Manila Standard - 2019 September 12 - Thursday

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Ex-Pangasinan governor hurt in ambush; 5 dead, Gordon says CONFLICTING reports surround the Wednesday afternoon ambush on former Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. and his escorts by still unidentified gunmen in San Carlos, a third class city in his home province.

By nightfall, the 71-year-old Espino, who was rushed to the Blessed Family hospital in San Carlos City, was declared out of danger, but reports on his bodyguards were at variance—some said two were slain but Senator Richard Gordon in his tweet said all five were dead.

Espino, previously erroneously in-

cluded in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug matrix of those allegedly linked to the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison, was at the time Pangasinan’s representative from the 5th district.

But Duterte eventually issued a public apology to Espino for the error, saying he was “negligent in counterchecking” the drug matrix he had released publicly.

According to police reports reaching Manila, Espino was aboard his vehicle passing through Barangay Magtaking in San Carlos City, when he was shot by an unidentified suspect.

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VOL. XXXIII • NO. 210 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

OUT OF DANGER. Amado Espino Jr., (inset) a former congressman who also served as governor of Pangasinan, has been declared out of danger after an attempt on his life Wednesday afternoon. Police said Espino, rushed to the intensive care unit of Blessed Family Hospital in San Carlos City, was already out of danger—initial reports said at least two of his bodyguards were killed but Senator Richard Gordon in his tweet said five died.

China dangles 60% oil share In return for PH to cast aside arbitral ruling

Cancer cases linger over 9/11

By Catherine Triomphe JACQUELIN Febrillet was 26 years old on Sept. 11, 2001 when jihadist hijackers flew two passenger jets into the World Trade Center just two blocks from where she worked.

Fifteen years after the attacks that day, Febrillet, by then a mother of three, was diagnosed with metastatic

cancer. The likely cause: a cloud of toxic ash that engulfed her.

“I was there [on] 9/11... For years I have been working down there every day since 9/11. We were never told that something could happen,” she says.

Unlike Febrillet, Richard Fahrer, then 19, wasn’t in the area on 9/11, but he regularly worked as a land surveyor

By MJ Blancaflor and Rey E. Requejo

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Chinese leader Xi Jinping offered Manila a 60 percent share of proceeds from joint oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea if the government sets aside the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated Beijing’s expansive claim to the disputed waters.

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THE WORLD REMEMBERS. Families are gathering at ground zero in New York, initially in silence, where nearly 3,000 people died on that bright September morning 18 years ago, with sepulchral bells tolling in mourning and names being recited, when terrorists commandeered airplanes and slammed them at the World Trade Center in a whiteout of toxic dust and flaming debris followed by a plane crash in Shanksville, Pa. AFP

Drop BuCor probe, DFA chief bars UN probers entry into Manila Palace tells PACC By Rey E. Requejo

By MJ Blancaflo, Rio N. Araja, Macon RamosAraneta and Rey E. Requejo MALACAÑANG on Wednesday asked the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission to keep its hands off the probe on the Bureau of Corrections over the release of convicts under the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law. This came after Ombudsman Samuel Martires asked the PACC to stop its investigation to avoid any conflicting findings.

“It should desist from pursuing the investigation because the Ombudsman has taken over it,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told CNN Philippines in an interview.

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THE Philippines will not allow visits by the United Nations to investigate its war on drugs, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Wednesday, calling the human rights experts “bastards” who have shown their bias.

“I already said those bastards, espe-

BLASTING him for being a “crusader but ignorant” and allegedly driven by his desire to run for president, Senator Panfilo Lacson yesterday lashed back at President Rodrigo Duterte and asked him “who’s ignorant?”

have been saying, but have not proved, is true ‘because we saw it’. How? Are they going to exhume every body?” Locsin said. “No. I’m not going to give them that chance.”

Locsin said the Iceland resolution seeking an inquiry into the human rights situation in the Philippines was nothing but a “dead resolution.”

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Palace hems and haws on SOGIE

By MJ Blancaflor PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday night said he will certify as urgent the bill prohibiting gender-based discrimination only for his spokesman to withdraw the commitment on Wednesday.

Duterte replied in the affirmative when he was asked by reporters if he

‘Ignorant’ ignites Rody-Ping word war

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

cially that woman, are acting like the queen in Alice in Wonderland. First, the judgement, then the trial,” Locsin said, clearly referring to Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

“No—I don’t want them coming here and then saying that everything they

“Set aside the arbitral ruling. Set aside your claim,” Duterte said Tuesday night, quoting Xi. “Then allow everybody connected with the Chinese companies. They want to explore. If there is something, they said, we will be gracious enough to give you 60 percent, only 40 percent will be theirs. That is the promise of Xi Jinping,” Duterte said.

Duterte met with Xi two weeks ago while on a five-day visit to China, saying he would invoke the country’s arbitral victory that spelled out the Philippines’ marine entitlements in the South China Sea and junked Beijing’s historic claims.

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Before hurling this question to the President, Lacson cited some of the statements of President Duterte that he firmly believed would amount to corruption.

“Some of them were the following― “Duterte’’ OK with cops accepting ‘gifts’ out of gratitude, earning extra Next page cash from video-karera.

will certify as urgent the controversial Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill.

“Whatever would make the mechanisms of [SOGIE]... whatever would make them [LGBTQ+] happy,” the President said.

But Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo clarified that Duterte was Turn to A3

Customs no place for brokers—Du30

By MJ Blancaflor

SCIENTISTS on Tuesday unveiled a new species pterosaur, the planesized reptiles that lorded over primeval skies above T-rex, Triceratops and other dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has proposed eliminating brokers and examiners from the Bureau of Customs to curb the rampant corruption in the agency.

“I want no brokers, Duterte told reporters Tuesday night.

“If there are brokers, there is corruption.

Now, tell the Filipinos, if they really want to get rid of corruption, let’s remove them.

No examiner in Customs, no brokers.”

But a group of customs brokers on Wednesday opposed his plan, saying the move would be detrimental both to the customs profession and the government.

And an official of the Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. said removing

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Largest flying animal of all time uncovered

DEAD HOGS. Police and Quarantine Division personnel from Quezon City join hands in trying to determine the cause of death of the pigs thrown down at a creek by still unidentified residents from nearby barangays after the Quezon City government ordered backyard hog raisers to stop operation due to suspected African Swine Flu virus.

Manny Palmero

3 dead pigs dumped in QC; ASF eyed

By Rio N. Araja AGRICULTURE Secretary William Dar on Wednesday raised concern that the pigs affected by the African swine fever from a backyard farm in Bulacan could have been brought to some other areas.

He made the statement even as an official said at least three pigs had been found dumped in a creek in Bagong Si-

langan village, Quezon City.

Supt. Joel Villanueva, Quezon City Police District station 5 commander, said a 51-year-old resident reported the presence of three dead pigs at the creek around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday “I suppose these pigs have been dead for about three days. They were already decomposing when found,” he told the Manila Standard.

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Duterte drops request for extra powers

By MJ Blancaflor, Joel Zurbano, and Macon Ramos-Araneta RANGED against time, President Rodrigo Duterte, for whom a subaltern has sought emergency powers before the Senate, has acknowledged incapacity to solve the daily nightmarish traffic while still in office up to 2022.

His bold remarks came after Agence France-Presse reported, short of disclosing figures, that some patients die en route to hospitals because of traffic jams in the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila.

“One senator said the issue can be discussed. I said, ‘What for?’ I cannot complete the project. I cannot clear EDSA with the remaining years of my term,” Duterte said.

Duterte, along with Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, had long called for emergency powers to address traffic congestion particularly in EDSA, Metro Manila’s major thoroughfare.

But emergency powers requires Congress approval and Senator Grace Poe, who heads the Senate committee on public services, has blocked the request of the President.

In related developments: • Senator Grace Poe defended herself from the punches thrown by Duterte over her refusal to grant emergency powers to address the “hellish traffic” at the main highway of the metropolis, saying she should not be blamed if “EDSA will rot.”

“Am I the traffic czar? Am I the Metro Manila Development Authority?” asked Poe, chairman of the Senate public service committee hearing the request of the President that he be granted emergency powers to ease traffic gridlock.

LPA brewing into ‘Marilyn’

By Rio N. Araja A TROPICAL depression is threatening to enter the country today o Friday morning.

The state weather bureau said once it enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility, the tropical depression would be named “Marilyn.”

The tropical depression slightly intensified while moving in an eastnortheastward direction, packing maximum sustained winds of 55 kms per hour near the center and gustiness up to 70 kph.

Its center was estimated at 1,495 kilometers east of the Visayas.

‘Ignorant’...

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Then Lacson asked, ‘‘Is this not graft Mr. President? Pray tell, who is ignorant?’’

Lacson earlier slammed Duterte for telling policemen they could accept gifts.

In his Twitter Account, Lacson posted: ‘‘Mr. President, insatiable greed starts with simple, petty graft. It could be more addictive than drugs. There is no detox, nor is there a rehab facility.’’

The senator was reacting to Duterte’s speech during the PNP’s 118th Service anniversary where the President said he would not stop policemen from accepting gifts.

According to Lacson, the President was exaggerating when he said he had the penchant to comment on every issue.

“Aside from from my Twitter posts, I only comment on issues when asked, and not even all the time, Lacson said.

“I play ‘dedma’ when I am not familiar with the issue.”

Although he was not a lawyer, Lacson said, he knew how to read and understand the law.

He also told the President, who was a prosecutor for more than 20 years, he would ask his lawyer-staff when he could not understand the law.

While the President said he was fighting corruption, the former Philippine National Police chief said he was also crusading to expose corruption in the government.

If we are not complementing each other in this regard, there must be a problem somewhere, Lacson said.

He also rejected the claims by Duterte that he was eying the Presidency. He ran for president in 2004 but lost to former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in an election marred by allegations of electoral fraud.

Duterte said he surmised that Lacson was running for President but warned him to be more circumspect.

His daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio, is reportedly being eyed by some political observers as the strongest force to reckon with in the coming 2020 elections.

News

Emergency aid to farmers sought

By Maricel V. Cruz

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OINING the growing call for aid for farmers affected by the Rice Tariffication Law, opposition lawmakers on Wednesday filed a joint resolution authorizing the use of the unappropriated Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and tariffs collected under the law as direct emergency cash assistance.

“We have to immediately switch gears now that it is evident that the RCEF, as it is, is not enough to cushion the effects of the Rice Tariffication Law,” one of the members of the House minority bloc, Rep. Stella Quimbo of Marikina City, said.

“What our farmers need is immediate cash assistance, not loans that will only add

to the burden of the small holder farmers.”

Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the National Food Authority will buy unmilled rice from local farmers at a higher price.

Dar said the government will buy palay with 14 percent moisture content at P19 per kilo against the farmgate price of P17.62 per

China...

sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory, which includes our EEZ and the West Philippine Sea.” The former foreign chief reminded the President that to come up with an economic activity in our EEZ need not involve setting aside the Arbitral Ruling and running afoul of the Constitution. ‘‘We would like to respectfully emphasize that the President has a choice not to set aside the Arbitral Ruling to come up with an economic activity in our EEZ. If a service contract arrangement is followed, where a Chinese company participates either as an equity holder or a subcontractor, the President would remain faithful to the Constitution and the Arbitral Ruling,” del Rosario said.

In this way, the President will also not turn back on his promise to the Filipino people made during his October 16, 2016 departure speech, as he embarked on State visits to Brunei Darussalam and China, that he cannot be the sole authorized agent to share with the Chinese, our EEZ which belongs exclusively to the Filipino people.

In the wake of the President’s remarks, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. assured the public that the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration will not be set aside.

Locsin said the memorandum on the joint exploration “makes it unnecessary to set aside the ruling of the arbitral tribunal.”

The terms of reference for the possible joint exploration is very clear in that “no legal position of either side is compromised” when they enter into the agreement, Locsin said.

“It cannot be set aside. What the arbitral award did is that it put the award beyond the reach of compromise. In other words, I don’t care if the Filipino people want to set it aside. No, it is theirs,” Locsin said in an interview with the ANC news channel.

The country’s top diplomat also said that the arbitral ruling is final and binding.

At the same time, he said the joint exploration agreement would cover only “three or four areas” with service contracts and not those areas proposed

by China, which he added is well within Philippine territory.

“If the area chosen is a disputed area, but there is no service contract, then it’s still the same, the memorandum of agreement prevails,” Locsin said.

Manila earlier offered an area in

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But Xi maintained his position that China will not recognize the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Malacañang said.

Last week, Duterte said he was not satisfied with Xi’s response but opted not to insist on the matter since the Chinese leader was under stress due to the political unrest in Hong Kong, an administrative region of China.

“Both leaders agreed that while their variant positions will have to remain, their differences however need not derail nor diminish the amity between the two countries,” Malacañang said.

During his visit, Duterte also raised the possibility of a joint oil exploration agreement between the two countries.

Asked if the country’s exclusive economic zone will be included in the joint oil venture, Duterte said: “The exclusive economic zone is part of the arbirtal ruling which we will ignore for joint activity.”

The Hague-based court ruled in 2016 that the Philippines had legal rights to exploit gas deposits that China also claims in the Reed Bank, about 85 miles off the Philippine coast.

This comes at a time when the country’s gas resources in the Malampaya fields are set to run out by 2024.

Duterte again criticized former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario for being responsible for the loss of the country’s possession of the Panatag Shoal in 2012, which is now under Chinese control.

“What do you want, Del Rosario? You were the one who retreated. You are the foolest (sic) Filipino I’ve met,” he said.

Reacting to the President’s remark, Del Rosario said the Arbitral Ruling is already part of international law which clarified the extent of Philippine sovereign rights protected under the Constitution. In particular, the Arbitral Ruling clarified the extent of our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) protected under the Constitution.

The Constitution, which the President has sworn to preserve and defend, mandates that the use and enjoyment of our EEZ is “reserved” exclusively to Filipino citizens, he said. “Moreover, the Constitution expressly mandates the President and our military” to secure the

kilo in the second week of August.

He said this year’s tariffs on further rice importation could be raised to help rice farmers cope with the drop in the prices of palay.

Saying the “current rice market anomalies were all about geographical monopolies and economic sabotage to farmers and to consumers, a legislator from the Bicol region is seeking legal redress against abusive rice traders.

In an aide memoir couched in technocratic language that he sent to President Rodrigo Duterte, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said: “Rice liberalization, while curing certain inefficiencies in the rice trade sector, most notably the shortfall between supply and demand, has not addressed chronic inequities in the bargaining power

the Recto Bank or Reed Bank for exploration, a move China is contesting.

The arbitral ruling has recognized Reed Bank as part of the Philippines’ continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

But the exploration in the area has been put on hold since 2012 after then President Benigno Aquino issued an order freezing all exploration activities in disputed areas.

Locsin also said under the memorandum of understanding signed last year, a steering committee led by the respective foreign ministers of each country, with the energy ministers serving as vice chairs would be formed.

Beijing earlier identified China National Offshore Oil Corp. as their company for each working group, while Manila has designated the Philippine National Oil Corp.

Locsin said the steering committee would be “responsible for negotiating and agreeing on the cooperation agreements already between real parties.”

A militant legislator on Wednesday denounced President Duterte’s statement that he is amenable to China’s demand for the Philippines to ignore its legal victory in the South China Sea to push through with the joint oil and gas exploration deal in the disputed waters.

“This amounts to betraying Philippine sovereignty in exchange for another onerous deal just like what happened with the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) under the Arroyo administration in 2005 which allowed China to find sources of oil in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in exchange for onerous loans and projects” Deputy Minority Leader and Rep. Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna said in a statement.

The group said any joint exploration with China therefore is unconstitutional as Article XII Sec. 2 of the Philippine Constitution requires that the Philippines fully control any exploration or utilization of its natural resources.

“A joint exploration with China does not grant the Philippines full control since it is a joint undertaking. Any joint exploration with China therefore is unconstitutional. In fact China could very well demand more than 50 percent control of the exploration. China has violated our territorial sovereignty in the WPS. We cannot allow it to trample our Constitution,” the group said.

Ex-Pangasinan...

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DFA...

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Customs...

The reports said Espino was on board a black Land Cruiser with two backup Innovas, the convoy traversing San Carlos City road when fired upon at around 4:30 p.m.

Espino served in the military for over 30 years under then President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon his retirement, he ran and won the governorship in Pangasinan serving for three terms.

The names of his escorts have not been released, and some reports said they were all dead.

Espino Jr., born on June 20, 1948 in Bautista, Pangasinan, earned the degree of Bachelor of Science at the Philippine Military Academy in 1972 and obtained a degree in Masters in Development Management in 1995 at the Pangasinan State University.

Being a graduate of PMA, he was placed in different police ranks, starting out as an intelligence and operations officer in Quirino Constabulary Command; then, as Company Commander both in the Philippine Constabulary of La Union and Pangasinan.

Espino was the first former military and police officer in modern times to become governor of Pangasinan.

Espino vowed to restore peace and order in Pangasinan following unsolved political killings of San Carlos City Mayor Julian Resuello and San Manuel Vice Mayor Bonie Apilado.

In the campaign, Espino vowed to also put an end to cattle rustling which is rampant in some towns of central Pangasinan, particularly in San Carlos City. Francisco Tuyay

“It’s a nothing resolution, because at the end of the road it failed… It did not pass.

The majority was abstention and no, so it was a dead resolution,” Locsin said in a television interview.

Locsin noted that only 18 of the 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council voted in favor of the draft resolution filed by Iceland in July, but 14 of them voted no and 15 other states abstained.

“The ‘yes’ votes did win over the ‘no,’ but if you add the abstentions, it was not carried, and under some parliamentary rules, that does not carry. The point is they cannot do anything about it,” he said.

Locsin said the Philippines will remain a member of the UNHRC and will continue to debate on issues, even those not concerning the country.

“There are political debates ongoing with other countries, who are our allies and who we feel are wrongly accused of human rights violations, and we will still be there voting for them against their accusers or in favor of their accusers against them if they are really in the wrong,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, Locsin said the Philippines and China would like to complete the draft of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea within President Duterte’s term.

“They’re [China] hoping we finish the first text in three years, 2021, I think,” Locsin said in an interview with ABSCBN News.

Locsin recalled that President Rodrigo Duterte brought up the matter to Xi during the Chinese leader’s visit in Manila in November last year.

brokers at the bureau would only cause confusion and disorder, adding ‘‘how can an ordinary person correctly assess and compute the right tax on imports as accurately as a trained licensed customs broker?’’

Meanwhile, a Customs examiner assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has been relieved for his alleged involvement in the extortion of a Korean national last week.

Lawyer Lourdes Mangaoang, NAIA Customs deputy collector for Passenger Service, said Customs Operations Officer 3 Carmelito Mantal was the subject of a complaint filed by Korean passenger Lee Sungchui who arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3 on board Cebu Pacific Air flight 5J-5057 from Japan on Sept. 1.

Duterte said eliminating brokers from the Customs system would ‘‘cut corruption overnight.’’

Asked if he needed a law to remove brokers from the bureau, Duterte said this was unnecessary.

“I am the executive of this government.

There are things which I have to do that Congress cannot tinker with. Those are one of them because that is to save the country from perdition, he said.

But Duterte later said this was just a proposal as he urged Customs not to transact with people who deal with brokers.

“You ignore the brokers. You go to a broker, I will not deal with you, the President said.

He recently fired 64 Customs employees over allegations of corruption and asked them to report in Malacañang.

With Vito Barcelo and Joel E. Zurbano

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between rice farmers and rice traders.”

At the Sept. 3 Senate hearing, it was revealed that P4 billion was still left of the RCEF available for release and P9.19 billion had been collected by the Bureau of Customs as tariff revenues from rice importation.

“We see no reason why we can’t use this P13 billion to immediately give aid to our farmers who need it the most. There is no point to earning from imports if our people won’t benefit from it, especially the most affected, said Quimbo.

As rice farmers complained of the low selling price of palay, Quimbo, a former official of the Philippine Competition Commission, called on the PCC to probe rice millers and traders for possible violation of the Philippine Competition Act by abusing farmers through “unfair” and “severe” reduction of palay prices.

With Rio N. Araja

Marcos blasts Robredo use of ‘Caguioa‘

By Rey E. Requejo FORMER Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday denounced the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo for claiming victory following news that Supreme Court Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa had submitted a report to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal purportedly upholding her proclamation as the duly elected vice president in the 2016 elections.

“We are appalled by the brazenness of Mrs. Robredo in claiming victory in my still ongoing election protest just as the tribunal announced that no action has been taken by the court on the Caguioa report,” Marcos said, in a statement.

“Clearly, there has been a concerted effort to intimidate and coerce the Tribunal with their underhanded mind conditioning tactics,” Marcos added.

The former senator made the statement after Caguioa, the ponente or justice-incharge of the case, submitted a report on the results of its revision or recount of votes in three pilot provinces to the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

The recount covers 5,415 precincts in three pilot provinces chosen by Marcos being the one who filed the protest: Iloilo, Negros Oriental, and Camarines Sur—all bailiwicks of Robredo.

Drop...

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He said the Chief Executive does not have to direct the PACC, which is under the Office of the President, to stop its probe.

“I think PACC knows it. When the Ombudsman takes over, all agencies will have to defer to the Ombudsman, because that is the constitutional body precisely tasked to investigate [wrongdoing in government],” Panelo said.

The Ombudsman said it would look into possible corruption in the application of the GCTA Law after a public furor over the near release of convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez.

The Senate is also conducting hearings on the supposed release on good behavior of prisoners convicted of heinous crimes.

Data from the BuCor showed that 1,914 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes have been granted early release since 2014, a year after the amendment of the GCTA law.

President Rodrigo Duterte gave them 15 days to turn themselves in or else they will be treated as “fugitives.

It was recently revealed in the Senate that influential convicts can feign illness and cough as much as P2 million to temporarily evade prison life in the New Bilibid Prison Hospital.

A witness also recently surfaced in to testify that GCTA “for sale scheme” exists in the national penitentiary.

Former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II said the Ombudsman should not blame him over the release of these prisoners.

“The amendment of RA 10595 provides for credit points on outstanding or exemplary actions. Recidivists or heinous crime convicts have nothing to do with it,” he said in an interview on the ANC news channel.

“The law is only that simple. Its implementing rules and regulations are anchored on the law. No more no less. Why target us [who drafted the IRRs]? Why not target those [Bureau of Corrections] officials who have approved the release of those criminals? Why not blame them who have not followed their operations manual? Where are the minutes of the proceedings when they approved the release of those criminals?” he asked.

News SC upholds conviction of Sabio for graft THE Supreme Court has paved the way for the conviction of former Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Camilo Sabio after it denied the appeal of the PCGG official seeking a reversal of the Sandiganbayan decision finding him guilty of graft, in connection with the lease of 11 motor vehicles without the necessary competitive bidding.

In a 10-page decision, the SC’s Third Division through Associate Justice Diosdado M. Peralta dismissed the petition of Sabio who questioned his conviction by the anti-graft court for violations of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and instead affirmed the decision and resolution of the Sandiganbayan, dated June 22, 2017 and Aug. 25, 2017, respectively, convicting him of graft.

The graft case against Sabio stemmed from the lease of 11 motor vehicles entered into by the PCGG with the United Coconut Planters Bank Leasing and Finance Corp. in 2007-2009, without the required competitive bidding.

In denying the appeal of Sabio, the SC ruled that the former PCGG chairman could not invoke immunity from suit for being an alter ego of the President.

“Sabio cannot claim immunity from suit for being an alter ego of the President. It was the PCGG, through Sabio and his Commissioners, not the President, who entered into the subject lease agreements without the requisite public bidding,” the high court stressed.

“It will be ridiculous to hold that alter egos of the President are, likewise, immune from suit simply because their acts are considered acts of the President if not repudiated,” the SC said.

“In fact, the 1987 Constitution is replete with provisions on the constitutional principles of accountability and good governance that should guide a public servant.”

The SC held that the unlawful acts of public officials “are not acts of the State and the officer who acts illegally is not acting as such but stands in the same footing as any other trespasser.”

Besides, the SC noted that R.A. No 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, explicitly provides that all government procurement shall be done through competitive bidding, except as provided for in Article 16 the same law.

“The PCGG, being a government office or agency, is covered by R.A. No. 9184. This means that before entering the lease of the 11 vehicles, the PCGG should have conducted a competitive bidding first,” the tribunal emphasized.

The SC also ruled that there was bad faith on Sabio’s part in entering into the said lease agreements without “undertaking the required procurement process; and subjecting government funds to unnecessary expenditure without pre-allocation and the necessity for the same.”

Besides, the SC noted that Sabio was also a member of the board of United Coconut Planters Bank, the parent company of UCPB Leasing, when the lease agreements were entered into; thus giving unwarranted benefit and advantage in favor of UCPB Leasing.

Rey E. Requejo

PEZA’s Plaza: I don’t feel alluded to

By Othel V. Campos PHILIPPINE Economic Zone Authority director general Charito Plaza, on Wednesday, had no misgivings to a blind announcement of the President to sack a senior female member of the government for failing to align the agency’s directions to that of the national government’s.

“I don’t feel alluded to by the statement.

I’m just doing my job and responsibility to protect the interest of our investors who are in contract with us and to protect the interest of Filipino people,” she said in a briefing Wednesday at the PEZA headquarters in Taguig City.

“If ever I expressed our opinion on the CITIRA (bill), it was because it is my duty and my moral responsibility to speak up. It is our program, our incentives, our clients and this bill has affected exporters who are clients of PEZA. We have the biggest number of industries in our ecozones and the effect of the bill to our clients will be tremendous,” she said.

PEZA has been doing the rounds in informing the public of the worse-case scenario investors are bound to face once the Corporate Income Tax and Incentive Rationalization Act (CITIRA) Bill is passed into law.

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Supreme Court denies Ampatuan’s bail plea

By Rey E. Requejo

T

HE Supreme Court has junked the appeal of former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan to be released on bail and instead sustained the ruling of Quezon City Regional Trial Court denying his plea for temporary liberty.

In a six-page resolution, the SC’s First Division upheld the Sept. 15, 2015 Joint Order of the Quezon City RTC, Branch 221 denying Ampatuan’s bail petition and the Court of Appeals’ decision dated April 18, 2018 dismissing Ampatuan’s petition for lack of merit.

“After a perusal of the records of the case, this Court resolves to deny the petition for failure of the petitioner to sufficiently show any reversible error in the assailed decision and resolution of the CA,” the SC ruled.

“The Court denies the petition for lack of merit.”

On Sept. 15, 2015, the QCRTC Branch 221 denied Ampatuan’s bail petition after finding that there is strong evidence on record that in the purported gatherings, petitioner joined the various discussions regarding the alleged plan to commit

crimes by his presence thereat, and by his constant suggestion to make their plans effective.

The RTC sided with the government prosecutors opposing his bail petition by presenting around 300 pieces of exhibits and testimonies.

The evidence include sworn statements of various witnesses including then Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, former Ampatuan vice mayor Rasul Sangki, accused-turned-state witnesses Sukarno Badal and Esmael Canapia, and eyewitnesses Noh Akil, Lakmodin Saliao, and Esmail Amil Enog.

Other evidence include medico-legal reports, autopsy pictures, anatomical sketches of the cadavers done based on the description of the witnesses records from telecommunications companies.

This prompted Ampatuan to elevate his

case before the Court of Appeals, which also dismissed his appeal for lack of merit.

In affirming the ruling of the RTC, the appellate court held that the alleged absence of any conspiracy relative to the Maguindanao massacre was evidentiary in nature.

The CA declared that the lower court’s decision denying his bail bid “was not unreasonable but, on the contrary, was the result of a thorough assessment of the evidence presented before the trial court. By making a preliminary appraisal of the merits of the case, public respondent did not exercise her discretion in a careless manner.”

Feeling aggrieved, Ampatuan filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.

In ruling against Ampatuan, the SC stressed that the former ARMM governor failed to show any reversible error on the part of the Court of Appeals.

According to the high court, if they will take into consideration the evidence presented by Ampatuan and rule on its admissibility and probative value, they would have prematurely ruled on the case.

“By deciding for or against his bail application on the basis of factual issues raised by petitioner, the Court will be prematurely deciding the case beyond the parameters of judicial review at this stage of the proceedings and pre-empt the parties from presenting their respective evidence during trial,” the SC emphasized.

DIGITAL INFRA. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, Electronics, and Information Systems, Maj. Gen. Adrian Sanchez sign an agreement with Mislatel or DITO Telecommunity headed by Chief Operating Officer Dennis Uy and Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano allowing the third Telco firm’s digital infrastructure inside military camps and installations.

Palace...

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referring to an anti-discrimination measure for a “broader audience” similar to the ordinance in Davao City that was passed when he was mayor.

“Actually what he meant was an antidiscrimination law or bill, not the SOGIE bill.

Not that one,” Panelo told CNN Philippines in

Cancer...

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between 2001 and 2003 in south Manhattan, where the Twin Towers came crashing down.

Eighteen months ago, the young father, now 37, was diagnosed with aggressive colon cancer—a disease that usually affects older men and which there is no history of in his family.

Febrillet and Fahrer represent a growing category of patient who were living or working close to the World Trade Center in the wake of the attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people.

They were not among the thousands of emergency personnel who rushed to the site or who spent months clearing debris at Ground Zero, but their health is being similarly affected.

As the 18th anniversary of the attacks approaches, New York continues to count the number of people who have developed cancer or other serious illnesses related to the toxic cloud that hovered over Manhattan for several weeks.

‘People are dying’ The 9/11 attacks released unprecedented amounts of chemicals into the air, including dioxins, asbestos and other carcinogenic substances.

Firefighters, other first responders and volunteers who helped with the monthslong cleanup were the first to be affected.

an interview Wednesday morning.

“The anti-discrimination law in Davao, it refers to all. You cannot discriminate on handicapped, special children, the third gender—everyone,” he added.

Gretchen Diez, a transgender woman, was recently barred from using a women’s toilet at a mall in Cubao, Quezon City. She tried to document the incident on her phone, prompting the janitor to have her arrested.

The incident sparked calls for the

passage of SOGIE Equality bill, which has been in the legislative mills for the past three years, that seeks to prohibit gender-based discrimination.

If passed, denial of access to establishments, facilities, services and utilities on the basis of sexual orientation will be prohibited.

Diez previously met with Duterte, who has vowed to work with the Congress for the swift passage of the SOGIE Equality bill.

Studies found they faced an increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Ten thousand of them have been diagnosed with cancer by the World Trade Center Health Program, a federal treatment program helping survivors.

At the end of June this year, 21,000 people not considered first responders were also in the program—twice as many as in June 2016. Of these, almost 4,000 have cancer, the most common being prostate, breast and skin.

Febrillet, now 44, is one of them. She recalls that the message at the time was to get the city back to normal as quickly as possible.

“People were just going about their business a few days later. But look at what happened a few years later, people are dying,” says Febrillet, who also lived close to Ground Zero.

Fahrer, too, laments that city officials did not do more to protect residents and office staff in the vicinity.

“My wife asks me, ‘Did terrorists cause your cancer?’ I can’t say 100 percent, but I do know there could have been better efforts to limit the exposure of healthy adults from entering into the disaster area,” he says.

Compensation fund Health experts say it is impossible to pinpoint exactly the cause of cancer in every patient, but note that there is a clear correlation between the rate and exposure to toxic debris.

Several studies have shown that the cancer rate “has increased between 10 and 30 percent” among people who were exposed compared to those who weren’t, David Prezant, New York fire department chief medical officer, told AFP. The rate is expected to increase further, he said, as exposed people get older. The risk of cancer increases with age and some cancers, including lung, can take 20 to 30 years to develop, Prezant added.

It is because of this that President Donald Trump signed a bill in July that extends a deadline for victims to file claims for compensation from December 2020 to 2090.

The Victim Compensation Fund will be regularly topped up after exhausting its initial budget of $7.3 billion. The average compensation per patient is $240,000, or $682,000 for a deceased person.

Lawyer Matthew Baione, who represents Fahrer and Febrillet in their pursuit of claims, said the extension recognized that it was appropriate to cover someone “who was a baby during the attacks for the rest of their life.”

“We have lost so many people, so many friends are sick,” says Febrillet.

“You get to a point where you are not asking, ‘Have you seen so and so, I wonder how she is doing, is she retired?’

“Instead you are asking, ‘So how is the surgery, how is the treatment going?’

We are so young, this shouldn’t be happening.” AFP

3 dead pigs...

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In ANC’s Early Edition news, Dar said the Department of Agriculture was monitoring the areas where the hogs from Guiguinto could have been taken.

“We are mapping out where these pigs have been redistributed or transported again from Guiguinto, Bulacan,” he said.

“That’s where we are monitoring, where there would be abnormal deaths of pigs in these areas.”

Dar said commercial pig farms had not been spared from the agency’s monitoring.

Last Monday, He spearheaded a boodle fight to show that pork was safe for human consumption.

He confirmed that the ASF cases in the country had already been contained by the government.

Laboratory tests from the United Kingdom showed that 14 of the 20 samples taken from the backyard pig farms in Guiguinto and two municipalities in Rizal had tested positive for ASF. He said pork was safe to eat provided it bore the seal of the National Meat Inspection Commission.

Madrigal allays fears of electronic espionage

By Francisco Tuyay ARMED Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal on Wednesday allayed the fears of electronic espionage in its internal and external security platform with the impending installation of electronic communications facilities by the third telecommunication firm Mislatel or Dito Telecommunity inside military camps.

Madrigal, with Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, Electronics, and Information Systems, signed an agreement with Mislatel through its chief operating officer Dennis Uy and lawyer Adel Tamano, chief administrative officer, which allows the third Telco to put up its facilities inside military camps.

“We exercise security on all aspects to ensure security on our communications,” Madrigal said.

Currently, Telco’s Globe Telecom and Smart Communications also have existing facilities in several military sites.

The Mislatel consortium, which will adopt the name Dito Telecommunity, is composed of Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Udenna Corp, and China Telecom.

It was given the status of New Major Player in the telecommunications industry by the National Telecommunications Commission on Nov. 19 last year.

Based on the agreement, the AFP will determine specific locations with its rental value for use of Mislatel in the installation and management of its communications sites without undermining the operations of affected AFP units.

Under the agreement, Mislatel will be required to “furnish all equipment, labor, and materials necessary to effect the co-location of its facilities and shoulder all expenses in connection with or incidental to the co-location” and payment of all taxes, permits, licenses, and other charges.

Payment will be made by providing CEIS equipment, upgrade, services, and training to the AFP equivalent to the monetary value of the lease subject to inflation.

“Our MOA with other telcos significantly improved the ICT infrastructure of the AFP and we are optimistic that this opportunity will also bring great benefits to the armed forces,” Madrigal added.

Dito’s CEO Dennis Uy, for his part, said it “guarantees that the devices, equipment, and/or structures installed at the site provided by the AFP shall not be used to obtained classified information” as a measure to prevent electronic espionage.

“We at Dito Telecommunity are truly grateful to the AFP for this partnership.

The roll-out of Dito’s towers is indeed one herculean feat. With this partnership with the AFP, we are nearer our goal of building a wide and robust network,” said Uy.

Largest...

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With a wingspan of ten meters and weighing 250 kilos, Cryodrakon boreas rivals another pterosaur as the largest flying animal of all time, researchers reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

“This is a cool discovery,” said David Hone, lead author of the study and a researcher at Queen Mary University in London.

“It is great that we can identify Cryodrakon as being distinct from Quetzalcoatlus,” the other giant pterosaur for which it was initially mistaken, he said in a statement.

C. boreas was hiding in plain sight.

Its remains were first discovered more than 30 years ago in Alberta, Canada, yet elicited scant excitement because of the misclassification.

But a closer look at the fossil remains of a juvenile and the intact giant neck bone of a full-grown specimen left no doubt that a new species had been discovered.

Like other winged reptiles living at the same time, about 77 million years ago, C. boreas was carnivorous and probably fed on lizards, small mammals and even baby dinosaurs.

Despite a likely capacity to cross large bodies of water, the location of fossil remains and the animal’s features point to an inland habitat, Hone said.

There are more than 100 known species of pterosaurs.

Despite their large size and wide distribution—across North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe— only fragmentary remains have been unearthed, making the new find especially important. AFP

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Opinion

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Reform the jail system SANTA Banana, in a few days, I will be 92!

Truth to tell, I never expected to live this long. With God’s grace I still enjoy a comparatively clear mind and sound body. I can still pound on my typewriter three times a week to write this column.

I’ve been through a lot. I experienced World War II, which meant four years of Japanese occupation. I saw the best and worst of Filipinos fighting the enemy.

Prisoners in city and municipal jails are living in sub-human conditions.

I have been a journalist for almost 70 years. I have seen history in the making, and sometimes I was even part of it. I covered 10 presidents and walked the corridors of power, rubbing elbows with the greats and near-greats. I married the woman of my dreams and sired a lovely family. What more can a man ask?

I just finished writing my memoirs and it will be published in November, courtesy of Manila Standard and Martin Romualdez. I’d like to thank my publisher, Rollie Estabillo, and two wonderful ladies Adelle Chua, opinion editor, and Jenny Ortuoste, columnist and Palanca awardee, who helped me finish my book. *** The Senate honored last Tuesday the late Dr. George S.K.Ty, founder and chairman of Metrobank, for his philanthropic contributions to the country. It is a tribute well-deserved.

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

The Senate adopted a resolution introduced by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to posthumously honor Ty for the work he had done to improve the lives of many Filipinos.

Ty trailblazed the way to corporate compassion and social responsibility.

He established Metrobank Foundation as an instrument to share the benefits of Metrobank’s successes.

Under Ty, Metrobank Foundation became the biggest and most trusted corporate philanthropic organization in the country. It has implemented various initiatives in pursuit of its mission to improve the lives of the disadvantaged, accelerate social development and promote excellence among key sectors of the economy.

We all know that even with Ty’s demise last year, his lifelong mission to improve the lives of others continued through his wife Mary, sons Arthur and Alfred, and daughters Anjanette and Alessandra.

Metrobank was known for sponsoring an annual contest naming outstanding soldiers, policemen and teachers.

In fact, I was once among the panel of judges for the search for the most outstanding teacher.

I believe that whatever profession one takes, the tutelage of selfless teachers cannot be forgotten. Teachers are a vital foundation of nation-building.

Indeed, Dr. Ty is a modern hero and nation builder. *** As the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee digs deeper into the corruption at the Bureau of Corrections, there are more and more skeletons being unearthed. Now it’s the hospital-pass-forsale scheme, which allows moneyed convicts to stay in the hospital so long as they can afford to pay P30,000 to P50,000 per day.

The BuCor could be one of the most notoriously corrupt agencies in government!

Government corruption, as I often

Life and death

T

RAFFIC in Metro Manila, specifically on the main thoroughfare EDSA, has become notorious over the years. There used to be a reasonable buildup only at rush hour or during Mondays or Fridays, or toward the Christmas holidays. These days, the gridlock no longer chooses a day, or a time of day.

There have been numerous proposals and actual measures to solve the problem. Among these are the number coding scheme, the prohibition of provincial buses on EDSA, the restriction of city buses to specific lanes, technology-aided enforcement of traffic rules, and the opening up of gated subdivisions so that they could be used as alternate routes.

The latest suggestion is to devote all of EDSA to southbound traffic, and C5 to those northbound, but this early motorists and commuters have scoffed at the idea as desperate, impracticable and ridiculous.

And just this week, congressional hearings have been held on whether to grant President Rodrigo Duterte

emergency powers so he can act on the traffic issue more decisively.

The negative effects of heavy traffic have often been cited. Commuters and motorists alike lose precious time on the road, which they could use to do their work, rest, or spend time with their families. A Japan International Cooperation Agency study estimated productivity loss at about P3.5 billion every day; this could balloon to P5.4 billion in 16 years if traffic does not improve.

Traffic, too causes stress and affects people’s quality of life and overall temperament.

Unfortunately, there are consequences far too fatal than these.

A report by Agence France Presse

cited instances when ambulances carrying patients were stuck in traffic. As a result, one patient’s pulse stopped five minutes before they reached the hospital; another patient made it, but died in the hospital after a few days.

Reacting to this story, Palace spokesperson Salvador Panelo suggested that drivers should use other roads with lighter traffic, as if they do not already consider that and as if they insist on taking EDSA even if they didn’t need to.

Panelo also said they could opt to use choppers in emergency situations.

These, of course, are remarks one should not take seriously because they fail to grasp the importance of every minute lost or the gravity of the outcome.

It is tragic that our road problems have come to this point. We wonder if any of the immediate and long-term solutions would ever get to the heart of the issue, enough to make a dent on the current situation, and, with just a few months before Christmas, at least prevent the problem from getting worse.

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The curious case of Dr. Reyes POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE GIVEN my poor eyesight, I am always interested in anything to do with vision care and was intrigued by the case of ophthalmologist Mario Reyes, former head of the Ospital ng Maynila’s Opthalmology Department.

Reyes, a devout Roman Catholic, is known to express his religious faith by conducting medical missions. He provides cataract surgery that costs P50,000 per eye for free to indigent patients.

Health care professionals in the same situation should study this Supreme Court resolution in relation to their own cases.

News reports from early 2018 show that he conducted several such mis missions in Cebu and Bohol, treating patients not only for cataract but also pterygium, glaucoma, and strabismus (crossed-eyes).

He combined the medical aspect with the religious through his involvement with Raise Me Up, a prayer counseling group, most of whose members are part of the Bukas-Loob sa Diyos community.

In 2014, Dr. Reyes was suspended by the Philippine Academy of Opthalmology for “uncoordinated missions” and other concerns related to his stint as chairman of the Department of Opthalmology of the Ospital ng Maynila.

PhilHealth, a government agency, adopted the ruling of PAO and through its Accreditation Department suspended Reyes’ accreditation as a health care professional effective Dec. 1, 2014 until Nov. 30, 2026.

Dr. Reyes asked the department as

well as PhilHealth’s Board for a reconsideration of the 12-year suspension imposed but was denied both times. He then went to the Court of Appeals contending that according to law, any such suspension was illegal.

He also said that PhilHealth should have given him the right to be heard.

The Court of Appeals dismissed his petition for review so Dr. Reyes elevated his concern to the Supreme Court.

In a resolution dated July 30, 2019, the SC declared that the imposition by PhilHealth of a 12-year suspension on Reyes is illegal because PhilHealth made it solely on the basis of PAO’s suspension of Reyes as its member.

The SC resolution (http:// sc.judiciary.gov.ph/6361/) starts thus: “G.R. No. 241062 (Dr. Mario D. Reyes, M.D. v. Philippine Health Insurance Corporation). In this petition for review on certiorari filed by Dr. Mario D. Reyes, M.D. (Dr. Reyes), We remind Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) that it cannot impose any penalty beyond what is provided for under the law.”

According to Reyes’ counsel Atty.

Saul Hofileña Jr., the resolution also states that the PAO does not determine who may practice medicine, but rather it is the government, specifically the Board of Medical Examiners.

Hofileña quoted the SC resolution that “there was no showing that Dr. Reyes’ certificate of registration to practice medicine was suspended or revoked by the Board of Medical Examiners.” The said Board is the only body that can determine whether a physician may practice medicine or not.

Hofileña added that PhilHealth should not have taken “the recommendations of medical organizations blindly since such recommendations may only be the result of enmity or ill-will.”

Hofileña said further that the ‘findings’ of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology “were made without giving Dr. Mario Reyes the Turn to A5

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Excavating an urban Nazi camp in Belgrade

By Sally Mairs MOMENTS after she was born in a wartime Nazi concentration camp in Belgrade, Estera Bajer was furtively smuggled out in a bag.

Nearly eight decades on, she has one wish: To live to see a memorial built at the site where her mother and some 7,000 other Jewish women, children and elderly people were taken to their deaths during the Holocaust.

"So the next generations can see and know what happened there," says the petite, bright-eyed 77-year-old, at her apartment in Belgrade's suburbs.

The former camp, known as Staro Sajmiste, sits on prime real estate in the Serbian capital, flanking the left bank of the Sava river across from the city's historic heart.

Yet few visitors—or locals—would know it exists.

Its central tower is crumbling, while the lawn beneath it is strewn with children's seesaws and washing lines.

Surrounding buildings have been converted into homes and businesses, including a restaurant in what was the morgue.

Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager Head—Ad Solutions Circulation Manager

The camp's former hospital, restored by a local businessman who bought the building from the government in the 1980s, has hosted a nightclub, gym and restaurant over the years.

Owner Miodrag Krsmanovic opened a kindergarten last year too, in what, he told AFP, he hoped was a "new beginning for this entire area."

But he shuttered it a few months ago after it was decried in the local media as disrespectful to the dead.

The only sign that this run-down corner of the city was the site of mass internment and death—initially of Jews and Roma, and later of thousands of mainly Serb prisoners—is a small plaque.

A larger monument was erected in 1995 further out on the river bank.

"You'd never know it was once a concentration camp," laments Bajer.

Jews, Serbs, Roma Jovan Byford, an historian based in Britain, said he had long been "troubled" by the site's neglect, adding that the reasons behind it have changed with the times.

The buildings, which as well as

the central tower comprise a circle of separate pavilions, were first built as a fairground in 1937.

Four years later, Nazi occupiers seized the infrastructure as a place to lock up Jewish women and children.

They had already executed nearly all of Serbia's Jewish men, mostly by firing squad at another location.

In spring 1942, after around several hundred Roma were also interned, a special gas van was brought from Germany to empty the camp.

It made around 65 trips from the site through downtown Belgrade to a mass grave outside the city, killing its occupants on the way with an exhaust pipe that had been diverted inside.

By August, Serbia was declared free of Jews.

Ninety percent of the Jewish population—which numbered 16,000 in what was Serbia at that time, according to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center—had been murdered.

However the suffering on the left riverbank continued.

Until the end of World War II, the Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua

Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor Opinion Editor

Emil P. Jurado

Honor Blanco Cabie Night Editor Jimbo Gulle City Editor Roberto Cabrera Chief Photographer

Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

Opinion Supporting the DA with other SEA countries. At present, the government provides subsidies to many sectors, but we have to admit that this is not enough to revitalize our ailing industry.

THE increasing population in the country comes with the growing demand for food and other agricultural products. For years, our agricultural sector has been unable to fully address problems in production. This is ironic considering that the Philippines is an agricultural country. Ideally, we should be able to supply our own needs, but in order to meet consumption demand, we import basic commodities such as rice, vegetables and fish. Because these imported products are cheaper, the income of our local farmers and fishermen is gravely affected.

The growth of our agricultural performance is stunted, compared to our neighboring countries. We are undeniably far behind in terms of applying modern technologies and equipment, advanced know-how, improved facilities that would otherwise bring our industry up to speed

We have to muster the political will to make the agricultural industry competitive.

We need increased governmental support and budget augmentation for the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies. As early as March this year, the President, through then-Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, expressed his intent to increase the budget of the DA tenfold to provide assistance to farmers and fishermen and to boost food production. Despite the increase of 14.4 percent from the 2019 budget, it is deemed that the proposed 2020 budget amounting to P54.43 billion will not suffice to account for these criti-

cal situations.

I also hope that the reported irregularities in the implementation of the Department’s programs based on the 2018 report of the Commission on Audit will be addressed. Per the COA report, these irregularities range from the delayed release of financial assis assistance, ineligibility of winning bidder in BFAR IMEMS program, and incomplete stock reports and inefficient procurement for the rice buffer stock.

To ensure efficiency, the Department must strictly adhere to the reporting requirements of COA. This will also serve as basis in checking the disbursement of funds to the benefi beneficiaries of the programs and effective utilization of the budget.

It is high time we took a hard look at our agricultural industry, and muster the political will to make it competitive. We have been too late on this, much to the detriment of our local farmers and fishermen. The increased budgetary allocation will provide leeway for the government to fully implement its programs and provide necessary equipment and support to our local farmers and fishermen.

Gulf future remains to be in fossils despite ‘transition’ buzz

By Omar Hasan IN THE vast air-conditioned halls of an Abu Dhabi conference center, the world's much-vaunted transition to clean energy is the buzzword in sessions of a top industry gathering.

But many executives and officials from oil-dependent Gulf states insist that while the change to renewables is essential, fossil fuels remain the future at least for the next few decades, despite the urgent need to fight climate change.

The debate has taken center stage at this week's World Energy Congress, with many officials calling for accelerating the process of moving to clean power sources and minimizing carbon emissions.

Speakers addressed issues like the role of nuclear, hydrogen gas and other non-conventional sources of energy as a replacement for fossil fuels which currently account for over three quarters of the world's energy consumption.

However, delegates from oil-producing countries and particularly those in the Gulf argued that although the transition to clean energy sources must be supported, they will not be able to meet rising demand any time soon.

"For decades to come the world will still rely on oil and gas as the majority source of energy," said the head of Abu Dhabi Oil Co. Jaber Sultan.

"About $11 trillion of investment in oil and gas is needed to keep up with current projected demand," over the next two decades, he told the congress which was attended by representatives of 150 nations and over 400 CEOs. Energy from increasingly com-

The curious...

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opportunity to explain his side. In other words, the entire proceedings were bereft of due process.”

This Supreme Court ruling is one of a series of setbacks that has plagued the PhilHealth under the current administration. The agency was under scrutiny in recent months for the alleged overpayments on PhilHealth claims totaling P154 billion over the past six years, particularly in relation

Excavating...

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site remained a concentration camp for more than 30,000 mostly Serb political prisoners, resistance fighters and forced labourers—a third of whom died from torture and disease.

Buried histories When the new communist Yugoslavia rose after the war, there was a push to focus on the future and sweep troublesome divisions under the rug.

The camp's buildings became dorms for youth brigades, who travelled from

petitive renewable sources has quadrupled globally in just a decade, but insatiable demand for energy particularly from developing economies saw power sector emissions rise 10 percent, a UN report said last week.

"All energy transitions—including this one—take decades, with many challenges along the road," the CEO of Saudi energy giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, said at the conference.

Nasser said his country supports the growing contribution of alternatives, but criticized policies adopted by many governments that do not consider "the long-term nature of our business and the need for orderly transition."

Addicted to oil Oil is still the lifeline for the Gulf states, contributing at least 70 percent of national revenues across the region which has been cushioned by decades of immense profits from the flow of "black gold."

Gulf nations have invested tens of billions of dollars in clean energy projects, mainly in solar and nuclear.

Dubai has launched the world's largest solar energy project, with a price tag of $13.6 billion and the capacity to satisfy a quarter of the energy-hungry emirate's current needs when it comes on line in 2030.

But critics say the addiction to oil is a tough one to kick, particularly when supplies remain abundant and the massive investment in infrastructure necessary to switch to renewables is daunting.

"A global shift from dirty fossil fuel to renewable energy is economically, technically and technologically feasible... All that is missing is po-

litical will!" said Julien Jreissati from Greenpeace in the Middle East.

He said while the United Arab Emirates has put plans into action, "Saudi Arabia which has always made big announcements regarding their renewable energy ambitions is lagging behind as their projects and targets remain ink on paper.

"There is no doubt that the world will leave oil behind. The only question remaining is when will this happen?"

Despite important technological advances made in the past decade, renewable energy sources still make up just around 18 percent and nuclear adds another six percent of the world's energy mix.

In the past decade, the adoption of wind and solar energy picked up rapidly as the production cost plummeted to levels close to that of oil and gas.

But the Abu Dhabi conference saw calls for accelerated innovation and "disruptive" technology to speed the transition as the world prepares for global energy demand to peak between 2020 and 2025, according to the World Energy Council.

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said that sustainable and environmentally friendly energy practices must be aligned with national and global economic policies in order to have the required impact.

"It makes more economic sense to apply all green technologies globally, and if this happens we might go to being CO2-free energy users 5 or 10 or 20 years quicker," she told the conference.

"I prefer that market forces, pushed by smart policymaking and legal space-setting, act quickly and save us all from the alternative." AFP

to “ghost” dialysis claims.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte himself expressed his displeasure over the alleged misuse of public funds, in June ordering the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct probes on those involved in the filing of fraudulent claims.

On Aug. 14, the Senate held a hearing to investigate alleged corruption in PhilHealth and the Department of Health.

Going back to the case of Reyes, the SC resolution is a victory for him in

that PhilHealth was sternly reminded that they may not impose penalties such as suspension that are not in accordance with the law, and that they should not base suspensions on the decisions of private organizations, especially if the individual is not sanctioned in any way by the Board of Medical Examiners.

Health care professionals in the same situation should study this SC resolution in relation to their own cases.

across Yugoslavia to build up that side of the river, known today as New Belgrade.

In the 1950s, artists set up studios there.

"Everybody was in that frame (of mind): that we are building something new, something better, and what happened in history was bad and let's try to forget," says Robert Sabados, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia.

Bajer, who spent her first three years in an orphanage before being adopted by non-Jewish relatives after the war, learned about her family's history as she grew older.

But it was a topic only discussed at home.

"Nobody was talking about [what happened there] during the former Yugoslavia," she says, of Staro Sajmiste.

After communism collapsed and Yugoslavia was riven by wars in the 1990s, buried histories like that of Staro Sajmiste surged back to the surface.

Since then, several attempts to build a museum at the site have been hampered by a lack of political will and funds and have not advanced for over a decade.

Last month, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic acknowledged there had been "mistakes... in regard to the me-

FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Emergency powers to solve the traffic mess There are certainly some merits to these ideas but it could also be argued that these things could be accomplished without the need for emergency powers.

I am not fully convinced of the need for emergency powers but if that is what it takes for the government to make deIN ORDER to solve the worsening traf- cisive policy decisions, maybe Congress fic in Metro Manila, the Department of should just agree to the grant of emergenTransportation and the Metro Manila cy powers for a limited period. Senator Development Authority are pushing that Grace Poe, the chair of the Senate PubPresident Duterte be granted emergency lic Services Committee, has been asking powers to solve the problem. To both, MMDA and the DOTr to submit a plan there appears to be no other way to solve of action as a basis for the committee to draft a law but up to now, the DOTr has the worsening traffic situation.

The House of Representatives is all for failed to submit one. We do not know it but there seems to be some reluctance why. The request is not unreasonable so on the part of the Senate unless the DOTr it should be easy to draft some kind of comes up with a sort of a strategy on a plan covering the short-, medium- and what programs will be undertaken in the long-term programs that the government short, medium and long term. This thing wants to implement.

I cannot believe that these two agenabout the grant of emergency powers to the President has been on the table since cies do not have qualified people that 2016. The DOTr feels very strongly about can come together to simply write up a it. It wants to avoid such things as tempo- simple plan. There must be another reason for the failure to submit one and let rary restraining orders by the courts.

The question that has to be asked is us hope that it has nothing to do with politics. whether there is A few weeks really a need for ago, the President, the grant of emerduring a speech, gency powers. Are I am usually an was quoted as saythe current powers ing “let EDSA just of the president not optimist, but.... rot” in reference enough to solve the to Congress resist resisttraffic, that we have ing the grant of to resort to emergency powers to tackle what is basically emergency powers and perhaps due to plain exasperation. He also mentioned a a municipal problem?

The answer to this question depends to certain politician whom he described as a certain degree on one’s overall knowl- “intrimitida” and many believe that this edge and understanding of the relation- politician is Senator Grace Poe because ship between land use and transport, the of her insistence on a plan. The success consequence of which is the horrendous of any program to decongest traffic is for traffic that is giving the public so much travel time from origin to destination to misery. Some qualified traffic practi- improve. This means that if it takes two tioners may not believe that emergency hours for a bus to get from Monumento powers are needed if one really knows to Taft Avenue, a successful program what needs to be done and knows how to should reduce the two hours to maybe an hour and fifteen minutes or shorter. go about doing them.

Granting the President emergency One of several solutions being mentioned by emergency believers that can powers does not mean that traffic will mitigate traffic congestion is to force the improve the next day. But hopefully, we opening of private subdivision roads, will begin to see a well thought of plan mostly located in Makati, to the public. of action that will eventually result in a So far, this has not happened. The subdi- much improved travel time for all motorists. Currently, the concentration of the visions say they will file suits.

The grant of emergency powers, they government effort is on one road that is EDSA. But traffic is bad everywhere and believe, will eliminate this problem.

Another solution is the prohibition of the public also wants a solution on the heavy vehicle tints. This should make it other road networks in and not only on easier for traffic enforcers to impose the EDSA. Although usually an optimistic person, single occupancy policy.

Still another area being thought of is I witnessed a traffic incident the other day what to do with buses, jeepneys and tri- that made me wonder whether even the cycles. These three land transport modes grant of emergency powers can do the are causing a major part of the traffic trick. A van with a number seven plate gridlock due to the way these vehicles with lights blinking entered and used the opposite lane because the vehicle queue are operated.

Some are also suggesting the reduction on his lane was very long and the very of the number of bus companies to about important passenger of the van cannot ten by converting them into transport coop- wait like everyone else. With such kind eratives like the way it was done during the of behavior, why do we really even bothMartial Law period. This way, bus opera- er? Congress should simply grant what Secretary Tugade and MMDA Chairman tions can be supervised more efficiently.

The jeepneys and tricycles will eventu- Lim are asking. Both gentlemen may ally have to be phased out in a few years still have a trick or two up their sleeves unless the jeepneys will adopt modern that we do not know about and besides, designs and manage their operations what else could they do to make the traffic worse? more efficiently.

Reform...

From A4

And if President Duterte continues his practice of installing retired military and police officials in sensitive government agencies, there will always be corruption. *** I would also like to see an investigation into city and municipal jails. They are so decrepit, and prisoners are living in sub-human conditions. This could be a bigger issue because it covers jails nationwide.

Perhaps Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra should study the merits of relocating the New Bilibid Prison. Years before, a deal was already in the works, with several proposals to move the penitentiary to Laur, Nueva Ecija. I wonder what happened to this plan.

Relocation is good not only to decongest the prisons, but to isolate drug lords and other hardened criminals from ordinary convicts.

All Secretary Guevarra has to do is visit the Quezon City jail.

say, will continue to exist so long as there is room for human discretion and intervention. This is why I believe that the President’s war on corruption is an exercise in futility.

Duterte may be able to reduce corruption if he were sincere about it, but completely eradicating it is a near-impossible task.

Was this not shown very clearly in the release of national penitentiary prisoners who had been convicted of heinous crimes?

In other agencies, public officials and employees have their own way of making money. At Customs, there is human discretion in the valuation of imports, on what should and should not be allowed. At the Bureau of Internal Revenue, so long as officials are given the discretion to assess and value revenue payments, there will always be corruption. www.emiljurado.weebly.com

morial centre" and promised "faster rial should remember. progress."

In recent decades, Serb nationalists The government says it is drafting a have tried to "appropriate" the site as law for the museum plans. a symbol of the broader persecution of Serbs during WWII, particularly at the Warning hands of Croatia's Nazi puppet state, Byford, who sat on a former com- says Byford. mittee to design a memorial, says auAs a result, the Jewish community thorities have long been resistant to wants full autonomy to design parts of sacrificing a precious riverside prop- the museum focusing on Jews. erty to non-commercial purposes.

"We don't want it politicized," said "If someone made a decision to Sabados. build a shopping centre there, they But he added that it was in all Serbs' would relocate people very quickly," interests to excavate their history. he said.

A museum, he said, would be "a Further complicating the issue are warning for everyone; that it's possible competing visions of who the memo- that this can happen to anyone." AFP

A6

News

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

BOC agents seize P53-m agri products

By Vito Barcelo

B

UREAU of Customs agents seized some P53 million worth of agricultural products which were declared as fishball, a popular street food in the country, which came from China.

POM District Collector Arsenia Ilagan, said the seized goods arrived in Manila last month from China and consigned to Shinerise Trading Service.

Based on the initial report, the con-

signee declared the shipment as fishball with total declared duties and taxes of P2,542,882.00.

Upon inspection of the shipment, Customs examiners discovered more

than P20 million worth of carrots, P20 million worth of onions, P10 million worth of broccoli and P2 million worth of potatoes.

“The goods were seized for misdeclaration in violation of Section 1400 Misdeclaration, Misclassification and Undervaluation in Goods Declaration, in relation to Section 1113 “Property Subject to Seizure and Forfeiture, of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act [CMTA],” Ilagan said.

Ilagan said has already ordered the

cancellation of the consignee’s accreditation, while the Customs broker is under investigation.

Only recently, the BOC also seized P665,000 worth of smuggled rice at the Port of Zamboanga and P24 million worth of misdeclared shipments of carrots, onions and potatoes at the Manila International Container Port.

The seizure of smuggled agri products was part of the bureau’s continuing drive against smuggling in the country.

PAL earns 4-star Major Regional Rating Award for second year

By Joel E. Zurbano THE US-based Airline Passenger Experience Association gave anew Philippine Airlines a 4-Star Major Regional Airline rating award.

“APEX, an international industry organization which carries out an airline ratings program based solely on certified passenger feedback, recently named flag carrier Philippine Airlines as a 4-Star Major Regional Airline,” said PAL Corporate Communications Department head and spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.

She said the airline ratings were created based on neutral, third-party passenger feedback and insights gathered through APEX’s partnership with TripIt® from Concur®, the world’s highestrated travel-organizing app.

APEX chief executive officer Dr. Joe Leader said more than 1.4-million flights were rated by passengers across nearly 600 airlines from around the world.

“Only a small, single digit percentage of these airlines reached the prestigious APEX Four Star Airline status while an even smaller number reached the monumental APEX Five Star Airline level. All of us at APEX take extraordinary pride in giving full power to airline passengers as the ultimate source of validated truth in airline ratings worldwide,” said Leader.

Villaluna said the rating period was conducted from July 2018 to July 2019.

This year's APEX Official Airline Ratings recognizes airlines in four categories: Global Airlines: Airlines with a large number of wide-body aircraft covering the globe; Major Regional: Airlines covering a significant region of the globe, and Low Cost Carriers: Airlines that self-identify as being low cost carriers.

Bill on mandatory installation of dashcams filed

By Maricel V. Cruz A LAWMAKER has sought the approval of a bill mandating the installation of dashboard video cameras and other recording devices in all types of motor vehicles. ligan City Rep. Frederick Siao, author of House Bill 4475 or the proposed "Motor Vehicle Digital and Electronic Recording Systems for Road Safety and Security Act," said the dashcams have "proven to be crucial and effective device for the objective, evidence-based recording of crimes on the streets and of violations of road safety and traffic rules and regulations.

“It has also served as a deterrence against irresponsible, careless and reckless driving,” Siao said in the bill's explanatory note.

Siao added that on-board video recordings of motor vehicle interiors have also helped law enforcers to solve crimes and determine culpability of suspects or accused.

Under the bill, motorists shall be mandated to install government-certified systems to record digital and electronic data on vehicle operation, navigation, traffic, and in-vehicle safety.

The bill mandates the installation of the following basic set of devices: A dashboard camera that has video resolution of at least 1080 pixels, has night vision mode, and is forwardfacing for the street view orientation; a second but rear-facing camera with the same features as the dashboard camera; a visual display; a battery and motor vehicle power adaptor; a data storage device; and a built-in global positioning system feature.

TEAMWORK. House Speaker and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (second left), together with House Majority

Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez (center) and House Minority Leader and Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. (left) talked with members of the Makabayan Bloc members led by Bayan Muna Party List Rep. Carlos Zarate on important issues during the budget deliberation of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the National Security Council. The majority temporarily suspended the debate on the budget of NICA and NSC but managed to pass the budgets for the Department of Finance, National Economic and Development Authority during the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting which lasted until 10 p.m. Tuesday. Ver Noveno

Recto wants ready funds for disasters, calamities

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Wednesday called for “budget sensitivity” to disasters, describing them as “a macro-economic assumption which should not be ignored.”

Recto said calamities, manmade or natural, have the power to alter “the landscape of the national budget” because “appropriations can also be part of the first response in addition to being key to reconstruction.”

“One powerful typhoon can blow away many elements of the budget,” Recto said.

“Even in the forecast of the budget, we have not invited a crystal ball which can tell the coming disasters,” he said.

Recto made the comment as he called on both houses of Congress to look into the funding needs in addressing the “unfortunate developments in the agriculture

and health fronts,” which were not present when the 2020 national budget was being prepared in the executive branch.

Among these “recent disruptions” are the discovery of African Swine Fever (ASF) in domestic hogs, the low palay rices, the dengue epidemic and the warning raised on the possible resurgence of polio virus.

“Ang suggestion ko ay, at the very least, pag-aralan. Kung mayroon dapat pondohan, then let us create funding space by temporarily setting aside postponable projects,” Recto said.

“We can augment the budget of the concerned agency. But if we do not want to disturb the programmed portion of next year’s P4.1-trillion spending spread, then we can authorize funding in the Unprogrammed Fund,” Recto added.

Recto earlier called on the government to ready “a financial lifeline to hog producers” whose stocks will be culled,

pursuant to protocols on how to contain the spread of ASF. “We should brace for the financial fallout, and ready the assistance, if the worstcase scenario will hit hard this P220 billion a year industry,” he said.

Recto said another farm sector concern which must be responded to are the low palay prices.

“The proposal for direct financial aid via the conditional cash transfer mechanism of the Department of Social Welfare and Development [DSWD], but this one targeting rice farmers and rice farm workers, should now be seriously pursued,” he said.

“We should now open a new conduit in helping farmers, and that is the via DSWD route, which is faster and more efficient. Whatever the cost of this direct-to-the-farmer’s-pocket kind of help should be included in the 2020 national budget,” he said.

Two Chinese, 6 others nabbed

by PNP-AKG operatives AUTHORITIES nabbed eight kidnapping suspects, including two Chinese nationals, in separate operations, the Philippine National Police-Anti Kidnapping Group said on Wednesday.

In a press briefing, AKG spokesperson, Lt. Col. Elmer Cereno said Deng Shiwu, 30; and Ou Jiamin, 28, were arrested in another case of gambling-related kidnapping in Parañaque City.

The suspects allegedly kidnapped Li Ning and Yang Yang who were held inside a room at Okada Resort and Casino.

On Sept. 5, the suspects offered a free three-day stay to the victims at the hotel-casino on the condition that they will change their money to casino chips.

The victims transferred 1 million Chinese renminbi to the account given to them by the suspects in exchange for the chips.

At 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Deng handed to the victims P1 million worth of chips in Pit 95 of the SunCity Junket operator inside the facility.

After losing all their chips within a couple of hours of gambling, they proceeded to the VIP lobby of the casino and then returned to room 1030. Deng told them not to leave and instead tried to convince them to borrow money from a group.

Upon waking up on Monday, they noticed that Deng was sleeping and blocking the door of their room.

Sensing that they were in danger, the victims called up their friend in Beijing, China to call the hotel's service hotline.

The hotel management informed the AKG operatives and conducted a police operation that resulted in the rescue of the victims and arrest of the two Chinese nationals.

The PNP-AKG said casino debtrelated kidnapping has climbed to 54, wherein almost all of the suspects and victims are Chinese.

Authorities also arrested and filed cases against more than 120 Chinese suspects.

Meanwhile, AKG operatives arrested six suspects identified as Reynaldo Parolina, 41; Rico Castillo, 45; Nathaniel Aragon, 35; Christopher Bagro, 38; Francis Reyes, 41; and Melvin Culala, 39, on Sept. 6.

The group allegedly kidnapped Eugenio Santos,39, near his house in Quezon City and Alvin Bangug, in a hotelcasino in Parañaque on Sept. 6.

The suspects asked them to pay the P2 million which the victims supposedly borrowed from Culala supposedly for a business partnership.

They were given until 5 p.m. of the said day to produce the money.

Santos' family then coordinated with the AKG to rescue the victims, agreeing to give the suspects a land title as collateral.

The meeting was set in a coffee shop in Parañaque where the police arrested Reyes, Castillo, Aragon and Bagro after receiving the land title. PNA

DFA urged to inquire on fate of kidnapped seamen in Iran SENATOR Franciso Tolentino recently filed a resolution calling on the Department of Foreign Affairs to coordinate with the Islamic Republic of Iran to inquire on the condition of the 12 Filipino seamen arrested by Iranian authorities last Sept. 8.

The 12 Filipino seamen were on board a tugboat carrying petroleum worth S2.2 million at the time they were arrested in the Strait of Hormuz waterway.

Their vessel was seized by the Iranian authorities on suspicions that the Filipino seamen, also the crew operating the vessel, were involved in oil smuggling.

The Strait of Hormuz lies between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and is considered one of the world's most strategi-

cally important choke points.

In another incident, Iranian authorities seized an oil tanker, MT Stena Impero, which had a Filipino crew member on board, for allegedly breaking international maritime rules last July 19.

Tolentino reiterated that the government must ensure the safety of Filipino seamen as they are the key contributors to the Philippine economy, community and their families.

“It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of Filipino crew, our countrymen who have been sacrificing to be far from their families,” he said.

“Isa sila sa mga bagong bayani ng ating bayan, at dapat lamang din na suklian natin ang kanilang mga sakripisyo,” he added.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

JEEPNEY MOONCAKE. People look at some 600 mooncakes shaped like a jeepney with the colors of Philippine Flag in display at Lucky Chinatown mall, Manila on September 11. Norman Cruz

MMDA cited for use of Filipino language in its public service THE Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino has awarded Metro Manila Development Authority with the Seal of Excellence in Public Service for using the Filipino language in communicating its services, programs, and projects to the public.

It is the first time for the MMDA to receive the recognition award from the KWF, the regulating body of the Filipino language and the official government institution tasked with developing, preserving and promoting the

various Philippine languages.

MMDA chairman Danilo Lim said the Seal of Excellence in Public Service-Level 2 serves as the agency’s inspiration to continue implementing Executive Order 335 which enjoins all government departments and offices to use the Filipino language in official transaction, communication and correspondence.

“Isang karangalan para sa amin na makilala ang aming mga inisyatibo sa paggamit ng wikang Filipino sa araw-araw na paninilbihan sa ating mga kababayan. Hig-

it sa pagsasalin sa Filipino ng mga mahahalagang dokumento, mga karatula at iba pang mga pabatid, responsibilidad natin bilang mga Pilipino ang pagtataguyod at pagsusuporta sa paggamit ng ating sariling wika,” said Lim, who shared the award to agency employees during the flag raising ceremonies on Monday.

The KWF cited the MMDA for the use of Filipino language on MMDA Facebook page, infomercials, and road traffic signs in communicating with the general public.

The agency also translated from English to Filipino its office labels, process flow charts, posters, brochures, mission and vision, Citizen’s Charter and other internal and external communication.

The KWF’s awarding ceremony was held in August in line with the celebration of the “Buwan ng Wika.”

In November 2018, the MMDA bagged the first-ever Freedom of Information Champion Award (Agency Category) conferred by the Presidential Communications Operations Office. Joel E. Zurbano

Sports

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

4959 total in the men’s division.

Del Rosario, one of Asia’s top campaigners, rolled a 10-game series of 2133 pnfalls yesterday at Superbowl to chalk up 4243 and keep her distance over 2017 BWC international champion Krizziah Tabora-Macatula, registered 2119 in 10 games and 4177 overall.

Joining these four in tomorrow’s quarterfinal, semifinal and final

matches are: Men—Jayson Tubid, who tallied 4757 overall; Paulo Valdez, 4756; Benshir Layoso, 4714; Eric Aranez, 4674; RJ Bautista, 4664; and NiccoOlaivar, 4644.

Ladies—Rachelle Leon. 3826; Mades Arles,3824; Alexis Sy, 3812; Dyan Coronacion, 3810; Danielle Denise Lazo, 3752; and Rochelle Munsayac, 3577.

These 16 remaining bowlers will dispute the national title and the right to represent the Philippines in the BWC international event in Palembang, Indonesia on November 16 to 24 this year.

With their scores carried over, the top eight bowlers in each division will bowl another eight games, with the top four advancing to the semis. The two winners will clash for the crown.

Bersamina rules GM Balinas Cup

By Arman D. Armero

I

NTERNATIONAL Master Paulo Bersamina turned back National Master Julius Sinangote in 49 moves of a Sicilian defense in the 15th and final round to clinch the title in the 2019 GM Rosendo Balinas Jr. Memorial Cup chess championship Grand Finals at the Activity Hall (2nd floor) of Alphaland Makati Place in Malugay Street, Makati City on Tuesday.

Bersamina, who held the solo lead in the 14th round, finished the Fide-rated standard-time control tournament with 12 points overall to run away with the title and the P50,000 top purse in the event organized by Balinas siblings Engr. Antonio and Joe Balinas in cooperation with National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) director Atty. Cliburn Anthony Orbe and Philippine Executive Chess Association president Dr. Jenny Mayor.

GM Darwin Laylo finished second with

11.5 points, while 13-time Philippine Open champion GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. settled for solo third with 11 points.

Meanwhile, untitled Rolly Parondo Jr. shared the spotlight as he became the country’s newest National Master following an impressive performance, finishing fourth overall with 8.5 points.

Parondo, a native of Oton, Iloilo, scored fighting draws against GMs Laylo, Antonio and John Paul Gomez, beat IMs Chris Ramayrat and Angelo Young on his way to a

fourth place finish.

NCFP Deputy Secretary-General and Executive Director Red Dumuk led the closing rites alongside Atty. Orbe, Dr. Mayor, Engr. Antonio “Tony” Carreon Balinas, GM Balinas’ daughter Nur Rose Balinas and granddaughter KC Balinas and Angie Balinas-Padilla.

Nur Rose, GM Balinas’ only child, flew all the way from Singapore to attend the closing ceremony in the tournament held in honor of his father, who became the country’s second GM after Eugene Torre.

Final ranking/ standings Bersamina, 12 points, Laylo, 11.5, Antonio, 11; Parondo Jr. 8.5, Quizon, Gomez, Young 8, De Guzman, Tiu 7.5, Ramayrat 5.5, Concio, Mirano 5, Rapanot, Sinangote 3, Rosaupan 1.5

Manila

THIS IS TO INFORM THE PUBLIC THAT THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) BETWEEN ORION PACIFIC PRIME ENERGY INCORPORATED (OPPEI), SOEHEE CONSTRUCTION AND KOREAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (KDBKIAMCO) HAS EXPIRED EFFECTIVE MAY 31,2019, PURSUANT TO THE FORMAL NOTICE REGARDING EXPIRATION OF MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOU) DATED JUNE 4,2019.

WITH THE EXPIRATION OF THE AFOREMENTIONED MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU), SOEHEE CONSTRUCTION AND KOREAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (KDB-KIAMCO) ARE NO LONGER CONNECTED TO OPPEI AND TO ANY OF ITS PROJECTS PARTICULARLY THE QUEZON COAL FIRED POWER PLANT (CFPP).

(MS-SEPT. 12, 2019)

Manila

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES StandardREGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF lLOCOS NORTE

TODAY

FIRST JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 12 - LAOAG CITY

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO SURRENDER THE CO-OWNER’S DUPLICATE COPY OF OCT NO. 14714 AQUINO A. TUNGPALAN, Petitioner,

CAD CASE NO. 14 G.L.R.O Rec. No. 1137 Lot No. 3738 Laoag Cadastre OCT No. 14714

-versusLILIA HERNANDEZ,

Respondent. x---------------------------------------------x ORDER

Filed by plaintiff through counsel is an Ex-Parte Motion to Publish Dispositive Portion of the Decision.

Alleged in the motion is that plaintiff moves and prays that the dispositive portion of the Decision be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.

The motion is partially granted.

The dispositive portion of the Decision is hereby ordered published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines for two (2) consecutive weeks at petitioner’s expense.

The Officer-in-Charge of this Court is hereby directed to furnish the respondent copies of the Decision at her given addresses also at petitioner’s expense.

SO ORDERED. August 20, 2019, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.

NIDA B. ALEJANDRO Presiding Judge

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT FIRST JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 12, LAOAG CITY

Voyagers turn back Patriots THE Pasay Voyagers continued to make heads turn in the ongoing MPBL Lakan Season and on Tuesday night, they claimed another victim in the Parañaque Patriots, whom they beat soundly, 79-60, at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Dhon Reverente had a monstrous game anew, coming away with yet another double-double performance for the Voyagers, who picked up their sixth consecutive win and improved their win-loss record to 9-5.

Reverente, one of the key additions of the squad in the off season, tallied 15 points and 14 rebounds and typified the Voyagers’ domination of the Patriots.

The Voyagers’ latest win allowed the team to firm up its grip on the sixth spot in the tough northern division of this tournament put up by Senator Manny Pacquiao with PBA legend and former MVP Kenneth Duremdes serving as commissioner.

Reverente was solid on both ends of the court, but offensively it was Elmar Moradas who led the way in the team’s scoring parade.

Moradas finished with 17 markers.

Jaypee Belencion also tallied 15, Axel Inigo scored 12, while Raymond Ilagan contributed 10 for Pasay, which shot a steady 12-of-24 shooting from beyond the arc (50-percent).

Earlier, Bulacan and Makati pulled off contrasting wins to boost their respective chances in second phase of the elimination round of the fastest growing regional amateur basketball league.

The Kuyas of Bulacan had to go through two overtime periods before outlasting the Navotas Clutch, 106-105.

Kerwin McCoy and his boys had yet to lose a game together as they extended their winning run to three and improved their win-loss mark to 8-5. But McCoy and his troops had to rely on a big break which went their way when a foul was whistled on Jhong Bondoc during a baseline inbound play with only six tenths of a second left.

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC Standard TODAY

Tan, Del Rosario lead Bowling World Cup top 16 finalists MERWIN Tan and Liza del Rosario rolled respectable rounds last Tuesday and yesterday to lead the remaining field of eight men and eight ladies in the Bowling World Cup nationals tomorrow at Paeng’s Eastwood Bowl.

Tan posted a 12-game series of 2640 pinfalls Tuesday at Superbowl for a 5060 total to pace legendary Paeng Nepomuceno, who scored 2424 for a

A7

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO SURRENDER THE CO-OWNER’S DUPLICATE COPY OF OCT NO. 14714 AQUINO A. TUNGPALAN, Petitioner, -versus-

CAD CASE NO. 14 G.L.R.O Rec. No. 1137 Lot No. 3738 Laoag Cadastre OCT No. 14714

LILIA HERNANDEZ,

Respondent. x----------------------------------x DECISION This is a petition for the surrender of Co-Owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714 filed by Aquino A. Tungpalan.

Alleged in the Petition1 is that petitioner and his father, Roman Tungpalan are the absolute and registered co-owners of the parcel of land designated as Lot No. 3738 situated at Brgy. 42, Apaya, Laoag City, Philippines covered by Original Certificate of title No. 14714; that being the absolute and registered co-owner, the petitioner is in possession of the owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714; that the respondent borrowed the owner’s duplicate copy of the said title from the petitioner as she had registered a deed of conveyance in her favor with the Office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City as the presentation of the owner’s duplicate copy is a pre-requisite for its registration; that the deed of conveyance in favor of the respondent was registered and annotated at the back of OCT No. 14714 and thereafter returned the said owner’s duplicate copy of the title to the petitioner, however, unknown to the petitioner, respondent had requested for a co-owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714.

That petitioner being one of the heirs of Roman Tungpalan had executed a Deed of Adjudication and Sale in favor of William B. Munoz conveying a portion of 1,331 square meters of Lot No. 3738 covered by OCT No. 14714.

IM Paulo Bersamna (3rd from left) displays the champion trophy he won after ruling the 2019 GM Rosendo Balinas Jr Memorial Cup Chess Championship during the awarding ceremony. Also in photo are (from left) arbiter NM Efren Bagamasbad, National Chess Federation of the Philippines Director Atty. Cliburn Orbe, Engr. Antonio Balinas and Dr. Jenny Mayor, president of the Philippine Executive Chess Association.

Army veteran wants to better time in Citi Vertical Run Manila

By Peter Atencio ARMY veteran Andrico Mahilum will once again take on the challenges offered by the Citi Vertical Run Manila 2019 when its reels off Sept. 22.

The 34-year-old sergeant will see action in the most difficult part of the race, the Full Challenge, which will cover 59 floors or 1,353 steps at 250 meters inside the Shangri-La Manila Hotel at the Fort in Taguig.

“Matagal na ako sumasali sa mga takbuhang ganito. Dati ay galing ako sa trail running.

Dito, ang difference, napaka-challenging.

Dapat maingat ka sa steps mo,” said Mahilum, the fastest finishing Filipino last year.

The annual competition, now on its fourth year, will be in partnership with Kerry Sports Manila, and it will go as high as the penthouse of one of the tallest skyscrapers in the metro at 229.3 meters.

And for Mahilum, he will go out there to beat his personal record of seven minutes

and 53 seconds.

Mahilum is preparing well for the event and he believes that a healthy diet and enough rest and recovery time will allow him to have a faster time.

“This is the fourth time that we are doing it here at the Shangri-La. The race is similar from last year. The shorter climbs are for the family, while the longer ones are for the serious runners,” said race director David Shin of Sporting Republic.

Last year, Poland’s Piotr Łobodzinski and Australia’s Suzy Walsham emerged as repeat winners. Łobodzinsk has joined in similar events in Paris and New York and won it in 6 minutes and 56 seconds to bag his 3rd straight win in the men’s elite category of the 59-floor, stairclimbing race.

Walsham had a time of 8 minutes and 13 seconds to defend the women’s title.

The event builds on its previous staging that has seen participants’ fitness tested to the limits.

That the petitioner caused the registration of the said Deed of Adjudication and Sale with the Office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City but the latter denied the registration of the said document on the primary ground of failure to surrender and present the co-owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714; that the petitioner had repeatedly demanded from the respondent but she refused and continuously refuses to lend or surrender the same to the petitioner or to the Office of the Register of Deeds of Laoag City.

Because respondent is residing in Hawaii, U.S.A, summons was effected upon her through publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines for two (2) consecutive weeks and through registered mail with return card.

A perusal of the record shows that the mailed copy of the summons and its attachments was received by the respondent as evidenced by the registry return card attached to page 40 of the record.

Despite receipt of the Summons and its attachments, no answer was filed by the respondent.

Because no answer was filed by the respondent, the Motion to Declare Respondent in Default2 was granted.3 When Aquino A. Tungpalan testified, he reiterated the contents of the Petition.4 In addition, he testified that the parcels of land covered by OCT No. 14714 are Lot Nos. 3724, 3738 and 3924 all situated at Brgy, 42, Apaya, Laoag City. He further testified that he came to know about Lot No. 3738 because it was his father, Roman Tungpalan, who was then the tenant and cultivator of the said parcel of land. And that his father usually bring them to the parcel of land and assisted him in cultivating the same He furthermore testified that the owners of the parcels of land were Calixto Saturnino, 5/20 share; Heirs of Esteban Saturnino, 5/20 share; Paulino Saturnino, 1/20 share; Victoria Saturnino, 1/20 share; Dolores Saturnino, 1/20 share; Leon Saturnino, 1/20 share; Agustin Saturnino, 1/20 share; Eligio Saturnino, 1/20 share; Hermogenes Saturnino 1/20 share; Sotero Saturnino, 1/20 share; Elena Saturnino, 1/100 share; Marcelo Saturnino, 1/100 share; Quirico Saturnino, 1/100 share; Lourdes Saturnino, 1/100 share; Victor Saturnino, 1/100 share; Monica Luna, 1/160 share; Catelina Luna, 1/160 share; Santiago Luna, 1/160 share; Fausto Luna, 1/160 share; Agustin Luna, 1/160 share; Felix Luna, 1/160 share; Emilia Luna, 1/160 share and Esperanza Luna, 1/160 share, as appearing in the OCT No. 14714.

In the middle of 1951, his father bought the shares of Marcelo Saturnino and others of Lot No. 3738. And in 1989, he and his brother, Eligio Tungpalan, bought Esteban Saturnino’s share.

Respondent borrowed from him the owner’s duplicate copy of OCT No. 14714, as her parents, Spouses Jose P. Tungpalan and Ruperta C. Tungpalan, acquired a portion of Lot No. 3924, however, unknown to him, she requested for the issuance of a co-owner’s copy of OCT No. 14714. He came to know of the issuance of a co-owner’s copy to the respondent when he and the other heirs of Roman Tungpalan sold a portion of Lot No. 3738 to their neighbor, William Munoz, because the registration of the Deed of Adjudication and Sale that he and his co-heirs executed was denied registration by the Register of Deeds of Laoag City.

A perusal of the c;ertified copy of OCT No. 14714,5 Entry No. 181951 found at the last page thereof reads: “Upon request of Lilia T. Hernandez, surving (sic ) heir of the sps. Jose P. Tungpalan and Ruperta C. Tungpalan, a co-owner’s duplicate of the foregoing certificate of title is issued in her favor.”

Brothers propel Spain at World Cup—but it’s not the Gasols SHANGHAI—Two brothers played a major part in propelling Spain to the Basketball World Cup semi-finals in China—but it wasn’t NBA All-Stars Marc and Pau Gasol.

Charlotte Hornets centre Willy Hernangomez drilled 18 points and brother Juancho, the Denver Nuggets forward, scored 14 in a 90-78 quarter-final win over Poland on Tuesday.

They have a long way to go to emulate the Gasols, who have been at the heart of a successful Spain team for Spain’s Juan Hernangomez (right) and his brother/team- nearly 15 years, but they could be mate Willy Hernangomez celebrate with fans after their poised to inherit the mantle of Spain’s standout siblings. team’s win against Poland at the Basketball World Cup “I would be so happy about that bequarter-final game in Shanghai.

cause Juancho and Willy are extremely talented players,” Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said.

“They have needed experience on the court because they are in and out when they play in the NBA. “To be great like Marc and Pau have been, they need to have concentration and make the right decisions,” the 58-year-old Italian told FIBA.com.

The Gasols are in the twilight of their brilliant careers.

The 34-year-old Marc, a three-time NBA All-Star, has been a vital cog for Spain at the World Cup, much like he was in the Toronto Raptors’ historic run to the NBA crown. AFP

Date of instrument - Jan. 20, 2006 Date of inscription - Jan. 20, 2006 at 3:45p.m.

File-T-0-14714

As proof that the registration of the Deed of Adjudication and Sale was denied, he presented a Notice of Denial6 issued by the Land Registration Authority.

In light of the evidence presented, testimonial and documentary, the Court is convinced that petitioner is entitled to the relief prayed for.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is hereby GRANTED. Lilia Hernandez is hereby directed to surrender the co-owner’s duplicate copy of Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 14714 to the Register of Deeds of Laoag City within five (5) days from notice.

SO ORDERED. Done in the City of Laoag, this 5th day of August 2019.

NIDA B. ALEJANDRO Presiding Judge Exhibit “A” rollo, pp. 1-4 Rollo, pp. 7-48.

See Order, rollo, p. 54.

Supra, note 1.

5 Rollo, pp. 70-75.

6 Exhibit “E”, rollo, p. 76.

1 2 3 4

(MS-SEPT. 12 & 19, 2019)

Sports

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

A8

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

By Jeric Lopez

Ateneo’s SJ Belangel maneuvers his way inside against the defense of UST’s Brent Paraiso in a UAAP game won by the Blue Eagles, 71-70.

Chef de Mission team sets key meeting for SEAG hosting THE Chef de Mission team, headed by Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, will meet the competition managers, presidents and secretary generals of national sports associations tomorrow, Friday, at the Philippine International Convention Center.

The gathering, set to begin 10 a.m., will discuss several important matters in preparation for the upcoming hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The said meeting will also be attended by Tom Carrasco, who will represent the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee as the Director of Operations.

In a regular CDM team meeting held yesterday, it was decided to convene the said officials to tackle issues on ticketing, venues. protocol matters, billeting, transportation and the Torch Run as part of the preparations for the biennial meet set Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

Ramirez, also the Chef de Mission of Team Philippines, said that should any mistake or lapses arise, the PSC will be there to make sure that everything will be in place for the hosting of the 11-nation meet, with barely two months away before the big event.

“If there are any lapses, the PSC will come in to fill in the gaps. We have no more time.

We have just a bit over two months before the Games,” said Ramirez.

He added that President Rodrigo Duterte wants no less than an excellent hosting of the Games as the government’s commitment to the Filipino people.

This is the fifth time that the CDM team has called a meeting with the NSA officials to resolve a handful of important issues.

Victolero: Magnolia ready for title defense

Blue Eagles withstand gallant stand by Tigers T

HE University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers succeeded in keeping their game close with the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles.

But in the end, the Blue Eagles’ defense held off the Growling Tigers in the last four possessions as Ateneo escaped with a 71-70 triumph yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Thirdy Ravena unloaded 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Eagles, who went on to register their third straight win in 82nd University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament.

The Blue Eagles, who are now in the solo lead, knew they were in for a tough fight and they got what they were expecting.

Despite their first setback in three games, UST proved that it is a danger-

ous team and a contender for the crown against the Blue Eagles this season.

Beninese forward Soulemane Chabi Yo hit 25 points for the Growling Tigers as they took took charge towards the end of the first half with a 37-33 lead.

The Growling Tigers, getting nine points from Rhenz Abando, Mark Nonoy and Renzo Subido, hung on to lead until the third period, and were up by three, 56-53 when the fourth period came.

UST, with Zach Huang making six points, was able to enjoy a seven-point edge in opening minutes of the fourth on Brent Paraiso’s floater, 60-53.

That’s when the Blue Eagles woke up. Angelo Kouame, who had 11 points and 10 rebounds, led the charge with his dunk and putback finding their mark with 5:26 to go and tying the count, 56-all.

Kouame, who was already in foul trouble at this time, kept it up, and his tip in with 2:57 left, handed Ateneo back the lead, 68-67.

UST had a chance to win the game, but the Tigers bungled their attempts in the four turnovers that the Eagles forced on them. This included Cansino’s flubbed triple with 3.5 ticks left.

During UST’s bid to score again, Ateneo found a chance to keep their distance on two charities from Ravena and a split from Matt Nieto, 71-67.

“I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so. We could see that, we understood that game was going to be a really, really tough game and I feel very, very fortunate that we won the game,” said Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin.

Later, Kurt Lojera scored on a clutch basket with 14 seconds left, allowing the La Salle Green Archers to get past National University Bulldogs, 83-82.

La Salle, with Justine Baltazar leading with 23 points and 10 rebounds, squandered a 14-point lead in the fourth, as NU took charge, 82-81, on a 16-1 blast that John Lloyd Clemente and Shaun Ildefonso initiated. Peter Atencio

Dutchman sizzles at finish, leads by 1 CAGAYAN de Oro—Dutch Guido Van der Valk put up a strong start and a stronger finish as he scorched the Pueblo de Oro course with a stirring seven-under 65 to wrest a one-stroke lead over Jay Bayron and Reymon Jaraula at the start of the ICTSI Pueblo de Oro Championship here yesterday.

Zanieboy Gialon fired a bogey-free 67, Ira Alido and Fil-German Keanu Jahns shot identical 68s, Magno Arancon Jr., Jun Bernis and Aussie Fidel Concepcion turned in similar 69s and Ferdie Aunzo, Jerson Balasabas, Tony Lascuña and Michael Bibat turned in 70s as the men of the tour went on a rebound after a punishing campaign at Wack Wack East in the Aboitiz Invitational last week.

Van der Valk, bristling with confidence after hurdling Stage 2 of the tough Japan PGA Tour qualifier last week, sizzled with four birdies at the front then bucked a three-putt miscue on the 10th with four straight birdies to spike his 33-32 card that came a stroke off Frankie Miñoza’s record 64 when he ruled this ICTSI-sponsored event in 2013.

“Very good,” was how Van der Valk described his round at the windy, up-and-down par-72 layout with winding fairways and deep ravines that saw him hit all but two greens in a fine display of iron play he complemented with superb putting, highlighted by a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 9.

Though he yielded the stroke on the next with a flubbed par-putt from six feet, the ace shotmaker from Lelystad, the Netherlands more than made up for the slip by birdying the last four, including a tap-in on No. 15, a five-footer on the next and a pair of seven-footers.

“I just hit it good and made the putts,” he said.

Bayron turned in a more fiery finish, three birdies and an eagle (No. 17) in the last four. Eager to make up for his missed cut stint at Aboitiz, the Davaoeño ace actually finished with a rare two pitch-in

Sizzling windup by Guido Van der Valk

eagle feats, including on No. 7, and gunned down three birdies against four bogeys.

“I think I was just lucky to hit those eagles in practically the same fashion,” said Bayron, who hit a couple of solid 3-wood second shots then knocked down those eagles from 20 yards on both par-5 holes.

ONCE again feeling quite hungry, Magnolia is looking to defend its Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup with gusto and conviction.

That’s according to Hotshots coach Chito Victolero, who feels that his wards are rejuvenated and motivated after a much-needed break.

“I told the the guys to come back hungrier and it seems like they really are,” said Victolero as his team is in the middle of its preparations for its title defense. “They are showing the hunger and passion so far.”

After winning the Governors’ Cup title last season, Magnolia continued to blossom as it also made the finals of the Philippine Cup before bowing in a hard-fought series against eventual champion San Miguel.

Last conference in the Commissioner’s Cup, constant import problems doomed the Hotshots’ chances.

They got eliminated in the quarterfinals, paving way to a prolonged break.

With former Best import Romeo Travis back in tow, along with an intact core, the Hotshots are looking for a repeat of what it did last season when it bagged the crown in the season-ending tournament.

“We’re not the strongest team on paper but we still have talent and chemistry,” added Victolero. “That’s our strength.”

Ian Sangalang, Marc Barroca, Paul Lee, Rafi Reavis and Marc Pingris are all expected to carry most of the load for the team.

Pirates see Altas as a challenge FACING the University of Perpetual Help Altas will be a challenge for the Lyceum Pirates.

Coach Topex Robinson said this ahead of their 4 p.m. clash with the Altas in the 95th National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

Robinson expressed that the players have been working on improving their game as a team, as they focus on their mission to stay on track for a Final Four slot.

“Perpetual Help is going to be a challenge for us, and we just want to keep improving as a team,” said Robinson.

The Pirates have bounced back from their 81-87 loss to the Arellano Chiefs with a 93-90 triumph over the same squad in their second round encounter.

This time, the Marcelino twins showed the way with with Jayvee finishing with 12 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, and Jaycee making 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists.

The Altas have a 3-6 win-loss slate in fourth spot with the Mapua Cardinals.

The Blazers (6-3), who are seeking to bounce back from a 6388 loss to the Letran Knights, take on the San Sebastian Stags (6-3) at 2 p.m.

In the junior division, the Lyceum Junior Pirates (7-3) seek to solidify their grip on no. 2 spot in their 12 noon meeting with the Perpetual Help Junior Altas.

La Salle Greenhills (5-5) fights the SSC Staglets (4-6) at 8 a.m.

Peter Atencio

Guiao takes blame for Gilas debacle, quits as coach

By Peter Atencio

Yeng Guiao

YENG Guiao said he is taking full responsibility for the outcome of the campaign of Gilas Pilipinas FIBA World Basketball 2019 and has submitted his resignation.

“I knew what conditions existed, what the limitations were, and still, I accepted the challenge. I hold myself responsible for the consequences,” said Guiao in his letter to top officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Guiao quit after Team Pilipinas finished winless after five

games at the end of the Classification 17-32 Phase of the World Cup in China.

He handed his letter of resignation to officials, led by by SBP chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan, president Al Panlilio, and vice-chairman Ricky Vargas following a meeting on Tuesday evening.

The 60-year-old Guiao feels that for the national squad to be able to compete against the world’s best team’s, Gilas needs better players and more exposure.

“I am sorry we could not deliver

a better performance. Our players gave their best against talented, bigger, stronger, and better prepared athletes from the best teams in the world. I truly appreciate their efforts and sacrificesand that of their families. Our times together will never be erased from my memory,” wrote Guiao.

In submitting his resignation, Guiao felt that this will give the SBP “a free hand in building and developing a program towards achieving our objective of competing with the best of the best.”

Guiao earlier said that for Gilas to

become a very competitive squad in the future, Gilas will need to have players who can match up better with bigger opposing cagers from other continents.

And these selected players may need to have more exposure to world-level basketball than they are currently having.

He has been around since Chot Reyes resigned, handling the Gilas team that saw action in the 2018 Asian Games.

Guiao is expected to return to his coaching duties with the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA.

IN BRIEF

Meralco announces top bids for 500 MW MANILA Electric Co. on Wednesday declared the offers submitted by First Gen Hydro Power Corp. of the Lopez Group, Phinma Energy Corp. of the Ayala Group and South Premiere Power Corp. of San Miguel Corp. as the best bids for the supply of the combined 500-megawatt mid-merit power requirement starting Dec. 26, 2019 for five years.

Meralco said the resulting prices from the competitive supply agreement are significantly lower than their average generation cost today of around P5.88 per kilowatt-hour (VAT inclusive). “The results of today’s bidding for 500 MW are expected to save consumers P4.4 billion annually for the next five years. This is equivalent to a rate reduction of around P0.13 per kWh for consumers, starting Dec. 26, 2019,” the power retailer said.

“Along with the results of first successful CSP, consumers are projected enjoy total savings of around P13.86 billion per year, or a rate reduction of P0.41 per kWh,” it said.

First Gen Hydro’s bid was for a contract capacity of 100 MW with an all-in headline rate (VAT inclusive) of P5.1908 per kilowatt-hour and computed all-in levelized cost of energy at P5.3989 per kWh. Phinma Energy submitted a bid for 110 MW at all-in headline rate of P5.5858 per kWh and computed all-in LCOE of P5.5858 per kWh. South Premiere’s bid was for 290 MW and had an all-in headline rate of P5.5347 per kWh and computed all-in LCOE of P5.7527 per kWh. Meralco said in a statement the resulting prices from the CSP are significantly lower than their average generation cost today of around P5.88 per kWh. Alena Mae S. Flores

Business

Court injunction bad for glass buyers

THE Federation of Philippine Industries Inc. said Wednesday the applications by glass traders for court injunctions against the mandatory testing of imported glass may hurt the consuming public.

FPI president Jess Arranza said the pleas for injunction filed by two separate groups with the Makati and Pasay regional trial were meant to deter, albeit temporarily, the exercise of mandatory testing.

“Product standards are established by the government for safety reasons. The government won’t mind how much traders or producers of flat glass would sell their products, so long as they meet the prescribed standards,” Arranza said.

The Trade Department issued Department Order 19-05 series of 2019 putting the flat glass under mandatory testing to ensure that no substandard glass products enter the country.

Arranza said product standards are set by the government to make locally-produced goods marketable in the world market.

“In a market-driven global economy, we can never compete if we have a lax product standard system,” he said. Othel V. Campos

SGV clears former Vallacar Transit CFO of liability in P380-m fund row

THE legal counsel of Sycip, Gorres and Velayo, the country’s top auditing firm, on Wednesday cleared the former chief financial officer of Vallacar Transit Inc. of any liability over the alleged P380-million fund mess.

SGV, through Poblador, Bautista and Reyes Law Office, cleared Celina Yanson-Lopez of any liability on the controversy. The auditing firm made the clarification shortly after Leo Rey Yanson and Yanson clan matriarch Olivia Yanson blamed Yanson-Lopez for the missing funds.

Sheila Sison, representing YansonLopez and three other Yanson siblings, earlier described the accusations against her clients as untrue and baseless.

Roy Yanson, the eldest of the six Yanson siblings, said that the discovery of the fund mess might have led to the recent squabble among members of the Yanson family.

Disagreements between the clan’s matriarch Olivia and the Yanson siblings on how to treat those who committed the fund mess broke the once stable board into two factions, with the first faction led by Roy, Ricky, Celina and Emily Yanson.

The four Yanson siblings said the minority block led by Leo Rey and Ginnette Dumancas who sided with their mother, were also the first to protest the filing of criminal charges against a former company official who was described as one of the matriarch’s pet employees.

Representatives of Leo Yanson were unavailable to issue an official statement as of press time.

Darwin G. Amojelar

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

B1

Air passengers increased 9.8% to 30.47m in first semester

By Darwin G. Amojelar

OmniPay teams up with Diners Club

OMNIPAY, one of Asia’s leading providers of breakthrough card programs and payment services, teamed up with Diners Club International Inc., a part of the Discover Global Network, for the launch of the Omnipay Diners Club Forex Prepaid Card in the Philippines.

OmniPay president and chief executive Simoun Ung said in a news briefing in Taguig City they were expecting to issue around two million cards in the first year of partnership.

“This will certainly be a valuable addition to the card businesses of banks, issuers, and acquirers. As always, we are here to help these companies gain market share through well-designed and attractive card offerings,” Ung said.

Ung said the partnership with Diners would “open up more possibilities” for OmniPay. Ung said the prepaid card is the solution for businesses that are looking to integrate travelrelated benefits for their customers. It is a US dollar-based prepaid card with the capability of acting like a loyalty and rewards card, and is internationally accepted due to the Discover Global Network, which includes Discover Network, Diners Club International, PULSE and affiliate networks. Julito G. Rada

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

METROBANK’S 57TH YEAR. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno (center) graces Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.’s 57th anniversary celebration at the Grand Hyatt Manila in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. With Diokno are (from left) Metrobank president Fabian Dee, Metrobank chairman Arthur Ty, GT Capital Holdings co-vice chairman Alfred Ty and Metrobank vice chairman Francisco Sebastian. Diokno describes Metrobank as one of the biggest and best managed banks in the country, highlighted by a strong balance sheet, adherence to global banking standards and an emphasis on corporate social responsibility.

Investments soared 126% to P609b in eight months

By Othel V. Campos

N

EW projects approved by the Board of Investments jumped 126 percent in the first eight months to P609 billion from P269.3 billion a year ago, on the back of big-ticket projects registered in August.

The BOI said 98 percent of these investments were committed to areas outside Metro Manila. Once completed, these projects would generate jobs for 37,524 personnel, or 30.5 percent higher than 28,743 jobs anticipated in the same period last year.

Data from the BOI showed that domestic investments climbed 61.2 percent in the eight-month period to P404.5 billion from P251 billion a year ago.

Approved foreign investments comprised a third of the total and surged 1,016.3 percent in the first eight months to P204.5 billion from P18.3 billion in the same period in 2018.

Singapore was the top source of for-

eign investments with P170 billion followed by the Netherlands with P9.2 billion, Thailand with P8.6 billion, Japan with P6 billion and the United States with P2.4 billion.

The BOI said investment approvals in August hit P296.2 billion, a 1,640.percent jump from just P17 billion in August 2018.

“The August figure of investment approvals nearly matches investments approved for the first seven months of 2019 amounting to P312.8 billion. This shows big-ticket projects have begun to roll in and proves that the Philippine economy remains resilient in attracting investors despite the global slowdown,”

said Trade Secretary and BOI chairman Ramon Lopez.

“With the August inflation rate decelerating further to 1.7 percent, the lowest in nearly three years, our country has greater stability and flexibility as our exports continue to grow in some markets. Even our manufacturing sector is expected to weather the downward trend that has affected most countries as BOI approvals among the manufacturing sector surged to P62.9 billion, a 189.2-percent increase from just P21.7 billion in January to August 2018,” Lopez said.

He said to further increase the capacities of the manufacturing base, the country would continue to aggressively promote increased bilateral business ties with its biggest trading partners despite their trade wars between the US and China.

“But at the same time, we will also promote import substitutions by exporting more to other markets as we diversify,” Lopez said.

SM Prime’s 73rd shopping mall set to open in Olongapo

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. said Wednesday its 73rd shopping mall in the country is set to open on Friday in Olongapo City.

SM Prime said in a disclosure to the stock exchange SM City Olongapo Central, which has a gross floor area of 72,000 square meters, is its second lifestyle mall in Zambales province.

“Olongapo City remains as one of the fastest-growing cities in Central Luzon creating a wonderful synergy on economical and sustainable development.

SM City Olongapo Central will not only enhance the beauty of this thriving city, and its province, but will also create more jobs and business opportu-

nities to locals who aspire to grow with our company,” SM Prime president and chief executive Jeffrey Lim said.

SM Prime also owns seven malls in China.

The company is scheduled to open SM Center Dagupan, SM City Butuan and SM Mindpro Citimall in Zamboanga later this year. It also set to complete the expansion of SM City Fairview and SM City Baguio.

SM Prime said this year’s mall launches would all be in the provinces, adding more than 300,000 sqm of GFA to the group’s portfolio.

Situated in Olongapo’s primary business district along Rizal Avenue in Barangay East Tapinac, SM City Olongapo Central is a four-story

shopping, dining and entertainment mall with well-loved SM brands such as SM Supermarket, The SM Store, Our Home, Watsons, Uniqlo, Surplus, Sport Central, SM Appliance Center, Ace Hardware, Banco de Oro and China Bank.

SM City Olongapo Central will open with 85-percent of space lease-awarded. It is expected to be an ideal avenue for communities from neighboring towns and provinces to converge and enjoy a refreshing and holistic urban lifestyle experience topped with modern amenities including a Food Hall, Cyberzone, Wellness Zone, six digital cinemas, a convention center, more than 700 carpark slots and a sports entertainment venue.

AIR passenger traffic grew by nearly a tenth in the first half from a year ago despite the lack of airport slots in Manila’s international gateway.

Data from the Civil Aeronautics Board showed that the combined domestic and international passenger traffic grew by 9.8 percent in the first six months to 30.47 million from 27.75 million in the same period last year.

Domestic passenger traffic reached 15.16 million passengers, up from last year’s 13.92 million while international passenger traffic rose to 15.31 million from 13.83 million.

“For many years we have been growing robustly on an average of 10 percent. We are on track [to meet the 10 percent target this year] and hopefully the programs that the government will work in order to give some kind of slack in our infrastructure,” CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said.

“The demand in the Philippines is overtaking the infrastructure but we are doing our best,” he said.

Arcilla said among the planned infrastructure projects are the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan, the rehabilitation of Ninoy Aquino International Airports and the development of new airports outside Metro Manila.

San Miguel Corp. earlier secured a notice of award form the Transportation Department for the construction of a P734-billion international airport in Bulacan while the proposal of NAIA Consortium is now being evaluated by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Data showed that Cebu Pacific remained the country’s top domestic carrier with 6.60 million passengers in the first half, up from 6.24 million passengers last year.

This was followed by PAL Express with 3.77 million passengers, up from last year’s 3.21 million passengers, while Philippine Airlines carried 841,291 passengers, slightly down from 869,492 passengers last year.

Philippines Air Asia flew 2.61 million domestic passengers; Cebgo, 968,675 passengers; Magnum Air, 118,272; Airswfit 1Transport Inc. 86, 994; and AirJuan Aviation Inc., 9,510 passengers.

PAL was the number one airline in terms of international traffic with 3.83 million passengers in the first half, followed by Cebu Pacific with 2.97 million passengers and Philippines Air Asia with 1.25 million passengers.

Astro Air International carried 127, 267 passengers in the first half and Royal Air Charter Services flew 5,884 passengers.

Foreign carriers’ total passenger traffic reached 7.11 million passengers, up from last year’s 6.52 million passengers.

Juul Labs opposes higher tax on e-cigarettes

By Julito G. Rada US-BASED electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. expressed its opposition to the proposal in Congress to increase the excise taxes on electronic nicotine delivery system, or vapor products, saying it may kill the category and result in illicit trade.

Juul said in its comments to House Bill 1026 that it was opposing the timing of the new proposed increase as it has been operating in the country for only two months.

“Taxing us at this point with a proposed 200-percent hike is onerous as it might just kill the category. As such there is nothing to tax and no revenues collected,” Juul said.

The House of Representatives after a week of deliberations swiftly passed House Bill 1026 on Aug. 20, 2019. The bill which originally intended to raise the excise tax on alcohol products, but its committee report was amended on

the floor to include, among others, a provision mandating an increase in excise tax on electronic nicotine delivery system/vapor products.

This came less than a month after Republic Act 11346 was signed into law on July 25, 2019, which imposed the excise tax on ENDS for the first time. The provisions of the new law are supposed to be implemented by Jan. 1, 2020.

House Bill 1026 proposed an increase in the excise tax on heated tobacco or ecigarettes to P45 per pack in 2020 and an incremental increase of P5 per pack per year, on par with regular cigarettes.

The tax on vapor products with nicotine salts would be increased to P30 from the current P10 per milliliter, with an incremental P5 yearly increase to P45 by 2023.

The Finance Department said the excise tax increase on alcohol and ecigarettes would generate around P52 billion while HB 1026 was expected to generate P33.3 billion by 2020.

BPI’S QUILL AWARDS. The International Association of Business Communicators Philippine chapter recognizes Bank of the Philippine Islands for communications excellence during the 17th Quill Awards. BPI received the awards for championing cybersecurity awareness and pursuing financial inclusion through BanKO program and for its 2017 integrated report. Holding the trophies are (from third left) corporate communications head Owen Cammayo, corporate governance officer Don Cesar Sevilla II, data privacy program management officer Jonathan Imperial and BanKO marketing assistant Abeson Argosino.

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Business

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market gains; Ayala Land rises T HE stock market climbed Wednesday, tracking gains in the rest of the region on a growing sense of optimism over China-US trade talks.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 38.42 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,967.90 on a value turnover of P6.7 billion. Gainers overwhelmed losers, 119 to 65, with 58 issues unchanged.

Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. advanced 2 percent to P50, while PLDT Inc., the biggest telecommunications firm, gained 1.4 percent to P1,197.

JG Summit Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei added 0.8 percent to P73.45, but Puregold Price Club Inc. of tycoon Lucio Co fell 3

percent to P42.70.

Asian markets, meanwhile, mostly rose Wednesday with a broadly upbeat tone across trading floors ahead of major meetings at the European and US central banks.

News that Donald Trump had fired his fervently hawkish national security adviser also lifted sentiment with analysts saying it could see the White House take a less strident approach and ease geopolitical tensions.

With the global economy stuttering, attention has turned increasingly to central banks as investors look for more stimulus.

On Thursday the European Central Bank holds one of its most anticipated gatherings and hopes are for a series of fresh measures including a possible interest rate cut, fresh bond-buying quantitative easing (QE) or other loosening tools.

That is followed by the Federal Reserve’s board meeting next week, where it is tipped to announce another reduction in borrowing costs as the world’s top economy—which has so far been the strongest globally— stutters.

“With the expectation of the resumption of quantitative easing by the ECB... and a rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, the risk environment has solidified and tempted investors out of hiding from the bond markets and back into equities,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA. In afternoon trade Hong Kong climbed 1.6 percent as investors made the most of the upbeat mood to pick up cheap stocks after months of sometimes violent protests in the city weighed on the stock market.

Tokyo finished one percent higher, Singapore put on more than one percent,

Seoul rose 0.8 percent, Sydney gained 0.4 percent and Taipei added 0.3 percent, while Mumbai, Bangkok and Jakarta also posted gains.

However, Shanghai fell 0.4 percent, with little major reaction to news that China had listed 16 US categories of goods it would exempt from tariffs, ahead of planned top-level trade talks next month. Dealers also appeared to brush off Beijing’s decision Tuesday to lift limits on foreign investment in the country.

Wellington tumbled almost two percent as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government was rocked by its handling of sexual assault allegations against a top Labor Party staffer.

Trump’s decision to sack John Bolton as leading security adviser raised the possibility of an easing of tensions between the US and several nations, particularly Iran. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

92.6 2.02 144 1.17 25.85 18.6 11.98 4.95 1.21 750 0.445 70 0.95 13 47 183.5 111 57.85 27.65 203.2 1,790 59.8 1.11

93 2.11 144 1.21 26 18.6 12.18 5.3 1.21 750 0.45 70.15 0.99 13.1 47.25 184.5 118 57.9 27.65 205 1,800 59.8 1.11

92 2.02 141.6 1.16 25.85 18.5 11.98 4.9 1.21 750 0.44 69.75 0.94 13 46.4 183.4 111 57.75 27.65 203 1,790 59.4 1.11

FINANCIALS 93 5,029,230 2.11 8,000 143 2,397,060 1.21 68,000 25.9 206,200 18.5 2,700 12.18 771,100 5.1 862,000 1.21 26,000 750 180 0.45 80,000 69.75 4,725,530 0.99 488,000 13.1 2,200 46.5 104,400 183.5 750 118 350 57.75 5,650 27.65 100 204 723,720 1,800 595 59.45 14,040 1.11 10,000

465,257,850.50 16,340 342,375,700 79,200 5,337,970 50,160 9,370,968 4,387,040 31,460 135,000 35,650 330,404,662 473,590 28,700 4,873,110 137,835 39,110 326,354 2,765 147,620,536 1,070,375 835,865 11,100

72,498,792.50 -12,327,492 -1,210 -3,978,785 -14,820 3,588,812 -248,048,635 -980,555 -196,356 -2,765 -2,576,592 -440,314 -

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

36.9 15.86 0.69 1.3 0.247 109 2.71 14.2 115.6 11.38 17.5 32.75 83.15 2.04 6.01 6.07 8.97 15 10.1 7.22 26.4 83.2 51 2.3 13.84 8.8 1.64 227 5 3.39 22.4 14.12 19.3 359.2 0.19 5.27 2.13 5.16 9.1 2.95 10.42 33.6 5.2 5.13 1.73 1.14 12 92 7.2 0.123 1.1 167.1 1.25 1.3

37.8 15.92 0.7 1.32 0.247 109 2.74 14.2 115.6 12.1 18 32.75 83.15 2.07 6.12 6.23 9.03 15.3 10.2 7.22 26.5 83.2 54 2.33 13.9 8.99 1.64 228 5 3.42 22.5 14.18 19.4 363.6 0.19 5.3 2.13 5.27 9.19 2.98 10.46 34.75 5.2 5.15 1.8 1.14 12.18 92 7.23 0.128 1.13 170 1.34 1.34

36.25 15.7 0.69 1.3 0.241 109 2.67 14 115.6 11.12 16.74 31.3 79.05 1.97 6.01 6.03 8.97 15 10.06 7.18 26.35 82.8 51 2.27 13.78 8.8 1.6 224 5 3.39 21.9 14.08 19.26 357.2 0.189 5.21 2.06 5.15 9.1 2.9 10.42 33.6 5.1 5.09 1.69 1.07 11.98 89 7.18 0.123 1.08 167.1 1.24 1.28

INDUSTRIAL 37.8 2,112,000 15.92 894,600 0.69 544,000 1.31 265,000 0.246 270,000 109 410 2.74 3,188,000 14.08 469,900 115.6 10 11.6 863,800 16.74 44,900 31.5 535,600 82.5 1,610 2.07 195,000 6.12 107,600 6.03 29,300 9 888,900 15.3 524,000 10.06 32,500 7.2 726,200 26.5 1,618,400 83 172,290 52.6 127,910 2.3 4,029,000 13.8 851,300 8.94 150,500 1.61 238,000 226.2 710,030 5 7,000 3.42 21,000 22.2 635,600 14.18 146,200 19.34 385,700 363.6 139,700 0.19 470,000 5.3 35,700 2.08 6,114,000 5.24 1,835,900 9.19 600 2.96 10,925,000 10.46 8,200 34 1,056,500 5.16 45,300 5.1 228,500 1.75 1,965,000 1.13 1,475,000 12 911,600 91.5 533,840 7.22 47,800 0.128 80,000 1.1 1,128,000 168 483,340 1.3 29,960,000 1.3 7,679,000

79,089,930 14,150,244 379,200 345,090 65,540 44,690 8,648,190 6,588,088 1,156 9,980,398 776,394 17,372,725 130,345 397,670 647,443 180,209 7,998,140 7,971,420 330,002 5,235,611 42,834,415 14,300,391.50 6,719,848.50 9,236,430 11,752,740 1,339,281 385,440 160,012,126 35,000 71,440 14,098,140 2,067,306 7,447,346 50,401,416 89,260 187,875 12,749,930 9,574,466 5,505 32,213,130 85,548 35,962,700 233,726 1,165,952 3,433,250 1,616,960 10,940,930 48,006,846.50 344,709 10,100 1,242,000 81,608,406 39,023,170 9,996,460

32,714,085 1,918,036 1,320 2,848,920 1,428,946 276,832 -17,139,615 702 -89,111 -2,678,218 6,484,468 -1,734,760 23,157,650 -5,173,250.50 517,130.50 -18,590.00 -6,563,430 534,518 0 9,714,052 -3,721,075 1,641,090 2,513,928 10,382,206 6,054,070 1,265,817 1,160,990 -3,126 7,273,075 -1,065,440 211,200 -5,898,461.50 722 -108,000 14,163,502 -20,912,100 51,250

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 FJ PRINCE A GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG KEPPEL HLDG B 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 ZEUS HLDG

0.9 53 12.38 0.8 6.99 13.7 1.23 1.23 902 3.4 6.8 9.1 13.88 4.12 920.5 72.4 6.45 5.3 0.495 4.54 14.44 0.66 5.1 0.039 1.39 3.03 174.4 1,013 0.86 1.31 236 0.25

0.95 53.75 12.38 0.84 7 13.98 1.24 1.25 907 3.45 6.91 9.2 13.88 4.12 935 73.55 6.45 5.3 0.495 4.56 14.5 0.66 5.16 0.039 1.4 3.5 174.9 1,025 0.86 1.31 236.2 0.25

0.88 52.7 12.28 0.8 6.99 13.52 1.2 1.23 901 3.38 6.8 9.06 13.8 4.12 919.5 72.3 6.3 5.16 0.485 4.52 14.04 0.6 5.1 0.039 1.36 3.03 172.4 1,011 0.84 1.31 222 0.236

HOLDING FIRMS 0.93 28,422,000 53 1,174,220 12.38 4,666,800 0.81 2,652,000 7 2,000 13.88 68,800 1.22 3,052,000 1.24 474,000 904 234,670 3.41 5,808,000 6.87 438,800 9.12 8,449,600 13.8 3,200 4.12 2,000 930 214,320 73.45 2,398,710 6.3 200 5.16 55,000 0.49 110,000 4.56 75,000 14.16 3,759,600 0.65 750,000 5.1 16,823,500 0.039 3,200,000 1.36 47,000 3.07 593,000 172.4 352,970 1,025 323,845 0.86 104,000 1.31 21,000 236.2 1,320 0.24 910,000

26,329,910 62,183,315.50 57,690,322 2,178,860 13,998 943,590 3,694,110 585,400 212,062,990 19,823,330 3,014,762 77,211,584 44,176 8,240 198,709,115 175,449,190.50 1,275 283,828 53,900 341,140 53,402,536 464,690 86,090,564 124,800 64,580 1,857,920 61,153,889 329,761,905 88,690 27,510 309,112 220,650

2,906,700 -11,505,780.50 4,366,812 -6,560 -466,660 -24,141,705 -1,007,890 574,394 -33,318,433 30,321,920 60,143,255 -218,270 11,648,252 -10,037,468 -32,500 -23,535,326 -42,078,050 -224,152 -

8990 HLDG A BROWN ANCHOR LAND ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEB LANDMASTERS CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP 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 PTFC REDEV CORP ROBINSONS LAND

15.3 0.83 11 1.88 0.9 49 2.2 4.69 6 0.56 0.85 0.23 0.395 9.3 21.4 0.45 1.65 1.28 5.05 0.315 0.45 1.45 0.39 2.06 53.7 25.25

15.3 0.84 11 2 0.9 50 2.2 4.69 6 0.57 0.88 0.23 0.395 9.7 21.5 0.46 1.66 1.28 5.12 0.32 0.45 1.49 0.39 2.1 53.7 25.35

15.26 0.82 10.78 1.88 0.87 48.7 2.17 4.68 6 0.55 0.85 0.22 0.395 9.3 21.4 0.45 1.63 1.28 5 0.315 0.445 1.44 0.39 2.05 53.7 25.1

PROPERTY 15.26 278,600 0.83 793,000 10.78 4,100 1.99 73,000 0.89 2,499,000 50 7,999,700 2.19 549,000 4.69 301,000 6 100 0.57 13,099,000 0.87 77,000 0.222 240,000 0.395 160,000 9.7 169,300 21.45 109,300 0.46 150,000 1.66 9,651,000 1.28 27,000 5.07 13,863,800 0.32 2,430,000 0.445 540,000 1.49 1,230,000 0.39 200,000 2.05 470,000 53.7 40 25.2 3,382,400

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

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

2.39 3.45 34.65 2.4 5.62 0.93 7.68

2.41 3.45 34.65 2.42 5.75 0.96 7.69

2.36 3.42 34.3 2.4 5.61 0.93 7.64

2.41 3.45 34.5 2.42 5.66 0.96 7.69

193,000 44,000 18,621,300 46,000 53,800 36,000 4,218,800

462,520 151,310 642,517,065 111,230 304,664 34,440 32,415,662

-27,600 147,471,465 -4,941,900

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CEBU AIR CHELSEA DFNN INC EASYCALL FAR EASTERN U GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN BRIA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IPEOPLE ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY METRO RETAIL METROALLIANCE A NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PHIL RACING 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 20 1.61 0.58 0.048 2.34 11.2 0.058 93.5 7.3 6.29 11.2 899.5 1,970 5.31 435 1.78 1.88 134.3 9.59 0.11 5.45 3 14.56 3.28 0.9 19.04 3.28 2.5 1.25 3.44 2.79 8.41 8.7 138 3.35 1,180 0.73 0.63 44 77.55 9.15 2.86 0.7 0.345 5.45 0.68 16.5

10.4 20 1.66 0.6 0.05 2.4 11.28 0.059 94.6 7.38 6.29 12.48 900 1,990 5.32 435 1.82 1.88 138.5 9.59 0.113 5.5 3 14.56 3.35 0.93 19.26 3.35 2.5 1.35 3.51 2.85 8.5 8.7 138 3.42 1,198 0.74 0.63 44.25 77.85 9.15 2.9 0.71 0.355 5.46 0.69 16.74

10 19.5 1.58 0.56 0.048 2.34 11.02 0.058 93.5 7.26 6.29 11.2 899.5 1,935 5.3 435 1.77 1.87 132 9.5 0.11 5.4 3 14.56 3.25 0.9 19.04 3.28 2.43 1.25 3.38 2.75 8.2 8.7 138 3.3 1,180 0.72 0.6 42.5 77.55 9.15 2.85 0.69 0.345 5.45 0.68 16.5

SERVICES 10.2 19.86 1.6 0.6 0.05 2.35 11.1 0.058 94 7.34 6.29 11.42 900 1,940 5.3 435 1.77 1.87 135 9.5 0.113 5.42 3 14.56 3.35 0.93 19.26 3.35 2.47 1.25 3.4 2.81 8.3 8.7 138 3.36 1,197 0.72 0.62 42.7 77.55 9.15 2.85 0.7 0.345 5.45 0.68 16.74

9,500 208,100 55,000 20,259,000 6,100,000 239,000 2,056,800 8,840,000 54,210 451,500 100 3,434,200 80 50,800 102,500 50 1,005,000 28,000 1,076,190 4,800 20,000 1,124,900 1,000 400 321,000 436,000 781,000 50,000 450,000 6,000 2,895,000 626,000 15,800 100 10 973,000 101,170 1,383,000 14,409,000 2,410,800 419,910 100 382,000 959,000 6,460,000 1,233,100 876,000 1,572,000

95,760 4,115,078 87,980 11,617,910 300,700 569,360 22,875,004 512,750 5,095,013 3,301,092 629 40,753,484 71,995 99,412,895 543,928 21,750 1,787,350 52,620 145,803,811 45,635 2,230 6,116,943 3,000 5,824 1,059,470 402,340 14,995,794 166,460 1,101,520 7,600 9,901,470 1,747,490 131,479 870 1,380 3,260,430 120,710,110 1,007,260 8,866,540 103,272,320 32,566,179 915 1,094,230 670,750 2,270,000 6,720,397 597,220 26,248,294

55,090.00 5,000 2,390 1,462,518 590 442,609.50 2,141 -58,858 8,995 29,402,880 -535,780 3,440,338 438,717 -241,722 129,820 3,364 1,380 20,330 50,547,625 -199,920 -449,300 26,697,240 -11,755,121.50 180,250 -40,875 -151,340 20,232,878

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

0.0017 1.2 2.56 12.5 1.18 2.71 7.75 1.71 0.219 0.111 0.112 0.011 1.18 4.38 1.09 0.87 0.012 0.012 0.011 9.68 3.96 11.3 23.45

0.0017 1.25 2.78 12.5 1.18 2.71 7.87 1.73 0.219 0.112 0.114 0.012 1.23 4.47 1.11 0.88 0.012 0.012 0.011 9.88 4.11 12.52 23.7

0.0017 1.19 2.56 11.52 1.18 2.7 7.75 1.65 0.215 0.11 0.112 0.011 1.18 4.25 1.06 0.84 0.011 0.012 0.011 9.56 3.94 11.3 23

MINING & OIL 0.0017 161,000,000 1.22 4,662,000 2.63 29,000 12.4 11,400 1.18 25,000 2.71 160,000 7.81 300 1.66 28,682,000 0.216 120,000 0.112 1,020,000 0.114 160,000 0.012 9,000,000 1.22 220,000 4.35 10,787,000 1.11 85,000 0.84 1,468,000 0.011 400,000 0.012 13,900,000 0.011 20,100,000 9.8 660,600 4.05 1,115,000 12.34 8,096,800 23.4 1,125,700

273,700 5,667,800 76,770 140,092 29,500 432,600 2,343 48,103,520 25,940 112,540 18,040 103,000 264,200 47,317,280 91,520 1,246,950 4,600 166,800 221,100 6,450,403 4,517,090 97,656,902 26,263,930

36,600 2,630 23,600 -5,160 6,840 -144,000 -11,303,930 6,720 -209,000 290,559 -280 -4,422,918 4,445,660

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B ALCO PREF C FGEN PREF G FPH PREF C GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B HOUSE PREF A LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B PCOR PREF 3B PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC FB PREF 2 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2I

18.78 504 500.5 102 100.6 107.5 490 5.13 990 989 98.8 1 101.2 1,022 1,065 101.8 109 995 78.95 75.8 76 76.55

18.78 504 505 102 100.6 107.5 490 5.13 994 989 98.8 1 101.9 1,022 1,069 101.8 109 995 78.95 75.9 76 76.55

18.7 504 500.5 102 100.6 107.5 490 5.12 990 989 97.5 1 100.2 1,022 1,065 100.2 109 995 78.95 75.8 76 76.55

PREFERRED 18.7 128,200 504 10 505 70 102 840 100.6 5,000 107.5 3,400 490 500 5.12 411,600 994 1,000 989 10 98.5 3,120 1 12,000 100.2 11,350 1,022 5,490 1,069 5,180 100.2 3,600 109 10 995 2,760 78.95 310 75.9 2,800 76 1,400 76.55 20,000

2,404,516 5,040 35,080 85,680 503,000 365,500 245,000 2,109,500 993,960 9,890 305,223 12,000 1,143,380 5,610,780 5,524,920 365,681 1,090 2,746,200 24,474.50 212,373 106,400 1,531,000

-1,500,400 5,040 1,020 -153,700 985 160,350 9,950 -

LR WARRANT

1.7

1.71

1.68

WARRANTS 1.7 70,000

118,450

MS 4,256,448 656,540 44,740 140,060 2,201,130 393,679,015 1,196,570 1,410,640 600 7,412,550 66,680 53,340 63,200 1,610,182 2,347,600 67,600 15,919,570 34,560 70,155,082 768,450 240,950 1,803,500 78,000 968,990 2,148 85,324,080

-392,486 840 1,080 1,990 71,070 101,314,785 -899,580 -37,490 -395,150 987,159 901,375 3,014,530 8,988,080 -40,500 -15,667,730

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH XURPAS

6.29 11.3 0.94

6.75 11.78 1.19

6.29 10.7 0.94

FIRST METRO ETF

119

119.3

118.9

USD DMPL A1 USD TECH B2

10.32 0.99

TRADING SUMMARY

10.4 0.99

SHARES

FINANCIAL

16,970,649

INDUSTRIAL

86,232,408

HOLDING FIRMS

90,932,214

PROPERTY

89,819,227

SERVICES

89,681,698

MINING & OIL

263,039,024

GRAND TOTAL

713,504,265

10.32 0.98

SME

6.6 10.88 1.05

2,553,300 1,957,400 72,313,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 119.3 1,820 10.4 0.98

DDS

57,600 6,000

16,738,462 21,795,206 80,588,110 216,819 596,721.60 5,887.40

197,286 -23,400 -420,400 51,256 -

VALUE 1,824.93 (UP) 0.24 1,469,892,101.44 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,965.83 (UP) 72.87 894,421,659.99 HOLDING FIRMS 7,890.15 (UP) 42.53 1,682,682,787.87 PROPERTY 4,061.47 (UP) 33.28 SERVICES 1,617.04 (UP) 3.37 1,454,347,819.445 MINING & OIL 9,473.64 (UP) 119.76 801,610,159.295 PSEI 7,967.90 (UP) 38.42 239,233,718.182 All Shares Index 4,804.82 (UP) 18.37 6,661,531,733.38 Gainers: 119; Losers: 65; Unchanged: 58; Total: 242

Fruitas set to add 650 new stores until 2022

By Jenniffer B. Austria FRUITAS Holdings Inc., one of the largest food and beverage kiosk operators in the country, plans to add between 550 and 650 companyowned stores from 2020 to 2022 using proceeds from a P1.2-billion planned initial public offering.

Fruitas said in a registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fruitas it would spend P586 million, about 59 percent of the total IPO proceeds, mainly to open new stores, improve existing ones and purchase delivery vehicles.

Fruitas as of end June 2019 had a network of 949 stores across 20 brands, serving fresh fruit shakes and juices, lemonade, coolers, milk tea, desserts, meat-filled pastries and lechon (roasted pig).

Fruitas is also allotting P150 million to acquire other foodservice businesses or introduce new foodservice concepts in the Philippines to accelerate store expansion, “Our potential target acquisitions and new concepts must have a strategic fit with our current operations and must present opportunities for us to explore other business segments and add value to the new businesses using our existing competitive strengths,” Fruitas said.

The company plans to expand its food park business by building new or acquiring existing ones.

It plans to open two new food parks from 2020 until 2021, mostly located in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon.

“As opportunities arise, we may potentially lease suitable spaces in existing commercial establishments to operate our own food courts. We are still in the early stages of assessing potential sites and there are no definitive agreements signed,” the company said.

Fruitas plans to use part of the IPO proceeds to fund commissary expansion, and debt repayment.

Fruitas is offering up to 533.66 million in primary common shares with an over-allotment option of up to 68.34 million common shares at a maximum price of P1.99 each.

Subject to regulatory approvals, Fruitas is scheduling an offering period from November 18 to 22 and aims to list the shares before the end of the year.

The company named BDO Capital & Investment Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp. as joint issue managers, joint book runners and joint lead underwriters of the offering.

Globe upbeat, regains Yondu from Xurpas

By Darwin G. Amojelar GLOBE Telecom Inc. is buying back an IT solutions company from Xurpas Inc. for P501 million.

The company said its board approved the acquisition of 51 percent of Yondu Inc., equivalent to 22,950 shares, from Xurpas.

Xurpas prior to the transaction held 51 percent of the shares in Yondu, while Globe owned 49 percent.

The board of Globe also approved the signing of the corresponding deed of sale of shares and other related definitive agreements.

“Bringing Yondu into the Globe value chain will promote synergies and strengthen the position of our enterprise business. We believe in Yondu’s growth prospects as we leverage on its capabilities in a robust IT industry,” said Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu. Yondu was a leading content developer and provider of mobile value-added services and information technology services back in 2015 when it was acquired by Xurpas.

It has since then evolved to become a top IT solutions company in the Philippines, expanding its product portfolio to provide managed services software development and turkey solutions.

The transaction is consistent with Globe’s strategy of developing its ICT capabilities responsive to the changing needs of its customers.

Yondu’s strong IT core competencies combined with Globe’s digital expertise will strengthen the value proposition of products and services catered to enterprise clients Xurpas was engaged in the business of developing and distributing celebritythemed mobile games.

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Catalonians test their strength

BARCELONA―Divided after their failed 2017 secession bid, Catalonia’s separatists will hold a rally in Barcelona on Wednesday that will test their strength before a Spanish court in October serves verdicts against the leaders of the independence push.

Since 2012, separatists have held massive rallies on September 11, Catalonia’s “national day”, which marks the fall of Barcelona to Spain in 1714. Organizers say a million people took part in past “Diada” rallies.

This year’s demonstration will get underway at 17:14 (1514 GMT)—a nod to the year—on Barcelona’s central Plaza Espana.

The rally comes just a few weeks before Spain’s Supreme Court is due to deliver verdicts in the high-profile trial of 12 separatist leaders charged over their role in Catalonia’s separatist bid, which plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras and eight others face the most serious charge of rebellion. Public

AFTER THE HURRICANE. A man bikes

past destroyed homes in Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, on September 10, 2019, one week after Hurricane Dorian. Bahamas authorities have updated the death toll from Hurricane Dorian to 50 with the number expected to climb, local media reported, as thousands are evacuated from the archipelago’s hardest-hit islands. AFP

Kaliwa Dam uproar; Dubious steel imports OUT IN THE controversy over the bidding of the Kaliwa Dam project refuses THE OPEN to ebb.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, hounded by accusations from the Commission on Audit that it committed irregularities in the bidding and vetting procedures for the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project, is fending off more allegations.

The Senate committees on cultural communities, public works and finance has found out in a recent hearing that the dam project failed to obtain the consent of the indigenous peoples, a requirement under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. Senator Imee Marcos concurred the IPs opposed (the project) and that no consent was obtained from them.

Civil society and non-government organizations have supported the call of the Agta-Dumagat-Remontado tribes in Quezon and Rizal provinces demanding the cancellation of the Kaliwa Dam project.

Earlier, the COA recommended an “immediate” investigation into findings that three shortlisted contractors for the China-funded Kaliwa Dam might have been qualified to participate in the bidding process “despite shortcuts made as per the pre-qualification requirements of the MWSS.” The project involves the building of a dam at the Kaliwa River (Laiban Dam), and a downstream dam (Kaliwa Dam) in Tanay, Rizal to solve Metro Manila’s worsening water supply situation.

COA’s investigation came on the heels of President Rodrigo Duterte’s complaint during his 4th State of the Nation Address, when he expressed frustration over corruption within the government and his promise to use the remaining three years of his term to curb it.

COA said the three Chinese companies that the MWSS’ Technical Working Group (TWG) qualified to participate in the bidding did not meet the requirements under three categories: design engineering experience, construction experience and single largest completed contract.

A public hearing held at General Nakar, Quezon, meanwhile, revealed that MWSS representatives reportedly changed the specifications of the project, lowering the planned dam’s height from 73 meters to 60 meters, in an attempt to placate sectors opposed to the Kaliwa Dam. But a change in the dam height will involve a revision in the price of the Chinese contract. A different dam height should also be re-tendered among the previously qualified tenderers, or the newly invited tenderers, following the country’s procurement regulations.

Technical smuggling A separate controversy is plaguing the steel sector.

The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating allegations of corruption between several big steel manufacturers and officials of the Bureau of Customs, who may have deprived the government of billions of pesos in tax revenues, including penalties for improper import declarations.

PACC chairman Dante Jimenez told a morning radio program his office had brought to the attention of Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez reports that large scale “technical smuggling” had been taking place over the past 10 years due to the alleged collusion between BOC officials and large steelmakers.

“Aside from the smuggling allegations, there are also questions regarding the quality of steel, how this affects safety and the lives of people... these are all the subjects of an ongoing investigation by the PACC,” says Jimenez.

Jimenez concedes that the case, which involves steelmakers clearing their products at the customs point of entry despite discrepancies in the documents “may be bigger than the cigarettes smuggling and tax evasion issue two years ago.”

Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier raised the alarm on the billions of pesos the Philippines could be losing annually to tax leakages from imports.

Steel contributes a significant portion of Philippine industrial imports.

Citing World Bank data, Lacson said the Philippines may have lost P32.18 billion worth of value added taxes in 2017 alone due to ‘underdeclaration.’

Industry sources said the PACC obtained documents detailing how the country’s largest steelmaker imported two million tons of steel billets last year, and may be responsible for over half a trillion pesos worth of lost revenues for the government due to systematic mis-declaration of import figures.

The PACC suspects that big steel importers, in collusion with BOC officials, have been manipulating the HS codes (the universal code for export and import goods). Specifically, the steelmakers have been describing the imports of cast and prime steel billets used for steel manufacturing as Grade 60 when in fact, the orders under the same code are a mix of Grade 40 (5sp) and Grade 33 (3sp). This allowed them to allegedly misdeclare the imported billets at a lower value.

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

prosecutors have asked that he spend 25 years behind bars.

Catalan separatist leaders have tried for months to prepare a united response to the looming verdicts but they remain increasingly split over strategy.

“On the eve of these verdicts, it is important that we are seen as strong and massively mobilized,” Elisenda Paluzie, the president of powerful grassroots pro-independence group ANC which organizes the protest, told AFP. The mood in the separatist camp is very different from two years ago when Catalonia’s regional government pushed ahead with a banned independence referendum in Catalonia on October 1, 2017 that was marred by police violence, and then made a shortlived declaration of independence.

Senior separatist leaders are in jail awaiting their verdicts or scattered abroad, such as former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont who fled to Belgium shortly after his government made the failed independence declaration. AFP

Trump fires national security chief Bolton

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ASHINGTON―President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the firing of hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, a move widely seen as boosting the president’s push to negotiate with US foes in Afghanistan, North Korea and other trouble spots.

Trump, who said he had disagreed “strongly” with Bolton on policy, announced via Twitter: “I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning.”

A replacement―the White House’s fourth national security chief in less than three years―would be named next week, Trump said.

Bolton, who had been scheduled to give a press conference at the White House on an unrelated matter, denied being fired and insisted he had resigned.

The news, coming days after Trump caused uproar by revealing he was

canceling secret talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban, stunned Washington.

Bolton is a veteran and controversial figure closely linked to the invasion of Iraq and other aggressive US foreign policy decisions. He had been seen as one of the main driving forces in the White House’s muscular approach to Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and elsewhere.

Famous for his large mustache and ever-present yellow legal pad, the hard-line former US ambassador to the United Nations had pushed back against Trump’s dramatic, though so far

FASHION WEEK. Amelia Gray Hamlin attends the Savage x Fenty arrivals during New York Fashion Week at Barclays Center on September 10, 2019, in New York City. AFP

Euthanasia doctor faces court verdict THE HAGUE—A Dutch court will give its verdict Wednesday on a doctor accused of euthanising a patient with severe dementia in a landmark case in the country that pioneered the practice.

The unnamed female doctor, the first to go on trial under a 2002 law legalizing euthanasia, allegedly failed to properly consult the 74-year-old who may have changed her mind about dying.

Prosecutors have asked judges not to sentence the now-retired doctor as she had acted with “good intentions”, adding that she had “completely cooperated” with the probe and already faced disciplinary measures.

However, the 68-year-old could still in theory be found guilty of murder.

The 2016 case attracted media attention due to the details of how the patient was given a sedative in her coffee but nevertheless had to be restrained by her family as the doctor injected the euthanasia drug.

The verdict will be an important test of the law in the country that was the first in the world to legalize euthanasia, followed shortly afterwards by neighboring Belgium.

Euthanasia can only be carried out under strict conditions set down in Dutch law, including that the patient must have “unbearable and endless suffering” and have requested to die “earnestly and with full conviction”.

The law says doctors may also perform euthanasia if the patient has lapsed into “semi-consciousness just before a scheduled euthanasia” and there are still signs of suffering.

But prosecutors said the accused doctor, who specialized in geriatric care, “did not consult her patient enough” before going through with the process at a care home in The Hague.

The elderly woman was diagnosed four years before her death with Alzheimer’s, a disease that gradually robs people of their mental faculties. AFP

stumbling, attempts to negotiate with the Taliban and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to US media reports Trump’s extraordinary but failed bid to fly Taliban leaders into the presidential retreat at Camp David last weekend sparked a major, final row.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned that Bolton’s exit should not be interpreted as heralding strategy changes.

“I don’t think any leader around the world should make any assumption that because someone of us departs that President Trump’s foreign policy will change in a material way,” Pompeo told reporters.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin underlined that Trump and top aides remain “completely aligned” on Washington’s crippling sanctions against Iran, known as the maximum pressure campaign. AFP

Japan accused of letting its women down TOKYO―Women’s rights protesters are taking to the streets for the sixth time in as many months as anger mounts in Japan over ‘outdated’ rape laws, after a man was allowed to walk free despite sexually assaulting his daughter for years.

A court ruled the father had sexually abused his child from around the age 13 to 19 and even acknowledged he was violent when she resisted, but he was acquitted because the law requires prosecutors to prove there was overwhelming force, a threat, or that the victim was completely incapacitated.

The verdict is being appealed, but it has sparked outrage with hundreds again expected to demonstrate in cities across the nation Wednesday, while an online petition demanding that any sex without consent be defined as rape― signed by more than 47,000 people― has been submitted to the justice ministry.

For Jun Yamamoto, who was abused by her father between the ages of 13 and 20, the story is sickeningly familiar.

“Again!... That was what I thought,” the 45-year-old said, adding: “Japanese justice does not recognize sexual offenses like this as a crime. I cannot tolerate it anymore.”

The court acknowledged in the latest incest case that the girl had been forced to have intercourse “against her will” and was psychologically subjugated by her father because of the repeated abuse.

But it said it was unclear whether she was “incapable of resisting”, so her father was acquitted of rape.

Yamamoto, a nurse who also works for the rights of sexual abuse victims, is demanding reforms to the Japanese criminal code.

“When caught off guard or attacked by somebody who should be someone you can trust, you freeze in shock and cannot fight back,” Yamamoto told AFP. AFP

LandBank’s 4th ‘FI’ Caravan starts in Cagayan town

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

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By Jessica M. Bacud

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

BIGGEST ‘BIKO.’ SM City Marilao mall manager Emmanuel Gatmaitan (right) sprinkles some ingredients on a giant ‘biko’ or rice cake — which measures 20 feet across and can serve 16,000 people—made by over 100 culinary students of STI Balagtas on Tuesday. The cake marked the launch of the Bulacan Food and Art Festival at the mall, which launched its Christmas season promotions. Norman Cruz

Isko: Duterte inspired me M

Six Caloocan barangays gain ‘SGLGB’ mark

ANILA City Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso on Tuesday night said President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s leadership and type of governance inspired him to strive hard in reforming his city.

By Jun David

This was after President Duterte praised Domagoso for his resolve to clean the country’s capital and implement its ordinances.

“Thank you for the kind words, Mr. President, but to be really honest, isa po kayo sa mga naging inspirasyon ko sa kung ano mang klase ng liderato na meron kami [you are one of the inspirations for whatever kind of leadership we have],” Domagoso said in a text message to media late Tuesday.

During an event in Malacañang Tuesday night, Duterte said he was

AT LEAST six barangays in Caloocan City have passed the Seal of Good Local Governance for Barangays, the city government said Wednesday.

The villages that now have the SGLGB seal are Barangays 67, 170, 176, 177, 178, and 182.

These are the barangays which have been inspected by the Caloocan City Validation Team, which includes the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Liga ng mga Barangay, Barangay Secretariat, and Rotary Club-Kalookan North.

To gain the SGLGB, a barangay must pass the three core areas: Peace and Order, Financial Administration and the Disaster Preparedness.

Delighted by this development, City Mayor Oscar Malapitan personally honored each of these barangays and their officials. He praised their teams for the kind of services they have rendered that deserve emulation by other barangay in the city.

“Surely, our services to the people of Caloocan will continue for the progress of the city. We hope the honor received by the six barangays will serve as an inspiration to other public servants in Caloocan,” the mayor said.

Previously, the Caloocan City government through the Environment and Management Department spearheaded the cleanup drive in the five barangays of the city the other day.

About 360 residents volunteered in the program dubbed “3rd Quarter Clean-Up Drive” in Barangays 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22.

The DILG and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources also joined the program.

The Clean-up Drive was spearheaded by the city government on orders of Mayor Malapitan, who was delighted by the people’s participation in cleaning the city’s environment.

The mayor hoped more will join the clean-up drive in the coming days.

impressed by Domagoso, which made him listen to the local official’s speeches.

Since he assumed office, Domagoso had earned a huge following and heaped praises for his sustained efforts to clean the city.

Prior to becoming president, Duterte served as mayor of Davao, a city known to strictly implement its ordinances.

Domagoso shared that whenever he was in Davao City, he never smoked for fear of getting caught.

He also shared that in one of his trips from Tagum City in Davao del Norte going back to Davao City, he saw how the locals followed traffic rules.

“It was late in the night, but our driver drove slower and we asked him why. His answer was simple: We’re already in Davao City. We follow traffic rules here even at night wheth-

er police are around or not,” Domagoso said.

“So, I think the diligence of all the mayors in the Philippines, not only me, is only a reflection of the kind of leadership and president we have.

So we owe it to you Mr. President, for inspiring us and for becoming a good example to all of us,” Domagoso said.

In the Palace, Duterte said he watches the Manila official’s speeches during events.

“I’m impressed by him that’s why I listen whenever he speaks,” Duterte said in a media interview after the oathtaking of the Malacañang Press Corps, Malacañang Cameramen Association, and Presidential Photojournalists Association in Malacañang.

“He’s doing better than me to be honest. I can see that his resolve is better than mine so I give him plus two,” he added. PNA

MEDICAL MISSION.

Volunteers from the SM Foundation in partnership with the University of Perpetual Help JONELTA System conduct their ‘Gamot Para Sa Kapwa’ medical mission at SM City Santa Rosa in Laguna last week. Almost 1,000 beneficiaries were given free medical checkup by volunteer doctors and nurses from UPH. A joint project of SM Foundation, the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Gamot Para Sa Kapwa aims to provide quality health assistance to indigent communities in the country.

Roy Tomandao

STO NIÑO, Cagayan—In line with its commitment to strengthen its support to the agriculture and fisher folk sector, the Land Bank of the Philippines kicked off its fourth Financial Inclusion Caravan in Cagayan on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Mayor Leandro Memorial Gymnasium here.

Dubbed ‘Ipon at Kabuhayan para sa ating Kababayan,’ the FI Caravan is a financial literacy campaign launched by the Bank in 2016 to promote greater financial inclusion, especially among unbanked and unserved communities.

“This year’s Financial Inclusion Caravan is more targeted because we made sure that at least 6o% of the participants in each site is farmers and fishers. This is in line with our continuing efforts to intensify our support to agriculture sector and to help our farmers and fishers improve their income and manage their finances,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.

“This will be a start of a stronger partnership in stimulating our message of charity and promote savings among our children. Foremost, we want Sto. Niño to grow,” Borromeo emphasized.

Cagayan Gov. Manuel N. Mamba lauded LandBank for having chosen Sto. Niño as pilot partner in its Agent Banking Program.

“This initiative complements the struggles not only in the municipality of Niño but also in support to the welfare of the populace in the province of Cagayan,” Mamba said.

The governor cited some of the many programs of the national government that were realized in partnership with LandBank.

Joy B represents PH in Fast-Track confab in London

By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte is the country’s lone representative to the four-day Fast-Track Cities 2019 Conference at the Barbican Centre in London, England.

She is one of the nine city and municipal officials serving as panelists during the “High-Level Panel on Health Inequalities,” which signaled the opening of the conference.

“It was a privilege to have been one of the panelists at the High-Level Discussions on Health Inequalities and talked about how to ensure we are not leaving anyone behind in providing services to our people, particularly the discriminated and stigmatized,” the mayor said.

Belmonte also earned the distinction of being the only Asian mayor selected to talk on drug policy reform at the high-level session.

Organized by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, in collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and other partners, Fast-Track Cities 2019 is the first international gathering of more than 300 cities that are accelerating their responses to human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis. ”I’m looking forward to this great opportunity to learn from the institutions all over the world in helping address the issue of HIV and to share our insights with the international community,” the mayor said.

Bacolor remembers twin Pinatubo-’Diding’ disasters on Sept. 15

By Romeo Dizon CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga― Still buried in 12 feet of lahar and volcanic debris, the town of Bacolor in Pampanga will commemorate on Sept. 15 its gradual recovery from tragedy with a Mass and a get-together of its residents, including those still

living in 10 resettlement areas outside the town.

Bacolor Mayor Eduardo G. Datu said this year’s commemoration will be simple but meaningful with a Mass at the San Guillermo Church, which was half buried by lahar and other volcanic debris brought about by the deadly combination of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

UNAHCO backs Agrilink trade confab UNAHCO Inc. (Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Co.), the leading manufacturer and distributor of the country’s most popular and fast-selling animal nutrition and healthcare products, will be one of the major sponsors of the 2019 Agrilink, Foodlink, and Aqualink Trade Exhibit on Oct. 3 to 5 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

For 20 consecutive years now, UNAHCO, the firm behind the brands Pigrolac, Early Wean, Mamapro, Sarimanok, Vetracin, Jectran, Latigo, Bexan, Bacterid and Apralyte, has been actively supporting the Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development Inc. in mounting the annual Agrilink, Foodlink, Aqualink event.

UNAHCO president and COO Ricardo C.

Alba believes in FRLD’s mission to gather under one roof all agri, food and aqua stakeholders to establish linkages and facilitate information and technology transfer to expedite the growth of the agriculture and animal industries.

“This is UNAHCO’s humble way of helping uplift the agri and animal industries and in supporting government’s drive to achieve food safety and security for all Filipinos,” Alba said.

Turning 53 years old this Oct. 16, UNAHCO has remained committed to help animal raisers as well as agri farmers by providing them with quality feed, veterinary and agricultural products that will help them improve their farm efficiency, increase productivity, profitability and sustainability.

and Typhoon “Diding” in 1994.

It is also a moment of nostalgia for the townspeople “specially the homesick or those who like the smell of the seas that connote the memories of a childhood vacation,” Datu said.

The San Guillermo Church and the Our Lady of Lourdes Church in barangay Cabetican are now famous for year-

round religious tourism coming from Central and Northern Luzon, including Metro Manila.

Datu said eight of the 21 barangays of Bacolor saw thousands of houses buried under lahar. Hundreds remain missing, while several millions’ worth of properties were also destroyed by the disaster 25 years ago.

UNAHCO president and chief operating officer Ricardo C. Alba (third from left) shakes hands with Antonio V. Roces, FRLD president, to seal their enduring partnership. Also in photo are (from left) Unahco officers Edwin C. Mapanao, assistant vice president for cluster III; Rommel T. Samson, chief finance officer; Dante I. Nacar, DVP for corporate planning, Pigrolac operations; Glen Eric L. Ibañez, DVP for technical services; and Clint B. Escondo, assistant vice president for swine cluster.

Modern and

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

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Life HOUSEHOLD

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OODEN elements and colors, when used in a home, evoke a distinct kind of warmth that welcomes and embraces.

Blue and green, on the other hand, add a stylish touch when used chicly and put strategically—as in as accents or accessories, or as piece of furniture in a canvas of neutral colors.

Leading premium home furnishings specialty retailer Crate and Barrel highlights this modern color combination, called Blue Tweed and Everwood.

Blue Tweed and Everwood highlight shades of blues, whites, neutral colors, and a touch of green.

These colors transform walnut and medium toned woods, black and saddle leather, stoneware, gray-washed

woods, natural woven baskets, modern tile, painted wood, and black and silver toned metals into 21st century designer pieces for the modern home.

The Blue Tweed and Everwood collection from Crate and Barrel’s fall 2019 collection is now available in their stores located at SM Aura Premier, SM Makati, and SM Mega Fashion Hall.

STYLISH LIVING. Crate and Barrel fall 2019 collection highlights Blue Tweed and Everwood which feature shades of blues, whites, neutral colors, and a touch of green. (Clockwise from top) Tate Extension Dining Table showcases clean lines and tapered turned legs; Bellevue Section Sofa combines left-arm loveseat, wedge, and right-arm chaise; Channel Dark Green Velvet Bench is a brass-framed bench tailored with channel stitching; Infiniti Sofa features an asymmetrical tight back and kidney-shaped seat; Frye Collection of bar tools finished in gleaming antiqued gold mixed with genuine leather; and Frye twotier Bar Cart is a wheeled cart with leather and gold accents.

PHILIPPINE Seven Corporation has rolled out the latest 7-Eleven Store of the Future third generation design concept in 100 stores around the country in a bid to meet the changing demands of Filipino consumers.

The new design evolves in the terra cotta theme—an “Instagrammable” concept—that makes use of the color orange that appeals to bright, young customers, as in millennials and Gen Z. Some branches already have product signs, wall portions, advertisements, counters, and shelves designed or painted in orange. Some seats and tables in the dining area of selected stores are also painted with orange accents.

The terra cotta design complements The 7-Eleven Store of the the store’s trellis interior and brown Future third generation accents previously implemented in design concept features the first and second SOF designs. orange lighting that Overall, the new design layout aims complements the trellis and to give customers that “feel at home” wood finish interior. and relaxed experience as they enter a 7-Eleven store.

7-Eleven’s first SOF design upgrade pattern of 7-Eleven Taiwan c-stores, but Stores were de-cluttered and illumiThe de-cluttering of stores contributwas launched in 2012, during which the are customized to fit the preference of nated with a combination of LED and ed to smooth customer flow which gave stores were redesigned following the Filipino customers.

7-Eleven loyal patrons a better shopnatural lighting.

Convenience store gets ‘Instagrammable’

ping experience. With the application of LED lights and inverter equipment in its SOF1 design, stores immediately benefitted from about 3 percent savings in electricity cost per month.

Further, the addition of the fast food island brought perishable, fresh food, and other products closer to on-the-go customers.

The SOF2 design, meanwhile, applied institutional, hip modern, and industrial design concepts. There were also additional new amenities like common toilets, an upgraded dining area, bills payment via the CLiQQ machine, or services such as ATM and Wi-Fi depending on the needs of each store.

The design inspiration for SOF3 was formed by identifying the volume of consumers in the country, its market and trade area, which store design and sections to highlight, why a store needs to be upgraded, and when the upgrades will be rolled out to pilot stores.

Also included in the SOF3 design concept is the highlighting of 7-Eleven’s very own Crunchtime Chicken. It Turn to C2

Some of the elements of the three stages of Store of the Future include making use of LED lights and the display rack of Crunchtime Chicken placed at the counter with orange signs. Stores with bigger floor area get bigger dining areas, too.

Life

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

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HE congestion in Metro Manila has led prospective homebuyers to look for other viable options in the provinces.

Residents in Northern Luzon stand to benefit from government infrastructure being constructed that will provide ease of travel upon completion.

For instance, the Tarlac-PangasinanLa Union Expressway Extension will provide a 60-kilometer toll road extension from Rosario to San Juan, La Union. It is expected to reduce travel time for locals and visitors who wish to access key destinations in the province and neighboring towns.

Meanwhile, the Clark International Airport Expansion, scheduled for completion in 2020, will raise the facility’s

Why is it ideal to live in Urdaneta or Cabanatuan

Amaia Scapes Urdaneta features sleek and well-designed homes such as the Single Home unit that boasts a 56-square meter floor area standing on a lot area of 75 square meters.

Prospective homeowners of Amaia Scapes Cabanatuan may check out house and lot options like the Bungalow Pod that offers an indoor floor area of 30 square meters, and laid out with all the essential living spaces plus a provisionary carport.

capacity from four million to 12 million passengers per year.

The project is expected to boost business and livelihood opportunities for the residents and locals of Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, and Pampanga.

Finally, the Manila-Clark Passenger Railway Project, a 108-kilometer railway project that will connect Central

Luzon and Metro Manila, is seen to reduce the two-hour travel time between Manila and Clark to just 55 minutes.

While these aforementioned projects are ongoing, prospective homeowners may check out Amaia Scapes Urdaneta and Cabanatuan’s house and lot packages. Amaia Scapes Urdaneta offers Starter Home, Twin Pod, Single Home,

and Twin Home. While Amaia Scapes Cabanatuan offers Starter Home, Twin Home, Twin Pod, Bungalow Pod, and Multi Pod options.

Both Amaia properties provide residents recreational amenities, including swimming pool, pavilion, and basketball court.

Both properties are located close to shopping establishments, schools, univer-

Shop ‘til you drop

So Shop! offers a diverse and wide array of products such as cosmetics, clothes, household items, and fitness equipment.

The whole bazaar caters to all types of shoppers from all walks of life.

Shoppers in the upcoming So Shop! bazaar can mingle and purchase from their favorite online sellers.

bazaar. Online shoppers will get to per- celebrity entrepreneurs and influencers, sonally choose their next purchase from and listen to success stories.

It’s a chance to hold, feel, and inspect an assortment of products from the Shop while mingling an item before paying for them. Online booths of their favorite online shops.

Are you a fan of a specific online sellers will now have a chance to meet shop? Get to know the brains behind Shop and learn their patrons while shoppers can score Get to see and interact with popular the creative ideas that have taken online exclusive deals offered only during the shopping marketplace by storm.

Shop offline

Shop for an opportunity

Online entrepreneurs can learn how to effectively use LBC’s Cash on Pick up and Cash on Delivery services for their online businesses. As part of its mission to assist micro, small, and medium enterprises, LBC invites aspiring online entrepreneurs to see for themselves the opportunity that awaits them. Visiting each booth will also give them the idea of what products they want to sell or which ones actually sell.

Go to www.amaialand.com for more information.

SALE ALERT

Shop offline from online sellers LEADING courier and logistics company LBC Express, Inc. is staging a bazaar where buyers can shop from and interact with their favorite online sellers in person.

To make the event, dubbed “So Shop!

A Social Sellers’ Bazaar Empowered by LBC,” doubly interesting, the company lists down five reasons why shoppers should head over to the SMX Convention Center at SM Mall of Asia on Oct. 5.

sities, hospitals, and places of worship.

In line with Amaia’s vision to make contemporary homes accessible for all Filipinos, convenient payment methods such as cash, deferred cash, and bank financing are also available.

3-day sale at Metro Retail stores READY your wallets as all Metro stores launch a huge three-day Sidewalk Sale on Sept. 13 – 15.

All outlets offer discounts up to 50 percent off and doubled reward points for shoppers.

“The Sidewalk Sale is one of Metro Retail’s largest sale events annually, and it’s happening nationwide,” said Pilut Montes, Metro Retail’s chief marketing officer.

Special Buys on exclusive deals enable each buyer to get 55 percent off on some featured home items items with every single receipt purchase worth P1,500 from the Metro Department Store.

Among those shoppers can avail of are Tough Mama Electric Kettle, which they can get for as low as P398; Tough Mama Rice Cooker, now only P648; Hanging Mirror Round with 40cm diameter which can go down to as low as P395; and a bench with a bonus two-tier shoe rack that can now be

availed for just P795.

Featured items during the sale vary from home essentials to fashion staples for men and women, like handbags, accessories, wallets, and more.

In addition to doubled rewards, MRC members can get one liter of one saver select dishwashing liquid when they present a single receipt purchase worth a minimum of P1,500 cash or credit.

Metro Business Club members, on the other hand, can avail of 5kg of premium rice with a minimum P3,500 cash or credit single receipt purchase.

In addition to shopping, the bazaar is holding live engagement with customers, thought leaders, and influencers.

Functional kitchen tool for the inexperienced cook

IT TAKES a village for the most inexperienced cook to create a decent meal.

So, when it can be done with just an effortless push of a button, anyone, from a kitchen amateur to a busy individual, would want a part of that.

United Kingdom-based home appliance company Morphy Richards brings to the Philippines MyPot Digital Pressure Cooker, a 15-in-1 gadget that lets users cook effortlessly: Simply load ingredients into the pot and select the function from the 10 preset programs.

MyPot has six different modes, it can cook, sear, slow cook, pressure cook, steam, and even make hearty soups.

Cooking a variety of dishes from rice, side dishes to steamed fish, shellfish, pasta, and even chunky casseroles will be a breeze, even for those just learning to whip up meals for themselves or the family.

For meat lovers, the slow cooker setting lets anyone produce restaurantquality meat that’s juicy and tender but at much lower cost.

With the MyPot’s 4-liter capacity, anyone can easily throw a feast even if they didn’t have time as its two-hour delay timer lets users leave it on during

the day, allowing them to complete their work, run errands, or attend to other things and finish the cooking when they get back home.

Moreover, the MyPot features a 90-minute keep-warm function, which

allows anyone to enjoy their food at the most convenient time.

This multi-cooker is now available at SM Home for a recommended retail price of P10,999.

Metro Retail’s 3-day sale features home items and more offered at discounted prices.

Convenience store...

From C1

Morphy Richards’ MyPot Digital Pressure Cooker is a 15-in-1 cooking gadget that lets users create delicious meals with just one push of a button.

now has its signature orange-colored Crunchtime sign.

There is also a new addition to the store’s already impressive roster of refreshments such as the Cool U slushie.

And for those who patronize its ecommerce services, customers will appreciate the new look of the in-store CLiQQ machine. From a plain white terminal with a touchscreen display, it’s redesigned to look like a robot with a head. It’s also equipped with a camera and a bigger touchscreen display.

Coffee and tea lovers are given a big

treat when 7-Eleven opened its first City Blends Cafe in its Taguig branch recently. Instead of self-service coffee from stand-alone machines, a barista attends to and prepares the drinks ordered by customers and has a distinct dining area just like a regular café.

City Blends Cafe offers a variety of hot and cold coffee and tea which can paired with 7-Eleven’s selection of pastries.

7-Eleven is currently identifying other branches where it can establish other City Blends Cafe so that coffee lovers won’t have to go far just to get a hot cup of Joe. In a statement, PSC said all 7-Eleven stores will carry the new SOF3 design.

Entertainment

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

C3

nickie.standard@gmail.com

Misters of Filipinas 2019 pageant kicks off PAGEANT CONCEPT ETON CONCEPCION

T

WENTY-TWO candidates of the 2019 Misters of Filipinas pageant coming from across the country and Filipino communities abroad were introduced during press presentation held at Fernwood Gardens, Quezon City last week.

Misters of Filipinas candidates are vying for five titles in this year's edition of the primier male pageant in the country.

The advocacy driven gentlemen will compete for the five titles at stake which include Mister International Philippines, Man of the World Philippines and Mister Model Worldwide Philippines, Mister Tourism and Culture Universe and Mister Model of the Universe.

“We are very honored and we thank everyone for helping us make Misters of Filipinas a competitive brand in the Philippines and we promise to work harder to give honors to the country,” said Carlo Morris Galang, president of Prime Events Productions Philippines Foundation, Inc. (PEPPS), producer of the Misters of Filipinas pageant, now on its seventh edition.

The premier national male pageant, which campaigns on ‘youth empowerment and education for all’ will bring this year’s candidates in Davao City, Kapalong Davao del Norte and Bataan for the preliminary competitions, which include the national costume, swimwear and advocacy tour, while the Gala Night and Fashion Show

will be held at House Manila, Newport Blvd., Pasay.

The 22 candidates are Bonjour Adaza, Jr. (Misamis Oriental), Levin Arguelles (Tarlac), Matthew Louie Arbole (Pangantucan, Bukidnon), Julius Christian David Buenafe (Biliran), Jade Anthony Dulay (Angeles City, Pampanga), Joy Jerome Evangelista (Hagonoy, Bulacan), Joshua Feliminiano (Castillejos, Zambales), Arjun Gange (Caloocan City), Lex Akihiro Julian(Laguna), Gianluca Lanta (Fil. com. of Italy), Louie Lapenas (Mandaluyong City), Jesus Norbert Macaraeg (Malasiqui, Pangasinan), Peter Mendijar (Bagong Silang, Caloocan), Ramil Palaje (Guinobatan, Albay), Yas Pangandaman (Iligan City), Tommy Peñaflor (Bataan), Joseph Pili (Tabaco City), Kyle Sean Sallidao (Baguio City), Ruben Segundo (Isabela), Vandave(Pasig City), and Ain James Vega (Fil. Com. of USA).

The Finals Night of Misters of Filipinas 2019 is set on Sept.21 at the Fill Oil Flying V Center, San Juan City at 7:00 p.m..

*** Gazini admonishes the youth to cherish precious time with grandparents How would you like to own a portrait of Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados?

The stunning Fil-Palestine beauty, wearing a white Cary Santiago gown, posed for a group of elderly artists to be painted, afterwards the portraits will be sold to the public and part of the proceeds will go to a charity of Ganados’ choice.

The painting session held on Friday, was part of the Araneta Center-Gazini Ganados team up during the Center’s celebration of Grandparents’ Day dubbed “Grand Hangout.”

An advocate for elderly care, Ganados bats for the interest and welfare of the old and senior citizens.

“My advice to the young who still have grandparents is to cherish the moment with them. Time is so precious, let’s show them our love and care while they’re still alive, so we won’t regret it in the future,”

said Ganados.

The weekend “Grand Hangout” included a series of fun events to give lolos and lolas a time to relax and enjoy at the Center. A chess tournament at Gateway Mall contested by 150 senior citizens was held by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, where the winner was given a chance to match up with International Chess Master Chito Garma.

A grand ballroom party, in partnership with A. Dance Company, was also held with grandmas and grandpas danced to Salsa and Chacha beat. A Grand Symphonic Band gave free performance at Farmers Plaza, in cooperation with the Quezon City Tourism Department, while a medical group also provide free medical check-up.

If you want to get a portrait of Gazini Ganados, please contact Gateway Gallery curator Gari Apolonio at gatewaygallery@araneta. group.com or you may call 588 4000 local 8300.

1st PNP Caraga Film Festival held THE most awaited Awards Night for 1st PNP Caraga Film Festival 2019 was held on Sept. 1 at LMX Convention Center, Bancasi, Butuan City with Police Major General Benigno B. Durana Jr, Director of The Directorate for Police Community Relations as the Guest of Honor and Speaker.

The winners were: People’s Choice Award, (High School Category) Kulintas, (College Category) Gomad; Best Director, (High School Category) Jessa Ruth Claro of Kulintas, (College Category) Rheu J Monte de Ramos, Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani; Best Picture, (High School Category) Kulintas, (College Category) Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani; Best Lead Actor, (High School Category) Joseph Campo, GamuGamo, (College Category) Francis Ian Bulawit, Blood; Best Lead Actress, (High School Category) Juvelyn Catubig, Kulintas, (College Category) Russel Coyoca, Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani; Best Story, (High School Category) Gamu-Gamo, (College Category) Gomad; Congressional Award, Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani; Chief, PNP’s Choice Award, Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani;Gawad Gilberto DC Cruz Award, Blood; Over-all 3rd runnerup, Ang Ugma; Over-all 2nd runnerup, Gomad; and Over-all 1st runnerup, Kulintas.

Police Regional Office (PRO) 13 invited students from High School and College in Caraga region to participate

Student winners and PNP officials gather for the 1st PNP Caraga Film Festival.

Cast and director of the Best Picture winner

in the PNP Caraga Film Festival, which submission of entries ended on July 1.

Storyline and script were submitted by interested participants that underwent prescreening.

On Aug. 17, the 10 finalists from the high school and college category to the 1st PNP Caraga Film Fest were shown in

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Thursday, September 12, 2019

ACROSS 1 Distort, as data 5 Fastener 9 Sleeveless top 13 Done with 15 Bagel center 16 Water, in Tijuana 17 Waken 18 Maintain 19 Very slow 20 List ender 21 Tijuana abode 23 Music source in the ’80s 25 Player’s rep 27 Bauble 28 Radio attachment 30 Hotel 31 “Ocean’s Eleven” activity 32 Subterfuges 37 Psyche’s beloved 38 Lavish parties 40 Cad’s rebuke 41 Transport at some theme parks 43 Existing 44 Holt or Ryan 45 Was a bandit 47 Where the Acropolis is 50 Tack 51 Downhiller’s run

52 Recline indolently 53 JAMA readers 56 James Bond’s prep school 57 Former Fed head — Greenspan 59 Creepy 61 Young horse 62 Ouch!

63 Implement for digging 64 Three, in Bolivia 65 Drinks slowly and deliberately 66 Not up yet DOWN 1 Wizened 2 Nautical speed unit 3 Learning 4 Mr. Craven 5 Cascade Range volcano 6 — Scotia 7 Ginger — 8 Public selves 9 Sealed a package 10 Greek forum 11 Heated up in a microwave 12 Boxing win 14 Fairly good 22 “That Girl” girl

24 Cargo units 26 Artist’s plaster 27 Aria performer 28 Polite cough 29 Rome’s fiddler 32 Pipe fitting 33 Small land mass 34 Uniform color (2 wds.)

35 Pew locale 36 Zipped along 38 Contradicts 39 Intentions 42 Tpks.

43 Corridors 45 Steakhouse

orders (hyph.)

46 Falstaff’s prince 47 Leading man 48 Oar pin 49 Searches for 51 Cult 52 Reindeer herder 54 Roller coaster 55 Nursery buy 58 Twice XXVI 60 Clean-air org.

Butuan City and Surigao del Sur with only P100.00 per ticket.

The festival’ Board of Judges: Police Major General Benigno B Durana Jr, The Director, Directorate for Police Community Relations, Philippine National Police Headquarters, Camp Crame, Quezon City; Atty. Ferdausi S. Cerna, Regional

Rhue J. Monte de Ramos (Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani) Best Director, College Category.

Director of National Commission on Indigenous People 13 and Former Administrator in the Municipality of Talacogon, Agusan del Sur; Lorilly Charmaine D. Awitan, newscaster, ABS-CBN Northern Mindanao; Congresswoman Maria Angelica Rosedell M. Amante-Matba, Representative of 2nd District of Agusan Del Norte; LilibethA. Famacion, Regional Director OF Department OF Interior and Local Government (DILG) 13; Francis Cesar “Panchet” B. Bringas, Regional Director of Department of Education (DepEd) 13; Jocelyn “Joy” E. Morano of Dxbn Radio Pilipinas and President of PRO13 Press Corps; Atty. Bonifacio G. Uy, Regional Director of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) 13; and Kate Brios, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) Board Member, actress and producer.

Gazini Ganados

How GMA...

From C4

The Kapuso Network led in the afternoon block with 33.3 percent people audience share, while rival network got 32.2 percent.

GMA also kept its upper hand in the evening block with 33.9 percent versus ABS-CBN’s 33.4 percent.

Cementing its spot as the highestrating show in Urban Luzon’s top programs list was Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS). The awardwinning magazine program likewise ranked number one in National Urban Philippines.

Joining KMJS as the network’s ratings drivers for the month were 24 Oras, Sahaya, Magpakailanman, Daddy’s Gurl, Pepito Manaloto, Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko, StarStruck, and The Better Woman.

Completing the list of most-watched Kapuso shows were Love You Two, Amazing Earth, Eat Bulaga, 24 Oras Weekend, Bihag, and Imbestigador.

With official data from Aug. 1 to 24, GMA Network similarly won in Mega Manila which accounts for 60 percent of all urban viewers in the country. The Kapuso Network tallied an average total day people audience share of 32.4 percent outscoring ABS-CBN’s 29.1 percent. GMA also bagged 15 out of the top 30 shows in Mega Manila’s top programs list.

Nielsen TV Audience Measurement’s client pool covers a total of 32 clients/subscribers consisting of 6 local TV networks including ABS-CBN, TV5, Aksyon TV and CNN Philippines, among others; 3 regional clients; 2 blocktimers; and 21 agencies (17 media agencies, 3 consulting agencies, and 1 digital agency).

Entertainment

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

C4

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

A FESTIVAL of colors and music

Hueniverse Music Festival producers Isabel Oli, Camille Pratts, Sam Milby, Angelica Panganiban, and John Pratts.

B

RIGHT Bulb Productions’ John Pratts, Sam Milby, Angelica Panganiban, Isabel Oli, and Camille Pratts are up for something fun, colorful, and entertaining.

At a recent media launch held at Novotel in Cubao, Quezon City, the group unveiled the masterplan for Hueniverse, a grand music festival that the proponents aim to be a national festival, which would travel around the country while training the spotlight on local music and artists.

“Hueniverse is ready to take you on an exploration through the cosmos. It is a music festival that will take you far from the wonders and realities of your mind on a starry night through music, arts, and dance,” said John Pratts who added that part of their plan is to stage the music fest annually.

Happening on Sept. 28, the wholeday spectacle will be staged at Filinvest City Events Grounds with homegrown and international artists to take attendees to “the cosmos.”

Claudia Barretto

VERY WANG NICKIE WANG

“This occasion unites a diversity of genres and artists. There will be performances from startup bands to stage veterans,” John added.

Chiquerella and Written in the Stars will breeze through the cosmic journey following rising artists of their generation like Claudia Barretto and Mark Oblea. Indie bands, such as, Bita and the Botflies, The Ransom Collective, Agsunta, and Autotelic will make you sway with their music.

Bringing over their Dalagang Pilipina trend on a starry night is Almo$t. Sponge Cola will keep your night rocking with their classic hits. Moving to high-class local DJs are Katsy Lee, Tom Taus, Jennifer Lee, and Ron Poe. And for the headliner is award-winning international DJ known for his hit single “Tsunami,” DVBBS— BORGEOUS. Despite being a new player in the production industry, the growth of Bright Bulb Productions as a company has been overwhelming. The team has a strong reach within local influencers and celebrity circles.

From two years of operations, the company continues to expect an influx of clientele that will create a foundation of working partnerships.

To strengthen their position in the industry, the company is banking on Hueniverse Music Festival as its first and biggest production.

The proponents came together to produce an out of this world music festival, hence the lineup. It was anything but a smooth ride for these five friends as they have their own lives going, yet with commitment and perseverance.

Hueniverse Music Festival will not only benefit the attendees and the producers but parts of the proceeds will also benefit the Hueniverse Foundation. This foundation aims

Scarlett Johansson unveils ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ ‘Marriage Story’ in Toronto AMERICAN actress Scarlett Johansson dominated the Toronto film festival’s red carpets Sunday with the debuts of two new films including the world premiere of satirical Nazi comedy Jojo Rabbit.

The movie from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi tells the story of a young German boy living during World War Two whose imaginary friend is a make-believe version of Adolf Hitler.

Billed as an “anti-hate satire,” it plots how the child—a Hitler Youth member with a fondness for Nazi uniforms and book-burnings—discovers that his mother (Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic.

Johansson said the film’s humor and childish perspective give audiences a new way to grasp “the atrocity of what was really going on at that time.”She described the script, written by Waititi— who also plays the imaginary Hitler—as a “perfect jewel.”

Campus call to give comfort and shelter to the abandoned, neglected, and homeless elderly.

“The willingness to serve the needs and interests of the elderly community is what keeps Bright Bulb Productions grounded and socially responsible,” John shared.

This event is made possible by Sun Cellular as presenter. Gates open at 1:00 p.m. on Sept. 28. For other information follow Hueniverse on Facebook and Instagram. Buy your tickets atwww.smtickets.com.

How GMA Network programs performed in August GMA Network continued to stay ahead of competition in its bailiwick areas of Urban Luzon and Mega Manila according to the latest data from ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

In Urban Luzon, which accounts for 72 percent of all urban TV viewers in the country, GMA registered an average of 31.8 percent total day people audience share, which was still higher than ABS-CBN’s 31.7 percent for the month of August (with August 25 to 31 based on overnight data).

Continued on C3

Scarlett Johansson described the script of satirical Nazi comedy 'Jojo Rabbit' as a 'perfect jewel'

The New Zealand-born director, who is of Maori and Jewish descent, said the release of the film was timely in today’s polarized political climate.

“Now we’re seeing all those little pockets of hate groups and seeing these patterns that were happening in the ‘30s happening again,” he said.

“And for me, now more than ever, I think it’s important that we keep addressing that stuff and revisiting these stories.”

Johansson, the world’s highest-paid actress, also appeared on the red carpet for Marriage Story, a drama about a divorcing couple in which she stars opposite Adam Driver.

The Netflix movie received rave reviews last week at its world premiere in Venice—the same week that director Martin Scorsese chose to praise Driver as “one of the best, if not the best, actors of his generation.”

Driver, best known to wider audiences as the villainous Kylo Ren in Star Wars, has been widely tipped for Oscar glory for his portrayal of a narcissistic New York theater director. AFP,Andrew MARSZAL Kean Cipriano leads his band Callalily during the first leg of Listen Campus Tour held in Far Eastern University (FEU) in Manila last Aug. 30.

IT’S a given that a musical act should entertain. It’s a step further when you perform to voice out a cause.

That moving-up feeling was certainly in the air during the first leg of Listen Campus Tour last Aug. 30 at Far Eastern University grounds in Morayta, Manila. Freshmen being welcomed in this year’s Tatak Tamaraw experienced a more meaningful acquaintance party than what an advocacythe recently approved less gathering could Mental Health Law and have offered. how it would provide Besides, it’s the affordable and accessible essence of a concert mental health services for YUGEL tour series aiming “to the youth, while PMHA LOSORATA drive positive social prepared a short video change and foster presentation tackling greater awareness on programs to those in need the growing social concerns through of support. music and dialogue.” It’s playing for a Musicians themselves have long been purpose, clapping for a change. victims of unaddressed mental health “Mental wellness is something to condition. The band Hulyo expressed that address especially in these times where songwriting is an exercise on healing the one can easily feel alone or unfortunate, mind. Kean himself half-joked that he ironically, even in the hold of social himself is still figuring out how to handle media. As artists, we want to tell fans life in spite of fame and success. and everyone na hindi ka nag-iisa,” And then the youth at large is more shared Kean Cipriano, lead singer susceptible to depression and suicide of Callalily, which served as the night’s more than ever. With music being a young main act. person’s ever-dependable tool to keep At one point during his band’s up with the cruel world, it makes sense rocking set, he asked the crowd to get gathering for this event some professional, rid of their mobile phones and immerse talented acts with the charm and ability themselves in the moment. It was an act to inspire people, in particular fans they met with cheers, especially for youthful can empower to channeling negativity to spectators hoping to belong. positivity.

Callalily and other well-received With Listen Campus Tour now launched, acts, namely, Syd Hartha, Nathan a plan to conduct special workshops is & Mercury, Hulyo, Arthur Nery, revealed to be in the pipeline, with select Dionela, and Fern, were all in for artists mentoring students in universities on the night’s topic as Listen Campus how to use music to express themselves.

Tour identified mental wellness as “very There’s also the Listen Campus Online, a much relevant to the times.” five-to-ten-minute crash course on music Organizational partners Department reaching out to public. of Health (DOH) and Philippine Mental Key verb is listening. In the world Health Association (PMHA) were both of music and life in general, doing this ready to impart messages on the said issue. properly is making the best effort to make DOH likewise felt necessary to discuss reality sound right.

SNAPSHOT CAST members are aglow at the world premiere of the film ‘Downton Abbey’ in London. The film, which was written by series creator Julian Fellowes, is set in 1927 and centers around a visit to Downton by the King and Queen of England. AFP