Manila Standard - 2019 May 20 - Monday

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Palace belies rumor Rody suffered heart attack

By Nat Mariano MALACAÑANG on Sunday denied fresh rumors that President Rodrigo Duterte was confined to a hospital in San Juan City after suffering a heart attack. ”There is no truth to the rumor circulating that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is confined in Cardinal Santos Medical

Center in San Juan,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told Palace reporters.

“The President is in his residence at the Palace signing papers. I just talked to him, he is neither confirming nor denying that he went to the hospital,” he added.

Zeerah Blanche Lucrecia, spokesperson of the Presidential Security Group,

assured the public that the Chief Executive remains in good health.

“As of last night and today, no such incident involving the President took place.

We can assure you that the President is well and good,” she said.

Senator-elect Christopher Go shared several photos of President Duterte holding Next page

LIVING PROOF. President Rodrigo Duterte holds a newspaper for May 19 amid rumor that he is confined at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan after suffering from heart attack. Looking on is Mr. Duterte’s former Special Assistant Bong Go who has a lock on the third spot in the Senatorial race. Photo courtesy of Bong Go

VOL. XXXIII • NO. 95 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Senate junks rubber-stamp tag Sotto vouches for Rody allies: No blind fanatics

3 NEOPHYTES.

Senate veterans hold a dinner meeting with three senators-elect (from right) Bong Go, Ronald dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino (second from left). Courtesy: Ralph Recto Facebook post

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

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HE incoming Senate will not be a rubber stamp, despite the overwhelming victory of allies of President Rodrigo Duterte, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Sunday.

Sotto said the President had never interfered in the 17th Congress.

“Never did the President interfere. It’s not his character,” Sotto said, adding that this was so even when Duterte’s party mate, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, was Senate president.

“Now the good question [is]…what would Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino do?” Sotto said, referring to winning candidates Christopher Go, former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa and former political adviser Francis Tolentino, who received strong backing from President Duterte.

“Will they just blindly follow [the Palace]? I doubt it. As a matter of fact, I know Bong Go, and if the Palace insists on something that is not to his liking, he’ll push back,” Sotto said in Filipino.

He also said bills that will be passed in the Senate would be based on their merit, not because a measure is endorsed by the President.

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Anti-terror bill takes priority as sessions resume

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz THE amendment to the Human Security Act is among the priority measures that the Senate intends to approve with today’s resumption of sessions after Congress went on break in February for the midterm elections.

“Unless some important bill escapes me, what I know is that one of the important bills that we have to approve is the Anti-Terrorism Act,” said Senate Presi-

dent Vicente Sotto III. Senate Bill No. 2204, otherwise know as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2019, seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9372, or the Human Security Act by redefining the acts of terrorism that are punishable by law. The measure was sponsored by Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.

Sotto also mentioned the need to amend the Public Services Act, which is currently on second reading.

34 hurt in LRT train collision; probe on TWO LRT-2 trains collided between the Cubao and Anonas stations around 9:51 p.m. on Saturday, injuring 34 people.

Media reports said a train full of passengers bound for Santolan hit a train parked on the tracks.

The system’s operation resumed only on Sunday morning after it was suspended following the collision “LRT-2 resumed its operations with

train insertion at 10:47 a.m. today, Transport Assistant Secretary for Communications Goddes Hope Libiran told reporters on Sunday.

The railway system restored its full operations around 12:13 p.m.

In the House, Rep. Bernadette HerreraDy demanded a full disclosure of the incident.

“Full disclosure should include public release of the relevant unedited CCTV Next page

Final fix for G.O.T. fans LOS ANGELES—After eight epic years of chivalry, sex, death and dragons, “Game of Thrones” fans worldwide have just 79 pulsating minutes remaining Sunday (Monday Manila time) to get their final fix in one of the most hotly anticipated events in TV history.

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“You have seen the problems that we have encountered not only with telcos, with the airlines, most especially water.

All these fall under the category of the Public Services Act,” Sotto said.

Senate Bill No. 1754, which amends Commonwealth Act No. 146 enacted in 1936, seeks to address the confusion in the definition of a public utility and public services, which will result in more choices, better services, and lower prices for the Filipino consumer.

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Two Serendra case to go on trial—CA

By Rey E. Requejo THE Court of Appeals has paved the way for the Taguig City Regional Trial Court to proceed with the trial of the P30-million damage suit filed by a businesswoman against the Ayalaowned real estate developer Alveo Land Corp.

Included in the suit is one of the country’s top construction companies and a gas supplier in connection with the 2013 explosion at Two Serendra residential condominium that left four people dead.

The appellate court’s Eight Division sustained the decision of Taguig City RTC Branch 271 Presiding Judge Paz Esperanza Cortes denying the motion filed by Alveo Land, Makati Development Corp. and Bonifacio Gas Corp. seeking the dismissal of the complaint filed by Marianne Cayton.

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Winners proclaimed on May 22, poll body says; count hits 98.2%

By Nat Mariano and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE Commission on Elections on Sunday said it hopes to proclaim the winning senators and party-list groups for 2019 midterm elections on or before Wednesday, May 22.

In an interview with radio dzBB, Frances Arabe, director for the Comelec Education and Information Department, said the poll body cannot give an exact date for the proclamation as this would depend on the progress of the canvassing of votes.

On Sunday afternoon, the transmitted election returns were registered at 98.25 percent,

canvassing 86,321 of 87,851 clustered precincts nationwide.

There are only nine certificates of canvass left to be processed. However, the speed of their transmission to the National Board of Canvassers will determine the progress of the tally.

The COMELEC is considering the conduct of special elections in the town of Jones in Isabela on Monday following the “intentional burning of vote counting machines” during election day.

Arabe said the Comelec en banc has yet to decide whether it will await the poll results in Jones, Isabela before proclaiming the new senators and party-list winners.

Citing the numerous glitches and delays in transmission during the Next page

RETURNS TO SENDER. Election returns for the 2019 midterm elections from Budapest, Hungary arrive at the National Board of Canvassers on the sixth day of canvassing of votes being held at the PICC forum 2 in Pasay City. Ey Acasio

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Budget delay costly, solon warns Congress

By Rio N. Araja THE next Congress must pass the 2020 budget without delay, Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said Sunday.

He said the next Congress must avoid a repeat of such delay, just like what happened in the “costly” 2019 budget crisis.

“When the government sneezes, the economy catches a cold,” said Campos, a deputy minority leader.

“When the biggest consumer―the national government―is unable to spend dynamically due to a deferred budget, the entire economy suffers.”

Campos said the next Congress, if it wanted to, could pass the 2020 budget by the last week of November or the first week of December.

“Budget delays are extremely harmful. We had that foul episode in Makati, wherein obstructionist city councilors nastily held hostage and then sabotaged the passage of this year’s local budget, he said.

“Makati residents were deprived of improved public services, social benefits and development projects.”

Malacañang is expected to submit the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2020 to the House of Representatives within 30 days from the opening of the regular session on July 22.

The four-month congressional “holdup” in the passage of the 2019 budget contributed in a big way to the slowerthan-expected economic growth in the first quarter, according to the Makati City lawmaker.

The delay was due to bicameral bickering over the controversial pork barrel allocations.

The President signed into law the P3.7-trillion budget for 2019 only on April 15.

The budget crisis also delayed the payout of the last installment of the salary increase for 1.3-million government employees, which “to some degree dampened consumer spending,” Campos said.

Final fix...

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The blood-spattered tale of noble families vying for the Iron Throne has just one episode to go and buzz is at fever pitch for a ratings juggernaut that has demolished audience records like a Dothraki barbarian finishing off a skillet of horse meat.

“We want people to love it. It matters a lot to us. We’ve spent 11 years doing this,” Dan Weiss, who directed the 73rd and final episode with fellow showrunner David Benioff, told Entertainment Weekly.

While many will watch at home, perhaps with a goblet of Dornish red wine and a punnet of Braavosi cockles, thousands will celebrate and mourn the show’s denouement at viewing parties in bars, banqueting halls and backyards from Alaska to Armenia.

One of the darkest and most controversial primetime series ever made, “GoT” has been the target of criticism over the years for senseless violence and its repeated use of rape as a dramatic device.

Hacked, burned, flayed The scriptwriters have brutalized women, killed children, depicted graphic sex and had their characters hacked, stabbed, flayed, poisoned, decapitated, burned alive, eye-gouged and eviscerated—all in glorious close-up.

Even principal character Jon Snow (Kit Harington), whose fellow Night’s Watch troops would chant “And now his watch is ended” at comrades’ funerals, suffered the indignity of being briefly dead after a particularly violent quarrel. AFP

34 hurt...

From A1

videos and incident reports of the LRT Line 2,” said Herrera-Dy, a member of the House committee on transportation.

“We want to know which redundancies and safety measures failed and how much of a factor was human error in the collision incident that caused injury to 32 people, including LRT-2 personnel.”

The Transport department and the Light Rail Transit Authority said they will shoulder the medical expenses of the people who were injured in the accident and provide them assistance.

The LRTA created a fact-finding committee to investigate the cause of the collision and to make recommendations to prevent it from happening again.

“DOTr Secretary [Arthur] Tugade assures everyone that we will get to the bottom of this. If it is found that there were lapses or negligence, we will make sure that appropriate charges will be filed, Libiran said. PNA

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Pump prices resume upswing: P1 per liter O

Youth chief quits, takes party-list post

By Nat Mariano

“Expect fuel prices to go up [this] week.

Diesel and gasoline should go up by P0.80 to P1 per liter,” oil player Unioil Philippines said in its weekly price forecast.

The oil price increase will put an end to two weeks of consecutive price rollbacks. Oil companies adjust prices every Tuesday.

On May 14, most of the oil companies implemented a P1.25 per liter rollback for gasoline and P0.30 for kerosene.

There were no price movements effected on diesel.

Year-to-date adjustments stand at a net increase of P6.65 per liter for gasoline, P5.40 per liter for diesel and P3.85 per

liter for kerosene.

Gasoline currently sells from P49.30 to P57.69 per liter in Metro Manila. Diesel is sold from P41.05 to P45.54 while kerosene prices range from P45.29 to P49.72 per liter.

Pump prices vary depending on the brand, location of the station and market forces.

World oil prices went up last week amid reports of Saudi ships being attached and the ongoing US-China trade war.

Prices also went up ahead of the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in Vienna on June 25 and 26 to discuss production cut deals.

Senate...

try into the Senate will bring to five the number of senators from Duterte’s home region of Mindanao.

The three other senators from Mindanao are former Pimentel, Miguel Zubiri and Manny Pacquiao.

This would surpass the number in the 8th Congress, when there were four senators from Mindanao.

Go and Dela Rosa were among the 13 candidates backed by the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago, which was established by presidential daughter Sara Duterte, who won her third and final term as Davao City mayor in the last polls.

Meanwhile, the left-leaning IBON re-

search group urged the incoming Senate to prove its independence by rejecting the proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Lawmakers should keep in mind the dangers that Charter change poses for the country’s economic sovereignty, the group said.

In December last year, the House of Representatives transmitted its approved, consolidated version of proposed constitutional amendments, Resolution of Both Houses 15, to the Senate. Aside from establishing a federal state and removing term limits, Cha-Cha would implement amendments to the Constitution that would strike out the nationalist provisions and liberalize the economy to foreign investors.

pened there? That’s a big question,” Lagman said.

Earlier, the Palace lauded the COMELEC for delivering a “big improvement” on the May 13 midterm polls despite the reported malfunction of vote-counting machines and delays in the transmission of results.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday said they will grill the COMELEC on these problems when the joint congressional committee on automated elections holds a hearing on June 4.

“It’s the same Smartmatic system. It would be different if there was a change in the system,” Pimentel said, referring to the COMELEC’s IT service provider for the last four elections.

He recalled that before Congress adjourned in February, they had looked into the COMELEC’s preparedness for the elections.

“We asked them how [are] the [vote counting] machines. We were informed they passed the tests. We asked for the software and we’re told they were OK. So, we will ask them about all the complaints,” Pimentel said in an interview

with radio dzBB. Pimentel, who won reelection, did not say if the believed the glitches affected the polls’ credibility.

“It’s the reason for the hearing. We need to find out what were affected by the glitches. Was there fraud that affected the results of the elections?… We spent P10 billion for the machines,” he said.

In a manifestation, the Liberal Party through its president, Francis Pangilinan, asked the COMELEc to release significant details and information on the 961 defective vote counting machines and 1,655 corrupted SD cards.

It also sought a full technical report of the seven-hour “technical glitch” that delayed the transmission of results.

“All these pieces of information are important in determining the [credibility of the] entire process of the elections,” Pangilinan said.

The opposition senator said all this happened amid allegations and reports of the administration’s use of the entire government machinery to influence, if not terrorize, local officials and voters into choosing its candidates.

sisted that Cayton failed to state a cause of action against them considering that under Article 2179 of the Civil Code, the petitioner may not claim for damages since she herself was the proximate cause of her injury.

The petitioners cited an inter-agency task force report that said the cause of the gas leak was the unauthorized movement of the gas range in Cayton’s unit during its renovation.

However, the CA disagreed with the petitioners, saying it was their negligence that led to the explosion.

The appellate court noted that the petitioners’ introduction of a new, highly sensitive LPG system in Two Serendra for the use of their tenants in their individual units without providing sufficient safeguards to prevent “occasional negli-

gence” was “an act of actionable negligence” despite the intervening acts” on the part of Cayton and those that conducted the renovation of her unit.

“Obviously, Cayton and the other tenants of Two Serendra had no participation in the introduction or installation of the LPG system within the entire Two Serendra complex as the same was even part of the project’s selling point to their then prospective buyers, the court said.

“Petitioners’ negligence caused an explosion which was caused by an LPG leak that went undetected for 13 hours, and for petitioners to shift the blame to the victim is only adding insult to Cayton’s injury.”

Associate Justices Ramom Bato Jr. and Ramon Cruz concurred with the ruling.

private and public medical schools, there will be more doctors,” Sotto said.

The proposed Medical Scholarship Act measure seeks to address both issues of scarcity and uneven distribution of physicians in the country through the granting of scholarships to deserving medical students provided that they would serve the country for five years.

Several proposed priority measures including the Budget Reform Act, Rightsizing the National Government Act, the Salary Standardization Law, the Reformation of Children in Conflict with the Law are up for second reading. Measures seeking to grant President Rodrigo Duterte emergency powers to address the country’s transportation woes, such as

the National Transport Act and theTraffic And Congestion Crisis Act are also pending on second reading.

Other priority measures such as the Mindanao Railways Authority, the Unified Uniform Personnel Retirement Benefits and Pension Reform Act, and the Value for Money Procurement Act are pending in their respective committees.

Meanwhile, the House of Represenatives is committed to passing more pending legislative bills amid hopes to muster a quorum in the remaining nine session days.

The outgoing 17th Congress is returning to work today after the midterm poll.

“We are committed to approve more pending measures for as long we can muster a quorum,” Majority Leader and

Capiz Rep. Fred Castro said.

The 17th Congress has until June 7 to hold session, but is expected to adjourn sine die on June 5.

Leyte’s District 1 Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez renewed her appeal for the Senate to pass the Department of Disaster Resilience measure in its nine session days.

“I hope that our good senators will include the approval of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience in their agenda,” she said.

Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy said if the Senate is able to approve some of those bills, the House would swiftly act on them so they can be sent to Malacañang at the soonest possible time.

“Code Blue” indicates an emergency situation in a hospital or institution in which a patient is in cardiac or respiratory arrest. This requires a team of providers to quickly attend to the patient at a specific location and immediately begin resuscitative efforts.

The 74-year-old President was away from the public eye for a week following the midterm elections last May 13. Since he took the presidency in 2016, Duterte’s state of health has been a favorite topic of speculation, particularly for his critics and detractors.

In his previous speeches, Duterte admitted that he suffers from migraines,

back pains, and Buerger’s disease.

He even said several months ago that he underwent endoscopy and colonoscopy for he suffers from a gastroesophageal reflux disease called Barret’s esophagus.

Duterte also faced a cancer scare last year after his doctors found a growth in his digestive tract. However, tests produced negative results.

In December last year, a nationwide survey showed that 66 percent of Filipinos were worried about Duterte’s health.

Even amid the growing public concern on the President’s health, Malacañang maintained it will not release the Chief

Executive’s medical bulletin.

The Palace has previously said that under the Constitution, such a disclosure is only needed once the President suffers from a case of serious illness.

Over the weekend, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat shared a photo of the Chief Executive watching “Django Unchained” on Netflix in his home in Davao City to quell rumors that he is sick.

Both Panelo and Communication Secretary Martin Andanar defended the photo of Duterte watching television, saying it was only released to ease concerns regarding the President’s health. With PNA

By Alena Mae S. Flores

IL PRICES will likely go up this week by as much as P1 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world market.

From A1

He also played down the decline in the number of opposition senators—down to four—saying this would not affect the Senate’s role to provide checks and balances.

“Outright I’m telling you, It won’t happen,” he said, referring to the development of a rubber-stamp Senate.

He noted that the biggest winner, returning Senator Cynthia Villar, has repeatedly said she would not be a member of any rubber-stamp body.

Meanwhile, Go and Dela Rosa’s en-

Winners...

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elections, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections said the country should go back to a manual counting of votes.

Augusto Lagman, NAMFREL national chairperson, said the automated tallying of votes caused a transparency issue and marred the 2019 midterm polls.

“The manual counting in precincts only last for a day. Just one day! If the people can see it, it’s a big thing,” Lagman told GMA News TV’s Balitanghali Weekend on Sunday.

For Lagman, transparency is more important than the automated elections’ purpose of counting the votes swiftly.

One technical problem caused a sevenhour delay in the transmission of results from the COMELEC’s transparency server to news organizations and poll watchdogs.

“As far as I can remember, that was the longest outage we have encountered in our work at NAMFREL. So, what hap-

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The appellate court ruled there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court when it refused to dismiss Cayton’s complaint.

Cayton is the owner of 501B, which was badly damaged during the explosion that probers said was due to the gas leaks caused by the “unauthorized movement” of a gas range during repairs and the “negligence” of parties concerned.

Among those killed was Angelito San Juan, a tenant at Cayton’s unit when the incident occurred on May 31, 2013.

In seeking the dismissal of the complaint, Alveo Land, MDC and Bonifacio Gas in-

Anti-terror bill...

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The amendments to the Public Services Act, he said, would address the issues on water, air transportation and power.

Sotto also expressed hope that the Medical Scholarship Act, which he authored, will be given equal priority in the last three weeks before the Senate adjourns sine die on June 7. The measure is currently pending in the Senate committee on health and demography.

“We have a few doctors in the Philippines who go to the barrios. The reason—it’s expensive. So if we give for free the cost of education for doctors in both

Palace...

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different newspapers published on Sunday.

Earlier that day, speculation was rife that Duterte had been hospitalized after online users said security at the Cardinal Santos Memorial Center had been raised to codeblue for the President.

To accommodate the President’s alleged need for medical attention, these reports claimed that the hospital security prevented guests from entering the parking lot.

MALACAÑANG on Sunday considered National Youth Commission chairman Ronald Cardema resigned following his petition to substitute for his wife as the first nominee of the Duterte Youth party-list group.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Commission on Elections’ confirmation that Cardema was considered resigned from his post following his petition He made his statement even as the Akbayan Youth slammed the COMELEC for flip-flopping on the issue Cardema’s petition.

“Congressman Cardema should never happen. COMELEC should dismiss Cardema’s petition right away,” Akbayan Youth spokesman Cassie Deluria said.

“COMELEC seems to be on a path of self-sabotage. Why would it allow itself to make a mockery of the elections by saying, all of a sudden, Cardema’s petition was received on time? This is desperation on Duterte Youth’s side, COMELEC should not be complicit.”

While the COMELEC has been looking into the “procedural and substantive legalities” to decide on Cardema’s plea, Panelo considered the 33-year-old NYC head resigned from his post.

“Regardless of the outcome, we deem that Mr. Cardema has already abandoned his present position because his act of filing the petition absolutely reflects his intention to relinquish his office and exposes his desire to serve the government in a different capacity,” Panelo said.

He then ordered Cardema to vacate his post and “turn over all official papers, documents and properties in his possession to the Office of the President.”

President Rodrigo Duterte “shall soon appoint a person who can advance the genuine interests and welfare of our country’s youth as the new chairperson of the NYC.” Panelo made his remarks following Cardema’s plan to replace his wife, Ducielle, as the first nominee of the Duterte Youth party-list.

Under the Party-list System Act, a nominee for the youth sector must not be above the age of 30 on the day of the election. Cardema is 33.

As of this writing, the Duterte Youth has received 346,314 votes or 1.25 percent based on 98.25 percent of the COMELEC’s partial and unofficial election returns.

For a party-list to get at least one slot in the House of Representatives during the first round of seat allocation, the party-list will need to secure 2 percent of the total number of votes counted in the party-list race.

A party-list group can even get up to as many as three seats. Currently, the Duterte Youth rests at the 21st spot out of 134 contenders.

In August last year, the President appointed Cardema as the replacement of resigned NYC chairman Ice Seguerra.

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MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

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Top cop, 22 others charged with murder

By Rey E. Requejo THE National Bureau of Investigation has filed criminal charges before the Department of Justice against CALABARZON police regional director Brig. Gen. Edward Carranza and 22 other police officers of Rizal over the killing of Richard Santillan, aide of former Biliran congressman and senatorial candidate Glenn Chong, in Cainta, Rizal in December last year.

In a 37-page referral-complaint submitted last Friday, the NBI filed charges of obstruction of justice against Carranza, Rizal provincial director Col. Lou Evangelista and Cainta police chief Lt. Col. Pablito Naganag.

After months of fact-finding investigation, the NBI also sought the indictment of seven officers from Cainta police station led by Lt. Sandro Ortega, four officers from provincial office of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group led by Capt.

John Russel Barnacha and 10 operatives of Regional Special Operations Unit led by M/Sgt. Rene Eufracio for two counts of murder and one count of planting of evidence.

The NBI filed double murder charges against the policemen since Santillan’s companion Gessamyn Casing was also killed during the incident last Dec. 9 in Cainta.

Citing accounts of witnesses as well as results of its forensic examination, the NBI concluded that the incident was a rubout and not a shootout as claimed by the police.

The bureau stressed that Santillan and Casing were unarmed and that there was treachery in their killing—a key element of murder.

“Truth be told, [Santillan and Casing] were continuously fired upon by surrounding heavily armed police officers resulting in multiple gunshot wounds to the different parts of their bodies, which caused their deaths.

Needless to say, [Santillan and Casing] were like sitting ducks overwhelmingly vulnerable to attack and clearly unable to protect their lives,” stated the NBI complaint signed by Deputy Director for Investigation Vicente De Guzman III. Carranza and his men claimed that the incident was part of their legitimate police operations against the socalled “Highway Boys” involved in drug trade, carnapping, robbery and killings in Floodway in Cainta.

They said the operatives spotted the unregistered Toyota Fortuner that was supposedly being used by the syndicate in its operations, which at that time being was driven by Santillan.

Police said they tried to flag down the vehicle, but Santillan allegedly sped off, which led to the chase. They also claimed that he fired at the operatives, prompting them to retaliate and kill the occupants of the vehicle.

However, the NBI explained that testimonial and physical pieces of evidence did not support the policemen’s narrative.

QUICK RESPONSE. Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was in Cebu over the weekend to receive the P1.1-million donation from several Cebu-based businessmen for the earthquake victims in her district in Pampanga. She said she would use the money to rebuild the houses that were destroyed during the earthquake. She also commended the quick response of the local government unit and the National Resilience Council which hit the ground running within the first hour after the tremor hit parts of Pampanga, particularly her district. She stated that the quick response strategy is a model for the whole country to carry out during times of emergency.

Romualdez seeks update on PWD law

By Rio Araja

L

EYTE Representative-elect Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Sunday urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development and National Council on Disability Affairs to give the public and Congress an update on the compliance rate of a “malasakit” (compassionate) law exempting people with disabilities from the payment of value-added tax for certain goods and services.

Romualdez, principal author of Republic Act No. 10754 or an Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of Persons with Disability called on the House of Representatives to use its oversight function by assessing how the PWD law is being enforced.

“We want to know from the government how the concerned people have been complying to this law. We should show ‘malasakit’ to the plight of our PWDs. Congress should also exercise its oversight function,” he said.

The Leyte lawmaker is the president of

the Philippine Constitution Association and Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

Reelected Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, Hugpong ng Pagbabago chairperson, has endorsed Romualdez as the Speaker of the 18th Congress.

Romualdez’s measure was signed into law on March 23, 2016, giving exemptions to over 1.5-million PWDs from the 12-percent value-added tax payment on certain goods and services.

“We just want to ensure that PWDs are enjoying the benefits they deserve under the law three years after its enact-

Ferdinand Martin Romualdez

ment,” Romualdez said.

“Let us work to beef up efforts in informing the public about the standards set by law for the rights and privileges of our PWDs,” he said.

He reiterated his commitment to push the legislative agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte in the next three years.

He said the DSWD, NCDA and the House of Representatives must also look into possible abuses by several dishonest people or illegitimate beneficiaries.

“Possible cases of abuse in the privileges granted to PWDs under the law must be checked. Only legitimate PWDs should benefit from the law,” Romualdez said.

PARTIAL, UNOFFICIAL TALLY. Nuns sort out poll receipts after the tally being held at the Pope Pius Center. The PPCRV said that the election returns came from Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pangasinan, Baguio, La Union and Nueva Ecija.

Norman Cruz

Retailers buck cigar tax hike CIGARET sales make up as much as 30 percent of the daily variety store revenues, and that reducing consumption through higher excise taxes could drive many small stores out of business, according to a retailers’ group.

In a statement, the Kapisanan ng mga Sari-sari Stores sa Pilipinas Inc. from various provinces cited the irony that a number of smokers have stopped buying from their stores after the two cigar excise tax increases in 2018, “but simply got their supply from shady stores selling cheap, counterfeit cigarettes.”

“Smokers have not stopped smoking. They have stopped buying from us. They are buying from other stores selling illegal products,” Kasapi president Francis Manuel said.

In a Senate ways and means committee hearing in January, Kasapi pleaded with the senators to hold off any plan to hike the excise tax in cigars and alcohol products to protect their main source of livelihood.

Manuel said cigarettes provide 30 percent of their daily sales, adding new tax increases could only reduce their sales.

According to the Nielsen Retail Index, there are over one-million variety stores nationwide that provide livelihood to families and convenience to consumers. Rio Araja

Fake vinegar top agenda in multi-agency meeting today OFFICIALS of the departments of agriculture, health, science and technology, and trade and industry are scheduled to meet today to address reports that “fake” vinegar products using the synthetic acetic acid are being sold in the market.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol said on his Facebook post Sunday that the meeting was an offshoot of a study conducted by the Philippine Nuclear Research Institut, an agency of the Department of Science and Technology, which showed that many commercial vinegar brands use synthetic acetic acid in producing the popular Filipino condiment.

A news item posted by scitechanddigital.news said a study made by the DOST has established that of the 17 vinegar brands tested in the Philippines, most of them were made from “synthetic”—and not from natural—sources, making them fake and adulterated and therefore dangerous to people’s health.

The report further said that only three brands passed the PNRI’s nuclear-based analysis while 15 brands were manufactured using synthetic acetic acid, which is a raw material for making vinyl, among other products. Synthetic acetic acid is a byproduct of petrochemicals.

However, the PNRI did not identify these brands, citing that naming them is against the law. Moreover, the tests were done using only codes for the products bought from across the country.

Since it is not in PNRI’s mandate to issue advisories on matters of food safety, Piñol said his department, through the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards, will initiate a move to establish standards of vinegar, an agricultural product.

“The DA [Department of Agriculture] will also officially ask DOSTPNRI to submit the list of vinegar brands using acetic acid and passing these off as natural vinegar, which then will be referred to the DOH [Department of Health], which has supervision over the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” he said. PNA

Whistleblower’s tale could tilt cyber libel case in PH company favor NEW information has come to light that could bolster a Philippine outfit’s case against a Financial Times journalist over an article involving German fintech company Wirecard.

That Philippine firm, Conepay International Inc., which a March 19, FT article alleged is “one of more than a dozen curious companies identified during a Financial Times investigation” alleged-

ly colluding with Wirecard’s Singapore subsidiary in alleged accounting irregularities, filed a cyber libel case against the FT article’s authors, Dan McCrum and Stefania Palma.

The said article was part of a series of reports penned by McCrum for FT. The articles had accused the German firm of fraud and accounting irregularities, which caused the company to

lose nine billion euros in market value early this year.

Conepay, in its case filed at the Cabanatuan City Prosecutor’s Office in Nueva Ecija earlier this month, said the FT article had damaged the company’s reputation and business.

The article also “served no other purpose but to malign and defame the good name and good will of Conepay,” the

complaint also said.

Investigators for Conepay have found out that one of the defendants, McCrum, was identified by a whistleblower to have ties with short-sellers who had allegedly manipulated Wirecard’s share price in 2016.

Short selling is a trading strategy that allows investors or traders to speculate on falling share prices.

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Opinion

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

Not a trade war

(Continued from Saturday) THE US cannot afford to stop importing from China and from other countries. Its exports can no longer compete in the international market. The “financialization” of the US economy, as Noam Chomsky would put, it led to the de-industrialization of the US economy. The US monetarists started

The US monetarists started all this.

all this. They subscribed to the theo theory that hiking the value of the dollar would be a good means to substitute production. They relied on finance capital as some kind of economic magic that can always help them extricate from whatever economic difficulties they are in. Finance capital was their key word. Because it worked in China to help finance rapid industrialization that would also work to bring about the same magic in the US. One usual observation is that once the Third World countries incurred huge and perennial trade deficit up to the 80s, most of their exports would be mainly confined to minerals, oil and agricultural products they could produce best. Whatever was left to better improve their economy for their exports representing their foreign exchange earnings was spent to help develop the country. The

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

rest dissipated through corruption. Such was the usual and normal cycle. Right after WWII, the US was the only country that was able to avoid devastation.

Its industrial and agricultural industries continued to decline. While the two sectors of the economy can be summed up as the result of development, it has considerably been reduced. The US commanded nearly 50 percent of the world’s total industrial and manufacturing output after war. That however has been considerably reduced to 18 percent of the global output, with China leading at 20 percent.

Even if we take it that services continue to grow in the US, that is attributable to population as growth. They are services mostly catering to consumer demands and not related to production or manufacturing which many say can be outsourced like what the US did to outsource labor to China and to other countries in Asia and Latin America.

Those services that were retained are those which are either extremely necessary requiring high specialized orskill and extremely high wages or or dinary labor and skill that cannot be outsourced. Except for China, none of those countries where the US has an outstanding trade deficit and even huge loan also running to trillions of dollar its loan with Japan has it ever raised the issue of piracy and intellectual property violation.

There is even in trade policy of the US undertones of racism It clearly has not cited the same reason of intellectual property theft and piracy to countries where it has been incurring the same problem of trade deficit. Maybe singling out China in this issue which frankly has nothing to do with trade imbalance as a form of leverage to exact more concession does not augur well on how the

No need for grandstanding

T

HE Palace is right in calling out a board member of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, who has been vocal about alleged corrupt practices in the agency.

In a statement over the weekend, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said PCSO board member Sandra Cam is free to resign anytime from her post if she can no longer stomach the alleged corrupt practices in the agency.

Cam, once the president of something called the Philippine Whistleblowers Association of the Philippines, had asked President Rodrigo Duterte to be relieved of her duties because she could no longer stomach the corruption there.

In particular, she renewed her allegations of corruption in small town lotteries led by retired police or military generals.

But Panelo correctly pointed out that Cam, appointed to the PCSO by the President in 2017, could resign any time and should file a formal complaint against the

officials that she accused of being corrupt.

The Palace spokesman advised Cam to file charges against the corrupt PCSO officials and substantiate her “serious” allegations about the supposed irregularities in the internal decision-making process of the agency.

“We asked her to formally submit in writing her complaint to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, which is directly under the Office of the President so that it would be acted on accordingly,” the Palace official said.

Panelo added: “President Rodrigo Duterte is beholden to no one.”

“He will not spare even his close friends and long-time allies in his drive to weed out corruption in the bureaucracy. We repeat: There are no sacred cows in this administra-

tion,” he said.

“We thus urge the likes of Ms. Cam to come forward and expose government shenanigans and malfeasance if she knows any,” he added.

Panelo assured Cam and other whistleblowers that they have the President’s ear in this regard.

We stand behind all efforts to expose wrongdoing, in or out of government, but we agree with the Palace that these should follow proper procedure. If the PCSO board member has evidence of such wrongdoing, it is her duty to report this to the proper authority—in this case, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.

By the same token, of course, there is a right way and a wrong way to accuse your political opponents of wrongdoing. The correct way is to file a case in court; the wrong way is to call a press conference and present some arbitrary diagram that purports to show wrongdoing without providing a single shred of evidence to support it.

Turn to A5

The end?

EVERYBODY has written about the whys and hows of some “unbelievable” upsets in the elections just past.

Many read the surveys correctly, like Isko Moreno who had the natural advantage of being young compared to his rivals, the 82-year-old former president and the 90-something former mayor. Both were nationally known political brands; Isko, though also quite familiar with many, was not quite as famous, nor resource-laden.

I always wrote in this space about the comparative ages of these candidates, not delving on anything else, such as their performance or lack of it, because I knew it would be the decisive factor. Friends who like me are close to President-Mayor Erap disputed me, trotting out “surveys” which first showed the two in a neck-to-neck race, and later with Erap already leading. Politely I just smiled, because I knew otherwise.

It was the enormity of Moreno’s win that came as a surprise. That could not have been attributed merely to summer youth compared to winter age. Especially when you factor in the defeat of the mayor’s daughter, Jerika, running for a mere councilwoman’s post in the fourth district.

That was rejection.

Further I shall write naught. Erap is a dear friend and a kind former boss.

Both Isko and Fred are friends, and all of us are Manileños. I just pray and hope that Manila’s new mayor will bring forth needed changes to make the historic and legal capital of the country truly premier, world-class, and a decent place to inhabit.

Which makes me particularly happy about Benjie Magalong’s election as mayor of the country’s ageing and decaying summer capital.

Benjie is another friend whose qualities as a police officer are highly

regarded even within the Philippine National Police, and if I may add, even within the military.

I have always said that Baguio City has had the misfortune of never having had a good mayor in the last half century. I do not mean to disparage the memory of those who have gone to their graves, (I don’t even remember all their names), but just looking at and smelling Baguio year-in and year-out will tell you I must be right.

It’s not going to be easy to revitalize Baguio City. It will be a case of good sense over whatever is politically “correct,” correct defined as “votegetting” but a determined leader with mission and purpose can do it.

Are these signs that the electorate has matured politically, and that the dynasties are seeing the winter of public discontent?

There are many Gordian knots that have to be cut. Which is why lowlanders who have come to love the Baguio of old, and long-time residents who have seen their beloved city die slowly but surely, pin their hopes on the leadership and vision of Benjie Magalong.

The world, my friend, always gives way to those who know where they are going.

Finally, Baguio is being given a new lease on life, by a new mayor and a congressman, Mark Go who defeated the long-time mayor and alternating congressman, Mauricio Domogan. Mark is a non-traditional politician with excellent professional qualifications. Would that this duo could revive Baguio from doldrums back to old glory.

My congratulations as well to Francis Zamora of San Juan and Vico Sotto Turn to A5

For corporate America, abortion is just too hot to handle

By Luc Olinga and Thomas Urbain SOME subjects are just too sensitive for corporate America. When it comes to the draconian new abortion laws passed recently by some conservative US states, the country's biggest companies have been conspicuously silent.

There have been no public condemnations or outraged statements, no investment bans, no calls for boycotts.

When corporate America ponders abortion—an intensely personal matter that evokes furious public debate—it sees only a lose-lose proposition.

Contacted by AFP for their views on the issue, roughly a dozen big

American enterprises—from high tech and telecommunications giants to leaders in banking, sports, entertainment and distribution—offered no opinion or failed to respond.

And yet many of the same companies, under pressure on social media from liberal activists, have responded promptly to some of America's most sensitive social flash points, from immigration to racism to gun violence and even the "restroom law" passed

by North Carolina in 2016 to limit the bathroom choices of transgender people.

Some companies have suspended ad campaigns on hugely popular TV series amid the #MeToo movement to protest alleged sexual offenses by actors and celebrities.

But asked about the contrasting approaches, a spokesperson for one of the country's most influential CEOs replied simply, "This issue is different."

Offending half the public "You struggle to find a more fundamentally controversial issue," said the CEO of a prominent public relations firm, speaking anonymously to avoid offending employees, clients or partners. "Having an opinion on this for the public record isn't beneficial."

Abortion is one of "the issues that have the ability to polarize your audience," said Melissa Dodd, professor of public relations at the University of Central Florida.

Hank Boyd, who teaches marketing Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher can be accessed at: manilastandard.net Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www. manilastandard.net

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Appoint an alumnus to PLM’s presidency An urgent appeal to Manila Mayor-elect Isko Moreno WE WOULD like to request our newly elected Manila Mayor Isko Moreno to consider the possibility of appointing the president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila from the ranks of its alumni.

We know that Mayor Moreno, a PLM alumnus himself—a holder of a Master of Public Administration— would help us in realizing our dream that one day we’ll have either an alumnus or alumna being named at the helm of the university.

By giving one of the alumni a chance to run the affairs of our beloved alma mater is both a great honor and a good way to show that Mayor Moreno is recognizing the impressive achievements that these graduates have reached so far in life.

Needless to say, these alumni have acquired the skills, competence, and integrity through their years of work-

For corporate...

From A4

at the University of Maryland, noted that while "Democrats tend to be more pro-choice... even within the ranks of Democrats about a quarter of them are pro-life."

Conversely, about a quarter of Republicans believe in a woman's right to choose.

"And if you go to independents, it is almost split right down the middle."

Given that deep divide, Boyd added, it is not surprising if business leaders tell themselves, "I don't want to offend half of my base."

No comment Reinflaming the decades-old debate, Republicans in Alabama and other conservative states launched a major offensive on abortion rights in the past week.

Lawmakers in Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana and Missouri have also advanced laws to severely restrict abortion.

Among the most draconian is the new Alabama law imposing a near-total ban on abortion, even when pregnancy results from rape or incest.

It has drawn criticism even from

The end?

From A4

of Pasig, the new dynasty-slayers in the National Capital Region.

Francis I knew would win. He almost won in 2016 but the Iglesia swung their support to another good friend, Mayor Guia Gomez. But Francis did not mope, and kept his eyes on the ball. When the time came for the INC to decide whom to support, Francis had already piled up a certain lead over his rival, the daughter of former San Juan mayor Jinggoy, whose family ruled the town, later city, for some 50 years.

Francis presented a program and worked relentlessly, going from street to street to explain why change was needed. It’s really hard work when it comes to local politics.

Vico Sotto I have never met, reading only that he is the son of Vic Sotto and Coney Reyes, both cinematic luminaries. I must confess his victory came as a surprise, but the young man in his encouraging post-election statements, shows much promise. We wish him and Pasig the best.

Jojo Binay’s loss in the first congressional district of Makati stunned almost everybody.

Clearly, his daughter Mayor Abby

Not a...

From A4

administration intended to solve the problem. For sure, China knows the answer how the US could resolve the problem of excess importation but prefers to refrain such suggestion for it might directly pierce the core interest to make the issue non-negotiable in like manner that China has already outlined core issues it cannot negotiate or bargain away in the ne-

ing in big private and public firms, here and abroad.

Since its opening in 1967, the PLM has been churning out top-caliber professionals whose integrity and competence is beyond reproach; in short, we don’t lack qualified alumni who can measure up to the challenges of the PLM presidency.

Having experienced life’s difficulties, an alumnus-president could carry out ideas on how to turn the PLM into a truly People’s University where the poor but talented graduates of Manila’s public schools are given all the help they need to turn around their lives for the better.

Being poor then, like you Mayor Moreno, most of our graduates have become successful in their chosen fields of endeavors: Doctors, engineers, deans, accountants, professors, nurses, media men, bureaucrats,

and businessmen. These alumni are now making waves, so to speak, in our community, thus they are truly the pride of the PLM. The irony of it all, some of these alumni have become deans of other schools, managers of top private and public corporations, holders of masters and doctoral degrees. And for the simple reason that they don’t have the political backers at the city hall, none of them have had the chance of being appointed as PLM president.

We now appeal to Mayor Moreno to give our alumni some breaks so that they could prove themselves to all that they can really be of great help to the university’s stakeholders: Students, faculty members and the thousands of its alumni.

Willie Jose Toronto, PLM Class ‘67

some Republicans—but scarcely a word from corporate America.

"We don't have a comment," a spokesman for Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, told AFP. The German automaker has two factories in the rural Southern state, which is favored by big companies because of its low labor costs and "right-to-work" laws seen as hostile to unions.

Of Apple, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, American Airlines, Amazon, Cisco and AT&T—not one would provide a comment to AFP. Nor would Facebook or Google, which are investing, respectively, $750 million and $600 million to build huge data centers in Alabama.

To do good or to do well "What's going to happen to the demand for my product on the consumer side [if] I alienate half of my base," Boyd asked, putting himself in the shoes of a business executive.

But Dodd said pressure on big corporations from socially aware millennials (aged 17 to 34) will only continue to grow.

"A higher percentage of these millennials, who are going to become the

majority of the workforce... have said that the purpose of a business is not to make money but to do good for society," she said.

But both Dodd and Boyd emphasized there are subtler ways corporations can weigh in on abortion without incurring the wrath of customers: They can cover abortion costs in their employee health plans, for example, or they can donate to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

"There's a way to hold close to your values without necessarily being the face of the issue," Dodd said.

A 2018 survey by the Harris Institute, conducted for the pro-choice organization NARAL, found that 60 percent of employees would give preference to brands that reimbursed their workers for the costs of family planning or abortion.

Still, a 2016 study by the Global Strategy Group found that abortion is—by far—the social issue on which people expect the least from companies.

While more than 70 percent of those surveyed expect companies to take a stance on racism, fewer than 40 percent have the same expectation about abortion. AFP

would prevail over the brother; surveys and anecdotal evidence showed that. But presumably, the man who ran the municipality turned city since the fall of Marcos could not possibly lose to Kid Pena of Palanan.

It pained the patriarch who won as vice president in 2010 against insuperable odds to see his children quarrel publicly, much more I suppose than having to endure all the brickbats he got when he was gunning for the presidency in 2016.

There are three reasons for this upset: First, Mayor Jojo must have been complacent, over-confident even.

Second, Makati citizens could have “punished” him for being unable to rein in his Junior and his Abby. But the third reason, given by an insider in the Binay camp, is that the junior junked his old man, supporting stealthily his own father’s opponent, Kid Peña. I saw sample ballots that spelled a Jun-Jun for mayor and Kid Peña for congressman.

All out of spite?

Old folks have a saying in Tagalog that translates: “Children can malign their parents but parents would never do anything against their children.”

My wish for Jojo is that he will be given the strength, the fortitude and

the wisdom to forgive, and for the siblings to understand that in the end, family is bedrock.

Are these signs that the electorate has matured politically, and that the dynasties are seeing the winter of public discontent?

Maybe.

I recall the last scene in the movie about the Boxer Rebellion entitled “55 Days in Peking,” where the Empress Dowager played by Flora Robson left the Imperial Palace disguised as a commoner, ruing “The dynasty is dead.”

For some in this country, it is likely the end. Others are still alive and getting stronger, a testament to public satisfaction, for now. I have always maintained that it will take an overhaul of the system to hasten change.

Note that it is internal rot within dynasties, where former proteges turn against dynasts, or greedy quarrels within the dynasties that have discombobulated their entrenchment.

Yet only systemic change can truly alter our abysmal political landscape, from personality-driven and money-greased superiority to one where visions, platforms and principles prevail.

gotiating table.

American economists are one in saying that a devaluation of the dollar partakes of an official admission that the US has become a de-industrialized nation and its credit standing would plummet never before seen in the US history. Credit ratings made by Standard & Poor, Moody’s and Fitch would seriously affect US financial companies to keep open their credit standing or even to secure a restructuring of their existing

loans. The situation may even lead to chaos and civil disturbances because a devaluation of the US dollar could mean an economic depression of great magnitude. Wall Street will not only collapse but that will be pandemonium because it would seem that entire system of financialization of the US economy has finally collapsed like an empty ice cream cone.

The US knows that of an overvalued currency is the one that has been causing its economy to incur trade deficit. It

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

A5

Credible elections, accountability and performance commission en banc issued a formal authorization, an evaluation of what was causing the issue quickly followed and a solution was found. Recently, the PPCRV was also granted access to audit logs and had started looking into what A WEEK after millions of Filipi- exactly happened that led to the nos trooped to the polls, traditional seven-hour delay.

According to the group, they and social media continue to be flooded with reports of the many are looking at whether there was glitches and problems that belea- transmission of data that took place guered the conduct of the midterm during the delay, why the servers elections. That the coverage mostly stopped showing the data in the highlighted the problem areas was tally boards, and whether the data to be expected; it’s the nature of is complete.

Also reassuring was the asjournalism to dwell on conflicts and the public has the right to be sessment by the Philippine Naupdated on any untoward inci- tional Police that the polls were dent that might have affected their generally peaceful. There were fewer incidents of violence votes.

To put things into perspective, against members of the Board of the technical hitches involving the Election Inspectors, thanks to the speedy transvote counting machines and mission and SD cards were consolidation of also experiresults. In fact, We gave them that three hours afenced during ter the precincts the 2016 elec- power, and we must closed, more tions although always remind them than 70 percent it is also true of the results that there was that we are constantly had been transa markedly watching. mitted, still a higher occurrence this time far cry from the around. Worpace with which rying anecdotal incidents spread manual elections and canvassing over social media, some picked were conducted.

What was noticeably up and up by mainstream media, often without follow-ups on whether the therefore worrying was the wideproblems were addressed or not, spread incidents of vote buying or if they affected the counting the (which Duterte, in another controversial statement, described as votes or not.

Though still statistically small “integral” to Philippine elections). perhaps, the issues were enough Dozens of vote-buying cases were to spark speculations and all sorts reported nationwide, with nearly of conspiracy theories on the polls. 200 arrested by the police since This is so even if the proportion of the start of the campaign period. the machines that malfunctioned Notable cases include Quezon still fell within the expected rate, City mayoral candidate Bingbong and that most of the problems were Crisologo, who was arrested the related to accessories and other night before the elections for obcomponents, such as SD cards and struction of justice when he came to the rescue of his campaign markers.

A related development then is workers who were arrested for althat the recently concluded polls leged vote buying. This needs to be saw the first time in which the stopped.

For now, even as we grapple Commission on Elections was nearly 100 percent self-reliant in with the results, it is clear that running the entire range of pro- the senatorial race has given the cesses comprising the Automated Duterte administration a fresh popElection System. Their election ular mandate to pursue its agenda. technology partner Smartmatic As the midterm polls is commonly was relegated to a minimal role, seen as a referendum for the sitting president, the message that the remostly in technical support.

The infrastructure for elec- cent one had sent is clear. The chief tronic transmission, for instance, executive continues to enjoy a high was provided by PLDT, Globe, level of trust from a broad majority and other telcos, while a compa- of Filipinos, something that survey ny called TRIPLEX supplied the after survey also confirms.

But as the administration conmarkers and paper. The SD cards, the quality of which became the solidates its control over much of scapegoat and subject of much the government machinery, the ire from Comelec officials, came vote of confidence is also a demand from a joint venture between S1 for accountability. The big win by and Silicon Valley Computers. In candidates identified with or enother words, in every step of the dorsed by the President puts presway, the issues that came up as a sure on the increasingly powerful result of allegedly defective or ill- leadership to deliver and produce suited markers and SD cards are a tangible results that will be felt by responsibility of these third-party the people. As gut issues on food security and wages dominated the providers.

Even so, it’s important to point campaign, the biggest challenge is out that for all the noise—a com- to translate populist rhetoric into forting sign for we obviously take meaningful, concrete actions and our elections seriously—there reforms that will bring relief to are safeguards in place that can large swathes of the Filipino popuconclusively get to the bottom of lation.

Our participation in the democthings. In our case we can rely on the results of the random manual racy does not stop at marking the audit and the Parish Pastoral Coun- circles next to the people who we cil for Responsible Voting’s verifi- think can help us and this country. cation of the actual election returns The next step, whether our preas the ultimate arbiter of the suc- ferred candidates won or not, is to continue to demand that our govcess or failure of the polls.

Even the contentious delay in- ernment officials act on our intervolving the transparency server est. We gave them that power, and appears to be blown out of pro- we must always remind them that portion, if Comelec officials were we are constantly watching if they to be believed. And as soon as the wield it for our benefit.

cannot now easily devalue its currency because the cost of wage in the US has been increasing not due to increased production but due to inflation which correspondingly increases the cost of living in the US but the standard living of the people there. Americans cannot that easily devalue their currency to halt the seemingly unstoppable trade deficit or are some would put it the rapid deindustrialization of America. It is ironic for while it hits hard on China over the media on the issue of trade deficit, not a word been

mentioned that the leading importers of Chinese goods are American companies namely Wal-Mart, Costco and Target.

They rely mostly on consumer products outsourced by US companies to China they could easily be sold in the US market because they are far cheaper those goods produced in Europe. At least there is still some sense of misguided nationalism of buying US brands though made in China. rpkapunan@gmail.com

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News

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Voters rejected left-leaning party-list groups’ —Parlade A RANKING official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict said Sunday the dismal performance of militant partylist groups in the May 13 midterm polls showed the public has seen through their “duplicitous nature.”

“The people are not stupid, and now they know about the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army and their allies’ duplicitous nature,” said Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., who is also the Armed Forces of the Philippine Deputy chief-of-staff for Civil-Military Operations.

Parlade also questioned the leftleaning party-list groups for not denouncing the atrocities and violence committed by the CPP-NPA. “No matter what they will say about their loss, one thing is clear: They have not denounced the violence of the CPP-NPA and their terroristic activities,” he said.

“Their dismal performance during the election is a vindication for the truth. Their lies and duplicity have been exposed,” Parlade added.

While the administration-allied Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support garnered the most number of votes at 2,609,055 based on the partial, unofficial tally from 98.25 percent of the election returns, the progressive group Bayan Muna came in second with 1,108,995.

ACT-CIS and Bayan Muna are two of eight party-list groups that were able to get at least 2 percent of the total number of votes cast for the system to entitle them to one seat in the House of Representatives.

With 9.48 percent of the total votes cast, ACT-CIS will have three seats in Congress while Bayan Muna will have at least two seats.

The other party-list groups that met the minimum requirement of 2 percent for one seat are Ako Bicol (3.79 percent), Cibac (3.35 percent), Ang Probinsyano (2.78 percent), 1Pacman (2.58 percent), Marino (2.45 percent), and Probinsyano Ako (2.28 percent).

Using COMELEC’s algorithm, all the party-list groups that got at least 2 percent of the votes also stand to get a second seat.

The rest of the 59 seats will be distributed to the other party-list groups based on the votes they garnered.

SPLASH. Devotees of the Sta. Rita de Cascia take part in the revelry amid a burst of water from a fire hose on Sunday, May 19, in Baclaran, Parañaque City. Norman Cruz

UNICEF appeal: Don’t lower age of criminal liability

By Joyce Pangco Pañares

T

HE United Nations Children’s Fund has appealed to lawmakers not to lower the minimum age of criminal liability as the Senate tackles today a proposal to amend the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.

“Do not lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Children in conflict with the law are already victims of circumstance, mostly because of poverty and exploitation by adults. Children need access to rehabilitation services because they deserve a second chance. They need to be protected and not further penalized,” UNICEF said in a statement marking the 13th anniversary of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act. “UNICEF makes this urgent call today and reiterates its commitment to promote the rights of all children, including children in conflict with the law and childrenat-risk. As we celebrate this milestone, let us be reminded that all children must be

treated with dignity and accorded their inalienable rights with utmost respect and protection,” it added.

Earlier, Senate President Vicente Sotto III expressed optimism that the bill lowering the minimum age of criminal liability will be passed by the Senate before the 17th Congress ends in June.

“There is still hope. We will surely tackle it,” Sotto said.

The bill is part of the agenda during today’s majority caucus in the Senate where priority measures that need to be passed in the final three weeks of the 17th Congress will be discussed.

The measure has reached the Senate plenary for debates, while its counterpart

at the House of Representatives has been approved on third and final reading.

The Senate bill proposes that “a child below 12 years of age at the time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from liability. However, the child shall be subjected to an intervention program.”

“A child 12 years of age and above but below 18 years of age shall likewise be exempt from liability and be subjected to an intervention program, unless the child has acted with discernment, in which case such child shall be subjected to the appropriate proceedings.”

Those who commit a serious crime, according to the pending measure, would be sent to Juvenile Reformatory Centers, also called ‘Bahay Pag-asa.’

Serious crimes include parricide; murder; infanticide; kidnapping; serious illegal detention where the victim is killed or raped; robbery with homicide or rape; destructive arson; rape; and offenses under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 that are punishable by more than 12 years imprisonment.

Globaltech hits brazen killing of lawyer in Peryahan ng Bayan case GAMING technology firm Globaltech Mobile Online Corp. has condemned the brazen and chilling attack on one of its lawyers, Val Crisostomo, who was on his way to court in Dagupan, Pangasinan Friday morning when a lone gunman shot

him dead.

Globaltech legal head Bernard Vitriolo said Crisostomo was one of their lawyers who filed cases against several agents of the National Bureau of Investigation for allegedly conducting illegal raids in their Peryahan ng Bayan games in Pangasinan.

“We condemn in the strongest REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES terms this cold-blooded murder in NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION REGIONAL TRIAL COURT broad daylight of our lawyer who BRANCH 106 QUEZON CITY was merely doing his job,” Vitriolo ROEL T. HIZON, said.

Petitioner, “The attack was not just on our -versusCivil Case No. R-QZN-18-14928 CV lawyer and our company, but also For: Declaration of Nullity of Marriage on the country’s justice system ROSEBYLYN C. TORREVILLAS, Respondent, as it seemed to send a message x-------------------------------------------------x that our enemies, the enemies of ORDER OF SUMMONS

BY PUBLICATION Peryahan ng Bayan, do not subject In a verified Petition for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage filed themselves to the laws of men and on November 19, 2018, petitioner prays that, after due hearing, his marriage to the respondent which was solemnized on May 6, the rule of law,” he added.

2002, by Rev. Bonifacio Mortera, Minister, at F, Manalo St, San Vitriolo said Globaltech will Juan, Metro Manila be declared NULL AND VOID, AB INITIO, continue to operate Peryahan ng on the ground of respondent’s minority and/or absence of legal capacity to contract marriage.

Bayan games given the status quo Summons was issued on November 27, 2018. The Sheriff’s ante order issued by the Court of Return dated January 14, 2019 states that the respondent was not a resident of the area.

Appeals.

On February 11, 2019, petitioner filed a “Motion for Leave of “This will not stop us from Court to Serve Summons by Publication.” On March 4, 2019, pushing for our PnB games as a the court issued an Order granting the issuance of an Order of Summons by Publication. solution to the deficiencies and NOW, THEREFORE, respondent ROSEBYLYN C. weaknesses of the Small Town TORREVILLAS, whose last known address is at 11 Recto Lottery program of the Philippine Street, Freedom Park VI, Batasan Village, Quezon City, is hereby summoned and required to file with the Regional Trial Charity Sweepstakes Office.”

Court, Branch 106, Quezon City, National Capital Judicial Region, Bulwagan ng Katarungan Quezon City, her answer to the petition in the instant case within THIRTY (30) DAYS from the last date of publication of this summons. In the event of failure to do so, this court shall direct the Public Prosecutor to conduct an investigation to determine whether or not collusion exists between the parties in the filing of the instant petition; and if it is determined that there is no such collusion, the Petitioner shall be allowed to present his evidence in support of the petition.

Let this Order be published once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in the “The Standard”, a newspaper of national circulation, pursuant to P.D. No. 1079, at the expense of the petitioner.

Likewise, let a copy of the summons as well as a copy of the petition be deposited in the Post Office, postage pre-paid and sent by registered mail to the respondent at her last known address also at the expense of the petitioner. Petitioner is enjoined to submit to this court proof of compliance herewith.

SO ORDERED. Quezon City, April 30, 2019.

(Sgd.) ANGELENE MARY W. QUIMPO-SALE Cc: Roel T. Hizon Judge Rosebylyn C. Torrevillas Atty. Angelita Calalang-Dy ACP Buenaluz, Jr. OSG

(MStandard-May 20 & 27, 2019)

CHR remains steadfast in opposing death penalty revival

By Rio N. Araja AMID the plan of lawmakers to back the restoration of the death penalty in the 18th Congress, the Commission on Human Rights on Sunday maintained its opposition against the proposal.

“The Commission is ready to engage Congress in a frank and factual conversation about the death penalty,” Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit said.

“We are ready to present the ineffectiveness of the death penalty and offer viable programs that result in crime prevention and lowering crime incidence. These include police visibility or increasing police to population ratios and community vigilance. We fully support these initiatives that do not diminish our principles to uphold the right to life,” she added.

She clarified that while the CHR does not want crime to go unpunished, it believes that capital punishment is not the solution to lower crime incidence.

“The apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment of those who have committed wrong doings must be in accordance with human rights standards and principles. We also have to ensure that our legal obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Second Optional Protocol aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty are respected and fulfilled,” the commissioner said.

“As a state party to these human rights treaties, we have perpetually committed not to impose nor reintroduce capital punishment,” she added.

Davao-bound man found dead inside NAIA-3 restroom NO GADGETS ALLOWED. Children enjoy playing fun outdoor games at an inflatable

trampoline during the ‘Unplugged and Play’ summer activity held at SM City Marikina on Sunday. Norman Cruz

PDEA to participate in Brigada Eskwela for the first time IN THE spirit of volunteerism and community service, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is joining the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela program nationwide from May 20 to May 25.

PDEA director-general Aaron Aquino issued a memorandum directing all regional offices to actively participate in the week-long initiative and to help ensure its effective implementation in selected public elementary and secondary schools within their areas.

“PDEA agents and personnel are more than ready to extend assistance in cleaning up classrooms and school grounds, and the repair and repainting of walls, ceilings, chairs, tables and

other fixtures in preparation for a safe, clean, and conducive learning environment for incoming students,” he said.

This is the first time PDEA will participate in the yearly undertaking throughout the country.

Aquino has allocated an “ample” budget for every province covered by the agency’s 17 regional offices for the purchase of cleaning and beautification materials to be used for the program.

“In keeping with the Filipino spirit of bayanihan, PDEA volunteers its effort, time and resources to participate in the country’s quest to foster safe, healthy learning environment for today’s students and become tomorrow’s productive citizens,” he said. Rio N. Araja

A MAN who was supposed to board a plane for Davao was found dead inside a restroom at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Sunday, the Manila International Airport Authority said.

MIAA public affairs department officer-in-charge Consuelo Bungag identified the victim as Richard Alexander Parenas.

Parenas had checked in at 5:26 a.m. for a Davao-bound flight.

He was seen by a janitor enter the restroom past 6 a.m. Sunday.

The airport’s medical team received an emergency call at 8:19 a.m. after Parenas was found unresponsive inside a cubicle.

The MIAA medical team said the victim was also showing “beginning signs of lividity in the gravity-dependent areas of his body” when he was found. PNA

Sports New partner for Rondina in Beach Volley World Tour

By Peter Atencio CHERRY Rondina is back in action again.

This time, the team skipper of the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses will be partnering with Far Eastern University spiker Bernadeth Pons when the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour goes on from May 23 to 26 at the sandcourts of White House Beach in Boracay.

Rondina is playing again after leading the Tigresses to a runner-up finish to the Ateneo Lady Eagles in the recent 81st University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s volleyball finals.

Last year, Rondina saw action with Dzi Gervacio.

“We are excited about the second staging of the FIVB tournament here for the second time. We are seeing familiar faces playing,” said Bea Tan, one of the founders of the Beach Volleyball Republic, which is organizing the four-day spikefest.

Forty-eight teams from countries all over the world are taking part in this event, which will be shown on ABSCBN S+A. Three pairs from the Philippines are listed in the men’s division, while five are in the women’s side.

Tan will be paired with Negrense spiker Dij Rodriguez, while UST’s Genese Estaplor and Belove Barbon will team up. Then, there’s Iloilo’s DM Demontano and Jackie Estiquia, along with the Negros tandem of Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain.

Pairs from Lithuania, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Slovenia, Russia and Israel are also included.

In the men’s division are Cebu bets Jade Becaldo and Mike Abria, teammates Ranran Abdilla and Jesse Lopez, National University’s James Buytrago and UST’s Anthony Arbastro.

Teams from Oman and Sweden are coming, along with those from Australia, Thailand, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Russia, Norway, Japan, Ukraine and Chinese-Taipei.

There were 44 teams which came last year when it was hosted at the SM by the Bay. The winning teams will earn points and will have a chance to be in the FIVB World Tour finals.

Del Monte targets WGAP Luzvimin repeat DEL Monte sets out for the 2019 Champion Luzvimin Invitational Golf Tournament with a practically intact crew, eyeing no less than a successful titleretention drive when the event is held May 29-31 at Cebu Country Club in Cebu City.

Martina Miñoza, Leslie Icoy, Kiara Montebon, Saraiah Rheaume and Class B individual winner Sofia Abarcas, who led Del Monte’s runaway triumph over fancied Manila Southwoods-Masters in the centerpiece Diamond division at Taal Splendido last year, are back to anchor the team’s bid in the 54-hole championship organized by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines.

Maura Quijano completes the Del Monte roster, which will miss the services of former mainstay Pamela Mariano, now the spearhead of Team Pueblo de Oro in the event sponsored by Champion, which gathers the leading golfing ladies from the country’s top courses.

The Del Monte ladies turned what was expected to be a fierce final round shootout with Southwoods into a victory walk, closing out with an impressive 194 to reclaim the crown they won at Rancho Palos Verdes in 2016 via a whopping 21-point romp.

But Southwoods has toughened up in an attempt to get back at Del Monte and reassert its might in the six-to-play, four-tocount event held under the Molave scoring system, tapping top amateur Laia Barro to backstop a squad made up of Loralie Roberto, Claire Ong, Christine Naidoo, Claudine Garcia and Deanna Samaniego.

Keen competition is also seen in individual play with the flat but tight layout providing a different kind of challenge for the field in all four divisions, including the Emerald, Ruby and Pearl categories of the event backed by Henna, San Miguel Corp., Diamond Motors, Quest Hotel, Cebu Country Club, Ayala Land Premier, Celium Fibre, Derma C, Gothong Lines and Vermogen.

A7

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Pons lifts Petron to 3 PSL crown rd

L

INGAYEN, Pangasinan—Bernadeth Pons proved that she’s still the queen of the sand when she powered Petron XCS to its third straight title in the Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup late Saturday at the Capitol Beach Front here.

Playing without regular partner Sisi Rondina, Pons conspired with Dij Rodriguez in dominating Jackie Estoquia and Dhannylaine Demontano of Sta. Lucia Santorini, 21-10, 21-14, in the finals to clinch the gold medal in this prestigious summer spectacle.

The high-flying Rondina failed to make

it as she set her focus on leading University of Santo Tomas in Game 3 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s volleyball tournament best-of-three finals also on Saturday.

Still, Pons took care of business, leading the Blaze Spikers to a strong start and an even stronger finish to dominate

the Lady Realtors en route to claiming a grand slam.

“Sisi told me to defend the title,” said Pons, the former Far Eastern University star who will be reunited with Rondina in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in Boracay later this month.

“At first, I was a little worried to have a new partner because we all know how Sisi plays. But as they say ‘worry attracts problem’ so I changed my worry into trust. I know she’s already experienced playing on sand so I trusted her and she trusted me. We trusted and helped each other to claim this victory.”

Meanwhile, Bianca Lizares and Jennifer Costas of Sta. Lucia Woodside clobbered Derie Rose Virtusio and Mary Rose Jauculan of Petron Sprint 4T, 21-16, 1421, 17-15, to capture the bronze medal.

In the men’s play, the pair of Edmar Bonono and Ran Abdilla of Cignal smothered the tandem of Kris Guzman and Efraem Dimaculangan of Foton to clinch the gold, 21-18, 19-21, 15-13, while Jason Lindo Uy and Philip Michael Bagalay of Philippine Army crushed Joshua Mina and Joshua Pitogo of Emilio Aguinaldo College, 21-17, 21-14, in the bronze-medal match.

MPBL goes to Dubai on Sept. 27

Deontay Wilder celebrates after knocking out Dominic Breazeale in the first round during their bout for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title at Barclays Center in New York City. AFP

Wilder keeps WBC title with 1st-round KO NEW YORK—Undefeated Deontay Wilder brutally knocked out Dominic Breazeale in the first round of their grudge match Saturday night to retain his World Boxing Council heavyweight world title.

Wilder, who has one of the most destructive right hands in heavyweight history, floored the challenger with a onepunch knockout with 43 seconds left in the opening round at Barclays Center arena.

The vaunted knockout artist Wilder swarmed Breazeale from the opening bell, hurting him with a straight right hand then finishing him off later in the round with the devastating right to the chin that was set up by a left jab.

“When I hit him with the right hand the first time his body language changed,” said Wilder. “When you been in there with so many different guys you learn to recognize body language. I knew he was slowing down and opening up.”

Breazeale barely landed a punch in the fight and his defence was non-existent as he walked right into the knockout blow.

He lay motionless on his back, then got up

at the count of 10 as the referee grabbed him and waved it off.

Wilder was very focused, showing off his superior handspeed, conditioning and punching power in another one-sided victory.

Wilder, 33, improved to 41-0-1 with 40 KOs in making the ninth defence of his title against heavy underdog Breazeale.

Breazeale, who had lost just one previous fight to Anthony Joshua, dropped to 20-2 with 18 KOs. There was bad blood between the two heading into the fight with the buildup marked by a series of macabre threats from Wilder, who had spoken of his willingness to cause a fatality in the ring.

Threats of violence are a stock-in-trade part of promoting fights, but Wilder’s gruesome pre-fight comments were condemned by many in the sport as going too far.

Wilder’s comments have appalled many in boxing, while WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has vowed to hold a hearing into the remarks.

Wilder backed off on his comments immediately after the knockout in the ring,

making light of the death threats.

- ‘A lot of hatred’ “Everything just came out of me. There was a big buildup to this fight,” he said.

“There was a lot of animosity, a lot of chaos, a lot of hatred against each other. This is what makes boxing so great.

“When you get into a fight and settle your differences as men, that is what this sport is all about. We can handle this with our hands and at end of the day we can say we lived to see another day.”

Wilder, who won the bronze medal for the US at the 2008 Olympic Games, moved up the all-time heavyweight defence list and joined four iconic champions who also made nine straight defences: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis. The all-time record for any division is 25 by Joe Louis.

On the undercard, featherweight world champ Gary Russell Jr. dominated former junior featherweight world titlist Kiko Martinez with a fifth-round knockout victory.

Russell was heavily favoured defend his 126-pound belt for the fourth time.

AFP

PH Golf Tour aces seek top finish in Taiwan Open EIGHT of the top 15 players in the current Philippine Golf Tour Asia Order of Merit ranking brace for a fierce duel against the best and the brightest of Taiwan PGA as they slug it out in the Daan Taiwan Open beginning Thursday (May 23) at the CCK Golf Club in Taichung.

The $100,000 championship is the first PGT Asia-sanctioned tournament abroad, highlighting its steady rise as one of the emerging circuits in the region. It is actually the first of two PGT Asia events to be played in Taiwan with the Nan Pao TPGA Open also scheduled on Sept. 26-29 at Nan Pao Golf Club in Tainan City.

A third PGTA tournament abroad later in the year is also being finalized.

Burly Namchok Tantipokhakul of Thailand, who edged Finnish Teemu Putkonen in PGTA third season’s kickoff leg at Luisita last month, spearheads the 48-player strong Phl-based field facing a different set of rivals on an unfamiliar turf, a wind-raked layout with wide but tricky fairways and elevated greens, thus putting premium on chipping.

Kammalas Namuangruk, also of Thailand who placed third at Luisita, is also in the fold along with Marcos Pastor of Spain, Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang, Japanese Keita Sudo and fellow Thais Natthapong Niyomchon and Donlapatchai Niyomchon.

Veteran Jay Bayron is the lone Filipino entry in the full packed 144-player roster that also drew bets from the US, Sweden, Australia, Colombia, Scotland, Malaysia, Argentina, South Africa and Korea as

INAUGURAL staging champion Batangas City and Datu Cup titlist San Juan collide in the MPBL’s first-ever overseas game in Dubai on Sept. 27.

League commissioner Kenneth Duremdes confirmed the news, saying MPBL officials will fly to Dubai right after the season opener of the fastest growing regional amateur basketball league on June 12.

The organizers decided to pick San Juan, which ruled the recent Datu Cup in a thrilling finale win over Davao Occidental, and Batangas City, to arrange the MPBL’s version of “Battle of the Champions” in front of the Pinoy audience living in the most populated place in the United Arab Emirates.

Live streaming of the games will be available both for the audience in Dubai and the Philippines, but the game on television will likely be recorded and shown on a later date.

After Dubai, the MPBL will stage another overseas game in Oman where a huge number of Filipinos are also working.

Commissioner Duremdes said the league also approved the entry of two expansion teams joining the country’s top regional basketball event. Two more teams, which changed management also got a thumbs-up from league founder and chief executive officer Senator Manny Pacquiao.

The Bicol Volcanoes, to be coached

by Monel Kallos and owned by Gil Orense and the Mindoro Tamaraws, owned by Justin Tan, were approved as the 27th and 28th teams, respectively.

Pasig also welcomed the return of an old figure in local basketball circuit – the Sta. Lucia Realtors, who will now assume ownership of its MPBL franchise.

Representing the team in behalf of owner Exequiel Robles was Buddy Encarnado, a long-time manager and 2-time PBA Executive of the Year awardee.

Encarnado is happy to be back after the Realtors left the PBA in 2010 when the franchise was acquired by Meralco.

He also announced that the team will be known as the Sta. Lucia Land Inc.-Pasig Realtors.

A change in Mandaluyong management was also granted when former PBA player, Banjo Calpito took over the old franchise previously owned by Christian Singson for expansion squad Nueva Ecija.

Busy PSA Forum on Tuesday

Thai Namchok Tantipokhakul shoots for 2nd PGTA win in row

multi-titled Tony Lascuña begged off at the last-minute due to hand injury and the likes of Angelo Que and Juvic Pagunsan committed to play in Japan PGA also this week.

Miguel Tabuena, the first PGTA OOM winner in 2017, is competing in the European Tour in Denmark.

Joining the hunt for the top $17,500 purse in the 72-hole championship put up by ICTSI and co-organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. are Thais WIsut Artjanawat, Thammasack Boua-

hom, Wongsakorn Choowong, Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, Jaturon Duangphaichoom, Pasavee Lertvilai, Nirun Saeueng and Panuwat Muenlek, Singapore’s Vikkash Babu, Gabriel Cheok and Deng Shan Koh; Aussies Jack Lane Weston and Sam Gervinas, South African Luke Trocado, Swede Fredrik From, Malaysian Kai Jei Low,Colombia’s Mateo Gomez and Sebastian Lopez, Charles Lee and Tarik Can of the US and Japanese Keisuke Takahashi, Ikeda Yu and Seiji Yanagisawa.

IT’S going to be a star-studded session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday as five-time PBA Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer joins leading stalwarts of the coming Premier Volleyball League Season 3 Reinforced Conference at the Amelie Hotel-Manila.

PVL idols Alyssa Valdez, Myla Pablo, Jovelyn Gonzaga, and Dzi Gervacio are coming over with league President Ricky Palou as they discuss the opener of the import-laden conference on May 26 at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The boys also get their turn in the session presented by San Miguel Corp., Braska Restaurant, Tapa King, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation as the Beermen talk about what’s next following their successful title retention bid of their Philippine Cup title.

Coming over for the champion franchise are coach Leo Austria, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Von Pessumal, and import Charles Rhodes.

PSA members are enjoined to attend the forum starting at 10:00 a.m.

Sports

Riera U. Mallari, Editor; Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor sports@manilastandard.net sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

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MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

Blackwater turns back Meralco in overtime

By Jeric Lopez MAC Belo sank a tough go-ahead putback with 32.4 seconds left to help lift Blackwater to a hard-fought 94-91 victory over Meralco in an overtime thriller to get itself in the winning column right away in the opening game of the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City yesterday.

Alex Stepheson reintroduced himself well to the league, dropping a monster double-double with team-highs of 21 points and 31 huge rebounds to backstop the Elite against his former team.

“I was able to settle down in the second half and get to work,” said Stepheson of his performance. “Our coaches told me to relax as I was at first excited to face my former team and it worked.”

Belo broke the deadlock after a gritty undergoal stab off an Allein Maliksi miss made it 87-85 for Blackwater.

After Meralco import Gani Lawal travelled, Mike DiGregorio hit two more free throws with 17.7 ticks left to stretch the Elite’s lead to 89-85.

Still in as they were only down 91-94 with ball in hand in the final seconds, the Bolts went to Lawal but his potentialtying triple was off, enabling Blackwater to escape.

Lawal’s banked shot with 45.8 seconds remaining in regulation forced overtime.

Trevis Jackson had the chance to win it for Meralco in the dying seconds of the fourth but his wide open jumper failed to find its mark.

Bobby Ray Parks finally made his much-awaited PBA debut.

The No. 2 overall pick finally suited up for the Elite, registering 20 points and eight rebounds in his first game as a pro, while DiGregorio added 21 more points for Blackwater.

Parks wasn’t the only one who made his debut for the Elite as Aris Dimaunahan handled his first game as the team’s interim coach.

Dimaunahan took the place of then coach Bong Ramos early in the team’s off-season.

After getting traded several days ago, versatile big Raymund Almazan was still unable to suit up for the Bolts as he is still yet to complete his medicals.

Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors shoots the ball against Maurice Harklessof the Portland Trail Blazers in game three of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. AFP

Green fuels Warriors to 3-0 lead L

OS ANGELES—Draymond Green exploded for a seventh career playoff triple-double Saturday as the Golden State Warriors rallied for a 110-99 victory over the Trail Blazers in Portland and a 3-0 lead in the NBA Western Conference finals.

The two-time defending champion Warriors trailed by 18 in the second quarter, but with Green driving them they produced another dominant third period to seize control of the contest and the series.

No team has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.

The Trail Blazers will try to fend off elimination when they host game four on Monday.

Green scored 20 points with 13 rebounds and 12 assists, keeping the Warriors afloat in the first half before superstar Stephen Curry came alive with 21 of his 36 points after the interval.

“I don’t even know what to say about Draymond,” said coach Steve Kerr. “He was like a wrecking ball out there, destroying everything in his path.”

His intensity was on display on both ends of the court, and on the sidelines as

he exhorted teammates to keep pushing.

Klay Thompson added 19 points for the Warriors, who were again without injured star Kevin Durant.

“All my teammates, my coaches have been telling me, ‘Draymond, get to the hole, be aggressive’,” Green said of his mindset.

“We’ve got guys out there, Steph, Klay and those guys who draw a lot of attention, so it’s on me to do my job and come through for those guys.”

CJ McCollum led Portland with 23 points. Damian Lillard, relentlessly double-teamed by the Warriors, added 19 points.

Center Meyers Leonard, making just his third start of the season, finished with 16 points.

“We’re going to give it our best effort on Monday. That’s all that matters,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “We’re

going to give it our best effort and whatever happen, happens.”

Leonard made the most of his opportunity early, connecting on five of seven shots from the field in the first half on the way to 13 points.

The Trail Blazers, energized in front of a rowdy home crowd at the Moda Center, quickly built a 10-point lead before the Warriors trimmed it to two— 29-27—at the end of the first quarter.

But the Blazers kept the pressure on, stretching the lead to 18 in the second quarter.

A steal by Lillard produced a thunderous dunk from Leonard, then Portland’s Seth Curry stole the ball from his superstar brother Stephen and raced for a three-pointer that made it 60-42 with 2:28 remaining in the first half.

Portland took a 66-53 lead into the locker room, but the Warriors responded with a monster third quarter, using a 22-6 scoring run to take their first lead of the game, 77-76 on a lay-up by Kevin Looney—assisted by Green.

Golden State out-scored Portland 2913 in the quarter to lead by three heading into the final frame and pushed the lead to 11 with 4:51 remaining. AFP

Ateneo Lady Eagles erased doubts by trusting each other

By Peter Atencio MANY followers of the Ateneo Lady Eagles had doubts that they will get far in season 81 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s volleyball finals.

But from the time they lost their first game of the season to the La Salle Lady Spikers and to the point they played Game 3 of the best-of-three finals, coach Oliver Almadro has always instilled in them to keep the faith and their trust in each other.

“Nu’ng game ng FEU, sabi nila hindi daw kami mananalo–but we made it. This one noong nakuha ng UST ‘yung Game 1, sabi nila hindi daw kami mananalo sa UST, but we made it. Ang importante talaga, they really wanted it and worked hard for it,” said Almadro.

The Lady Eagles beat the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses in Game 3, 25-17, 25-22, 25-22, to clinch the crown last Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“They really trusted me. Kahit gaano kahirap ang pinagdaanan namin,” said Al-

Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro takes a selfie with his players. Peter Atencio

madro as the Lady Eagles persevered and made it past the FEU Lady Tamaraws in the Final Four and into the championship against the Tigresses.

The Lady Eagles, who got off to a slow start in the season, were able to get past the Tigresses’ repeated comebacks in the first two sets with their solid frontline game, to take Game 3 and win their third

championship.

Two key spikers, Kat Tolentino and Maddie Madayag showed the way for the Katipunan squad with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

This gave Almadro his first-ever crown on his first coaching year with the Lady Eagles.

He had earlier steered the Blue Spikers to a three-peat feat with Ateneo from 2014

to 2016.

Finals’ MVP De Leon, who was supposed to skip her fifth and final year with the team, said she was grateful for Almadro to let her play on.

The 5’11” De Leon was among the team’s fearsome blockers and tall frontliners that Almadro relied on, along with 6’1” opposite Tolentino and 5’11” Madayag.

Cariño dons national colors in Le Tour PH EL JOSHUA CARIñO returns to defend his title as stalwart of the Philippine National Team in the 10th running of the Le Tour de Filipinas set from June 14 to 18.

Cariño won last year’s race that finished at Burnham Park in Baguio City as a rider for Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance to become the third Filipino champion of the International Cycling Union race after Baler Ravina (2012) and Mark John Lexer Galedo (2014).

For this year’s Le Tour, PNSI team owner Ernesto “Judes” Echauz, one of PhilCycling’s major stakeholders, agreed to have the team race for flag and country as part of the national riders’ preparations for the 30th Southeast Asian Games in December.

Joining Cariño in the Le Tour that has been elevated by organizer Ube Media Inc. to a five-stage Category 2.2 event are fellow veterans Jan Paul Morales, Ronald Oranza, Junrey Navarra and Jhon Mark Camingao.

The other national team members, meanwhile, will be racing for their mother clubs, including Felipe Marcelo of 7-Eleven Roadbike PhilippinesAir21 (continental) and last year’s Le Tour Best Young Rider and Cariño’s younger brother, Daniel Ven Cariño, of Go For Gold (continental).

Bike X Philippines is the fourth local squad that will be facing a tough challenge from 11 foreign teams, almost all of which are UCI continental teams. Five riders are racing for each of the teams.

The Le Tour kicks off on June 14 with a short yet demanding 129.50km Stage 1 on an out-and-back course marked with several climbs in Tagaytay City.

The tour entourage transfers to Lucena City in Quezon Province where the cyclists will spend the night before Stage Two on June 15 that will be a long 194.90 kms from Pagbilao to Daet in Camarines, Norte.

Koepka challenge inspiring rivals like Tiger once did

Brooks Koepka of the United States lines up a putt on the 15th green during the third round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York. AFP

BETHPAGE—Record-smashing PGA Championship leader Brooks Koepka says his secrets to success are simpler than people think while rivals are being inspired like Tiger Woods once motivated them.

Three-time major winner Koepka fired a level-par 70 Saturday to stand on 12-under 198 and seize a 54-hole tournamentrecord seven-stroke lead entering Sunday’s final round at Bethpage Black.

No man has led a major by so much so late and lost.

A victory would restore Koepka to the world number one ranking and make him the fifth PGA wire-to-wire winner after Hal Sutton in 1983, Ray Floyd in 1982, Jack Nicklaus in 1971 and Bobby Nichols in 1964.

Koepka, whose calm under pressure and focus on shotmaking have become trademarks, shakes off any tensions the moment might bring.

“Just another round of golf,” Koepka said. “It’s just like any other round I’ve ever played. I’m going to try to play a good, solid round.

“It would be nice to be able to make a 10 on the last hole and be OK.” Koepka takes pride in being “pretty flatlined most of the time” but says he’s not doing anything his rivals couldn’t match.

“I feel like it’s simpler than what guys think,” Koepka said. “Guys make the mistake of trying to figure out, when they get to a major, what’s going on, what’s different.

“It’s not. It’s just focus. It’s grind it out,

suck it up, and move on.

“You’re going to make a lot of mistakes. It’s a major championship. You know it’s going to happen and guys have a hard time letting that go.”

A second-place pack after three rounds includes top-ranked Dustin Johnson, fellow Americans Luke List and Harold Varner and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond.

Varner, for one, hasn’t given up.

“You can’t sit there and just weep and be like, ‘He’s so much better,’” Varner said. “I think that’s going to push you. It almost pisses me off.”

‘Why people work out’ But it wasn’t lost on him that when Koepka was asked how he had the power to blast out of dense rough, he replied, “That’s why I go to the gym.” AFP

Business

IN BRIEF MPTC quits Myanmar, Laos toll road projects METRO Pacific Tollways Corp. has abandoned its plans to expand in Myanmar and Laos due to unviable markets for toll road roads.

“Were looking at opportunities for instance in Myanmar, but we thought the country is not yet ready for toll roads, maybe three to five years,” said MPTC president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco.

“There were also feelers for instance in Laos, but based on our early assessment we need to wait a little bit more, maybe 3 to 5 years,” he added.

“You don’t want to do projects that the government would be the one to repay, the principle is we invest if the project economics are okay and the project can pay itself rather than the government to compensate you,” Franco said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

First Gen and Tokyo Gas set to build $1-b LNG hub

By Alena Mae S. Flores

F

Overseas bonds still an option—DoF

IRST Gen Corp. and partner Tokyo Gas of Japan will hold a traditional Japanese “Kagami Biraki” groundbreaking ceremony for the $1-billion liquefied natural gas terminal in Batangas on May 28.

THE government remains open to the idea of issuing bonds overseas to finance the government’s development and infrastructure projects, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said over the weekend.

Dominguez said the Department of Finance was looking at a Samurai bond issuance or another dollar bond sale this year, but these would all depend on the government’s requirements.

“I have to talk to Lea (National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon) because our expenditures really went down. Our deficit went down to 2.1 percent...,” Dominguez told reporters.

Economic managers earlier set a budget deficit of 3.2 percent of the gross domestic product for this year, higher than last year’s 3 percent.

Dominguez, however, said the government was not yet conceding underspending for the rest of the year, judging from the latest fiscal data. Julito G. Rada

First Gen president Francis Giles Puno said the ceremony would mark the completion of the pre-development works on the L1w, “as symbolized by the act of breaking open a round sake barrel, representing harmony and good luck, by hitting the lid with wooden mallets.”

“In partnership with Tokyo Gas, we are working hard to firm up our LNG regasification terminal investment that is intended to ensure that our country can meet its future growing energy needs utilizing clean low-carbon natural gas. Our LNG site in Batangas is now construction-ready,” Puno said.

First Gen owns an 80-percent stake in the LNG project while Tokyo Gas took a 20-percent stake.

First Gen is building the LNG terminal

MB orders closure of Iloilo rural bank

at its energy complex in Batangas which houses natural gas plants including the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita Power Plant, the 500-MW San Lorenzo Power Plant, the 414-MW San Gabriel Power Plant and the 97 MW Avion Power Plant.

All these natural gas plants are fueled by the Malampaya gas project in northwest Palawan, whose contract with the government will expire by 2024.

Puno said that after having received the notice to proceed from the Energy Department in March, First Gen would commence the next stage of development works to bring the company to a final investment decision by late 2019 or early 2020.

First Gen is choosing between foreign contractors Fluor and JGC Corp.

for the engineering, procurement and construction contract of the LNG terminal with a capacity of 5 million metric tons. Completion of the project is expected by 2024.

“We are currently finalizing our EPC tender process. We hope that we will finish that within the next couple of months and after that we need to make a decision whether to continue with more early start works but hopefully leading to an investment decision either late this year or early this year,” Jon Russel, First Gen executive vice president and chief operating officer, said earlier.

“That still allows us to meet the deadline to have the terminal ready when the Malampaya contract expires in 2024. So we wanna be ready to have a seamless transition from one to the other,” Russel said.

“The FEED [front end engineering and design] is already finished…It’s really just finalizing the contracting terms.

It’s down to two bidders—Flour or JGC. We hope we will make the decision in the next couple of months,” Russel said.

Russel said First Gen was also in advanced discussion with a number of possible partners for the LNG project.

THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, has closed another rural bank due to unsound financial condition, the fourth lender shut down since the start of the year.

The board said in a statement over the weekend it prohibited Iloilo City-based Valiant Bank Inc. (A Rural Bank) from doing business.

The board also directed state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver to proceed with the takeover and liquidation of Valiant Bank. PDIC took over the bank the following day. Julito G. Rada

DMCI: Construction orders reach P25b D.M. CONSUNJI Inc., the construction unit of DMCI Holdings Inc., said order book has reached P25 billion as of end March 2019 after securing new projects during the first three months of the year.

DMCI Holdings said in a statement the consortium of DMCI and Japan’s Marubeni Corp. bagged the P3.2-billion contract to install the track works and electromechanical system of the LRT Line 2 east extension.

It also secured a hospital project for the Presidential Security Group.

Jenniffer B. Austria

SM-DOT PARTNERSHIP. SM Supermalls teams up with the Department of Tourism for the ‘Malling is More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign at SM malls nationwide. Leading the unveiling of the campaign on May 17 at the SM Mega Fashion Hall are (from left) Jolibee brand chief marketing officer Francis Flores, SM Supermarket president Joey Mendoza, Tourism assistant secretary Verna Buensuceso, assistant secretary Howie Uyking, Mandaluyong mayor Menchie Abalos, Tourim Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, Mandaluyong councilor Charisse Abalos-Vargas, 2016 Asia’s best female chef Margarita Fores, SM Supermalls chief operating officer Steven Tan, assistant vice president for operations Ian Mathay, Tourism NCR officer-in-charge Catherine Agustin and SM Supermalls senior vice president for marketing Jonjon San Agustin.

GT Capital eyes mixed-use estate for 600-hectare property in Cavite

By Jenniffer B. Austria GT CAPITAL Holdings Inc. is open to a joint venture partnership with foreign and local property developers to transform a 600-hectare property into a mixed-use development in Cavite province.

The holding company of the Ty family reported last week that it agreed to sell back its 51-percent stake in mass housing developer Property Company of Friends Inc. in exchange for 702 hectares, including 600 hectares within Lancaster New City in Imus and General Trias, Cavite worth P20 billion.

GT Capital president Carmelo Bautista said during an analysts’ briefing that of the 702 hectares, roughly 600 hectares are located within LNC, 90 hectares in Belleforte Estate also in Cavite. The rest of the properties are located in Santolan, Quezon City, Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City and Carmona, Cavite.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

B1

LandBank’s income rose 12% to P4.75b in first quarter

By Julito G. Rada STATE-RUN Land Bank of the Philippines said over the weekend net income climbed 12 percent in the first quarter to P4.75 billion from P4.26 billion a year ago on double-digit growth in loans, assets and deposits.

The three-month performance was also 14 percent higher than the income target of P4.16 billion for the period.

Return on equity reached 13.04 percent in the quarter, while net interest margin stood at 3.42 percent, both above the latest industry averages.

LandBank president and chief executive Cecilia Borromeo attributed the strong first-quarter profit to the substantial increase in income from loans and investments.

“Interest income on loans jumped 69 percent as the bank’s gross loan portfolio grew to P867.32 billion from P708.10 billion in March 2018. Meanwhile, income from investments in financial assets grew by 43 percent to P6.36 billion from P4.44 billion,” she said.

Total assets increased 16 percent to P1.89 trillion from P1.63 trillion, while deposits grew 17 percent to P1.68 trillion from P1.44 trillion.

Total capital increased 26 percent to P136.47 billion from last year’s P108.37 billion.

Borromeo said this put the bank in a good position to further drive support for priority sectors, especially farmers and fishers, micro-enterprises and SMEs, agribusiness and other development players.

“We work hard to maintain sound financial position as the profits from our commercial banking operations allow us to move toward our bigger mission of promoting inclusive growth, especially in areas where financial services are not easily available or accessible,” said Borromeo.

She said the bank was continuously investing in technology to pursue inclusive growth thrust and provide greater convenience to clients.

The bank recently opened its 400th branch in Jagna, Bohol, marking its continuing expansion efforts to bring access to financial services and credit assistance, especially to the unbanked and underserved areas in the country.

SMC power subsidiary paid P289b to PSALM

Bautista said the prime properties in Santolan and Shaw Boulevard would be developed by real estate arm Federal Land Inc. He said for the 600-hectare LNC property, the company was open for joint venture partnership with local or foreign partners.

Federal Land earlier formed several joint venture partnerships with local property developers including Ayala Land and SM Development Corp.

It also has existing joint venture partnerships with Japan’s Nomura Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. for the development of Sunshine Fort Landmark, a P20-billion retail and residential complex in Bonifacio Global City.

Bautista said the Cavite property would be master planned as a mixed-use estate offering commercial and housing developments targeting the middle-income market.

SOUTH Premiere Power Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC Global Power Corp., said it paid P289.1 billion or $6.19 billion to the government as of end-April 2019 for the administration of the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan power facility in Batangas province.

SPPC made the statement to debunk recent claims it owed state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. P19.75 billion in unpaid dues.

SPPC said it continued to honor and religiously pay its contractual obligations to PSALM under the Ilijan independent power producer administration agreement.

“It is unfortunate that PSALM has to resort again to misinformation while the case is pending in court. While it is inappropriate for us to comment on the issue, we take this matter seriously and we cannot allow damaging statements like this to hurt our reputation and our stakeholders,” said SPPC president Ra-

mon Ang. SPPC has a pending case against PSALM for breach of contract allegedly stemming from a flawed interpretation of certain provisions related to the generation payments under the Ilijan IPPA agreement.

The case filed by SPPC also sought to stop PSALM from illegally terminating SPPC’s Ilijan IPPA and treating the latter as an administrator in default.

The court on Sept. 15, 2016 issued an order granting a preliminary injunction that stopped PSALM from proceeding with the termination of the Ilijan IPPA agreement with SPPC while the main case was pending.

The company said PSALM’s questionable interpretation resulted in an alleged shortfall in generation payments.

SPPC said that of the P289.1 billion it paid to PSALM, P222.4 billion represented energy fees and P66.66 billion was for capacity fees.

The company said that by the time

the agreement expired by 2022, SPPC would have paid PSALM a total of P390.6 billion representing P293.01 billion in energy fees and P97.60 billion in capacity fees.

SPPC said the amount it paid for capacity fees alone, equivalent to about $2 billion, was already enough to pay for the 20-year old power plant. A brandnew plant with the same capacity could be built for much less, it said.

SPPC said it also reimbursed PSALM regularly for fuel and variable operating and maintenance costs in the form of energy fees.

“Given these, SPPC is paying PSALM more than what it is paying the IPP counterparty for the Ilijan power plant. PSALM is in fact net cash positive from its administration agreement with SPPC,” the company.

SPPC said that as of end April, PSALM already gained P34.75 billion from its administration agreement with SPPC. Alena Mae S. Flores

Okada seeks legal remedies to stop arrest warrant JAPANESE gaming tycoon mogul Kazuo Okada vowed to pursue all legal remedies after the Parañaque City Regional Trial Court Branch 257 upheld the issuance of warrants of arrests against him and his associate Takahiro Usui.

The court affirmed the warrant of arrest it issued early this year against Okada and Usui in connection with the three counts of estafa filed by Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. against them, which they vehemently denied.

TRLEI is the operator of Okada Manila Resort Hotel in Parañaque City.

Judge Rolando How of the Parañaque RTC Branch 257, in an order dated May 6, denied the motion filed by Okada and Usui

seeking to quash the arrest warrant on charges of embezzlement of $3.1 million in funds of Okada Manila.

Okada and Usui said in a joint statement it was impossible for them to commit estafa, especially for Okada who was in full control of the company when the alleged payment happened on April 30, May 9 and May 30, 2017.

Okada and Usui said the court and TRLEI recognized Okada’s valuable contributions and services as chairman and chief executive and his salaries and fees were even processed, approved and signed by the proper officers of TRLEI. Okada said he had the sole right to authorize or ratify matters pertaining to TRLEI, including the

compensation of the corporation’s directors which was determined by the corporation’s stockholders.

Okada also said he had the power to authorize the payment of compensation to directors because that power was given to him by the board of directors of Universal Entertainment Corp. Okada said he was responsible for the investment of more than $2 billion in Okada Manila.

Okada and Usui said they would vigorously defend themselves against what they called baseless accusations and would continue to avail themselves of legal remedies by filing a motion for reconsideration, and if it was denied, a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals. Jenniffer B. Austria

NEW WATER PARK. Jolliville Holdings Corp.’s Jolliville Leisure and Resort Corp. opens on May 17 a P350-million themed water park in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. Cutting the ribbon to mark the formal opening of Jolly Waves Water Park and Resort are (from left) Pola, Oriental Mindoro Mayor Ina Alegre, Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali Jr., businesswoman Lourdes Ting, Jolliville Holdings Group chairman Jolly Ting, Calapan City mayor Arnan Panaligan and San Teodoro Mayor Salvador Py.

B2

Business

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Cautious trading seen this week T

By Jenniffer B. Austria

RADING at the Philippine Stock Exchange is expected to remain bearish this week after the index fell below the 7,500-point level last week following the heated US-China trade war.

Regina Capital and Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said investors were still cautious about the Sino-US trade war following news of the US banning Huawei and ZTE from selling in the United States.

With the Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropping to a week low of 7,474.16, Regina Capital sees the market’s next support level toward 7,466.02, which has been the lower limit back in December.

Regina Capital, however, said while all indicators suggested continued bearishness, there was increasing optimism the current support might hold the index af-

ter losing over 300 points in the last few days.

Analysts said the 200-basis point reduction in the reserve requirement ratio of universal and commercial banks, seen to boost the economic activity and growth, might propel the PSEi for a rebound.

“The week’s close at 7,583.82 signals there still some room for further decline toward the 7,000/7,300 levels in the nearterm. Any bounce is limited to the 7,800 levels,” BDO Unibank Inc chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said.

The PSEi last week dropped to a low

of 7,475.16 before closing at 7,583.82, down 2 percent week-on-week.

The broader All Shares Index declined 1.63 percent to 4,713.27 on renewed concerns over the US-China trade war and slower first quarter GDP (gross domestic product) growth.

Except for the property and services, all major sub-indices ended in red led by industrial which fell 4.1 percent, holding firms which declined 3.8 percent, financials which dipped 2.2 percent and mining and oil which lost 0.9 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers by P5.8 billion, while the average daily value traded stood at P8.98 billion from the previous week’s P7.11 billion.

Weekly top price gainers were Asian Terminals Inc., which surged 23.6 percent to P19.88; Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., which advanced 8.7 percent to P6.39; and Lopez Holdings Corp., which gained 6.3 percent to P4.70.

Weekly top price losers were led by

Jollibee Foods Corp., which declined 8.5 percent to P277; Petron Corp., which dropped 7.9 percent to P5.5; and JG Summit Holdings Inc., which retreated 7.3 percent to P57.

Wall Street, meanwhile, finished a topsy-turvy session in the red Friday amid worries over US-China trade talks, while the pound fell to multi-month lows on renewed prospects of a no-deal Brexit.

US investors reacted negatively to media reports that described talks between the US and China as stalled following the White House’s move this week to block Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from the US. That drew more confrontational rhetoric from Chinese government officials.

“It feels as though further discussions on trade have been put on hold,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities.

“Today it seems the door is shut” to further talks, he added. With AFP

Manila Standard BuSineSS Weekly StockS revieW STOCKS

MAY 14-17, 2019 Close Volume

Value

Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources China Bank COL Financial Eastwest Bank Ferronoux Holding Filipino Fund Inc. I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank PCI Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

58 130.90 81.00 2.15 1.23 26.6 18.84 11.4 4.63 7.87 1.39 780.00 0.460 73 0.96 12.9 13 21.35 54.10 57.4 181 26.5 175 1775.00 60.00 1.12

38,190 17,165,570 161,931,697 77,000 525,000 259,100 391,100 2,277,800 471,000 1,000 99,000 940 1,560,000 12,492,140 3,598,000 28,700 237,900 11,600 758,350 12,680 1,920 2,743,800 2,284,550 320 26,370 283,000

FINANCIAL 2,215,957.50 2,233,535,417.00 712,915,383.50 165,200.00 638,380.00 6,844,795.00 7,383,476.00 25,106,672.00 2,109,880.00 7,876.00 133,930.00 733,200.00 718,500.00 900,895,841.00 3,437,010.00 377,016.00 3,078,970.00 247,760.00 40,208,591.00 725,833.50 347,170.00 71,886,425.00 385,934,053.00 571,000.00 1,574,888.00 316,960.00

Aboitiz Power Corp.

Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons.

Basic Energy Corp.

Bogo Medelin C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Conc. Aggr. ‘B’ Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Eagle Cement EEI Emperador Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp.

First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Greenergy Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp.

Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Macay Holdings Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide MG Holdings Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Petron Corporation Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Pilipinas Shell Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas and Co. Roxas Holdings SFA Semicon Shakeys Pizza SMC Food and Beverage SPC Power Corp.

Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp.

Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp.

Vivant Corp.

Vulcan Ind’l.

34.7 15.46 0.72 1.37 0.260 96.75 16.80 2.7 14.2 118.1 28 66.2 63.1 45 1.92 5.3 5.65 10.100 16 9.39 7.49 1.69 21 76.55 39.70 2.3300 14.32 10 1.700 277.00 49.00 4.28 3.47 10.00 21.7 13.94 21.7 0.188 360.00 5.80 1.24 4.56 5.52 2.04 1.98 11.96 42.6 4.7 4.95 1.67 2.02 1.29 13.24 109 6.5 0.128 0.87 152.5 2.51 1.26 16.98 1.05

7,887,500 1,641,000 13,436,000 2,558,000 15,320,880 180 3,900 104,787,000 4,238,500 530 980,500 140 20 1,279,000 1,426,000 94,800 59,500 12,200,600 1,604,100 2,834,600 8,049,200 8,000 7,259,300 749,550 1,107,000 31,789,000 25,172,700 4,321,900 750,000 12,288,760 11,100 12,000 80,000 27,612,500 8,620,000 2,762,500 10,988,200 1,080,000 1,244,020 121,000 16,886,000 301,000 17,352,400 22,819,000 159,261,000 452,900 805,500 619,000 7,182,000 293,000 18,000 442,000 2,301,600 3,198,120 1,182,800 1,220,000 3,210,000 5,605,440 128,000 10,144,000 100 7,202,000

INDUSTRIAL 272,765,465.00 25,191,068.00 9,700,250.00 3,499,060.00 6,609,610.00 16,249.00 60,708.00 286,649,530.00 59,920,958.00 58,977.00 26,104,725.00 9,227.00 1,237.00 57,555,870.00 2,775,880.00 503,870.00 332,937.00 125,490,458.00 25,572,666.00 26,010,335.00 60,442,561.00 13,520.00 152,023,765.00 57,507,719.50 41,384,960.00 75,279,470.00 366,460,584.00 43,343,493.00 1,277,350.00 3,575,743,748.00 549,185.00 47,400.00 273,130.00 251,459,321.00 183,606,160.00 38,108,710.00 239,611,875.00 207,040.00 450,249,222.00 701,200.00 20,175,180.00 1,314,230.00 100,116,214.00 46,678,520.00 334,317,910.00 5,369,054.00 34,137,305.00 2,962,040.00 35,210,550.00 483,220.00 36,480.00 556,500.00 29,305,582.00 348,604,360.00 7,678,235.00 156,160.00 2,798,990.00 871,934,075.00 322,380.00 12,631,280.00 1,698.00 7,602,190.00

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ Asiabest Group ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

Forum Pacific GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings `B’ Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

Lopez Holdings Corp.

LT Group Mabuhay Holdings `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

Pacifica `A’ Prime Media Hldg Prime Orion San Miguel Corp `A’ Seafront `A’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Transgrid Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.620 48.05 13.90 0.75 6.70 15.26 1.300 1.320 850 7.15 9.76 4.49 14.00 0.265 820 6.09 57.00 5.98 5.01 0.51 4.7 16.94 0.560 4.25 0.0390 1.180 3.310 179.80 2.45 888.00 1.33 0.84 270.000 440.00 0.2390 0.300

56,122,000 11,341,600 31,115,300 820,000 299,100 465,900 15,239,000 2,080,000 3,476,110 15,596,800 32,787,100 1,000 746,400 870,000 522,120 146,500 13,299,910 28,800 2,400 673,000 6,201,000 6,995,000 736,000 128,799,000 80,600,000 874,000 23,096,000 1,825,960 24,000 1,954,260 633,000 1,725,000 8,010 150 2,540,000 29,160,000

HOLDING FIRMS 35,510,210.00 536,920,635.00 425,457,376.00 607,640.00 1,994,390.00 7,067,462.00 19,616,630.00 2,727,220.00 3,014,189,070.00 113,425,121.00 325,088,293.00 4,490.00 9,973,584.00 227,250.00 423,757,180.00 897,991.00 773,607,064.00 169,376.00 12,024.00 322,970.00 28,141,020.00 117,130,214.00 406,310.00 541,552,070.00 3,243,100.00 1,010,690.00 73,130,130.00 336,668,793.00 58,580.00 1,749,099,450.00 844,520.00 1,415,000.00 2,160,154.00 64,870.00 593,730.00 9,153,450.00

5,709,100 2,357,000 7,000 1,628,000 12,738,000 54,539,100 1,390,000 10,271,000 32,100 41,619,000 171,000 779,000 25,510,000 420,000 3,864,500 6,129,300 2,340,000 2,800,000 28,758,000 4,275,000 106,737,500 45,010,000 14,292,000 2,620,000 3,780,000

PROPERTY 80,929,750.00 1,686,460.00 78,210.00 3,478,770.00 9,942,250.00 2,577,467,290.00 3,244,470.00 49,813,510.00 200,363.00 21,326,450.00 136,460.00 704,980.00 5,876,980.00 157,800.00 39,025,782.00 149,772,910.00 1,105,800.00 350,000.00 45,002,230.00 5,662,770.00 571,818,016.00 14,712,750.00 25,360,780.00 1,233,950.00 1,622,100.00

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Anchor Land Holdings Inc. Araneta Prop `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. `A’ CEB Landmasters Cebu Holdings Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

DM Wenceslao Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Filinvest Land,Inc. Global-Estate Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil Infradev Phil. Estates Corp.

Phil. Realty `A’

14.280 0.71 11.18 2.180 0.780 46.750 2.32 4.89 6.4 0.510 0.82 0.900 0.240 0.375 10.240 25.6 0.480 0.125 1.55 1.33 5.45 0.315 1.7500 0.4700 0.420

MAY 6-10, 2019 Close Volume

Value

58 135.80 84.75 2.16 1.34 27.35 18.92 11.24 4.69

3,820 14,317,830 8,503,610 112,000 652,000 700,500 456,100 3,940,200 119,000

221,595.50 1,930,955,789.00 710,834,290.00 242,510.00 801,430.00 19,243,485.00 8,636,782.00 45,168,648.00 543,370.00

1.35 780.00 0.485 72.5 0.89 13.72

86,000 310 2,250,000 15,408,660 712,000 6,200

117,660.00 242,400.00 1,083,350.00 1,126,038,920.50 642,010.00 84,448.00

21.35 53.70 58.5 180 27 171.9 1795.00 59.90 1.12

2,200 2,551,530 6,940 3,560 348,200 2,287,480 390 105,060 235,000

47,060.00 137,227,339.00 405,147.00 642,346.00 9,337,425.00 399,040,789.00 700,950.00 6,291,841.50 263,360.00

35.2 15.6 0.77 1.39 0.250

8,224,000 2,270,100 13,034,000 450,000 20,930,000

289,950,065.00 35,433,918.00 10,244,360.00 624,360.00 5,232,870.00

15.92 2.65 15.02 118.9 26.5 66.1 87 45.45 1.9 5.35 5.5 10.760 15.98 9.10 7.52 1.57 20.75 77 37.50 2.4100 15.30 10.1 1.780 302.80 50.00 3.92 3.49 9.21 21.55 14 22 0.190 371.20 5.80 1.2 4.48 5.99 9.48 1.97 12.10 43.75 4.85 4.80 1.75 2.02 1.25 13.34 112 6.8 0.128 0.93 160 2.57 1.27

17,600 228,715,000 5,816,600 140 477,400 10 10 268,300 872,000 151,500 65,500 35,272,200 4,995,100 2,309,200 11,132,300 31,000 14,705,100 872,710 3,104,600 32,810,000 69,859,000 4,320,100 269,000 3,480,250 510 24,000 94,000 22,400 9,354,300 7,599,400 11,204,500 3,010,000 1,043,480 40,900 9,550,000 393,000 19,313,400 10,000 150,005,000 418,300 1,303,200 561,000 81,000 310,000 165,000 473,000 9,264,200 1,318,270 1,154,300 1,540,000 1,584,000 6,090,080 2,992,000 35,936,000

263,566.00 558,641,750.00 87,702,418.00 16,646.00 13,045,825.00 661.00 870.00 12,072,865.00 1,660,160.00 813,255.00 362,932.00 378,709,352.00 79,735,824.00 21,225,932.00 83,763,845.00 49,050.00 305,579,071.00 67,119,799.50 108,858,140.00 82,697,690.00 1,039,351,980.00 44,318,345.00 464,060.00 1,054,511,228.00 23,000.00 93,830.00 311,860.00 215,506.00 206,413,190.00 111,479,906.00 247,867,155.00 572,250.00 394,354,796.00 240,218.00 11,553,410.00 1,771,520.00 118,088,080.00 94,619.00 271,762,310.00 4,992,222.00 58,130,210.00 2,716,240.00 389,230.00 504,150.00 340,370.00 590,640.00 126,586,240.00 152,307,723.00 7,884,783.00 197,240.00 1,470,210.00 982,367,856.00 7,947,850.00 46,277,740.00

1.02

17,479,000

18,653,660.00

0.650 48.60 13.60 0.76 6.50 15.1 1.330 1.360 890 7.11 10.38 4.95 13.80 0.280 850 6.17 61.50 5.8

110,230,000 12,573,520 49,756,000 1,691,000 681,300 216,600 14,561,000 3,535,000 1,921,810 2,535,800 17,021,000 300 2,429,600 1,640,000 956,840 364,500 10,267,950 25,000

71,145,510.00 647,061,879.00 706,622,964.00 1,264,190.00 4,409,154.00 3,502,396.00 19,655,500.00 4,842,570.00 1,717,456,605.00 18,508,337.00 183,158,540.00 1,508.00 36,086,400.00 444,900.00 821,656,260.00 2,258,771.00 638,815,495.00 143,349.00

0.51 4.42 16.92 0.550 4.29 0.0390 1.150 3.040 190.00 2.39 925.00 1.35 0.80 274.800 430.00 0.2380 0.345

421,000 16,224,000 14,266,300 4,645,000 135,569,000 28,900,000 551,000 7,409,000 5,162,530 8,000 1,419,220 316,000 5,118,000 10,690 370 4,118,000 61,210,000

208,270.00 71,948,530.00 237,972,214.00 2,555,580.00 578,172,860.00 1,136,600.00 599,820.00 22,291,740.00 985,468,856.00 19,180.00 1,335,442,585.00 422,900.00 4,281,330.00 2,932,948.00 161,364.00 1,399,520.00 20,946,300.00

14.220 0.75 11.28 2.220 0.770 47.000 2.38 4.69 6.4 0.530 0.78 0.850 0.238 0.375 10.740 23.65 0.475 0.125 1.56 1.34 5.33 0.340 1.8400 0.4850 0.450

2,747,700 3,259,000 5,100 5,034,000 2,384,000 77,072,500 2,366,000 5,772,000 17,100 60,144,000 357,000 580,000 5,510,000 2,900,000 2,485,800 6,381,300 4,660,000 2,070,000 46,502,000 6,874,000 110,774,500 147,300,000 9,935,000 15,930,000 5,000,000

39,144,474.00 2,426,610.00 57,128.00 11,216,700.00 1,827,900.00 3,604,263,920.00 5,633,770.00 27,193,040.00 108,459.00 31,733,250.00 280,500.00 498,300.00 1,296,060.00 1,104,350.00 27,193,594.00 162,174,780.00 2,238,050.00 258,750.00 72,935,860.00 9,200,970.00 620,358,125.00 52,888,550.00 17,389,870.00 8,018,955.00 2,273,100.00

STOCKS

MAY 14-17, 2019 Close Volume

MAY 6-10, 2019 Close Volume

Value

Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

2.24 23.50 1.99 3 39.10 1.8 6.8 0.720 7.160

4,466,000 7,886,000 2,865,000 134,000 44,570,900 14,675,000 490,000 18,000 13,358,200

10,588,570.00 186,172,250.00 5,754,360.00 401,480.00 1,698,845,620.00 27,459,180.00 3,317,311.00 12,960.00 95,356,909.00

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

Chelsea DFNN Inc. Discovery World Easy Call “Common” Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IPeople Inc. `A’ IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Metro Retail MetroAlliance A MetroAlliance B NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Paxys Inc. PH Resorts Group Phil. Racing Club Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Wilcon Depot

11.7 19.1 1.27 0.400 0.045 19.88 2.47 11.20 0.0660 84.3 7 6.39 6.36 2.05 11.18 1999 5.40 397.20 10.02 2.40 139.9 1.75 10.9 6.97 0.122 6.0900 2.95 14.8 4.25 0.79 18.98 15.00 0.520 3.85 2.73 1.75 1.63 2.110 3.34 9.70 3.22 4.30 8.45 123.00 3.08 1255.00 0.930 0.690 45.50 71.05 9.00 3.20 0.660 0.335 5.6 0.680 16.580

55,700 384,600 56,000 2,320,000 23,600,000 85,800 2,365,000 67,060,300 25,820,000 821,540 29,800 8,827,300 310,000 15,000 360,100 283,065 1,640,800 11,330 100 5,367,000 16,467,550 122,000 7,600 37,100 6,640,000 24,696,500 79,000 45,800 15,784,000 590,000 8,857,200 600 2,166,000 466,000 20,736,000 69,000 1,000 8,781,000 948,000 84,700 2,000 68,000 4,100 54,750 5,267,000 679,505 359,025,000 30,514,000 4,132,000 4,115,260 248,900 72,887,000 9,846,000 14,490,000 10,522,800 10,373,000 15,004,100

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Atok-Big Wedge `A’ Benguet Corp `A’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `A’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. `A’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Phinma Petro Semirara Corp.

United Paragon

0.0019 1.20 2.76 12.00 1.1500 1.2000 2.76 0.295 7.73 1.560 0.234 0.106 0.106 0.008 0.0080 1.01 2.17 0.99 0.5900 0.8800 0.0120 0.0110 2.94 8.40 0.0120 3.6700 21.95 0.0071

MINING & OIL 1,883,000,000 3,385,600.00 6,737,000 8,230,650.00 595,000 1,652,440.00 4,100 49,138.00 564,000 636,820.00 29,000 34,800.00 2,477,000 6,834,610.00 2,960,000 842,550.00 67,700 531,132.00 40,732,000 64,338,860.00 3,160,000 727,220.00 6,020,000 654,440.00 3,170,000 343,700.00 44,000,000 350,400.00 1,000,000 8,000.00 215,000 217,620.00 8,955,000 20,039,970.00 157,000 154,080.00 327,000 189,830.00 705,000 617,370.00 133,300,000 1,567,200.00 300,000 3,300.00 2,207,000 6,574,540.00 5,577,900 47,247,521.00 301,800,000 3,555,600.00 330,000 1,211,850.00 14,632,200 324,230,560.00 27,000,000 175,100.00

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ DD PREF First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. House Preferred Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred A PCOR-Preferred B PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC FB PREF 2 SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I

18.2 473.8 487 98 104.1 486 5.4 97.5 0.97 100.1 997.5 992 104 106 975 75.95 76.3 71.5 71.7 73.8 73.8 73 73.5

587,700 5,250 1,060 23,220 400 2,150 466,100 260 1,838,000 50 950 4,320 3,370 2,110 19,150 46,580 68,230 159,370 60,000 29,700 1,860 161,070 31,670

LR Warrant

2.060

WARRANTS & BONDS 2,170,000 4,365,710.00

SERVICES 660,294.00 7,330,000.00 70,900.00 959,800.00 1,019,700.00 1,579,404.00 5,798,480.00 715,538,770.00 1,699,390.00 68,485,368.00 211,940.00 55,088,184.00 1,973,412.00 30,750.00 3,924,104.00 562,726,335.00 8,706,019.00 4,602,604.00 1,002.00 12,918,330.00 2,277,495,353.00 217,110.00 82,026.00 242,055.00 808,690.00 149,068,200.00 235,150.00 691,206.00 65,142,980.00 453,060.00 169,389,652.00 9,000.00 1,145,480.00 1,760,800.00 55,086,870.00 115,350.00 1,630.00 18,327,290.00 3,036,750.00 835,005.00 6,440.00 287,790.00 33,445.00 6,652,147.00 15,728,950.00 837,504,185.00 340,475,250.00 20,620,210.00 184,053,345.00 285,815,942.00 2,286,594.00 234,877,540.00 6,555,210.00 4,707,200.00 59,114,203.00 7,053,080.00 248,074,318.00

PREFERRED 10,813,710.00 2,484,194.00 514,400.00 2,258,420.00 41,640.00 1,043,250.00 2,459,805.00 24,225.00 1,797,590.00 5,081.00 905,375.00 4,406,120.00 339,433.00 223,560.00 18,641,790.00 3,488,487.00 4,191,294.00 11,452,961.50 4,302,000.00 2,192,565.00 137,225.00 11,883,850.50 2,297,403.00

Value

2.75 23.80 1.94 3 38.50 1.91 6.7 0.750 7.210

2,172,000 7,372,300 543,000 262,000 44,935,800 13,832,000 761,200 174,000 17,506,000

6,001,800.00 174,157,620.00 1,061,800.00 780,190.00 1,760,734,835.00 25,101,780.00 5,133,689.00 125,360.00 124,546,701.00

12 19.02 1.27 0.400 0.045 16.08 2.55 10.90 0.0670 83 7.04 5.88 6.46 2.05 10.50 1995 5.20 409.80 10.04 2.49 133 1.91 11 6.85 0.126 5.8200 3.1 15.5 3.91 0.79 19.90 15.00 0.540 5.38 2.79 1.66 1.64 2.070 3.2 10.00

69,200 393,000 51,000 2,280,000 103,900,000 90,900 2,140,000 51,902,700 164,890,000 683,290 23,900 2,939,000 492,500 3,000 479,400 557,525 698,900 10,360 700 10,905,000 13,603,420 11,000 30,800 59,500 7,170,000 11,803,100 12,000 10,300 7,091,000 1,561,000 4,178,400 8,100 4,951,000 3,820,600 100,902,000 186,000 7,000 11,781,000 1,153,000 196,900

845,734.00 7,556,928.00 64,330.00 910,450.00 4,459,300.00 1,438,610.00 5,478,020.00 594,615,798.00 11,582,880.00 55,492,363.50 167,822.00 17,065,825.00 3,232,195.00 6,150.00 5,194,626.00 1,098,533,500.00 3,618,880.00 4,203,268.00 7,026.00 28,639,990.00 1,801,201,707.00 20,240.00 343,640.00 413,350.00 1,308,740.00 66,972,006.00 37,130.00 159,878.00 27,718,580.00 1,207,030.00 87,155,913.00 121,500.00 2,716,080.00 20,013,999.00 291,715,740.00 311,190.00 11,450.00 24,823,830.00 3,945,760.00 1,912,348.00

4.38

94,000

402,780.00

113.00 2.82 1240.00 0.900 0.670 44.35 72.50 9.50 3.20 0.650 0.325 5.63 0.700 16.200

333,960 9,157,000 762,895 113,570,000 39,470,000 5,121,600 5,475,900 490,600 84,384,000 12,107,000 28,370,000 8,818,300 11,070,000 8,942,200

38,059,259.00 27,276,830.00 959,622,440.00 102,897,080.00 27,840,940.00 228,246,110.00 398,069,274.50 4,525,592.00 268,227,700.00 7,853,780.00 9,540,400.00 49,686,256.00 7,813,250.00 147,087,286.00

0.0018 1.24 2.79 12.10 1.3000 1.3800 2.85 0.290 7.87 1.630 0.240 0.115 0.120 0.008 0.0079 1.05 2.3 1 0.5700 0.8900 0.0120 0.0120 3.06 7.80 0.0110 3.7000 21.70 0.0068

122,000,000 7,523,000 296,000 77,100 227,000 2,000 7,372,000 1,090,000 33,800 246,287,000 5,190,000 3,950,000 990,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 1,820,000 7,233,000 213,000 670,000 548,000 103,800,000 20,700,000 2,307,000 3,634,600 40,300,000 535,000 11,922,100 10,000,000

228,100.00 9,487,290.00 827,910.00 893,336.00 287,270.00 2,580.00 20,689,630.00 314,900.00 269,194.00 392,036,250.00 1,245,050.00 441,880.00 112,560.00 24,300.00 32,500.00 1,877,190.00 17,097,590.00 211,310.00 370,190.00 487,850.00 1,170,000.00 246,500.00 7,111,420.00 28,796,791.00 445,000.00 1,988,320.00 269,139,085.00 68,700.00

18.62 474.8 498 98 102 494 5.02 97.5 0.98 101.5 975

324,900 1,790 6,430 71,870 24,000 1,030 59,500 7,300 987,000 3,020 9,140

6,079,746.00 842,172.00 3,174,976.00 7,003,580.00 2,444,020.00 508,820.00 311,466.00 705,521.00 971,160.00 304,402.00 8,827,960.00

100 106 975 75.5 76.1 71.5

23,590 530 10,060 3,720 43,050 98,100

2,362,215.00 55,880.00 9,803,560.00 279,438.00 3,269,027.00 6,989,826.00

73.75 73.7 73.7 73.5

93,700 12,480 147,300 13,870

6,906,509.00 920,898.00 10,709,258.00 1,019,722.00

1.950

1,352,000

2,607,450.00

SME 15,061,783.00 41,377,340.00

4.9 1

15,799,900 45,644,000

85,439,660.00 47,833,880.00

Italpinas Xurpas

4.81 1.06

3,062,900 41,425,000

First Metro ETF

114.2

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 58,090 6,646,481.00

116

39,680

4,654,554.00

10.2 1

DOLLAR DENONIMATED SEC 9,720 98,644.00 19,200 19,200.00

10 1

67,010 164,000

683,623.00 163,600.00

USD DMPL A1 USD TECH B2

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS Abra Mining PremiereHorizon Philodrill Corp. `A’ Bank of PI Phinma Energy Oriental Pet. `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

Megaworld Cemex Holdings Pacifica `A’

VOLUME 1,883,000,000 359,025,000 301,800,000 161,931,697 159,261,000 133,300,000 128,799,000 106,737,500 104,787,000 80,600,000

STOCKS Jollibee Foods Corp.

Ayala Corp `A’ Ayala Land `B’ I.C.T.S.I. Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. SM Investments Inc. SM Prime Holdings Metrobank Universal Robina PLDT Common

VALUE 3,575,743,748.00 3,014,189,070.00 2,577,467,290.00 2,277,495,353.00 2,233,535,417.00 1,749,099,450.00 1,698,845,620.00 900,895,841.00 871,934,075.00 837,504,185.00

Agrinurture bullish, sees earnings of P6b annually AGRINURTURE Inc., a listed company owned by businessman Antonio Tiu, expects to earn P6 billion annually from a partnership with Vietnam’s largest grains exporter Vietnam Southern Food Corporation-Joint Stock Company, or Vinafood II. “With the passage of the Rice Import Liberalization Law, which opened the country’s doors to unimpeded importation of rice, the group is expecting to earn as much as P6 billion annually after it secured an exclusive deal to import rice from Vietnam’s largest grains exporter,” said Agrinuture in a regulatory filing.

Agrinuture in September confirmed that it reached an agreement with Vinafood II to supply exclusively two million metrics tons of long grain rice a year.

“The group is currently coordinating with VINAFOOD II for the initial shipment,” the company said.

Vinafood II is a state-owned corporation tapped by Vietnam to export rice and help achieve food security in Southeast Asia.

President Rodrigo Duterte in February signed the Rice Tarification Law liberalizing the importation, export and trading of rice.

Meanwhile, Agrinuture said it posted a first-quarter consolidated gross profit of P213.6 million on the back of the strong performance of both the local and foreign businesses.

The first quarter results reflected a strong double digit growth of 86 percent from P114.9 million posted a year ago.

“The increase was due to the increase in sales in exports, retail and distribution as well as the consolidation of Fucang’s operations from sale of commodities and real estate properties,” the company said.

Zongshan Fucang Trade Co. Ltd. is one of the company’s subsidiaries.

It acquired 70 percent ownership of Guangzhou Lexian Fruit Industry Co. Ltd., a Chinese company engaged in wholesale trade.

Agrinurture’s Philippine operations in the first three months of 2019 contributed 39 percent, while sales from foreign operations accounted for 61 percent of consolidated sales.

Exports received a boost from the stable selling prices of banana and coco juice in the international market, the constant supply of raw materials and increased customers, especially in the China market. Jenniffer B. Austria

Megaworld eyes P3.3-b sales from high-end project MEGAWORLD Corp., the biggest lessor of office spaces, is expected to generate P3.3 billion in sales from a newly launched high-end residential project within the 34.5-hectare McKinley West in Taguig City.

Megaworld said in a statement over the weekend The Albany Yorkshire Villa, located within the development’s ‘billionaire’s row’ beside the posh McKinley West Village, will offer 64 spacious suites ranging from 121-square meters for two bedrooms and 133 sq. m. for three bedrooms.

The exclusive four-bedroom penthouse suites offer generous 349-square meters of three-level space with their own private infinity pool at the roof deck.

“The Albany caters to a niche market of highly-discerning privileged few who want to live in an exclusive community of affluent urban dwellers. This isn’t a place to be seen, but a private abode where everything is still within easy reach,” said Megaworld vice president for sales and marketing Rachelle Peñaflorida.

All suites of The Albany Yorkshire Villa have private high-speed elevators that open directly to each unit’s foyer. Each residential suite can only be accessed using keycards, including the amenity deck and other facilities in the property.

Designed by UK-based award-winning architectural firm Broadway Malyan, The Albany Yorkshire Villa will have its own infinity pool, children’s pool, in-water lounge deck and pool deck, fitness center, spa, sauna room, kids’ playground, game and entertainment room, function rooms and outdoor cabanas.

Each unit will also have a maid’s room with its own toilet and bath, and a powder room for guests. All master bedrooms will have custom-built walk-in closets and bathtubs.

“Each suite at The Albany is a curated expression of opulence and privacy. We carefully planned the entire development to make it a class of its own in Metro Manila’s ultra-luxury residential market,” said Peñaflorida. Jenniffer B. Austria

Business/World

B3

MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Australia govt keeps power in elections S

YDNEY—Australia’s conservative government held on to power at the national elections, thanks to a highly effective negative campaign warning voters against the center-left Labor Party’s large policy reform agenda, analysts said Sunday.

THERE FOR A SCREENING. From left, US actor Karl Glusman, Argentine model Mica Arganaraz, Australian model and actress Abbey Lee Kershaw, Argentine director Gaspar Noe, and Belgian stylist and producer Anthony Vaccarello arrive for the screening of the film ‘Lux Aeterna’ at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 18, 2019. AFP

Indian island residents vote with sinking hearts GHORAMARA, India―Residents on Ghoramara fear that the votes they cast Sunday in India’s election may be the last before their island sinks into the Bay of Bengal―a victim of climate change’s growing toll.

About 4,000 people, including poor fisherman Goranga Dolui, were on the electoral list for the island in the Sunderban delta.

“Those who could have left already.

How will the poor like me leave? We hope the government will help us start a new life,” he told AFP. Ghoramara is now about four square kilometers, having lost about half its size in the past three decades to rising seas.

Ghoramara’s voters could still have a role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid for a second term. His Bharatiya Janata Party has campaigned aggressively across West Bengal state and the result in the local constituency is on a knife edge.

But Dolui is pessimistic about his vote and the results to be announced on

IN BRIEF Lawmaker wants Trump impeached WASHINGTON—Republican lawmaker Justin Amash said Saturday he believed Donald Trump had engaged in “impeachable conduct,” becoming the first politician of his party to call for removing the president from his party.

The Michigan representative also accused Attorney General William Barr of “deliberately” misleading the public over the actual content and tenor of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference aimed at tipping the election to Trump.

In a series of tweets, Amash―a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus―said “few members of Congress even read Mueller’s report,” which identified “multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice.”

“Undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence,” he added.

“Contrary to Barr’s portrayal, Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”

Amash’s comments went even further than those by most Democratic leaders in Congress.

Fellow Michigan lawmaker Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, urged Amash to cosponsor her impeachment resolution. AFP

Madonna performs her new single TEL AVIV―Madonna performed her new single “Future” with US hip-hop star Quavo at the Eurovision song contest finals in Tel Aviv early Sunday and called on fans to “never underestimate the power of music to bring people together.”

The 60-year-old megastar opened her two-song appearance with her 1989 hit “Like A Prayer” on an elaborate set resembling a church with choir singers wearing monks’ robes.

Quavo, part of hip-hop group Migos, then joined her for the reggae-inflected “Future,” off her upcoming album Madame X. “Let’s never underestimate the power of music to bring people together,” Madonna said in brief comments before her performance.

“To quote an amazing song, music makes the people come together,” she said, quoting her song “Music.”

Madonna rejected calls from pro-Palestinian activists seeking an end to Israel’s occupation to boycott Eurovision.

In a statement carried by US media earlier, Madonna said: “I’ll never stop playing music to suit someone’s political agenda nor will I stop speaking out against violations of human rights wherever in the world they may be.” AFP

May 23 changing the future of the island which is only connected to mainland India by a one-hour ferry ride.

“We will keeping living here until we can’t anymore,” he said.

Ghoramara’s election officer Swati Bandopadhyay said the island may be lost in two or three years as the rate of erosion accelerates with each monsoon season.

“People know this natural process is unstoppable and are gradually moving to the mainland,” she added.

Thousands of Ghoramara residents have moved in recent years to Sagar, a bigger island in the delta, or Kakdwip on the mainland. But several islands surrounding islands are threatened.

Modi held one of his mega election rallies on the West Bengal mainland last week where he talked about security. The environment, however, has not featured in the election battle between the prime minister and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.

Party manifestos barely mention the melting Himalayan glaciers sending

water pouring into the Bay of Bengal, or pollution caused by coal mining, or shrinking forests.

There was little talk of the notoriety of New Delhi and 13 other Indian cities among the world’s 15 cities with the most polluted air.

“Both major parties have sidelined discussion of the environment during the campaign,” Aarti Khosla, director of Climate Trends, a New Delhi-based initiative on climate change and clean energy told AFP. “Whilst the public across the world is generating awareness on environmental issues, it is clearly missing in India.”

Critics say the lack of debate on the environment has also clouded discussion on the key areas of agriculture, jobs, water supplies and migration.

Retired school teacher Satish Chandra Jana, 75, has lived all his life on Ghoramara but is despondent.

“We are struggling to live here and have even constructed a home on Kakdwip,” he told AFP, sat on the deserted village square. AFP

Labor led every opinion poll in the two years prior to Saturday’s election but fell well short of a parliamentary majority after the vote, in a surprise result for the ruling Liberal-National coalition.

Analysts said opposition leader Bill Shorten’s unpopularity with voters and his struggle to explain the party’s complex tax policies were used by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to devastating effect.

Labor’s failure also reflected a broader trend across Western societies of voter cynicism towards bold policy platforms, said Australian National University senior fellow Mark Kenny.

“I think we’re in an age where it is very difficult to communicate big ideas and to sell imagery,” Kenny told AFP, adding that right-wing populists around the world had been successful in invoking nostalgia and anxiety over the future to win elections.

“It’s quite hard to run a change or proposed change and to inspire the imaginations of voters and hold that against a very spirited and surgical scare campaign.”

Morrison successfully cast Labor’s proposals—particularly on removing tax concessions and tackling climate change —as too risky and damaging to household finances at a time when the national economy was slowing down.

“He fought an absolutely masterful negative campaign against Shorten and Labor,” La Trobe University fellow Tony Walker told AFP. The government’s anti-Shorten slogans focused on hip pocket issues, such as “The Bill Australia Can’t Afford”, which appeared to have resonated with voters while Labor failed to make the case for change.

Morrison’s campaign was particularly effective in Queensland, a battleground state that swung in favour of the government and where Labor’s perceived urban bias rankled with regional and rural voters.

Voters in the state’s mining towns, already angry with delays in the approval of a major India-backed coal mine promising thousands of jobs, did not warm to Labor’s big climate action plans and lukewarm commitment to the project.

“It seemed there was... sometimes mixed messaging about how much they supported it and I think that’s come home to roost,” University of Queensland politics expert Chris Salisbury told AFP. “The regions in Queensland are desperate for economic and employment opportunities and [voters believed] that the coalition was better placed to secure those opportunities.”

Labor blamed its Queensland collapse on mining magnate Clive Palmer’s estimated Au$60 million ($41 million) spend on election advertising.

While Palmer himself failed to secure an upper house Senate seat, support for his party and the anti-immigration One Nation boosted the government’s vote thanks to Australia’s complex preferential voting system.

Unlike Labor, the coalition campaigned on almost no new policies. Analysts say the fallout from the shock outcome could lead future political campaigns to shun bold or big ideas.

“It’ll be damaging if parties can only operate in a safe zone that they think isn’t going to offend the electorate,” Salisbury said. AFP

Boeing acknowledges flaw in 737 MAX simulator software

NEW YORK―Boeing acknowledged Saturday it had to correct flaws in its 737 MAX flight simulator software used to train pilots, after two deadly crashes involving the aircraft that killed 346 people.

“Boeing has made corrections to the 737 MAX simulator software and has provided additional information to device operators to ensure that the simulator experience is representative across different flight conditions,” it said in a statement.

The company did not indicate when it first became aware of the problem, and whether it informed regulators.

Its statement marked the first time Boeing acknowledged there was a design flaw in software linked to the 737 MAX, whose MCAS anti-stall software has been blamed in large part for the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy.

According to Boeing, the flight simulator software was incapable of reproducing certain flight conditions similar to those at the time of the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March or the Lion Air

WORLD DOG DAY. Casey Baer attends the 4th Annual World Dog Day at West Hollywood Park on May 18, 2019, in West Hollywood, California. AFP

crash in October.

The company said the latest “changes will improve the simulation of force loads on the manual trim wheel,” a rarely used manual wheel to control the plane’s angle.

“Boeing is working closely with the device manufacturers and regulators on these changes and improvements, and to ensure that customer training is not disrupted,” it added.

Southwest Airlines, a major 737 MAX customer with 34 of the aircraft in its fleet, told AFP it expected to receive the first simulator “late this year.”

American Airlines, which has 24 of the aircraft, said it had ordered a 737 MAX simulator that will be delivered and put into operation in December.

“As a result of the continuing investigation into both aircraft accidents, we are looking at the potential for additional training opportunities in coordination with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] and Allied Pilots Association,” it added. AFP

Social enterprise incubation in DLSU PATRICK ADRIEL AURE

Green LiGht FROM May 6 to May 10, the Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development (LSEED) team held its social enterprise boot camp for the second batch of LSEED fellows composed of DLSU students aspiring to become social entrepreneurs.

A best feature of this incubation and formation boot camp is that students were paired with a DLSU partner community, and together, they brainstormed business ideas that aimed to solve a particular community problem.

They closely collaborated in designing solutions to issues such as livelihood generation and water accessibility. In the end, both the students and their partner community members pitched their ideas to university officials for possible funding and improvement.

As a mentor for one of the studentcommunity groups, I felt both challenged and inspired. It is truly difficult to arrive at a common specific understanding of

a problem and a solution that both the social entrepreneur and partner community would have a deep sense of ownership.

Constant dialogue is essential, as it breeds the necessary trust and respect needed for a feasible social entrepreneurial idea to form. But in a pedagogical and community engagement perspective, this setting provides a very rich learning experience for all stakeholders involved.

Concepts and theories learned in classes are either validated or challenged, and the students are pushed to focus their energy not anymore to merely finish a requirement nor focus on getting a high grade.

This time, the stakes are high—their ideas put the well-being of a community on the line.

While listening to the insights of the partner community members, I recall what Tony Meloto and Thomas Graham call as the “genius of the poor.” What community partners may lack in formal education, they more than make up for in terms of ‘streetsmarts’ and deep understanding of the psyche of their fellow community members.

The students and the community partners learn from each other through con-

tinuous iteration and piloting of ideas.

What I deeply appreciate about these experiences is that in this bootcamp, there is no “elitista” or “masa”; there is only a single-minded group—a community in the purest sense of the word—that aims to arrive at a creative solution to a real-world problem.

As a business and management educator, I could honestly say that this transcends the walls of a traditional classroom setting, and it places both meaning and social value in education, which is sometimes limited to standardized tests or writing of plans that no one will read nor implement.

I think that other educational institutions should consider social enterprise incubation as means to manifest authentic community engagement. As the field of social entrepreneurship continues to grow in the country, it is vital for educational institutions to play a vital role in fostering an enabling social enterprise ecosystem for students, communities and other stakeholders.

In my ongoing research of understanding why students would intend to engage in social entrepreneurial activities, the most salient driver is one’s perceived so-

cial support. Therefore, if we are to continue advocating social entrepreneurship, it is important to design and institutionalize mechanisms of social entrepreneurial support such as incubation and formation programs.

The time is ripe for researchers, government, and grant-giving bodies to consider supporting social enterprise incubation as a means to advance learning and community engagement.

After all, a social enterprise incubator does not only breed business ideas to solve social problems, but equally important, it cultivates real-world collaborative learning towards sustainable development.

Patrick Adriel H. Aure is an Assistant Professor from the Management and Organization Department of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University (DLSU). He advocates social entrepreneurship as head of the Social Enterprise Research Network of the Center for Business Research and Development (CBRD-SERN) and as co-chair of the Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development (LSEED) committee at DLSU. He can be emailed at patrick. aure@dlsu.edu.ph

LGUs

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

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MONDAY, MAY 20, 2019

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

‘BRIGADA’ TIME.

Employees and volunteers from the Philippine Business for Social Progress join various company workers, teachers, students and parents in repainting and repairing chairs at the Hulong Duhat Elementary School in Malabon City on Sunday, before the annual Brigada Eskwela cleanup activities ahead of the new school year.

Andrew Rabulan

El Niño hits Guimaras crops Negros, Leyte get disaster readiness training via Smart PARISHIONERS and students from Negros Oriental and Leyte recently participated in disaster preparedness trainings conducted in partnership with Smart Communications.

Close to 100 members of the clergy and lay people from the Diocese of Dumaguete attended Smart’s #SafePH training held in Ayungon, Negros OriDr. Cedric Daep ental.

The activity is part of Smart’s ongoing #SafePH series of disaster preparedness trainings to help build the capacity of communities during calamities.

The training was facilitated by Dr. Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, and Louie Domingo of Emergency Management Center.

Daep shared information on weather disturbances and the possible effects of earthquake and other hazards.

There is still no proven scientific way to predict earthquakes, so it is important to make preparedness a way of life, according to Daep.

He also taught the participants how to develop project proposals for disaster mitigation in their own communities.

Domingo, meanwhile, taught the participants what to do before, during, and after a calamity and shared practical survival tips, from how to apply first aid and what to put in their emergency kits or “e-balde,” to how to protect themselves in times of danger.

The training was set just after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Luzon and the Visayas in April.

In March, about 800 students of Eastern Visayas State University in Tacloban City also participated in a two-day TNT Tropang Ready activity initiated by Smart. Resource speakers from the academe and local authorities shared information with the students about hazards and safety tips.

I

LOILO CITY—The Provincial Agriculture Office of the island province of Guimaras has reported losses of about P11 million worth of agricultural products, especially on high value crops, due to El Niño.

“Based on our partial report, damages in our rice was pegged at less than a million, for the corn it’s about P200, 000. Most of the damages are seen on high value crops like vegetables, cacao, and coffee,” said Ronnie Morante, Guimaras PAO head, in an interview Saturday.

Cacao, specifically, was distributed to farmers sometime in August and in September in 2018. Farmers planted the crop around the period of distribution and the crops were affected by the El Niño in February and March

this year.

Morante said the P11-million agricultural damage could still increase.

“We are projecting this because we haven’t experienced rain yet, so we are projecting that the damages will reach P15 million,” he said.

Unlike those who planted high value crops, rice farmers in the province heeded the advice of the agriculture office, thus the impact on rice crops was prevented, he said.

As of February, Guimaras yielded 57,100 metric tons of rice, which placed

FAMILY AFFAIR. Election officers in Quezon Province proclaim erstwhile Rep. Danilo Suarez (second from left) as the new governor, while Suarez’s wife Aleta and son David (inset, second and third from right) are also declared the new House representatives of the third and second congressional districts, respectively, on Friday. Benjie Antioquia

SNAP gains ERC okay on new service agreements

SN Aboitiz Power Group’s Magat, Ambuklao and Binga hydroelectric power plants have been granted provisional authority from the Energy Regulatory Commission on three new ancillary services procurement agreements.

The agreements entered into are for the provision of reactive power support ancillary services for the Luzon Grid, all with a validity of five years.

In the orders dated May 7 for Ambuklao and Binga hydros and May 10 for Magat hydro, the ERC said the approval of the joint application filed by SNAP and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines would help “improve the availability of ancillary services in the Luzon Grid and significantly lower the cost of these services to the benefit of the customers.”

Ancillary services are those capacity

SM Foundation adds 500 new scholars for 2019-20 FIVE hundred high school graduates were recently awarded scholarship grants by SM Foundation Inc. at the Mall of Asia Arena Annex building for those coming from Metro Manila and nearby Luzon provinces, and simultaneously in SM stores and malls in different parts of the country.

Of the scholars, 35 percent are from the National Capital Region and 65 percent from the provinces.

SM Foundation added new areas to this year’s batch of scholars, namely Daet, Sorsogon and Bataan. The last batch of scholars (for those taking five-year courses) from the Typhoon

the province at 151 percent sufficiency of the staple food.

Morante said El Niño is a “favorable” weather to mangoes, as Guimaras is known for its sweetest mangoes.

“It is a favorable weather to mangoes, cashew nuts, and salt production but some of our mangoes bear smaller fruits,” he said.

Part of the intervention programs of the PAO is the distribution of grafted cacao seedlings, vegetable seeds, and planting materials for coffee, during the rainy season.

Morante said although the effect of the dry weather is felt in the towns of Buenavista, Jordan, Nueva Valencia, San Lorenzo and Sibunag, no municipality was placed under a state of calamity. PNA

“Yolanda”-devastated regions have graduated this year.

The awarding of scholarship certificates was witnessed by “Nanang” Felicidad T. Sy, wife of SM founder, the late “Tatang” Henry Sy Sr., and their son Harley Sy, Executive Director of SMIC, together with SM Foundation board of trustees led by its president, Jose Sio, Executive Director Debbie Sy, and trustees Dr. Lydia Echauz and engineer Ramon Gil Macapagal.

Sio exhorted the awardees to focus on their studies, work hard and strive to achieve their dreams and goals, the same tenets that drove Henry Sy Sr. to

greatness. He told them of the extreme financial challenges “Tatang” faced in his life but withstood all of these because of these tenets.

Harley Sy urged the parents in attendance to always be there to support their children every step of the way.

“The foundation can’t do it alone, neither can your children. Be there for them for this is a family undertaking,” he said.

Echauz and Debbie Sy urged the scholars to work hard and do your best to reach the top.

“The foundation is now part of your family,” they said.

and energy needed to maintain stable and reliable operations of the interconnected transmission system.

RPS-AS refer to the generating units’ capability to inject or absorb reactive power from the grid to maintain the voltage within the standard levels set by the Philippine Grid Code and support the reliable transmission of electrical power from generating power plants to the consumers.

Salceda’s study pushes proposed 35-hr. work week ALBAY Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has released a research paper pushing the approval of his twin proposals in Congress that seek to reduce work hours in both government and private sectors from 40 to 35 hours a week, “to improve the quality of life, productivity and sustainable consumption in the country.”

Titled “Improving Quality of Life, Productivity and Sustainable Consumption by Reducing Hours at Work,” the paper presents trends in global labor markets and work hours as compared to the Philippine situation.

The paper supports House Bills 9183 and 9184, which Salceda earlier filled in Congress, proposing the reduction of weekly work hours in both private and public sectors.

The measures are expected to pave the way for the country to keep up with the global trend of shorter working hours brought about by technological advances and enable workers to enjoy more abundant and meaningful leisure time.

“With government planning for heavily investing in infrastructure development to improve connectivity across the country, including in Metro Manila where traffic chaos is a daily reality, the State must adapt its labor policies to help workers develop a work-life balance,” he said.

The average working hours of employees in the Philippines have been unchanged for decades, the solon noted.

The global trend, however, shows a reduction in weekly work hours across the decades, Salceda said. From the 1980s to the end of the last millennium, a number of European countries, such as the Netherlands in the 1980s and France in recent years, have shortened work weeks as a policy tool for lowering unemployment.

Thus, he said some of the most globally productive economies like Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have work weeks with far fewer hours than the average work hours in the Philippines. “This shows that it is possible to reduce working hours without weakening their economies,” and that “increasing productivity does not merely rely on the number of hours put in, but also on the overall workers’ welfare aside from investments in emerging technologies,” he pointed out.

Bacolod readies Chicken Inasal Festival on 25th BACOLOD CITY—Following the success of the maiden Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival last year, this city is hosting the second edition on May 25 to promote its famous grilled chicken as a major tourist comeon.

Councilor Cindy Rojas, head of the festival organizing committee, said Friday at least 25 establishments have already confirmed their participation.

“We will have the same length of grills, but we will add more chicken,” Rojas said in an interview.

This year, the festival will still feature 300 meters of barbecue grills lined up along Araneta Street Last year, 3,000 pieces of chicken parts were prepared for the festival.

Rojas, who was reelected as number one councilor in the May 13 elections, said the event will now include the Fantasy Chicken Costume Competition and Sawsawan Contest.

She added they have invited the city’s federation of senior citizens to join the boodle fight and serve as beneficiaries of the festival.

On Thursday, Rojas met with officials of the Bacolod City Police, including Lt. Col. Luisito Acebuche and Lt. Col. Ariel Pico, to discuss the security preparations for the upcoming festival.

The 1st Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival held on May 5 last year was graced by Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev, who said the Bacolod chicken inasal is the best grilled chicken he has ever tasted.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia then said he believes that Bacolod is where the chicken inasal started and became famous. PNA Scholars from Iloilo province pose with their certificates beside a portrait of the late ‘Tatang’ Henry Sy Sr.

Pagpupugay para sa mga Kinatawan ng ika-17 Kongreso

SGMA: Epitome of

#TheWorkingHouse

By Charles Dantes

A

FTER a historic run as the first woman to lead the House of Representatives, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is about to finish her term as the representative of the second district of Pampanga and step down on her house speakership, she looked to leave as an inspiration to a magnitude of women in Congress.

As a distinct figure of women empowerment in the country, SGMA has the portfolio to live to that image.

She once held the highest position of the country for nine years the second woman to sit as PH President.

In a position dominated by men, SGMA was chosen to lead the 292-member House of Representatives. A sudden influence shift in Congress moves the People’s House to a Working House under Arroyo.

The 72-year-old lawmaker is at the last leg of her term as the second district representative of Pampanga.

As the 2019 midterm election results

stands, it would be her son Mikey Arroyo who shall continue on her work in their District in Pampanga.

For the incoming 18th Congress, Arroyo wishes for her successor to carry on the definition of a real Working House.

SGMA, who has been working outside the session hall of the Lower House even during the three-month campaign recess, shows the maiden woman Speaker as a real embodiment of a hardworking leader.

Arroyo, in an unprecedented move, also asked the different committees to continue the hearings during the re-

cess period and return to legislation once the election season ends. Mrs. Arroyo herself is also making rounds following up the status of important initiatives.

With more than 32 years of expertise in serving the people, starting from her appointment as an Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry, her vast experience in politics and as an economist herself, SGMA remained as one of the lawmakers that target urban poor and the economic growth of the country.

Speaker Arroyo tabled the project for urban poor housing with the House oversight committees for both R.A. 9207 and R.A. 10023 (Free Patent Law) and requested a P350-M budget to fund the distribution to qualified beneficiaries.

In fact, SGMA led an oversight hearing of the committee on housing and urban development recently, to speed up the distribution of land titles to the urban poor housing beneficiaries.

This is one of the many projects Arroyo kept on pushing through as part of her job as a caring figure inside the Continued on C4

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Trailblazing bills passed into national laws in the 17th Congress

By Angelica Villanueva WITH the first woman to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives, members of the former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyoled 17th Congress made psure that even in a short period of time given to them before they bow out from the Lower House ahead the midterm elections, they still fulfilled the legislative agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte, proving the true functions of the Working House.

As we voted the next potential legislators for the incoming 18th Congress during the midterm elections, the 292-member House of Representatives, with their joint efforts, has surely left a great legacy by pushing the passage of some notable bills.

Let’s take a review of the passage of some notable bills signed by the President to become national laws from the 17th Congress.

Bangsamoro Organic Law Date signed: July 27, 2018 Formerly called the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the BOL aims to establish an entity called the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (formerly known as Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) for a more peaceful, intimate, and unified community for the Mindanaoans.

It was first introduced by Pantaleon Alvarez, Rodolfo Fariñas, Danilo Suarez, and Bai Sandra Sema during the 16th Congress, but failed to pass into law.

It was then reviewed and finally signed by the President on July 27 during the 17th Congress.

The passage of BOL has gained concerns and oppositions from various groups on whether to proceed with the implementation of the law.

However, during the plebiscite, more provinces under the BARMM has shown support for the law.

PhilSys Act (National ID System) Date signed: August 6, 2018 Before the Philippine Identification System Act was signed nine months ago, the Philippines was one of the nine countries that did not issue a national identity card. Most countries worldwide have been adopting the issuance of an identification system to

serve as the proof of identity And now under President Duterte, the Philippines has its own identification card.

Every Filipino citizen and resident aliens are required to apply for it which will serve as an all-in-one card or valid ID for different transactions in government and private sectors.

However, many are concerned that this may lead to various implications such as data breach and invasion of data privacy.

However, government officials had given the assurance that the system has enough safeguards against any data breach.

Personal Property Security Act Date signed: August 17, 2018 Aside from your house, you may now use your other personal properties as collateral for a bank loan. It can be an inventory or equipment.

This is to give help to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), farmers, and fisherfolks access to financing.

If you are asking on what property you may now use, the law says: “A description such as ‘all personal property,’ ‘all equipment,’ ‘all inventory,’ or ‘all personal property within a generic category’ of the grantor is sufficient.”

Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act Date signed: January 20, 2019 Back in 2017, a high number of grave violations against children in armed situations were recorded, a report by Office of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict stated.

This included the usage of children by large armed groups and engaging them to participate in illegal armed activities.

This law mandates that children should be protected from all types of abuse and violence specially in times of armed conflicts.

It also aims to have the children’s human rights be respected and be protected from degradation, humiliation, maltreatment, exploitation, and assault. The law covers all minors or below the age of 18.

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Pagpupugay para sa mga Kinatawan ng ika-17 Kongreso

A fruitful 17 Congress th

By Peter Paul Duran

T

HE 17th Congress is at its tail end. As the curtain closes for #TheWorkingHouse, this ushers in another batch of legislators, ready to serve the people in the upcoming 18th Congress.

Photos courtesy of Press and Public Affairs Bureau (PPAB)

Among those who will be taking a break from legislative duties in the lower house are the 74 congressmen and congresswomen who will be vacating their all-important posts as representatives of their respective districts as soon as the 17th Congress formally ends.

Leading the cast of thirdtermers is the first woman

speaker of the House, Gloria Macagapal-Arroyo. She is on her ninth and final year as 2nd District of Pampanga representative.

She became a congresswoman back in 2010 after a landslide win following her presidency.

Despite only manning the helm for 10 months as Speaker, SGMA was able to fulfill the legislative agenda

of President Rodrigo Duterte, while leading the pack of enthused legislators to pass bills at a rate that exceeds expectations.

Close to 400 measures were approved on third and final reading even before 2019 entered with SGMA leading the way. Some colleagues in the House even praised the number and quality of the bills under the lead-

ership of the country’s first woman speaker.

With the upcoming 18th Congress just around the corner, we hope that this success and show of diligence and hard-work continues on from the 17th Congress to a more fruitful #WorkingHouse.

The following is a list of the congressmen that are on their third term:

ACHARON, Pedro Jr. B. 1st District, South Cotabato with General Santos City

ACOP, Romeo M. 2nd District, Antipolo City

ALMONTE, Jorge T. 1st District, Misamis Occidental

ALVAREZ, Mercedes K. 6th District, Negros Occidental

ANDAYA, Rolando Jr. G. 1st District, Camarines Sur

BAG-AO, Kaka J. Lone District, Dinagat Islands

BAGUILAT, Teddy Brawner Jr. Lone District, Ifugao

BANAL, Jorge “Bolet” 3rd District, Quezon City

BATAOIL, Leopoldo N. 2nd District, Pangasinan

BELMONTE, Feliciano Jr. 4th District, Quezon City

BENITEZ, Alfredo “Albee” B. 3rd District, Negros Occidental

BULUT-BEGTANG, Eleanor C. Lone District, Apayao

CALIXTO-RUBIANO, Emi G. Lone District, Pasay City

CARI, Jose Carlos L. 5th District, Leyte

CASTELO, Winston “Winnie” T. 2nd District, Quezon City

CATAMCO, Nancy A. 2nd District, North Cotabato

CELESTE, Jesus “Boying” F. 1st District, Pangasinan

CERAFICA, Arnel M. 1st District, Taguig City-Pateros

CERILLES, Aurora Enerio 2nd District, Zamboanga del Sur

CO, Christopher S. AKO BICOL

CORTUNA, Julieta R. A TEACHER INC.

COSALAN, Ronald M. Lone District, Benguet

CUA, Dakila Carlo E. Lone District, Quirino

DE JESUS, Emmi A. GABRIELA

DEFENSOR, Arthur Jr. R. 3rd District, Iloilo

DY, Napoleon S. 3rd District, Isabela

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ESPINA, Rogelio J., M.D. Lone District, Biliran

EVARDONE, Ben P. Lone District, Eastern Samar

FARIÑAS, Rodolfo C. 1st District, Ilocos Norte

FERRIOL-PASCUAL, Abigail Faye C. KALINGA

FLORES, Florencio Jr. T., M.D. 2nd District, Bukidnon

FORTUN, Lawrence “Law” H. 1st District, Agusan del Norte

FORTUNO, Salvio B. 5th District, Camarines Sur

GARCIA-ALBANO, Mylene J. 2nd District, Davao City

GARIN, Sharon S. AAMBIS-OWA

GATCHALIAN, Wes 1st District, Valenzuela City

GO, Ana Cristina Siquian 2nd District, Isabela

GONZALEZ, Fernando V. 3rd District, Albay

JALOSJOS, Seth Frederick P. 1st District, Zamboanga del Norte

JAVIER, Paolo S. Lone District, Antique

LANETE, Scott Davies S., M.D. 3rd District, Masbate

LOPEZ, Carlo V. 2nd District, Manila

MARCOS, Imelda Romualdez 2nd District, Ilocos Norte

MELLANA, Evelyn P. 2nd District, Agusan del Sur

MENDOZA, Raymond Democrito C. TUCP

MIRASOL, Alejandro Y. 5th District, Negros Occidental

OCAMPO, Rosenda Ann 6th District, Manila

PLAZA, Maria Valentina G. 1st District, Agusan del Sur

PRIMICIAS-AGABAS, Marlyn L. 6th District, Pangasinan

QUIMBO, Romero “Miro” S. 2nd District, Marikina City

RAMOS, Deogracias Jr. B. 2nd District, Sorsogon

RELAMPAGOS, Rene L. 1st District, Bohol

RODRIGUEZ, Isidro Jr. S. 2nd District, Rizal

RODRIGUEZ, Maximo Jr. B. 2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City

SACDALAN, Jesus Nonato 1st District, North Cotabato

SALIMBANGON, Benhur L. 4th District, Cebu

SARMIENTO, Cesar V. Lone District, Catanduanes

SEMA, Bai Sandra Sinsuat A. 1st District, Maguindanao with Cotabato City

TAN, Milagrosa T. 2nd District, Samar

TIANGCO, Tobias “Toby” M. Lone District, Navotas City

TING, Randolph S. 3rd District, Cagayan

TINIO, Antonio L. ACT TEACHERS

TREÑAS, Jerry P. Lone District, Iloilo City

TUGNA, Sherwin N. CIBAC

TY, Arnel U. LPGMA

UMALI, Reynaldo V. 2nd District, Oriental Mindoro

UNABIA, Peter “Sr. Pedro” M. 1st District, Misamis Oriental

VARGAS-ALFONSO, Baby Aline 2nd District, Cagayan

VELARDE, Mariano Michael Jr. M. BUHAY

VILLARICA, Linabelle Ruth R. 4th District, Bulacan

YAP, Arthur C. 3rd District, Bohol

ZAMORA, Maria Carmen S. 1st District, Compostela Valley

LOYOLA, Roy M. 5th District, Cavite

MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, Gloria 2nd District, Pampanga

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Pagpupugay para sa mga Kinatawan ng ika-17 Kongreso

A tribute to those who passed on

By Peter Paul Duran and Angelica Villanueva

T

faces.

HE 17th Congress is at a close, and in only a few weeks we welcome the 18th Congress with new names and familiar

The 17th Congress saw significant bills filed, passionately deliberated in vehement readings, until finally becoming milestone laws.

It was a combined effort from the working house of representatives.

But all these achievements cannot go unnoticed without remembering the assiduous individuals who died while serving in the 17th Congress. Although posthumously, let us give tribute as well to those whose contributions to the House will forever be appreciated.

These honorable men and women showed all of us the meaning of service beyond the call of duty.

Henedina Razon-Abad Henedina Razon-Abad, simply called as Dina became the representative of the lone district of Batanes in 2004 to 2007, and won the polls in 2010, 2013, and 2016. Described as someone who is dedicated and devoted to the cause of the Filipino people, Dina is known for being an advocate of rural development and agrarian reform.

Unfortunately, at the age of 62, Abad succumbed to cancer on October 8, 2017, leaving her husband, Butch, and her four children: Julia Andrea, Pio Emmanuel, Luis Andres, and Cecilia Paz.

Jum Jainudin Akbar A Basilan native and known to be the first governor of the province, Jum Akbar succeeded her late husband and strongman, Wahab Akbar, who died during the 2007 bombing of Batasang Pambansa. Despite being softspoken and cool, Akbar is described to be highly-competent when it comes to hearing and plenary sessions. She is one of the legislators who strongly pushed the passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law. The 53-year-old lawmaker died on November 11, 2016 due to cardiac arrest at St. Lukes Medical Center and is survived by his son, Al-Qauid.

Rodel M. Batocabe The late AKO BICOL Party List Representative Rodel M. Batocabe is one of the most hard working lawmakers of the 17th Congress. He authored and co-authored laws that cover education, health, good governance, and livelihood. He was also the President and head of the Party List Coalition. Under his direction, he stressed the importance of having “one voice” in partylists to be able to recognize in the House. But in an unfateful day, Batocabe, together with his bodyguard was killed three days before Christmas during a gift-giving event in Daraga, Albay.

Ciriaco S. Calalang Kabayan Partylist Representative Cirico Calalang is well-known for his public service during his term as a congressman. As a lawmaker, Calalang was able to author and co-author 47 House measure covering advocacies on juvenile justice, education, senior citizens, criminal justice, public transportation, and land use. At the age of 67, Calalang died of stroke six days after surgery.

Maximo B. Dalog Representative of the lone district of Mountain Province, Maximo Dalag or “The Wise Man,” called by his friends, pushed for the autonomy of the Cordillera region during his term. Before, he was also the chairman of North Luzon Growth Quadrangle of the 17th Congress. In the early morning of Saturday, June 3, 2017, Dalog passed away due to kidney failure.

Tupay Loong Loong was a native of Sulu who turned out to be its representative in the 17th Congress. He was also one of the founders of the group Moro National Liberation Front before quitting in 1974. In the year 2010, Loong urged the rebels and the national government in a speech to “silence their guns” in the name of peace and development for Mindanao. On June 30, 2016, Loong died due to liver cirrhosis in a Manila private hospital.

SGMA...

Action photos of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her many work-related projects and inspections on the field as the leader of the 17th Congress.

Trailblazing...

From C1

Secondary School Career Guidance Counselling Act Date signed: February 14, 2019 Annually, graduating students from junior high school students can participate in a career guidance and counseling program that will be conducted by DepEd that will help them decide on what path or course they are going to take in the tertiary level.

Aside from NCAE, high school students can now participate in a career guidance and counseling program which will be conducted by DepEd that will help them decide on what path or course they are going to take in the tertiary level.

Universal Healthcare Act Date signed: February 20, 2019 When the Universal Health Care Act was signed three months ago, many

were asking on who should be praised in pushing the passage of the bill.

Should it be the members of the Senate or the House of Representatives?

However, the passage of the Universal Health Care Act is brought to us by the joint efforts from the two, with the help of the Department of Health.

The law’s main goal is to provide health care to all Filipinos. This means that every Filipino is will be enjoying their right to have health assistance by becoming part of the National Health Insurance Program. These include includes preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative care for medical, dental, mental, and emergency health services.

Expanded Maternity Leave Law or Republic Act 11210 Date signed: February 20, 2019 This allows working mothers of government and private sector to be granted with additional paid maternity leave credits. Single mothers will be granted an additional 15 days of paid leave.

First Time Jobseekers Assistance Act or Republic Act 11261 Date signed: April 10, 2019 First-time job seekers or fresh graduates may now access and obtain for free government-issued documents which are commonly needed in applying for a job locally and abroad.

Other notable bills passed and enacted as Republic Acts in the 17th Congress are the following: • Providing For The Special Protection Of Child Passengers In Motor Vehicles or Republic Act 11229 • Mobile Number Portability Act or Republic Act 11202 • Filipino Sign Language Act or Republic Act 11106 • Tax Amnesty Act of 2019 or Republic Act 11213 • Rice Tarrification Law or Republic Act 11203 • Magna Carta for Persons with Disability or Republic Act 11228 • Speech Pathology Act or Republic Act 11249

In an interview, she said that there was one bill that did get affected by From C1 her detention, which is why it did not “come out the way she wanted.”

Working House.

“On November 11, 2010, I, after As she leads by example, SGMA having some discussions with overis often seen attending different seas Filipinos and we were discusscommittee hearings and plenary ing about overseas voters’ rights, they sessions. SGMA never forgot to wanted a bill that would give them have a talk with different political more rights, more political rights, parties to sort things out and give her so therefore I filed a bill on absentee instructions. voting,” she said in an interview with Now, Mrs. Arroyo has made quite ABS-CBN. a success as a Speaker, therefore a “The absentee voting that was quick recap on how she made her mine and maybe that’s why it was mark as the head of the legislature and not passed exactly the way I wanted her trailblazing feat and achievement to because I wanted to allow overseas as the first woman House Speaker of Filipinos who had become dual citithe country will show how she turned zenship and coming back to be able to Congress into a Working House for enter public office. I wanted that to be the Filipino people. the amendment.

That change has been evident since But because I was in detention, I Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo couldn’t exactly say what my purpose assumed the helm, bringing with her was when it went through the legislathe bravado and great zeal which has tive mill. What came out was really influenced the 292-strong member having more registration centers. In House of Representatives into crafting other words, increasing the participaand approving numerous bills in only tion of overseas Filipinos in the voting a short span of time. exercise so it was not exactly the way Probably the most notable bills I had wanted to do it had I been outpassed under the helm of SGMA is the side. At least, I’m glad, as a result, the Republic Act No. 11054 or Bangsam- voting participation also increased,” oro Organic Law, created for the es- she added. tablishment of an autonomous politiIn detention she also authored the cal entity is known as the Bangsam- Anti-Drunk Driving Act. oro Autonomous During ArRegion, replacing royo’s speakerArroyo authored seven ship, among those the current Autonomous Region in bills, six of which became signed by the PresMuslim Mindanao. ident was Republic laws, even amidst her As the bill was Act 11055, or the detention. supposed to be enPhilippine Identifiacted before the cation System Act third State of the Nation Address by based on HB 6221, which establishes President Rodrigo Duterte, the rati- a single national identification sysfication of the bicameral committee tem to promote the seamless delivery report on the bill was halted due to of government services and increase leadership change. transparency while reducing corrupBut as promised by Arroyo, once tion in the delivery of social services. she took the Speaker’s seat, the report Speaker Arroyo also led the House was ratified on July 2018, making the to the passage of the Coconut Levy way for the bill of the House and Sen- Fund and the Rice Tariffication Act ate to be sent to the President for his which had already been ratified by signature. both Houses.

Looking back, SGMA showed the Arroyo is keen to promote changes whole legislative body the true mean- in the country. She is a staunch suping of public service at a time when porter of the Federal government the you would not expect power of the administration is aiming to establish. mind to prevail over the challenges of The main idea of the federal system circumstance. is giving states their own social, ecoArroyo authored seven bills as rep- nomic and political potentials, havresentative of Pampanga’s 2nd district ing each state the power to modernize after she vacated the top post in the themselves. country as President back in 2010.

The Speaker also said the the House, And she did all this even amidst her under her leadership, has passed all of detention, she revealed in 2016.

President Duterte’s legislative priorities.

Six of the seven bills then became As her political career is on its rear laws, which showcased her passion end, Mrs. Arroyo has been one of the for public service. Two of those bills key figures who had shaped the counwere in collaboration with her young- try today. A monumental success of est son, then-Camarines Sur Rep Dato etching her name in the history books Arroyo. as one of the most prominent women She shared that the first bill that who ascended to power in politics in she and Dato filed that became a law the country. was the Household Helpers’ Rights Though moving on to another (Kasambahay Bill). HB1140, was chapter in her life, SGMA, and very filed on August 2, 2010 and then it be- soon, Former SGMA taught all of came law on January 18, 2013. us that anyone can make it to the The second one being the Aquacul- top through hard work. No matter ture and Fisheries Mechanization bill, your gender, no matter your political filed on the same day as the House background.

She is the epitome of #TheWorkingHelper’s Rights which became a law House. on June 5, 2013.