Manila Standard - 2019 June 9 - Sunday

OIL PRICE CUT WHOPPER: P2.70

By Alena Mae S. Flores

VOL. XXXIII • NO. 115 • 4 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines implemented Saturday a big-time oil price rollback of P2.70 per liter for diesel and P2.60 per liter for gasoline to reflect the movement of prices in the world market.

“For the 3rd straight week, Phoenix

Petroleum Philippines will implement an early big decrease in the prices of gasoline by P2.60 per liter and diesel

by P2.70 per liter effective 6 p.m. of 08 June,” the oil player said.

Other oil companies are expected to follow suit although most oil companies implement price adjustments every Tuesday.

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PH SLAMS INTRUSION BY 11 RIGHTS EXPERTS T

HE Philippines on Saturday rejected a call for an independent United Nations probe into Manila’s alleged human rights violations, describing it as interference in its affairs.

PHILHEALTH SHAKEUP EYED

UN rights experts asked the UN Human Rights Council on Friday to look into the “staggering number of unlawful deaths and police killings in the context of the so-called war on drugs, as well as killings of human rights defenders.”

President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a narcotics crackdown in which police have killed more than 5,300 suspected drug dealers and users since he was elected three years ago.

Rights groups say the actual number of dead is at least three times higher.

“The latest call by 11 special rapporteurs of the United Nations for an international probe of the Philippines not only is intellectually challenged but an outrageous interference on Philippine sovereignty,” Duterte spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Some of the biggest names in human rights performing investigative tasks for the UN issued a joint statement on Friday, calling not only for an investigation of deaths linked to the government’s war on drugs, but also on attacks on human rights defenders in the Philippines.

“Let the enemies of the state and their supporters from foreign soil be Turn to A2

By Vito Barcelo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday was considering conducting a revamp of top officials of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. as the Chief Executive directed the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest and probe the owners of a dialysis facility in Quezon City that made “ghost dialysis” procedures to nonexistent kidney treatments.

The President issued the statement in an interview over Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s television show on Sonshine Media Network in Davao, due to allegations of misuse of billions of government funds through bogus kidney treatments.

“When I go back, I will make an announcement, I maybe reshuffling the PhilHealth [management],” Duterte said.

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CHRONIC DEFORESTATION. Human-driven and natural loss of trees is affecting wildlife, ecosystems, weather patterns, and even the climate. Forests cover about 30 percent of the planet’s land mass, but humans are cutting them down, clearing these essential habitats on a massive scale. Officials also stress that the conversion of forests into agricultural land is a big reason for deforestation. Kriem-Hill Beneidck Siruno

BLUNTING POLLUTION. Cagayanos, particularly those in the capital city of Tuguegarao—often described as 'the tricycle-infested city'—near the Sierra Madre mountain range, put attention to and consequence on this large planteating domesticated mammal with solid hoofs and a flowing mane and tail, used for riding, racing, and carrying and pulling loads, to help them decrease the effects of air pollution. Jerome Macanaya

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DU30: NO U.S. TROOPS IN WPS

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has assured Chinese President Xi Jinping that no American soldier will be allowed to set foot on Pag-asa island in the West Philippine Sea.

In a television interview, Duterte recalled telling Xi not to waste gasoline in sending ships to Pag-asa island. “‘Why are you surrounding my island with so many ships? You’re wasting your gasoline.’ That’s my exact words. ‘You’re wasting your gasoline. You might as well give it to us,’” the President said.

“I told you I will not allow, as long as I am President, any American to set foot on that Pag-asa. Because I know that it will create really trouble.

And I will not allow their arms. If it’s a Philippine government arms given to us by America, well that’s another

story. If you want, you can give us a better one,” he added.

The President did not state when the meeting was held, but he last met with the Chinese leader in April for the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

Duterte clarified he was “not angry” when he called Xi’s attention over the Chinese maritime flotilla in the West Philippine Sea. “I told him, ‘Did I not tell you, Mr. President (Xi), that I will never allow the Americans to set foot on any of the islands controlled by the Philippines?

That we will not start any war and that I will never allow American weapons

to be stationed in that island?’” he said.

“Do not deprive them [Filipino fishermen] because you know we are poor.

You prohibit us, you will just create the inflation to go higher,” Duterte added.

Earlier, US military’s top general accused Xi of reneged on his promises not to militarize the South China Sea and called for “collective action” to hold Beijing responsible.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was not calling for military action, but stressed that there was a need to enforce international laws.

“The fall of 2016, President Xi Jinping promised President Obama that they would not militarize the islands.

So what we see today are 10,000-foot runways, ammunition storage facilities, routine deployment of missile defense

capabilities, aviation capabilities, and so forth,” he said in a talk on US security and defense at the Brooking institution.

“So clearly they have walked away from that commitment...When we ignore actions that are not in compliance with international rules, norms and standards, we have just set a new standard,” Dunford added.

Washington has been frustrated by an inability to stall China’s aggressive military colonization of the South China Sea, which rejects conflicting territorial claims by five other countries: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Philippines.

The US has sent navy vessels through the areas claimed by China as “international freedom of navigation operations,” but otherwise has found responding difficult.

FB CUTS OFF HUAWEI FOLLOWING U.S. SANCTIONS SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook said it would cut off Huawei from its popular social networking apps to comply with US sanctions, further isolating the Chinese tech giant considered a national security threat

by Washington.

The social media giant said it took the step after President Donald Trump’s order barring Huawei from US technology exports over concerns that it works with Chinese intelligence.

“We are reviewing the Commerce Department’s final rule and the more recently issued temporary general license and taking steps to ensure compliance,” a Facebook spokesperson told AFP. The California company said people with existing Huawei smartphones with Facebook apps will continue to be able to use and download app updates provided by Facebook.

The move by Facebook is the latest to isolate Huawei, which had become the world’s second largest smartphone vendor despite security concerns voiced in Washington.

Google last month said it would cut ties to Huawei, making it harder to obtain major apps from the US giant.

The Google decision would leave Huawei without the Play Store, the marketplace for most Android apps, and other elements of the mobile operating system.

Facebook—which is banned in China but has more than two billion users worldwide—said its decision would affect its core social network as well as applications such as Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, which each have at least one billion users.

The US sanctions were imposed May 15, but the administration allowed a 90-day compliance period that gives users of Huawei devices time to install updates and avoid a major disruption of the mobile economy.

Huawei has indicated it would create its own operating system to replace the Google Android platform, but would need to develop its own app marketplace as well if it wants to retain users outside China. AFP

PROUD DISPLAY. A vendor sells flags of varying sizes along Mindanao Ave. in Quezon City ahead of Independence Day on June 12. Manny Palmero

HIGHER SIN TAX LAW A ‘FITTING GIFT’

By Maricel V. Cruz THE passage of the bill increasing taxes on tobacco products is a fitting gift of the 17th Congress to the people, a pro-administration congressman said on Saturday.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte said the bill’s passage will save thousands of lives as well as provide needed funds for Universal Health Care.

Villafuerte said the House under the leadership of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has always looked after the interests of the majority of the people.

“Passing a ‘sin’ tax reform law that provides for significant increases in the prices of tobacco products is a fitting last gift of the 17th Congress to the

people and a concrete demonstration of support for the President’s pro-poor agenda,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte said the passage by both the Senate and the House on the eve of their sine die adjournment of the ‘sin’ tax bill is a feather in the cap of Speaker Arroyo.

“The bill’s a fitting cap to the legacy of a highly productive 17th Congress that has written landmark social legislation in support of President Duterte’s commitment to ensure that all Filipinos truly benefit from sustained high growth by way of better living standards for all,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte noted higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products would benefit most especially poor and

low-income Filipinos as the would-be revenues from this measure are meant to cover the funding gap of the Universal Health Care Law that was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last February.

He pointed out the UHC would go for naught had Congress failed to pass the “sin” tax hike bill as this measure alone would ensure adequate funding for the Duterte administration’s goal of providing free health care to all Filipino.

“The congressional approval of the new ‘sin’ tax bill tight will help the government accomplish its twofold objectives of discouraging smoking and raising enough revenues for UHC, which, in turn, will let President Duterte achieve his goal of attacking poverty and improving the lives of Filipinos,” he said.

BEN TULFO HITS BAUTISTA

PROPERTIES LOST. More than a hundred houses were razed in Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City. Manny Palmero

BROADCASTER Ben Tulfo on Saturday lambasted Social Welfare chief Rolando Bautista for setting conditions before accepting the apology of his brother, Erwin Tulfo.

“Putres na ‘brotherhood’! ang KAKAPAL! Ayon sa kumag na OIC, mag-sorry daw sa lahat ng media outlet. ‘BUTAW’ na P300k kinakailangan para mahugasan ang kasalanan. Tsong, daig mo pa si Padre Damaso at mga kolokoy na kauri mo! Nagpapatawa ka ba?! #unfiltered (Goddamn brotherhood! Thick-faced all. According to that stupid OIC, (Erwin) should apologize in all media outlets and pay P300,000 to be absolved of his son. You are worse than Padre Damaso and all other fools like you. Are you trying to be funny?),”Ben wrote on Twitter.

Bautista said on Thursday he is willing to forgive Tulfo for his offensive remarks

against him on national radio if he meets certain conditions.

In a statement posted on DSWD’s official website, Bautista said Tulfo should publish his apology in multiple platforms: 1) at least half-page advertisements in leading newspapers; 2) social media accounts—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube; and 3) radio stations dzBB, dzMM, Radio Singko, dzRH, and dzRB. He is also asking Tulfo to donate a minimum of P300,000 to each of the 19 organizations he had identified, mostly for health, education, and welfare needs of soldiers and residents of Marawi City.

Bautista, a retired Army chief who had led the government body tasked to rehabilitate war-torn Marawi City, is an alumnus of the Philippine Military Academy.

POLL WATCHDOG SEEKS AES AMENDMENTS A CITIZEN’S election watchdog appealed yesterday to the public to support a nationwide People’s Initiative to amend Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automation Election Systems law to address the perennial problems experienced by voters and ensure a more transparent and credible election in 2022.

“We call on our countrymen to support the nationwide People’s Initiative to amend the Automation Election Systems law to fix the perennial problems experienced every automated elections in the Philippines so we can have transparent and credible elections in 2022,” Mata sa Balota Movement chairman Leo Olarte said.

“We are pushing for this initiative because we fully support President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated calls for the Commission on Elections to get rid of its technology provider Smartmatic. The President himself said to dispose of that Smartmatic and look for a new one that is free of fraud,” Olarte said.

Earlier, a former official of Smartmatic, Comelec’s technology partner, admitted that precincts in Libon, Albay were transmitting results to the poll body’s transmission server even before Election Day. In a testimony before the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System, former Smartmatic operations officer Jeffrey Ian Dy said the transmission occurred between May 3 and 9.

Dy could not say if the early transmission affected the election results, but acknowledged that this was wrong and prohibited under Comelec rules.

The anomaly uncovered during the three-hour hearing compounded Comelec’s problems, which included more than 1,000 vote counting machines malfunctioning on Election Day and a seven-hour delay in the transmission of results from the transparency server to media organizations and poll watchdogs.

EFFORTS CONTINUE VS. SWINE FEVER

By Joel E. Zurbano CUSTOMS Airport district collector Carmelita Talusan has assured her office will continuously support the Bureau of Animal Industry in connection with the government’s effort to prevent a possible African Swine Fever outbreak in the country.

To date, more than 4,490 kilograms of meat and meat products have been seized at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by the Bureau of Customs and turned over to BAI for disposal from January to May. The recent apprehension was on May 29 when Customs agents at the Manila airport intercepted a total of 84 kilos of imported meat from Japan with no BAI clearance and health certificate.

Talusan said the air passenger who brought the seized meat products failed to present the required impor t documents which are necessary to ensure no contaminated meat products enter the borders.

“The seized meat were confiscated and turned over by Customs NAIA to BAI-Veterinary Quarantine Services,” she said.

BAI officials said outbreak of the virus can affect the 40 million plus live hogs in the Philippines and can destroy the P2-billion worth swine industry in the country.

To safeguard against the epidemic, BAI personnel and Port of NAIA officials have intensified their campaign and are closely monitoring all terminals.

The Department of Agriculture also started deploying meat-sniffing dogs to airport terminals to prevent the entry of contaminated meat.

twitter.com/ MlaStandard

MS CAMPAIGN PUTS PREMIUM ON VALUES

By Alicia Angelica Villanueva IN EVERY honest purchase of Manila Standard newspaper, a tree will be planted under the buyer’s name that would, project organizers hope, help contribute to preserving and conserving the environment.

This project pizzazz, if vision, has pushed the Manila Standard to kickstart its #MSIntegriTree initiative Saturday at SM City Manila. #MSIntegriTree is an integration of its former campaign years ago called ‘Honor System’ and its present corporate social responsibility project ‘Adopt-a-Tree.’

Manila Standard’s OIC-Operations Annie Grefal explained the initiative: “When I started with Manila Standard, we had a project called ‘Honor System,’ where the copies are being left in establishments, but it’s up to them if they would pay. Come to think of it, our problem is honesty.

“That’s why I want to resurrect the project where people can get their copies if they want to pay or not.

If not, they could just read it.

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ENVIRONMENT ADVOCATES. Winners in the #MSIntegriTree project of the Manila

Standard essay and photo contests on Saturday Dorothy del Rosario (2nd from right) and Jerome Macanaya (3rd from left) pose for posterity with (from left) Ad Solutions Head Baldwin Felipe, OIC Operations Chief Annie Grefal and Publisher Rolando Estabillo. Charles Dantes

Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circ@manilastandardtoday.com

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PHILHEALTH...

From A1

In the interview, the President said there was an immediate need to reshuffle the PhilHealth management to stop corruption and put to jail people behind the illegal activity.

“I have to reorganize your entity, change maybe all of you and install more systems of accounting and accountability,” Duterte.

“PhilHealth needs business people as accounting money is purely management,” Duterte said while he expressed disappointment on how billions of pesos worth of funds were used to pay for the treatment of those already dead.

“The sheer amount of 100 something billion is totally, totally unacceptable to me,” he said.

Because of the anomaly, Duterte tapped the NBI to arrest and probe the owners WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center in Novaliches, Quezon City for misrepresentation and falsification.

According to a published report, a former employee of WellMed exposed that PhilHealth continued paying for the dialysis treatments of a patient who had died in 2016. “ I want WellMed arrested and investigated for making fraudulent claims,” the President said in the interview.

“I am ordering you the NBI... the NBI should take over by tomorrow and start to summon everybody and the owner of that Wellness thing where these fraudulent claims were discovered. Arrest them.

That is my order. Arrest them. Place there in your blotter ninyo,” Duterte said.

“Arrest them and investigate them right away. No ifs, no buts... If a lawyer attempts to interfere, tell him it’s my order,” he added.

The President said once proven, hospitals and doctors involved might be charged with syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense.

The President was also shocked on why the amount reached almost P200 million without the necessary checks along the way? “It’s like going through a highway without the checkpoints,” he said.

“Was there a kind of checks that you install? Because if none then we have fallen short of our duty to really protect the money,” the President said.

While the President wants a total revamp of the said agency, Duterte continues to trust the integrity and honesty of Roy Ferrer, the acting operations officer of the agency, saying it was Ferrer who pushed for the prosecution of those involved in the misuse of the state health insurance funds.

On Thursday, a news report said Edwin Roberto and Liezl Santos, former employees of the WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center Corp. in Novaliches, Quezon City, claimed that PhilHealth continued paying for the dialysis of the center’s dead patients without checking the validity of the claims.

The PhilHealth on Saturday clarified that the alleged overpayments made in its claims amounting to P154 billion in the past six years are efficiency gains, a feature in the case rates payment system that the agency was implementing.

With PNA

DUTERTE SETS CRACKDOWN ON 'INVESTMENT' SCAMS

By Vito Barcelo

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the closure of Kapa Community Ministry International for alleged illegal collections by enticing the people to put up money for investments in the guise of religion.

In a radio interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of Sonshine Radio in Davao, the President also directed the National Bureau of Investigation and other concerned government agencies to close down investment schemes proliferating in Southern Mindanao, for tricking people to invest in bogus investments.

Duterte said the activities of

OIL PRICE...

From A1 World oil prices declined after reports of higher US inventory from Energy Information Administration and the continuing trade tensions affecting US and China which could dampen demand.

The US-EIA data previously revealed that gasoline inventories climbed by 2.2 million barrels two weeks ago.

Last week, the oil companies also cut pump prices by P1.70 to P1.75 per liter for gasoline, P1.05 per liter for diesel and P1 per liter for kerosene.

Prior to the latest rollback, year-to-date adjustments stand at a net increase of P5.50 per liter for gasoline, P4.70 per liter for diesel and P3 per liter for kerosene.

Meanwhile, consumer group Laban Konsyumer Inc. welcomed the issuance of the Department of Energy of the circular on the unbundling of prices of petroleum products, “It is a good start and good news for all consumers. We earnestly await the implementation of the circular which will allow consumers to understand why oil prices adjustments weekly are the same amount for gas, diesel and kerosene for all oil companies whether pure importers or those with refineries,” LKI president Vic Dimagiba said.

“Notwithstanding the confidentiality provisions, we believe the DOE or any oil company should inform consumers the

PH SLAMS...

From A1 forewarned that no amount of destructive narratives against this government will envelop it with the appearance of pretended truth to hoodwink the Filipino people in embracing it,” Panelo said.

“The reasons foisted by them for the aforesaid investigation have been discredited and repudiated by the very nation they pretend to care about. The Philippines is a working vibrant democracy in this part of the world,” Panelo said.

He said the Duterte administration had demonstrated strength and resilience in exercising the democratic rights outlined by the Constitution through the various institutions, with their respective allocation of power, geared toward the promotion of general welfare.

“PRRD’s war against illegal drugs is pursuant to the primary duty of the state to preserve and protect the people. Law enforcement authorities operate on strict protocols. Any deviation from it is met with the unyielding strong arm of the law with no transgressors immune from it,” the Palace official said.

He said the Judiciary sees to it that the law was being applied equally to all.

Panelo also cited the recently concluded midterm elections, saying, “The Filipino people have spoken anew, via the just concluded elections. Those who have spoken against the campaign on illegal drugs and human rights record of this President have been overwhelmingly rejected by the Filipino electorate.”

“They have been resoundingly beaten in the polls. These special rapporteurs should by this time realize that they, who believed in the untruthful advocacies of the electorally vanquished pretenders, have likewise been demolished, beyond redemption,” he added.

The 11 UN experts, who are independent and do not speak for the United Nations, include the special rapporteur on summary or extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard.

Callamard earned Duterte’s ire when she called for a stop to the drug war killings in 2016.

Duterte’s drug war is his signature policy initiative and he defends it fiercely, especially from international critics and institutions which he says do not care about the Philippines.

Critics have alleged the crackdown amounts to a war on the poor that feeds an undercurrent of impunity and lawlessness in the country. AFP, Vito Barcelo

these investment schemes, including the Kapa Community Ministry International, were clearly a form of estafa.

“The operation of Kapa was a clear pyramiding scheme, which collected money from its member to give to the pioneering operators of the group.

When it is too good to be true, it is fraud,” Duterte said.

details on the unbundled price adjustment,” he said.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has signed the department circular providing for the unbundling of petroleum product prices to improve price transparency among oil industry players.

“Consistent with the mandate of the Department of Energy on effective data-driven policymaking, as well as ensuring greater market transparency, we have amended our guidelines for the reporting of price adjustments by oil companies in the downstream oil industry in the Philippines,” Cusi said.

Cusi signed DC 2019-05-008, titled Revised Guidelines for the Monitoring of Prices in the Sale of Petroleum Prod-

MS CAMPAIGN...

From A1 “Then, the Adopt-a-Tree campaign of Standard came to my mind. Why don’t we combine Adopt-a-Tree and Honesty? That’s how #MSintegrity was born.”

Baldwin Felipe, Advertising Solutions Head, himself said: “Before the IntegriTree, Manila Standard had been doing tree planting activity called ‘Adopt-a-Tree' from years back.

“Every year, we conducted Adopt-a-Tree but this year, we thought of a new initiative called IntegriTree. It started when we thought that we should come up with additional outlets where other copies of our newspaper should be distributed, aside from the dealership.

“However, we want these copies not just to be sold or distributed but should be connected to our CSR, which is Adopt-a-Tree.”

Rolando Estabillo, publisher of the English language broadsheet, in his speech at the SM Activity Center, stressed the importance for millennials—sometimes called the Generation Y, the phrase used to generally describe a person who reached adulthood in the early 21st century and covers the generation of people born between 1980 and 2000 – to have integrity.

Estabillo, who has under his belt decades of newspapering, said: “I think it’s also important for the young ones to know that integrity is something that gives you a different aura as a person. Integrity is something that makes you more honest, truthful, and more conscious of others. You have to give back. “The integrity gives us an opportunity to show how honest and truthful we are even if there’s no one looking to get Manila Standard.

“This is a test for us, specially the young ones, to show our honesty. Honesty, as the saying says, is the best policy.”

Aside from the tree planting phase, part of the program was also to reach out millennials

Kapa, a Surigao del Sur-based religious corporation, was allegedly soliciting investments from the public by encouraging them to “donate” any amount in exchange for a 30 percent monthly return.

Duterte said it was impossible for a group to give 30 percent monthly interests to investments because banks here and abroad could only give a maximum of three percent interest per year.

Official sources said investment scams had sprouted in Southern Mindanao and had reportedly branched out to as far as Luzon and including Kapa, headed by Joel Apolinario, which promises a 30 percent “love gift” each month.

Some schemes, such as the Tagum City-based Rigen Marketing, Jogle, ucts by the Downstream Oil Industry last May 28.

“In accordance with existing guidelines, oil companies will continue to report to the DOE any adjustments in the retail prices of gasoline, automotive and industrial diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and aviation gas, and household and automotive liquefied petroleum gas,” Cusi said.

The energy chief said that under the new guidelines, oil companies will also be required to report their “unbundled price adjustments” to include import costs, tax burdens, biofuel costs and other essential cost components that contribute to the changes in retail prices.

“These enhancements will provide

and Ever Arm, even promise a return of up to 500 percent.

“I told you many times, that never believe in this kind of scheme especially if their promise is like giving you heaven, no banks even the Bank of America can afford to give you P30, 000 monthly interest for your P100,000 investment,” Duterte said in Filipino.

He said that the interests received by its members were just drawn from the money of the newly recruited members who were also drawn into investing in the pyramiding scam.

Kapa, a Surigao del Sur-based religious corporation, was allegedly soliciting investments from the public by encouraging them to “donate” any amount in exchange for a 30 percent monthly return. the DOE and other relevant government agencies with the necessary data to formulate proactive and appropriate policy initiatives for the benefit of consumers and the downstream oil industry,” Cusi said.

“Furthermore, the data provided will support the Department of Energy-Department of Justice (DOE-DOJ) Task Force investigations on reported incidents of anti-competitive behavior,” he said.

Cusi said the utilization of the data collected would be subjected to the strict confidentiality requirements under the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Philippine Competition Commission laws.

THE ACCUSING FINGER.

President Rodrigo Duterte has tapped the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest and investigate the owners of WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center in Novaliches, Quezon City for what a former employee claimed were misrepresentation and falsification for 'ghost dialysis' procedures allegedly given to non-existent kidney treatments. Manny Palmero

to engage in environmental awareness through essay writing and photo contests which were participated in by students from different universities in Metro Manila.

Participating in the final list of essay writing were Dorothy Jane del Rosario and Kent Marvin Mojica from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Completing the roster were Nica Sondon and Regine Reyes of Philippine Christian University—with Del Rosario winning the competition with her essay titled “Paradigm Shift: Let It Happen.”

The essay pieces were judged by the newspaper’s Opinion Editor Adelle Chua and Night Editor Honor Blanco Cabie.

On the other hand, Jerome Carlo Macanaya took home the winning photo entry, beating John Marc Cruz, Jerome Calayag. Roberto R. Marquez, Kriem-Hill Benedick Siruno, and John Michael Cervantes. Among the panel of judges was, Gabrielle Karlene Sison, the youngest volunteer of the newspaper’s Adopt-a-Tree program.

At the age of eight, Sison already knows what is happening with the environment. She is encouraging everyone to participate in such program like IntegriTree to help.

“You have to help even though it’s hard,” she said.

Del Rosario stressed it was very important for millennials to be involved in programs like IntegriTree and the fight for the environment started now.

“Don’t live on the material things you have right now. What we should care (for) and think about is our future—what we should do to save our future. While we are young, we should do simple things to partake on the movement to save the environment,” said del Rosario.

She added: “It’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do.

It may sound cliche, but what we need is to start within ourselves. Think of individual solutions we can contribute to saving our planet.”

Meanwhile, Macanaya, who aside from photography also uses the art of paintings in expressing his messages towards an issue or

a topic, highlighted the significance of being aware of the current issues confronting the environment and the roles of millennials in contributing to the conservation and preservation of the planet.

He said: “We are the future. We need to take care of the environment for the next and future generations. The Environment needs us as much as we needed it. Let’s preserve it.”

He also thanked the Manila Standard for the chance to showcase his talent in photography and underline the importance of the environment.

He said: “Thank you very much for the opportunity. I hope you will continue this kind of program, there are many in the youth age bracket who would really love to join this kind of competition – a contest with a purpose.”

Environment Undersecretary Benny Antiporda also graced the event where he extended his gratitude to the Manila Standard’s project in establishing #MSIntegriTree and promised to fully support it and other environment-related programs.

“I would like to thank the Manila Standard for this great initiative... I’m so proud of you... and yet you’re always there for the DENR...The government can’t do it [preserving the environment] on its own without your help,” said Antiporda.

He added: “As of now, we felt we’re all alone in this endeavor, in this fight for our next generation, and yet, with the initiative of Manila Standard, slowly, there are people who are coming in and telling, ‘We are here to help.’

“Without reaching out and telling people to help us, many people are participating. We are very grateful and rest assured that our support, in return, will be given 100 percent, through technical assistance, even financial, if needed. Why? “Because it is the other way around, we felt the overwhelming support. And those who help also deserve to feel the same support.” #MSIntegriTree was supported by its partners like DENR, SM City Manila, Dermcare, MPLIFY-PH, and Max’s.

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FACE MASK CHALLENGE LAUNCHED VS. POLLUTION

ARROYO BILL TAKES ON TOXIC WASTE DISPOSAL

By Maricel V. Cruz

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PEAKER Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has sponsored a bill providing for a framework for the handling of hazardous and radioactive wastes, coming in the wake of a series of alleged garbage dumping into the Philippines by other countries.

MOCK RIOT. Members of the Philippine army stand in formation and hold their ground against an ‘attcker’ during the 2nd National Civil Disturbance Management competition at the Army grandstand in Taguig City on June 8, 2019. Norman Cruz

HOUSE RATIFIES BICAM ON CO-OP BILL THE House of Representatives ratified before it adjourned sine die the bicameral committee report on the bill that strengthens the Cooperative Development Authority.

The bicameral conference committee reconciled the conflicting provisions of House Bill 9051 and Senate Bill 2063. Both measures strengthen and reorganize the CDA. HB 9051 is principally authored by Party-list Rep. Sabiniano Canama of COOP NATCCO while its counterpart SB 2063 is authored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.

The proposed “Cooperative Development Authority Charter of 2019” strengthens and reorganizes the CDA to enable it carry out the mandates of the measure as well as Republic Act 9520 or the “Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008.”

It repeals Republic Act 6939.

Under the enrolled bill, the CDA that was created under RA 6939 shall be reorganized and its employees shall be absorbed in the CDA in accordance to the agency’s staffing pattern, subject to Civil Service laws, rules and regulations and Department of Budget and Management rules and regulations.

Those who opt to retire or separate from the office voluntarily shall be giv-

en separation pay computed based on DBM guidelines and regulations.

The powers, functions, and responsibilities of the CDA, among others, shall include the development and formulation, in consultation with the cooperative sector and other concerned institutions, appropriate regulations, standards, rules, orders, guideline, and/ or circulars to implement this Act and RA 9520.

The CDA shall also formulate, adopt, and implement integrated and comprehensive plans and programs on cooperative development consistent with the national policy on cooperatives and establish an integrated framework on cooperative development for all government agencies.

In addition, it will develop and conduct management and training programs that will provide members with the entrepreneurial capabilities, managerial expertise, and technical skills required for efficient operation of their cooperatives.

The CDA shall have a Board of Directors to serve as its collegial policy-making body. The Board shall be responsible for policy formulation, strategic planning, and direction setting of the agency.

The Board shall be composed of the

chairman, with the rank and privilege of an undersecretary, and six members with the rank and privilege of an assistant secretary. The chairman and members shall all be appointed by the President of the Philippines and chosen among nominees from the cooperative sector. There shall be one board director from each of the cluster of cooperatives: 1) credit and financial services, banking, and insurance; 2) consumers, marketing, producers, and logistics; 3) human services: health, housing, workers, and labor service; 4) education and advocacy; 5) agriculture, agrarian, aquaculture, farmers, dairy, and fisherfolk; and 6) public utilities: electricity, water, communications, and transport.

According to the transitory provisions of the measure, the incumbent chairperson and administrators of CDA shall continue to serve and act as chairperson and members of the Board until the new composition of the Board shall have been constituted.

The CDA shall furnish the Bureau of Internal Revenue, local government units which include provinces, highly urbanized and independent cities, and other concerned agencies a certified list of duly registered cooperatives for purposes of processing tax exemptions. Maricel V. Cruz

Arroyo’s Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes Management bill consolidated House Bills 2964, 142, 540, 1528, 3610, 4287, 5901, 6596, 7093, 8288 and 8776.

The passage of the bill is considered one of the legacies of the former President who later served as Speaker.

Arroyo said electronic equipment contain heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury, as well as other hazardous component or additives.

The lawmaker said requiring the recycle and reuse of these electronic equipment will greatly reduce the amount of hazardous materials being discarded in solid waste management facilities.

“Disposing these metals from such equipment via traditional methods can pose a significant threat to public health and the environment,” said Arroyo.

The substitute bill declares it is the policy of the State to advance the protection of human health and the environment from the potential risks of hazardous and radioactive wastes within the framework of sustainable development.

Towards this end, the State shall develop and implement national and local integrated and comprehensive hazardous and radioactive waste management programs focusing on pollution prevention and resource conversation and recovery, which shall: 1) improve waste management techniques, organizational arrangement, methods of collection, separation and recovery of waste; 2) promote environmentally safe disposal of residues; 3) minimize the generation of waste, process substitution, resource recovery, recycling and reuse and treatment; and 4) institutionalize public participation in the development and implementation of hazardous and radioactive wastes management programs.

It shall also apply to the generation, possession, collection, recovery, reuse, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of hazardous and radioactive wastes in the country for whatever purpose. The bill shall also cover the transit and entry into Philippine territory of such wastes.

The bill mandates the departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Health, and the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, in coordination with the Department of Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the Commission on Higher Education, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Philippine Information Agency and the local government units, to conduct a continuing education and information campaign on hazardous and radioactive wastes management.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) has embarked on a campaign dubbed “mask challenge” to call for action against air pollution.

For its “We want clean air” mask challenge, EMB is seeking either photos or videos of people with their face masks, particularly those made of recycled materials. Ten winners will be chosen.

“Face masks do little to protect people from air pollution but can be an effective way to highlight how much Filipinos want clean air,” EMB OIC Assistant Director Vizminda Osorio said in an interview over the weekend.

The contest focuses on face masks, especially from recyclables to help show urgency for protection from polluted air which most people breathe, she added.

Recyclable materials are among wastes generated in the country. Experts identified waste, households, industry, transportation, and agriculture as the main human sources of air pollution.

The mask challenge is an activity for the country’s annual June celebration of World Environment Day and Philippine Environment Month both focusing on air pollution this year, the EMB official said.

“Share your most creative mask photo, a commitment to beat air pollution and challenge your friends to join you in making a difference,” said EMB in its contest promotion.

The contest is open to people in the National Capital Region as well as Regions III (Central Luzon) and IV-A (Calabarzon). Entries must include captions on how they can help address air pollution, noted EMB while maximum length of video entries must be 30 seconds.

Entries will be accepted until June 21.

PNA

KSA IN NEED OF 1,000 NURSES, POEA SAYS THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking to hire 1,000 nurses.

The POEA said the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia has opened employment opportunities for female specialist nurses.

It noted that applicants should have a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, a board passer or has a Professional Regulation Commission license, and must have a minimum of one-year related experience.

The basic salary offer will start at SR4,110 (P56,892) with SR295 (P4,083) increment for every additional year of experience.

Those who will be hired will also have a paid annual vacation with a free roundtrip economy ticket as well as free food and accommodation.

The POEA reminded applicants to register online at www.eregister.poea.gov.ph and personally submit the required documents to the POEA main office in Mandaluyong City.

Among the needed requirements are original copies of detailed resumé with a job description, school credentials, relevant to the position applied for (authenticated by Department of Foreign Affairs and/or Commission on Higher Education, or notarized, whichever is applicable).

Also, applicants are asked to submit employment certificates, relevant to the position applied for; valid passport (at least six months); two pieces of 2x2 recent picture; certificate of POEA online PEOS (log on to www.peos.poea.gov.ph); and printed copy of Worker’s Information Sheet / E-Registration (log on to https:// eservices.poea.gov.ph).

Applicants are also required to present their original documents for authentication of the written information.

Deadline of submission of applications is on June 28, 2019. PNA

SUMMIT LAUDS GOV’T-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

PVAO PENSIONERS. Philippine Veterans Affairs Office Administrator Ernesto Carolina answers questions from the media on the issues regarding a report on the agency released by the Commission on Audit in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on June 7, 2019. COA flagged the PVAO for its alleged payment of P70.25 million worth of pension to over 5,700 deceased pensioners in 2018. PNA

DON Paulino, general manager of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX), lauded companies that partner with the academe for student internships, on-the-job training, leadership seminars and other learning interactions during the first International Summit of Alumni, Academe, Industry and Government.

“Equipping the next leaders of the country with the right skills and tools is essential to help them achieve success, paving the way for the country’s advancement,” he says in outlining the “Road Map from Now to Future” during the recent three-day summit.

Paulino leads the Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power project, one of the most successful Public-Private Partnerships in the history of the Philippines that allows the provision of 30 percent of the country’s power needs and the contribution of $10 billion in government revenues.

Providing venues where young people can immerse themselves in various industries early in their studies is crucial as it will help them choose which career journey they would like to embark on. Paulino also said that creating an ecosystem where different industries work together to build and provide sustainable solutions to complex issues is also another innovative way to set up a collaborative environment for students.

Further, he reiterated the importance of equipping

One of the PPP exponents, Don Paulino of Spex stresses the need to equip the youth with the right tools and skills for them to achieve success.

young people with collaborative and leadership skills to ensure that the ecosystem will survive and thrive. Paulino also urged educators to coach, rather than tell their students what to do. “Coaching empowers students and gives them the opportunity to come up with solutions to different obstacles. You have to guide students to solve problems in their own, unique way,” he says.

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SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

News

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

DU30: NO U.S. TROOPS IN WPS

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has assured Chinese President Xi Jinping that no American soldier will be allowed to set foot on Pag-asa island in the West Philippine Sea.

In a television interview, Duterte recalled telling Xi not to waste gasoline in sending ships to Pag-asa island. “‘Why are you surrounding my island with so many ships? You’re wasting your gasoline.’ That’s my exact words. ‘You’re wasting your gasoline. You might as well give it to us,’” the President said.

“I told you I will not allow, as long as I am President, any American to set foot on that Pag-asa. Because I know that it will create really trouble.

And I will not allow their arms. If it’s a Philippine government arms given to us by America, well that’s another

story. If you want, you can give us a better one,” he added.

The President did not state when the meeting was held, but he last met with the Chinese leader in April for the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

Duterte clarified he was “not angry” when he called Xi’s attention over the Chinese maritime flotilla in the West Philippine Sea. “I told him, ‘Did I not tell you, Mr. President (Xi), that I will never allow the Americans to set foot on any of the islands controlled by the Philippines?

That we will not start any war and that I will never allow American weapons

to be stationed in that island?’” he said.

“Do not deprive them [Filipino fishermen] because you know we are poor.

You prohibit us, you will just create the inflation to go higher,” Duterte added.

Earlier, US military’s top general accused Xi of reneged on his promises not to militarize the South China Sea and called for “collective action” to hold Beijing responsible.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was not calling for military action, but stressed that there was a need to enforce international laws.

“The fall of 2016, President Xi Jinping promised President Obama that they would not militarize the islands.

So what we see today are 10,000-foot runways, ammunition storage facilities, routine deployment of missile defense

capabilities, aviation capabilities, and so forth,” he said in a talk on US security and defense at the Brooking institution.

“So clearly they have walked away from that commitment...When we ignore actions that are not in compliance with international rules, norms and standards, we have just set a new standard,” Dunford added.

Washington has been frustrated by an inability to stall China’s aggressive military colonization of the South China Sea, which rejects conflicting territorial claims by five other countries: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Philippines.

The US has sent navy vessels through the areas claimed by China as “international freedom of navigation operations,” but otherwise has found responding difficult.

FB CUTS OFF HUAWEI FOLLOWING U.S. SANCTIONS SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook said it would cut off Huawei from its popular social networking apps to comply with US sanctions, further isolating the Chinese tech giant considered a national security threat

by Washington.

The social media giant said it took the step after President Donald Trump’s order barring Huawei from US technology exports over concerns that it works with Chinese intelligence.

“We are reviewing the Commerce Department’s final rule and the more recently issued temporary general license and taking steps to ensure compliance,” a Facebook spokesperson told AFP. The California company said people with existing Huawei smartphones with Facebook apps will continue to be able to use and download app updates provided by Facebook.

The move by Facebook is the latest to isolate Huawei, which had become the world’s second largest smartphone vendor despite security concerns voiced in Washington.

Google last month said it would cut ties to Huawei, making it harder to obtain major apps from the US giant.

The Google decision would leave Huawei without the Play Store, the marketplace for most Android apps, and other elements of the mobile operating system.

Facebook—which is banned in China but has more than two billion users worldwide—said its decision would affect its core social network as well as applications such as Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, which each have at least one billion users.

The US sanctions were imposed May 15, but the administration allowed a 90-day compliance period that gives users of Huawei devices time to install updates and avoid a major disruption of the mobile economy.

Huawei has indicated it would create its own operating system to replace the Google Android platform, but would need to develop its own app marketplace as well if it wants to retain users outside China. AFP

PROUD DISPLAY. A vendor sells flags of varying sizes along Mindanao Ave. in Quezon City ahead of Independence Day on June 12. Manny Palmero

HIGHER SIN TAX LAW A ‘FITTING GIFT’

By Maricel V. Cruz THE passage of the bill increasing taxes on tobacco products is a fitting gift of the 17th Congress to the people, a pro-administration congressman said on Saturday.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte said the bill’s passage will save thousands of lives as well as provide needed funds for Universal Health Care.

Villafuerte said the House under the leadership of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has always looked after the interests of the majority of the people.

“Passing a ‘sin’ tax reform law that provides for significant increases in the prices of tobacco products is a fitting last gift of the 17th Congress to the

people and a concrete demonstration of support for the President’s pro-poor agenda,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte said the passage by both the Senate and the House on the eve of their sine die adjournment of the ‘sin’ tax bill is a feather in the cap of Speaker Arroyo.

“The bill’s a fitting cap to the legacy of a highly productive 17th Congress that has written landmark social legislation in support of President Duterte’s commitment to ensure that all Filipinos truly benefit from sustained high growth by way of better living standards for all,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte noted higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products would benefit most especially poor and

low-income Filipinos as the would-be revenues from this measure are meant to cover the funding gap of the Universal Health Care Law that was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last February.

He pointed out the UHC would go for naught had Congress failed to pass the “sin” tax hike bill as this measure alone would ensure adequate funding for the Duterte administration’s goal of providing free health care to all Filipino.

“The congressional approval of the new ‘sin’ tax bill tight will help the government accomplish its twofold objectives of discouraging smoking and raising enough revenues for UHC, which, in turn, will let President Duterte achieve his goal of attacking poverty and improving the lives of Filipinos,” he said.

BEN TULFO HITS BAUTISTA

PROPERTIES LOST. More than a hundred houses were razed in Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City. Manny Palmero

BROADCASTER Ben Tulfo on Saturday lambasted Social Welfare chief Rolando Bautista for setting conditions before accepting the apology of his brother, Erwin Tulfo.

“Putres na ‘brotherhood’! ang KAKAPAL! Ayon sa kumag na OIC, mag-sorry daw sa lahat ng media outlet. ‘BUTAW’ na P300k kinakailangan para mahugasan ang kasalanan. Tsong, daig mo pa si Padre Damaso at mga kolokoy na kauri mo! Nagpapatawa ka ba?! #unfiltered (Goddamn brotherhood! Thick-faced all. According to that stupid OIC, (Erwin) should apologize in all media outlets and pay P300,000 to be absolved of his son. You are worse than Padre Damaso and all other fools like you. Are you trying to be funny?),”Ben wrote on Twitter.

Bautista said on Thursday he is willing to forgive Tulfo for his offensive remarks

against him on national radio if he meets certain conditions.

In a statement posted on DSWD’s official website, Bautista said Tulfo should publish his apology in multiple platforms: 1) at least half-page advertisements in leading newspapers; 2) social media accounts—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube; and 3) radio stations dzBB, dzMM, Radio Singko, dzRH, and dzRB. He is also asking Tulfo to donate a minimum of P300,000 to each of the 19 organizations he had identified, mostly for health, education, and welfare needs of soldiers and residents of Marawi City.

Bautista, a retired Army chief who had led the government body tasked to rehabilitate war-torn Marawi City, is an alumnus of the Philippine Military Academy.

POLL WATCHDOG SEEKS AES AMENDMENTS A CITIZEN’S election watchdog appealed yesterday to the public to support a nationwide People’s Initiative to amend Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automation Election Systems law to address the perennial problems experienced by voters and ensure a more transparent and credible election in 2022.

“We call on our countrymen to support the nationwide People’s Initiative to amend the Automation Election Systems law to fix the perennial problems experienced every automated elections in the Philippines so we can have transparent and credible elections in 2022,” Mata sa Balota Movement chairman Leo Olarte said.

“We are pushing for this initiative because we fully support President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated calls for the Commission on Elections to get rid of its technology provider Smartmatic. The President himself said to dispose of that Smartmatic and look for a new one that is free of fraud,” Olarte said.

Earlier, a former official of Smartmatic, Comelec’s technology partner, admitted that precincts in Libon, Albay were transmitting results to the poll body’s transmission server even before Election Day. In a testimony before the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System, former Smartmatic operations officer Jeffrey Ian Dy said the transmission occurred between May 3 and 9.

Dy could not say if the early transmission affected the election results, but acknowledged that this was wrong and prohibited under Comelec rules.

The anomaly uncovered during the three-hour hearing compounded Comelec’s problems, which included more than 1,000 vote counting machines malfunctioning on Election Day and a seven-hour delay in the transmission of results from the transparency server to media organizations and poll watchdogs.

EFFORTS CONTINUE VS. SWINE FEVER

By Joel E. Zurbano CUSTOMS Airport district collector Carmelita Talusan has assured her office will continuously support the Bureau of Animal Industry in connection with the government’s effort to prevent a possible African Swine Fever outbreak in the country.

To date, more than 4,490 kilograms of meat and meat products have been seized at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by the Bureau of Customs and turned over to BAI for disposal from January to May. The recent apprehension was on May 29 when Customs agents at the Manila airport intercepted a total of 84 kilos of imported meat from Japan with no BAI clearance and health certificate.

Talusan said the air passenger who brought the seized meat products failed to present the required impor t documents which are necessary to ensure no contaminated meat products enter the borders.

“The seized meat were confiscated and turned over by Customs NAIA to BAI-Veterinary Quarantine Services,” she said.

BAI officials said outbreak of the virus can affect the 40 million plus live hogs in the Philippines and can destroy the P2-billion worth swine industry in the country.

To safeguard against the epidemic, BAI personnel and Port of NAIA officials have intensified their campaign and are closely monitoring all terminals.

The Department of Agriculture also started deploying meat-sniffing dogs to airport terminals to prevent the entry of contaminated meat.

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SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

Opinion

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

DESERVING OF DIGNITY

V

IRAL news on the restroom used as faculty room by teachers in a Cavite high school in recent weeks has put yet once again the perennial issues of classroom shortage, the attitude of authorities and the often glossed over importance of teachers in our society.

The issue came under sharp focus when Maricel Herrera, Bacoor National High School-Molino Main teacher and faculty association president, clambered up social media and raised her complaints on the lack of faculty room for teachers.

She ate her heart out that teachers, licensed

and professional—many of whom have masteral degrees or units—do not have faculty rooms where they can “rest and relax” after mind-numbing hours as they individually commit to the letter of their respective lesson plans.

Beyond doubt, the viral post has reached Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ attention, explaining, with the speed of a chasing thunderclap, that using the restroom as a faculty room was the “choice” of the teachers themselves.

Said she: “They had a choice, they could hold office in the laboratory rooms but of course it is more dramatic, it is more touching if you hold it in the toilets.”

Accordingly, the Department of Education explained that the situation in Bacoor “arose when the school implemented its decision to move to single-shift classes this academic year 2019, which resulted in faculty rooms, intended initially as classrooms, needing to be “converted back into additional classrooms to realize the policy.”

Now Herrera has been threatened with a suit for exposing the faculty diegesis. But the Alliance of Concerned Teachers was quick with its fist in blasting the threat as an act of vindictiveness and abuse of authority.

Said ACT: “What Ms. Herrera is being made to suffer right now is a clear case of union repression and violation of her academic freedom.

“She is being shamed and punished for speaking truth to power, a courageous act to stand for the welfare of teachers who were plopped in a dismal condition, but the powers-that-be took offense and now threatens her employment.”

As the issue continues to develop, we cannot puff up the importance of teachers who help build castles of thoughts and bridges of images in their students, the future leaders of the community.

It is in their lesson plans and modules, to quote the Irish playwright and polemicist Bernard Shaw, where “the sole hope of human salvation lies.”

HOW SEASONS WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES TRADITIONALLY, many of us say that summertime in the Philippines is about to end and give way to the rainy season. While this is a good metaphor that allows us to be understood by those living in temperate regions, where there are four distinct seasons, this is not technically accurate.

Since we are in the tropical zone, our seasons are defined neither by the length of daylight nor the intensity of sunlight. Instead, it is defined by the amount of rainfall.

This is why we do not have the same kinds of seasons experienced in temperate regions of the world: summer, autumn, winter, and spring. Instead, we have the dry season and the wet season.

This year, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) declared March 22 to be the official start of the dry season. Meanwhile, in a statement made last week, PAGASA said that the rainy or wet season will probably start later this week, close to the middle of June.

What is summer, anyway? In temperate regions, summer is the time of the year when daytime is significantly longer than nighttime.

Because of the significant increase in the amount of daylight, summer is a season when the temperature

is higher than in other times of the year.

In temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, summer is linked with the Summer Solstice, which happens between June 20 and 22. This year’s northern Summer Solstice will happen on June 21. Summer solstice is the longest day of the year.

Opposite to the Summer Solstice is what is known as the Winter Solstice, or the shortest day of the year. In the northern hemisphere, Winter Solstice happens between December 21 and 22. This year it falls on the 22nd of December.

Things are the other way around in the southern hemisphere: June 21 is the winter solstice while December 22 is the summer solstice.

The differences in length of day between the solstices is significant in temperate regions. Take, for instance, Seoul in the Republic of Korea. On June 21, Seoul will experience 14 hours and 46 minutes of daylight, with additional several hours of twilight. Meanwhile, on December 22, Seoul will have only 9 hours and 34 minutes of daylight.

Contrast this to, say, Cebu City. On June 21, Cebu City will experience 12 hours and 44 minutes of daylight.

Meanwhile, on December 22 it will have 11 hours and 31 minutes of

PARADIGM SHIFT: LET IT HAPPEN

daylight. A similar observation can be made of any other city in the Philippines.

In other words, technically there is no “summer” season in the Philippines, at least not in the way the word is used by people living in temperate regions such as Korea or the United States.

Of course the dry season that runs from March to the first week of June feels like our summer, which is why the word “summer” is a useful way of describing this time of the year. After all, this is the time of the year we go to the beach, have local summer vacations, and turn up our air conditioning machines the most.

This is why seasonal variations in the amount of rain determine our seasons. For example, Manila City receives an average of less than 21 mm of rainfall from January to March. During the wet season, however, the city receives significantly more: 280 mm in June, 360 mm in July, and 480 mm in August, its rainiest month.

The rains in the Philippines are brought by the prevailing winds.

This is why PAGASA uses the winds to determine the official start of the dry and wet seasons. Roughly speaking, when the northeasterly winds dominate, they bring drier weather. Meanwhile, when the southwesterly winds prevail, they

By Dorothy Jane B. del Rosario LET me paint you a gruesome picture: Maybe 30 to 50 years from now, most of our trees would have been replaced by infrastructure. One day, we might have to breathe from oxygen tanks and the only way to live is for us to have power and privilege.

Apocalypse begins. Is this even possible? Think about it.

Research shows that between 1990 and 2005, almost 32.3 percent of the Philippines’ forest cover has been lost. Illegal logging has become widespread throughout the country, yet no one seems to have noticed it.

Given the increasingly frantic pace of life, we the youth tend to look at immediate things: How many likes would we get on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or so. We don’t realize how crucial it is to think about far-reaching things like saving the planet. Instead we mull over what we see and what’s right in front of us. We have lost our innate ability to care about the natural world. We feel small and powerless to believe that we, individually can make a big difference.

Let me give you this one metaphor: Think of the things happening around us like a bag of popcorn in a microwave oven. Heat is emitted at the first minute but it’s not evident yet. However, when we reach the second minute, the kernel starts to do its thing. This situation can be compared to the extreme weather events that have been happening from then until now—signals of climate change, signals that we should open our eyes!

Subsequently, it is said that if we were to stop emissions, we would see drastically increased temperatures in succeeding years. At this moment, if we were to be engaged and involved in this dilemma, we could still make a difference.

Thirty years ago, the potentially disruptive impact of heat—trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels and rainforests became known.

However, this kind of warning is still not enough for people to be convinced that if we don’t do anything now, worst-case scenarios can happen, and we are vulnerable.

We can help empower the youth and be proactive. In our generation, information spreads fast—often like a virus. What if we take on this challenge to save the environment and make that challenge viral as well? If these influencers can produce content to earn money, why can’t we do the same to make a difference?

We can get the youth to be more informed, involved and engaged.

Plant trees? Ditch your car?

Take shorter showers? What other challenges can you think of? These can also spread and people might be informed and get involved through this. Once we all get to know our shared vulnerability, we could open our eyes and see what things we can do to improve our environment.

We cannot just close our eyes and hope for the best. It’s not just having the motivation and perseverance, or to use one’s voice to let the youth be involved. This paradigm shift will only take place—if and only if we chose to take on this change, open our eyes, and see what awaits us in the future.

What’s right in front of us now is the power to respond and take individual action—before we pay a steep price.

SOUNDS OF SCIENCE PECIER DECIERDO bring heavy rains. Locally, we call them Amihan and Habagat, respectively.

All of this is relative. It applies most accurately to the western part of the country, where there is a somewhat pronounced difference between the wet and dry seasons.

In the eastern part of the country, it is relatively wet throughout the year, although during the rainy season the rains are even heavier.

Between these two regions, there are areas where the rain is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year. In such places, the difference between the wet and dry seasons is not so pronounced. Cebu City is an example of a place that experiences this type of climate.

In Davao City, the distribution of rainfall throughout the year is even more even.

In summary, because the Philippines is in the tropical zone, the seasons are not determined by the amount of daylight. Rather, they are determined by the amount of rainfall, which varies throughout the year and from one part of the country to another because of seasonal variations in the prevailing wind patterns.

Dorothy Jane del Rosario from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila is the winner of the first #MSIntegriTree Essay Writing Contest.

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher ManilaStandard

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DUTCH CLINIC SEES JUMP IN FOREIGN EUTHANASIA REQUESTS AFTER TEEN’S DEATH THE Hague, Netherlands—The Netherlands’ only euthanasia clinic says it has received a surge in calls from overseas from people who want to end their lives, after a flurry of incorrect reports that it had helped a troubled teenager to die.

Since the wrongly reported story about 17-year-old Noa Pothoven went viral, the Levenseindekliniek (End-of-life clinic) in The Hague said it had received at least 25 foreign requests for help.

Pothoven—who published a book about her mental struggles following a childhood rape—was in fact not euthanized, but died on Sunday after refusing to eat and drink, her family and the government have said.

Steven Pleiter, the Levenseindekliniek managing director said it “was not aiming for euthanasia tourist traffic” to the Netherlands.

“That’s absolutely not what we are aiming for and why we were set up,” he told AFP in an interview.

“A person cannot just come to the Netherlands to be euthanized. It’s not like you arrive on Monday and you will have a euthanasia on Friday.”

The Netherlands is one of a handful of countries where euthanasia is legal and by law all inhabitants older than 12 are entitled to ask for it – but have to first fulfil a strict set of criteria.

‘End their lives in a decent manner’ Pleiter said the Levenseindekliniek was not involved in Pothoven’s death, but declined to comment on Pothoven’s claim in a newspaper interview in December that she had approached it to seek euthanasia or assisted suicide, but had been turned down because she was too young.

“I feel very sorry for Noa Pothoven, who found that she could not live any longer and could not have the help that she was looking for and that she had to end her life,” Pleiter said.

“Noa decided to end her life by stopping to eat and drink. The Levenseindekliniek was not involved in providing euthanasia to Noa,” he said.

“But that’s exactly what drives us to help as many people as we can. We try to help people end their lives in a decent manner,” he said. AFP

‘HURRY UP!’ G20 TOLD: SPEED UP DIGITAL TAX FUKUOKA, Japan—Top G20 finance officials agreed Saturday there was an urgent need to find a global system to tax internet giants like Google and Facebook but clashed on the best way to do it.

The G20 has tasked the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to fix an international tax system that has seen some internet heavyweights take advantage of low-tax jurisdictions in places like Ireland and pay next to nothing in other countries where they make huge profits.

OECD chief Angel Gurria presented G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs meeting over the weekend in the western Japanese city of Fukuoka with a “roadmap,” already signed off by 129 countries, in a bid to clinch a long-term solution by 2020.

“We have to hurry up,” stressed French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire during a panel discussion of top policymakers before the G20 meeting officially opened.

Le Maire called for a more ambitious timeframe to forge a global consensus, saying: “The right schedule is to find a compromise by the end of this year.”

British finance minister Philip Hammond said taxing internet giants fairly was a response to something that is “perceived by our population to be a gross injustice in our tax system.”

Ministers are weighing a new tax policy based on the amount of business a company does in a country, not where it is headquartered.

But there are rival proposals in the mix, including a wider US-led approach that could affect European and Asian multinationals in other sectors than technology.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took a blunt view of policies in Britain and France, which have already introduced their own taxes on digital players, given a lack of global consensus.

“I would say the US has significant concerns with the two current taxes that are being proposed by France and the UK but let me give them some good credit for proposing them in the sense (that) they have created an urgency to deal with this issue,” said Mnuchin.

“Although I don’t like them, I do appreciate the impetus for these issues,” added the top US finance official.

“We are not looking to rewrite the entire tax code, but we do need to look at the balance between what may be the issue in digital and perhaps how this new environment affects non-digital companies as well,” he said.

While there were gaps on the exact make-up of the reform, the policymakers agreed there needed to be a global approach to taxing the big internet firms.

Gurria said there was a risk of “cacophony” and a “race to the bottom” without an agreed global framework and Mnuchin agreed that “having a fragmented tax approach is not good for any of us.” AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor

US, MEXICO HAMMER OUT LAST-MINUTE DEAL TO CURB MIGRATION, AVOID TARIFFS

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ASHINGTON—The United States and Mexico reached an 11th-hour deal late Friday to crack down on migration from Central America, with President Donald Trump relenting on threats to slap potentially devastating tariffs on the neighboring country.

With Trump ready to impose five percent tariffs on all Mexican goods starting Monday, senior officials hammered out an agreement after three days of intense negotiations at the State Department.

Under the deal, Mexico acknowledged and agreed to expand its policy of taking back migrants from violence-riven Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as the United States processes their asylum claims.

In turn, Mexico managed to avoid a proposal it had continually rejected – that it process asylum claims on its own soil before migrants try to reach the United States.

“I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the US on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended,” Trump wrote on Twitter shortly after returning from a trip to Europe.

“Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had planned to head Saturday to the border city of Tijuana to show solidarity ahead of the tariffs, said that his trip would instead be to “celebrate.”

“Thanks to the support of all Mexicans, we were able to avoid tariffs on Mexican products exported to the United States,” tweeted Lopez Obrador, who since his election last year has tried studiously not to antagonize Trump.

Trump, who ran for president pushing a tough line on immigration that included denouncing undocumented Mexicans as rapists, had vowed to raise tariffs as high as 25 percent unless Mexico—which exports $350 billion in goods each year to the United States—takes further action against migrants.

The tariffs would have clobbered Mexico’s economy, which is integrated with the United States and Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement, with experts warning of a recession and Fitch rating service already downgrading Mexico’s credit rating. AFP

STAR PERFORMER. Jennifer Lopez performs onstage during the It’s My Party Tour at The Forum on June 7 in Inglewood, California. AFP

QUEEN HONORS ‘THE CROWN’ ACTRESS OLIVIA COLMAN LONDON—Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman, who will play Queen Elizabeth II in “The Crown,” was honored by the monarch on Saturday for her services to British drama.

Colman, 45, was awarded the CBE by the sovereign to mark her 93rd birthday, which is officially celebrated in Britain on the second Saturday in June.

Colman headed a list of stars —and everyday heroes—made commanders (CBE), officers (OBE) or regular members (MBE) of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the main order of chivalry.

“I’m totally thrilled, delighted and humbled to be in the company of these incredible people, most of whom have been nowhere near as visible as I have, but should be—and hopefully now will be,” she said.

Colman won this year’s best actress Academy Award for her role as Queen Anne in “The Favorite” and will next portray Queen Elizabeth in season three of “The Crown.”

A recent photo from The Crown Season 3 set shows Olivia Colman in a tiara as Queen Elizabeth.

Of playing the two, she said: “I find the harder is Queen Elizabeth because everyone knows what she looks like, everyone knows what she sounds like,” she said. “I am loving trying to play her.”

Gong for Grylls TV adventurer Bear Grylls, who also leads the Scouts in Britain, was made

an OBE for his services to young people.

Author Lee Child, whose action hero Jack Reacher has been played on screen by Tom Cruise, received the CBE, as did fellow novelist Joanna Trollope.

Sarah Waters, famed for her raun-

chy novels featuring lesbian protagonists, including “Tipping The Velvet,” was made an OBE. In the world of music, singers Elvis Costello and Feargal Sharkey were both given the OBE, accepting establishment endorsements far from their punk roots.

In sports, there were CBEs for former Manchester United chief executive David Gill and Philip Brook, the outgoing chairman of the All England Club which hosts the Wimbledon tennis championships.

Tony Allcock, the 17-time world bowls champion, received the OBE. Scotland cricket captain Kyle Coetzer, former marathon world record holder Steve Jones, and the reigning Women’s British Open golf champion Georgia Hall were given the MBE. Some 1,073 people were on the birthday honors list, 75 percent of whom were rewarded for outstanding work in their local communities. AFP

NASA TO OPEN INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO TOURISTS FROM 2020

This NASA photo obtained November 4, 2018 shows the International Space Station photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking. NASA said it will open up the International Space Station for tourism and other business ventures as of next year as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab. AFP

NEW YORK—NASA said it will open up the International Space Station to business ventures including space tourism— with stays priced at $35,000 a night—as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab.

“NASA is opening the International Space Station to commercial opportunities and marketing these opportunities as we’ve never done before,” NASA chief financial officer Jeff DeWit said in New York.

There will be up to two short private astronaut missions per year, said Robyn Gatens, deputy director of the ISS. The missions will be for stays of up to 30 days. As many as a dozen private astronauts could visit the ISS per year, NASA said.

These travelers would be ferried to the orbiter exclusively by the two companies currently developing transport vehicles for NASA: SpaceX, with its Crew Dragon

capsule, and Boeing, which is building one called Starliner.

These companies would choose the clients and bill for the trip to the ISS, which will be the most expensive part of the adventure: around $58 million for a round trip ticket.

That is the average rate the companies will bill NASA for taking the space adventurers up to the ISS. But the tourists will also pay NASA for their stay in space, for food, water and use of the life support system on the orbiter.

That will run about $35,000 per night per astronaut, said DeWit. The space station does not belong to NASA. It was built along with Russia starting in 1998, and other countries participate in the mission and send up astronauts.

But the US has paid for and controls most of the modules that make up the orbiter. AFP

Images

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SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

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A participant steers the car through wind turbines during the SS20 stage in the Rally of Portugal near Fafe, on June 2. AFP

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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

OVERFLOWING. A man rides an electric tricycle loaded with goods on a street in Beijing on June 5. AFP

IN MEMORIAM. A picture taken on June 6 shows the sun shining through a British soldier sculpture in Arromanches in Normandy during the D-Day commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings. AFP

ONE-TRACK MIND. A photo taken in June shows performers during a ‘Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance’ or mass games, at the May Day stadium in Pyongyang. The “Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance” features enormous numbers of people—mostly students and children—performing synchronized moves. AFP

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SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

Riera U. Mallari, Editor sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Sports

RAPTORS A WIN SHY OF NBA TITLE DREAM

AKLAND—Kawhi Leonard hoisted the Toronto Raptors onto his back in the third quarter of Friday’s NBA Finals game against Golden State and lifted them within one triumph of their first championship.

The 27-year-old playmaker with the cool-as-ice demeanor scored 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to power the Raptors over the defending champion Warriors 105-92 for a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

With the game poised on a knife’s edge, Leonard opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Raptors their first lead and finished with 17 points in the quarter while helping silence Golden State stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

“The key was pretty much playing defense,” Leonard said.

“That second half we started to make some shots and just pretty much stayed in the game.”

Leonard, who was the 2014 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in leading San Antonio to a title, was 11-of-22 from the floor, 5-of-9 from 3-point range, and 9-of-9 from the free throw line to secure the victory.

“He’s playing great and he has lifted us a lot of times with big buckets or runs,” Nurse said. “But more than anything, once we saw him early in the year... our team’s sense of who they thought they could become went up.”

Teammates realized they could become champions and now the Warriors know it all too well, even if Leonard lacks the flamboyant moves of LeBron James or injured Warriors star Kevin Durant.

“You got to give him his credit. He imposed his will on the game and all the other guys followed him,” Golden

Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors loses the ball against the Golden State Warriors during Game Four of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. AFP

State’s Draymond Green said. “I’m not sure if it will ever look like those other guys, but he gets the job done.”

Curry was impressed at the way Leonard seized command.

“He played amazing,” Curry said. “He hit every big shot, momentum shot that in that third quarter, it gave them the lead. And then kept the separation.”

Leonard’s low-key attitude has kept the Raptors calm when excitement beckons, such as being a game from the title.

“His demeanor has taken a big part of our team,” Lowry said. “We have some guys that are fiery and feisty,

but we all just stay level headed and never get too up, never get too down.

Kawhi definitely brought a lot to that.”

‘Two big-boy shots’ Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said there was nothing the Warriors could have done to stop Leonard from taking control early in the third quarter with his 3-pointers.

“There’s no defense for that. There are no schemes for that,”VanVleet said.

“That’s two big-boy shots that he came out of the half with, two back-to-back threes. And that just kind of let you know how we were going to approach the third quar-

ter and the rest of the half. It put us in good position.”

When the Warriors did try to stop Leonard, it opened plays for Serge Ibaka, who came off the bench to score 20 points.

“We know they would try to take Kawhi away, double him, so I just tried to play in the space.”

Ibaka had 12 points in the second half to keep Golden State at bay.

“He was great,” Nurse said. “Once he starts blocking a couple shots, the offense comes and the rebounding comes and even his jump shot seems to come.” AFP

YOUNG, BAGTAS TOP MAZDA-FOREST HILLS GOLF PETER Young and veteran Eddie Bagtas assembled 148 (79-69) in aggregate at the Nicklaus course and combined for 71 in four ball at the Palmer layout to capture the overall low gross crown with a 219 total in the 18th Mazda-Forest Hills Invitational held at the Forest Hills Golf Club in Antipolo City.

Allan Passion and basketball coach Virgil Villavicencio won the overall net champions, shooting 86 (44-42) and 44 for 130 points in the four-day tournament, staked two sedan cars from GAC Motors and Diamond Motors (Mitsubishi) and an Adventure 150

motorcycle from Autohub.

Mark Gruba and partner Mike Lim made 76 and 44 for 120 to top Class A while Romeo Chong and Edgardo Brocal had 88 and 42 for 130 to hoist the Class B title.

Elmer Ngo and Nestor Quinsay, a Department of Interior and Local Government Undersecretary, turned in 124 (81 and 43) in Class C. Evelyn Alcantara and Vangie Omlang took home the Class D plum with 129 (85 and 44). Junior golfer Leandro Bagtas and Johnny Chua were awarded

with the sponsors and members individual titles, respectively.

Golforce, Megaforce Security, City Advertising, Escala Tagaytay, Luisita Golf Club and Elm’s Kapihan presented the event with Primer Group, Business Mirror, KLIO International, and Inquirer Golf.

Cherrylume/Mileage Asia Corp., Fatima University Med Center, CDO Foodsphere, YSA Skin Care and Mizuno were silver sponsors. Emirates, Cebu Pacific, Taishan Insurance, Turf Company, Silicon Computers, J-Ten Sports were the backers.

MAKATI TAEKWONDO JINS FIND A GODFATHER

By Arman D. Armero IN PHILIPPINE sports where financial support is hard to come by, it is quite difficult to find somebody who would go out of his way to lend his resources, his time and his guidance to young, impressionable but talented athletes.

Fortunately, the members of the Kasilawan Taekwondo Club in Makati have someone like Carlo Batalla.

But unlike most sports godfathers, Carlo is no stranger to the world of Philippine sports.

A muay thai and judo practitioner himself since he was 15 years old, Carlo was also one of the major figures behind the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) Sports from 1987 to 1991.

As Pagcor’s point man in sports, Carlo was responsible in channeling support for several sports events such as golf, tennis, bowling and chess and for other sports organizations, which asks Pagcor for financial backing.

“Marami na rin kaming natulungan nu’ng time na ‘yun, pati na rin ‘yung mga lumalapit sa amin para humingi ng support, mga basketball tournaments at iba pang sports,” Carlo recalls.

After his stint in Pagcor, Carlo went into politics (he was a provincial board member of Camarines Sur LGU) and later on as secretarygeneral of the Citizens Crime Watch, but he had never abandoned his passion for sports.

Fast forward to the present, Carlo finds himself an ‘accidental’ godfather to several future taekwondo champions, most of whom are based in Makati City.

The Kasilawan jins used to hold their practices at the Makati Coliseum, but when the jins and their coach Isagani Domingo crossed paths with Carlo, a partnership soon blossomed between the jins

and their future sports godfather.

In 2017, Carlo sort of adopted the Kasilawan jins, offering his newly-built Carlos 2 gym in Olympia St. to be their permanent practice venue.

Carlo actually owns two ‘non-profit’ gyms both named after his eldest child, Carlos Rafael: Carlos 1, located along Pio del Pilar St., and Carlos 2.

The decision to adopt the Kasilawan jins was made easier, not only because of Carlo’s passion for martial arts and sports in general, but also because his children happen to be taekwondo players.

“Malaking bagay din na naglalaro din ng taekwondo ang mga anak ko. At saka hindi ko talaga maiwanan ang sports,” Carlo says.

Aside from the 12-year-old Carlos

Tatiana Batalla, Carlo Batalla’s youngest daughter. Tatiana is a champion jin, swimmer and basketball player.

(Tatiana’s FB page)

Carlo Batalla (4th from left) is shown with members of the Kasilawan Taekwondo Club in Makati during the recent TOPS Usapang Sports held at the National Press Club in Intramuros. Also in photo (beside Batalla) is TOPS president Ed Andaya and other members of the sports media. Henry Vargas

Rafael, his daughters Serena, 11 and Tatiana, 8 are active taekwondo jins. Tatiana, the youngest, is also a champion swimmer and a budding basketball player.

Aside from the Batalla kids, the Kasilawan Taekwondo Club boasts of some of the country’s topnotch jins, including champion jins Kristiana Catalina Tiu, Carlos Palanca Jr., Justin Agno, Aldrich Vincent Paul Merin, Charles Benjamin Gavan, gold medalist Victor Rodriguez, Patrick Odrada Rafael Ongkiko, Marco Julio Tiu and Diana Supangan.

Other promising jins under Kasilawan’s fold include Lavaine Ashanty Valeroso, Pearl Angeline Torrico, Lex Provido and Kenji Uchida.

Aside from stamping their mark in local and international tournaments, most of the Kasilawan jins have been taken in as athletic scholars by their respective schools, something which they all thank for.

In a recent press forum held by the Tabloids Organization in Philippine Sports at the National Press Club, the jins expressed

their gratitude for their burgeoning career as student-athletes to their godfather, a sentiment shared by coach Gani.

“Si Sir Carlos (Batalla) po ang aming ‘godfather’. ‘Yung suporta po niya ay naging daan para mas maging mas competitive ang aming mga atleta sa Kasilawan. Taos-puso po kaming nagpapasalamat sa kanya.”

On June 8, the Kasilawan jins will once again see action at the Smart New Face Taekwondo tournament at the Music Room of the Mall of Asia, and needless to say, Carlo Batalla will be there not only to lend his support, but also to boost the jins’ morale as they continue their journey towards becoming future world-class jins.

Asked what is his ultimate goal for his jins, Carlo simply says: “The goal is the gold medal in the Olympics.”

The road to the Olympic gold medal is long and hard, but with the jins’ perseverance and skills, and Carlo’s undying support, nothing, really, is impossible.

VAN DER VALK FOILS GLEESON RALLY, NAILS CEBU PGT TITLE DANAO City, Cebu—Guido Van der Valk bucked tough pin placements and toughened up down the stretch, hitting a clutch birdie to salvage a 70, fend off a hot-charging David Gleeson and complete a wire-to-wire victory in the ICTSI Club Filipino de Cebu Invitational here yesterday.

With Gleeson sustaining his course record-setting third round rally and pulling to within one with five holes left in a flight ahead, Van der Valk kept his poise and birdied No. 14 from six feet to regain a two-shot cushion then parred the rest to save a 34-36 card and snap a 14-month spell with a 10-under 274 total for his second victory on the Philippine Golf Tour.

“I played solid and kind of anticipated the change in the position of the holes,” said Van der Valk, who anchored his romp with 66-65 in the first two rounds to post a six-stroke lead.

Though he fumbled with a 73 Friday that enabled a slew of rivals to close in, the Dutchman bucked the pressure from Albin Engino and Michael Bibat with a birdie and a rash of pars in the first nine holes to stay in firm control.

“It’s always war whenever you’re on the (golf) course and I hit a lot of greens and it’s nice to win again,” said Van der Valk, who ended a string of sorry finishes in the circuit with a tough win at Eagle Ridge last year and banked the top P550,000 purse through a replica of the check he received from PGT executive director Narlene Soriano.

Gleeson, who fell by as many as 14 strokes after 36 holes but rallied to within four with a stirring 63 Friday, hit his third birdie in the final round on No. 13 to threaten within one and pulled to within a shot again with another birdie on No. 15.

But the Australian ace, who scored a breakthrough on the PGT Asia at Luisita last year, missed the 17th green in a frantic chase for another birdie and ended up with a bogey, finishing with a 68 for joint second with Michael Bibat, who shot a 69, at 276.

430 KIDS JOIN GAMES IN PADALA A TOTAL of 430 youngsters celebrated their childhood in a day of fun and games in Padada, Davao del Sur on May 30 and in Catalunan Grande, Davao City on June 1.

Rainshowers did not dampen the excitement of the 130 kids who were led by their 13 Ate and Kuya volunteers in the Sports for Peace Children’s Games in Padada.

Barangay Captain Vimar Embudo thanked the Philippine Sports Commission for giving the children aged eight to 11 years old a day to have fun at the same time be conscious of taking good care of their environment as a mangrove planting and coastal clean-up was incorporated in the event.

“Katungod sa mga bata na magdula (It’s the right of the children to play),” Embudo said.

PSC Mindanao cluster head Ed Fernandez said that letting the children play with each other develop confidence greater than those who do not. “They make friends and learn values of respect and understanding early in life,” he said.

PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, who also had a fun childhood in Padada, missed the activity as he joined the PSC team building program in Bataan. But through Fernandez, the PSC chief extended his gratitude to the local government officials, partners and stakeholders who made the Games possible.

Water transfer, sack race and kadang-kadang were among the games played by Christian and Muslim children in the event held in partnership with Batch 1980 of St. Michael School of Padada.

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Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@manilastandard.net

MAKATI SCHOOL PREPARES FOR AI AND AUTOMATION

MAKATI City-based college, acknowledged as the pioneer in the six-month full-time internship program, is equipping its students with automation and artificial intelligence skills to prepare them for the future of work.

“If today’s jobs are to be automated, then the kind of people that you need are those talented enough. We want to create another category of talents. We are capable of doing it. We are integrating them in the curriculum right now,” Dr. Ma. Teresita Medado, president of Asia Pacific College, says in an interview in Makati City.

APC, established in 1991 by IBM Philippines and SM Foundation, is a center of excellence in information technology education. It is one of the eight Asean schools chosen by leading robotic process automation company UiPath for its academic alliance program.

Aside from APC, other institutes of higher learning tapped by UiPath are Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Institute of Technical Education, ITE College West and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Ladkrabang in Thailand.

UiPath will also team up with NTUC LearningHub, the leading provider of continuous education and training in Singapore.

UiPath says that through the academic alliance, it will work with educational institutions to equip students with critical automation skills, teach them how to leverage RPA in the workplace and prepare them to work alongside software robots.

UiPath aims to train over 50,000 students and professionals in Asean over the next three years for the automated workforce of the future.

Medado says that with the advent of automation, the future of work will involve more creativity, agility and analysis. She says with RPA or software bots, the next generation of workers needs to become more creative and productive to help industries become more efficient.

“The whole idea of automating all these repetitive skills and those that do not need to be done by people anymore is giving a chance for everyone to be more productive. Because the bar is higher, all you have to do is be more analytical, more agile in order to create more projects and develop more relationships with people,” she says.

“The kind of thinking skills that are necessary is unbelievable. If the robot is doing everything for you, you have to be more creative than you we before,” she says.

“In business, what is more important is being able to innovate new programs. What happens now is that the CIOs and CEOs are looking at how they will compete. Everybody is competing in that layer where everything is automated. That is the impact of RPA. Of course, there are other technologies. It goes all the way to AI [artificial intelligence] because those are the solutions path that our students will eventually be involved in.

Every business will be essentially empowered by AI,” she says.

Medado, a UP-educated academician from Batangas City, says APC has a strong IT-based foundation with a strong focus on meeting the industry needs for highly-equipped workforce in information technology, commerce, engineering, accountancy, entrepreneurship, multimedia arts and other fields.

She says APC has strong linkages with more

P&A GRANT APPOINTS TWO NEW PARTNERS

Asia Pacific College president Ma. Teresita Medado

than 200 organizations such as IBM and UiPath.

The school’s strengths, she says, revolve around its six-month internship that makes students land a job quickly and the industry certification that has been imbedded in the curriculum.

“Even if you have not finished college yet, you are employable. This is important because with the introduction of K-11 and K-12 where we won’t have graduates next year and the year after, we will have students who are professionally certified to work for you. They are also cloud-certified,” she says.

The World Bank, in the report “The Digital Economy in Southeast Asia—Strengthening the Foundations for Future Growth”, says that with digital technology transforming almost all sectors of the economy, the skills of the region’s workforce need to keep pace.

“Education systems will have a key role to play in developing the technical knowledge and soft skills that are required to compete in the global digital economy. Given the rate of technological change, adaptability and lifelong learning will be more important than ever, as well as more effective collaboration between the public and private sectors,” the bank says.

Tom Clancy, senior vice president for learning at UiPath, says: “The Asean region is going through a period of rapid economic and technological transformation and the workplace of the future will look very different to the workplace of today.”

“We need to prepare and train our youth for a more automated future, one where the ability to work alongside robots will be as important as the skills they bring to bear. That is why UiPath is committed to training more than one million students globally in the next three years as we understand that education and re-skilling are vital

if we are to thrive in a digital future,” Clancy says.

Medado says the partnership with UiPath is an important step to address what is anticipated as a global shortage of RPA developer base.

“Together with UiPath, APC and its stakeholders will develop the workforce of the future of business, RPA being a vital platform for industry growth, not just in the Philippines, but also with other academic partners in the region,” she says.

Medado says the partnership is consistent with APC’s tradition of being established out of technology disruption by industry stakeholders and practitioners.

Medado says the Commission on Higher Education encourages other universities and colleges to follow APC’s strong linkages with industry players through its internship program.

“We have industry partners teaching as resource persons in our school. We don’t necessarily get the students to sit in front of the teacher and listen the whole day. Our students, as early as the second year, will be involved in projects. They are in laboratories, in groups and in teams collaborating on projects. For the entire year, they will pitch their solutions to the market,” she says.

“By the third year, they are already enabled even before the internship. Once they graduate, their level of competencies would be really higher.

They will not only be providing support or creating apps, but they will also be supporting business continuity. They will be creating innovations that will differentiate the market,” she says.

APC alumni are working today for top multinational companies while others went on to establish their own businesses such as cybersecurity companies and digital solution providers.

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P&A Grant Thornton, one of the leading audit, tax, advisory and outsourcing firms in the Philippines, named two new partners effective July 1, 2019—Endel Mata and Jerald Sanchez.

Both gentlemen will be partners at the audit and assurance practice of the firm.

“This elevation to the partnership is a well-earned recognition of the outstanding performance of Endel and Jerald throughout their careers at P&A and, more importantly, of their capability to contribute to the continued growth and development of the Firm,” said P&A Grant Thornton chairperson and chief executive Marivic Españo.

“I am sure that they will continue to contribute to bringing the firm to greater achievements in the years to come,” Españo said.

Mata has been in public accounting since he started his career in 2007. He has more than a decade of experience in the financial statements audit of local and multinational companies in a wide range of industries.

As part of P&A Grant Thornton’s global secondment program, Mata spent a year and a half at Grant Thornton LLP’s New York office.

Mata recently completed his Master in Business Administration (from the Asian Institute of Management with distinction. He received his bachelor’s degree in accounting with academic distinction from San Beda University – Manila.

Like Mata, JSanchez joined P&A Grant Thornton at the start of his career in 2007. He also has extensive experience in the financial statements audit of local and multinational companies in various industries.

Sanchez facilitates training programs on the firm’s audit methodology and international financial reporting standards.

S a n c h e z s p e nt a l m o s t t wo years in Grant Thornton LLP’s San Francisco office as part of P&A Grant Thornton’s global secondment program.

He recently completed his MBA at AIM and graduated magna cum laude with bachelor ’s degrees in accountanc y and business administration, major in financial and management accounting, from Holy Angel University.

As they both join the partnership of P&A Grant Thornton, Mata and Sanchez are committed to exploring and breaking new grounds in accounting and in the business community. They are also dedicated to delivering excellent service to their new clients.

PAMPANGA STUDENTS RECOGNIZED IN INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FAIR THREE students from Pampanga made the Philippines proud as they received an honorable mention in the 2019 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Phoenix, Arizona.

Grade 10 student E’van Relle Tongol, together with Grade 11 students Shaira Gozun and Neil David Cayanan of Angeles City Science High School created a sound absorption material out of locally available abaca, bamboo and water hyacinth. Their research called “Hibla” is one of the country’s six entries to the prestigious science competition.

The recognition was given by the Acoustical Society of America which aims to “generate, disseminate and promote the knowledge and practical applications of acoustics.”

The inspiration for their project was the noise that they observed in public schools.

As several public schools divide one room to accommodate two or more classes, noise while conducting classes has been inevitable.

They also found out that the main cause of the annual flooding in their home province is the overabundance of water hyacinth.

“We thought: How do we solve one problem with another problem?” said Tongol.

“Hibla” reached ISEF after it won as Best Team Research in Physical Science during the 2019 Department of Education National Science and Technology Fair.

The researchers’ dedication was also given recognition when they received the first Gokongwei Brothers Foundation Award. The award is given by GBF to students who exhibit excellence in science and technology. Aside from the award, GBF also supported the team and the other nine Philippine delegates, with an all-expense paid trip to Arizona.

“We are proud to have supported these brilliant students to this year’s ISEF. Their victory is a testament that Filipino students, despite having limited resources, are capable of developing ingenious products and highquality research,” said GBF executive director Grace Colet.

“This inspires us to stay true to our thrust of advancing STEM education in the Philippines.

We hope that with this victory, more students will be motivated to pursue a STEM track and

develop their own research projects,” she said.

Aside from “Hibla”, the Philippines has two other team entries and three individual entries to the international competition.

Taguig Science High School’s John Eric Aggarao, Kathleen Chloie Antonio and Anna Beatriz Suavengco studied the possible organic solution to brown eye spot disease attacking Kapeng Barako plants.

Meanwhile, Alpha Acain, Lester Sabadao and Lia Denise Tan of Cagayan National High School designed a prototype that can assist farmers in drying and storing their rice harvests.

For the individual research, Maria Isabel Layson of Iloilo National High School presented the anti-diabetic properties of aratiles and how it can help produce dietary supplements.

Quezon National High School’s Nathaniel Reyes also demonstrated how cornstalk biochar composite can treat algae infestation in lakes and fish ponds.

Maryjoise Karla Buan of Pangasinan National High School invented a device that can detect illegal logging activities in forest areas.

Angeles City Science High School students (from left) Neil David Cayanan, Shaira Gozun and E’van Relle Tongol receive an honorable mention from the Acoustical Society of America.

Photo credit: Lester Sabadao

Business

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SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019 business@manilastandard.net

EASTWEST BANK, AGEAS EXPAND INSURANCE VENTURE

TAGUIG LADY EXECUTIVE NAMED AMONG GREENBIZ ‘S ‘30 UNDER 30’

From left: Troo chief strategy and business development officer Dominik Smeets, Troo president and chief executive Hans Loozekoot, EastWest Bank vice chairman and chief executive Antonio Moncupa Jr. and EastWest president and deputy chief executive Jesus Roberto Reyes.

EASTWEST Bank and Ageas celebrate this year the fourth anniversary of their joint venture in the Philippines.

The partnership operates under the brand name Troo to offer life insurance to customers of EastWest Bank and Filinvest Group.

“From the start, Troo has been embracing the latest technology and digital solutions as a core of its daily business,” says Troo president and chief executive Hans Loozekoot.

“We are the first insurance company in the world to put in place its end-toend integrated IT platform in the cloud.

This enables us to offer our customers a seamless experience and optimize our operations,” he says.

“Bancassurance is a key pillar of our growth strategy,” EastWest Bank vicechairman and chief executive Antonio Moncupa Jr. says. “We now offer a complete menu of financial services to every Filipino—whatever their needs may be.”

EastWest president and deputy CEO Jesus Roberto Reyes says: “Troo is becoming an important contributor to the bank’s fee income.”

Soon, Troo will launch its innovative GoTroo customer engagement platform.

It’s a mobile-first platform that is being developed by Troo’s agile team.

“GoTroo is integrated with our back-end systems,” says Loozekoot.

“And it will give customers access to real-time information on their Troo policy. Additional innovative functionalities of the platform such as voice recognition for login and chat features are underway.”

“To mark the anniversary, we’re launching Troo BuildWealth Limited Pay,” says Dominik Smeets, chief strategy and business development officer of Troo.”

“Other exciting products are also in the making.”

BuildWealth Limited Pay is the latest variable unit-linked product from Troo.

It’s the first real limited pay VUL in the country that gives customers choices for their payment period, whether it’s 3, 5, 7 or 10 years.

BuildWealth Limited Pay is the third option in the VUL suite of solutions, “Grow your wealth, your way.” Like the other two solutions, BuildWealth Limited Pay combines life insurance with investment options.

MAKATI... FromC1 “Industry absorption [of APC students] was very high. From what was CHED was saying, we were able to convert about 80 percent of our students within the first six months into employment. There were certain methodologies that we use to make that happen. They are strategic and tactical because we do have what we call the six-month full-time internship.

Even before they graduate from college, they already belong to the industry,” she says.

“No other college is doing the same. As a matter of fact, CHED is recommending to many schools that they follow our six-month internship,” says Medado.

Medado says through APC’s latest partnership, “UiPath will train our faculty and students and we will have access to their tools. We are also collaborating with other schools in the Asean region.”

APC, meanwhile, will introduce its technology courses in the National University where the SM Group holds a significant stake. “We are expanding our reach into National University. It is our program that we will build into new sites. That will also give UiPath a source of more people,” she says.

UiPath would need 50,000 workers within three years in the Asean region alone, while SM plans to build more branches of National University in its shopping malls around the country.

“We are looking forward to being a part of a larger ecosystem of NU which is strongly supported by the SM Group,” Medado says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

A

27-year-old sustainability leader in the Philippines is among the 2019 class of GreenBiz “30 under 30” honorees.

Janely Abigail Bonita, group sustainability leader in Fort Bonifacio-based Transnational Diversified Group, joined 29 other “twentysomethings” who are sustainability leaders in their companies, non-profit organizations and communities as acknowledged by media and events company GreenBiz Group.

Bonita, who is also known as Little Miss Sustainability, is the first Filipino and only Asian recognized in the global list which was drawn based on a global search for emerging leaders across sectors who are shaping the next generation of sustainable business.

Bonita studied Environmental Planning and Management, Major in Corporate Environmental Management at Miriam College after witnessing the impact of typhoon Ondoy in Manila in 2009.

She was an intern at Haribon Foundation before working as a researcher at the Foundation for the Philippine Environment.

Prior to TDG, she worked for SusDev Global Limited, Manila Water and Union Bank of the Philippines.

At Union Bank, she led the development and implementation of the bank’s sustainability plans and initiatives, including the certification of

Sustainability leader Janely Abigail Bonita Source: GreenBiz

identified branches to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED standards.

At TDG, she focuses on finding innovative ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions of TDG’s logistics and shipping management, its two biggest areas of operation.

The 30 honorees were nominated by GreenBiz readers around the world and selected by the GreenBiz editorial team from among hundreds of submissions.

“The 2019 class of 30 Under 30 represents a rich diversity of genders, ethnic backgrounds, industries, and professional roles across the private and public sector. Their perspectives are creative and their approaches offer lessons for sustainability professionals at any stage of their career,” said GreenBiz Group editorial director Heather Clancy.

“It’s inspiring to consider what they have already achieved during the first decade of their careers, and we’re eager to see what they accomplish next,” Clancy said.

Seven members of this year’s cohort work within some of the world’s largest companies, including Ernst & Young, Goodyear, Microsoft, Rabobank, Sainsbury’s, TPG Capital and Unilever. Others are making waves in the business world from other perches, including government, startups and advocacy groups.

This year’s roster ranges from managers and directors to founders and CEOs — despite the differences in their industries and sectors, these young leaders are driving the change our world

needs.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and BSR both helped cast a global net for this year’s candidates.

The 30 individuals being honored come from 10 countries — from Oakland, California to Taguig, Philippines and Nashik, India. They work for multinational corporations, innovative startups, social enterprises, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and academia.

“These young men and women are helping to redefine sustainability, befitting a generation which is demanding that the companies they work for have a larger purpose, and the products they buy be more sustainable,” said Aron Cramer, chief executive of BSR. “We can feel confident that, as they ascend into positions of increasing influence, the future of sustainable business is bright,” Cramer said.

“We need their courage and leadership to look at sustainability and its challenges in a different way,” said Peter Bakker, president and chief executive of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

“Business as usual is no longer an option, and to achieve our vision of a world where more than 9 billion people are all living well and within the boundaries of our planet, we need to transform our current economic systems so that more sustainable businesses are the most successful. And the nextgen leadership will add impetus and play a critical role in ensuring this transition happens,” he said.

BPO FIRM REWARDS EMPLOYEES WITH FOREIGN TRIP ABOUT 62 percent of employees today are actively open and on the lookout for new opportunities—a 4 percent increase from last year, according to the State of Employee Engagement 2019 report of WeSpires.

This only means that the challenge of retaining employees is getting harder for companies.

Companies must understand what drives employees to seek out alternative opportunities. Also, businesses must take on employee engagement initiatives to effectively retain valuable talent and boost employee morale within the workplace.

IT outsourcing company Cloud Employee, which has an office in Makati City, gives employee engagement a new meaning with the hands-on and present nature of founder and chief executive Nicholas Hargreaves who is in each initiative that the company holds.

Cloud Employee is a UK-managed IT outsourcing company that specializes in supplying Java, .NET, PHP, WordPress and mobile app developers to tech companies worldwide.

Recently, Hargreaves took a group of his employees on an overseas trip to Taiwan as a token of appreciation for their hard work and loyalty to the company. The team traveled around the beautiful city of Taipei enjoying the sights and sounds the city had to offer.

When asked on why employee engagement is vital to him as a CEO, Hargreaves said: “One of the issues with the company was staff retention; in fact, we have multiple clients, so a lot of our developers may have been sat next to somebody, but they weren’t working directly with them. The actual interaction within the company was very limited. This form of business can

Cloud Employee chief executive Nick Hargreaves (center) poses with Makatibased employees at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Park,

be very lonely. So, I wanted to address that.”

In the same research by WeSpire on Employee Engagement, it was revealed that over 82 percent of employees are interested in prosocial rewards and incentives, particularly among millennials and Gen Zs. Cloud Employee has many unique initiatives that cater to the current generation’s expectations of their employers and take extra care of its staff because of how isolating the outsourcing industry’s nature can be.

One of the company’s initiatives is a small weekly gathering called Supper Club, where the CEO takes a handful of employees out for dinner. This small gathering gives them the opportunity

to bond in a more relaxed and friendly setting.

Aside from this, the company also livens up the whole office with monthly fun games or activities, free food during in-office events every Friday, health and wellness classes memberships, free training to help employees improve on soft and hard skills and even free office massages and haircuts Xamarin developer Jayson Ragasa shared his experience of working at Cloud Employee for three years now.

“It has always been fun. I have never felt the need to go looking for other opportunities. With all the opportunities and benefits we are offered here, my heart still chooses Cloud Employee over

other opportunities that come along.

Not only because the benefits are great, but also because the company puts its employees first,” he said.

H av i n g a t t a i n e d a s t o u n d i n g employee retention of 100 percent in the first half of this year, Cloud Employee’s effor ts on employee engagement seem to have paid off.

By prioritizing employee engagement, Nick Hargreaves saw a definite shift within the company. “[The workplace] became a more positive environment. People started to create bonds; it took away the robotic offshoring environment and made the environment something all of us enjoy,” he said.

Tech & Gadgets

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HOW HUAWEI INFLUENCED TECH WORLD IN A DECADE

UAWEI has long prided itself as an innovator in the tech sphere, having produced numerous technologies that have significantly shaped the current era of telecommunications. The company’s meteoric rise in the industry—owed largely to its highly successful smartphone business—led to worldwide recognition and acclaim. Such a spotlight inadvertently made Huawei the center of certain controversies, yet the tech giant’s remarkable success and incredible achievements remain undeniable: Huawei continues to make waves as a leader in innovating the way we communicate in this era of hyper-connectivity.

To put into perspective just how much Huawei has contributed to advancements in tech in recent years, here are several significant highlights that have earned the brand tremendous respect from peers and consumers alike.

Ground-breaking Camera Technology Huawei knew that to truly compete in the premium mobile camera segment, its products needed to raise the standard for imaging capability.

This thinking led to Huawei’s productive partnership with Leica, eventually creating a multi-lens approach to image capture that simulated professional-level photography with just a smartphone. The tech evolved into its current iteration in the P30 Series, featuring a Quad Camera System (P30 Pro) that utilizes four different lenses with specific functions to produce truly stunning shots in any lighting environment.

Such an approach to smartphone photography only gained mainstream traction after Huawei equipped the P9 in 2016 with a second monochrome lens, and the innovation has influenced every phone manufac-

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SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

DIGICON 2019 TO GO WITH L.E.A.P. THEME

By Charles Dantes

Huawei’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world’s population. Fourteen R&D centers have been set up in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, India and China.

Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei’s three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei’s global network is built on almost 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world.

turer seeking to improve its camera technology since.

Flagship Value in the Mid-Range Buying a mid-range device just a few years ago meant compromises on the consumer’s part; anything below a certain price point meant dealing with a lower-quality camera, display, build design, performance, or any combination of those. Huawei realized that a flagship-grade experience need not be priced at a premium, and thus developed devices such as the Nova series that epitomized this philosophy.

Huawei’s mid-range offerings do not skimp on power and style, featuring dual-, triple-, and even quad-camera systems, high-speed processors with 4-6 GB of RAM, FullView HD Displays, and long-lasting battery power. Such products were all the more impressive given how they were roughly half the price of most current flagships, giving consumers affordable options in their device choices and subsequently giving a larger portion of the market access

to cutting-edge technology.

Next-Generation Communications Infrastructure While commonly associated with its smartphone division, Huawei is also a top player in building telecommunication networks across the globe. The company’s latest venture is introducing the 5G wireless technology it’s developed to the world – the next big step in bringing the world closer together through high-speed internet access.

According to Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei himself, their 5G networks are 20 times larger than 4G in terms of capacity, ten times lower than 4G in power consumption, and are built with highly durable materials meant to last for decades. Bandwidth also screams next-generation, as 5G can support so much high-definition content including 8K resolutions. Ren Zhengfei emphasizes that 5G is crucial to the betterment of society by bringing fast and affordable internet

across all economic spectrums.

A Game-Changer Now and in the Future In the midst of Huawei’s mounting challenges, the company keeps its eyes trained forward; its journey as a contender to a dominant player has always been marked with circumstances that tested its mettle, but each and every time the company managed to find innovative ways to overcome them. Each and every time it redefined conventions in tech that not only elevated the brand to worldclass status, but also inspired and enabled others to innovate as well.

These contributions are the reasons why Huawei’s long-time efforts as a customer-centric brand are now evidently being rewarded with the unwavering trust and support of customers who have turned into advocates. Testament to the steadfast loyalty of our consumers were the sales generated from the successful Huawei Digital Ecosystem Month.

ESTABLISHING SMART CITY PROJECTS THRU BLOCKCHAIN IN A signed Memorandum of Agreement last July 7, two local leading Technology Business Incubators, QBO Innovation Hub and Animo Labs collaborated with Building Cities Beyond Blockchain in establishing smart city projects in the Philippines, to be powered by blockchain technology.

“We are glad to have a strong and rigorous collaboration with QBO and Animo Labs, tapping on their expertise, knowledge, and experience to create the next wave of applications for the development of sustainable smart cities of the future,” said Vanessa Koh, CO-CTB of BCB. The joint efforts of the two parties aim to reach out and engage potential researchers, startups, and community members. Through BCB Blockchain’s platforms and innovated technologies, participants are free to use them to start creating smart city projects and applications.

The partnership of QBO and Animo Labs with BCB also includes a commitment to work closely in critical areas such as co-incubation of projects, research and development, seminars and training, promotional activities, competitions, hackathons, and collaborative endeavors. “Providing QBO and Animo Labs a holistic understanding of BCB Blockchain platform and access to hands-on workshops, materials, events, and technical support will allow them to deepen their competencies in the area of designing and developing applications and projects for smart cities,” Koh added.

In the final quarter of this year, as part of the BCB initiative, BCB, GBO, and Animo Labs will reach out to universities to conduct competitions, Hackathon and Bug Bounty. Winners will receive $15,000 and

Katrina Rausa Chan, Director, QBO Innovation Hub and Douglas Gan, Founder BCB Blockchain

be given the chance to participate in the incubation programs for commercialization and fundraising, together with selected projects in Hackathon.

“Through the mutual collaboration between Animo Labs and BCB, we hope that our technological expertise and access to a wide range of research institutions will help build and promote the growth of blockchain and smart city projects, promoting innovation within the blockchain and smart city projects,

promoting innovation within the blockchain sphere for smart city solutions,” said Frederico C. Gonzalez, Executive Director, Animo Labs.

BCB believes the next step towards a smart city ecosystem will be through its BCB Blockchain, and mass adoption is the key to success. Together with QBO and Animo Lab, BCB also believes that through the blockchain ecosystem, smart cities solutions will be established to answer common problems of highly urbanized cities like traffic, waste and energy management.

“We believe that blockchain will play a crucial role in the development of smart cities with an increasing number of people living in urban areas. We are pleased to work closely with BCB and establishing their BCB Blockchain platform and technology in QBO hub to create the next generation of smart city applications,” said Katrina Rausa-Chan, Director of QBO Innovation Hub. To attain a smart city ecosystem, the Singapore-based BCB Blockchain seeks to enlighten the people about the significance of blockchain technology in the community and how to build trust in its platform.

Meanwhile, QBO extends their gratitude towards the initiative of BCB in bringing the program into action.

“It will be exciting to see the actual implementation of these smart city applications of tomorrow in the Philippines and appreciate BCB’s support to bring them to fruition,” added Rausa-Chan. Angelica Villanueva

AFTER three successful stagings of the Digital Conference, the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) announced the opening for DigiCon 2019 set for Oct. 16 to 18, 2019 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

DigiCon 2019 will explore best practices and technologies, propelling the world’s most dynamic brands.

After focusing on digital experiences before, attendees this time around will be put on “learning” for this year to help them understand digital more.

IMMAP also unveiled the theme for the upcoming annual gathering called L.E.A.P. (Lead, Explore, Apply and Practice).

More than 75 industry visionaries will share knowledge across four tracks: the LEAD track, which will focus on upgrading leadership skills and thinking at every career stage; the EXPLORE track, which will unveil state-of-the-art technology for brands and marketers; APPLY, where participants can roll up their sleeves and dive right into interactive workshops; and PRACTICE which will focus on tech trends for specific categories and industries.

“We are way past the era where the most digital savvy brands could stay relevant by relying on the work of an isolated digital team,” said Dennis Perez, President of IMMAP. “Now success requires digital excellence across all fronts. The whole company needs to live and breathe technology,” he added.

Leading the international roster of speakers is corporate culture guru Patty McCord, whose Netflix Culture Deck has disrupted the way modern conglomerates operate internally.

Other key speakers that will grace the event include Pratik Thakar of Coca-Cola, Myki Slonim of Vice Media, Sea Yen Ong of Spotify, Yeo Siang Tiong of Kaspersky Lab, Hanz Lopez Vito of BBDO, Wendy Clark of DDB, Dexter Ong of Wattpad, Roger Yuen of Clozette, Derek Tan of Viddsee, Bhavna Suresh of Lamudi, Tanya Wilson of The Unusual Network, Anthony Thomas of MYNT, Matt Sutton of Whalar, Hazel Savage of Musiio, Raiford Cockfield of Bitrep.me, and many more.

NOW TELECOM...

From C4

We are a compliant telecommunications company. By being compliant with the terms of our congressional franchise, we boost the confidence of our Investors, both foreign and Local,” company chairman Mel Velarde said.

Velarde added that if needed, they are willing to explore other offering options such as listing by way of introduction for NOW Telecom.

NOW Telecom renewed its congressional franchise last February 22, 2018, for another 25 years of operations, under Republic Act 10972.

EPSON PH TARGETS BIGGER MARKET SHARE IN 2019

By Angelica Villanueva

Toshimitsu Tanaka, EPC’s President & Country Manager

IN THEIR annual media thanksgiving, Epson Philippines Corporation announced that eyeing a bigger market share is its target goal this year by focusing on their business-to-business (B2B) operations, while establishing new businesses.

During a series of presentations in Epson’s Fusion event in Boracay Island, led by Eduardo Bonoan, EPC’s General Manager for Marketing, the company presented its plans this year under a build initiative. Most of the presentations focused on printers and visual instruments.

Bonoan also revealed that Epson Philippines posted an overall

positive growth of 23% in FY18, compared to 2017 fiscal year’s outstanding growth of 14%.

In terms of product category, EPC’s main products, inkjet printers and scanners, were the highest contributors at 70%, succeeded by point of sale (POS) and dot matrix printers at 14%, visual instruments at 11% and commercial & industrial products at 5%.

More than reaching a bigger market share, Bonoan also shared EPC’s plan to maintain its supremacy in the printing industry. This will include the additional new businesses and putting their core technologies into new forms of machines for a larger commercial use on their line.

To address the requirements of the B2B segment, EPC also aims to penetrate niche markets, while enhancing its operations.

“For Epson to become an indispensable company, we have to continue to move outside of our comfort zones and into a more progressive mindset—with obsession to details still deeply embedded in our DNA,” said Bonoan.

With the new initiative, Epson Philippines will focus more on its cutting-edge Replaceable Ink Pack System (RIPS), LIJ printers, scanners, label printers, mobile POS, CAD, signage and textile printers, as well as its high brightness projectors.

“To add to our exceptional performance for inkjet printers and scanners, the FY18 performance for POS and dot matrix printers, visual instruments and commercial and industrial products tells us that this is the perfect opportunity to build the new foundation for Epson here in the Philippines,” he added.

However, Bonoan cleared that the changing mindset of customers brought about by technological advancements.

With technology enabling more personalized and real-time experiences, customers expect more from businesses.

To know more about Epson Philippines, you may visit their website at www.epson.com.ph.

Eduardo Bonoan, EPC’s General Manager for Marketing

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TECH & Gadgets SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

SMART LITERACY APP ASIA MOBILE AWARDS FINALIST

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HE roster of mother tonguebased literacy apps developed by leading wireless services provider Smart Communications (Smart) has been shortlisted in this year’s Asia Mobile Awards (AMO 2019).

Rodolfo Pantoja

NOW TELECOM PREPARES FOR 5G, OFFERS 11% EQUITY FOR LISTING

Organized by mobile network operators group GSMA, AMO 2019 serves as the Asia Region’s leading stage for the latest and most innovative mobile products, apps, devices, services and initiatives.

Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs in Asia

Smart is in the running for its #LearnSmart Mother Tongue–Based Literacy Apps that were developed in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and academic institutions nationwide. The PLDT subsidiary initiated the local content development program in 2018 as a response to the lack of interactive local content for education and is the only finalist from the Philippines among the 50 contenders shortlisted by the AMO. The apps are nominated under the category of Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs in Asia. Other finalists include edotco Myanmar for Sustainable Connectivity Solution, China Mobile, Huawei Technologies & The 301 Hospital for The World’s First Successful 5G-Enabled Remote Surgery on a Living Human Patient, KaiOS for the emerging OS, KT & UNEP for Air Map Korea, and Mahindra Comviva for AsiaHawala.

The presentation of the Awards will take place at this year’s Mobile World Congress -Shanghai from June 26 to 28, 2019.

First of its kind

The LearnSmart mother tongue-based literacy apps feature lessons on local alphabet and numbers, videos showcasing local stories and songs, and games that help develop a learner’s essential memory and thinking skills. The mobile tools were designed to be interactive to make teaching and

The mobile tools were designed to be interactive to make teaching and learning basic literacy in the local language more interesting and encouraging for both the teachers and the learners.

The LearnSmart mother tongue-based literacy apps feature lessons on local alphabet and numbers, videos showcasing local stories and songs, and games that help develop a learner’s essential memory and thinking skills.

learning basic literacy in the local language more interesting and encouraging for both the teachers and the learners.

To-date, Smart has launched nine #LearnSmart literacy applications: Bahay Kubo (Filipino), Kaalam (Cebuano), Ta’allam and Tahderiyyah (Arabic), Matisalug (Matigsalug indigenous peoples Tribe of Davao and Bukidnon), Kaaram (Waray), Katao (Inabaknon), Singsing (Kapampangan), and Sanut (Ilokano).

To-date, the suite of apps are the only mobile tools in the Philippines that feature localized educational content. In the case of Matigsalug, it is the first tribal app of its kind in the country, while Tahderiyyah is the first literacy app for the Bangsamoro children.

The main delivery pipeline of the apps are through the Smart School-in-a-Bag program, which are portable digital classrooms that are donated to remote and

underserved schools in the Philippines with intermitted to no power. With more than 110 learning packages deployed as of end-2018, over 30,000 students around the Philippines have been given the opportunity to improve their performance in school though Smart’s flagship education initiative.

Aside from School-in-a-Bag beneficiaries, anyone can also download the #LearnSmart apps for free via Google Play.

Game-changing mobile devices and technologies

Prior to being named as a finalist in AMO 2019, the roster of mother-tongue literacy apps was previously awarded by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines with Silver citations at the 54th Anvil Awards. The nods were for Best PR Program Directed at Specific Stakeholders and Best PR Tool–Mobile Application.

XIAOMI TO OPEN NEW MIZONE IN ETON CENTRIS XIAOMI Philippines, continuously expanding in the country, launched a new Mi Zone in Eton Centris last June 7.

Xiaomi currently has 8 authorized Mi Stores and 3 Mi Zones in the Philippines as they recently opened the Mi Zone in SM Southmall.

Authorized Mi Stores are the following: 1. Trinomal Mall–Level 4 Beside Cinema 5, Trinoma Mall North Ave. Quezon City; 2. SM Megmall–Level 4, Cyberzone Bldg. B SM Megamall, EDSA, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong; 3. SM North Edsa Annex– Level 3 SM North EDSA, Quezon City; 4. Starmall Alabang – Level 2, Cyberpoint Annex, Starmall Alabang, Muntinlupa City; 5. SM Mall of Asia–Level 2 Cyberzone, North Parking Bldg., SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City; 6. Market! Market!–Level 4, Market! Market! Shopping Mall, McKinley Parkway, Taguig City; 7. Lucky Chinatown–Level 3 Chinatown Mall, Reina Regente Cor. Dela Reina St., Binondo, Manila; and 8. Robinsons Place Manila–Level 3, Midtown Wing, Robinsons Place Manila, Pedro Gil St. Ermita, Manila –Level 3, Space 1AC–8, Marquee Mall, Aniceto Mi Zones: SM Bicutan–Lower Ground Level, Gueco St., Angeles, Pampanga; Eton Centris– Bldg. A, SM Bicutan, Paranaque City; Marque Mall Level 2, Centris Station, Eton Centris EDSA cor.

Quezon Ave., Quezon City Xiaomi Corporation was founded in April 2010 and listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 9, 2018 (1810.HK). Xiaomi is an internet company with smartphones and smart hardware connected by an IoT platform at its core.

With the vision of being friends with its users and being the “coolest company” in the hearts of its users, Xiaomi is committed to continuous innovation, with an unwavering focus on quality and efficiency.

The company relentlessly builds amazing products with honest prices to let everyone in the world enjoy a better life through innovative technology.

Xiaomi is currently the world’s fourth-largest smartphone brand, and has established the world’s largest consumer IoT platform, with more than 150.9 million smart devices (excluding smartphones and laptops) connected to its platform.

Currently, Xiaomi products are present in more than 80 countries and regions around the world and have a leading foothold in many markets.

GAMING GETS MORE REAL WITH REALME 3 PRO ATTENTION mobile game lovers: Home Credit Philippines has a new treat for you.

Gone are the days when you have to shell out a lot just to afford a phone that can handle your favorite mobile games. With roleplaying games at their peak right now, it just came naturally for smartphone brands to catch up to the hype. Mid-range brands like RealMe definitely took the opportunity, and now mobile game lovers have a new reason to celebrate with its newest drop, the RealMe 3 Pro. Similar to its little brother RealMe 3, this model comes packed with features perfect for the price-conscious digital millennial. We break down all the cool reasons that will convince you to grab the RealMe 3 Pro hot from the shelves.

1. Nice display With its 6.3 inch display and an FHD+ 2340*1080 resolution, you’ll never have to squint hard just to see the details of your game.

The RealMe 3 Pro gives a pretty nice set of contrast and saturation, as well as decent viewing angles that will make your gaming experience so much better. Similar to the RealMe 3, the screen also comes with a teardrop notch, though this doesn’t get in the way of the display with the model’s 90.80 percent screen ratio.

2. Powerful Gaming Performance RealMe3 Pro wasn’t joking around when it used the hashtag #RealGamingPro. The smartphone, which comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 AIE, can smoothly support mobile games—even the most popular ones in the market now. There is zero lag in performance, especially if you go for the options with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. For a phone at this price point, you get really great frame rates, even for games with heavy graphics.

3. Long Juice Life Some might opt the RealMe 3’s 4,230mAh battery over the Pro’s 4,045mAh one but there is a good tradeoff for the difference in numbers. Unlike the RealMe 3, the Pro is capable of VOOC 3.0 fast charging, a huge plus if you’re always finding yourself running low on juice during your gaming sessions. It takes just an hour or more to power up its juice from low-battery to full status, and that’s even when the phone is in use.

At only P14,990 for the 6GB + 128GB model (P12,990 for the 4GB +64GB), you’re definitely getting more than what you pay for with RealMe 3 Pro’s solid set of gaming features.

Even better news, you can make things more

manageable in the wallet with Home Credit Philippines’ 0% promo which will run from May 25 to July 31. For six months, you can grab this model at 0% interest. You only need to visit a Home Credit partner store, present two IDs, and wait for the result of your application. Don’t worry, the approval process is near instant at less than a minute, so it won’t take much of your time at all.

Petr Korinek, Head of Sales of Home Credit Philippines, is very excited about this new promo. He shares, “We try our best to give our customers what they want and need, and to do that, we always have to pay attention to the market. We know how popular mobile games are right now, so we’re having this offer to give everyone a chance to enjoy their hobby without going over their budget.”

Want to save even more time? You can download the #MyHomeCredit App to see if you’re eligible for the offers. Once approved, you only need to go to the store and see which mobile phone you can get.

You can download the #MyHomeCredit app through this link https://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=ph.homecredit. myhomecredit&hl=en

NOW Telecom, a telecommunications company owned by businessman Mel Velarde, revealed plans to offer 5G or fifth generation wireless technology which is about to revolutionize the telecommunications Industry.

In its recent board meeting, the company approved plans to adopt 5G technologies that allow the delivery of up to 20 Gigabit per second speed to enterprises and homes, a quantum leap in broadband technology that will give birth to innovations never seen before.

“The Decentralized Gigabit Era is upon us now. 5G will allow high wireless bandwidth in low latency scenarios, allowing for further complex technologies to exist.

5G is necessary for the Internet of Things to thrive. With cloud computing, you can now decentralize the business of telecommunications,” according to newly elected NOW Telecom president Rodolfo Pantoja.

Now Telecom has brought in telecommunications expertise to its management by electing Pantojo, former Indonesian telecommunications firm Smartfren CEO, as its new president and chief operating officer. Pantojo spent 28 years in Indonesia, under the PT Sinar Mas Komunikasi Teknologi banner, leading the telecommunications company to an exclusive 4G-LTE operations, which is expected to add valuable experience to the table for NOW Telecom.

Pantoja acquired his education from the De La Salle University in 1975 and had his graduate studies from the Asian Institute of Management in 1979.

In the same meeting, Velarde was elected chairman and remains as chief executive officer.

Velarde is known for building organizations in satellite broadband, cable TV, broadcast news, mobile telecom, high end education, IT software development, and other telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) businesses. Velarde earned his eMBA (OPM) from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (humanities and sciences), summa cum laude, from Boston University NOW Telecom holds a license from National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to operate Cellular Mobile Telephony System (CMTS), with frequency assignment of 5G mid band channels. It has deployed in selected areas the Israeli-based technology TELRAD wireless technology that delivers 200 mbps to its present customers, which will soon increase to gigabit speeds.

In order to strengthen its portfolio to seize greater opportunities from 5G, NOW Telecom’s board of directors also approved to offer to publicly listed NOW Corporation an additional 11 percent for share swap with NOW Telecom, which will result in NOW Corporation owning 30 percent of NOW Telecom. This will satisfy the congressional franchise requirement for NOW Telecom to have the public own at least 30 percent of the company.

“NOW Telecom stands true to its commitment in its franchise.

Turn to C3

Destinations D1

SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor

manilastandardlife@gmail.com

@manilastandardlife

6 CITIES, 2 WHEELS: BEST DESTINATIONS TO EXPLORE ON BICYCLE

@MStandardLIFE

GOING PLACES WITH KLOOK BOOKING every ticket and entry pass necessary for the trip is a crucial, if challenging, part of planning for a trip. That’s why booking platforms such as Klook are a heaven sent.

Klook lets everyone access different activities and tours, most come with discounts, in various destinations across the globe— from Asia to America. It literally takes you places.

Enjoy an adventure-filled day at the best theme parks Klook has amazing deals where one can skip the queue for tickets and rides at theme parks.

Reminisce sweet childhood memories at Disneyland or explore various adrenaline-pumping rides at Universal studios or discover the different attractions at Ocean Park.

W

HETHER you’re a cycling enthusiast, an eco-warrior, or just looking to find new ways to explore and experience new places, traveling on a bike can be a fun and rewarding option.

To mark World Bicycle Day on June 3, online travel agent Agoda shares six beautiful cities that different types of travelers should check out on two wheels.

BIKING AROUND BEIJING. Exploring the city on two wheels is a great way to appreciate its beauty.

FOR CITY EXPLORERS

Beijing, China For an affordable and convenient way to get around, hop on a bicycle from one of the bikesharing operators in Beijing. Simply scan a bike with your mobile phone to unlock and lock it when you reach your destination. First-timers to Beijing can follow a 16-kilometer bike route to cover some of Beijing’s highlights like the Forbidden City, The Egg, and the Bird’s Nest stadium.

Where to stay: Check-in at The Imperial Mansion, Beijing Marriott Executive Apartments and start your tour from Tiananmen Square just 940 meters away.

Paris, France For a different view of the City of Love, pedal through the Parc Rives de Seine, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, extending along the sides of the Seine River. The area was specially converted from an expressway into a promenade for cyclists and pedestrians. For a pitstop, consider one of the restaurants or take part in the many events happening throughout the day.

Where to stay: If you’re staying at Hotel de la

Explore Paris which has expressway converted into promenade for cyclists.

Book a four-hour cycling tour to fully experience the charms of Hoi An.

Explore the city Book a Go Los Angeles card and have access to over 30 available attractions. Those leaning

Porte Doree, you can rent a bike from there and Where to stay: If you want to continue ride off to the Seine within 10 minutes. exploring Hoi An on bicycle, stay near the Old Town at Allegro Hoi An, where they provide free use of their bicycles.

FOR CULTURE AND HISTORY BUFFS

Hoi An, Vietnam If rustic old towns, beautiful rice field landscapes, and picturesque farms excite you, book a cycling tour to truly experience Hoi An in four hours. Get to know the city’s past and present, immerse in local culture with opportunities to interact with families, and try your hand at their crafts.

Florence, Italy Like to bike but hate to pedal for hours? Try exploring Florence on an electric bike tour without getting out of breath. Check out the famous terrace of Piazzale Michelangelo and experience Turn to D2

QUE TRISTE PARA CUBA! HOW sad for Cuba! But, before I tell you why, let me first share with you my impressions of this country in the Caribbean.

During the past 10 years of my travels to many parts of the globe, Cuba easily became my favorite. Having heard nothing but praises for this beautiful country, my siblings, their families, and I decided to have our family reunion there last year.

As expected, the old world charm of this Spanish-speaking island nation mesmerized us.

Havana, or La Habana in Spanish, is the oldest city in Cuba. With 2.3 million residents, it is also the smallest city in the country. Since Cuba, with its 11.2 million current residents, was disconnected from the Western world through strict trade embargoes imposed by the US, it remains a Third World country, a status that prob-

Wander in Bali Embarking on a West Nusa Penida Island trip? Drop by incredible photo spots such as Angel Billabong, Broken Beach, Kelingking Beach, and Crystal Bay. Or go snorkeling in Crystal Bay, Manta Bay, or Gamat Bay. After an island trip, be sure to visit Uluwatu temple, and stop over to witness a splendid Kecak fire dance with the high stage overlooking the ocean and temple.

into having a solo adventure with no itinerary in mind, should get an all in one card that can be used to dine, travel, and shop.

Those going to Hong Kong may get the Hong Kong Tourist Octopus card.

Klook currently has promos and deals on offer, including Buy 1 Get 1 for Nikko Pass and sameday pick up for Japan Rail Pass; up to 50 percent off on theme park activities at Lotte World or Everland; up to 50 percent off on admission tickets to Yehliu Geopark or Maokong Gondola; up to 50 percent off on tours in Mt. Fuji or Arashiyama and Nara Park; and up to 50 percent off on admission tickets to Singapore’s Night Safari or S.E.A. Aquarium.

This government building has on its facade the image of Che Guevarra, regarded as a hero in Cuba.

ably adds to its charm.

Havana captivates visitors with its well-preserved old buildings, cobblestone streets, and those attractive old Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles run-

A row of old buildings in the center of Havana.

ning all over the city. First-time visi- there are so many of these vintage tors like me easily get this strange but cars, they are used as tourist transpleasant feeling of being “teleported” port vehicles for a pre-arranged fare. back to that rock ‘n roll and mafia Adding to the character of the Turn to D2 era of the 1950s. Of course, because

The travel booking platform will be giving travel essentials gifts to those who avail these promos when they present a proof of purchase at any of Klook’s pop-up locations at Glorietta: June 9, Trinoma: June 2223, and UP Town Center: June 29-30.

Destinations

D2

SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

M

ANY Filipinos were introduced to Corregidor during a school field trip.

There we learned the island in southwestern part of Luzon was the site of one of the most heroic and crucial battles in World War II between the allied US and Filipino forces against Japanese invasion forces.

The battle lasted for three months, when against all odds, American and Filipino troops held back the Japanese from entering Manila Bay. It holds a historical significance and is a popular historical tourist destination.

Time has evolved as Corregidor Island has become a multi-faceted destination that combines history, eco-tourism, and leisure opportunities.

CORREGIDOR BECKONS

The Tourism department, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the Corregidor Foundation worked together to transform it as a family-friendly place that showcases meaningful heritage, heroic history, and natural beauty to visitors.

Beaches and trails

Corregidor offers beautiful, refreshing beaches and sandy coves. The clean waters are simply too inviting to resist.

The best beach, according to locals and visitors, is South Beach.

It’s perfect for chilling on the sand, going for refreshing swims, and bonding with family and friends.

Adventure and leisure

The island is also a good place for hiking, biking, adventure races, team building, and other outdoor activities. For those who wish to spend the night, they can embark on a ghost hunting, if they are brave enough to do so.

Some visitors go to Corregidor

HISTORY AND ECO-TOURISM. Corregidor Island, where one of the crucial battles in World War II transpired, has evolved into a multi-faceted tourist destination where visitors can take a tour in Malinta Tunnel, join hiking and biking tours, and visit the Japanese Peace Garden and beaches, among others.

to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, they drop by and reflect at various hisand weddings, among other special torical spots in the island. There’s the occasions.

Pacific War Memorial that has a museum and a dome-shaped shrine and Living history park. Close by is The Eternal Flame of Corregidor is a place where visitors Freedom, a steel sculpture dedicated can virtually walk through history as to freedom and how all human beings

come together to defend it.

There’s also the Japanese Garden of Peace built to honor the Japanese soldiers who fought and died in World War II. Then there’s the Filipino Heroes Memorial that represents the Filipinos’ heroic battles in their fight

for freedom since the 15th century against various colonizers.

Visitors should also not miss historical attractions on the island like the Malinta Tunnel tour and audio-visual presentation.

6FromCITIES...

D1 the Renaissance magnificence at the Duomo, while stopping along the way to get a taste of delectable Tuscan wine and food.

Where to stay: A stay at the stylish Hotel Spadai located in the heart of Florence will get you well-rested for your Florence excursions.

FOR ADVENTURERS

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne is home to a thriving outdoor and cycling culture.

Live as the locals do and explore the Victoria state on bike. For a short trip, consider the Yarra River trails where the region is known for its vast wineries. If you have a couple more days, take a trip out to Warrnambool to cycle down the famous Great Ocean Road.

Don’t forget to look out for the Twelve Apostles and some of the most spectacular views in Australia.

Where to stay: For longer cycling trips, plan your rest stops and choose from over 10,000 properties in Victoria to stay the night.

California, USA The Golden State has some of the most beautiful mountains, beaches, and deserts—perfect for seasoned cyclists looking for an adventure. Pick an area like Santa Barbara and take the Gibraltar Road route for a good climb to get breathtaking ocean views and vistas. Head back downtown to Handlebar Coffee Roasters for a cycling-themed coffee break.

Where to stay: Pick from over 200 properties in the Santa Barbara region to recuperate from all that pedaling.

country is its people. They are just like us, Filipinos, in so many ways. They’re always smiling. They love good food, good music, colorful things, and are always hospitable. Yet, in spite of such happy facade, you can still sense the poverty that pervades in the country.

To this day, homes don’t have running water, an indication that living conditions are quite dismal. Residents have to struggle with skyrocketing inflation rates and their undervalued currency, which is why, every opportunity they get, they find “legitimate” ways to get more money from visitors—bigger tips for the waitstaff in restaurants and bars, tips for band members who perform even without being asked to, etc. But all these belong to the country’s well-hidden “sad face.”

I’d rather focus on the beautiful and happy face of Havana because that’s what fascinated me, as it did, I’m sure, other tourists. Aside from the “old feel” of the city that we enjoyed, there is also the Castillo del Morro, a fortress guarding the entrance of Havana Bay. Morro, in Spanish, is a very big rock that is visible from the sea and is, therefore, used as a navigational aid. As one climbs up to the fortress’ ledge, the sweeping view of the bay and the city gives one the feeling of “seeing forever!”

Those are some of the beautiful memories I have of fascinating Cuba, that is why I am sad to have read the other day that the Trump administration has banned Americans from traveling to that country. “It continues to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a Communist foothold in the region and propping up US adversaries...by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes,” according to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, as reported in The New York Times.

Effective immediately, “people-to-people” trips to that country, which was the visa category we availed of when we went there last year, are no longer allowed. Cruise ships no longer have the permission to stop in Cuba, leaving tour and

The beautiful Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso, which is the headquarters of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

cruise line companies in shock, and scampering for ways to offset the loss of that chunk of their revenues.

I’m glad we went to Cuba when we did, and had the privilege of basking in its old world charm, enjoying the sumptuous food, dancing to its perky music and, most of all, relishing the company of its friendly residents.

Aside from those, I also had the opportunity to practice my Spanish. In fact, after a week in that country, I found myself on “Spanish mode,” mentally translating sentences to Spanish, not only because I liked the sound of it but also because it fooled me into believing that I have finally reached an imagined level of aristocracy.

Levity aside, I really feel sad for that beautiful country and its equally beautiful people. SSoy triste para Cuba!

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com.

YOUR WEEKEND CHUCKLE My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60. Now that he’s 97 years old, we have no idea where the hell he is.

Entertainment

SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

D3

Nickie Wang, Issue Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com

Pia and Catriona with the new batch of Binibining Pilipinas candidates who participated in the fashion show.

BEAUTY QUEENS UNITE AT

‘UNIVERSE GIVE BACK’ GALA

By Eton Concepcion

R

EIGNING Miss Universe Catriona Gray and Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach’s stars shone at the recent benefit gala-fashion show event held at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom in Pasay City showcasing the creations of some renowned local designers.

Dubbed “The Universe Give Back,” the gala sponsored jointly by the Miss Universe Philippines and Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Inc. showcased the creations of Albert Andrada, Michael Leyva, Rhett Eala, Ito Curata, Jot Losa, Avel Bacudio, Cherry Veric, and Martin Bautista with suits

by Edwin Tan. Gray and Wurtzbach strutting the stage served as the finale of the much-awaited fashion show with the forty candidates of Binibining Pilipinas 2019 and some ramp models.

The charity gala was held for the benefit of two non-government organizations that are closest to the hearts of the two Miss Universe queens, “Love Yourself, Inc.” that Pia supports and “Young Focus Philippines,” which is the favorite organization of Gray.

Love Yourself, an organization of volunteers working, promotes self-love and equality and health information awareness, particularly, among LGBTQI+ community on issues such as AIDS/HIV. Young Focus Philippines, on the other hand, helps provide free education for poor children and supports out-of-school youth programs.

Gray returned in Manila from New York City to attend the Binibining Pilipinas 2019 coronation where she will crown her successor. Gray, who was stunning in a yellow Jearson Demavivas gown, said that she is feeling quite emotional for the pageant night having been where her journey for the Miss Universe all began, and now that she is passing the honor, her Binibining Pilipinas crown, to the next Philippine representative.

Gray and Wurtzbach joined forces on a mission to advance women empowerment and uplift the indomitable Filipino spirit to the fore through fashion and philanthropy. Singson-Michael said in a message that they hope that the gala would become a catalyst for more similar charity events in the future and to bring the Miss Universe brand to a higher level than a oneday television special.

Given tributes at the event were Miss Universe 2010 4th runner-up Venus Raj, who completed her Master’s degree in Community Development from UP, and Grace Bacus, a poor house helper from Talisay City who graduated Magna cum Laude with a degree of Secondary Education major in English from Talisay City College.

QUEENS OF THE UNIVERSE. Pia Wurtzbach (right) and Catriona Gray headline a benefit gala-fashion show in support of the organization and foundation close to their hearts.

THREE MUST-WATCH

LOVE YOURSELF AND

‘GLOW UP’

IN LATEST LIFESTYLE AND BEAUTY SHOW BEGINNING today, GMA News TV inspires viewers to empower themselves inside and out in the newest lifestyle and beauty show Glow Up. With the help of style and beauty council members actress and 2017 Reina Hispanoamericana Teresita Ssen “Winwyn” Marquez, model-turnedactress Michelle Dee, and Miss Eco International 2018 Thia Thomalla, Glow Up takes viewers on a guided journey in building their self-esteem, loving themselves, and upgrading their style.

Winwyn shares some tips on beauty and confidence. Michelle showcases her skills on modeling and photography.

Thia imparts knowledge on fashion and makeup. They also provide access to industry professionals for the “glow up” transformation that the viewers need.

“We have different personalities and experiences. We each have our own set of skills na maaaring may matutunan ang viewers natin,” shares Winwyn in an interview.

“Aside from enhancing your physical appearance, we also want our viewers and guests to improve themselves internally. We want them to realize that change is a good thing,” says Thia.

Michelle, on the other hand, says that the digital platform of Glow Up is very beneficial to its viewers. “ With the growing benefits of the online world, Glow Up can easily be accessible for women to tune into with its tutorials as exclusive online content,” she adds.

In the show’s pilot episode, the style council gives Nicole Sydney Chan an experience of a lifetime by introducing her to the glam team of her ultimate idol, Heart Evangelista.

The Queen of Creative Collaborations’ makeup artist Albert Kurniawan and hair stylist Jeck Aguilar make Nicole’s dream come true as they give her a makeover. Nicole also gets styled ala #LoveMarieXWhites. Will she be able to meet Heart as well?

Discover why it’s always a good time to Glow Up beginning tonight at 8:00 on GNTV Channel 27.

Para Kay James It is another short film entry in last year’s C1 Originals. It tells the story of Cedric who goes to the wake of his deceased lover, James, and seeks the courage to tell James’ mother about their relationship.

LOCAL FILMS THIS PRIDE MONTH CELEBRATE Pride Month with amazing local films that depict romance beyond gender and prove that love is too beautiful to be kept in the dark.

Here are some of the LGBTQ-themed movies to catch this June: Sa Pag-agos ng Panahon (As Time Flows) An entry to the short film category of Cinema One Originals 2018, Annika Yanez’s Sa Pag-asa ng Panahon is about a lesbian who struggles in coming into terms with her traditional father. The film won Best Feature and five other awards in the Indie Un-Film Festival 2018.

‘Glow Up’ style and beauty council members (from top) Teresita Ssen “Winwyn” Marquez, Michelle Dee, and Thia Thomalla.

Rome & Juliet The film stars Andrea del Rosario as a conservative pre-school teacher who is about to get married and hires freespirited Mylene Dizon as wedding planner. This chance meeting leads to a forbidden connection and a lifechanging decision between two straight women.

Check out Para Kay James and Rome & Juliet on Cinema One’s Youtube channel. Pag-agos ng Panahon also streams online starting June 12.

D4

K

sunday, june 9, 2019

Desiree Carlos, Editor

daycarlos28@yahoo.com

Pets My Furry Bestie

CanCer in Dogs

nowing more about dog diseases can help prevent these diseases.

pet tales

By desiree carlos

The common illnesses among · Decreased or loss of appetite dog are cancer, diabetes, heart· Difficulty breathing, urinating worm, kennel cough, parvo vi- or defecating rus, rabies and ringworm, according to the American Society How is cancer diagnosed? for the Prevention of Cruelty to ASPCA said a vet will usually recAnimals (ASPCA ). it is important for dog owners to recognize the signs and symptoms of common illnesses to be able to get immediate help from the vet.

Cancer is one disease that scares anyone. “when that loved one is your dog, it’s important to keep in mind that different veterinarians might have different views on the best way to treat the disease. it’s always a good idea to seek out a second opinion, perhaps from a veterinary oncologist, and carefully review your options, “ ASPCA said.

blood evaluation and other diag- dog might have a breed disposinostic tests—to determine if can- tion,” ASPCA said. cer is present or if it has spread.

Which dogs are more prone to cancer?

Cancer is common in older dogs, even though it can be diagnosed in dogs of all ages and breeds, ASPCA said.

ASPCA identified some breeds prone to specific cancers: 1. Boxers, Boston terriers

What is cancer?

What causes cancer?

not one factor causes cancer.

“Cancer is a ‘multifactorial’ disease, which means it has no known single cause. However, we do know that both hereditary and environmental factors can contribute to the development of cancer in dogs.” ASPCA said.

Symptoms, ASPCA said, may include: · Lumps (these are not always malignant, but please ask your vet to examine your dog) · Swelling · Persistent sores · Abnormal discharge from one part of the body · Bad breath · Listlessness/lethargy · Rapid, and often unexplained weight loss · Sudden lameness · Black and tarry stools (this is a symptom of ulcers which may be caused by mast cell tumors)

Sage, a brown asong Pinoy, was rescued from the Cainta pound in 2014 by Save ALL inc. He was exposed to several illnesses. He was only 2-3 years old then. Today, at 7-8 years old, he has a smalll growth in his chest area. The doctor said to observe the growth. if it becomes bigger, he suggests a biopsy. For now, he is given a healthy diet that boosts his immune system.

ommend a needle biopsy if a lump is present.

Through this, a very small tissue sample is taken from the lump for microscopic examination of cells, it added.

Surgery may be done to remove all or part of the lump for diagnosis by a pathologist, ASPCA said. other tests may be done--- radiographs (xrays), ultrasound,

Here are some tips from ASPCA: 1. Have your dog “altered” at a young age to dramatically reduce the chance of getting certain types of cancer.

2. Breast cancer can be avoided almost completely when a dog is spayed before her first heat cycle, while a neutered male dog has a zero chance of developing testicular cancer.

and golden Retrievers are some of the breeds that most commonly develop mast cell tumors or lymphoma.

2. Large and giant breeds like great Danes and Saint Bernards are more prone to developing bone cancer than smaller breeds. “it is important to be familiar with the diseases to which your

Treatment options are different depending on the type and stage of cancer.

Common treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy or a combination of therapies.

“Success of treatment depends on the type and extent of the cancer and the aggressiveness of the therapy. of course, early detection is best, “ ASPCA said.

There are dog owners who opt not to have their dog treated, ASPCA noted. if this is the decision, palliative end of life care, including pain relief, should be considered.

ASPCA stressed, “Regardless of how you proceed after a diagnosis of cancer in your pet, it is very important to consider his quality of life when making future decisions.”

THiS iS VERY iMPoRTAnT To REMEMBER: There are types of cancer that can be cured, while there is a kind of cancer that has no cure.

“Please note that if your dog’s cancer is not curable, there are still many things you can do to make your pet feel better. Don’t hesitate to talk to your vet about your options. And remember good nutrition and loving care can greatly enhance your dog’s quality of life, “ ASPCA stressed.

When should a pet owner consult the vet?

immediately. once your dog shows any of the clinical signs or symptoms, please contact your vet immediately.

“Should your dog receive a diagnosis of cancer, you may wish to consult a veterinary oncologist, often employed by specialty veterinary practices and teaching hospitals, “ ASPCSA said.

Next week: Diabetes in dogs

Missing anD FounD pets iT iS so difficult to lose a loved one, specially when you do or reported them on Facebook to help the furbabies not know what has happened to your beloved. get home. we are sharing as many posts on missing pets or we do hope the suffering of both owners and pets will pets found by good people and are fostering them end soon, and they will be reunited.

Missing Pets

Brielle Caden is looking for her brown/ white toy poodle THEA. This female dog has been missing since May 20.

Please contact Brielle at (0998) 424 3916.

"Some have said it is possible someone got my dog and sold her to someone.

Please contact me if she was sold to you or you have seen her, " Brielle pleaded.

For contributions, please email to daycarlos28@yahoo.com and put My Furry Bestie as subject.

How is cancer in dog treated?

“Cancer is a class of diseases in which cells grow uncontrollably, invade (the) surrounding tissue and may spread to other areas of the body. As with people, dogs can get various kinds of cancer.

The disease can be localized (confined to one area, like a tumor) or generalized (spread throughout the body), “ ASPCA said.

What are the symptoms?

How can cancer be prevented?

THiS corner features pets of animal lovers every week. we hope new owners and those thinking of getting a pet will be encouraged to be responsible “furparents” through these features. we also hope more people will be moved to be kind to animals when they read about the great relationship that can be created between humans and animals.

Found dog

Honey Arollado guanco has been looking for her dog since March 21, 2017. She has not lost hope even after two years.

The dog was last seen in Kasunduan, in Quezon City.

The possible areas the dog could have passed by are Batasan, Congress,Riverside, Litex, or CoA. Honey has checked the pound but her dog was not there.

The dog was rescued by Honey way back in 2015 from the barangay pound. He was caught by the dog catcher and no one claimed him, thus Honey adopted him.

Lorraine Joy Cartagenas reported that they saw a shih tzu running aimlessly on the street.

She and her companions decided to get the dog and bring the dog home.

Someone tried to claim the dog but this person can not show proof of ownership. The person also does not know the dog’s name, thus they did not give the dog and continued to share her post about the dog to be able to find the real owner.

Honey is willing to give a reward. Please contact her in Facebook.

Please contact Lorraine in Facebook if you are the owner.

AngELo was rescued by Jhec Victoria after a tricycle driver reported the puppy to them. Jhec and her family are known to be rescuers of stray animals in their area.

The tricycle driver told them Angelo was hiding in the bushes near an electric post, afraid and confused.

Jhec believes Angelo squeezed out of a dog pound vehicle which roams in the city every morning, then jumped out.

“He seemed hopeless when we first saw him. His mouth was deformed in a way that we think it was because he struggled to get out of the vehicle, “ Jhec says.

“He was also drooling nonstop which means he was under too much stress and he was so afraid.

He was so small that the fleas and ticks on his body stood out and could easily be noticed, “ Jhec says.

Today, there are no traces of the hardship and struggle he had to overcome, Jhec says.

“He is now so cute and adorable that it is as if he never had a bad, very traumatic experience, “Jhec adds.

Jhec adds: “we tried looking for a foster furparent because i have a lot of rescued animals in my home. i thought that my tight budget for my rescues would be not be enough for all dogs if i will keep Angelo.”

But Angelo's charm and cuteness are irresistible that the family decided to keep him, Jhec says. “we cannot afford to lose him. no regrets of keeping him because he gives joy and happiness that no one could ever fill, “ she adds.

“Happiness is everywhere whenever and wherever he is around. Baby Angelo is now a member of the family, “ Jhec says. “no matter what life gives us, we will never stop caring for the poor stray animals in our care. Having a rescued animal is one of the greatest pleasure a man can have in his lifetime," Jhec adds.

She shares: “we human beings were designed in the image of god, therefore we must be god-like when we treat every creature on earth. it is one way of glorifying our god because each creature is made by god to be loved and cared for. The rewards for doing so is loyalty and love from these animals you adopted, and these are absolutely priceless!"