigation’, ‘Prediction’, ‘Production’ and ‘Extraction’ technologies to unlock the performance of new materials at the Nano scale, allowing the extraction of the maximum and even hidden potential of each material.

Sumitomo’s proprietary ‘Advanced 4D Nano Design’ new materials development technology was selected for the prestigious ‘Tyre Technology of the Year’ award at the ‘Tyre Technology Expo

2017’ which was held in Hanover, Germany.

In his welcome remarks, JM Far East President and CEO Winston Manabat said, “We are very excited to bring the FalkenTyres in the country and we’re confident that the Filipinos will positively respond to these three new global products that are fit for our roads. Our Falken partners in Japan have been very supportive to JM Far East as well as to our tire customer and after-sales centers nationwide.”

WILDPEAK M/T TIRE Maximum Off-Road Traction Built for the Toughest Terrain Trusted by the pros to take on the harshest conditions, the tough WILDPEAK M/T

Executives of JM Far East present the new range of Falken high-performance tires. Below, Falken tires take the performance test during an off-road experience in the Sacobia River.

is built to get you there and back whether you’re on the pavement, mud, snow or rocks. The M/T features Falken’s proprietary three-ply DURASPEC™ Sidewall Technology developed to sustain the most punishing off-road conditions. DURASPEC™ also features two high ply turn-ups that provide an additional layer of protection and durability. An aggressive upper sidewall provides additional traction at low air pressures on rugged terrain.

The WILDPEAK M/T also features exceptional road manners thanks to an optimized variable three-pitch tread pattern and precision manufacturing technology making the tire amazingly quiet and comfortable even for daily use. It also features a Heat Diffuser Technology located in the lower side wall to dissipate heat and protect the tire internal components and ensuring vehicle stability even in towing and carrying heavy loads. WILDPEAK M/T is designed and tested in partnership with third party professionals including the biggest names in off-road such as the famous father and son team of Tony and Jordan Pellegrino. LESTER DIZON

Motoring

RAMON L. TOMELDAN Editor

C4 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Let your fingers do the driving • World’s first fingerprint technology to be applied on Hyundai Santa Fe 2019

H

YUNDAI Motor Company announced the world’s first smart fingerprint technology that allows drivers to not only unlock doors but also start the vehicle. Hyundai plans to implement the technology initially in Santa Fe SUV model that is to be released in select markets on the first quarter of 2019.

To unlock the vehicle, the driver need to place a finger on the sensor located on the door handle. The encrypted fingerprint information will be identified and delivered to the fingerprint controller inside the vehicle. The driver can also easily start the vehicle by touching the ignition that is also equipped with a fingerprint scanning sensor.

The technology also provides a customized driving environment. Matching information of driver preference with fingerprint data, the vehicle automatically adjusts seating positions, connected car features, and side-view mirror angles according to the driver.

“In the future, Hyundai Motor plans to further expand the application of the technology to allow the adjustment of temperature, steering wheel position, and many other features which will be tailored to driver’s preferences” said Albert Biermann, President and Head of Research & Development Division of the Hyundai Motor Company. “This will ultimately offer quality driving experience to each and every Hyundai customer.”

Hyundai also addressed the security issues on the smart fingerprint technology.

With capacitance recognition, which detects differentials in the electricity level in various parts of the fingertip, the fin-

By Lester Dizon A MULTITUDE of guests from the Philippine motoring media, Suzuki dealerships, bank partners and Club Ertiga members joined the officers of Suzuki Philippines, Inc. led by SPH President Hiroshi Suzuki, at the Marriott Hotel Manila in Pasay City last January 23, 2019 to witness the unveiling of the all-new Suzuki Ertiga.

The first-generation Ertiga was Suzuki’s best-selling vehicle. It offered comfortable seating for 7 occupants and was considered as the brand’s compact multipurpose vehicle (MPV) offering the best value-for-money. The all-new Ertiga continues Suzuki’s mandate of value-for-money but features a stronger yet more elegant styling while packing the latest technological innovations from the Japanese automaker.

“We owe it to our valued customers to give them nothing but our best”, said SPH Managing Director Norminio “Boying” Mojica.

The Chief Engineer of the Suzuki Ertiga, Satoshi Kasahara, flew all the way from Japan to discuss the styling, interior, performance and safety features of the all-new Ertiga. It features Suzuki’s new generation platform, the HEARTECT, a light yet highly-rigid frame that effectively disperses impact energy to improve safety while reducing noise and vibration.

Propulsion comes from a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder 16-valve K15B engine that produces 103 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 138 Newton-meters of torque at 4,400 rpm. Transmission choices include a 5-speed manual transmission (M/T) and a 4-speed automatic (A/T) that distribute the power range to maximize fuel efficiency.

The fingerprint technology’s chance of misrecognizing other person’s finger print as the driver’s is only 1 in 50,000 making it five times more effective than conventional vehicle keys, including smart keys, according to Hyundai.

Suzuki Ertiga goes upmarket

Top executives of Suzuki Philippines take the wraps off the all-new Ertiga.

The new platform is enveloped by an exterior styling that features a more aerodynamic body and a taller, fiercer front end treatment while retaining the general overall proportions that endeared the Ertiga to its owners and enthusiasts alike. It sports a more elegant front profile with an elegant chrome grille flanked by new stylish headlamps in a seemingly congruent yet edgy design.

The rear was treated to an upgrade that gave the Ertiga an upmarket European car vibe, especially with the rear quarters and LED tail lamp treatment. “It looks more elegant”, cooed Suzuki dealer principals Anthony Cheng and Mike Tan. On the other hand, the interior of the all-new Ertiga is designed with sophistication, flexibility, and spaciousness in mind. The new HEARTECT platform distributed the space within the all-new Er-

tiga to provide larger passenger legroom for the 2nd and 3rd row seats while an innovative flexible seating arrangement allows all kinds of stuff to be loaded into the MPV and transported safely.

Passenger comfort is enhanced with a rear air-conditioner that keep the 2nd and 3rd row passengers cool while small storage spaces, such as a ventilated cup holder, improved center console, and door pockets, add convenience all around. “I’ve sat in the 3rd row and it felt comfortable”, boasted Suzuki dealer principal, Felix “Bingo” Limcauco.

“With the increasingly diversified demands of the local auto industry and needs of the end-users, we cannot be complacent when we’ve done well and stop innovating”, said SPH Director and Automobile Division General Manager Keiichi Suzuki. “We want to make

sure that our customers get more than they deserve, which is why we decided to further improve the best-selling Ertiga. With its new features and enhanced functions, the upgraded MPV will definitely enable more Filipinos to live the Suzuki Way of Life and drive our company forward.”

Sporting a fiercer look and boasting maximum functionality, the allnew Suzuki Ertiga now combines strength and elegance in a compact body, allowing Filipino families to go on adventures and seize the day in style. With superior riding comfort, the all-new Suzuki Ertiga will help make tackling the heavy Metro Manila traffic more bearable as well as help pass the time away more pleasantly. “I’m confident that the all-new Ertiga will be Suzuki’s best-seller as it was with the previous model”, stated Leo Lei of Suzuki UN Avenue.

gerprint technology efficiently prevents forgeries and faked fingerprints. The technology’s chance of misrecognizing other person’s finger print as the driver’s is only 1 in 50,000 making it five times more effective than conventional vehicle keys, including smart keys. Moreover, through real-time learning of fingerprints supported by ‘dynamic update’ system, the fingerprint system can continually improve its success rate.

Hyundai will apply the fingerprint technology in select markets and gradually expand to the other markets. Hyundai Motor also plans to continue to implement other customizable technologies to vehicle lineup, to strengthen technological leadership in the future mobility market.

Worry-free drive?

It’s time to ‘change’ Metro Manila traffic has become unbearable. And with the onset of the holiday season, road congestion more often results to frustration. During this time, your most reliable partner will be your vehicle. But how do you make your every journey better? Be conscious of your time to change – oil.

A recommended oil change is needed for every 5000-mileage interval if you want your engine to be protected, especially with the less-than-ideal driving conditions nowadays. Being stuck in traffic with frequent stop-and-go and prolonged idling is considered heavy vehicle use. Helping extend the life of your car, an oil change replaces any oil that have been burned away while driving. Driving with the wrong level of oil may lead to engine issues. Fresh engine oil helps regulate engine temperature and it also collects all the dirt, grime, and other gunk that gets built up in the engine.

Shell Hellix Oil Change + (SHOC+) is more than just an oil change center. They offer quality service and provides good value for money ensuring transparent pricing. Aside from quality oil change service, they will also check over your vehicle and provide customers with an honest assessment to give them the peace of mind that their vehicle is in good working order.

SHOC+ centers are fully equipped with a complete vehicle servicing set-up and comfortable customer lounges with WIFI access and viewing windows. They also go extra mile when providing comprehensive historical data for future visits and free service reminders for car owner’s ease and convenience.

Customers can also avail of their free 14-point vehicle checkup to help ensure that their cars are in tip-top shape.

More than just an oil change, SHOC+centers also provide motorists with a free 14-point vehicle check-up.