Manila Standard - 2019 August 3 - Saturday

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WEATHER LPA to enhance monsoon rains A LOW pressure area will develop into a tropical depression within the next 48 hours, as monsoon rains forced the suspension of work and classes in the afternoon and caused massive traffic jams across Metro VOL. XXXIII • NO. 170 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P20 • SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Manila on Friday.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said as of 3 p.m., the LPA was estimated at 1,060 kilometers east of Virac, Catanduanes. Next page

UNDER WATER. Stranded commuters (top photo) in Metro Manila wade through a flooded street in the below sea level capital city caused by a heavy downpour brought by the southwest monsoon Friday. Below top photo (from left) a commuter rides on an inflatable boat; motorists and other commuters brave the flooded Taft Ave. corner UN Ave. in Manila; vendors go on double time trying to save their merchandise at the Baseco public market in Tondo, Manila; and an old ipil tree fallsdown on a house at barangay UP Campus in Diliman, Quezon City. AFP/Lino Santos/Norman Cruz/Manny Palmero

Palace eyes Dengvaxia return FIREWORKS FROM MALACAÑANG

Vaccine might be available next week to combat dengue

By MJ Blancaflor and Rio N. Araja

T

HE Palace on Wednesday said the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine might be available in the market again amid the surge of dengue cases and said politics must be set aside when the health of the public is in peril.

DUTERTE

GORDON

“Nothing is final yet but we vow that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past, where Dengvaxia was allegedly misused and mishandled in aid of political election with haste,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

His statement came after former President Benigno Aquino III said those who caused Dengvaxia scare should be held liable for causing undue harm to the public, amid the widespread cases

Duterte slams Gordon, calls him ‘smart ass’

By MJ Blancaflor and Macon RamosAraneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at Senator Richard Gordon for criticizing his recent appointments of former military officials to government positions.

PCSO resumes all games except STL, ‘Peryahan’

Angered by the criticism, President Duterte launched a vicious attack on Gordon, ridiculing his girth and intelligence, and saying he would never become vice president—even though the senator never ran for that position.

In a lengthy rant at the 28th

By Rey E. Requejo

Next page

ASEAN SIDELINES. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (second left) attends a meeting with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (right) on the sidelines of the 52nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers Meeting in Bangkok on Friday. AFP

Pompeo to Asean nations: Trust US values MEDIALDEA

TULFO

Medialdea sues Mon Tulfo

By MJ Blancaflor EXECUTIVE Secretary Salvador Medialdea has filed a libel complaint against columnist and broadcast personality Ramon Tulfo over “malicious accusations” in an

article published in the Manila Times.

The confirmation came after Medialdea sent a letter dated July 26 to the Manila Times editorial board, saying Tulfo’s column was meant to discredit him.

Next page

‘Visa on arrival’ still in effect

By Rey E. Requejo and Vito Barcelo

THE Justice department has begun reviewing the visa-onarrival policy generally available only to Chinese touristts to see if it should be refined or completely scrapped.

Justice Undersecretary Mark Perete revealed that the bureau’s review started about a month ago and has already identified loopholes in the system.

Perete the bureau will submit its recommendations to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Next page

of dengue.

“The thing that could have protected the health of our citizens cannot deliver anymore because of politics and a lot of bad motivation,” Aquino said.

Last week, the Deartment of Health declared a National Dengue Alert as some regions exceeded the epidemic threshold. These include Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Northern Mindanao.

Next page

BANGKOK―America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo on Friday implored Southeast Asian nations to trust in US values, delivering a withering take-down of China’s leadership of a region it considers its backyard.

The US Secretary of State said decades of US alliances and investment had helped Asia walk from poverty to prosperity, as he aired the Trump administration’s “Indo-Pacific” strategy in Bangkok.

From supporting state-led enterprises to disputes over contested territories, Pompeo took aim at China’s actions and motivations in Southeast Asia, rowing back on comments on Thursday in which he told regional diplomats they

were not expected to “choose” sides between the superpowers.

“Our investments don’t serve a government.... [they] don’t serve a political party,” he said of the Chinese Communist Party.

Beijing considers Southeast Asia as its “neighborhood” where its economic, political and military might has given it primacy, with massive infrastructure and investment schemes striating the region.

But smaller powers also accuse China of loading on debt as well as aggression in the disputed South China Sea where a military build-up threatens the claims of several nations to strateNext page gically crucial waters.

THE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office resumed the draws of its EZ2, Swertres, 4-Digit and 6-Digit lotteries on Wednesday, July 31, even as it continued to draw numbers for winning combinations for its other lotto games from July 27 to 30, when they were supposed to be suspended following an order by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Meanwhile, the Presidential AntiCorruption Commission said Friday it is investigating “13 to 20” officials of Next page

Rody declaring ML legal—DOJ

By MJ Blancaflor, Rio N. Araja and Macon Ramos-Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 proclamation of a state of national emergency provides sufficient legal grounds for him to declare martial law in Negros Oriental, where a spate of killings has Next page

Sara to ‘pray for wisdom’ for 2022

Cayabyab among Magsaysay winners

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s eldest daughter said Friday she would “pray for wisdom” on seeking her father’s post in 2022, about three months after she said she was “not thinking” about seeking the presidency. Next page

COMPOSER Raymundo “Ryan” Cayabyab joined a campaigner who tackles youth suicide in South Korea, two journalists, and a human rights activist on Friday among the winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

QC court nixes provincial bus ban in metro

By Rio N. Araja THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Friday issued a preliminary injunction against the prohibition on provincial buses to enter major roads in Metro Manila.

In a 25-page decision, Branch 223 Judge Caridad Walse-Lutero approved the writ of preliminary injunction filed by 18 bus groups, saying there was “just cause” to stop the implementation of the bus ban.

“The matter on hand greatly impacts on the welfare of the public,” the order read.

The prohibition, which was supposed to take effect on Aug. 7, bars provincial buses from passing through Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue, Metro Manila’s main artery, to decongest traffic.

It also prohibits the operation of provincial bus terminals along EDSA. The judge gave the Metro Manila Development Authority and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, which implemented the ban, the chance to file their comments until Aug. 14.

The MMDA and LTFRB have a lot of explaining to do why the point-to-point buses were spared from the ban, the QCRTC order noted.

The court’s order also suspended the prohibition of the issuance of business permits to all public utility vehicles and operators along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, citing the livelihood of the bus operators, drivers and other employees would be affected by the scheme.

It said it was not clear to the court why P2P buses “are given a special privilege of plying EDSA,” adding that such distinction was “unreasonable.”

The court also noted that profits and wages of bus operators and employees alike will be affected by the ban.

MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago said the agency would first consult its legal team and the Office of the Solicitor General.

“We will seek opinion from the lawyers.

But of course we will follow what the court says,” she said in a statement.

Armed firefighters? Du30 wants them to keep peace T

By MJ Blancaflor

HE firefighters’ duty is to put out fire, but they might soon be armed with guns, catching criminals.

President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he might soon ask firemen to help the military and police in keeping law and order in the country.

President Duterte, during the 28th year of the Bureau of Fire Protection, said he was mulling over the possibility of arming the firemen so they could arrest criminals and “kill the enemy.”

“You know, you have to help in the law and order. You are not limited to just fire. That’s a b******t idea. You have to go around and help the policeman and the military,” Duterte

By Maricel V. Cruz DAYS after the President vetoed the Security of Tenure Bill, Deputy Speaker Eduardo Villanueva of CIBAC Party-list has filed a measure that institutionalizes the security of tenure in private business enterprises.

Villanueva’s House Bill 3367 has a counterpart measure in the Senate where his son, Senator Joel Villanueva, is a member.

The measure is a pet bill of Villanueva who is its principal author at the Senate and the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment and Human Resources in the 17th Congress.

“Pursuant to the Constitution, serving the greatest interest and general welfare of our people is our priority and we will con-

Palace...

the state-run lottery agency for what President Duterte called “massive corruption.”

The officials hold technical positions that give them “control over biddings, contracts, operations, computers” in the PCSO, PACC commissioner Greco Belgica told ANC. Also, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday said he is hoping the National Bureau of Investigation completes its investigation of the alleged corruption at the PCSO, particularly the anomalies in its regulated gaming activities, before the year ends.

“I think the NBI itself said they will try to finish the whole investigation before the end of the year,” Guevarra said in a press conference.

In a statement, PCSO said it resumed selling tickets and drawing numbers for its two-to-six single-digit lottery products apart from its Lotto 6/42, Mega Lotto 6/45, Super Lotto 6/49, Grand Lotto 6/55 and Ultra Lotto 6/58 games, which were the first to be lifted from suspension on Tuesday night.

As for the drawing of winning numbers even during the suspension ordered by the President, Aimee De Viterbo, manager of PCSO’s Gaming Technology Department, told GMA News Online it had to be done because players had placed bets in advance.

“A player can make a bet up to six advanced draws, so bettors have placed bets for those days [Saturday to Tuesday],” De Viterbo said.

“We could not go straight for the draws scheduled for Wednesday [July 31]. We have to draw the missed draws and suspended draws when we had no operations. That’s why we generated winning numbers for those days,” she added.

Duterte ordered the suspension of all PCSO’s gaming operations due to alleged massive corruption on Friday night, July 26. He later ordered the resumption of lotto operations as advised by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea because investigators found no anomalies in its operations.

Some regions have also exceeded the alert threshold: Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Cordillera Administrative Region.

The Dengvaxia scare emerged after several children reportedly died from various complications allegedly attributed to the dengue vaccine.

The Department of Health suspended the nationwide dengue vaccination program in 2017 after the French vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur said Dengvaxia poses “higher risks” to people without prior dengue infection.

Former Health Secretary Janette Garin urged the government to make the vaccines available to the public as a response to dengue outbreaks all over the country.

But if the vaccine will be used, it should be done with “utmost caution” considering the opinion of the World Health Organization and other medical experts that it should be given only to those who had prior dengue exposure Panelo said.

“We will also consider the protocol set by the WHO that for countries considering said vaccination as part of their dengue control program, a ‘pre-vaccination screening strategy’ is recommended,” Panelo said.

“If Dengvaxia is proven effective to those who already had dengue in the past, then its

“I would have urged Tulfo to observe responsible journalism, but that might prove to be a futile exercise. I chose to be quiet in all his backhanded accusations and malicious articles against me, and let my lawyer just file the appropriate libel case against him for a libelous article he previously wrote in this newspaper,” Medialdea said.

In his column, Tulfo claimed that a certain Felicito Mejorado told him he has not yet received P272.07 million in reward money owed to him by the government for his tip on a smuggling operation in Mariveles, Bataan, in 1997.

Mejorado came to Tulfo’s office in Pasig City last week to ask for help because his reward has been supposedly pending with Medialdea’s office for one year, according to the column.

“Why is the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea withholding the release of P272.07 million of a cash reward owed a government informer?” Tulfo wrote in his column titled “Self-purgation should start with the Cabinet.”

Duterte, who also serves as the country’s commander in chief, told the firemen to maintain law and order within their jurisdiction.

“You help in the maintenance of peace and order. Within your area of jurisdiction, make it safe for everybody. Your area where your station is based. Just make sure that everything, everywhere. If you do that, it will go a long way to help,” he said.

“You have the authority to arrest. Why don’t you arrest? Just explain, ‘I am a government worker connected with the Bureau of Fire, I am arresting you because you have committed a crime.’ Period. Now, you are like the police,” he added.

The Chief Executive also hinted that he would do “something drastic” in the days to come.

“We lack manpower. I will explain in the coming days. But I’m about to do something drastic. It will not sit well with everybody, maybe including you, but it is needed,” he said.

Bill to secure private sector workers’ tenure filed

PCSO...

From A1

Medialdea...

From A1

told his audience composed of BFP officials and employees.

“You must help. And you must help kill.

Kill the enemy,” he added.

His remarks came amid the spate of killings in Negros Oriental that saw murders of about 30 people in just a few weeks, including four police personnel.

The unrest in the Negros islands also prompted him to consider the possibility of placing the entire province under martial law.

“And I am warning you that in some parts of the Philippines, everything is not going well. I talked about Negros. The killing there has not stopped. It has gone unabated, unbridled, unstoppable,” Duterte said.

In his speech, he also issued a warning against the New People’s Army, whose guerrillas were allegedly behind the conflict in the Negros Islands, according to Malacañang.

“NPA, I am warning you. This cannot go on. So I will arm firemen with guns. After putting out fire, kill them,” he told firemen.

From A1

‘Visa...

From A1 who has control over Immigration matters.

Perete admitted that based on the initial findings of the BI, one of the loopholes identified is the length of period covered by the VUA, which is initially valid for three months and subject to a three-month extension.

Guevarra, for his part, said the foreign nationals then convert the visa into a work visa or a special work permit to be able to stay longer and work in the Philippines.

That’s where the BI needs adequate monitoring and intelligence work to prevent the use of these visas for purposes other than tourism, he said.

The Justice secretary said scrapping the VUA was an option but would hurt tourism.

“That scheme was developed to encourage tourists from China so the immediate impact if we abolish it will be on the tourism side,” Guevarra said.

Another issue that they have to look into is the security issue raised by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon on the influx of Chinese nationals, Guevarra said.

Guevarra added after the BI’s review, they will coordinate with the Department of Foreign Affairs on the matter before deciding on whether to scrap or fine tune the system.

The BI has stepped up its campaign against illegal aliens amid calls for tighter regulation of foreigners.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the BI has implemented numerous changes to “ensure that only the legitimate and properly documented foreign nationals may set foot and stay in the country.”

The statement came after concerns were raised on the number of Chinese nationals coming to the Philippines. With Macon Ramos-Araneta and PNA

tinue to fight for the protection of the laborers,” Villanueva said.

In the last 17th Congress, the bill was already approved and ratified by chambers of Congress.

The President vetoed the bill last week.

“The battle for decades of the working class to be freed from economic injustice was delayed but we will not stop until social justice is served and the rights of the people are honored,” the former communist leader turned evangelist turned legislator said.

House Bill 3367 seeks to protect laborers from labor-only contracting that is defined by the following conditions: (1) when the job contractor merely supplies workers to a contractee; (2) when the workers supplied by the contractor perform jobs directly related to the contractee’s principal business; and (3)

when the job contractor does not control the workers deployed to the contractee.

Further, it simplifies the classification of workers to only two: Regular and probationary.

Project and seasonal employees are to be classified regular for the duration of their employment. All other forms of employment are strictly prohibited.

The bill, contrary as to how other people perceive it, Villanueva said was neither antiemployers nor anti-contractualization.

It does not seek to end legal contractualization but instead simply aims to ensure that all parties involved in labor contracts are duly protected by the law.

Thus, it allows industry tripartite councils to determine the kind of jobs which are directly related to one’s principal business.

application to these individuals will surely cause the decline of the overall number of cases of dengue which plague the residents of this country,” he added.

Garin, now a congresswoman for Iloilo, faces numerous charges from families who claim their children died after receiving Dengvaxia.

But Garin said the drug is on the essential medicines list and 22 countries, including the United States, continue to use it.

Meanwhile, the Public Attorney’s Office has yet to submit to court concrete proof that several children died supposedly after receiving Dengvaxia shots, she said.

Speaking on the ANC news channel, she said one side of the debate should not impose its views on the other.

“People are dying right and left. We are sacrificing lives of our people. We have to go to the middle ground, respect the belief of each doctor and each patient and we now go back to the real specialists,” she added.

Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta slammed Garin, saying she does not have credibility since she is facing 44 counts before the Department of Justice and several civil suits before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

“She is respondent. She is not credible,” she said.

“She does not have the credibility to suggest [anything] since she is the accused and respondent in the Dengvaxia cases involving deaths of several children,” she added.

“She is just out on bail.”

The proposal of the Iloilo lawmaker is just a part of her legal strategy, she said, with online trolls pushing her campaign.

“That is just her defense [mechanism].

Just in case she succeeds to have Dengvaxia (vaccine) returned, she could use it as her basis to dismiss the charges,” she said.

She also said she believed Panelo was just misquoted when he said that President Rodrigo Duterte might reconsider the Dengvaxia ban.

“I know Secretary Panelo was misquoted. He said the Palace is open to anything that would be good to the people, and that the government has yet to study [the proposal]. He did not say...

[Dengvaxia] will be returned. He was just misquoted about Dengvaxia,” she said.

Relatives of at least 44 children through PAO filed criminal charges against Garin, Health Secretary Francisco Duque II, Philippine Children’s Medical Center director Julius Lecciones, executives of Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and Zuellig Pharma Corp., and several others forthe deaths of their children after receiving Dengvaxia vaccine shots.

In November 2017, Sanofi Pasteur issued an official statement, saying the vaccination of Dengvaxia posed higher risks to people without prior dengue infection.

Panelo on Friday said he “was just making a suggestion.”

The DOH declared a red alert on dengue early last month after 115,986 dengue cases, with 491 deaths, were recorded nationwide from Jan. 1 to July 6 this year. With PNA

Rody...

From A1 been linked to communist rebels, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Friday.

The Palace, meanwhile, denied the allegations of Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares that the spate of killings in Negros Oriental and in other parts of the country were state-sponsored.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the allegations against the government were “baseless” and “laced with malice” and the remarks were part of the propaganda of the communist rebels.

“Such utterances of Mr. Colmenares are but a part of the propaganda of the Communist Party of the Philippines [CPP], to which obviously he subscribes and parrots, to discredit the administration and the security forces of the government,” he added.

The Palace official also said justice should be given to those who were murdered as well as to their families.

Negros island has suffered a surge in killings, including a lawyer, a one-year-old

Duterte...

From A1 anniversary of Bureau of Fire Protection on Thursday, Duterte claimed that Gordon did not gain the vice presidency because he was only meant for the Senate.

“You ran for vice president, but you did not win. Being a senator is your limit... You will not become a vice president,” Duterte said, addressing Gordon.

Duterte, known for his bad-mouthing and cussing, said Gordon can only become vice president of a private family-owned corporation.

Duterte also said he would make sure Gordon does not earn the second highest seat

child and four police personnel.

The Palace previously said Negros island would be placed under martial law to quell lawless violence if the military and local executives recommend it.

“We agree that justice must be delivered to the victims, as well as to the families of those who were killed in Negros Oriental. This government condemns all forms of arbitrary killings,” Panelo said.

Colmenares, on the other hand, said evidence suggests the unrest in the region is state-sanctioned.

“Two matters of evidence would point out that the recent cases in the country can be considered as state-sponsored killings— ‘direct evidence’ from the statement of witnesses pointing to the police as the gunmen and the ‘indirect evidence’ which is the pattern of killings which publicly vilify the target,” Colmenares said.

Colmenares, who lost his senatorial bid in May elections, said “the brazenness with which the crime was committed as if the perpetrator was not afraid at all of being accosted by the police” shows why the murders were state-sponsored. in the government.

Gordon never ran for vice president. He ran for president in 2010 and lost to Benigno Aquino III, Duterte’s predecessor.

Duterte called Gordon a “smart ass” who walks like a penguin and questioned the senator’s intelligence. “‘My brain stays in my head. Your brain melts, Dick,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino. “It goes to your stomach. You are a fart away from disaster. With your size you won’t fit in an ambulance. Have yourself carried in one of your trucks.”

Gordon said he took no offense from the President’s insults and said he was happy that Mr. Duterte was concerned about his health and waistline.

Sara...

From A1 Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said Friday on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s “Give Us This Day” television program: “Pehaps, so we can avoid mistakes, we should pray for wisdom on how to go about it and how to decide.”

“Everything is easier if it is the plan of God, so I think before I think about that, I should ask God first if this is for me,” said “Inday Sara,” who has established herself as a force in national politics as head of the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago.

The mayor had told ABS-CBN News in April that seeking the presidency was not on her mind, and that she intended to serve Davao for three successive 3-year terms, the maximum allowed by the Constitution.

Duterte-Carpio succeeded her father in 2016, when he won the presidency. The President, however, has cautioned his daughter against seeking the post, saying the presidency could “destroy” her.

Candidates supported by DuterteCaprio’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago swept the senatorial elections last May, giving her father wider influence in the legislature.

She was also among those credited for the ouster of Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as Speaker in 2018, which led to the rise of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as leader of the House of Representatives.

Cayabyab...

From A1 Cayabyab, 65, was recognized for “his compositions and performances that have defined and inspired Filipino popular music across generations,” the Manila-based award foundation said in a statement.

The annual award is named for the Filipino president who died in a 1957 plane crash. This year’s winners will receive a cash prize and a medallion at a Manila ceremony on Sept. 9.

Called “Maestro” in local music and showbiz circles, Cayabyab is also being recognized for “his indomitable, undeterred confidence to selflessly seek, mentor, and promote young Filipino musical genius for the global stage; and his showing us all that music can indeed instill pride and joy, and unify people across the many barriers that divide them.”

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-ki, whose 16-yearold son took his life after being bullied in school, received the 2019 award for helping South Korea face one of the developed world’s highest suicide rates.

Kim, 72, was recognized for “his quiet courage in transforming private grief into a mission to protect Korea’s youth from the scourge of bullying and violence.”

Over 24 years, Kim’s Foundation for Preventing Youth Violence has carried out wide-ranging anti-bullying campaigns, run a hotline that now takes up to 50 calls a day, introduced counselling and mediation, and lobbied the government for new policy and laws. AFP

LPA...

From A1 Once it becomes a tropical depression, the storm system would be named “Hanna.”

The weather bureau said the LPA would continue to enhance the southwest monsoon affecting the western section of Luzon.

Metro Manila, the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Zambales and Bataan will experience light to moderate to at times heavy monsoon rains, PAGASA added.

Malacañang suspended work in government offices and classes in schools in all levels in Metro Manila effective 3 p.m. Friday due to inclement weather brought about by the southwest monsoon.

The Office of the President issued the directive through Memorandum Circular 63.

“However, those agencies whose functions involve the delivery of basic and health services, preparedness/ response to disasters and calamities, and/ or the performance of other vital services shall continue with their operations and render the necessary services,” the circular stated.

The Palace left it to the heads of private offices and companies to decide on their work suspensions. Rio N. Araja with PNA

Pompeo...

From A1 The US wants the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, to remain open.

Serving up a sharp rebuke on China’s drive into Southeast Asia, Pompeo said: “We’re not building roads to pave over your national sovereignty... We don’t fund bridges to close gaps of loyalty.”

His speech came hours after President Donald Trump promised to slap 10 percent of new tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods in a sharp escalation of the trade war between the two superpowers.

In short panel comments after his speech, Pompeo accused China of “protectionism” and “predatory tactics” to give its companies an advantage in global markets.

“China has taken advantage of trade... It’s time for that to stop,” he said.

“I think that’s what you saw this morning,” he added, referencing Trump’s latest barrage of tariffs on Chinese goods.

He also stuck to Washington’s position of non-interference on the massive antigovernment protests engulfing Hong Kong, a Chinese territory.

“I hope that the way things will proceed in Hong Kong... will be non-violent.” AFP

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Muslim exec declines 200% separation pay as he exits BARMM COTABATO CITY—A top-rated Moro executive is leaving the Muslim region to decline a 200-percent separation package offered to old employees whose services are supposed to end on Dec. 31.

Omarkhayyam Ibil Dalagan, regional director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said he would have no option but to sustain his leave-credits in order to obtain a postretirement pension upon turning 60.

Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is deemed abolished and all positions therein are dissolved by the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Thus, this stirs massive separation from the service of some 6,000 or more employees, from top to bottom, who may opt to accept a maximum of 200 percent separation package, based on their latest salary rates.

For this, Dalagan, 51, said he would be leaving Aug. 9 to transfer as a provincial director in TESDA Region 9, so he could work nine more years of continuous service toward retirement, in order to qualify for the Government Service Insurance System pension.

Dalagan said he had told BARMM Education Minister Mohaguer Iqbal in last Monday’s exit conference for him, that TESDA’s top regional post is “too vulnerable to corruption.”

At the same time, Dalagan on Wednesday told the BARMM leadership that the national government has allotted some P200 million in programs fund for vocational technology education, including support to rice production vocational education for farmers.

In his letter to BARMM Chief Minister Hadji Murad Ebrahim dated July 30, Dalagan said the funds have been allotted, thus: P 55,845, 873.00 for Skills Training for Employment Program; P31,496,250 for Rice Enhancement Scholarship Program; and P184,775,000 under the Universal Access to Quality Education Act. With officials sworn-in before the Qur’an (Muslim Holy Book), Ebrahim’s fledgling BARMM administration has vowed to be tightly vigilant against corruption in the disposition of regional funds and other anomalous sources of government kickbacks.

Du30 signs bill on detecting eye diseases for children

Solon seeks more benefits for vets A PARTY-LIST lawmaker has proposed an increased in the pension of retirees of the armed services.

Rep. Manuel Cabochan III of Magdalo Party-list filed House Bill 1210, or the proposed “Unified Uniformed Personnel Retirement Benefits and Pension Reform Act,” which aims to amend laws on the retirement benefits and pension of the uniformed personnel of the uniformed service.

Cabotchan filed the bill as he acknowledged the State policy to provide adequate remuneration and benefits, which includes retirement benefits and pension, to retired veterans.

“In order to allow the government to fulfill its duties to the retirees, this measure will implement reforms by overhauling the entire retirement benefits and pension system in the uniformed service. This piece of legislation will also provide a new fundsourcing scheme for the uniformed retirees’ pension and benefits that is sustainable in the long term,” said Cabochan. Maricel V. Cruz

‘Budget for free college tuition out’ CLOSED. Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso posted a closure order on an establishment in The Sherwood Place, Taft Avenue, Manila near De La Salle University following the strict implementation of the city’s recently signed ordinance prohibiting the establishments near schools from selling liquor. Norman Cruz

BTA says issue on funds, staffing still unresolved C OTABATO CITY—The Parliament of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority ended its week’s session days on Thursday, unable to resolve pending administrative issues on salary funds and staffing pattern Sulu Member of Parliament Don Mustapha Loong said the July 29 executive session was the longest so far, and with hundreds of employees wishfully waiting outside the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Center here for good news of a take home salaries on a payday—after six months.

Majority Leader Lance Ali Jr. said the BTA has been informed that the Department of Budget and Management has approved some P1.23 billion which was hardly enough for the administrative requirements of the Parliament, February through December.

Ali said revert in regionallygenerated revenues from the National

Treasury, amounting to P 800 million may augment for the shortfall.

Sources privy to issues discussed in the close-door session said the DBM has instead released a lesser amount with very constricted size of staffing pattern for members of the Bangsamoro Parliament, each office having only a chief-of-staff, a legal staff (lawyer) and a political officer— and with rates “comparable only to utility workers.”

The national government has also reportedly released some P600 million through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to fund the administrative requirements of the

Parliament.

Loong said this was the subject of the lengthy discussion among members of Parliament in an executive session, because hundreds would not be paid their salaries, having served during the last six months, if DBM-approved staffing pattern were followed.

“The staff workers of the BTA that had been rendering service the past five months have not yet received their salary, and their appointments and salary seem not clear in the horizon,” Loong said.

Loong said the status of the BTA staff still hangs on balance, having been pending with the DBM, and causing a “debilitating effect on the effectiveness of the BTA.” He said such is a “clear sign” that the Bangsamoro is still being denied meaningful autonomy. “This is a clear litmus test of the potential and future of the Bangsamoro government.

Nash B. Maulana

COMMISSION on Higher Education chief J. Prospero de Vera III on Thursday said the commission disbursed the remaining P20.3-billion budget for free college education with “utmost compliance” with government rules and regulations.

The 2018 Commission on Audit annual audit report recently showed the CHED was unable to spend funds due to delays in the approval of guidelines for the law, non-submission of billing statements of state universities and colleges and local universities and colleges, delays in the release of the Tertiary Education Subsidy, and in the implementation of the Student Loan Program.

“The alleged underspending and low absorptive capacity of CHED is the result of budgeting and audit practices that has been affecting CHED operations for the past years,” De Vera said. PNA

COA disallowance vs. PCGG stays THE Commission on Audit has affirmed its previous notice of disallowance on an P8.34-million employees’ incentive at the Philippine Commission on Good Governance.

In the 2019-29 decision, state auditors dismissed the petition for review filed by PCGG executives—Richard Amurao, Vicente Gengos Jr., Maria Luisa Narvadez, Efren Bracero, et al.—citing P8.34 million in calamity assistance, gift checks, goodwill incentive and collective negotiation agreement incentive released to the employees in 2012 and 2013 was illegal for having no legal basis.

The commission ordered the PCGG officials to return the money to the government. Rio N. Araja

By MJ Blancaflor

First 1k Days Law gets $1-m boost from CebuPac

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has signed a law establishing a program aimed at detecting eye problems among kindergarten pupils and a funding facility for continuing research on eye diseases.

President Duterte on Wednesday signed Republic Act 11358 establishing a National Vision Screening Program for kindergarten pupils.

The program is intended to screen the eye vision of kindergarted pupils, according to the law.

The DepEd, along with the Department of Health and the Philippine Eye Research Institute, will be asked to implement the vision screening program.

Private schools, on the other hand, will be encouraged to adopt their own vision screening subject to standards which will be set by the government.

A database containing the results of the tests will also be created that will serve as a basis of corrective measures for kindergarten pupils who have possible eye ailments.

The law also establishes the Vision Screening Continuing Research Fund to be sourced from donations to the DepEd, DOH, or PERI. A P10-million fund will be included in the budget of the PERI of the University of the PhilippinesManila for the implementation of eye screening for public kindergarten pupils.

The funds needed for the implementation of the program will be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

BY DONATING spare change in every flight, Cebu Pacific passengers raised over US$1 million through the ‘Change for Good’ initiative to improve the health and nutrition of thousands of Filipino children at the most important period of brain development.

Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ leading airline, made the announcement as it marked a milestone in the fourth year of its partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund through the project. Through the ‘Change for Good’ initiative, passengers are invited to make a donation to help fund UNICEF’s First 1,000 Days Health and Nutrition program.

“UNICEF thanks Cebu Pacific and the generosity of its passengers for raising funds to help children in their first 1,000 days, the most crucial period of their life. These donations helped advocate for laws and policies such as the First 1,000 Law. Now, mothers and children in every barangay can have better access to basic services starting from conception until the child is two years old,” said UNICEF Deputy Representative Julia Rees.

In the Philippines, 95 children are estimated to die every day due to malnutrition. The passage of Republic Act 11148 or the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-nanay Act, known as the First 1,000 Days Law, will improve access for families to services critical to child development: Health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education, disaster preparedness and social protection programs.

PCSO DONATION. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina M. Garma (second from left) hands over a check in the amount of P10 million to Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon (third from left) during the PRC Annual Blood Donors Recognition Ceremony on Aug.1, held at the PRC Logistic and Multi-Purpose Training Center, Edsa corner Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong City. The donation is for the blood requirements of dengue patients. Joining them are, (from left), Board of Governors members Jorge G. Lim, Corazon Alma de Leon and Leonida Bayani- Ortiz.

Former Palace, NPC official Ilustre passes away, 77 ALEJANDRO Leuterio Ilustre passed away on July 30 from kidney failure after a brief hospital stay. He was 77.

His remains lie in state at St. Peter Chapel at 262 G. Araneta, Quezon City, tel. nos. (02) 523-1311, (0917)794-1197 (Globe) amd (0939) 937-7206 (Smart).

Interment is Aug. 4 this Sunday at North Cemetery, with cortege leaving St. Peter Chapel at 2 p.m.

Andy, as family and friends called him, was the eldest son of the late lawyer Francisco Aytona Ilustre Sr. and the late lawyer Macrina Leuterio Ilustre, newspaper and magazine editor and Public Information Division Chief at the Social Security System, and a grandson of the late

Congressman Mariano P. Leuterio of Mindoro Oriental.

Andy was most recently a consultant with the Senate Commission on Appointments. He was the Regional Manager for Visayas and Mindanao of S.C. Johnson, and worked at the Malacañang Press Office during the time of President Diosdado Macapagal.

He was an active leader of the National Press Club, where he initiated several projects. In 2017, he co-hosted a radio program, “Senior Priority,” with Fr. Filemon Castro.

He attended the University of the East, where he served as president of the Delta Omega Delta fraternity.

Andy is survived by his wife, Carmen Reyes Ilustre; his siblings CPA Ofelia

I. Silang, lawyer Francisco L. Ilustre, Jr., retired top Special Prosecutor with the Ombudsman, and Washington, D.C.-based journalist and book editor Jennie L. Ilustre; his children Francisco Ricardo III and Cecilia Leyva; nephews Bryan Omar, John Ryan and Marc Silang, and Winston Francis Ilustre; in-laws Maribel, and Dickie Reyes and wife May; Milagros Samonte Ilustre; Manny Leyva with grandnephew Charles and grandniece Charlene and great grandsons J.C. and Chad; Corazon with children Andre and Francisco; grandniece Kaye; Adylynne Alexa, Liam and Arkin; and Ciella with son Yuan Michael; Ann Gumansing Sanchez with children Fiona and Corinne Ann.

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Opinion

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

For whom the bell tolls JOHN Donne’s immortal poem “No man is an island” speaks to our time.

In part,the poem goes: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”

We who survived will be judged by what we did to resist the evil in our midst Ernest Hemingway used a line in the poem—“For whom the bell tolls”—as the title of his novel about the experiences of American Ronald Jordan fighting for the Republican guerrillas during the Spanish Civil War. In more recent times, this same line also inspired a song by the thrash metal band Metallica—a commentary on the futility of war.

Donne’s epitaph explores the idea of inter-connectedness among people; that a human being cannot live all by herself, as she is dependent on others in contrast to the self-sufficiency of an island; everyone must depend on the company and comfort of others in order to thrive. As such, every death, pain and suffering of one diminishes the collective whole.

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

In the wake of many killings in the island of Negros, all its bishops Gerardo Alminaza (San Carlos), Julito Cortes (Dumaguete), Patricio Buzon (Bacolod) and Louie Galbines (Kabankalan) issued a joint pastoral letter and ordered the tolling of church bells nightly as a call to end the violence. The bells will continue to toll until the killings stop.

The tolling of the bells of the churches of Negros is accompanied by an an “Oratio Imperata to End Killings” to be prayed by the faithful during Masses.

This will also continue to be uttered until the killings stop.

The Negros bishops implore: “We ask God to disturb those who are responsible for this evil and have blood in their hands that they may have a change of heart and be renewed. O God, our Father, who hears the cries of Your children, look upon us in Your mercy.

We pray that we be delivered from the evil of the killings that stalks our island. It is a violence that has deprived our people of peace; a violence that has orphaned many families; and a violence that has traumatized and instilled paralyzing fear in our communities.”

The bishops hope that government officials will be emboldened to speak out against the killings. They challenge the police and military personnel to fully embrace their mandate to serve and protect the people. They pray that those responsible for the evil killings and have blood in their hands, especially the ones who are impelled by their ideological agenda are disturbed and have a change of heart and be renewed.

I welcome this call of the bishops of Negros. In fact, I believe this symbol of protest is as fitting in Negros as in all other islands of the Philippine archipelago as death and violence are everywhere. Among others, the thousands of killings in the illegal war against illegal drugs are unacceptable acts of inhumanity; indeed, they are crimes against

H

A precarious situation

ONG KONG used to be the showcase of success, financial and otherwise, in Asia. Its mention evoked images of prosperity and dynamism in this part of the world.

These days, however, the mere idea of going to Hong Kong is met with concern because of the increasingly unruly protests that have been going on for months, and the impending government response to it.

It began when the people protested the amendment of a law that would allow Chinese nationals to be extradited to and face trial in the Chinese mainland. That law has been suspended, but the protesters want it permanently scrapped.

Worldwide, these protests were seen not just a fight against the extradition bill and an expression of doubt that transparent investigations and speedy justice would ever be possible in the mainland. It was also seen as a plea for democracy in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China.

In earlier weeks, protesters have scored high in global public opinion.

There was sympathy because democracy was a global concern, because of Hong Kong police dispersed protests violently, and a video that showed the crowd parting peacefully to let an ambulance pass became viral online.

More recently, however, there have been concerns about the radicalization of the protest movement. The young people have stormed government buildings, disrupted transport services and showed disrespect to those who don’t quite share their views or their intensity.

Writing for the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong resident Audrey Jiajia Li warned protesters they must not lose moral legitimacy and become the monsters they are fighting. She cited examples of young protesters swearing at an elderly man at the airport, and besieging the residence of a university professor who had condemned the vandalism they had done to the Legislative Building. The protesters have also blocked train doors, causing inconvenience to people on their way to their jobs or appointments.

“For the movement to succeed, it is most important for participants to respect their fellow citizens’ rights and agree to disagree with those who do not share their vision. Also, it is a moral and practical matter that Hong Kong protesters refrain from vilifying mainlanders.….It

is lazy, counterproductive and plain wrong to write off people because of where they are from,” Li wrote.

As a result of these developments, China’s People’s Liberation Army, after weeks of silence, this week issued a statement condemning the protests because these had “seriously threatened the life and safety of Hong Kong citizens, and violated the bottom line of 'one country, two systems'.” The army has also released a three-minute video showing troops during their “anti-riot” exercises, with a soldier shouting “All consequences are at your own risk,” reported the BBC. Such a threat does not bode well for the protesters, whose gripes are legitimate and are being listened to but who now run the risk of squandering the attention they have earned from the world.

Whether to push hard enough to make a dent, or to push too hard risking the alienation of potential allies and supporters, is always a dilemma among those who champion causes. Let’s hope the people of Hong Kong, angry and resentful and uncertain of their future, will eventually find the most effective way to advance their agenda and maintain their ascendancy over the regime whose practices they decry.

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The ‘A’ word YEARS ago, a former staff of my organization called our office, desperate for help. It turned out that not long after resigning, she moved in with her boyfriend and got pregnant. When the guy found out, he packed up and left just like that.

The girl (she was barely 18 then) went home to her mother where she could prepare for childbirth. Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage and because they were poor, was rushed to the nearest public hospital where she was treated very inhumanely.

She called my office when she has been at the hospital for hours begging to be treated. The fetus was already exposed between her legs. Yet, a nurse asked her if she was really pregnant. Next, she was accused of having an abortion which she did not.

I had a colleague rush to her and if necessary, transfer her to another hospital for proper medical attention. This happened and the doctor in the next hospital said that had we delayed bringing her in, she could have died. She had no money, the public hospital was full, and because she was young, she was accused of having an abortion. However, these do not justify how the first hospital dealt with the poor girl.

I will never forget this horror story as an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). SRHR pertains to many issues including divorce, family planning, teenage pregnancy, LGBTQI++ rights, and abortion. The biggest elephant in the room is abortion.

Abortion has always been totally prohibited in the Philippines. Besides religious dogma, the Philippine Constitution is mainly used by anti-abortion groups to block any attempt to legalize or decriminalize it even in select circumstances. Moreover, the 90-year-old Philippine Revised Penal Code specifically Articles 256 to 259, heavily penalizes abortion.

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic and the church is the most vocal and influential opposition to SRHR. Due to religion, many Filipinos regard abortion as akin to murder and thus, culturally, it is heavily stigmatized.

It is so stigmatized that even objectively discussing about it is taboo. I remember how in 2014, anti-SRHR groups petitioned a Pasay Court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order and stop the then ongoing Asia-Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights on the

basis that the event allegedly encouraged abortion. The Court ruled that there was no actual abortion done in the conference and that talking about abortion was not illegal.

Many times, people are “silenced” to discuss a very real problem lest be accused of being an abortionist. Non-judgmental and non-moralizing discourse on abortion is quite rare. During the 16 years of advocacy for the passage of the then RH bill into law, anti-RH groups led by the Catholic hierarchy relentlessly equated the bill with abortion and anti-abortion rhetoric dominated the public debate.

But stigmatizing abortion discussions does not make the problem go away. Despite the illegality and the strong stigma, hundreds of thousands of abortions happen in the Philippines annually. The most reliable estimates come from The Guttmacher Institute’s ‘Unintended Pregnancy and Unsafe Abortion in the Philippines’ published in July 2013 using the national abortion rate in the year 2000 as basis and took into consideration population growth said: Abortion is widespread. An estimated

The best prevention is a strong, efficient, and comprehensive family planning program.

610,000 abortions happened in 2012.

Those who undergo abortions are typitypi cally Catholic, married, have an average of three children, and have at least high school education.

Most common reason for having an abortion is economic, that is, the inability to afford to raise another child. Other reasons are: They already had enough children, and the pregnancy came too soon after the last.

Nearly all abortions are clandestine and risky. Providers have varying training and skills. Some moneyed women are able to obtain medically recommended procedures. Most, however, resort to untrained providers who use dangerous methods that put women at serious risk. Poor women are more significantly likely to use riskier methods than non-poor women and, therefore, experience severe complications much more.

About 1,000 Filipino women die each year from abortion complications. In 2012, about 100,000 women were hospiTurn to A5

‘Iceberg Corridor’ sparks tourist boom on Canada’s east coast

By Julien Besset AT DUSK, tourists marvel at the sensational collapse of an iceberg at the end of its long journey from Greenland to Canada's east coast, which now has a front row seat to the melting of the Arctic's ice.

While the rest of the world nervously eyes the impact of global warming, the calving of Greenland's glaciers— the breaking off of ice chunks from its edge—has breathed new life into the remote coastal villages of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Once a hub of cod fishing, the province now plays host to hordes of amateur photographers and tourists hoping to capture the epic ice melt for posterity.

As winter ends, iceberg spotting begins.

"It keeps getting better every year," says Barry Strickland, a 58-year-old former fisherman who now takes tourists in

his small boat around King's Point in the north of the province.

"We've got 135, 140 tour buses with older people coming into the town every season so it's great for the economy."

For the past four years, Strickland has taken visitors to bear witness to the death throes of these ice giants, which can measure dozens of meters in height and weigh hundreds of thousands of tons.

Winds and ocean currents bring the icebergs from northwest Greenland, thousands of kilometers (miles) away, to Canada's shores.

In a matter of weeks, ice frozen for thousands of years can quickly melt into the ocean.

ing from all around the world to King's Point, a village of just 600 inhabitants.

The villagers keep track of the icebergs on an interactive satellite tracking map put online by the provincial government.

"There's not much in these small outport towns anymore to keep people around, so tourism is a big part of our economy," said Devon Chaulk, who works in a souvenir shop in Elliston, a small town of 300 on "Iceberg Corridor," as the coastline is now known.

"I've lived here my entire life, and the increase in tourism around here in the past 10 to 15 years has been incredible.

It's not surprising to have thousands of people here over the next couple of months," said the 28-year-old.

Last year, a total of 500,000 tourists Incredible' rise in tourism visited Newfoundland and Labrador, a Strickland's boat excursions are of- number roughly equivalent to the provten fully booked during the high season ince's total population.

Turn to A5 from May to July, with tourists comRolando G. Estabillo Publisher

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Opinion A multilateral approach Statement of Ambassador Albert del Rosario

FOR a full three years, we had endeavored to deal with Beijing on a bilateral basis resulting in our being bullied, harassed and intimidated.

We are obviously no match for this Goliath who intends to have us for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Before we get shoved around any further leading us to irreversible consequences, it is imperative for us to adopt a multilateral approach.

In adherence to the rule of law, we need to undertake a twofold initiative before it becomes too late.

1) We need to seek the support of the UN General Assembly in compelling Beijing to abide by the arbitral tribunal ruling.

2) At the UN and at other multilateral fora, we also need to bring to the fore China's threat of force.

Finally, to seek help, we must show that we are willing to be helped.

Our ‘pusong-mamon’ President IT SURFACED that President Rodrigo Duterte was heartbroken upon hearing the story of a Small Town Lottery (STL) bettor who supposedly won but was never paid by the operator. This was what made the President lose his temper over the irregularities at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes.

He could no longer stomach what he heard finally from a reliable source, PCSO’s new general manager Royina Garma, the former Cebu City Police chief.

Within weeks since she took office, Garma substantiated the allegations of massive graft and corruption at PCSO. Upon hearing the misfortune of the unpaid STL winner, Manong Digong just blew his top.

While PCSO officials connive with the syndicated operators of STL, which has become a front for jueteng and rake in billions and billions of pesos, here we have an STL winner who never got his cash prize from the operator of the concerned PCSO outlet.

For...

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humanity.

The killings become more vicious when encouraged or at the very least tolerated by the State even when justified as a measure for the attainment of greater common good. It is also doubly repugnant when torture accompanies the killing as alleged (though denied) in the recent killing by the NPA of the four policemen in Negros.

Yes, let me be clear: I condemn the killings and human rights violations of all those who commit them, and regardless of justification—whether its the war against drugs, the necessity of a social revolution, or an anti-communist reaction to insurgency.

The call by the bishops of Negros to toll the church bells may be an empty gesture, a fool’s errand, to some. After all, they would say, the killings will continue no matter how loudly people protest. Yet this small gesture of tolling the bells is to remind us of the grim reality that something dies inside ourselves when we remain silent in the midst of evil.

We are all diminished by any person’s death, more so if done without due process. The tolling of the bells is as much for the living as it is for the dead. The soul of the dead cries out in heaven for justice. The grief-stricken mother, wife, sister, son, daughter and friends—every single one intimately connected to the person—also dies inside with the death of a loved one.

The slaughter in Negros leads to the

‘Iceberg...

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Those visitors spent nearly Can $570 million (US $433 million), government figures show.

Melting ice The tourism boom has helped offset the decline in the region's traditional fishing industry, which is in crisis because of overfishing at the end of the last century.

Some are even marketing "iceberg water" as the purest on Earth—and selling it as a high-end luxury item. The melt is also used in vodka, beer and cosmetics.

But beneath the shiny surface of eco-

The ‘A’...

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talized for such.

Logically, because the estimates were for 2012, the numbers of abortion incidence, hospitalization, complications, and deaths must be significantly higher now with population growth, and unintended pregnancy rates that remain high.

While the RH law is there, data from the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey show that the implementation of family planning program did not signifi-

The operator reportedly sold his franchise and the new PCSO franchise holder did not honor the winning STL bettor.

For all you know, either of the operator must have pocketed the cash prize, along with the unremitted proceeds due the PCSO. The PCSO should pay the winnings of the poor man.

To cut the story short, Manong Digong was angered and decided there is no way all these madness at the PCSO can go on.

And, this came in the wake of the exposé on the multi-billion peso anomalies in the PhilHealth.

Who could not understand the disappointment and frustration the President

showed during his last State of the Nation Address over the rampant corruption in the government three years into his term?

To cut the story short, he ordered the shutdown of all PCSO operations, shocking the nation.

But, just as abruptly as he did, the President four days later ordered the lifting of the suspension of Lotto operations.

Just as the President was devastated by the story of the STL, who was deprived of his winnings, Manong Digong was touched by the plea of the tens of thousands of people who depend on the operations of PCSO outlets.

As soon as Manong Digong found out that the Lotto operations is free from corruption, unlike the STL and other PCSO games, the President ordered the immediate lifting of Lotto operations’ suspension.

Again, Manong Digong proved to be a President with a pusong-mamon.

kind of despair that a friend of mine from the island shared with me last week: “I am now losing hope...We will never attain justice here in Negros...I feel weary and tired every day to see more innocent people murdered.”

I understand my friend’s agony, her family also being a victim of the violence. And I am afraid that it will get worse with President Duterte poised to declare martial law in her island.

Our self-respect, dignity and humanity die with every killing. People cannot sit idly by and wait for change. Change does not happen by chance but through action. After all, the most vicious lies are often verbalized through silence. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said—“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.”

The deaths in Negros, in Cebu, Bulacan, and in Caloocan, among the farmers, urban poor and the Lumad diminish us in our helplessness. The killings of human rights lawyers and defenders diminish us because they are the best of our race and we lose them when we need them most. The failure of our legal and judicial system to protect colleagues from such great organizations like the National Union of Peoples Lawyers and Karapatan diminishes and threatens all of us. The deaths of our fellow Filipinos diminish us because it threatens our future and the future of our children.

While the tolling bells remind us of how diminished we are by the massacre of the poor and the killings in our

islands, it should also be seen as a call to action.

Resistance and solidarity are the responses asked of all of us. They are the only possible response for what we are confronted with. As one on my heroes, Fr. Danny Pilario, has articulated, resistance can come in various forms: in engaging in open democratic spaces which are still available for rational deliberation even as these spaces are getting smaller and smaller each day; in engaging in acts of civil disobedience, remembering the words of King—“I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good”—and finally, in resisting by honoring the martyrs and helping the survivors.

I am reminded of another poem, a song actually—Anthem by Leonard Cohen. I end my national situation briefings by playing it to my audiences. Its refrain haunts and inspires all of us: “Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring; Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything). That’s how the light gets in.”

This terrible time in our history will pass. I actually believe that the end will come soon and we will have an opportunity for renewal. But those who have been killed will stay dead and we will struggle to find the meaning of that.

As for us who will survive, we will be judged by what we did to resist the evil in our midst and how hard we worked and fought so that the light will come in.

nomic success is the dark truth that the area is in part profiting from accelerated global warming in the Arctic, and that the industry is precarious at best.

In the village of Twillingate, employees at the Auk Island Winery—which makes its product from iceberg water and locally picked wild berries—have already seen that business can be unpredictable.

"We see the difference in the number of tourists from year to year, depending on the amount of icebergs in the area," says Elizabeth Gleason, who works at the winery.

"This year was a good year. Last year, we had almost none."

The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the world. In midJuly, record temperatures were recorded near the North Pole.

In recent years, the icebergs have drifted further and further south, posing a threat to shipping on this busy route between Europe and North America.

For now, tourists are enjoying the view and the experience while they can.

"The prevalence of icebergs has good things and bad things about it," says Melissa Axtman, an American traveler.

Laurent Lucazeau, a 34-year-old French tourist, says seeing an iceberg was sobering.

"It is a concrete image of global warming to see icebergs making it to these places where the water is warm," he told AFP. "There's something mysterious and impressive about it, but knowing too that they are not supposed to be here makes you wonder, and it's a little scary." AFP

cantly improve.

Abortion is also a class issue because it disproportionately affects poor, underprivileged, and women who are in geographically isolated or hard to reach areas. While there is no exemption in the ban, not even to save the woman’s life, there are talks about medical doctors who perform therapeutic abortions to save women’s health or life. This is not cheap and only rich women are able to afford such. The Guttmacher piece also noted that more poor women undergo riskier abortions from untrained and unskilled “service providers.” Obviously, this is

due to financial constraints.

A Rappler article entitled “Secret service: Underground doctors induce safe abortions” discussed the existence of an underground network of medical doctors who provide abortion services. The network is very difficult to find according to it. The costs involved are prohibitive.

For instance, termination of a first trimester pregnancy costs between P3,000 and P12,000 depending on the medicines used.

Surgical packages for this type of pregnancy range from P10,000 to P20,000.

For second trimester, the surgical packages range from P15,000 to P25,000 while for third trimester, one has to pay between

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A win-win solution Deregulating the minimum wage is the greatest disincentive to contractualization. Contractualization has for its purpose the cutting off of employees’ benefits. Employer-beneficiary avail of placement agencies to avoid liability.

They in turn point to the labor-only conENDING the practice of labor-only tractors as liable. Employer-beneficiary contracting can never be resolved by knows that benefit is added by their legislation. For Congress to resort to length of service without the workers this is to expose its lack of understand- considering that they were terminated ing, it being essentially an economic due to retrenchment.

Instead of retrenching regular emthan one of political problem. Even the Marxist socialist economies that guar- ployees, deregulating wage to lower the anteed employment as their “come on” cost of production will economically to attract followers have given up this bypass labor-only contractors with a tenet because labor, like any commodi- quid-pro-quo of making them permaty, is subject to the immutable economic nent. Deregulating wage will defeat the profitable purpose of resorting to conlaw of supply and demand.

No matter how we abhor capital- tractualization.

The hiring of contractual workers ism, it will remain with us because it is embedded in the system. Socialism is the reason why trade unionism has may have destroyed the greatest con- almost been wiped out. Labor-only tradiction between the capitalists and contractors replaced the role of labor unions. They are the workers but it doing the job of just created a new pegging the wage dimension called of their labor“state capitalism” Deregulating supplied workers, where the workers the minimum in seeing to it that remained in their they diligently obstatus as produc- wage will end serve the rules and ers of commodi- contractualization. regulations of a ties and the state company they do paying their wage not own, and deterdeter with benefits under Labor-onmine who should be rehired. Labor-on the concept of “from womb to tomb.”

Socialist countries that stubbornly ly contractors were far more destructive persisted to this capitalist tenet deterio- during labor unrest. The death of labor rated due to economic stagnation. Rus- unions deprived the workers of their sia and the socialist bloc of then Eastern right to collectively bargain for betEurope and the brief period of China’s ter wages to improve their welfare and communalism resulted instead in dis- working condition.

More than ever, deregulating wage mal economic failure.

In the reforms that ensued, the first will allow employers to increase their casualty was to abandon the guaranty work force without being hampered by of employment. Many reacted, saying increases in wage consequent to makit shackled the workers back from their ing them permanent. Remember, regustatus of liberated proletariat. Rightly lar workers monitor every now and then interpreted, the workers from then on the profit of the company where they were paid according to the amount they are employed but are uncannily silent if produce. Wage remains guaranteed but the company suffers losses.

There is stability of employment, bemeasured by some kind of standards, what they can produce and according to cause instead of resorting to retrenchmarket demand. This made many erst- ment to prevent company losses, emwhile socialist states prosperous and ployers are given the right to reduce the progressive. Russia, China and even In- wage to save employment. Termination dia that once flirted with the system of from service, being a form of death penregimented socialism revised and resur- alty to a worker, should be applied as a last resort. rected the soul of capitalism.

Employers requiring skills in proAs a formula to ending the dehumanizing practice of contractualization, we duction value these workers, espehave to take the bitter pill of deregulat- cially those whom they invested much ing the minimum wage. As said, regu- through training. This explains why lated wage epitomized in the minimum some skilled workers receive higher wage system is anachronistic to capital- wages, and they do it to keep their loyism, or to put it mildly, to free enter- alty. Besides, deregulated wage does prise. It can operate most efficiently un- not always connote reduction in wage.

It can also increase as incentive to efder an open and free market economy.

To revitalize that, socialist states have ficient and productive workers.

Finally, deregulating wage will deto scrap that policy of guaranteeing employment. This is different from guaran- crease the unusually high number of unteeing wage. Putting a minimum wage deremployed which today stands at 16.4 is the greatest disincentive to business, percent as of 2018. This means they and to the workers themselves. It failed constitute the number of people who to work much that it is embedded in our are working less than eight hours and system of having a free market econom- are earning below the minimum wage. ic and a system of deregulated currency. Many are forced to engage in vending As we stick to this prosaic economic or in per-piece job for either employer formula, we unduly punish our work- could not afford to hire them on regular ers. The introduction of a new mini- basis and pay the right amount of salary mum wage has never truly satisfied our for their day’s work. This boils down workers. Every time there is an increase to avoiding the high cost of paying the in wage, it is followed by inflation or minimum wage.

Many companies just offer their increase in the cost of living. It weakens instead the purchasing power of the goods on consignment basis to avoid workers and also the cost of production paying the minimum wage and the lifor the business community. This is al- abilities that go in hiring employees. most automatic because our currency Deregulating wage will reduce underbeing wholly dependent on other cur- employment and force them to pay the rencies have to adjust its value. This is corresponding non-wage benefits like most apparent to import-dependent in- retirement benefits.

As this column has emphasized, a dustries, and is crucial every time there is an adjustment in the minimum wage family that manages to have all the members of the family of working age law.

As this column consistently suggest- employed as a result of deregulated ed, the solution to the problem is to ap- wage is economically in a much better ply the win-win formula of deregulat- position than in one where only a meming the minimum wage except for the ber of the family stands as breadwinner so-called non-wage benefits such as re- because he alone is employed under the tirement benefits, social security, health regulated wage policy. Even if that perand medical care, Pag-Ibig or housing son is earning relatively above the daily loan, and other incentives given by the minimum wage, that amount could easLabor Code such as the 13th month pay, ily be surpassed if all are employed overtime and holiday pay, night-shift even if some are paid slightly below differential pay, maternity leave with the minimum wage in the event wage is pay, etc. These benefits can never be re- deregulated. There is less friction in the duced because we can never push back family if all are working because it is in the number of years workers served in the absence of income that often generthe company. This is invisible to their ates family problem. age and years of service to entitle them rpkapunan@gmail.com to a retirement benefit.

P20,000 to P25,000 or higher if there are complications.

These are only for the procedure itself and exclude supplies and some medicines.

The doctors do the procedure in motels and hotels. Thus, more costs are incurred.

Add- on services can be had like bedside doctor assistance, nurse service, and additional post-abortion uterine irrigation for additional fees. No poor woman can afford these. Thus, like many other issues, unsafe abortion disproportionately affects poor women.

While abortion is a hard topic to tackle, it is a problem that people need to understand, and the government, to address.

There is a need to objectively discuss the problem so it is demystified and the stigma is lessened. Thus, women and girls would not suffer like my former staff did.

The best prevention is a strong, efficient, and comprehensive family planning program. The root cause of abortion is unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Remove this and the number of abortions will drastically go down. While we talk about abortion, government must fully implementation the RH law. @bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook

Belmonte tells brgy. officials: Clear roads

By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Friday warned she would sanction barangay officials who shall fail to cooperate with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to clear roads of illegal obstructions.

She called on these officials for their full cooperation.

“We should put into mind that what we are doing is not just for me or for the President, but for the orderliness of our community,” she said.

In a recent meeting, she gave the barangay officials the assurance of the city government’s assistance to enable them to comply with the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s directive, including equipment, such as closed-circuit television cameras and wheel clamps for illegally parked vehicles.

“I have instructed our village executives about the President’s goal to clear the roads of obstructions within 60 days,” she said.

She said she would hold the barangay officials accountable for the clearing operations.

Belmonte also said she would meet with different government agencies based in Quezon City to find solution to the city’s traffic problem.

She gave assurances the city government was right on target in complying with the 60-day deadline imposed by the DILG. She said the intention was not to be the fastest local government unit to achieve the goal but to meet the 60day target to free all of the city’s public roads of illegal structures and other forms of barriers.

During their recent meeting, barangay officials expressed their full cooperation with Belmonte in clearing “Mabuhay lanes (alternate routes’’), national roads, and secondary roads from any obstacles.

Belmonte warned she would penalize barangay officials who would fail to follow the directive.

But she added the local government would extend the necessary assistance for them to comply with the DILG’s directive, including equipment such as CCTV and wheel clamps for illegally parked vehicles.

Binay distributes raincoats, boots M

By Joel E. Zurbano

AKATI City Mayor Abigail Binay on Thursday led the distribution of raincoats and rain boots to all preschoolers in Comembo, Pembo, and Rizal elementary schools who are among the 6,745 target recipients of the free raingear this school year under the city’s expanded Project FREE (Free Relevant and Excellent Education).

Binay said besides ensuring accessible quality education, her administration was committed to ensuring the safety of students in public schools, especially the younger ones more vulnerable to sickness especially during the rainy season.

“We are providing free raincoats and rain boots to pre-schoolers this school year since they are more vul-

nerable to water-borne diseases during the rainy season. Our students in Grades 1 to 6 already received theirs last year,” she said.

Last November, the city chief executive led the distribution of the free raingear to the first batch of beneficiaries composed of 49,379 students from preschool to Grade 6, including 443 learners under the Special Education

By Joel E. Zurbano and Maricel V. Cruz THE Metro Manila Development Authority announced on Friday the Tomas Claudio Bridge in Pandacan, Manila City will be closed to vehicular traffic beginning tonight (Saturday) to give way for the ongoing construction of Skyway Stage 3 project.

“Starting Saturday, August 3, at 10 p.m., Tomas Claudio Bridge will be closed for six months,” said MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. To lessen the expected heavy traffic that the closure might cause, Garcia ordered traffic enforcers assigned in the area to conduct clearing operations on identified alternate routes with the help of barangay officials.

The bridge serves around 12,000 vehicles daily.

“No parking will be allowed in the vicinity of the bridge 24/7. Traffic enforcers shall tow

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO CANCEL CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH with REGISTRY NO. 2006-16442 and TO CORRECT ENTRY IN CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH with REGISTRY NO. 200047200 OF DIONISIO E. APILADO DIONISIO E. APILADO, a.k.a. JAMES APELADO SUMAYAN, Petitioner, -versusR-QZN-18-13566-SP THE CITY CIVIL REGISTRAR OF QUEZON CITY, THE CIVIL REGISTRAR GENERAL, PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY, JENNIFER ESCALANTE APELADO, DIONISIO ROSALES SUMAYAN, AND ALL INTERESTED PARTIES, Respondents. x-------------------------------------------------------x

ORDER

The petitioner, Dionisio E. Apilado, a.k.a.

James Apelado Sumayan, filed a verified amended petition praying for cancellation of his Certificate of Live of Birth with Registry No. 2006-16442.

The petitioner alleges that his biological parents are Jennifer Escalante Apelado and Dionisio Rosales Sumayan. He was born on July 10, 2000 and his birth was recorded in the Office of the Civil Registrar of Quezon City with Registry No. 2000-47200.

In an attempt to correct his name, his father caused the late registration of his birth with the same Office of the City Civil Registrar of Quezon City. He was issued a second Certificate of Live Birth with Registry No. 200616442. In this Certificate of Live Birth appears his name as James Apelado Sumayan. Since his birth he has been known and continuously using the name James Apelado Sumayan.

In the Entry No. 6 of his Certificate of Live Birth with Registry No. 2000-47200, his mother’s name appears as Jennifer Escalate Apilado but the correct spelling of his mother’s name is Jennifer Escalante Apelado.

Thus, petitioner prays for cancellation of his Certificate of Live Birth with Registry No. 200616442 issued by the Local Civil Registrar of

curriculum, in the city’s 25 public elementary schools.

According to Makati schools division superintendent Rita Riddle, all 6,745 preschoolers enrolled in the 25 public elementary schools will each receive a raincoat and a pair of rain boots.

“Rizal ES has 801 preschoolers, the most number of enrollees in kinder among the public elementary schools in the city. It is followed by Pembo ES with 727 preschoolers,” Riddle said.

Other beneficiaries this school year include pre-schoolers of West Rembo ES, numbering 357; Cembo ES, 334; Comembo ES, 325; Hen. Pio Del Pilar ES (Main), 324; Fort Bonifacio ES, 320; Palanan ES, 312; East Rembo ES, 303; Pitogo ES, 269; La Paz ES, 269; Maximo Estrella ES, 231; and Francisco Benitez ES III, with 230

preschoolers.

Completing the list of beneficiaries are Nemesio I. Yabut ES with 203 preschoolers; Francisco Benitez ES, 199; Bangkal ES, 179; Guadalupe Viejo ES, 177; Nicanor Garcia ES, 173; Jose Magsaysay ES, 172; Bangkal ES I, 166; San Jose ES, 161; Hen Pio del Pilar ES I, 145; South Cembo ES, 138; Makati ES; 118; and San Antonio Village ES with 112 preschoolers.

The city has been providing students in Makati public schools with free school supplies and school uniforms under its Project FREE that was launched in 1995.

To date, students enjoy additional freebies through the expanded Project FREE under Mayor Abby’s watch such as black shoes, sneakers (Air Binay), raincoats, rain boots, anti-mosquito kits, and hygiene kits.

BIRTHDAY BASH. Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez (center) meets with Bahay Party-list Rep. Naella Bainto-Aguinaldo (left) and Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto during the birthday celebration of Commission On Audit Chairma Mike Aguinaldo (not in picture) at the COA Gymnasium in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. Ver Noveno

Pandacan’s Tomas Claudio Bridge closed for 6 months from tonight

Republic of the Philippines REGIONAL TRIAL COURT National Capital Judicial Region Branch 216, Quezon City

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Quezon City and to correct his and his mother’s name in his Certificate of Live Birth with Registry No. 2000-47200, to correct the wrong and to make his records straight.

The Court hereby sets the Petition for hearing on August 12, 2019 at 8:30 in the morning before this Court sitting at the Second Floor, Rm. 237, Hall of Justice Bldg., Quezon City at which date, time and place, all interested persons are hereby cited to appear and show cause, if any, why said petition should not be granted.

Let this Order be published at the expense of the petitioner in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, to be selected by raffle pursuant to PD 1079. The Office of the Clerk of Court is directed to report to the Court the result of the raffle, with notice to petitioner within ten (10) days from receipt hereof.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Quezon City and any person who has any opposition hereto may file the same, within fifteen (15) days from notice of the petition, or from the last date of publication of such notice.

Furnish a copy of this Order and petition to the PSA, OSG, Office of the City Civil Registrar, Quezon City and the Office of the Civil Registrar General, Jennifer Escalante Apelado, Dionisio Rosales Sumayan and the petitioner.

SO ORDERED. Quezon City, Metro Manila, May 15, 2019.

(Sgd.) ALFONSO C. RUIZ II Presiding Judge CC: Office of the Solicitor General 134 Amorsolo St., Legaspi Village Makati City Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Counsel for the Petitioner DOJ Building, J. Cecilia Muñoz Palma Hall Quezon City Dionisio E. Apilado a.k.a. James Apelado Sumayan No. 7 University Valley, Old Balara, Quezon City Philippine Statistics Authority (formerly NSO) Solicarel Bldg. 1 & 2 Ramon Magsaysay Blvd., Sta. Mesa, Manila Office of the City Civil Registrar Quezon City Hall Compound, Quezon City Jennifer Escalante Apelado and Dionisio Rosales Sumayan No. 7 University Valley, Old Balara, Quezon City (MStandard - Jul. 27, Aug. 3 & 10, 2019)

vehicles that are parked there,” said Garcia.

Manila 6th District Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. said he expects the private contractors of the project to complete the project on time.

“I am also calling on the Manila Police District to coordinate with MMDA and the affected barangays to follow the regulations of the MMDA. We must rid the alternate routes of illegally-parked vehicles,” said Abante.

Meanwhile, the delayed construction of the Metro Rail Transit System 7 project has drawn the ire of a congresswoman who said the contractor should explain the delay that has caused untold suffering to commuters that use Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Commonwealth Avenue leads to the capitol city’s “dormitory district” due to the big number of residential subdivisions in the areas that it traverse.

PCUP, Grab PH partner for new jobs THE Presidential Commission on Urban Poor and Grab Philippines have partnered to offer new jobs for at least 10,000 car, taxi, motorcycle and bike drivers to ease urban poverty not only in Metro Manila but also in the provinces.

Alvin Feliciano, PCUP chairperson and chief executive officer, said the partnership would provide “meaningful livelihood opportunities” to 10,000 drivers from at least 10,000 potential drivers, motor urban poor communities in the National Capital Region.

He said he and Grab Philippines president Brian Cu, along with country advisor Chris Taylor and PCUP Commissioner Melvin Mitra, were set to enter into a memorandum of agreement on Aug. 7 in a bid to launch a series of nationwide job caravans.

“As we continue to grow, offer new services, and delight more customers, we are humbled that we are in a rather unique position to influence inclusive growth across multiple sectors, and do our part to ease poverty in the urban communities of the Philippines,” Cu told Feliciano in a meeting.

“Grab has always committed itself to champion the best interests of the Filipino people through our platform and the opportunities that come with our growth. Every Filipino’s success is a success for Grab,” he added.

Feliciano said the job caravans would cover the metro and even cities outside it, Baguio City, Pampanga, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao City and Cagayan de Oro. “Performing partners from PCUP-endorsed communities will be incentivized. The price of

success is hard work—and with Grab, the perseverance of our partners is always being reciprocated,” Cu said.

Feliciano thanked Grab Philippines for its corporate social responsibility to create alternative livelihood opportunities to the poor.

“This endeavor is such a big step to help the poor improve their lives,” he said.

He cited PCUP’s “successful” one-stop-shop caravan, where residents from urban poor communities could process documents and choose prospective employers or livelihood partners from the private sector.

The caravan shall applicants to process their birth certificates, National Bureau of Investigation clearances and other requirements needed for job application.

Rio N. Araja

Malaysia, PH sign MOU on health collaboration

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

THE Health departments of the Philippines and Malaysia recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate further on the advancement of the health sector in the two countries.

Secretary of Health Francisco Duque III, who represented the Philippines, and Datuk Seri Dr. Dzulkefly bin Ahmad, Malaysia’s Minister of Health, met in Putrajaya, Malaysia and discussed strengthening of the two countries’ bilateral ties through collaborative activities for health care.

Under the MOU, both countries agreed to collaborate in the areas of primary health care, reproductive health, health education, human

resources for health development, nutrition, exchange of information on issues related to food safety and quality including but not limited to rapid alert systems related to imported products, prevention and control of communicable diseases, prevention and control of non-communicable disease, regulatory control of pharmaceuticals, traditional medicines, herbal medicine, health supplements and cosmetic products, medical devices; health tourism, health researches and health care services.

The Philippines and Malaysia emphasized the importance of advancing collaboration to address cross-border health concerns amid the rapidly changing global environment, officials said Friday.

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World no. 6 Tsitsipas in Washington quarterfinals WASHINGTON—World number six Stefanos Tsitsipas struggled late but advanced to the ATP Washington Open quarter-finals on Thursday by defeating Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

The 20-year-old Greek top seed took the only break of the match to claim the first set and after some tense moments won the tie-breaker when Thompson netted a forehand after 99 minutes at the US Open hardcourt tune-up event.

“It was kind of tricky at the end,” Tsitsipas said. “I kept doing silly mistakes in the tie-breaker. I was not happy about it.

I made a lot of unforced errors.

“I played great to get break points, then I started thinking about it. I didn’t identify the right occasion to come to the net. Just a little lost.”

“I believe I can handle those situations more mature in my next matches.”

In the quarter-finals, Tsitsipas will meet French 10th seed Benoit Paire, who ousted US fifth seed John Isner 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

“He’s a very dangerous player,” said Tsitsipas of Paire. “He has a big backhand.

His serve can be dangerous. I’ll have to be careful. He’s very unpredictable.”

Tsitsipas, who beat Roger Federer in January on his way to the Australian Open semi-finals, seeks his fourth career ATP title after crowns last October in Stockholm, last February at Marseille and in May at Estoril.

Tsitsipas reached the 2018 Washington semi-finals and a week later became the youngest player to ever beat four top10 ATP players in the same week before losing to Rafael Nadal in the Canada Masters final.

Croatian sixth seed Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, beat Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4.

World number 17 Cilic booked a lasteight date with Russia’s 10th-ranked Daniil Medvedev, who eliminated hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 7-5.

“He’s in great shape. His game is strong. We all know what he’s capable of when he’s in good shape,” Medvedev said of Cilic. “It’s going to show what I’m capable of this season.”

Medvedev and Karen Khachanov give Russia two top-10 players for the first time since October 2010.

“I’m playing good,” Medvedev said. “I want to back it up with some more wins.”

Tiafoe said he will skip next week’s ATP Canada Masters Canada after aggravating a foot injury in the loss.

Two lucky losers win Two lucky losers reached the last eight, including Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos, a last-second replacement for South African fourth seed Kevin Anderson, who withdrew with right knee pain.

The world number 137 will next face Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who fired 15 aces in eliminating Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 7-5. AFP

An, Im set early pace at US PGA Wyndham tilt MIAMI—South Korean duo An Byeonghun and Im Sung-jae set the early pace at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship on Thursday, both carding eight-under-par 62s to share the first round lead.

An and Im both played flawless rounds to move one shot clear atop the leaderboard after a low-scoring first round at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

An reeled off eight birdies and 10 pars in a bogey-free start to his latest attempt to win a maiden PGA Tour title.

The 27-year-old from Seoul has twice lost in playoffs on the PGA Tour, being beaten in the 2016 Zurich Classic before losing out to Bryson DeChambeau in a three-way playoff at Memorial last year.

On Thursday, An’s short game worked beautifully, helping him carve out a series of birdie chances which he duly converted.

A solid start saw him reach the turn at four under, before a hat-trick of birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes vaulted him up the leaderboard. The highlight came on the par-four 14th, when he holed out from 37 feet for birdie.

A further birdie on the 17th took him to eight under.

“Four under on the front, four under on the back, it was definitely a good finish,” An said. “It was pretty solid all day.”

The 21-year-old Im, meanwhile, who is also chasing a first PGA Tour win after two victories in 2018 on the Web.com Tour, matched An virtually shot-for-shot with his 62, which also comprised eight birdies and 10 pars. AFP

Cignal, Generika chase PSL 4th spot Games Today (Filoil Flying V Centre) 4:00 p.m. -- Marinerang Pilipinas vs PLDT 6:00 p.m. -- Cignal vs Generika-Ayala

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece returns a shot from Jordan Thompson of Australia during Day 4 of the Citi Open at Rock Creek Tennis Center in Washington, DC. AFP

US World Cup cage team loses Drummond, Harrell

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OS ANGELES—Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond and Los Angeles Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell are the latest NBA players to withdraw from the United States hopefuls’ list for the Basketball World Cup. USA Basketball confirmed the pullouts Thursday and added Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo to the lineup that will gather Monday in Las Vegas for a five-day training camp ahead of the global showdown in China that opens on August 31.

The Americans, whose final 12-man roster will be announced August 17, will seek a third consecutive World Cup crown but many top stars have said no to the event.

LeBron James, Stephen Curry, James

Harden, Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard are among the NBA stars who will be staying home.

Among 11 US players on NBA All-Star teams, Boston guard Kemba Walker is the only one seeking a spot on the US team coached by Gregg Popovich.

Adebayo, 22, scored 8.9 points, grabbed 7.3 rebounds and passed out 2.2 assists a game last season for Miami.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren

Jackson was added to the second squad that will challenge the World Cup hopefuls during training camp.

Other NBA players competing for a US World Cup spot include Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, New York’s Julius Randle, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, Kyle Kuzma of Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, Denver’s Mason Plumlee, Houston’s P.J. Tucker, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smary and Jayson Tatum, Indiana’s Myles Turner and Chicago’s Thaddeus Young.

Lowry helped the Raptors with the NBA title in June. He and Barnes were also members of the Rio Olympic gold medal squad. AFP

IronGirl to usher IRONMAN 70.3 weekend THE second Regent Aguila Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 powered by Philam Vitality gets a dose of women power with a record number of participants all set for the IronGirl on Aug. 9 at Shangri-La Mactan in Cebu.

The 5k fun run for girls’ 12-years-oldand-above at 5 p.m. will cap a series of activities lined up in the first of the threeday event culminating in IRONMAN 70.3 featuring the biggest gathering of foreign pros in years.

The 1,400 slots in IronGirl were actually sold out in three hours when it opened last June 12, underscoring the tremendous appeal of one of the side events of the premier endurance race sponsored by Herbalife Nutrition for the youngsters and adults alike.

All finishers will receive specially crafted IronGirl medal and shirt.

The IRONMAN 70.3 activities will actually start on Aug. 8 with the Expo Open and other events at The Marquee with the schedule on the next day to include a meet-andgreet with Mexican defending pro champion Mauricio Mendez, the media conference, the IronKids briefing and the Herbalife IronGirl.

The IronKids, now back as a swimbike-run race, will be held on Aug. 10.

Focus will then shift to Aug. 11’s big event with a record 19 pros all geared up for what promises to be another thrilling duel of power and stamina in the 1.9K swim, 90K bike, 21K run raceat the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa. Over 2,100 triathletes from a record 57

Women power takes center stage ahead of the Regent Aguila IRONMAN 70.3 nations are entered in the main event organized and conducted by Sunrise Events, Inc. with Mendez gunning for back-to-back title against a talent-laden roster of challengers, led by former three-time world champion Tim Reed and fellow Australians Tim Van Berkel, Sam Betten, Luke McKenzie, Lindsey Lawry, Mitch Robins and Justin Ghosh along with Czech Jakub Langhammer, Bahrain’s Eric Watson and New Zealand’s Terenzo Bozzone.

Swiss Caroline Steffen and Dimity Lee Duke from Australia also brace for an-

other spirited battle in the women’s side although the two multi-titled campaigners expect a tougher challenge from Hungary’s Anna Eberhardt, Laura Wood of New Zealand, Guam’s Manami IIjima, Aussies Laura Dennis and Amanda Wilson and Frankie Sanjana of Great Britain.

For details, visit www.ironman.com/ philippines70.3 with official hashtags #IM703Philippines, #AguilaIM703 with social media accounts (Facebook) aguilaIM703PH, (twitter) aguilaim703ph, (Instagram) aguilaim703ph.

CIGNAL and Generika-Ayala chase the fourth spot when they clash in a pivotal match in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The all-important battle is set at 6 p.m. following the 4 p.m. collision between Marinerang Pilipina and PLDT Home Fibr in this prestigious women’s club league bankrolled by Team Rebel Sports, SOGO, Eurotel, PCSO, Cocolife, UCPB Gen, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Bizooku and One Sport.

Sitting at the third spot with idle Foton with a 7-5 win-loss record, Generika-Ayala is in dire need of a victory to improve its standing entering the crucial stretch of the double-round preliminaries of this battle that also has ESPN5 and Kapatid TV5 as broadcast partners.

But the Lifesavers’ mission of claiming the third spot is easier said that done as Cignal is also hunting a crucial win to climb the ranking for a better spot in the quarterfinals.

The Lifesavers will likely continue to miss skipper Angeli Araneta, who is still nursing a left knee injury.

Despite missing Araneta, Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain combined for 30 of the Generika-Ayala’s 51 kills beating Sta. Lucia, 25-17, 20-25, 2514, 25-9, late Thursday night.

Ria Meneses was also instrumental with 11 points, while Mean Mendez filled in the big shoes of Araneta and had eight points.

Generika-Ayala head coach Sherwin Meneses wants his wards to keep their focus to the adjustment while their team captain is still out.

“We have to move on from Araneta for now because our remaining games are crucial,” said Meneses.

“Our game against Cignal is very important to keep our chance at the third spot. But we have to focus on the team’s adjustment playing without Araneta first.”

Cignal is on a roll winning three straight games to keep its chances alive for the No. 3 spot capped by a 25-23, 21-25, 25-14, 25-21 victory over Foton also last Thursday.

4 booters get life bans for match-fixing KUALA LUMPUR—Four players have been banned for life for matchfixing at the AFC Cup, the Asian Football Confederation said Friday.

Kursanbek Sheratov from Kyrgyzstan was found guilty of fixing a match involving his club Dordoi FC in the 2017 AFC Cup, Asia’s second-tier continental competition.

He also supported betting activity related to the game, the AFC added.

Kyrgyz players Vladimir Verevkin and Iliaz Alimov were found guilty of fixing one or more matches involving their side FC Alay.

And Tajikistan’s Abduaziz Mahkamov manipulated AFC Cup matches involving FC Alay in 2017 and 2018.

The AFC said the punishments, handed down by its disciplinary and ethics committee, showed its “zerotolerance approach” to match-fixing.

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan international Muhadov Suleyman was banned for four years for a doping violation at this year’s Asian Cup, the AFC said. AFP

Fortnite streaming star Ninja dumps Twitch for Mixer SAN FRANCISCO—”Fortnite” streaming superstar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins on Thursday left Amazon-owned Twitch, telling fans they will only be able to find him on rival gameplay streaming platform Mixer.

Blevins announced the move on Twitter, posting a video of a faux press conference at which he appeared to take questions from himself in disguises.

“I’ll be streaming on Mixer full time now,” Blevins said on Twitter.

“I am freaking out, in the best of ways. I feel like I am going to get back to the streaming roots, and that is what it is all about.”

He promised his millions of fans that his broadcasts would remain the same, just that now they would be exclusively available at Microsoft’s Mixer social platform for gamers.

The move is a win for Microsoft, luring viewers to Mixer and playing into the technology company’s ef-

forts to bolster its gaming community.

Microsoft’s Xbox line competes with PlayStation consoles fielded by Sony. The rivals are both maneuvering to adapt to video game play being hosted as a service in the internet cloud.

Blevins last year told sports multimedia group ESPN his gaming netted him a monthly revenue in seven figures and boasted legions of Twitch followers.

The video of his pretend press briefing had logged more than 5.4 million views by Thursday evening in California.

Online battle royale game “Fortnite” is a global sensation, with entertaining play and commentary a hit with online viewers.

Studios making games for consoles or personal computers see value in building communities of loyal players who continually engage with titles, instead of finishing them and putting them down.

“If you want to maintain a base of subscribers, engage-

ment is key,” Hugues Ouvrard, head of Xbox in France, told AFP at a video game trade show earlier this year.

Microsoft has revealed plans for a next-generation console, but said that cloud gaming is a core of its strategy.

Contenders in the game-streaming arena will need content, cloud capacity and a community of players.

Google plans to launch its video game streaming service Stadia in 14 countries starting in November.

The new gaming platform aims for a Netflix-style subscription that enables players to access games on any device, powered by the internet cloud.

This could disrupt the huge gaming industry by allowing users to avoid consoles and game software on disc or download.

Microsoft is building on its Xbox success with an xCloud service. Eyes are on Amazon to see whether it will leverage its leading AWS cloud business and popular Twitch gaming community to host titles online itself. AFP

Sports

Riera U. Mallari, Editor; Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor

sports@manilastandard.net

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

A8

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3,, 2019

Tolentino drops Tokyo Olympics’ chef de mission post PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino said he will no longer be the chef de mission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympiad.

Tolentino said after yesteday’s executive board meeting that he will appoint someone else to take his place.

“I was appointed by Mr. (Ricky) Vargas. Pangit naman, kung ako pa rin,” said Tolentino.

The newly-elected POC chief made efforts to reconcile with other members of the POC’s executive board, but most excused themselves for various reasons, including bad weather, medical issues and other previous appointments.

Tolentino confirmed during the meeting of his appointment of Patrick Gregorio as the secretary-general, with Richard Gomez as the new deputy secretary-general.

Col. Lucas Managuelod will now head the membership committee, while Atty. Alberto Agra and Atty. Billy Sumagui will be legal counsels.

On the other hand, Vargas takes the place former POC chief Jose Cojuango Jr. as Constitutional Commission head.

The General Assembly under Tolentino’s watch is to be held on Aug. 13 will be at the Diamond Hotel in Roxas Blvd.

Tolentino had earlier made a call for healing and unity.

Only Chairman-elect Steve Hontiveros was present in the meeting. Peter Atencio

Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee drives to the basket against TNT’s Terrence Jones in a PBA semifinal game won by the Texters, 103-92.

TNT Tropang Texters ready for any finals’ foe

By Jeric Lopez

A

FTER two frustrating years, TNT KaTropa is headed to the finals once again.

The Tropang Texters showed why they are the conference’s top-performing team thus far after they dispatched defending champion Barangay Ginebra, 3-1, in their best-of-five semifinals showdown in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup Thursday night.

Showcasing why it is the topseeded team, TNT handled Ginebra convincingly in their semis clash as it did not allow the series to go the distance.

At their best, the Tropang Texters eliminated the Gin Kings in Game 4 Thursday night, 103-92, to move forward to the big stage.

“Off to the next round. We have to be ready for the finals’ now. If we don’t go all the way, these will all be nothing,” said TNT coach Bong Ravena. “No time to celebrate yet.”

The Tropang Texters will face either San Miguel Beer or Rain or Shine in the finals.

The Beermen, leading their series,

2-1, are also looking to clinch a berth in the finals as of this report, while the Elasto Painters aim on forcing a rubber match as they are locked in a tough Game 4 battle.

Currently awaiting who they will face in the best-of-seven titular series, TNT active consultant Mark Dickel knows that either team can be a headache.

“Obviously, both teams present problems. That’s something we have to prepare for,” said Dickel.

“San Miguel Beer is a very deep team with all the talent is has, while Rain or Shine is a grind out, defensive team like us so either way, it will be challenging.”

For now, TNT is looking forward to get some rest and wait who it will face in the finale.

Diaz improves lifts after Big challenge for Magsayo after long break Taiwan camp OLYMPIAN weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz has found other places to undergo training.

Diaz recently went to Taiwan, where she is spent two and a half months in a training camp.

According to Diaz, spending time in Taiwan helped her be more focused and positive of pursuing her goals of qualifying to the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Diaz went to Taiwan with Chinese coach Gao Kaiwen.

The Taiwan camp has since improved on her lifts, putting Diaz within her target of a podium finish in the World Championships this September in Pattaya Thailand.

“Nabubuhat ko na 94kgs sa snatch at 117kgs sa clean and jerk, malapit na rin sa target ko na 98/120kgs,” said Diaz.

The 28-year-old Diaz is currently ranked no. 2 in the world in the 55-kilogram class.

At the moment, winning a gold in the 30th Southeast Asian Games is her main focus.

This is the reason why Diaz is skipping an opportunity to see action in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Peter Atencio

By Peter Atencio

A BIG challenge awaits Mark Magsayo, who seeks a memorable homecoming when he returns to Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

The 24-year-old Magsayo faces his toughest test when he meets two-time world champion Panya Uthok for the vacant International Boxing Federatuion Pan Pacific and World Boxing Council Asia Featherweight titles.

The Thai fighter will be Magsayo’s biggest fight after coming back from a long layoff.

The showdown, held under the Vladimir Boxing Promotions’ “Pride of Bohol” show, is set on Aug. 31 at the Bohol Wisdom School gym.

This fight is Magsayo’s opportunity to move back up in the world rankings after his stock fell following a 17-month layoff.

“Handa na po ako,” said Magsayo following a press conference at the Howzat Sports Bar in Makati.

The last time Magsayo fought was in Nov. 25, 2017.

That day, he fashioned out a unanimous decision win over Japanese Shota Hayashi, also at the Bohol Wisdom School Gym. After that fight, Magsayo was without a fight following a contractual dispute with his former handlers.

Before his layoff, Magsayo had a win-loss record of 19-0, including 14 knockouts.

Uthok, also known through his alias Pungluang Sor Singyu Onesong, has a slate of 53-6 (35 KOs).

Uthok has fought only four times in the last four years, although the 29-year-old Thai is coming off a unanimous decision win over Filipino boxer Carlo Magali last April. Before that, he had three straight losses against Marlon Tapales, Czar Amonsot and Paul Fleming.

Mark Magsayo

Magsayo has been training at the Elorde Boxing Gym and had sparring sessions with Richard Pumicpic, Jay Berwela and Jeffrey Francisco.

Uthok is a two-time WBO bantamweight champion who took centerstage by knocking out heavily-favored AJ Banal back in 2012.

Bacolod, Pasay shock opponents; Caloocan wins THE Pasay Voyagers and Bacolod Master’s Sardines stunned fancied rivals in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Lakan Season on Thursday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Showing that a fine line separates the MPBL’s middle-ranked teams and the powerhouses, the Voyagers thwarted the Bacoor Strikers, 83-78, while the Master’s Sardines nipped the Zamboanga Family’s Brand Sardines, 84-82.

Playing inspired ball at their home court, the Voyagers surged ahead, 6448, and then fended off the rallying Strikers with clutch hits by Raymund Ilagan and Alejandro Inigo.

The Voyagers, with Ilagan and Jan Jamon scoring 16 each, halted a four-game skid and snapped the Strikers’ six-game winning run to climb to 4-5.

The Strikers, touted to be title contenders, dropped to 6-2.

Jaypee Belencion chalked up 14 points, while Inigo posted 12 points on top of 8 assists for the Voyagers.

In a sub-par performance, only RJ Ramirez, Matthew Aquino and Michael Canete were able to tally twin digits with 15, 13 and 11, respectively, for the Strikers.

Former pros Paolo Javelona and Mark Tallo and former National University Bulldog John Paul Cauilan powered Bacolod, which clawed its way back from a 45-58 hole to halt a 3-game slide and climb to 3-5.

Javelona pumped in a game-high 27 points, plus 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals; Cauilan chipped in 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Tallo tallied 9 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists.

Zamboanga, which saw its threegame win run broken, fell to an even 4-4 slate.

Jopher Custodio also contributed to Bacolod’s cause with a triple that shoved it ahead, 83-78, time down to 55 seconds.

The Caloocan Supremos trounced the Rizal Xentro Mall Golden Coolers, 9278, in the opener to tally their second straight win and rose to 3-5.

With crack guards Thomas Torres and Almond Vosotros wreaking havoc, the Supremos pulled away at 29-10 and were never threatened.

Valenzuela floater lifts Greenies past Red Cubs, 99-98

Kyle Cuevas of the Perpetual Junior Altas drives pass Darbin Dylan of the SSCR Staglets at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 95 held at the Fil-Oil Flying V Centre in San Juan City on Friday. Dennis Abrina

VETERAN guard Lennox Valenzuela got a pass that was not meant for him but he rose to the occasion as he scored on a floater with 2.3 seconds left, lifting the La Salle Greenhills to a 99-98 overtime win over the San Beda Red Cubs Friday at the FilOil-Flying V Sports Center in San Juan.

Valenzuela was open when he received in inbound heave from Kobe Palencia and his quick basket over the outstretched arms of two defenders allowed the Greenies to gain a share of the lead in the 95th National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

This snapped the Red Cubs’ winning run after five games. With their 4-1 winloss slate, the Greenies now share the lead with the Arellano University Braves.

“I challenged the boys. And they took the challenge. I did not expect 40 minutes of perfect basketball. But it was important that they played with composure,”

said Greenies’ coach Karl Santos, who replaced Marvin Bienvenida.

RC Calimag improved his showing with a new season-high output of 30 points, while Valenzuela added 23 points.

Jan Manansala was supposed to take a shot after receiving an inbound pass from teammate Kobe Palencia. But the Red Cubs defense was tight on Manansala, forcing Palencia to hurl the ball to Valenzuela instead.

Yukien Andrada showed the way for the Red Cubs with 21 points, including back-to-back triples in the last 19 seconds of regulation, and this tied the contest 86-all.

The Greenies could have won it in regulation. But Valenzuela turned the ball over, allowing the Red Cubs to regain with 15 ticks left.

Later, the University of Perpetual Help Junior Altas halted a three-game slump with a 67-62 stopping of the San Sebastian

College Staglets.

The Junior Altas now have a 3-3 card.

Emman Galman banged in a game-high 23 points, while Shawn Orgo knocked in 12 points and eight rebounds.

Meanwhile, the league called of three senior division games due to bad weather.

Among those affected were the games of the San Beda University Red Lions and the College of St. Benilde Blazers, and the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Stags and University of Perpetual Help Altas.

The clash between Arellano University and Lyceum of the Philippines University was also affected after heavy rains hit Metro Manila all morning.

“Due to the late suspension of classes, the games scheduled from 12 noon onwards for Friday, 2 August 2019 are CANCELED and shall be played on a date and time to be determined later,” league management committee chairman Peter Cayco said in a statement.

IN BRIEF TransCo asks ERC for new feed-in tariff STATE-RUN National Transmission Corp. is seeking approval of a new feed-in tariff rate of P0.2278 per kilowatt-hour for 2020, which includes the feed-in tariff allocation for biomass and run-of-river hydro projects completed late this year.

“The grant of a provisional authority will allow TransCo to perform its duties to make a timely payment of the FIT rate to RE developers to which they are entitled, thereby allowing their continued operations,” the company said in its filing with the Energy Regulatory Commission.

TransCo manages the FIT-All fund, the fund that is used to pay the renewable energy developers eligible under the FIT system.

The FIT system is an incentive scheme that, among others, gives priority to connections to grid, priority purchase and transmission of, and payment for, generated and fixed tariff for not less than 12 years to be determined by the ERC. “Our filing for 2020 is a bit higher than prevailing rate (P0.2226 per kWh) now.

But that’s because in 2020 we estimate additional biomass and hydro plants coming in (actually starting late 2019),” said Dina Dizon, head of TransCo’s feed-in tariff team. Alena Mae S. Flores

ABS-CBN, GMA both claim higher ratings ABS-CBN Corp. and GMA Network Inc. on Friday both claimed higher television ratings for the month of July.

The Lopez-led entertainment and media company, said it obtained a national TV ratings of 45 percent in July versus GMA’s 32 percent based on Kantar Media.

Urban areas remain a stronghold for the Kapamilya network as it won in Metro Manila with 41 percent compared with GMA’s 26 percent, and in Mega Manila, with 36 percent over GMA’s 32 percent.

Meanwhile, urban Luzon and Mega Manila remained GMA Network’s bailiwick in July, according to the latest data from ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

For the month of July, GMA recorded an average of 34 percent total day people audience share, beating ABS-CBN’s 31.4 percent, in Urban Luzon. The viewer-rich area accounts for 72 percent of all urban TV viewers in the country.

The Kapuso Network continued to dominate in the afternoon block with 36.3 percent audience share, versus rival network’s 33.3 percent. Darwin G Amojelar

NGCP offers to link Palawan, Mindoro TRANSMISSION operator National Grid of Corp. of the Philippines is pursing Stage 1 of the P6.4-billion Palawan-Mindoro Interconnection Project in line with the government’s directive to connect off-grid areas into the main power grid.

“NGCP is proposing to implement the PMIP to provide adequate, reliable and affordable power supply in Palawan. With the increasing demand for power in the island due to tourism and economic development, it is about time to pursue this interconnection to the main grid which will provide Palawan with more reliable power supply and access to cheaper alternative sources of power in the main Luzon grid,” the company said in a statement.

NGCP, in its application to the Energy Regulatory Commission for a provisional authority, said the PMIP Stage 1 would serve as the preparatory stage for the interconnection of Palawan to the main grid.

It aims to conduct further studies on the interconnection of Palawan to Mindoro through submarine cable and establish a transmission backbone designed to serve long-term power needs in the area.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Business

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

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Ph sells P44b in Samurai bonds T HE Philippines on Friday raised 92 billion yen (P44.3 billion) from the sale of Japanese samurai bonds in four different tenors.

The bulk or 30.4 billion yen (P14.6 billion) of the amount came in the form of three-year bonds, sold at a coupon rate of 0.18 percent.

The government also sold 21 billion yen (P10.1 billion) in five-year denominated bonds at a coupon rate of 0.28 percent and 17.9 billion yen (P8.6 billion) in seven-year yen-denominated bonds at a coupon rate of 0.43 percent The Philippines sold 22.7 billion yen(P10.9 billion) in 10-year bonds at a coupon rate of 0.59 percent.

The Treasury department tapped Mizuho Banks Ltd., The Daiwa Bank Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Group, Nomura and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp for the transaction.

In a statement, S&P Global Ratings assigned a ‘BBB+’ long-term foreign currency rating to the 92 billon Japanese samurai bonds issued by the Philippines (BBB+/Stable/A-2).

“The notes represent direct, general, unconditional, unsecured, and unsubordinated obligations of the sovereign, and rank equally with the sovereign’s other unsecured and unsubordinated debt obligations,” S&P said.

The Philippines in August last year sold ¥154.2 billion (P74.18 billion) worth of Japanese samurai bonds, the first time it returned to the Japanese bond market for in eight years.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said last year’s three-year tranche were priced 25 basis points above the benchmark, tighter than that of the recent Panda bond issuance, which was 35 bps. The five-year tranche was priced at 35 bps, while the 10-year tranche was priced at 60 bps above the benchmark.

He said the coupon was set at 0.38 percent, 0.54 percent, and 0.99 percent for the three-, five-, and 10-year tranches, respectively.

“Overall, the transaction yielded a weighted average spread of 34.7 basis points above benchmark. Compared to our peers, the Republic priced tighter and issued more than Indonesia [JPY100 billion] and higherrated Mexico [JPY135 billion],” Dominguez said.

The Bureau of the Treasury said the offering marked “the return of the Republic to the Samurai market after an eight-year break and the first time in almost 20 years that it has issued Samurai bonds on a stand-alone basis.”

Japan has been the Philippines’ major source of official development assistance and a reliable ally in terms of infrastructure support from the period of reconstruction, one of its top trading partners, and its fourth largest source of foreign tourists, Dominguez has said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

PCSO extends leasing deal with POSC for another year

By Jenniffer B. Austria PACIFIC Online Systems Corp. said state-owned Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office extended its equipment leasing agreement for another year.

POSC said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the extension was effective beginning August 1, 2019.

“The extension is a stop-gap measure to ensure the unhampered lotto operations of PCSO and to allow it to complete the procurement or bidding process for a new PCSO Lottery System. All other terms of the existing ELA remain unchanged,” POSC said.

POSC said Tuesday leasing agreement expired on July 31, 2019.

POSC is the lessor of the online lottery system being used by PCSO for its lotto operations in Visayas and Mindanao, while unit Total Gaming Technologies Inc. is the equipment lessor for PCSO’s Keno game nationwide.

The leasing agreement of Philippine Gaming Management Corp., which is 39.9-percent owned by Berjaya Philippines Corp., is also set to

expire on August 22, 2019 PGMC supplies lottery equipment used by PCSO for its lotto operations in Luzon.

President Rodrigo Duterte on July 26 ordered the closure of all gaming activities sanctioned by PCSO due to allegations of corruption.

But Malacañang on Tuesday lifted the suspension on lotto games.

Other gaming activities of PCSO, such as small town lottery, Keno and Peryahan ng Bayan, however, will remain suspended.

POSC is a unit of Premium Leisure Corp. Share price of POSC on Friday rose 3.3 percent to P2.79.

The stock prices of POSC and Berjaya on Monday fell Monday after President Duterte ordered the agency to stop all lottery and gaming operations.

Berjaya saw its stock drop 6.5 percent to P2.44, while the share price of Pacific Online Systems Corp. declined 13.6 percent to P2.53.

Berjaya said the suspension of all PCSO gaming activities would only have an effect on the company if the suspension was extended.

BEST EMPLOYER. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. is recognized as one of the Best Companies to Work For In Asia at the HR Asia Awards. Among the 23 companies who have been awarded in the Philippines, Metrobank has the largest workforce with almost 13,000 employees in over 700 branches in the country. Receiving the award are Metrobank president Fabian Dee (right) and Metrobank head of human resources management group Vivian Tiu. DIGITAL FORUM.

Aboitiz completes Austal’s expansion in Cebu shipyard ABOITIZ Construction Inc. completed the expansion of shipbuilding facilities of Austal Philippines, which contracted the Cebu-based company to design and build six assembly bays including the recentlyinaugurated John Rothwell Assembly Bay, all based in Austal’s shipyard in Balamban, Cebu.

Aboitiz Construction’s work covered Bays 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10. The expanded facility aims to meet the growing demand for commercial and defense vessels, including the manufacture of large, high-speed aluminum passenger and vehicle passenger ferries.

The John Rothwell Assembly Bay is an impressive structure measuring 120 meters long, 43 meters wide, and 41 meters tall. It is designed to accommodate large vessel projects for hull assembly, final outfitting, and painting capacity.

“Through this project, Aboitiz Construction has once again proven our capability to provide quality design and build services that meet the standards of our international shipbuilder clients. We do not only build, but our capability today includes designing and developing heavy industrial installations,” said Aboitiz Construction president and chief operating officer Alberto Ignacio.

“With this, we also fulfill our brand promise of advancing business and communities where we helped our client to increase their production and at the same time, created the effect of generating hundreds of local jobs while stimulating the local economy,” he added. Darwin G. Amojelar

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

The office of the Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship led by Joey Concepcion, in partnership with Go Negosyo and Globe Telecom Inc., hold a special forum on digitalization with Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu and the Angat Lahat sa Digital Alliance members.

They are joined by Go Negosyo Angat Lahat sa Digital Adviser Josephine Romero.

Solar Para Sa Bayan woos critics to support franchise

By Alena Mae S. Flores SOLAR Para Sa Bayan Corp. urged industry stakeholders opposed to its franchise to work together toward achieving total electrification after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11357 granting it a permit to operate micro-grids in selected areas around the country.

President Duterte on July 31 2019 signed into law RA 11357 granting Solar Para Sa Bayan a franchise to operate micro-grids in the remote and unviable, unserved or underserved areas in selected provinces of the Philippines.

“We wish to extend an olive branch to those who once opposed this bill, for us to support the (Department of

Energy’s) goal of achieving 100 percent electrification and ending energy poverty in the Philippines by 2022. It is time for us to join forces and work together for the common good,” the company said.

Electric utilities and power suppliers claimed the bill “encroached” upon their service areas, and opposed how the bill allows SPSB to enter selected areas that experience regular brownouts, claiming that brownouts are due to “many factors that are beyond the[ir] control.”

“We thank President Duterte for giving new choices for electricity to Filipinos in unserved and underserved areas. This is not for us but the Filipino people, and we owe it to the consumers who fought for this to

deliver the service they have long deserved,” SPSB said.

After extensive deliberations, the bill was approved by Congress and the Senate in June 4 2019. The final version of House Bill 8179 included several amendments such as limited scope and technology, regulation, obligations and penalties and no subsidy from the government.

The bill, however, was endorsed by the Energy Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy, which have made achieving 100 percent electrification its top priority as around 12 million Filipinos still lack electricity.

SPSB said over 30 local governments wrote to the national government in support of the bill’s benefits to their provinces and municipalities.

Globe Telecom says net income up 21% to P12b

By Darwin G. Amojelar GLOBE Telecom Inc. on Friday said net income rose 21 percent to P12 billion in the first half of the year from P9.8 billion year-on-year, boosted by sustained growth across all datarelated products and services.

Core net income stood at P12 billion, up 18 percent from P10.2 billion reported a year earlier.

Globe’s consolidated service revenues amounted to P72.9 billion, 13 percent higher than the level posted a year ago.

“We are pleased with the Company’s robust performance and that we are on track with our strategic objectives for this year. We will continue to invest in our 4G and LTE network to enhance the customer experience and reinforce our competitive advantage moving forward,” said Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu. Mobile revenues in the first six months of the year stood at P54.6 billion, surpassing the P49 billion posted in the same period of 2018 and 2 percent higher than the previous quarter.

The continued strong growth of the company’s prepaid brands once again led to the improved performance. Total mobile subscriber base is now at 92.9 million, up 11 percent from last quarter.

From a product perspective, mobile data revenues amounted to P34 billion as of the first half of the year, fueled by the sustained increase in data usage brought about by the popularity of online gaming, streaming and on-demand video content.

Globe’s home broadband revenues reached P10.6 billion, up 21 percent from a year earlier, and 3 percent higher than the prior quarter.

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Business

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market climbs; URC, ALI advance S TOCKS rose Friday in another bout of bargain-hunting, ignoring the steep fall in the regional market and losses in Wall Street overnight.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index gained 31.77 points, or 0.4 percent, to 8,129.93 on a value turnover of P5.7 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 129 to 61, with 52 issues unchanged.

Universal Robina Corp., the biggest snack food maker, climbed 3.4 percent to P169.60 after reporting a net income of P5.13 billion in the first six months of 2019, up 6.6 percent from P4.8 billion year-on-year. Parent JG Summit Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei also advanced 3.4 percent to P69.50.

Major property developer Ayala Land

Inc. gained 1.9 percent to P51, while Megaworld Corp., the largest lessor of office spaces, added 1.5 percent to P6.24.

The rest of Asian markets fell sharply Friday as US President Donald Trump’s decision to slap new tariffs on China ratcheted up investor fears over the trade war between the world’s top two economies.

Hong Kong lost 2.3 percent, while Tokyo declined 2.1 percent and Shanghai fell 1.4 percent. Taipei shed one percent while Seoul dropped 1.7 percent.

“Selling will likely lead trade”, Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

“There are fresh signs that US-China trade frictions are worsening again” while investors are likely to stay away from buying ahead of the weekend, it added.

The losses in Asia followed a broadbased sell-off on Wall Street, where

the Dow finished 1.1 percent lower on Thursday, losing more than 400 points following Trump’s announcement that Washington would impose 10 percent in tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese goods.

The decision came just as US markets were rallying on the back of the Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.

“The 10 percent is... for a short-term period and then I can always do much more or I can do less, depending on what happens with respect to a deal,” Trump said at the White House, adding, “it could be lifted up to well beyond 25 percent.”

The announcement means virtually all of the $660 million in annual trade of goods between the world’s two biggest economies will have tariffs on them, with the new duties set to take effect

September 1.

The US decision came after trade negotiators held talks in Shanghai this week, the first face-to-face discussions since Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a truce in June.

Negotiators are now set to reconvene in Washington in early September for another round of talks.

On Thursday Trump told reporters he was “not concerned... at all” by the negative reaction among investors, saying he had anticipated it.

“Trump sent the market in a tailspin,” said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at OANDA. “So far, the US consumer has been spared from the tariffs on Chinese goods, but as Trump’s threats grow in scope, so does the potential impact (as) higher costs will have to be passed down from American companies,” he added.

With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 57.65 1,500 92.4 2,345,180 2.31 73,000 150 2,249,480 26.85 54,000 18.78 40,100 12.42 268,800 7.8 3,500 1.32 17,000 75 3,402,290 1.01 506,000 13.12 134,700 48.9 297,100 191 7,260 59 3,670 30.4 103,700 180 128,840 1,800 5 60.7 15,190 1.12 510,000

86,475 214,982,861.50 162,080 335,509,843 1,452,690 750,650 3,329,446 27,233 22,440 255,357,819.50 515,410 1,774,482 14,500,915 1,381,340 215,628 3,146,820 23,081,609 9,000 923,377.50 578,590

38,526,960.50 20,999,278 -634,170 -646,890 -2,640 -29,776,184.50 6,160 -1,600,255 1,125,180 182,030 -989,909 9,000 -462,469 -

34.55 14.2 0.75 1.34 0.26 89.1 3.02 14.42 116 14.6 16.28 75 85.85 2.02 6.37 10.16 14.5 10.92 7.51 26 85.2 66.5 2.13 14.04 9.19 1.66 255.4 3.43 9 22.8 13.88 18.7 367.2 0.186 5.5 1.74 4.86 5.45 2.24 11.78 38.45 5.04 5 1.52 2.17 1.06 13.96 99.8 6.89 0.127 161 2.46 1.37 1.21

INDUSTRIAL 34.8 3,227,900 14.28 702,200 0.77 519,000 1.34 29,000 0.27 1,210,000 99.5 30 3.11 18,014,000 14.42 776,600 116 20 14.6 331,500 16.86 4,300 75 8,820 89.95 430 2.02 30,000 6.37 80,200 10.2 11,363,100 14.5 112,700 11 123,700 7.6 421,200 26.15 392,700 85.95 190,840 68.3 210,500 2.17 5,488,000 14.06 714,400 9.42 107,300 1.7 84,000 258 791,650 3.43 6,000 9 200 22.85 393,600 13.96 68,400 18.98 134,100 372.6 86,690 0.195 230,000 5.58 64,900 1.88 13,884,000 4.86 1,000 5.48 3,562,100 2.42 19,797,000 11.98 55,300 38.5 96,000 5.4 16,000 5.1 7,000 1.55 209,000 2.3 178,000 1.1 179,000 13.96 15,400 102 83,280 6.92 210,200 0.127 30,000 169.6 1,031,430 2.46 3,000 1.39 19,274,000 1.22 2,262,000

111,917,405 10,026,300 395,350 38,860 325,500 2,778 55,820,580 11,293,230 2,320 4,884,318 70,170 671,266 37,871 60,600 512,014 115,849,640 1,636,774 1,361,726 3,191,627 10,267,750 16,374,264.50 14,393,760.50 11,847,990 10,039,662 997,122 141,880 203,436,258 20,580 1,800 8,992,855 951,656 2,532,766 32,046,528 44,580 361,850 25,710,050 4,860 19,578,050 46,595,530 662,170 3,695,235 84,670 35,150 317,980 394,760 195,040 215,132 8,406,062.50 1,457,271 3,810 173,281,540 7,380 26,831,840 2,762,460

-16,385,155.00 184,932 -24,640 -29,150 25,982,560 3,591,322 -369,559 31,370,660 -1,350,918 279,340 2,891,410 -3,577,930 -12,093,339 1,951,081.50 -6,795,580 -363,603 59,441,586 -8,263,500 -5,562 1,487,870 -10,299,438 -2,591,790 -7,073,032 -1,650,110.00 123,440 -15,680 -3,180 -114,516 -720,425.50 -1,270 34,710,151 2,460 1,763,240.00 -6,050

0.93 52.25 15.3 0.71 7.02 15.16 1.22 1.26 940.5 3.89 6.76 10.08 13.54 898 6.4 65.25 0.495 4.45 14.16 0.68 4.71 0.039 1.43 2.9 175.9 975 0.84 1.36 256 0.231 0.28

HOLDING FIRMS 0.94 28,718,000 52.6 1,196,700 15.5 4,427,100 0.72 97,000 7.02 16,100 15.34 59,000 1.27 4,859,000 1.33 561,000 950 339,350 4.04 1,693,000 6.78 172,500 10.3 4,015,200 13.86 147,600 928.5 119,260 6.4 140,400 69.5 1,999,510 0.5 100,000 4.54 421,000 14.38 614,700 0.68 4,776,000 4.8 19,608,000 0.039 600,000 1.47 422,000 2.9 10,000 178.5 82,980 1,000 803,510 0.89 1,991,000 1.39 18,000 259 990 0.238 460,000 0.295 4,870,000

27,103,940 62,951,191 68,100,860 69,400 113,072 911,116 6,015,990 709,550 321,825,820 6,742,840 1,167,519 41,035,424 2,024,868 108,769,425 898,560 135,397,290.50 50,250 1,892,880 8,830,696 3,299,860 93,552,060 23,400 611,970 29,000 14,721,993 793,062,875 1,799,660 24,510 254,512 106,370 1,411,150

3,576,110 -34,324,696.50 -7,854,354 451,390 -70,176,055 1,075,440.00 100,194 -22,185,272 13,632 -52,649,430 -290,560 -1,589,474 -212,370 -7,773,444 -44,997,110 -2,772,828 515,521,337.50 -20,556 -28,500.00

15.78 0.81 2 0.97 49.45 2.26 4.96 6.08 0.59 0.8 0.87 0.235 0.45 11 24.4 0.465 1.87 1.36 6.06 0.315 0.44 1.68 0.395 2.01 26.3 2.4 3.15 36.85 2.15 5.89

PROPERTY 15.84 358,800 0.82 934,000 2.08 218,000 0.98 12,466,000 51 5,717,040 2.27 63,000 5.05 296,700 6.1 900 0.59 2,420,000 0.8 3,000 0.88 357,000 0.236 1,140,000 0.465 360,000 11.4 1,022,300 24.7 387,300 0.47 210,000 1.9 15,755,000 1.39 380,000 6.24 11,131,900 0.32 20,380,000 0.445 210,000 1.7 2,016,000 0.395 230,000 2.05 522,000 26.6 2,228,600 2.42 1,375,000 3.18 11,000 37.6 7,433,900 2.2 933,000 6 209,300

5,683,124 765,250 439,460 12,390,200 286,120,873 143,430 1,486,807 5,488 1,443,510 2,400 317,340 268,920 162,250 11,675,608 9,578,165 98,050 29,852,550 518,150 68,238,792 6,522,700 92,850 3,412,820 90,850 1,060,360 59,233,305 3,325,120 34,680 275,939,090 2,030,020 1,241,654

237,512 -25,920 62,200.00 -391,080 4,108,552 -66,180 92,211 -4,880 -480,600 -890 -1,243,540 2,770,325 -4,927,830 3,332,175 -243,200 -4,450 10,140 -7,900 -18,365,475 -24,500 -81,271,195 -10,950 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK FILIPINO FUND IREMIT METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK VANTAGE

57.65 91.5 2.21 149.8 27.4 18.68 12.3 7.71 1.32 75 1.02 13.2 48.95 191 59.05 30.3 181.9 1,800 60.75 1.19

57.65 92.4 2.33 150 27.4 18.78 12.46 7.8 1.32 75.75 1.04 13.2 49 191 59.1 30.5 181.9 1,800 61 1.2

57.65 89.6 2.19 148 26.8 18.68 12.3 7.71 1.32 74.1 1 13.1 48.6 188 58.5 30.2 178 1,800 60.7 1.12

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

34.7 14.26 0.76 1.34 0.27 89.1 3.02 14.96 116 14.8 16.4 76.5 89 2.02 6.4 10.18 14.52 11.1 7.55 26.5 86.1 68 2.18 14.1 9.19 1.69 259.8 3.43 9 23 14 18.8 370 0.186 5.55 1.75 4.86 5.53 2.3 11.96 38.5 5.04 5.05 1.56 2.17 1.07 13.98 99.8 6.94 0.127 164 2.46 1.39 1.21

34.8 14.3 0.78 1.34 0.27 99.5 3.15 14.98 116 15 16.86 80 90.5 2.02 6.4 10.26 14.68 11.1 7.6 26.5 86.1 69.05 2.18 14.12 9.48 1.7 259.8 3.43 9 23 14 19 372.6 0.195 5.58 1.89 4.86 5.55 2.44 11.98 38.6 5.46 5.1 1.56 2.3 1.11 13.98 102 6.98 0.127 170 2.46 1.42 1.24

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ASIABEST GROUP ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP AYALA LAND LOG COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.93 52.3 15.32 0.71 7.03 15.18 1.25 1.27 950 3.93 6.8 10.22 13.9 920 6.4 66.85 0.495 4.45 14.16 0.69 4.78 0.039 1.47 2.9 176.5 1,000 0.84 1.36 257 0.232 0.285

0.97 53.3 15.5 0.72 7.03 15.8 1.27 1.33 956.5 4.04 6.81 10.3 14 928.5 6.4 69.5 0.51 4.57 14.38 0.7 4.8 0.039 1.47 2.9 178.5 1,000 0.93 1.39 259 0.238 0.295

8990 HLDG A BROWN ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DM WENCESLAO DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL INFRADEV PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS

15.8 0.81 2 1 50 2.3 5.03 6.1 0.59 0.8 0.89 0.239 0.455 11.18 24.7 0.465 1.9 1.37 6.14 0.32 0.44 1.7 0.395 2.07 26.55 2.43 3.15 37.8 2.17 5.92

15.9 0.83 2.11 1.03 51 2.3 5.05 6.1 0.6 0.8 0.9 0.239 0.465 11.76 24.95 0.47 1.91 1.39 6.24 0.325 0.445 1.72 0.395 2.07 26.7 2.47 3.18 37.8 2.2 6

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

VISTA LAND

7.73

7.84

7.59

7.84

3,882,100

30,191,230

-1,946,091

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC EASYCALL GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA GRAND PLAZA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA BULLETIN MANILA JOCKEY METRO RETAIL NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PH RESORTS GRP PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRANSPACIFIC BR TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT WILCON DEPOT

10.8 18.22 1.57 0.53 0.048 18.5 2.5 11.4 0.061 94 7.31 6.1 9.91 2,098 5.39 424.8 10 1.93 1.88 133.1 9.7 0.112 5.26 3 3.6 0.9 19 0.48 3.2 2.63 2.42 2.77 8.8 5.1 135.2 4.24 1,144 0.71 0.7 44.8 78.1 9.4 3.2 0.72 0.35 5.49 0.77 15.5

10.98 18.7 1.57 0.53 0.049 18.52 2.5 11.5 0.061 94 7.33 6.1 10.06 2,116 5.4 424.8 10 1.98 1.88 133.9 9.7 0.116 5.32 3.13 3.65 0.92 19.38 0.5 3.39 2.71 2.48 2.82 8.8 5.39 142 4.4 1,165 0.72 0.72 45.4 79.75 9.4 3.26 0.75 0.355 5.51 0.77 16

10.8 17.8 1.5 0.51 0.048 18.04 2.44 11.38 0.06 93 7.27 6 9.86 2,058 5.37 423.8 10 1.9 1.88 129.1 9.7 0.112 5.26 3 3.55 0.9 19 0.48 3.2 2.63 2.39 2.7 8.62 5.1 135 4.12 1,130 0.71 0.7 44.6 78 9.29 3.18 0.72 0.35 5.46 0.75 15.5

SERVICES 10.9 18.6 1.5 0.52 0.049 18.16 2.5 11.48 0.06 93.4 7.32 6 10.04 2,100 5.38 423.8 10 1.95 1.88 129.7 9.7 0.116 5.31 3.13 3.64 0.92 19.38 0.49 3.28 2.69 2.48 2.79 8.62 5.35 135 4.25 1,150 0.71 0.71 44.85 79.5 9.29 3.24 0.75 0.35 5.49 0.76 15.88

5,900 639,500 161,000 1,371,000 3,100,000 2,300 14,000 1,131,000 10,510,000 91,580 875,300 60,700 23,800 26,305 55,500 110 1,100 1,246,000 6,000 1,519,510 1,000 1,160,000 1,692,900 17,000 419,000 394,000 349,600 239,000 62,000 2,396,000 950,000 864,000 25,900 300 5,100 3,416,000 140,275 1,419,000 15,675,000 266,100 475,860 4,200 2,717,000 2,191,000 4,440,000 3,125,700 2,426,000 1,505,800

64,204 11,691,892 243,820 703,490 149,000 42,002 34,460 12,913,278 635,470 8,536,812.50 6,395,023 364,960 237,102 54,877,710 298,616 46,628 11,000 2,411,230 11,280 197,927,916 9,700 130,160 8,964,460 52,280 1,512,030 357,010 6,710,224 117,530 199,610 6,452,930 2,332,300 2,408,720 225,316 1,584 694,742 14,659,380 160,853,770 1,016,490 11,157,900 11,925,545 37,642,149 39,359 8,756,500 1,618,880 1,554,250 17,187,763 1,832,940 23,921,686

-9,800 -3,994,812 1,500,241 -32,920 -25,657,030 -1,880 -87,430,605 -462,293 534,190 2,456,428.00 667,650 -74,140 55,800 -9,680 -339,720 28,720 4,533,585 -203,100 -17,040 -3,245,825.00 -2,330,771.50 -29,140 -1,580,710 387,200 -3,500 -7,807,902 17,944,440

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

0.0017 1.27 2.8 13 2.72 0.27 7.52 1.46 0.21 0.107 0.112 0.0084 0.0086 1.05 2.5 1.02 0.49 0.84 0.012 0.013 0.011 5.57 3.84 10.46 23 0.0064

0.0017 1.28 2.8 13 2.72 0.27 7.56 1.47 0.218 0.113 0.121 0.01 0.012 1.09 2.59 1.05 0.49 0.84 0.013 0.013 0.011 6.05 3.93 10.88 23.15 0.0066

0.0017 1.25 2.67 12.42 2.72 0.27 7.52 1.45 0.203 0.106 0.111 0.0081 0.0086 1.05 2.47 1.02 0.47 0.83 0.012 0.012 0.01 5.57 3.77 10.12 22.4 0.0064

MINING & OIL 0.0017 9,000,000 1.28 7,423,000 2.67 201,000 12.84 23,200 2.72 81,000 0.27 120,000 7.55 5,400 1.46 295,000 0.209 2,770,000 0.112 7,100,000 0.121 810,000 0.01 483,000,000 0.011 120,000,000 1.07 571,000 2.58 3,048,000 1.03 9,000 0.47 20,000 0.84 128,000 0.013 300,000 0.012 682,100,000 0.011 42,500,000 6.04 2,051,100 3.9 8,552,000 10.68 7,224,500 23.15 555,700 0.0066 15,000,000

15,300 9,415,220 537,200 293,182 220,320 32,400 40,766 431,410 576,550 785,940 91,340 4,696,900 1,277,600 613,100 7,719,990 9,240 9,600 106,460 3,700 8,867,200 458,300 12,227,735 32,993,250 76,334,046 12,637,075 98,600

-3,400 -826,000 -534,400 -42,430 2,240 19,800 -999,960 -3,060 -22,000 -153,605 243,180 -1,137,950.00 -8,019,440 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B ALCO PREF C DD PREF FGEN PREF G FPH PREF C GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A LR PREF PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B PNX PREF 3A SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

18 490 498.6 101 105 101 105.2 489.6 497 5.45 950 945 99.6 0.99 993 1,019 1,013 1,018 101.7 994 75.5 77.5 74.8 75 75.7 75.7 74.05

18 490 500 101 105 101 105.2 498 497 5.46 950 949 99.6 1 994 1,019 1,013 1,018 101.7 995 77.4 77.55 74.8 75 75.7 75.95 75.5

17.5 490 498.6 101 105 101 105.2 489.6 497 5.45 928 945 99.6 0.98 993 1,019 1,013 1,018 101.7 994 75.2 77 74.8 75 75.5 75 74.05

PREFERRED 17.5 651,100 490 2,500 500 2,000 101 200 105 1,000 101 15,140 105.2 40,000 498 370 497 200 5.46 5,000 928 40 949 1,030 99.6 220 0.99 1,147,000 994 950 1,019 5 1,013 15,160 1,018 1,500 101.7 300 995 50 75.2 28,620 77.55 54,880 74.8 2,000 75 13,400 75.5 44,340 75.95 102,230 74.5 20,020

11,394,400 1,225,000 998,592 20,200 105,000 1,529,140 4,208,000 181,690 99,400 27,260 37,340 973,390 21,912 1,139,010 943,500 5,095 15,357,080 1,527,000 30,510 49,710 2,172,982 4,244,602.50 149,600 1,005,000 3,349,098 7,675,425 1,501,485.50

-9,644,400 15,680 5,095 -

LR WARRANT

1.75

1.84

1.75

WARRANTS 1.8 137,000

242,930

-

ITALPINAS XURPAS

6.71 1.03

6.85 1.05

6.53 1.02

6.67 1.03

14,605,877 1,565,720

-301,149 -112,820

FIRST METRO ETF

121

121.3

120

441,116

-

109,371.60

-

NAME

MS USD DMPL A1

10.26

TRADING SUMMARY

10.26

SHARES

FINANCIAL

10,462,283

INDUSTRIAL

107,841,108

HOLDING FIRMS

83,647,763

PROPERTY

108,415,585

SERVICES

77,833,956

MINING & OIL

1,395,516,844

GRAND TOTAL

1,787,430,688

10.26

SME

2,193,400 1,516,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 121.3 3,650 DDS 10.26

10,660

VALUE 1,861.40 885,120,945.88 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,467.74 (UP) 60.58 1,028,515,419.60 HOLDING FIRMS 7,999.12 (DOWN) 78.23 1,750,847,916.00 PROPERTY 4,347.09 (DOWN) 54.02 1,651.90 (DOWN) 17.79 1,050,140,192.04 SERVICES MINING & OIL 7,870.97 (DOWN) 167.16 779,433,303.20 PSEI 8,183.99 (DOWN) 88.19 170,539,477.3613 All Shares Index 4,955.60 (DOWN) 38.24 5,681,210,610.58 Gainers: 129; Losers: 61; Unchanged: 52; Total: 242

Kepwealth prices initial public offering at P5.74 each

By Jenniffer B. Austria KEPWEALTH Property Philippines Inc. on Friday priced its initial public offering at a high of P5.74 per share on strong demand received from investors during the book building period.

Kepwealth president Edmundo Las said in a letter to the stock exchange the firm would offer 67,032 million primary shares to enable it to raise as much as P384.7 million in proceeds.

The offered shares will account for 33.34 percent of the company’s issued capital stock after the IPO. Kepwealth set the offering period August 5 to 9, with the listing date scheduled on August 19. The shares will be listed under the Small, Medium and Emerging Board of the local exchange.

Kepwealth will have a market capitalization of P1.15 billion after the IPO. Analysts said the company’s prospects and pent-up demand amid the dearth of IPOs resulted in strong interest for the stock. Kepwealth will be the first company to conduct a maiden share offering with the PSE this year.

BDO Capital and Investments Corp. is the sole underwriter of the offering.

Kepwealth plans to use net proceeds from the offering to diversify asset base and expand the office leasing portfolio with the acquisition of about 3,500 square meters of leasable space.

The property firm said it would allocate P245 million of the net proceeds to fund the acquisition of office spaces, mainly in Pasig City and Makati City, and P120 million in Davao City within the first to second quarter of 2020.

The company owns 77 office condominium units with 98 leasable spaces in Kepwealth Center, a commercial building located at Samar Loop corner Cardinal Rosales Avenue, Cebu Business Park, Cebu City.

Upon completing the IPO-funded acquisitions, the company expects to own an estimated 18,121 square meters of leasable space.

Kepwealth was previously owned by Keppel Corp. of Singapore. Keppel divested its entire stake in Kepwealth to Euro Capital Land for P793.6 million ($15.5 million).

Euro Capital owns 12 per cent of the company, while Crown Castle Holdings holds a 56.4-percent stake, while We Serve 24 Hours controls 25.6 percent.

Robinsons Retail registers profit of P1.77b in 1st half ROBINSONS Retail Holdings Inc., a unit of of the Gokongwei group, said Friday net income in the first half of 2019 declined 32 percent to P1.77 billion from P2.62 billion year-on-year on higher interest expenses.

RRHI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-half revenues rose 28 percent to P77.2 billion from P60.45 billion a year ago on higher same-storesales growth, opening of new outlets and the consolidation of Rustan Supercenters.

With the acquisition of Rustans Supercenters in November last year, RRHI said the supermarket segment now accounted for 54 percent of its entire business from 46 percent in the same period last year.

The SSSG in the first half of the year was driven by the drugstore segment, which registered a double-digit growth of 11.2 percent, followed by supermarket by 4.3 percent, Do-It-Yourself by 3.6 percent, specialty stores by 3.6 percent, and convenience store by 2.3 percent.

Interest expenses surged to P1.2 billion in the first half of 2019 from just P55 million ton year. The company attributed the increase in interest expenses to the non-cash interest expenses on the lease liability related to the new accounting standard on leases under the Philippine Financial Reporting Standard that took effect effective January 1, 2019.

Excluding the impact of the PFRS, core net earnings declined 2.2 percent to P2.2 billion, an improvement from the 16.2-percent drop in the first quarter.

Net income in the second quarter fell 33 percent to P946 million from P1.4 billion on year year.

Net sales jumped 26.5 percent to P39.86 billion from P31.49 billion in the same quarter last year due to higher same-store-sales growth and the consolidation of Rustan Supercenters. The SSSG in the second quarter stood at 3.7 percent. AFP

World

B3

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF

ARRIVAL.

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate Lady Lily The Pink (C) and her team arrive at the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election count at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells, Wales, on August 2, 2019.

Britain’s Boris Johnson faces his first test at the ballot box Thursday in a by-election that could reduce his parliamentary majority to just one, as his new government vowed to double funding for a possible no-deal Brexit.

Johnson’s Brexit plan could also become harder to enact as his governing Conservative Party looks set to lose the Welsh seat of Brecon and Radnorshire to a pro-Europe candidate on Thursday. AFP

Crocodiles hunt in flooded city

VADODARA, India―Crocodiles hunted dogs in the flooded streets of the Indian city of Vadodara after it was battered by nearly 20 inches of rain in 24 hours, leaving five people dead, police said Friday.

Waist-high water remained Friday in the Gujarat state city where the main railway station and most roads were closed by the freak deluge.

About 5,000 people were evacuated from their homes as water from the overflowing crocodile-infested Vishwamitri River spread through the city of 1.2 million people.

A video of one crocodile emerging from the flood to attack a dog went viral on social media. The reptile was caught by animal rights activists.

Police said other two other incidents involving crocodiles in populated areas were reported.

Many bridges over the river were closed, cutting off whole districts of the city.

Officials said two people were electrocuted and two labourers died when a wall weakened by the floods fell on them.

The body of a 60-year-old man was found floating in the water but the cause of death was not immediately known.

Medical teams from other cities in the western state were to be sent to Vadodara to launch operations to contain infections and disease, officials said.

Power engineers were struggling in the floods to reconnect electricity supplies.

Long queues of people formed outside food shops. AFP

Japan hangs two for murder

TOKYO―Japan on Friday hanged two men convicted of murder, the justice ministry said, the first executions this year after 15 death row inmates were executed in 2018.

With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, and public support for it remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups.

“I ordered the executions after very careful consideration,” Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita told reporters.

The executed were 64-year-old Koichi Shoji and 50-year-old Yasunori Suzuki, a ministry official told AFP. Shoji was convicted of killing two women and stealing cash in 2001 near Tokyo while Suzuki was convicting of murdering three women on the streets in southern Japan and stealing cash in 2004, according to media reports.

“These are extremely brutal cases in which they claimed lives of victims who had done nothing wrong for their selfish reasons,” the minister said.

Japan hanged 15 inmates in 2018, matching a 2008 record since the nation started publicly announcing executions in 1998.

Among them were a total of 13 people who belonged to the cult that carried out the fatal 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway and other crimes.

The Aum Shinrikyo cult members― including former guru Shoko Asahara― were executed in two stages in July 2018, drawing a line under the horrific attack which shocked the world and prompted national soul-searching over the group and its crimes. AFP

More Hong Kong protests planned North Korea’s H latest tests ONG KONG― Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong are gearing up for more rallies starting on Friday, in defiance of a series of warnings from China and after a prominent independence campaigner was arrested.

The semi-autonomous southern Chinese city has seen two months of unrest that was triggered by opposition to a planned extradition law and then quickly evolved into a wider movement for democratic reforms.

Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing this week signaled a hardening stance, including with the arrests of dozens of protesters and the Chinese military describing the unrest as “intolerable”.

But more protests have been scheduled, starting on Friday evening with members of Hong Kong’s usually tightlipped civil service who are due to hold a rally despite a government warning that they could be sacked for doing so.

“Any acts to undermine the principle of political neutrality of the civil service are totally unacceptable,” the government said late on Thursday.

Medical workers have also called a rally for Friday evening and there are unsanctioned marches planned for Saturday and Sunday, as well as a city-wide strike on Monday.

Previous unsanctioned marches have quickly descended into violence with police.

Deepening tensions, police said eight people were arrested Thursday night on charges of possessing offensive weapons and explosives following a raid on an industrial building.

A senior police source, who asked not to be named, told AFP that independence activist Andy Chan was among those detained and that a “gasoline bomb” was found on the premises.

Chan’s small independence party was outlawed last year on the grounds it posed a national security threat, the first such ban since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Chan’s party contained only a few dozen members but Beijing sees calls for independence as an absolute red line.

The banning of his party—and the expulsion of a Financial Times journalist who chaired a talk with Chan at the city’s press club before the party was outlawed—were held up as two examples of eroding freedoms in Hong Kong.

Under the terms of the 1997 handover deal, the city has rights and liberties unseen on the mainland, including an

independent judiciary and freedom of speech.

But many say those rights are being curtailed, citing the disappearance into mainland custody of dissident booksellers, the disqualification of prominent politicians and the jailing of pro-democracy protest leaders.

Public anger has been compounded by rising inequality and the perception that the city’s distinct language and culture are being threatened by ever closer integration with the Chinese mainland.

The past two weekends have seen a surge in violence used by both protesters and police, who have repeatedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse projectile-throwing crowds.

A mob of pro-government thugs also attacked protesters, putting 45 people in hospital.

Hong Kong’s police have increasingly adopted tougher tactics, including by this week charging 44 protesters with rioting―an offence that carries up to 10 years in jail.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam has made few concessions beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill, and she has made few public appearances.

Protesters are demanding her resignation, an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested, a permanent withdrawal of the bill and the right to elect their leaders. AFP

Hard Brexit threat tests historic ties LONDON―New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s big tour of Britain saw him booed by EU supporters in Wales and heckled by nationalists in Scotland. Northern Ireland’s fractious parties then told him that his Brexit plans were reopening old wounds.

The Conservative party leader’s swing across the four UK countries in his first week in office was designed to drum up support for his high-risk pledge to leave the EU on October 31 at any cost.

But he found a less than united kingdom that-while not quite coming apart at the seams―is becoming increasingly open about deep-seated suspicions of London.

Welsh sheep farmers are worried that the 27 remaining members of the European Union will throw up barriers to their lamb exports in case of a messy “no-deal” divorce.

Scottish nationalists say that they never voted to leave the bloc in first place and might now try to become an independent state in order to rejoin.

And the prospect of a hard border splitting EU member Ireland from British Northern Ireland has revived memories of late 20th century sectarian unrest.

“It was perfectly foreseeable that the hardest of hard Brexit would put huge strains on the union,” Center for European Reform’s deputy director John Springford said.

“It’s clear that Brexit, which is an English nationalist project, really... matters much more to him than the future of the union,” Springford told AFP. AFP

PREMIERE. Australian actress Margot Robbie poses for selfies as she arrives for the German Premiere of US director Quentin Tarantino’s latest film ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ in Berlin on August 1, 2019. AFP

‘no problem,’ says Trump

SEOUL―North Korea carried out its third weapons test in eight days on Friday, according to the South’s military, but US President Donald Trump said he had “no problem” with the spate of launches by Pyongyang.

The nuclear-armed North is barred from ballistic missile tests under UN resolutions and its actions have drawn condemnation from European members of the Security Council but a comparatively sanguine response from Trump, who has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times, generating global headlines on each occasion.

“I have no problem. We’ll see what happens but short-range (missiles) are very standard,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a rally in Ohio.

Kim and Trump agreed to resume denuclearization talks during their impromptu June encounter in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, but that working-level dialogue has yet to begin.

Pyongyang is furious over joint USSouth Korean military exercises due to start next week, and analysts say the launches are intended to raise the pressure on Washington.

But the situation could also see negotiations delayed until late this year, they said.

The North fired two projectiles from its east coast in the early hours of Friday that flew around 220 kilometers, reaching altitudes of 25 kilometers and speeds of Mach 6.9, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said-unusually fast for a short-range weapon.

The flight profile was similar to Wednesday’s test and Seoul’s presidential office said it was highly likely to be “a new type of short-range ballistic missile”.

Pyongyang described the two devices it fired earlier this week as a “newly developed large-calibre multiple launch guided rocket system”.

The launches come after Pyongyang fired two devices last week that Seoul said were short-range ballistic missiles, one of them traveling almost 700 kilometers. AFP

Humanity’s next test: feed 10 billion without ruining Earth PARIS―It is a question critical to mankind’s survival: how do we grow enough food to sustain our booming population without wrecking our only home and plundering Nature’s bounty?

Next week the most detailed scientific assessment yet of how we use the land we need to survive will show in the starkest terms the unpalatable choices facing humanity.

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) special report on land use is expected to warn how industrialized food chains, rampant resource exploitation, and even efforts to stave off the worst effects of global warming,

are jeopardizing our future ability to feed ourselves.

But it will also deliver a withering verdict on global inequality, depicting a planet where billions of overfed people throw away vast amounts of calories at the end of each day as hundreds of millions go to bed hungry.

As policymakers from around the world were set to begin poring over the report’s draft text in Geneva on Friday, experts said the importance of using land efficiently had long been overlooked.

“When you look at both the effects of the changing climate as well as contributions to climate change, the land sec-

tor is incredibly important,” Lynn Scarlett, vice president for public policy at The Nature Conservancy, told AFP. Land use including agriculture and deforestation account for around a quarter of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

“On the impact side, the effects are extensive and they aren’t way out in the future, they are unfolding right now and are critical to the wellbeing of people and Nature,” said Scarlett.

Agricultural systems now use a third of all land and three quarters of all fresh water on the planet.

With the global population set to hit

10 billion by mid-century, there are fears those systems will be stretched to breaking point.

Meat is a major problem, as is food waste. It’s estimated as much as 30 percent of all food produced ends up in landfills -- with a carbon footprint to match.

“Although land provides more than enough food to feed everyone, there are still 820 million who go to bed hungry every night,” said Stephan Singer, senior adviser on global energy policies with Climate Action Network.

“Food is being treated in an unsustainable way.” AFP

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Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

SPEED BUILDING IN CAVITE. PHirstPark homes in Tanza.

Infrastructure developer races to house PH’s low cost housing buyers

New technology to put homes within reach of growing population

M

ANILA— Megawide construction corporation chairman Edgar Saavedra recently shared the company’s plans to strengthen its engineering solutions such as precast technology, aimed at horizontal residential developments, particularly in affordable and socialized housing.

Speaking at a press briefing, the CEO of the listed engineering and infrastructure developer, said one of their main objectives is to help ease the housing backlog in the country, estimated at around 4 million in 2018.

“These opportunities will drive the company’s geographic expansion outside Metro Manila, with Megawide’s advantage being its engineering solutions such as precast, which will be key in accelerating supply faster than the growth in demand,” he explained to the Manila Standard.

Bullish about construction During the briefing, Megawide officials said the company expects a rebound in the construction business this year.

“We are expecting an upturn in 2019, especially in the construction business with the completion of new projects toward the second half of 2019,” said Louie Ferrer, Megawide’s director and head of

transport infrastructure. “Megawide secured a healthy pipeline of new projects in the first quarter of 2019, amounting to P6.2 billion to sustain a healthy order book of projects moving forward.”

Megawide reported a net income of P1.9 billion on revenues of P16 billion last year. Construction remained its core business, accounting for 79 percent while airport operations contributed 19 percent and airport merchandising (two percent).

Sky high potential In an interview with Manila Standard, Saavedra stressed Megawide’s determined push to introduce building solutions that would help address the affordable housing challenge im the Philippines.

“The potential of the Philippine real estate sector is sky high—there are opportunities for growth and development all around us,” he declared.

According to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the housing backlog was 1,373,981 units as of 2012, which climbed to 1,749,408 units between 2013 and 2015.

The agency warned the backlog could skyrocket to 12.5 million housing units by 2030 if the housing problem is unaddressed.

Precast technology Megawide claimed that its precast structural system can be used for multiple projects and locations, and provide costefficiency for clients due to its transferable production set up.

Saavedra noted that the fast installation connection system increases the speed of production The technology is currently being used at several low cost housing development projects, namely, PHirstPark homes in Tanza, Cavite (2,800 units) and Lipa (1,900 units).

PHirstPark homes is a subsidiary of Century Properties.

“We’re custom-building precast units to the exact specifications of our clients in our precast factory Taytay, Rizal,” he revealed. “This will be complementary to our use of architectural components such as façade walls, unit partition walls, and stairs among others.”

HELPING EASE THE BACKLOG. From left, Oliver Tan, Megawide director; chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra; and director and head of transport infrastructure Louie Ferrer.

‘UNCOMMON‘ TOUCH. A typical village clubhouse will have a function room and basketball court. At the Residences at Commonwealth by Century in Quezon City, the facility goes beyond by providing spaces. The project is surrounded by four completed towers and four more undergoing construction, as well as outdoor amenities. The ground floor houses a multipurpose room, a cooking studio where residents can pursue their culinary inclinations, and a crèche & kindergarten. On the second floor, families can jam and enjoy lessons at the rock & roll studio, or unleash their creativity at the arts & crafts studio. There is also a gym & dance studio, movie room, and salon. Commonwealth by Century opened the doors of its clubhouse last month with John Victor Antonio, vice-chairman of the Century Properties Group (Shown here), leading the ribbon cutting. The Residences is located at Amsterdam Avenue, Don Antonio Drive, Brgy. Batasan Hills, Quezon City.

Make mine Botanika

LAND values at Filinvest City, an urban center south of Metro Manila, have risen by as much as 300 percent in the last six years, making for impressive returns, according to property consultancy firm Santos Knight Frank.

In 2018, Metro Manila was rated as one of the world’s top luxury markets, with Alabang among

the 18 neighborhoods poised to become the next property hotspot, according to Santos Knight Frank. Add to this ongoing infrastructure projects such as the Skyway Stage 3, which is due for completion by mid-2020, and various developments being constructed in the area.

Creating value Filinvest City is currently teeming with highend residential properties, with Botanika Nature

MAKING THE WISE CHOICE. Novel Residential

Concepts Inc. and C-5 Mansions Development Corporation recently offered investment possibilities through Aspen Hotel’s lease agreement. The Aspen Hotel concept’s attraction hinges on the expected demand for luxury accommodations along C5 near the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) business hub, where the the Ridgewood Square complex will be located. The business concept, discussed recently by Novel Residential Concepts Inc. director Chris Chiong at the “Investment Juan On Juan” symposium, will offer units for sale at the 14th to 19th floors of the Ridgewood Towers Premier project, solely for Aspen Hotel operations. Investors may learn more about the particulars of the Aspen Hotel automatic hotel unit lease program through ptan.ridgewoodtowers@gmail.com.

Residences, a signature project under the luxury residential brand Filigree, standing out.

The project was recently awarded as Best Apartment in the Philippines by the 2018 Asian Property Awards, and a pioneer in BERDE (Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence) certification.

Botanika has unit layouts such as two-bedroom suites, three-bedroom flats, three-bedroom Garden Bi-level units, and five-bedroom Garden Bilevel units.

Unit sizes range from 123 square meters to as spacious as 343 square meters.

The project’s design were done by Miaja Design Group Pte Ltd. for interior design, Architecture International for its masterplan, and AECOM for landscape design.

COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES UP FOR BIDDING.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) will dispose 84 properties of closed banks via a public bidding on August 22 at the 9th Floor Training Room, SSS Bldg., 6782 Ayala Ave. corner Rufino St., Makati City. To be held at an “as-is, where is” basis, sealed bids shall be accepted by the PDIC Real and Other Properties Acquired (ROPA) Disposal Committee from direct buyers between 9:00 A.M. and 1:45 P.M. at the venue. Bids will be opened at 2:00 P.M. Up for bidding are 49 residential lots, 23 residential lots with improvements, three commercial lots with improvements, three commercial condominium units, one residential condominium unit with parking slot, one mixed-use residential/commercial lot, one commercial lot, one industrial lot, one transportation equipment and a forklift. The complete list of properties is posted in the PDIC Assets for Sale site, http://assetsforsale.pdic.gov.ph.

Life

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

YOUNG LIFE

@MStandardLIFE SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

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Bally relaunches its Champion sneakers in ‘90s pop-color combinations.

SHAIRA LUNA:

The ‘gifted child’ is now a

‘CHAMPION’

CHAMPIONS ARE MADE. Gifted child-turned-professional photographer Shaira Luna believes drive, openness, and confidence are important to becoming a champion. (Photo from

By Bernadette Lunas

@shairaluna/Instagram)

P

Blackpink goes ‘live’

EOPLE thought she would become a doctor before she turned 20—she thought so, too— but she dropped out of college, picked up a camera, and went on to become one of today’s most prolific photographers in the country.

Shaira Luna, considered a “gifted child” and one of the “Promil kids,” grew up living according to the expectations of people around her. She was a child genius after all. So it was understandably not easy when she decided to drop out of college.

“It took a lot of courage to step back because all eyes were on me,” she shared, but she knew “it wasn’t the path I wanted to get on.”

After shifting to different courses, she left De La Salle University to finally pursue photography.

Luna started with a basic 4-megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera, which may be limited but she said was enough to tell her stories. She studied photos in magazines, then started taking photos of band performances. When she was starting, she said she hardly turned down a job.

During her talk a few years ago at DLSU, she shared how she did nearly all kinds of projects: “I tried portraits, I tried food. I would shoot events, birthdays, binyag (Christening), fiesta, liga ng basketball (basketball league). Wala akong pinalampas. Minsan libing din (I didn’t turn anything down. I even did a burial shoot).”

That was 13 years ago. Now she focuses on her strengths. She does portraits and cinematic photography, among others.

What she is today, where she is now, she said, did not happen overnight. “It was a long process,” she mused. Her drive and openness helped her on her journey.

“I really tried to absorb as much as I could from people I met. I was open to learning; I even tried graphic design,” shared Luna. Until today, even with projects—both professional and personal— left and right, she still seeks to learn new things.

She believes it is important to “always open your eyes to different things.”

“Every single day I’m on Google, Tumblr, Pinterest—always trying to learn something,” she related.

And when you’re open to learning, keep at it. “Keep moving, keep persevering. It’s not always easy, it’s not always pretty, it’s not always fast. You have to persevere. You’ll gain confidence along the way.”

When she was talking about the cardiovascular system in her spiel in that

Shaira is flanked by Bally head of trade marketing Romina Cortegiani and head of travel retail Tommaso Beretta.

The pro photographer smiles for the camera at the launch of Bally Champion in Greenbelt.

milk TV commercial, perhaps no one had the inkling she would be the photographer that she is today. Hers is a story of a champion made after constant practice, a story of a champion who blazed her own trail.

Shaira Luna joins the roster of Bally’s champions for its Champions are Made campaign.

In April, the Swiss luxury fashion house launched the campaign coinciding with the relaunch of its iconic sneaker Champion, which was first launched in the ‘90s. The sneakers were worn

by Swiss tennis stars Jakob Hlasek and Marc Rosset on their way to winning the Grand Slam at the French Open in 1992.

Leading the campaign are Netflix’s “Sex Education” star Ncuti Gatwa, model Maeva Giani Marshall, and Royal Ballet School’s principal dancer Matthew Bell. Together, they showcase Bally’s spirit of determination.

The relaunched Bally Champion is recreated like-for-like in its original form with additional derivations in ‘90s popcolor combinations. It features new EVA technology and breathable mesh lining for cushioning and comfort; the tongue is embossed with Bally’s archive tennis logo, giving it an instant vintage appeal.

Wearing the sneakers during the launch, Luna shared how to be a champion.

“I thought champions only existed in sports, especially since I’m not an athletic person,” she shared, “For me, champion is exceeding your expectations with the work you put in.”

When asked what she wanted to tell people who are doing something they don’t want to do, she said: “You really need to be brave and make a choice to change.”

K-pop sensation Blackpink shows their moves live using Samsung Galaxy A series.

TWO Korean giants, electronics company Samsung and K-pop sensation Blackpink team up for a promotional video featuring the Galaxy A series of smartphones.

In the video, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa showcase their catchy choreography, while using the Galaxy A smartphones to go live and share their iconic dance moves to their fans.

The Galaxy A Series line consists of Galaxy A80, A70, A50, A30, A20, and A10. Built for the “Era of Live,” these smartphones are equipped with an ultra-wide camera which can record highquality videos and crisp images for social media, and let users go live.

Its Infinity Display offers an immersive and uninterrupted viewing experience, perfect for streaming content. Users can enjoy using the smartphones the whole day without having to worry about losing power since they come with long-lasting battery life.

Starting August 9, a special bundle consisting of Galaxy A80, Watch Active, and Blackpink edition Buds will be available for P49,990.

A treat for all Blinks, the smartphone comes with Blackpink themes and stickers, there’s also a free CD in its specially-designed box. Aside from the exclusive wearables, it also comes with six months free VIU subscription via Samsung Members.

The special Blackpink bundle comes with a Galaxy A80, Watch Active, and Buds.

Life

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

A sparkling celebration THREE parties, held simultaneously in one day, recently took place in the Philippines to celebrate the annual Moët & Chandon Grand Day, an iconic event commemorated in 80 regions across the globe.

Xylo at Bonifacio Global City, Aqua at Angeles, Pampanga, and Oqtagon in Cebu, had turned into a Moët & Chandon Studio 1869, bringing golden glittery champagne dreams into the three clubs.

This year’s celebration also marked the 150th anniversary of Moët Impérial, a global icon of celebration since 1869.

The new limited edition Moët Imperial 150th Anniversary bottle was also launched during the celebrations. The party guests were the first to drink from the iconic bottle and create their very own #MoetMoment.

The Imperial was created as a tribute to the relationship established between Napoleon Bonaparte and Jean-Rémy Moët, The night sparkles with music and bubbly. grandson of the maison’s founder.

LOG OFF. Social media got you down? Health experts suggest taking a break on updating your online profile and focusing on your well-

4 reasons you need being offline.

a social media detox

Moët & Chandon Grand Day party at Oqtagon in Cebu.

I

F SCROLLING through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms is doing you more harm than good, maybe it’s time to log off and take care of yourself offline.

You’re forgetting about real life Have you heard of The Outside? It’s a lovely place on the other side of your door, which you don’t need Wi-Fi to access. Getting off social media opens you up to the wonders of real life, where you can nurture face-to-face relationships and pursue new interests.

Dr. Gustilo-Villasor and Dr. Go-Chu advise that social media use should be restricted to “consistent time limits According to two health experts, social media can wear and supervision for children and adolescents age 6 and out an individual mentally, encourage unhealthy habits, older.”

In addition, being out and about means less time sitting and threaten their security. If you’re active on these platforms almost everyday, take heed of these four reasons why down for extended periods, which doctors said can be dangerous for your health. social media can be bad for you.

It’s stressing you out The pressure of having to keep up with all your friends 24/7 can stimulate an increase in stress hormone cortisol.

This state of disorientation may cause short-term memory loss or lead to depression.

Ma. Teresa Gustilo-Villasor, PhD, of Allied Mental Health and Lovie Hope O. Go-Chu, M.D., chief of Makati Medical Center Section of Psychiatry acknowledge links between social media use and increased incidence of mental health issues.

The experts explain, “Increased social media use has been associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, particularly in children, adolescents, and young adults.”

And even if you haven’t noticed a spike in your stress levels, being on social media has also been shown to disrupt your sleep patterns. Many people spend one to two hours browsing their social media accounts before going to bed—valuable time that could be spent sleeping.

Increased social media use is associated with depression.

It’s messing with your self-esteem Seeing everyone curate the best of their lives online can really weigh a person down. For starters, it could trigger a sense of dissatisfaction, especially when comparing everyone’s beautiful, filtered posts to your own life.

Dr. Gustilo-Villasor and Dr. Go-Chu reveal that irresponsible social media use can cause people to develop “a perceived lack in the quality or quantity of social support systems; a predilection for upward social comparison with seemingly superior others, leading to poor self-esteem and negative self-evaluation; a constant desire for positive peer feedback; and a susceptibility to cyber-bullying and online harassment,” which may later progress into a mental illness.

Social media, they say, can give people a false impression that they aren’t good enough.

Champagne lovers celebrate Moët & Chandon’s annual party.

Farmer finds success through science Go out! It’s beautiful outside.

They’re invading your privacy Social media can turn your digital life into an open book.

Things like GPS, data tracking, and more keep tabs on you all the time. Even when you aren’t navigating a road, social media apps can still track your location.

What’s more, your social media profile is prone to being breached by third parties, which use people’s online activities to create targeted content, from regular ads to dangerous propaganda campaigns.

If these do sound familiar, it’s best to quit or at least ease up on your social media use. Don’t worry, it’s not like you’re disconnecting from family and friends.

Now, what?

Messaging apps are a great alternative for keeping communication lines open, since they let you chat with your contacts. For instance, messaging app Viber lets you enjoy the perks of social media without any of their security risks.

On Communities, users can start massive group chats that connect them with people who share their interests. Users can also share photos, polls, news articles, and more without compromising private information.

Those who get their news on social media, Viber Communities lets them subscribe to news agencies.

It also has Hidden Chats, which are stored in a separate section of the app that can only be accessed with a 4-digit PIN. Group Calls allows users to get real-time updates with up to five people.

“A FARMER has to be a scientist.

Today, he sows a variety of vegYou have to do a lot of observing. etables, fruits, and root crops in his You don’t just plant and plant.” This integrated farm. He also raises native is the philosophy that farmer-turned- chicken, turkey, goat, and cow; and he agripreneur Ruben Ragas lives by. produces tilapia, dalag, and other naHis farm in Cabadbaran City, Agu- tive freshwater fish. san del Norte is proof of his careful He remains methodical as he imand meticulous planning―backed by plements organic farming―with the science and good sense. manure of his livestock and left-over All sections―from the fish pond vegetables allowed to naturally deand livestock shed to the various veg- compose for use as fertilizer; while etable plots―of his farm are strategi- the urine from his goats are used as cally laid out for specific reasons. plant insect repellent and fungicide.

“It has to be,” says Ragas. “For In 2018, hoping to further expand example, since the wind from the sea his farm, Ragas availed of a loan, this blows from the time directly from west, if we put the Landbank, under livestock shed west the Agricultural of the house, the Competitiveness smell is going to Enhancement Fund go straight to our (ACEF).

ACEF living room. Evis a direct lenderything has to be ing program that thought out.” the state-run bank Ragas attendimplements with ed seminars and the Department of technical courses Agriculture to help related to farmincrease the producing to improve his tivity of farmers, knowledge and fishermen, and their skills. His one-year cooperatives and stint with the Fedassociations, as well eration of Agrarian as MSMEs, through Reform Communicredit assistance. ties further taught Agri-preneur Ruben Ragas In February this him basic knowlyear, he launched edge and skills on The Ragas Farm effective farming and efficient mar- where visitors are allowed to pick keting strategies. their choice of fruits and vegetables Equipped with farm resource and and buy them at significantly cheaper basic entrepreneurial experience, Ra- prices than retail market price. gas dared to further grow their famAside from working capital for ily’s livelihood. Through a P15,000 vegetable production, Landbank also loan from Landbank-assisted Baug provided Ragas with a term loan for CARP Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose the improvement of his farm which Cooperative (BCBMPC) in Ma- includes the building of a training hall gallanes, Agusan del Norte, he was and a drilled well for his farm irrigaable to buy seedlings and farm inputs. tion.

Over the next few years, he reThrough methodical farming and ceived a P50,000 loan from the coop financial support, The Ragas Farm is which helped him purchase another now a major producer of farm-fresh half hectare of land. He has also since vegetables. It is also fast becoming then diversified into raising tilapia a major agri-tourism site―attracting and various livestock. visitors from different municipalities Before venturing into diversified and serving as a venue for technology and organic farming, his family’s in- training for small farmers. come was so small. Ragas recalls how In addition to owning and operating they used to live in a wood and nipa a thriving farm, Ragas now serves as house with no concrete floor. His farm an educator and life coach conductalso used to be overrun with tall grass ing lessons and seminars for aspiring and the land was infertile. agri-entrepreneurs.

Entertainment

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

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nickie.standard@gmail.com

Going full throttle with latest ‘Fast & Furious’ installment

Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham play some nice stuff in ‘Fast and Furious’ spinoff.

THE first spin-off movie of the successful adrenaline-induced franchise, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw has just hit local theaters.

From the box office movie franchise that has amassed $5 billion worldwide, Fast & Furious adds yet another angle to the always-evolving storyline with Luke Hobbs (The Rock) and Deckard Shaw’s (Jason Statham) unlikely partnership.

Hobbs & Shaw promises to be more inclined to be an action-packed movie while staying true to the identity of Fast

and Furious with cool cars going on full speed. With car chases involving a sweet ride in the form of a McLaren 720s, gravity-defying stunts from 120 global stunt performers, fistfights and witty banter from The Rock’s Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Shaw, the movie revs up to be another Fast and Furious movie that’s going to be hard to miss out on.

The spin-off follows hulking lawman Luke Hobbs, a loyal agent of America’s Diplomatic Security Service, and lawless outcast Deckard Shaw, a former

British military elite operative who are forced to work together to take on cybergenetically enhanced anarchist, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba). Despite their longstanding rivalry since their first face-off in 2015’s Fast & Furious 7, these two sworn enemies will have to partner up to bring down the MI6 agent gone rogue.

Get the full movie experience of this high-octane film by watching it in SM Cinema’s IMAX theaters nationwide. Book your tickets through the website, www.smcinema.com or download the SM Cinema mobile app.

One serendipitous moment for Ricky Reyes The cast of the defunct musical comedy series, ‘Glee.’

Revisiting ‘Glee’ on Netflix toGlee? After all, THANKS to Netflix the local mass I am able to revisit media claim that, in “old” series that the world, Filipinos made quite a buzz are among if not the in their times, IVY ROSSINI best singers. Oh, I like Glee, which to remember, Charice my mind introduced Pempengco, before us to the millennial she became a “he” now as Jake Zyrus, kind of TV shows (at least in Hollywood).

The series first came to the screens made a guest appearance in one of the (in the US) on May 19, 2009 and lasted early episodes of the series. And she did through season 6 until its last episode on make quite an impression.

Also, networks sign up a number May 20, 2015. (So, if you think, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano needs to be retired, think of talents for their singing potentials. again. American series could last up to 10 The Glee format (or even the Zac Efronor more seasons, though we don’t watch Vanessa Hudgen starrer High School Musical should be a good platform to them five times a week.)

Back to Glee, the series is set in a explore the abilities of those that the fictional high school (William McKinley network signed up.

Again, rethinking the logistics of High School) in Lima, Ohio. It shows how a fledgling glee club rise tobecome national mounting similar shows, the local networks champion and produces alumni that shine may not have the right people to shape in the performing arts, on Broadway, a show that can be at par with Glee in recording and even coaching high-school terms of musical arrangements, vocal renditions, musical numbers staging, visual glee clubs.

The show also is LGBTQ+ friendly imagination, set decoration, costumes and with several of its characters playing make up, and so on.

Well, sorry folks, your local networks gay couple, the Fil-Am actor Darren Criss (Blaine) and Chris Colfer (Kurt), just want you to enjoy the series that they and lesbian couple Naya Rivera(Santana) produce. And those who have had it, after so and Heather Morris (Brittany Pierce). many years, discover a whole new world on It also speaks about the liberal attitude the worldwide web. *** towards sex among high school students Amazon Prime Video receives 47 resulting to unwanted pregnancy, as in Emmy Award Nominations the case of Quinn (Diana Agron) and Amazon Prime Video received 47 Emmy Puck (Mark Salling.) And towards the end of the last season, it features bashing Award nominations, more than doubling and bullying trannnies, like football coach its previous record of 23 and scored fourth Coach Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) and the among the most-nominated networks or streamers overall. student Unique Adams (Alex Newell).

Last year’s Emmy Award-winning The series lost two of its actors.

First, Cory Monteith, a Candadian actor comedy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, who played Finn, died on July 13, 2013 received 20 total Emmy nominations, caused by “mixed drug toxicity” according including Outstanding Comedy, Outstanding to Vancouver Police Department. Actress in a Comedy forRachel Brosnahan, Second, Mark Salling was found dead Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comdey from apparent suicide on Jan. 30, 2018, for Tony Shalhoub, two nominations three years after Glee’s last episode, near for Outstanding Supporting Actress in his home in LA, six hours after he was a Comedy for Marin Hinkle and Alex reported missing. He was convicted of Borstein,and two nominations for possession of child pornography, but he Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series.

The critically-acclaimed comedy Fleabag died before the sentencing date set of received 11 nominations overall, including March 2018.

So, why am I writing about an old Outstanding Comedy, Outstanding Actress show? As I was binge-watching it till in a Comedy for star and creator Phoebe the last season, I was thinking if I were Waller-Bridge, two nominations in the a network executive in this country, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a why couldn’t I produce a show similar Comedy category for Olivia Colman and Sian Clifford, and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.

“It is an exciting morning for Amazon Prime Video with 47 nominations, our most Emmy nominations ever. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Fleabag are just two fantastic examples of our slate of bold, character-driven, original programming made by the most creative talent in the industry. Today’s recognition by the Television Academy is a testament to the incredible work these teams of actors, creatives and crew are doing on all our shows every day,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios.

Other notable nominations include two nominations for A Very English Scandal, including Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series for Hugh Grant and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for Ben Whishaw; one nomination for King Lear for Outstanding TV Movie; and two Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nominations for Luke Kirby and Rufus Sewell and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Jane Lynch for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

The Amazon Prime app is available on all smart TV. Catch up on all the Emmy nominated Amazon Original series such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Fleabag with Globe At Home and Globe Postpaid.

Redeem your six-month Amazon Prime Video access on us! #GlobeAmazon glbe. co/AmazonPrimeVideo

COUCH POTATO

GOOD SAMARITANS. (From left) Macario Saw, Isabelita Peredez Mercado, Carol Sy, Edna Calexto, Hans Sy, Jeanette Cu, Tates Gana, and Sergio Yu

I

T HAPPENED one day when Hans Sy, a scion of SM magnate Henry Sy Sr., chanced upon an emotional and tearful Ricky Reyes on a TV news report as he was talking about the sad prospect of losing Childhaus, a temporary shelter for children with cancer which Ricky founded in 2004. They were told by the new management of PCSO to vacate their premises located inside the PCSO compound in Quezon City.

Soon after and during one of Ricky’s visits to the then ailing Henry Sy, Ricky was asked by Hans about what he saw on TV. Relating to Hans his predicament and the uncertainty of finding a replacement home for the sick children, Hans was then thinking of what to do to help.

A few months later, Hans invited Ricky to a house in Quezon City and handed over a bunch of keys to him as he quipped, “It’s all yours Mader, a permanent home for your children…this is your Childhaus.”

It was located at No. 90 Mapang-akit Street, Barangay Pinyahan in Quezon City, which Hans Sy purchased for ChildHaus out of his own pocket. From then on, ChildHaus has helped provide temporary shelter to countless of cancerstricken children coming from the provinces who have no place to stay in Manila.

Realizing the enormous requisites in providing for the sick children, Ricky tirelessly looked for means to sustain the day-to-day operation of the shelter and to provide for the continuous treatment of his wards at ChildHaus.

In the months that followed, Hans was witness to the health benefits that children

get from ChildHaus and he couldn’t be happier. But noting the difficulties of children who need to travel to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for their treatment, Hans surprised everyone and Ricky Reyes even more when he built a 7-story building just a block away from PGH. It was located at 1448 Agoncillo Street in Malate. Hans was also able to secure from Hi-Precision Diagnostic Center an allocation of 50 free laboratory and diagnostic testing every month for the children’s availment.

Kuya Hans, as the people of ChildHaus now fondly call him, took to the refurbishment of the first ChildHaus on Mapang-akit Street in Quezon City.

Strategically located near the Philippine Heart Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and the National Children’s Hospital, it can now provide shelter for children needing treatment at these hospitals.

The good deeds of Hans and Ricky created a ripple and inspired a lot of volunteer workers and donors who showed up at the shelter to lend a helping hand. The new ChidHaus in Quezon City is now even bigger and with more spaces

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Saturday, August 3, 2019

ACROSS 1 Social asset 5 Wedding-party member 10 Knight’s weapon 14 Deli salad 15 Rope end, maybe 16 Water, in Baja 17 Senor’s coin 18 Flowery scent 19 Collars 20 Ladder alternative 22 Menu listing 24 Period 25 Radio part 26 Divvied up 29 Implores 33 Dwelling 34 Oaf 36 Kind of steer?

37 URL suffix 38 Does pull-ups 39 Conquistador’s quest 40 Buckeye st. campus 41 Sentry’s command 42 Open, as oysters 44 Mariachi wear 47 Comfort 48 Dubuque’s state 49 Road map info

50 San Diego team 53 Correcting 58 Mountain range near China 59 More weird 61 Jeannie portrayer 62 Sheepfold 63 Beneath 64 Ibsen heroine 65 Wither 66 Mouth-watering 67 Sluggish DOWN 1 Cookbook amts.

2 Obi-Wan portrayer 3 Juan’s home 4 Theater coupons 5 Dump on the market 6 Earth 7 Grab on to 8 That senora 9 Vouchers 10 Capelike garment 11 Seaweed derivative 12 Third power 13 Move gingerly 21 Gratis 23 Rug texture

25 Intimidate 26 Frightens flies 27 Mustang or pinto 28 Be an omen of 30 Roughly 31 Staggering motion 32 Cure salmon 34 Capital of Tibet 35 Permian Basin output 38 Scolds harshly (2 wds.)

42 Disseminated 43 Tomboys

45 More open 46 “The Raven” author 47 Cooking wine 50 Felt boots 51 Lotion ingredient 52 Floppy contents 53 Mixes in 54 Comply with 55 Statue of a god 56 Agrippina’s son 57 What mice do 60 Forensic science tool

TV host and philanthropist Ricky Reyes (right) with the late Henry Sy, Sr.

conducive to the children’s well-being.

There is now an improved Lanai and Social Hall being adopted by businessman Sergio Yu; Manny Sy and Mariano “Jun” Gao adopted a separate dormitory for boys and girls. Jeannette Cu adopted the kitchen and dining area, while Leo Reingin took care of the entertainment area. Spouses Ramon and Annie Santos donated a mini playroom with rides and kiddie toys while Atty.

Ped Faytairen adopted the Play and Learn Room. There is also an Isolation Room adopted by the family of the late Dr. Erwin Estimo and a Chapel in honor of Felicidad Sy. The collective effort of these kindhearted individuals has invited a lot of good Samaritans who came to help ChildHaus in any way they can.

Businesswoman Eisa Mercado for instance, and many more donors have pledged and made it their duty to help the shelter in its financial needs.

Entertainment

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

C4

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2019

‘Idol Philippines’ winner takes all ZEPHANIE Dimaranan was named the first Search for the Idol Philippines grand winner as she impressed both the judges and the public with her crystal clear and powerful voice in the grand finals of the competition held over the weekend.

She received a total combined judges score and public text votes of 100 percent, beating her competitors Lucas Garcia (70.2 percent) and Lance Busa (41.89 percent).

The 16-year-old Zephanie took home a grand prize of P2 million, house and lot, trip for four to Taiwan, and a recording contract.

Last Saturday, the young singer from Laguna gave a show-stopping performance with her rendition of the OPM classic “Lipad ng Pangarap,” which helped her secure a slot in the top 3. Her momentum also kept going last Sunday as she belted another OPM gem, “Maghintay Ka Lamang” by Jonathan Manalo, and

an original song written especially for her victory titled, “Pangarap Kong Pangrap Mo.” Aside from the vocal battle of the Idol hopefuls, American Idol finalist and Filipino pride Jessica Sanchez graced the stage with her rendition of “And I Am Telling You.” Singing champions Jona, Elha Nympha, Janine Berdin, and KZ Tandingan also showcased their pipes as they sang along with the Idol hopefuls.

Meanwhile, more viewers tuned in to the two-night grand finals as the reality-singing competition scored a national TV rating of 31.4 percent last Saturday, compared to Starstruck (14.3 percent). It also led the weekend programming last Sunday with 34.2 percent versus its rival show (15.9 percent).

It was also a hit online as the show’s official hashtags ##IdolPHFinalShowdown at #IdolPHGrandWinner made it to the top trending topics worldwide.

VERY WANG NICKIE WANG

U

LTIMATE Star Jennylyn Mercado continues to be a loyal Kapuso as she renewed her exclusive contract with GMA Network, Inc. on July 26.

'The Lion King,' which is a remake of the 1994 animated film, features Donald Glover as Simba and Beyonce as Nala.

DISNEY’S The Lion King held on to its reign in North American theaters, taking in $75.5 million over the three-day weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said on Sunday.

The healthy haul for the Disney production brought its total to $350.8 million and put it on top of the box office for the second week in a row, capping a streak of successes for the studio after its Avengers: Endgame was last week named the highest-grossing movie of all time and now has global box office earnings of $2.7924 billion.

Jon Directed by Favreau, The Lion King is a remake of the 1994 animated film, employing hyper-realistic computer-generated images with a voice cast including Donald Glover as Simba and Beyonce as Nala, together with Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and James Earl Jones.

Despite rave reviews, director Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Hollywood, came in a distant second place with $40.4 million.

The ninth of the 10 movies Tarantino has said he will make before retiring, Once Upon a Time is set in Tinseltown in 1969 and features an ensemble cast typical of the director’s work, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Dakota Fanning, and Al Pacino, among the stars.

Spider-Man: Far from Home came in third in its fourth week with $12.2 million. Toy Story 4,, came in fourth, taking in $9.9 million in its sixth week in cinemas, which have brought it more than $395.6 million in total.

The fifth spot went to Paramount’s Crawl,, with $4 million in its third week. AFP

“GMA is like my family. I can feel their love and support. In the past 16 years that I’m with them, I have encountered numerous ups and downs, but they were still there at hindi nila ako pinabayaaan. They didn’t give up on me,” a teary-eyed Jennylyn told Manila Standard during a press conference held after her contract signing with the network.

The actress was also extremely grateful to everyone who has been supporting her for so many years. She said she couldn’t thank GMA bigwigs Atty. Felipe L. Gozon, Felipe S. Yalong, and Lilybeth G. Rasonable enough for their generous support.

“They are like my parents. Iba ‘yung yakap. Parang na-miss ko ‘yung nanay at tatay ko, ganoon ‘yung pakiramdam whenever they’re with me giving their support. They haven’t changed, the warmth has been like that since I was just starting out in showbiz.”

Jennylyn, who is a living paragon of StarStruck’s success, embodies what a true homegrown Kapuso is. The multitalented and award-winning actress shows no signs of stopping as she is also known to be a charming host, in-demand commercial model and entrepreneur, and an effective influencer up to this day.

From her lovable role as a teenage superhero in Super Twins, her bidakontrabida character as a woman with multiple personalities in Rhodora X, to her comical portrayal of Steffi in the Pinoy remake of My Love from the Star – Jennylyn has proven her versatility as an actress in the entertainment industry. At present, she plays the role of Raffy in the hit primetime series, Love You Two and is also the host of the seventh season of GMA’s original reality-based artista search, StarStruck.

Teen singer Zephanie Dimaranan emerged victorious besting other finalists in the first 'Search for the Idol Philippines' tilt.

Jennylyn Mercado renews exclusive contract with GMA Network

known for their Pugon Roasted Asado.

Talking about evolution, the TVC will tell an interesting narrative which will be divided into six vignettes. Epy shared that it will highlight the Lido legacy, which continues until the present time.

“I can only share so much but the TVC tells a heartwarming story of a family man who strives hard to prosper in life,” Epy said.

In an interview with Manila Standard, the actor who is currently playing the antagonist Zandro in Hiwaga ng Kambat, shared that he’s been into directing since 2004. In fact, he’s currently doing his first feature film.

“I was doing the corporate video for Petron from 2004 until last year. Since then, I became more interested in going behind the camera and directed a few TVCs,” Epy revealed adding that he intends to be flexible in everything he does by exploring different things outside acting.

Jennylyn Mercado affirms her being a loyal Kapuso by signing another exclusive contract with the network.

***

Epy Quizon ventures into filmmaking

Film direction has turned out to be the ultimate destination for actors looking to exercise their creativity, with several stars choosing to go behind the camera of late.

The latest actor to be bitten by the direction bug is Epy Quizon, who is currently working on a TVC for Lido Cocina Tsina, which the restaurant chain plans to release in September.

“We are honored to have Epy as the director of our very first TVC. He is very talented that he was able to put his own flavor to the concept. We’re giving him all the creative freedom because he’s the expert,” said Lido president Annie Wong.

According to the restaurant executive, the TVC will highlight the heritage of the restaurant which started operations in 1936.

“We were known as Panciteria Lido until we decided to really have our own identity and brand as the Lido Cocina Tsina that people know today,” added Wong who said that their restaurant is best

Epy Quizon, who is directing his first film, wants to explore other things outside acting.

Epy Quizon (center) with Lido Cocina Tsina president Annie Wong and marketing head Dave Antonio