Manila Standard - 2019 September 21 - Saturday

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House approves P4.1-t budget

By Maricel V. Cruz

T

HE House of Representatives approved on third and final reading Friday night—seen by legislative observers as in record time—the proposed P4.1 trillion national government budget for 2020.

House Majority Leader Rep. Martin Romualdez applauds his fellow lawmakers for passing the 2020 national budget, as Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (inset) bangs the gavel to mark the vote. Ver Noveno

House leaders said the next year’s budget, contained in House Bill 4228, would “push the nation into a more peaceful and progressive Philippines.”

A total of 272 congressmen attended the session.

Exactly one month after President Duterte submitted to Congress the National Expenditure Program last August 20, the House leadership led by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez endorsed the General Appropriations Bill for Senate approval in the hope the budget would “provide a comfortable lives for the Filipino people.”

It was the third time in history of Congress that the House of Representatives approved the national budget on second and third reading on the same day after the Next page

Mistrust, fear in gov’t immunization led to return of polio, other diseases

By Macon Ramos-Araneta MISTRUST and fear of immunization—triggered by the Dengvaxia scare in 2017—has allowed old diseases such as measles and polio to reemerge, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Friday, even as his department confirmed a second case of polio.

In a phone interview, Duque acknowledged that people’s confidence in the government’s immunization program was shaken after they learned that the Dengvaxia vaccine that was widely administered could result in more serious cases of dengue among those who had not been exposed to the virus.

With the low vaccine coverage, Duque said, the risk for transmission is high.

Duque said that when the first case of polio in 19 years was reported this month, the government had already contained the measles outbreak in July.

Since the outbreak, he said, measles coverage for children aged 6 to 59 months has increased from 40 percent in 2018 to 98 percent in just five months.

“We hope to achieve the same for polio,” said Duque, adding that it was in February when measles outbreak was first reported.

Although only two cases of polio have been confirmed so far, Duque said, the probability of the disease’s transmission is high, and it is considered an epidemic.

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Bilibid inmates serve as drug lords’ assassins

VOL. XXXIII • NO. 219 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

DOH resorts to non-vaccine cure for dengue

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

THE government is still bracing for a spike in dengue cases in the coming months, as officials have resorted to expanding the use of the “4S” method among communities, monitoring new

cases, and treating patients as they come—without a vaccine to counter the mosquito-borne viral disease.

Unlike before when dengue had a distinct “cycle” every three years, a ranking Department of Health official on Friday noted that “every year now is a

By Rey E. Requejo JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday asked Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to suspend the arrest of convicts who were prematurely released on good behavior, one day into the manhunt for those that remained at large.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte said those among the 1,914 heinous Next page

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SAFE AND SOUND. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte (4th from left), Barangay officials as well as major stakeholders in the suckling pig business in Laloma, Quezon City, known by the moniker as lechon capital of the Philippines, lead Friday in partaking roasted suckling pigs to show that Laloma is free from the dreaded African Swine Flu. Lino Santos

Ray Zanoria Perez II, CIM

Rowel Calvin Castro Razon, AUF

UST bet scores 90.92% to top physician exams FEDERICO Adriano Peralta IV of University of Santo Tomas has topped the physician licensure board examination with a rating of 90.92 percent, the Professional Regulation Commission announced Friday.

Ray Zanoria Perez II from the Cebu Institute of Medicine was second with Turn to A3

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QC set to cal ASF-infected pigs DOJ suspends arrest of freed GCTA convicts

SOME convicts at the New Bilibid Prison are being used as assassins by drug lords, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Friday, citing information they have received from inside the national penitentiary.

“They are allowing criminal activities outside tapos balik sa loob. Murder. Pinapayagang lumabas para may gawin, may ipapatira ang mga drug lord tapos babalik sa loob. Eh di walang huli,” Sotto told reporters by phone.

He said the practice continues up to the present.

Federico Adriano Peralta IV, UST

dengue year.”

DOH Epidemiology Bureau chief Dr. Chito Avelino attributed the change in the pattern of dengue incidence to “some modifications” like climate change, urbanization and poor waste

By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Friday confirmed that the first eight blood samples submitted from hogs in barangays Payatas and Bagong Silangan in District 2 have tested positive for African swine fever.

In a GMA-7 television interview, Belmonte said the Department of Agriculture has given her the green light to cull other infected pigs.

A total of 45 blood samples have been submitted to the Bureau of Animal Industry but the results for the remaining have yet to be released.

Belmonte identified “kaninbaboy”” as the possible culprit behind the ASF cases in the city.

She ordered a tightening in the process of collection and disposal of food waste from establishments since these could be the main source of

365 Club: Still center of political irreverence

By Ernesto G. Banawis

TODAY is the 47th anniversary of an amorphous and unintentional gathering of a coterie of media personalities, a few public officials and prominent citizens who Turn to A3

EMERGENCY ANNIVERSARY. Militant groups hold placards as they march to Mendiola near Malacanang in Manila to mark Friday the 47th Year of Martial Law, imposed by then President Ferdinand Marcos, in his words, “to save the Republic from a state of subversion and rebellion.” Norman Cruz

ASF contaminated meats that ended up as swill feed or “kanin-baboy” to backyard hog raisers.

“This is the no. 1 source of possible ASF,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino. “Airline food or food from Next page

Next week jolt: Gas P2.30/liter

LOCAL oil companies are poised to hike diesel prices by P1.60 to P1.80 and gasoline prices from P2.10 to P2.30 next week in the wake of the attacks on the Saudi Arabian oil fields, industry sources told consumer group Laban Konsyumer Inc. In a message to reporters, LKI president lawyer Vic Dimagiba also said Dubai crude had increased by over half a dollar to $62.93 per barrel, up Turn to A3

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

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Go hunt Reds, new AFP chief told

By MJ Blancaflor

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the incoming Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to end the communist insurgency, the Palace said Friday.

This, after the President said he will arm former rebels with high-end guns and tanks if members of the Communist Party of the Philippines “really want trouble” and harass them.

In a briefing, Presidential Spokesman

Salvador Panelo said the Palace is confident that Lt. Gen. Noel Clement would continue “to uphold the high degree of professionalism, the dedication and the integrity” that soldiers have for the flag and country.

Clement previously headed the AFP Central Command and the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

He also served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the AFP. On Thursday night, President Duterte considered the possibility of arming former insurgents who laid down their arms since they are now part of the government.

“Do not worry. You are part of the government. We are now together. If the communists will harm you, and

they really want trouble, I will give you a new firearm better than this,” he told rebel returnees.

Duterte said this during the disposition of arms of 727 members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army at Camp Peralta in Jamindan, Capiz.

Now known as the Kapatiran sa Progresibong Lipunan, the group is a breakaway faction of the New People’s Army, the CPP’s armed wing. The group signed a peace agreement with the government in 2000.

This time, ‘tuko’ ‘Hazing killers of PMA cadet must be held liable’ distracts Du30 from speech

Initial reports said Dormitorio was initially admitted at the PMA Hospital due to stomach pain and vomiting.

The hospital will also be investigated as it only diagnosed the young man with Urinary Tract Infection despite the

presence of bruises on his stomach.

“We strongly urge the appropriate PMA Officers to bring the perpetrators to justice. We have to protect our children and future heroes from this atrocious practice,” Pimentel added.

Twenty cadets are now facing investigation in connection with Dormitorio’s death.

Police said there were three “persons of interest” in Dormitorio’s death, adding at least 20 individuals witnessed the hazing incident.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Duterte administration did not tolerate hazing, stressing “Whoever is responsible for this should be held liable. We do not condone unlawful activities and hazing is one of those things.”

He added: “We will apply the law equally. The President will apply the law equally, so whatever is the outcome of the investigation, if this will go up to the court, we’ll have to go through full process of the law.”

Last year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a stronger anti-hazing law in response to the hazing of University of

ond and third reading on October 13, 2006 after it was certified as urgent measure by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The swift and transparent passage of the national budget that underwent scrutiny, both by administration and opposition lawmakers, is a product of our commitment to further the economic growth of the Duterte administration,” said Romualdez.

Deputy Speaker and 1PACMAN party-list Rep. Michael Romero, president of the 54-strong Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc., reiterated the full observation on the “no pork, no parking, no delay” policy laid down by the Cayetano leadership.

“Speaker Cayetano can rely on the PCFI, we have his back in guaranteeing that the no pork, no parking, no delay policy is observed,” said Romero.

“It has become imperative for us to make sure that each day of the coming year’s government operations is covered by the provisions of the 2020 General Appropriations Act,” said Romero.

Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, a vice chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said that the old pork barrel system is gone as he assured the public that there would be no new system in place that will replace or bring back the old fusty and stinking system.

Salceda, vice chairman of the House appropriations committee, who chairs the House committee on ways and means, also assured the public that the proposed 2020 national budget bill remains free of any “pork” allocations and is bereft of any illegal parking of funds and insertions under the present leadership.

The DOH has intensified its oral immunization against the polio virus, he said.

After confirming Thursday that polio has reemerged, he called on parents, health workers and local governments to fully participate in the synchronized polio vaccination program.

“It is the only way to stop the polio outbreak and to protect your child against this paralyzing disease,” said Duque, citing the need for 95 percent coverage to ensure the protection of the population.

While the DOH has not stopped administering the polio vaccine despite being polio-free, the 66-68 percent coverage is not a sufficient rate of protection, Duque said.

He also emphasized the need for the public to practice good hygiene by washing their hands regularly, using toilets, drinking safe water and cooking food thoroughly.

The DOH on Friday confirmed a second case of polio, in a 5-year-old boy in Laguna. The first case was a 3-year-old girl from Lanao del Sur. Samples were sent to the National Institute for Infec-

tious Diseases in Japan, where they were proved positive for polio.

The boy experienced the onset of paralysis on Aug. 25, 2019. The boy has been discharged from the hospital and is able to walk. He is closely being monitored for residual symptoms.

The polio virus has also been detected in samples taken from sewage in Manila and waterways in Davao as part of the regular environmental surveillance. These samples were tested by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and verified by the NIID and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two confirmed cases in different locations is considered an epidemic in a polio-free country.

Based on the World Health Organization declaration of epidemic protocol, he said a country can lose its polio-free certification even if only one case of the disease is confirmed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, as well as the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan.

DOH, in close coordination with local government units and concerned national agencies, and with the support of WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and other partners, is preparing a rapid response to the polio outbreak.

This includes a series of synchronized oral polio vaccinations to protect every child under the age of 5 in areas at risk beginning in October 2019.

Polio is an infectious disease which spreads rapidly. It can cause paralysis and, on rare occasions, can be fatal.

There is no cure for polio—it can only be prevented with multiple doses of polio vaccines that have long been proven safe and effective.

Malacañang urged the public to avail themselves of the free polio vaccination.

“Vaccines given by the DOH are free so it’s just a matter of convincing the parents their children to be vaccinated,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said.

A House leader on Friday batted for the approval of at least P800 million to cover the 5.5 million children in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Calabarzon that is the target of the DOH’s immunization drive for polio.

Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera made the statement after the Department of Health and Rotary International organizations signed a memorandum of agreement on Friday to cooperate in eradicating polio. With AFP

[OJO: RULED INSERT ENDS] Senator Richard Gordon also wants to allocate additional funds for the Department of Justice to install a state-ofthe-art artificial intelligence technology at the New Bilibid Prison and other national penitentiaries.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police on Friday vowed to continue its intensified internal cleansing efforts following former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Benjamin Magalong’s confirmation of an illegal drug recycling scheme, known as “agaw bato” involving police officers.

Sotto said aside from being used

as assassins, the convicts are also instructed to conduct drug transactions and other illegal activities. “Yes, hindi lang murder, lahat ng klaseng criminal activities ginagawa nila.”

He said there were also people inside Bilibid who were no longer considered inmates although they are still there. “‘Yung iba nga, may inmates doon hindi na inmate kaya andami nila. Hindi na inmates pero andun pa sa loob,” he said.

Asked on what those inmates are still doing inside the NBP, Sotto said: “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Aside from using inmates as killers,

By MJ Blancaflor and Macon Ramos-Araneta

ALL sense of decorum went right out of the window in Capiz Thursday when President Rodrigo Duterte, in a speech criticizing human rights groups, briefly stopped, turned round when a common house gecko, ignoring protocol, hissed from nearby.

The President had his ire on rights groups opposed to his controversial war on drugs when a loud gecko sound distracted him.

It was not clear if the gecko was the common house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus), or the Gekkonidae which is the largest family of geckos, most of them nocturnal, hiding during the day and foraging for insects at night.

They can be seen climbing walls of houses and other buildings in search of insects attracted to porch lights and is immediately recognizable by its characteristic chirp.

The President, regaining his gear after the pause, then pointed to someone on the stage who he said might have brought a “pet” gecko to the Camp General Macario Peralta Jr. in Jamindan, Capiz, where the decommissioning of 727 former rebels and their firearms was held.

President Duterte was previously pestered by a mosquito, fly and cockroach while delivering a speech.

QC...

From A1 hotels, they use imported pork, which could be infected. We have to make sure they are not fed to our hogs.”

District 2 Councilor Winston Castelo said the city mayor was just doing her job when she announced the presence of the ASF in Bagong Silangan.

“The health of the people is of paramount importance so nobody can blame the mayor if she was looking after her constituents,” he said.

Belmonte met Friday with the backyard raisers in the two villages and barangay executive Manny Guarin, who also raises about 300 pigs, about the culling as part of the 1-7-10 protocol.

Under the protocol, quarantine checkpoints are set up in areas within a one-kilometer radius of suspected farms—monitoring the movement of live pigs, pork, and pork products.

Within a seven-kilometer radius, authorities conduct surveillance and limit animal movement.

Farm owners within the 10-kilometer radius are mandated to report any disease to the DA. Belmonte said a budget of P10 million has been allotted for financial assistance to ASF-affected areas.

She encouraged all those from the affected barangays to surrender their pigs before the budget runs out and to prevent the spread of ASF to other areas.

“I was surprised to know that there are backyard hog-raising when I assumed office. I have asked the city veterinarian to immediately phase out backyard hog-raising. But the raisers requested us to give them six months to do so,” she said.

Agriculture Secretary William D.

Bilibid...

From A1 [OJO: RULED INSERT START] Newly appointed Bureau of Corrections director general Gerald Bantag took his oath of office on Friday.

Senator Franklin Drilon has tagged a high-ranking PNP official as a ‘coddler’ of ‘ninja cops.’

Online shopping app Lazada Philippines has vowed to cooperate with the PDEA probe on the sale of illegal drug items on its platform.

MALACAÑANG on Friday said the perpetrators behind the hazing death Wednesday of 20-year-old Philippine Military Academy cadet Darwin Dormitorio from Cagayan de Oro should be held liable under the law.

The Philippine National Police confirmed Wednesday Dormitorio died inside his barracks at Fort Del Pilar in Baguio City as a victim of hazing, only hours after he complained of stomach pain and was immediately brought to the hospital for treatment where he died.

At the elite institution for future officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a PMA official said an investigation of the cadet’s death was now in the hands of police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Major Reynan Afan, acting chief of PMA’s Public Affairs Office, said in a statement that the Philippine National Police and the NBI had been invited to look into the case to “ensure fair, objective and transparent investigation.”

“As the PMA community continue (sic)

House...

From A1 President certified it as an urgent measure.

But the present leadership of the 18th Congress is now the record holder in terms of the earliest date, September 20, that the national budget was approved on third and final reading following the certification issued by the President.

Records from the House committee on rules, chaired by Romualdez, showed the 16th Congress approved the 2016 national budget on second and third reading on October 9, 2015 after it was certified urgent by then President Benigno Aquino III. During the 13th Congress, the 2007 national budget was approved on sec-

Mistrust...

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to mourn the passing of one of its sons, continuous cooperation with competent proper authorities have been initiated,” he said.

He said the PMA was extending support to Dormitorio’s family.

In the Senate, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III is extremely saddened by the death of his fellow Kagay-anon, saying “This is unacceptable and must be investigated immediately. We cannot turn a blind eye to this kind of violence in the country’s premier military training institution. Apparently, the situation was exacerbated by negligence in the medical treatment of this young man.”

The senaror on Friday expressed his utter dismay that such unfortunate incident still occurred despite the enactment of Republic Act No. 11053 or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, which imposes harsher penalties on organizers and participants of hazing. With PNA

DOJ...

From A1 crime convicts who did not surrender after a 15-day grace period that expired Sept. 19 would be rearrested and shot if they resisted arrest.

But Guevarra said Friday that of the 1,914 heinous crime convicts freed through the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, 1,717 have already turned themselves in as of 11 p.m. of Sept.19.

The remaining convicts, Guevarra said, were in a “gray area” because they did not know if they were really con-

Duterte bashes landlords who buy CARP lots

By MJ Blancaflor and Rio N. Araja PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night slammed landlords who buy parcels of land from agrarian reform beneficiaries, saying he will not honor such contracts.

“I will tell you, during my time, I will not honor that sale,” he said in a televised speech in Capiz.

“If you’ll tell me that you bought it back, you have to consider that the person is poor and maybe it’s the first time that he got hold of so much money. And yet when it is gone, dissipated either intentionally or either for expenses, they have nothing,” he said.

Buying lands covered by the land reform program are prohibited under the law.

“I will not honor that contract. Do not give me that sh*t,” he said.

The President previously warned former land owners to return land to farmers-beneficiaries because they will be “forced to surrender.”

President Duterte also urged Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones to complete the land reform process before his term expires in 2022.

“I’m telling the secretary to complete land reform and give government’s land to the people. If the government land has no purpose, give it to the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Castriciones on Friday welcomed a Court of Appeals decision upholding the department’s quasi-judicial powers.

“This is a legal victory to DAR,” Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Luis Meinrado Pañgulayan said.

The resolution has nullified the 20-year injunction order against the agency on the process of land acquisition and distribution, and issuance of certificates of land ownership awards.

“This brings to an end the injunction issued against DAR and the beneficiaries of the [Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program] processes and the agrarian reform titles,” Pañgulayan said.

In July 2000, the Roxas City Regional Trial Court, acting as a special

DOH...

From A1 management.

He also said it’s too early to say if the disease has been contained.

“Right now, we still can’t see that dengue is under control because in the first place, we don’t have the vaccine to prevent it after the use of Dengvaxia was stopped,” said Avelino.

“Our monitoring is being done week by week. Based on the current reports, the current cases are going up,” he also told Manila Standard in a phone interview.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III previously said records from the DOH epidemiology bureau showed a a total of 208,917 cases of dengue fever from Jan. 1 to Aug. 10. This was way higher than in 2018, when 102,298 dengue cases were listed in the same period.

The DOH noted that 882 denguerelated deaths were recorded from Jan. 1 to Aug. 10, again higher than 540 deaths recorded in the same period last year.

Recent DOH records also showed that the number of dengue cases spiked by 40 percent to 12,802 cases reported from Aug. 4 to Aug. 10 this year, from 9,149 cases recorded in the same period in 2018.

In the World Health Organization’s Situation Report on dengue released last week, 271,480 dengue cases—including 1,107 deaths—were reported from January to August this year, 113 percent higher than in 2018.

victed for heinous crimes.

“We want to make sure that those remaining are actually people that need to be arrested,” the Justice secretary said.

“Pending that verification, considering the number of those who have surrendered almost matched the original number 1,900 plus, then we deem it safe and prudent not to pursue any coercive law enforcement action at this time because we may unduly and unnecessarily endanger the life of not only the [prisoners], but even the law enforcement agents,” he added.

Guevarra’s call came as his depart-

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Del Rosario disputes Palace stand on WPS row FORMER Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Palace statement that bringing the country’s maritime disputes with China before the United Nations is a futile exercise.

Del Rosario made the statement in response to the five arguments raised

by Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, who said that it was pointless to raise the disputes in the West Philippine Sea. An international panel in The Hague, Netherlands had upheld in a landmark 2016 ruling that the Philippines has exclusive rights to exploit resources in the waters.

But in a statement, Del Rosarion said that (1) the UN serves as not only the primary promoter of the rule of law but also the court of world public opinion, as he refuted Panelo’s argument that the ruling had ‘no enforcement force.’

Secondly, Del Rosario argued that Panelo’s claim that “nothing happened to Nicaragua case,” that Nicaragua’s resort to the UN had the effect of securing international publicity and of gaining favorable global opinion.

The United States continued to defy the UN resolutions, until later on, it ultimately provided a substantial aid package in the order of more than US$500 million.

On the (3) “futility of going to the UN,” the former top diplomat argued that leaders of 193 countries troop to the UN each year to promote their positions before the global community of nations. These countries, including the Philippines, maintain permanent missions to the United Nations.

He also refuted Panelo’s statement that there is “no significant impact if Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. speaks on arbitral ruling before the UN General Assembly,” saying that while he agrees with this reasoning, seeking a resolution can only be pursued after the proper foundation has been developed. As we suggested earlier, it would take time and hard work but it can be done, he added.

On Panelo’s fifth argument that the “UN dominated by countries grateful to China,” Del Rosario said that he agrees with Locsin that many developing countries are beholden to China because of economic largesse, the inherent desire for the rule of law to prevail is the balancing factor.

“We have every confidence in Secretary Locsin, with the men and women in the Foreign Service, to ably undertake what is required in moving forward our case on the arbitral tribunal outcome,” he said.

Del Rosario has led the successful arbitration case which resulted in the legal victory for the Philippines in connection with the South China Sea disputes.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan are locked in decades-long territorial conflict in the resource-rich South China Sea, particularly in its southern part, called the Spratlys.

China continues to insist that it has historic rights and ownership over nearly the entire strategic waters where huge minerals and natural oil and gas deposits have been discovered in several areas.

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from Thursday’s price of $62.32.

Last Tuesday, pump prices had already jumped by over a peso. Caltex, Shell, Petro Gazz, Phoenix Petroleum, and Clean Fuel raised gasoline prices by P1.35 per liter and diesel by P0.85 per liter.

Without next week’s raises, the price adjustment last Sept. 17 raised the yearto-date net increases to P5.51 per liter for gasoline, P4.02 for diesel, and P2.01 for kerosene.

In Washington, the United States wants a peaceful solution to the crisis sparked by the attacks on Saudi oil installations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, after Iran raised the specter of an “all-out war.”

Pompeo has blamed Iran for the dramatic weekend assault on two facilities, condemning an “act of war” which knocked out half the kingdom’s oil production.

The rhetoric has raised the risk of an unpredictable escalation in a tinderbox region where Saudi Arabia and ran are locked in a decades-old struggle for dominance.

At the House of Representatives, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda called on oil companies not to exploit the attacks on Saudi Arabia just to increase oil prices in the country, saying the firms should justify any oil price increase.

“I think they have to prove to the public that they bought oil at those prices. They

Recto seeks bigger budget for ‘specialty hospitals’

THUMBS UP. Members of the Majority and Minority led by Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez (7th from right) and Deputy Speaker and Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte (center) flash the thumbs-up sign during the budget deliberation at the plenary of the House of Representatives. Ver Noveno

Pulong blasts DOT chief’s ’management style’

By Maricel V. Cruz and MJ Blancaflor

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RESIDENTIAL son and Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte has complained about the leadership style of Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

In his manifestation during the House’s plenary deliberations on her agency’s proposed 2020 budget, Duterte said he would want to raise the issue with regards to “certain issues and concerns regarding what is happening now in that department.”

“It has come to my attention that there have been several complaints on the management style of Secretary Romulo Puyat, in relation to the approval of contracts and projects in her department,” he added.

Duterte said he would want to raise the issue involving Puyat on the proposed ₱3.8-billion budget of the Tourism department for 2020, but Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano advised him to speak to Puyat personally about his concerns, instead.

“...as part of the pre-plenary conference between agencies of the executive department and the House, our Honorable Speaker deemed it prudent that these issues be threshed out directly with Secretary Romulo Puyat, hence, following the established procedure in the House, I sat down with the Speaker and Secretary Romulo Puyat to discuss my concerns regarding her department,” Duterte said.

Unfortunately, Duterte said the meeting did not go well. “Instead of fixing the mess, it grew bigger,” Duterte said thus he brought the issue to the floor.

Duterte did not give details of the contracts nor the complaints raised against Romulo.

“I wanted to clarify these issues because I believe it is my right and sworn duty as

a member of this esteemed chamber to ask questions and thus, interpellate any fellow legislator on the floor,” Duterte said.

“I would be remiss of my duty as a representative of the people of Davao City’s 1st district if I turn a deaf ear to the complaints and grievances that have reached my office regarding the Department of Tourism,” Duterte said.

Duterte added he even got irked when Puyat told the President about the meeting.

“Ang buong akala ko ay maganda ang ikakabunga ng aming pag-uusap yun pala ay mauuwi lang sa sumbungan at mga maling paratang laban sa akin at alam niyo na esteemed colleagues kung kanino,” he said, implying that Puyat told his father about it.

Puyat was appointed by Duterte’s father, President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Palace, however, said that the president still trusts Secretary Puyat.

According to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the President is “all praises” and “very warm” towards Puyat.

“The industry is good and the stakeholders don’t have complaints with Secretary Berna. Quick to respond and hardworking,” Nograles told Palace reporters.

are taking advantage of this predisposition toward panic,” Salceda said.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian wants to look into the Department of Energy’s plans to ensure adequate oil supply in the Philippines following the attack on Saudi Arabian Oil Company’s key facilities last week.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, filed Senate Resolution No. 139 for the committee to conduct an inquiry on the DOE’s short-, medium-, and long-term plans. This is necessary, he said, to achieve energy security and to mitigate the adverse repercussions of supply shocks on the country’s oil supply and prices following the Aramco attack by suspected Iranian-backed rebels.

“The DOE, as the primary agency in charge of planning and implementation of comprehensive programs for the supply of energy, needs to inform the Filipino public about the effects of the Saudi Aramco attack on oil supply and prices in the Philippines,” Gatchalian said.

The Committee on Energy hearing is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 23, at 9 a.m.

Damage to Saudi Aramco oil installations ignited fears of supply disruption around the world and has sent crude prices soaring by double digits.

Saudi Arabia is the top Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries producer of crude oil.

After meeting with allies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, Pompeo said there was an “enormous consensus in the region” that Iran carried out the attacks, despite its denials and Yemeni rebels’ claims that they were responsible. AFP

GSIS to partner with PPP to hike income from assets

China via Mislatel telco.

Campos reassured Rodriguez that DICT will not allow the country’s third telco to put up towers near military camps like the Armed Forces of the Philippines, among others, as it constitutes a violation of the 1987 Constitution on matters of national security.

Rodriguez, in his interpellation in the DICT budget, said that “foreigners should never be allowed in our military camps” and that DICT “should put a stop and will not grant the establishment of communications equipment” due to Chinese interest.

“They have to look for other venues other than the military camps,” Rodriguez said, to which Campos answered with a categorical “yes, that is correct.” “The AFP agreement to build cell sites is invalid and in violation of our national security provisions,” Rodriguez said.

AFP chief-of-staff, Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., earlier said there are ongoing efforts and activities to secure all military communications from espionage.

Also, Madrigal said partnering with Mislatel is nothing new as similar MOAs have been secured by private telcos Smart and Globe.

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.

The telecommunication firm is also required to “furnish all equipment, labor, and materials necessary to effect the colocation of its facilities and shoulders all expenses in connection with or incidental to the co-location” and payment of all taxes, permits, licenses, and other charges.

Maricel V. Cruz

IN ITS continuing efforts to enhance revenue income from its investment properties, the governing board of Government Service Insurance System, led by chairman and acting president and general manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet, attended a seminar on Public-Private Partnership conducted

by Philippine Reclamation Authority chairman and certified PPP specialist, lawyer Alberto C. Agra.

Macasaet said that the “GSIS Board wants to understand how PPP works so that we can maximize use of GSIS’ property assets, for the benefit of our over two million members and pensioners.”

“Through PPP, GSIS can redevelop its properties for productive or commercial use, which will boost our income and sustain our fund life,” the pension fund chief pointed out.

During the said seminar, the GSIS Board of Trustees were briefed on various PPP modalities which include Build-Operate-Transfer schemes, Joint Ventures, divestment, lease, management contract, service contract, real property swap, and concession.

In 2012, GSIS entered into a PPP contract with the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure, considered as the very first private equity fund for infrastructure projects in the country.

365 Club:...

One of those who came earlier that morning was the highly regarded veteran newspaperman and Manila Times columnist Teodoro F. Valencia-Ka Doroy to his admirers and friends.

Breaking the silence, Ka Doroy announced that he would be paying for the breakfast bills of everyone present that morning and for every morning for as long as martial law existed. He speculated that martial rule would not last for more than 365 days. He was confident he could pay the bills of those who would join him for breakfast each morning.

This is how the 365 Club was born and became an institution as a media forum.

When President Marcos abolished Congress, jailed top opposition leaders and media critics, and rushed the drafting of a new Constitution, it became obvious that martial law was going to last long.

Ka Doroy realized he could not possibly afford paying the bills indefinitely. In fact, he was getting irked that some habitués had been abusing his hospitality by ordering more expensive breakfast food items.

Fortunately, there were close friends of Ka Doroy who readily chipped in to pay the bills, particularly Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut and architect Ruperto Gaite.

Occasionally some well-known but now jobless media practitioners dropped by out of professional inquisitiveness.

They helped enliven the conversations at this unorganized and ad hoc gathering which was getting popular and increasing in unlisted membership. The most consistent and widely-respected media personality until today is Atty. Emil Jurado―now the club’s unconstitutional presiding officer.

Thomasians join him in the top 10— Eugene Richard Tan Yap (tied for fifth) and Patricia Monique Liwanag Torres (tied for ninth).

Out of the 4,716 takers, 4,006 passed the exam administered by the Board of Medicine in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cebu, and Davao.

Ateneo de Manila University School of Medicine and Public Health-Pasig, Cebu Institute of Medicine, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila all had 100-percent passing rates with 133, 127, and 103 exam takers, respectively.

The top ten scores are: 1. Federico Adriano Peralta IV,

University of Santo Tomas (90.92%) 2. Ray Zanoria Perez II, Cebu Institute Of Medicine (90.33%) 3. Rowel Calvin Castro Razon, Angeles University Foundation (90.25%) 4. Judea Galang Gonzales, Angeles University Foundation (89.75%) 5. (tied) Vien Christian Lim Lansangan, Far Eastern UniversityNicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (89.75%); Joseph Alexander Dela Cruz Paguio, University Of The PhilippinesManila (89.75%); Eugene Richard Tan Yap, University of Santo Tomas (89.50%)

Chinese telecom firm inside military camps OKd THE Department of Information and Communications Technology, under the stewardship of Secretary Gringo Honasan, on Friday assured the public that the move to allow a Chinese telecommunications company to set up facilities inside military camps was not a cause for concern.

Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. made the assurance as he defended the proposed P5.2-billion DICT budget during the plenary deliberations at the House of Representatives Friday.

“There will not be any breach [of the country’s laws] as long as there is the DICT your honor,” Campos, who was a co-sponsor of the DICT budget, said in response to the query of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, raised the issue of the DitoTelecommunity which acquires 40 percent stake from

SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Friday batted for an increase in the government’s budgetary subsidy to five specialty hospitals in Quezon City which draw patients from all over the country.

These are Philippine Heart Center, the Lung Center of the Philippines, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and the Philippine Orthopedic Center.

Recto said the “patient catchment area” of the five Department of Health (DOH)-supervised medical centers is “practically the entire country.”

Because each specializes in diseases which affect many Filipinos, like cardiovascular diseases in the case of PHC and motorcycle crash victims for POC, “then increasing government’s equity in their operations would enable them to treat more poor patients,” Recto said.

“The reports we’re getting is that there is a dramatic increase in the number of people seeking treatment in these hospitals. And many of them come from faraway provinces,” he said.

“We have to increase their capacity, buy more equipment, hire more manpower in order to lessen the waiting time of patients for surgery,” Recto said.

Recto noted that while the combined bed capacity of the neighboring Lung, Heart, Kidney and Children’s Centers has remained flat, “they are now surrounded by real estate developments with thousands of condominium rooms for sale.”

From A1

took their breakfast together at the Jeepney coffee shop of the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati that early morning of Sept. 21, 1972.

Palpable during that particular morning was the eerie silence and deep anxiety among those present. They were all bewildered, grimly wondering why all the television channels and radio stations were silent and why newspapers were not available anywhere.

What they eventually realized was that President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos had placed the entire country under martial law. The desultory and modulated reading of Proclamation 1081 by Press Secretary Francisco Tatad was the official political benediction.

UST...

From A1

a rating of 90.33 percent, and Rowel Calvin Castro Razon from the Angeles University Foundation was third with a rating of 90.25 percent.

Peralta, known to his relatives and friends as “Dapoy,” said he had always wanted to become a doctor in a television interview. His father Eric and mother Ana are both doctors as well.

The UST student, who hails from Bulacan province, saw two other

A4

Opinion

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Long, dark night of Marcos dictatorship A LONG dark night descended on our country when President Ferdinand Marcos announced on air at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, 1972 that he had proclaimed martial law across our land.

Twenty-two hours earlier, on Sept. 21 (later he claims this to be the real date when martial law was proclaimed but that is not credible), he had given his military collaborators the command to start arresting his political opponents and close down media establishments.

Invoking powers within the framework of his own edict, he then proceeded to exercise all executive and legislative powers.

And it could be longer and darker.

In the exercise of legislative powers, Marcos promulgated presidential decrees that were as good as republic acts. He even used a presidential proclamation to have a new constitution as the law of the land, setting aside the 1935 Constitution without benefit of a plebiscite as was required.

Although it was still allowed to exercise some judicial powers and some measure of independence, the judiciary became, much like the other institutions, a puppet of the dictatorship.

It failed its first test in the cases of

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Aquino vs. Enrile when it refused to order the release of Ninoy Aquino and other political detainees who had been illegally arrested under the orders of Marcos and when it did not allow any more judicial obstacle to the operation of the illegitimate 1973 Constitution.

Marcos baptized his new regime as the “New Society” and “constitutional authoritarianism.” Eventually, it morphed into a conjugal dictatorship when his overly ambitious wife became the other half of the dictatorial rule with her also enjoying the privileges and wielding the powers of a dictator.

Through guns and intimidation, Marcos succeeded to dislodge the old oligarchy and allowed his cronies to assume control of corporations and business firms, creating monopolies with a favored few controlling the reins unfettered by laws other than those crafted by the dictator.

The Marcos dictatorial rule, described by many as a United StatesMarcos dictatorship because the US government propped up that regime for many years, is known throughout the world not only for its horrific human rights atrocities but as a reign of greed and profligacy, with the conjugal dictatorship and their minions dipping their hands into the public coffers with utmost impunity.

More than 30 years since an outraged Filipino people unceremoniously ousted the Marcoses into exile through the EDSA People’s Revolution, the unrepentant Marcoses and their collaborators are back; they are, more than ever, powerful.

Marcos’ family, loyalists, and beneficiaries are challenging irrefutable

Y

A collective demand

OUNG people in the Philippines and elsewhere conducted a vast protest on Friday, demanding that political and business leaders act on the issue of climate change.

Global Climate Strikes is a youthled movement inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, and seeks to remind adults all over the world that through their action or inaction, they will determine the kind of life that the young and the succeeding generations will come to know as normal.

Scientists say that if current global warming activities are not kept to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, climate change will bring catastrophic results.

We are starting to feel these, already, in the form of rising sea levels, more violent and more frequent storms, protracted forest fires from the Amazon to Indonesia, and the resulting drought, famine and displacement.

Here in the Philippines, young people are leading rallies, workshops and related events in at least 28 locations for the next seven days, primarily demanding that the government declare a climate emergency.

In support of the strikes, the Department of Education, through a memorandum, ordered teachers and school

heads to excuse students who would take part in the action provided they present proof of consent of their parents and legal guardians. It also encouraged schools to document their participation and post it on social media to help spread the word.

The youth strikers amassed in several locations Friday, reminding decision makers in government to not just talk about climate change but to do something concrete about it.

Studies have shown the Philippines is the third country most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The archipelago’s physical make up and location make it prone to weather patterns, made more extreme and frequent by the heat trapped in the atmosphere.

Other demands include the phaseout of coal and other fossil fuels, a transition to renewable energy while securing the livelihood of workers, the safeguarding of the rights of indigenous people and environmental defenders, the strengthening of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies, and

enhancement of support for the creation of sustainable cities and communities.

One location in Friday’s strike was the Commission on Human Rights compound in Quezon City, where Commissioner Chito Gascon spoke before the strikers. He emphasized the link between climate change and human rights, saying that the global tragedy would affect the dignity and life choices of ordinary people.

Gascon also expressed his wish that the Duterte administration rethink an earlier pronouncement that it would stop sending official delegates to climate change conferences, where the Philippines has been an active, vocal participant over the past two decades.

Climate change is not an opinion, Gascon said, echoing Thunberg. It is a fact, and the only question remaining is how today’s decision makers will respond to a threat whose effects they are not likely to live to see. It is the youth of today and tomorrow who stand to lose their homes and livelihoods, security and safety, and their human rights and dignity in the event the grownups are not persuaded to do more than what is already being done.

Turn to A5

Moving forward with the Safe Spaces Act THE Implementing Rules and Regulations of the “Bawal ang bastos” law, or the Safe Spaces Act (RA 11313) is now being developed by the Technical Drafting Committee for this purpose.

Led by the Philippine Commission on Women, the TDC is composed of the government agencies that will lead in the law’s implementation such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Metro Manila Development Agency, Department of Labor and Employment, Commission on Higher Education, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology. They are joined by three civil society organizations, Saligan, Women’s Legal Bureau, and the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines in writing the IRR set to be launched in late October.

In addition to the TDC processes, the Philippine office of Plan International, an international development organization, is holding a series of public consultations mostly outside Metro Manila to further enrich the IRR through the inputs of other stakeholders. These consultations will bring together local government units, regional offices of implementing agencies, and CSOs and will happen in the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Cotabato, and Davao; and Masbate, Pampanga, and Metro Manila.

According to Ernesto Almocera Jr., Plan International’s Communications and Advocacy manager, these public consultations are important for the perspectives of stakeholders on the law and how it can be effectively and efficiently implemented to surface. After all, it is at the local level where most of the implementation will happen. The resulting recommendations from these

activities will be forwarded to the TDC for possible inclusion in the law’s IRR. Almocera added: “We work with PCW and the implementing agencies of this law to defend the rights of women and girls to be safe wherever they are in public, and speak up without fear of harassment or violence.”

It is commendable that as early as the IRR drafting, perspectives from various stakeholders outside Metro Manila are already being solicited. Not only will the IRR be more inclusive; doing this may also result in a better grasp of the law by implementing government agencies. This is particularly important for laws that go against discriminatory acts and practices that some people consider as culturally acceptable. A good number of these is penalized by the Safe Spaces Act.

Youth demand change in global climate strike

Implementation is next.

By Andrew Beatty While most of us have heard of, or understand sexual harassment, the law has for the longest time been limited only to acts committed in relation with employment. I remember in a Senate committee hearing on SH chaired by Jinggoy Estrada several Congresses ago, I remarked that SH happens everywhere, in streets, commercial areas, schools, neighborhood, etc., yet the SH law focuses only on those that are employment-related. My call then was for a comprehensive anti-SH law. And now, the law is here.

This law is not simple. For starters, it is 20 pages long and reading and trying to understand it might be a chore for some. The law is comprehensive as it penalizes four types of gender-based sexual harassment: In streets and public places; online; in the workplace; and in educational and training institutions. Each type has its own peculiarities, dynamics, and covers many specific acts. Therefore, this is a law Turn to A5

CHILDREN across Asia and the Pacific kicked off what are set to be the largest global climate protests in history Friday, demanding adults act now to stop environmental disaster.

From Sydney to Seoul, Manila to Mumbai, children heeded the rallying cry of fellow teen activist Greta Thunberg and shut their textbooks in a collective call to action.

In Australia, more than 300,000 kids, parents and supporters rallied, organizers said, more than double the turnout at climate strikes in March, and among the first of 5,000 events planned worldwide by a movement dubbed "Fridays for Future."

They are demanding politicians and businesses take drastic action to stop global warming, which scientists warn will lead to environmental catastrophe on current trends.

The day of protests is already eclipsing crowd numbers seen in strikes last May and will culminate in New York, where 1.1 million students in around 1,800 public schools have been permit-

ted to skip school.

On the eve of the strikes, Thunberg— a 16-year-old Swede who has become emblematic of generational tensions over management of the planet—insisted solutions were being "ignored" and called on kids to take ownership.

"Everything counts, what you do counts," she said in a video message to supporters.

As the sun rose above the international dateline, events began in the delugethreatened Pacific Islands of Vanuatu, the Solomons and Kiribati—where children chanted "We are not sinking, we are fighting."

There was a similar sense of defiance across Asia. "We are the future and we deserve better," 12-year-old Lilly Satidtanasarn—known as "Thailand's Greta" for her campaigning against plastic bags in malls—told AFP in Bangkok.

The adults "have just been talking about it, but they're not doing anything," she said. "We don't want excuses."

In India, schoolchildren rallied in New Delhi and Mumbai while thousands protested in the Philippines, which experts say faces threats from rising sea levels

and increasingly violent storms.

"There are a lot of people here who can feel the effects of climate change already, for example with typhoons," Yanna Palo, 23, told AFP at a rally in the capital Manila.

"I don't know if we're on the frontline of the fight against climate change, but I hope so."

Defiant children In Australia, while some local authorities, schools and business encouraged people to take part in the strikes, some have warned that absences must be explained.

Many Australian students remain undeterred.

"We're here to send a message to people in power—the politicians, showing them that we care and this is really important to us," said 16-year-old Will Connor.

"Otherwise we're not going to have a future."

The mostly hot and dusty continent finds itself at the sharp end of the climate debate and the changing environment has Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher ManilaStandard

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

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Opinion A spoiled brat in the Cabinet Puyat's "management style" which the former thought would be properly addressed after the meeting. The complaints, among others, question the legitimacy of multi-million peso contracts and projects approved by the DOT chief.

Instead, Rep. Duterte was flabbergasted to find out that Puyat had sought audience with President Duterte and turned the table on the congressman, hurling unbelievable accusations against the presidential son.

Puyat literally bad-mouthed Cong.

Duterte, taking advantage of Manong Digong's usual openness and friendship.

Rep. Eric Yap of the Anti-Corruption and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACTCIS) partylist condemned Puyat's "spoiled brat" attitude. It is unbecoming of a public servant, much less a Cabinet member.

Yap posed a question for her: “Secretary Puyat, ano po ang naging tugon

ninyo sa pagpupulong na yun? Concrete solution ba o mas nakita nyo na dapat magsumbong na lang sa mahal na Pangulo? Kung ang Deputy Speaker na anak ng Pangulo ay nagawa nyong isumbong at batuhin ng mga maling paratang, paano na lang ang ibang mga mambabatas na walang direktang access sa Pangulo? Paano ang mga ordinaryong kawani ng pamahalaan? Paano ang mga ordinaryong Pilipino? Anong mensahe po ang gusto nyong ipahatid sa bawat taong may lehitimong concern sa estado ng turismo ng bayan?”

Puyat should just respond to complaints about her overpaid staff and public relations consultants, questionable advertisement expenses, frivolous travel junkets, wasteful social events and luxurious luncheons with Yellow media members allegedly on her payroll.

We would welcome Sec. Puyat's reaction on the issues but she, and any one of the DOT’s spokespersons, have been unavailable for comment.

bong Marcos has not given up on his vice-presidential protest.

There are of course attempts to push back against the revisionism. The University of the Philippines is now offering a course of martial law as part of its curriculum, to which Senator Imee insists should include the side of the Marcoses.

Personally, I bring as many of the classes I teach to the Bantayog ng Mga Bayani to celebrate the heroic lives of those Filipinos who fought against dictatorship. Those visits are always sobering because of the stories of torture, assassinations, and massacres from the Marcos era.

Among those heroes, it’s always the faces of the young and the brave— among others, Liliosa Hilao, Edgar Jopson, Billy Begg, Emman Lacaba, Lorena Barros, Rizalina Ilagan, Jessica Sales, Cristina Catalla, Leticia Ladlad, Manuel Dorotan, and Ditto Sarmiento that haunt me most.

In the meantime, more people have died in three years of Duterte’s war against illegal drugs than the 14 years of the Marcos regime. Human rights defenders like my friend Ben Ramos and others in Negros Island have been assassinated.

And today, it’s the young like Sarah Elago, the representative of Kabataan, and other activists like Raoul Manuel, Alex Danday, and Ayna Punzalan who are being targeted by those threatened by the youth rising up for social and political change.

Sarah herself has been subjected to constant misogynistic attacks, including by lawyers who try to intimidate her with untoward side comments and other repulsive behavior.

Most recently, Alexa Pacalda, a human rights worker in Southern Luzon,

was abducted, starved and not allowed to sleep for days with the goal of coercing her and her family to sign a surrender document. She and her father have repudiated that document even as she is still illegally detained.

Once again, in many parts of the Philippines, political prisoners are being held: People like Vic Ladlad whose only fault is to believe that peace with justice is possible in our land; young activists like Myles Albasin, a young woman from my hometown Cagayan de Oro and a graduate of Xavier University High School and University of the Philippines Cebu, whose only fault is her empathy for the poor and her fidelity to the Atenean ideal of being a person for others and to UP’s demand for honor and excellence from its students and graduates. I know Myles personally and have seen her courage, compassion, common sense, and commitment. My hope is she will be allowed to begin her law studies soon.

I am certain she will become a great lawyer for our country and people.

Philosopher George Santayana in his 1905 series, The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress famously said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

If we continue to condone these attempts to consign this dark history to oblivion, as Santayana warned, we are mindlessly treading the same path as we did 45 years ago when Marcos’ abusive, iron-fisted rule cast a long, dark shadow over the republic and the people.

At a blink of an eye, the long, dark night will be back. And this time, it could be longer and darker.

dren that "everything you're told is a lie."

"The facts are, there is no link beFrom A4 tween climate change and drought, pobecome a daily fact of life. lar bears are increasing in number," he Australia is one of the world's largest said. coal exporters and continues to approve massive new mines that bring jobs and Businesses taking action have spurred three-decades of uninterAn increasing number of businesses rupted economic growth. disagree.

But it has also suffered the compound"See you on the streets" was the deing effects of climate change. Recent fiant message from Australian pension years have brought historic droughts, fund Future Super, which helped muster more intense bushfires, devastating 2,000 companies behind "not business floods and the blanching of the Great as usual" pro-strike campaign.

Barrier Reef.

In a similar vein, Amazon chief Jeff Australia's conservative govern- Bezos on Thursday pledged to make the ment—while stopping short of outright US technology and retail giant carbon climate change denial—has sought to neutral by 2040 and encourage other frame the debate as a choice between firms to do likewise. jobs or abstract CO2 targets.

Friday's mass action sets the scene for Ruling coalition parliamentarian a range of high-profile climate events in Craig Kelly on Thursday warned chil- New York.

A Youth Climate Summit will take place at the United Nations on Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will then host an emergency summit on Monday in which he will urge world leaders to raise their commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

The agreement saw countries pledge to limit the long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth to two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, and if possible, to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

A landmark UN report to be unveiled next week will warn that global warming and pollution are ravaging Earth's oceans and icy regions in ways that could unleash misery on a global scale.

The scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be put to a gathering of experts from 195 countries meeting in Morocco from Friday. AFP

Moving...

ing; or any advances whether verbal or physical that is unwanted and has threatened one’s sense of personal space and physical safety, and committed in public spaces.

Closely looking at these acts will make one realize that many of these are encountered by women particularly on a regular basis. Moreover, catcalling, wolf-whistling, jokes about women’s bodies and the like, are regarded by many as part of women’s normal lives, and even culturally acceptable. However, this law says that these acts are not

HOUSE of Representatives leaders have expressed utter disgust over the attitude of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who apparently thinks she is entitled to special treatment on account of President Rodrigo Duterte's fondness of her.

House Deputy Speaker Paolo Z. Duterte disclosed there have been complaints brought to his attention that might have been addressed during the pre-plenary deliberation on next year's budget of the Department of Tourism.

But, to accommodate Puyat, Rep. Duterte thought it prudent to thresh out matters in a meeting with her in the presence of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

The Davao City representative said there were nagging complaints over

Long,...

From A4

facts and expounding half-truths and outright lies. What’s worse, lots of uninformed Filipinos cut and paste these lies on their Facebook statuses or blogs, perpetuating a train of lies.

Compounding these efforts to rewrite Marcos history is the blatant attempts by the present administration to sanitize the Marcos name and deceive the people into believing that the Marcos rule was the halcyon days of the republic.

Early on in his administration, President Duterte paved the way for the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani with full military, giving closure to his family and supporters but reopening wounds inflicted by his 21-year rule marked by human rights atrocities.

Worse, the Supreme Court gave its legal imprimatur to the abomination when it affirmed its 2016 decision allowing this burial. Needless to say, the act was gross distortion, a malevolent revision and a wanton derogation of the memory of the thousands of human rights victims who suffered under the brutal dictatorial rule.

Worst, perhaps, few have been made to account for the sins of the Marcos rule. Not only are those perceived guilty are not in prison but are “honorable” elected officials of the land.

Imelda Marcos, convicted of graft and corruption after 27 years of trial, remains free to roam around after being granted post-conviction bail partly because the Sandiganbayan considered her old age and state of health.

The Marcoses are back in power.

They are now in total control of Ilocos Norte with the next generation taking over. Imee Marcos is senator. Bong-

Youth...

From A4

that needs to be explained very well to people.

According to the law, gender-based streets and public spaces sexual harassment are acts “committed through any unwanted and uninvited sexual actions or remarks against any person regardless of the motive for committing such.”

This provision is worth emphasizing because it recognizes that the motive of

the perpetrator is irrelevant when it comes to the determination of what constitutes sexual harassment. What matters is how the recipient of such action regards it, and its effect/s on the victim.

Some of the acts penalized as streets and public spaces SH are: Catcalling, wolf-whistling, unwanted invitations, misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic, and sexist slurs; persistent uninvited comments or gestures on a person’s appearance; relentless requests for personal details; public masturbation or flashing of private parts; grop-

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

A favor from China declaring Kalayaan group of islands part of the Philippine territory and providing government and administration thereof.

The “whereas clause” of the decree seemingly justified our claim, to wit: “by reason of proximity, the cluster of islands and islets in the South China Sea PRESIDENT Duterte is all wrong when is situated within the Kalayaan group of he promised to set aside the arbitral rul- islands is vital to the security and ecoing made by the Permanent Court of nomic survival of the Philippines; that Arbitration. His interpretation is that we much of the area is part of the continenceded a portion of what is supposed to tal margin of the Philippine archipelago; be “ours” in the South China Sea demar- that these areas do not legally belong to cated as part of our exclusive economic any state or nation but, by reason of hiszone under the United Nations Conven- tory, indispensable need, and effective occupation and control established in tion on the Law of the Sea. To put things in their proper perspec- accordance with international law, such tive, we have to begin by knowing our areas must now be deemed to belong history. The Philippines is the first coun- and subject to the sovereignty of the try, then a colony of Spain, to officially Philippines; and that while other states demarcate its boundary in the South have laid claims to some of these areas, China Sea. That happened when Spain their claims have lapsed by abandonand the US signed the Treaty of Paris ment and cannot prevail over that of the Philippines based on Dec. 10, 1898, on legal, historiwhich excluded the cal, and equitable Spratly group of isgrounds.” lands as part of the We can never truly That same day, territory to be sold claim we lost an inch former President for $20 million.

Marcos, to prevent The Spratly of our territory. a scramble by some group of islands, states to assert juone of which we risdiction over all now occupy as the municipality of Kalayaan, is demarcated islands and territory in the Spratly, isoutside the Treaty, and logically not part sued P.D. No. 1599 on June 11, 1978, of the archipelago sold by Spain to the “Establishing Economic Zone” citing the EEZ provision extending the disUS. Article III specifically pointed by de- tance to 200 nautical miles from the grees the latitude and longitude of the baselines of our territorial sea which is measured as vital to the economic surdemarcations.

The group of islands now renamed vival and development; and, that the and respectively occupied are: Itu Aba zone is now a recognized principle in (occupied by Tiran); Thitu island (Phil- international law.

The Scarborough or Panatag Shoal is ippines); West Bank island (Philippines); Spratly island (Vietnam); Pa- considered by us as our traditional fishrola island (Philippines); Southwest Cay ing ground and we treat it as part of our (Vietnam); Sin Cowe Island (Vietnam); territory, as when the US navy was still Lawak island (Philippines); Sand Cay at Subic used it to stage regular target (Vietnam); Kota island (Philippines); and bombing practice. When the US Shallow Reef (Malaysia); Namyet is- left the bases, they never said anything land (Vietnam); Amboyna Cay (Viet- about the Scarborough Shoal, which nam); Gierson reef (Vietnam); Central reason why most of our fishermen from London Reef (Vietnam); Patag island Zambales converted the area as their (Philippines); and Panatag island (Phil- fishing ground. Nonetheless, Scarborough or Panatag Shoal is situated 220 ippines).

When UNCLOS was ratified and kilometers off the coast of our nearest signed by us in 1973, an important con- shore or outside the EEZ. Taking all these into account, we can cept called “exclusive economic zone” (EEZ) was added, stretching the juris- never truly claim we lost an inch of our dictional limit of adjacent states to 200 territory. Only the PCA, which has for miles to allow them to explore and ex- its intention of sowing the seeds of perploit mineral resources of that section in petual conflict with China and to keep relevant the presence of the US bases, their continental shelf.

Whatever jurisdictional rights we insist on our rights over that area. Most have within the 200-mile limit came importantly, the US never sought to baronly after UNCLOS was ratified in gain the inclusion of the Spratly islands 1973. Before that, we never entertained in the Treaty considering its proximity or claimed to have jurisdictional right to the archipelago it seeks to purchase over those areas outside the Treaty of from Spain as when it clarified the Sibutu Strait from Spain in 1900.

Paris.

On the contrary, the Memorandum of It was only after we ratified the 1973 Constitution that we deviated from the Understanding to exploit and develop demarcated boundary of the Treaty by oil and natural gas in the Reed Bank including Sabah, by virtue of legal title between Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin and China’s and historic right over that territory.

It is worth noting that the boundary Foreign Minister Wang Yi did us a faseparating the Philippines and Taiwan vor to ensure we get 60 percent of the is along the Bashi Strait drawn in a share provided for in Section 2, Article straight horizontal line at 118 degrees, XII of the Constitution. The MOU enviand moves straight downward at a dis- sions a state-to-state agreement between tance beyond the 200-mile limit from the Philippines’ PNOC and China’s our shore. Scarborough or Panatag shoal CNOOC. The previous service contract was is 220 kms. from the nearest town of Paan agreement between the government lauig in Zambales province.

As the boundary reaches the end of and the private concessionaires. It acPalawan Island, which is slanted out- corded Shell and Chevron 90 percent ward to create a vast internal waters share while giving only a paltry sum of called Sulu Sea, and adopted by virtue 10 percent to PNOC, which was grossly of the “archipelagic doctrine” conceived disadvantageous, not to say a violation by then Senator Tolentino, the boundary of the Constitution.

The Locsin-Yi MOU actually did gets tighter and closer to Palawan as if to purposely exclude the Spratly group us a favor but accidentally eased out of islands until it reaches Balabac strait other oil companies including the one in Sulu, and moved eastward to Sibutu owned by Del Rosario and Pangilinan.

Strait. This narrow but craggy passage- The President has not sold our country way is the boundary between the Philip- to unfairly compare him to England’s pines and Borneo, and was clarified by wartime Prime Minister Neville Chamthe US with Spain in the Washington berlain to appease Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland to avoid war. PresiTreaty of 1900.

Before that, we never said anything dent Duterte got three positive outputs beyond the demarcated boundary agreed from said MOU: 1) Economically by in the Treaty of Paris. Neither could we rectifying the sharing in accordance to cite the EEZ to extend our jurisdiction- our Constitution; 2) By getting what we al claim which was conceived only in want without losing an inch of our terri1973. In fact, it was UNCLOS that gave tory; and most important, 3) Cementing the government the idea to extend our friendship with our neighbor. jurisdiction under the Convention by issuing P.D. No. 1596 on June 11, 1978 rpkapunan@gmail.com

okay and should be penalized.

In effect, this law goes against the patriarchal culture that we have. Thus, implementing this kind of law will be quite challenging and will need the full cooperation of all government agencies that have the responsibility to implement it.

The final provision on Educational Modules and Awareness Campaigns that requires the implementation of education programs on the law so it is understood by the people must be seriously followed. CSOs and women’s

organizations must help out especially in relation with awareness campaigns in poor communities. Otherwise, this good law may just be good on paper.

The Safe Spaces Act is a revolutionary law. At last, there is a law that addresses the many acts covered by gender-based sexual harassment in streets and public spaces, online, employment, and educational and training institutions. Implementation is next. bethangsioco@gmail.com.

Angsioco on Facebook

Elizabeth

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard SATURDAY, TODAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 A6

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Domagoso tells businessmen: Give Manila another try

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

H

AVING abandoned their offices, which were turned into mere “bodegas” (stockrooms) in Escolta, Ermita, Malate, and Binondo, once prime destinations for the country’s commerce and tourism, Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso urged the business sector to give Manila another chance.

“Take a second look again at Manila,” appealed Domagoso, also known by his screen name previously as Isko Moreno, in his address before the Foundation for Economic Freedom event held at the Manila Golf Club in Makati City.

FEF, led by former Prime Minister Cesar Virata and former Socio Economic Planning Secretary Gerry Sicat, is a public advocacy organization advancing economic and political liberty and good governance, among others.

He said the people then running the Manila city government should be faulted for decisions of businesses to leave the country’s capital and move to other areas.

He acknowledged that the loss of trust in the city government had driven away businessmen who opted to transfer their business operations to other areas in Metro Manila.

Before, he said businessmen were grabbing every chance to have their offices and businesses in Manila particularly in Escolta, Ermita, Malate and Binondo.

He noted that everybody wanted their business card with places in Manila as the address of their office and business operations.

But then, they lost interest to continue their businesses in the capital because people had been accustomed doing the wrong practices which they had regarded as right.

To give a better look of wrongdoings under the previous administrations, the former undersecretary of the DSWD said “there’s mining in Manila,” which elicited laughter from the audience.

He also jestingly told his audience, some of them were bankers, that they had entered a wrong business.

Instead, they should aspire to become Manila mayor since there is a Post Office in Manila with a “drop box.”

“That’s why there was this one guy who promised to stay for one term, but forgot everything because of a P5.4- billion reason,” related Domagoso while obviously referring to his predecessor, former president and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

The Commission on Audit also asked the previous administration to account for P5.4 billion which went missing from the city government’s coffer.

Chinese fugitive nabbed for economic crimes

By Vito Barcelo

GENERAL GUIDELINES: 1.

Disposal of GSIS Investment Properties – Retail Units (IP-RUs) is through a competitive public bidding process. Acceptance of Purchase Offers shall start on the scheduled bidding date and time.

2.

Dropping of bid envelopes will be on the date of bidding from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM only.

Opening of Bids will immediately follow. Late bid envelopes will not be accepted

3.

Disposal of GSIS IP-RUs is on an “As-Is Where-Is” basis. Interested bidders are enjoined to personally inspect the GSIS IP-RUs for sale. “As-Is Where-Is” is defined as the present physical condition of the retail unit that GSIS is selling and the buyer is buying, “with all attendant faults, if any,” whether or not immediately apparent and without any express or implied warranty. The buyer takes this condition at his or her own risk, without recourse against the GSIS as to their condition. This includes knowledge by the buyer of the presence of occupants in the retail-unit being purchased.

4.

Strictly, “One bidder, One specific property” only, which means that a bidder cannot submit two (2) or more bids for one property. A bidder may submit one bid each to as many properties as he/she wants to buy, as long as, he/she posts the required 10% bid deposit of the total bid price for each property. The bidder must present valid government IDs upon registration on the date of public bidding.

5.

Purchase offer may either be in Cash or an accredited through External Financing Institution (EFI).

6.

Interested bidders through EFI must first secure a conditional loan approval with EFI accredited bank. Insert the document in the bid envelope along with the duly filled out and signed bid form.

7.

A downloadable bid form shall be properly accomplished with the following data: a. Date of Bidding b. Name of the bidder c. Exact address of property you are interested to bid d. Transfer Certificate of Title No. e. Mode of Payment f.

Amount of bid (in numbers and in words) g. Signature of the bidder/representative

8.

Bid proposal shall be written in words and in figures and must not be lower than the Minimum Acceptable Offer of the property. Should there be a difference in the amount in words and in figures, the amount in words shall prevail.

9.

Bidders’ deposit equivalent to at least 10% of the Bid Offer shall be in the form of MANAGER’S CHECK payable to the Government Service Insurance System.

10. The following shall be inserted on a sealed bid envelope: a. the properly accomplished bid form b. Manager’s Check payable to Government Service Insurance System representing deposit equivalent to at least 10% of the Bid Offer c. Pro-forma Certificate of due diligence (for occupied or unoccupied) d. the Special Power of Attorney (SPA), if the bidder is an authorized representative e. Pre-conditional approval from PBCOM, if applicable f.

Two (2) proofs of occupancy, if applicable f.1. Barangay certificate that Bidder is occupying or residing in the subject property and any of the following: (1) Valid Government Issued IDs, or (2) Latest Billing Address under Bidder’s Name 11. The following information shall be clearly written outside the sealed bid envelope (mailing envelope)

12. The existing tenant or occupant or his duly authorized representative through a valid Special Power of Attorney (SPA) has the right to match the offer of the declared highest bidder, provided: a. he/she is present during the bidding b. participated in actual bidding c. presently occupying the property subject of bidding supported by the following proofs of occupancy: c.1 Barangay certificate that he/she is occupying or residing in the subject property c.2. Any valid government identification document with his/her address similar to the address of the property he/.she is bidding.

13.If the occupant will exercise his/her Right to Match the offer of the declared highest bidder, he/she need not secure another bank pre-qualification corresponding to the matched offer. Instead, he/she shall pay the full 10% deposit based on the matched bid amount in cash on the day of bidding.

14. The declared highest/winning bidder shall submit within fourteen (14) calendar days of the actual bidding, the following documents: (a) duly accomplished Personal Profile/Company Profile/Corporate Profile, whichever is applicable (downloadable); (b) photocopies of two (2) valid IDs (one should be a government-issued ID); (c) Articles of Incorporation/Partnership, By-Laws and current General Information Sheet, for corporation/partnership, if applicable; (d) Registration Certificate from SEC for corporation/partnership, DTI for sole proprietorship and CDA for cooperatives, or any proof of such registration, if applicable; (e) current Mayor’s permit issued by the city or municipality where the principal place of business of the winning bidder is located, if applicable.

15. A Notice of Approval of Sale (NOAS) shall be issued to the highest/winning bidder on the day of bidding. The Bidder’s deposit of the other non-winning bidder/s shall be returned immediately.

16. In case the bid is in CASH, the 90% balance of the bid amount shall be paid either in cash or in manager’s check within thirty (30) calendar days from receipt of NOAS, without privilege of extension.

17. In case the bid is through EFI, winning bidder shall submit the Letter of Guarantee (LOG) within forty-five (45) calendar days from the date of bidding. The equity, if any, shall be paid in cash or in manager’s check within thirty (30) calendar days from receipt of LOG by the GSIS. The equity is the amount corresponding to the difference between the Offered Bid Amount and LOG amount.

18. Non-compliance with the terms and conditions stated in the NOAS will result in the forfeiture of the 10% bidder’s deposit.

19. In case the highest/winning bidder fails to comply with the requirements within the specified time, the said NOAS shall be deemed automatically revoked and the highest/ winning bidder shall be informed in writing. The second highest bidder, if any, shall be informed in writing if he/she is still interested to acquire the property. If still interested, GSIS require him/her to pay the non-refundable deposit equivalent to ten percent (10%) of his/her previously submitted bid amount and will be issued a NOAS. 20. GSIS reserves the right to waive any formality or to reject any or all bids received. The list of properties available for sale may be updated without prior notice.

21. For bidding inquiries, you may call the Real Property Accounts Management Department (RPAMD) at trunkline telephone numbers (02) 479-3500, (02) 479-3600 and (02) 9764900 local numbers 3228, 3374, and 3396.

THE Bureau of Immigration arrested a Chinese fugitive wanted in his country for economic crimes and swindling more than 1,000 of his compatriots of large sums of money in a pyramiding investment scam.

The fugitive, identified as Qian Bingxu, will be deported following his arrest at a five-star hotel in Pasay City by operatives from the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit.

“We will deport him not only because he is a fugitive from justice. He is also an undocumented alien as his passport was already canceled by the Chinese government,” he said.

The BI chief added, “He [Qian] had been hiding in the country since November last year and there is no record that he applied for an extension of his stay as a tourist which indicates he was already overstaying when arrested.”

The Chinese Embassy said that Qian was issued an arrest warrant by the public security bureau

in Liaoyuan, China where he was charged with illegally accepting deposits from 1,100 people who were promised high returns on their investments.

Qian allegedly persuaded the victims by word of mouth and assured them their money would be returned with interest upon demand.

He later absconded with the victims’ funds and fled to Manila.

Official sources said by the time the case against Qian was filed in late 2018, over 80 million Chinese yuan or more than $12 million of principal investments remained unpaid, thus causing the victims to suffer huge economic losses.

According to BI Intelligence Officer and FSU Chief Bobby Raquepo, Qian could be sentenced to a maximum jail term of 10 years if convicted of the charges against him.

“He will also be blacklisted and banned from reentering the Philippines after being deported,” Raquepo added.

Public school teachers to get ‘World Incentive’ AS A show of gratitude for the hard work and commitment to develop and nurture the country’s future leaders and nation builders, the Department of Education shall grant the World Teachers’ Day Incentive Benefit to all public school teachers, who are in service at the department as of Sept.30.

The WTDIB, in the amount of P1,000, shall be given to each entitled public school teacher not earlier than Oct. 5, DepEd said in a statement Friday.

The incentive was made possible through the DepEd Special Provision 12 under Republic Act 11260 (General Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2019).

Not eligible for the WTDIB are public school teachers who fall under any of the following circumstances: a. Those who are on absence without leave as of Sept. 30; b. Those who are no longer in service as of Sept. 30; c. Those who are found guilty of any offense in connection with their work from Sept. 30, 2018 to Sept. 30; and d. Those who will be hired after Sept. 30.

The grant of the WTDIB is part of DepEd’s commitment to continuously seek, develop, and implement ways to improve the welfare of its personnel, especially teachers, for their invaluable work and dedication to the profession.

This effort is pursuant to DepEd Order 26, series 2019, or the “Guidelines on the Grant of World Teachers’ Day Incentive Benefit.” PNA

(MS-SEPT. 21,22 & 23, 2019)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Gabuelo lifts NU shuttlers past Ateneo

Megaworld hosts GFNY cycling tilt OVER 300 elite international riders from 15 Asian nations are set to conquer the streets of Iloilo as the muchanticipated Grand Fondo NY Asian Championships (GFNY) finally gets going in Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao this Sunday, September 22.

The 72-hectare township has been named as the official venue of the Philippine leg of the GFNY, the world’s biggest cycling event, with Festive Walk Mall hosting the majority of the events.

Racers can drop by the mechanical service booths stationed at the mall from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Saturday to wrap up their preparations before tackling their respective courses.

They can also pick up their race packets at the mall in the afternoon beginning 1p.m.

Daily group rides, meanwhile, are also being held ahead of the race proper, and local bikers are invited to take part as well. Festive Walk Mall serves as the starting point for these preparatory rides that begin at 8 a.m.

There’s also a Food Bike Tour, where the participating bikers visit local tourist landmarks and experience and taste local cuisine.

Come Saturday, cyclists who will be joining the sunrise pre-race ride departing for Guimbal will be up and ready by 5 a.m.

The official race kicks off at 6:30 a.m on Sunday at Festive Walk Mall.

This Philippine leg features a competitive long-distance course of 133 kilometers and 650 meters of climbing, as well as a non-competitive middle distance course covering 64 kilometers with a 220-meter climb.

The awarding of winners will be held at 1 p.m., while courses officially close at 3:30 p.m.

“We are very excited to host the GFNY Asian Championships and welcome the region’s elite cyclists here in Iloilo Business Park. We take great pride in hosting this prestigious global competitive event—the first time that such an event is being held here—as we showcase the beauty and world-class appeal of this outstanding township,” says Jennifer PalmaresFong, vice-president for sales and marketing, Megaworld Iloilo.

Arthur Salvado and Jeno Cariño, ADMU

Mapua Cardinals subdue EAC Generals, 79-76 N

By Peter Atencio

OAH Lugo showed the way for the Mapua University Cardinals as they held off the Emilio Aguinaldo Generals, 79-76, yesterday at the FilOil-Flying V Sports Center in San Juan.

The 5’11” Lugo’s leadership helped propel the Cardinals to their fifth win in 11 games in the 95th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament.

Top scoring with 16 points, Lugo’s split free throw in the last 2.6 seconds allowed the Cardinals to survive a close call with the Generals, who rallied from 11 points down in the last three minutes.

Meanwhile, Jaycee Marcelino scored 22

points as the Lyceum Pirates prevailed over the College of St. Benilde Blazers, 85-83, to post their ninth triumph in 12 matches. This kept the Pirates in the running for a twiceto-beat incentive in the Final Four.

Reymar Caduyac’s split charity with 3.8 seconds allowed the Pirates to move out of the Blazers’ range, 84-80.

Lugo’s freebie off Marvin Taywan’s foul allowed the Cardinals to gain the needed distance from the Generals, who leaned on an 8-0 run to move within range of the Mapua.

JP Maguliano, who made 15 points, led the rally with a drive in the last 2:11.

EAC remains at the bottom with their 1-11 slate.

Lugo banged in nine points in the last period, with his two charities with 1:29 left handing the Cardinals a 79-68 spread.

The Cardinals, with Warren Bonifacio adding 13 points and 10 rebounds, remained in contention for a Final Four seat. They are in sixth spot.

“In the first half, EAC scored 43 points

because they were ready for us. They were aggressive. Sa second half, kailangan tapatan namin ang energy at aggressiveness nila kundi tatambakan kami. Buti na lang, nakarecover kami dahil sa inside game namin,” said Cardinals coach Randy Alcantara.

In the junior division, the La Salle Greenhills Greenies drew 29 points from RC Calimag as they prevailed over Lyceum of the Philippines University Junior Pirates, 95-87.

Three other Greenies, Jan Manansala, Lennox Valenzuela and JC, had doubledigit outputs with 15, 12 and 10 points. The Greenies are now in lone second at 7-4.

“Ginawa namin lahat ng maliliit na bagay na dapat naming gawin. We lost to Baste dahil nabigay kami ng maraming rebounds. Today, we limited Lyceum’s rebounds,” said LSGH coach Karl Santos.

The Greenies got a lift from Calimag’s layup in the last five minutes, as it touched off a 16-4 blast, which broke the game apart, from a one-point, 64-63 lead to a 80-67 spread in the remaining time.

AFP, Ombudsman and Malacañang see action in UNTV Cup tournament REIGNING titlist Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Ombudsman shoot for their second straight wins when they collide against their respective rivals while Malacañang opens its title campaign on Sunday in the 8th UNTV Cup at the Pasig City Sports Center.

The AFP Cavaliers, bidding for their fourth title in the annual tournament for public servants, collide with the Philheath Plus at 2 p.m. while the Graftbusters take on the Department of Agriculture Food Masters at 4 p.m. in Group I elims.

The Malacañang Kamao, on the other hand, tackle the Judiciary Magis in the lone Group II match at 5 p.m. in the event organized by UNTV through its president and CEO Dr. Daniel Razon.

Led by veteran Eugene Tan, Jerry Lumongsod and Dave Cordero, the Cavaliers clobbered the PITC Global Traders, 90-70, in the opener of the tournament offering P4 million to the chosen charity of the champion team.

The Graft Busters are coming off a

FM Mariano leads Anvaya Cove chess

Games Sunday (Pasig City Sports Center) 2 p.m. – Agriculture vs Ombudsman 3:30 p.m. – Philhealth vs AFP 5 p.m. – Malacañang vs Judiciary

110-73 demolition of SSS Kabalikat last Sunday that saw former UST player Bernon Franco tally 30 points and 16 boards.

Ex-UST star Emmerson Oreta and Henry Fernandez spearhead the DA Food Masters.

The winner in the Malacañang-Judiciary tussle will draw level with National Housing Authority which pulled off an 85-81 win over Philippine National Authority in the rematch of the battle for third last season.

Out to lead Kamao are former collegiate hotshot Eric dela Cuesta, Martin Antonio and Ian Garrido while the Jose Midas Marquez-led Magis will be bannered by former PBA players Don Camaso, Chester Tolomia and Warren Ybanez.

Former PBA player Chester Tolomia hopes to lead Judiciary to an impressive start when they play against the Malacañang Kamao in the UNTV Cup on Sunday.

Allianz brings 3 Filipino teenagers to FC Bayern Munich football camp

Aspiring football athletes, from left: Jodi Marie Banzon (Cebu Elite FC), Ralf Andre Ebunas (Corpus Christi FC) and Marian Vista (Tuloy sa Don Bosco) hold up the Philippine flag with Gae Martinez, Chief Marketing Officer, Allianz PNB Life.

SUPER senior Keeyan Gabuelo steered reigning, five-peat champion National University to a rousing UAAP Season 82 Men’s Badminton debut, dominating Ateneo, 4-1, Friday at the Centro Atletico Badminton Center.

Gabuelo, a native of Bacoor, Cavite, dominated Ateneo senior Keoni Asuncion in the first singles match to open the rout for the Bulldogs. Gabuelo needed just 35 minutes to stop Asuncion, 2115, 21-16.

Solomon Padiz Jr. then doubled the lead for National U with a close 23-21, 22-20 decision over Arthur Salvado.

Rookies James Villarante and July Villabrille pocketed the squad’s 43rd straight win after taking down Asuncion and Fides Bagasbas in just two games, 21-15, 21-13.

Gabuelo and Thirdy Bacalso made it 4-0 in the following doubles match with a sweep before Bagasbas salvaged one for the Blue Eagles over Bacalso.

Gabuelo believes that despite the departure of five key players due to graduation, the Bulldogs have what it takes to continue their dominance.

“Syempre, goal talaga is yung sixpeat. Nandito na rin lang kami sa fivepeat, kahit nawala yung lima, ta-try pa rin namin makuha,” he said.

La Salle, on the other hand, climbed to the top of the standings after a masterful win over University of the East, 4-1.

Using seven different players this time, the Green Shuttlers opened the day with a win from captain Jan Mangubat over Christian Garcia. The returning standout impressed with a 21-13, 21-14 victory.

UE’s Angelo David, however, tied it up after taking down Clark Golez at 21-9, 21-17.

Nonetheless, the two doubles matches went La Salle’s way to finally seal the win.

Both Green Archers duo swept their opponents in just two games. Eljee Gavile and Bless Linaban crashed Chez Zarsuelo and Christian Reyes, 21-10, 21-7, before Yugin Tan and Joshua Morado outlasted Jireh Ortega and David, 21-16, 21-18.

The other match-up saw University of Santo Tomas take their first win of the season in dramatic fashion at the expense of Adamson University after rookie Lanz Ramirez took one for the side over senior Kevin Fabros in the deciding singles match, 21-17, 21-16.

It was actually the Soaring Falcons who took the lead at 2-1 with Elbren Concha taking two wins in the first singles and first doubles matches. The fifth-year shuttler took down Jerone Balong at 21-11, 21-12, before he partnered with Johnrick Macabenta to dominate the Peralta twins, Erick and Henry, in two sets.

ALLIANZ Philippines recently brought three young Filipino football players to Munich to experience training with World Cup champions FC Bayern.

Marian Vista of Tuloy Sa Don Bosco Foundation in Luzon, Ralf Andre Ebuna of Corpus Christi FC in Mindanao, and Jodi Mari Banzon of Cebu Elite FC in the Visayas joined teenagers from 22 other countries in the Allianz Explorer Camp-Football Edition in Germany.

“Allianz has always been a staunch advocate of football development from the grassroots level. We want to discover talent from different areas across the country and give them the opportunity to excel on the world stage. For three years now, we have partnered with the Henry V. Moran Foundation for the Allianz National Youth Futsal Invitational (ANYFI), a football competition that allows us to draft deserving kids that we will send to the Allianz Explorer Camp,” said Allianz Philippines Chief Marketing Officer Gae Martinez, who accompanied the Filipino teens to their trip to Germany.

The Allianz Explorer Camp-Football Edition is now on its 11th year. It was previously known as Allianz Junior Football Camp. It is part of the global Allianz Explorer Camp initiative that aims to bring together football fans from around the world and pro-

mote intercultural ex-change.

The theme for this year was “Captains of the Future” and focused on three aspects—Dreams, Courage, and Purpose.

“Allianz believes that kids today are the ‘captains of the future.’ The global explorer programs in the recent Munich camp were conducted through on-ground and digital activations, and crowd-generated content platforms that call out to curious minds all over the world to explore, connect, and co-create with them ideas to drive a more sustainable humanity.” Martinez explained.

This year’s camp saw the teens undergo training sessions at the Säbener Strasse. Bayern legend Klaus Augenthaler refereed a number of their games. On their finals match, Bayern pro Thiago Alcantara oversaw the proceedings and welcomed their questions and requests.

The young football players also had the opportunity to listen to the insights of pro surfer Valeska Schneider; Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini, who competed for the refugee team in the 2016 Summer Olympics; National Graphic Explorer’s Dan Raven-Ellison; and Felix Finkbeiner, founder of the Plant for the Planet initiative.

They also enjoyed a trip around Munich.

FIDE MASTER (FM) Nelson “Elo” Mariano III will spearhead a strong cast in the 2019 Grandmaster Rosendo Carreon Balinas Sr. Chess Cup dubbed as Anvaya Cove Beach and Nature Club National Executive Grand Prix Rapid Chess Championships which gets underway on September 28, Saturday at the Anvaya Cove Beach and Nature Club, Molave and Narra function room in Morong, Bataan.

Mariano is the younger brother of Grandmaster (GM) Nelson “Jet” Mariano II and Woman International Master (WIM) Cristine Rose Mariano-Wågman.

He looms as the player to beat in the six to seven round Swiss system format owing to his current winning the FIDE rated Lifecore Enterprises Open rapid chess championships held at the Bulwagang Panlalawigan in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro last September 15. “ I hope to do well in this event,” said Mariano head coach of Jose Rizal University chess team under the guidance of Athletic Director Paul Supan.

The event, hosted by Anvaya Cove Beach and Nature Club through its Recreation and Activity Manager Raymond M. Sandoval and Anvaya Cove Beach and Nature Club president Atty. Paul Elauria in cooperation with City Sports and Youth Development Office, Olongapo City OIC, David B. Bayarong and CSWDO Jhun Pascua and sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), offers a top purse of P10,000 plus a trophy.

Morong, Bataan mayor Cynthia G. Linao-Estanislao and Anvaya Cove Beach and Nature Club president Atty. Paul Elauria will make the traditional ceremonial moves along with Dr. Jenny Mayor, Atty.

Cliburn Anthony Orbe, Dr. Alfred Paez, Atty. Edmundo Legaspi, Martin “Binky” Gaticales, National Master (NM) Jose Efren Bagamasbad, Dioniver Medrano, James Infiesto of the Philippine Executive Chess Association and Louie Ramos.

The tournament is rapid time control of 20 minutes plus 5 seconds delay mode per player to finish the game.

Ababa hikes lead at ICTSI Del Monte golf tourney

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

sports@manilastandard.net

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

UP Maroons face underdog UE Warriors

By Peter Atencio THE University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons will take lessons learned from previous games that were close.

They will take extra care when the Fighting Maroons confront the University of East Warriors at 2 p.m. today at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

The Adamson Falcons face another tough battle when they meet the La Salle Green Archers at 4 p.m.

Coach Bo Perasol stressed the importance of going for the third consecutive win in the 82nd University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.

With their 3-1 win-loss record, beating the Warriors will allow UP to remain behind the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles.

“It’s the same thing—to put value into the wins that we had in the last week.

We need to go out strong against UE who is on cloud 9 right now. That’s a very dangerous team,” said Perasol.

The Maroons come into the fight in high spirits after winning by close margins over the National University Bulldogs, 80-79, in overtime; and over the Adamson Falcons, 83-82.

Kobe Paras, who averages 22.5 points will provide leadership. Bright Akhuetie brings in double digit contributions with his norms of 15.75 points and 14.25 rebounds.

Teammate Javi Gomez de Liano is also a factor with his average of 14.25 points.

The Warriors are lurking at the bottom of the standings at 1-3.

With the Green Archers struggling at 1-3, Falcons coach Franz Pumaren expects La Salle to come out strong against them. Adamson is playing a hectic two-game schedule this week.

RUGBY MANGA STYLE.

A pedestrian walks by an advertising installation for the ongoing Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup in Oita, on the eve of the start of the tournament. AFP

Sports

Hulking import, Perez power Dyip past Aces T

HE Columbian Dyip relied on an unstoppable inside-outside offense to beat the Alaska Aces, 117-110, in the first game of the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup yesterday, September 20 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Import Khapri Alston relied on his prodigious girth and heft to score repeatedly inside while CJ Perez and Rashawn McCarthy led the Columbian shooters who sniped from outside.

Alston finished with 38 points and 22 boards to lead his team to the convincing victory.

From a 56-all tie at halftime Columbian built a big 12 point, 93-81, lead in the third which they never gave up.

The Aces came storming back from a huge deficit but their rally ultimately fell short.

Rookie Abu Tratter and import Justin

Watts teamed up late in the game to almost erase the Columbian advantage.

Tratter relied on speed and explosiveness to power inside from the left baseline to score to cut the Columbian lead to just six points, 101107, with just 1:23 to go in the game.

Columbian countered with two free throws

by Perez and a field goal by Glenn Khobuntin to extend the gap back to 10 points.

But the Aces just would not give up.

Watts drilled a three-pointer followed by free throws by Tratter to cut the gap back to five, 106-111.

Perez converted two more free throws

to extend the Columbian Dyip but the energetic Tratter barreled inside once again to score on a layup which cut the gap back to just five markers, 108-113, with 26 seconds left to play.

The Aces then forced a turnover and a strong play by Tratter sent him back to the line. But Tratter missed both free throws while Columbian Dyip’s Rashawn McCarthy converted two free throws to push the score beyond recall, 108-116, with 14 ticks to go.

Jvee Casio converted a free throw while Perez added another free throw to finalize the count, 110-117.

Chris Banchero, who averaged more than 18 points a game last conference converted his first and only field goal early in the fourth. He added a bonus free throw to finish the game with three points.

DAVAO’S Jhonnel Ababa doubled up his overnight two-stroke lead with a third straight 67 but the vaunted Del Monte boys launched their fiery, albeit late charge in another day of torrid scoring in the third round of the ICTSI Del Monte Championship in Bukidnon yesterday.

Ababa bucked a wobbly stint on the mound with superb iron game and solid putting, overcoming a bogey mishap on No. 5 with a cluster of birdies, including four in the last eight holes for a 35-32 card that hiked his 36-hole lead of two over Zanieboy Gialon to four heading to the final 18 holes of the P2.5 million championship serving as the seventh leg of the 10th season of the Philippine Golf Tour.

“I hit it most to the left with my driver but made up for the struggle with good iron play and putting,” said Ababa, whose third straight five-under card gave him a 54-hole total of 15-under 201 and closer to a first PGT crown since ruling the rain-shortened Cebu stop of last year’s circuit sponsored by ICTSI. But Clyde Mondilla and Reymon Jaraula, two of the best players to emerge from talent-rich host province after the eminent Frankie Miñoza, put on a pair of low rounds to move into contention after straying off the leaderboard in the first two days with mediocre games.

Mondilla broke a birdie-par-bogey start with four straight birdies to close out his frontside stint then kept his birdie-binge going by sinking putts inside seven feet to add three more at the back for a 65, thus catching Gialon, who carded a 69, at second at 205.

“I struggled on the greens in the first two days but finally I got my touch back,” said the long-hitting Mondilla, who joined the elite roster of Philippine Open winners by humbling a stellar international field in severe conditions at The Country Club last April.

IN BRIEF

Phinma Petroleum hikes stake in SC 55

PALAWAN55 Exploration & Production Corp., a unit of Phinma Petroleum and Geothermal Inc., will increase its stake in service contract 55 in southwest Palawan to 75 percent after joint venture partner Century Red Pte. Ltd. of Australia withdrew and reassigned its interest.

Phinma Petroleum said in a disclosure Friday to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday Century Red assigned its 37.5-percent interest in Service Contract No. 55 to Palawan55, subject to approval of the Department of Energy.

SC 55 is a deep-water block in the southwest Palawan Basin, covering an area of 9,880 square kilometers. It is in the middle of a proven regional oil and gas fairway that extends from the productive Borneo offshore region in the southwest to the offshore Philippine production assets northwest of Palawan.

“Century Red is effectively withdrawing as co-contractor in SC 55, leaving Palawan55 and Pryce Gases Inc. as the remaining co-contractors,” Phinma Petroleum said.

Upon the approval of the Energy Department of the assignment, the participating interest of Palawan55 in SC 55 will increase to 75 percent from 37.5 percent. Palawan55 is the operator of SC 55.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Business

Globe extends digital services to Manila

GLOBE Telecom Inc. signed an agreement with the local government of Manila to spearhead the digital transformation of the country’s capital by providing fast and reliable internet connectivity in key areas and delivering financial technology services to the city’s scholars with GCash.

Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu and Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno signed a memorandum of agreement to make GoWiFi available at Manila City Hall, Ospital ng Maynila, Tondo Medical Center, Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Tondo National High School, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and Universidad de Manila.

The agreement also covers the use of GCash as the official financial services platform to send allowances and other monetary benefits to about 15,000 scholars under the Office of the Manila City Mayor.

Students will receive a corresponding GCash Mastercard to withdraw their cash allowance. Darwin G. Amojelar

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

B1

By Jenniffer B. Austria

PETRON’S 25TH YEAR. Top executives of Petron Corp. and Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. jointly celebrate PCOR’s 25th year as a listed company with a special bell ringing ceremony on September 18 at the stock exchange.

ING Bank expects BSP to trim rates next week D

By Julito G. Rada

UTCH financial giant ING Bank expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to extend its easing cycle with another 25-basispoint cut in policy rates to 4 percent next week amid the deceleration in inflation rate.

“Latest data from the Philippines shows a sharp slide in consumer price inflation in August below the central bank’s 2 to 4 percent policy target which set another 25bp rate cut in stone—the third this year taking the BSP’s overnight borrowing rate to 4.00 percent,” Prakash Sakpal, ING Bank economist for Asia, said in a report Friday.

“This is one of the two Asian central banks [the other being Bank Indonesia] enjoying significant policy space from 175bp of rate hikes last year,” Sakpal

said.

Sakpal does not not think the BSP will to “use up all that policy leeway going forward unless pent-up government spending fails to revive GDP growth above 6 percent in the second half of 2019.”

The gross domestic product growth averaged 5.5 percent in the first half, following a four-year low growth of 5.5 percent in the second quarter, slower than 5.6 percent a quarter ago. Economists said blamed the slowdown to the delayed approval of the national budget for 2019.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the P3.7-trillion national budget for 2019 only in April after months of impasse between the two houses of Congress.

The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral, is scheduled to hold its next meeting on Sept.

26.

Earlier this week, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the timetable for the reduction in policy rates remained despite the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities which many say could impact on the domestic economy and trigger inflation pressures.

“As long as the oil prices don’t ex-

ceed $85 per barrel, we are still within our inflation target [of 2 to 4 percent],” Diokno recently said at the sidelines of an event held at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Global oil prices fell on Tuesday, following Monday’s increase after the drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Oil prices retreated after the Saudi energy minister said the kingdom’s oil supply would soon be back online.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, declined 6.55 percent or $4.52, to $64.46 per barrel. The contract increased as much as 19.5 percent on Monday to $71.95 per barrel, the biggest rise in history after a series of attacks on Saudi’s facilities that disrupted its production.

Diokno said the BSP was closely monitoring the global and domestic markets’ response to the developments in Saudi Arabia.

The Monetary Board on Aug. 8 cut the overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent, taking into account mainly the continued downward trajectory of inflation rate. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were reduced to 3.75 percent and 4.75 percent, respectively.

THE Securities and Exchange Commission approved the P10-billion bond offering of conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

San Miguel said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday the P10billion, five-year fixed bond offering represented the third and last tranche under the conglomerate’s P60-billion bond shelf registration program earlier approved by the SEC. The bonds to be issued on Oct. 4 will be comprised of 5-year Series H Bonds due 2024 with a fixed interest rate equivalent to 5.5500 percent percent a year.

The offering period will start on Sept. 23 and end on Sept 27. The bonds will be listed in Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

San Miguel will use the net proceeds from the bond offering to fund the redemption of outstanding Series 2-B preferred shares worth P6.78 billion and refinancing of short-term peso loans worth P3.09 billion.

San Miguel tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., PNB Capital and Investment Corp. and RCBC Capital Corp. as joint lead underwriters of the offering.

Sn Miguel in June availed of P16 billion in fixed-rate seven-year term loan for general corporate purposes.

San Miguel is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the Philippines by revenues and total assets, with sales equivalent to approximately 5.9 percent of the Philippine gross domestic product in 2018.

Originally founded in 1890 as a single brewery in the Philippines, San Miguel today owns market-leading businesses, and has investments in several sectors, including beverages, food, packaging, energy, fuel and oil, infrastructure, property, car distributorship and banking services.

The company reported ₱13.23 billion in net income attributable to the parent company in the first half of the year, up 3.5 percent from P12.78 billion year-on-year.

Consolidated sales revenue in the first semester of 2019 amounted to P509.49 billion, up 2 percent from a year ago, mainly driven by the strong performance of the energy and food and beverage businesses.

BAA BAA BRANCH.

SL Agritech lists P2b of commercial paper with PDEX

Tarlac solar power plant obtains P1.65-b loan from DBP

SL AGRITECH Corp., the country’s top hybrid rice producer, listed P2 billion worth of commercial paper in Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp. Friday to fund its precedent setting rice selfsufficiency program.

SL Agritech chairman and chief executive officer Dr. Henry Lim BonLiong led the ceremonial ringing of the bell, along with PDS Group president Ma. Theresa Ravalo at the function room of the PDS’ office to signify the start of trading for the company’s debt notes that were four times oversubscribed.

The company will use part of the proceeds of the commercial paper float to finance the purchase of palay from farmers and the production of hybrid seeds. The hybrid seeds will be advanced to farmers and be offset against their palay harvest.

Agritech considers itself a social enterprise that aims to alleviate the lives of farmers with its operational activities. Hybrid rice raises the palay harvest of farmers to eight to 12 tons per hectare compared with three to four tons of conventional rice.

Lim said the way forward for the farmers affected by the Rice Tariffication Law was to “adapt the hybrid rice technology,” adding the company’s “Doña Maria” rice brand was not affected by the law and remained at “top of mind” of rice buyers.

Even with Rice Tariffication Law, farmers using the company’s seed varieties as well as contract growers are reaping the benefit of the hybrid rice seed technology, Lim said after the ceremonial bell ringing.

He said with the increase in demand for seeds and rice, most of the proceeds of the CP would be used to help farmers grossly affected by the recent development to shift to hybrid rice seed technology.

RELX launches e-cigarette brand, eyes hub in PH

Baa Baa Thai Tea opens its banner branch at Panay Avenue in Quezon City. Joining the branch opening ceremony are (from left) Baa Baa Food Corp. operations supervisor Xena Torres, Baa Baa Food general managernRegin Tampioc; Baa Baa Thai Tea Panay Ave. owner and Firestarters Productions Inc. business development officer-Joyce Jameson; Firestarters artist management and entertainment head Jon Verzosa, Baa Baa Thai Tea Panay Ave. franchise owner and Firestarters chief creative officer Real Florido, Firestarters artist management and entertainment artist Jade Lopez GMA 7 Actress; Baa Baa chief executive officer Joe De Ramos, Baa Baa training manager Shienna Dea Ramos and Baa Baap purchasing manager Nelson Reynon.

By Othel V. Campos RELX, the leading e-cigarette brand in Asia, is officially launched Friday to provide adult smokers a platform to switch from traditional smoking to less harmful practice and eventually aid users to reaching a non-smoking status.

Company director for Southeast Asia Business Di Yang said the idea was to give smokers a chance to choose a better lifestyle.

“One of the focal points of our mission is to lessen the harmful effects of smoking to secondary smokers. Not only do we give smokers options but we do intend to curb effects to secondary as well as third-hand smokers,” he said.

Barely two years in operations, RELX is now the number 1 e-cigarette brand in Southeast Asia and in Asia.

Yang cited plans to create another hub in Southeast Asia, with the Philippines among the first candidate after the headquarters in Beijing, China.

“RELX hopes to contribute to the Philippines’ economic growth through the investments we are bringing, including the employment that we will be generating,” he said.

With 15 million smokers, the Philippines is a key market for RELX. “We will be opening retail outlets, appointing distributors, building up a strong local organization to run what we believe to be a very meaningful presence here,” said Yang.

The company tapped local distributors Lighting Galore and Fuma to market RELX in the Philippines.

It has recently forged an agreement with convenience store 7-11 to sell the brand while working out similar deals with other chains like Family Mart.

business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

SEC okays San Miguel’s bond offering worth P10b

GSIS, Tarlac govt sign P256-m water loan deal

TARLAC CITY, Tarlac—The provincial government of Tarlac, including six of its towns and a local water district, signed Thursday a P256-million water loan agreement under the the Government Service Insurance System-Financial Assistance Loan program.

The water project aims to serve the towns of Anao, La Paz, Mayantoc, San Clemente and Camiling and the Camiling Water District.

“GFAL is in response to President Duterte’s call to free government employees from unscrupulous lending institutions or loan sharks which offer 5-6 schemes with double digit interest rates,” GSIS chairperson, acting president and general manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said.

“Under GFAL, qualified members may apply for a maximum loan amount of P500,000. Those whose outstanding loans with lending institutions do not exceed P500,000 may opt to borrow the remaining amount through the Top-Up Loan, with the proceeds directly released to the member,” he added.

Jess Malabanan

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

STATE-RUN Development Bank of the Philippines, the eighth-largest lender in terms of assets, recently signed a P1.65billion loan agreement with Terasu Energy Inc. to partially finance the construction and development of a 40-megawatt solar power plant in Concepcion, Tarlac.

DBP president and chief executive Emmanuel Herbosa said Friday the agreement was in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier call to speed up the development of renewable energy sources and the reduction of the country’s dependence on traditional fuel sources.

DBP and TEI under the agreement committed to further accelerate the use of renewables in the Philippines.

“We are especially enthusiastic about this partnership, as it can significantly contribute in the attainment of the Philippine

Development Plan of increasing the share of our country’s renewable energy sources in the global energy mix while contributing to the greater effort of reducing our carbon footprint,” Herbosa said in a statement.

The environmental impact of solar power is significantly smaller than other power generation methods. It uses photovoltaic or solar cells to directly convert sunlight into usable energy.

A study conducted by the International Energy Agency demonstrates that solar energy will surpass other forms of energy sources to become the largest electricity source by 2050.

To ensure the latest trends, policies, and programs on renewable energy development are properly met and complemented, TEI is working closely with Sindicatum Renewable Energy, a Singapore-based company that focuses on de-

veloping clean energy projects in South and Southeast Asia.

“The countries of Southeast Asia are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and through this partnership, we hope to communicate our commitment to sustainable development and devote ourselves in mitigating the impacts of climate change and therefore improve the lives of ordinary citizens,” Sindicatum Renewable Energy president Robert Eugene Driscoll said.

TEI president Jose Leviste Jr. expressed his gratitude for the administration’s support in the implementation of major renewable energy policies in the country.

He also extended his appreciation to DBP for providing assistance in the development of this high-impact project.

Julito G. Rada

B2

Business

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stock market drops; Shell down T HE stock market fell Friday as investors consolidated their portfolio ahead of a possible interest rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in next week’s meeting.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 40.21 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,871.11 on a value turnover of P10.2 billion. Losers edged gainers, 94 to 91, with 62 issues unchanged.

ING Bank expects the central bank to extend its easing cycle with another 25-basis-point cut in policy rates to 4 percent next week, amid the continued deceleration in the country’s inflation rate.

Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. dropped 2.2 percent to P47,90,

while sister unit Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-biggest lender in terms of assets, also declined 2.2 percent to P91.10.

Oil refiner Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. shed 2.6 percent to P33.15, but JG Summit Holdings Inc. of industrialist John Gokongwei rose 3.9 percent to P75.30.

The rest of Asian markets, meanwhile, edged up Friday as investors turn their attention to the China-US trade talks, while keeping an eye on the Gulf region after last week’s air strikes on Saudi oil facilities fanned geopolitical tensions.

In afternoon trade Hong Kong was up slightly after a four-day sell-off, with investors on alert for further protests in the city following clashes between prodemocracy demonstrators and police last weekend. Shanghai ended up 0.2 percent and Tokyo closed 0.2 percent higher.

Mumbai soared more than five percent after the government said it would slash corporate taxes from 30 percent to 22 percent in an effort to boost the sagging economy.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the new rates would be “comparable with the lowest tax rates in South Asian region and in Southeast Asia.”

Sydney gained 0.2 percent as investors grow optimistic the Australian central bank will cut interest rates again at its next policy meeting, while Seoul rose 0.5 percent and Taipei added 0.3 percent. Singapore edged up 0.1 percent and Wellington put on 0.3 percent.

With a delegation from China in the US to prepare for higher-level negotiations next month, there are hopes the economic powerhouses can find a solution to their tariffs row that has dragged on the global economy for a year.

Stock markets have enjoyed a broadly

positive September thanks to hopes for the talks, with both sides appearing to offer olive branches and sounding less confrontational than they did in July and August.

A shift by central banks to easier monetary policies—or a desire to do so—is providing some much-needed support to equities, though there was some disappointment in the Federal Reserve’s lack of forward guidance this week for further interest rate cuts.

Still, there is an expectation that more measures were likely on the way, with Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones, telling Bloomberg TV: “There’s a lot more monetary stimulus coming into the system.”

However, traders are on edge in case of further attacks on Saudi Arabia at the weekend following the devastating strikes that crippled two of its biggest oil plants on Saturday and sent the price of crude soaring. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

ASIA UNITED 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

56.05 93.1 2.02 140.2 1.15 25.9 18.6 12 5.88 1.26 760 0.44 68.5 0.94 13 45.75 179.8 117.9 57.8 27.5 196.2 1,825 59.6 1.14

56.05 93.45 2.02 141 1.18 25.9 18.6 12.3 6.06 1.32 760 0.445 68.75 0.94 13.1 45.8 180 118 57.8 27.5 199.8 1,835 59.75 1.14

56.05 91.1 2.02 140 1.15 25.65 18.6 12 5.5 1.25 760 0.44 67.5 0.93 13 45.3 179.8 117.9 57.8 27.2 196 1,825 59 1.14

FINANCIALS 56.05 260 91.1 3,896,330 2.02 1,000 140.4 5,776,080 1.16 24,000 25.7 40,300 18.6 300 12.1 648,100 5.56 2,121,600 1.32 106,000 760 50 0.44 120,000 67.5 4,406,680 0.93 137,000 13.1 40,700 45.8 172,500 180 980 118 470 57.8 120 27.2 29,100 199 661,790 1,835 155 59 101,150 1.14 1,000

14,573 356,278,899 2,020 810,941,485 27,820 1,036,165 5,580 7,848,444 12,189,872 137,420 38,000 52,850 298,198,749 127,860 533,098 7,868,690 176,376 55,417 6,936 794,685 131,585,098 283,500 5,996,388.50 1,140

-69,262,213 -16,873,954 -581,040 3,030,120 536,083 -87,748,418.50 -104,460 -4,327,610 -6,936 -281,715 -10,027,128 -5,839,295 -

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS BASIC ENERGY CEMEX HLDG CENTURY FOOD CHEMPHIL CIRTEK HLDG CNTRL AZUCARERA CONCEPCION CONCRETE A 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 MACAY HLDG 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 ROXAS HLDG SFA SEMICON SHAKEYS PIZZA SMC FOODANDBEV SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VULCAN INDL

39.6 15.86 0.75 1.32 0.25 2.67 14.04 121.7 10.66 18.98 31.7 71.9 78 2.12 6.14 6.08 9.1 15.72 10.52 7.23 25.8 83.1 50 2.38 14 8.5 1.62 224 5.12 8.6 22 13.88 19 369 0.191 5.3 2.09 5.11 13.74 2.73 10.6 34 5.38 5.14 1.83 2.25 1.1 11.8 91 7.4 0.127 1.09 166.6 2.42 1.27 1.32

39.95 15.9 0.75 1.32 0.255 2.68 14.28 121.7 10.74 19.74 31.7 75.45 78 2.12 6.14 6.08 9.29 15.92 10.64 7.23 25.8 83.1 50.9 2.43 14.18 8.55 1.62 225 5.63 8.6 22.45 14.08 19 372 0.191 5.3 2.1 5.24 13.74 2.73 11 34.4 5.48 5.14 1.88 2.3 1.11 11.9 91.45 7.5 0.127 1.11 169.6 2.42 1.3 1.37

38.8 15.66 0.73 1.3 0.25 2.65 14 121.7 10.22 18.98 31.7 71.9 78 2.11 6.13 5.94 9.1 15.72 10.38 7.18 24.8 81.2 49.5 2.32 14 8.3 1.55 220 5.12 8.6 21.95 13.86 18.92 369 0.189 5.3 2.05 5.11 11 2.66 10.6 33.15 5.2 5.12 1.76 2.2 1.07 11.74 90.55 7.4 0.127 1.08 166.6 2.42 1.25 1.3

INDUSTRIAL 39.95 4,037,300 15.84 70,600 0.74 1,462,000 1.32 114,000 0.25 3,510,000 2.67 989,000 14.02 7,700 121.7 10 10.22 708,700 18.98 20,300 31.7 3,200 75.45 160 78 120 2.11 154,000 6.13 29,100 5.94 600 9.29 591,500 15.84 3,826,800 10.5 330,300 7.18 1,184,500 24.8 2,870,800 81.4 91,150 49.5 76,300 2.4 6,340,000 14.16 189,200 8.5 268,000 1.55 4,000 220 1,051,740 5.3 258,300 8.6 1,500 22.1 1,078,300 13.86 84,500 18.92 321,500 371 606,900 0.189 100,000 5.3 2,100 2.08 2,135,000 5.14 2,644,800 12 915,300 2.69 12,844,000 11 1,086,200 33.15 16,254,300 5.2 331,300 5.14 524,700 1.87 2,456,000 2.2 35,000 1.11 324,000 11.84 359,900 91 441,010 7.4 9,500 0.127 200,000 1.1 212,000 169 2,174,540 2.42 48,000 1.26 1,540,000 1.32 3,361,000

160,798,240 1,115,624 1,075,730 149,010 889,200 2,634,750 107,992 1,217 7,404,070 386,398 101,440 11,859 9,360 326,390 178,533 3,634 5,467,827 60,590,978 3,472,104 8,531,831 71,955,305 7,432,862 3,790,080 15,133,990 2,674,676 2,263,568 6,270 232,338,706 1,385,983 12,900 23,835,660 1,178,896 6,100,994 225,147,536 19,060 11,130 4,413,200 13,628,952 11,262,110 34,583,990 11,545,498 539,655,105 1,770,372 2,696,772 4,548,740 77,850 351,450 4,260,232 40,129,755.50 70,829 25,400 231,180 366,195,033 116,160 1,943,020 4,484,730

26,509,885 173,828 -22,440 1,438,860 47,560 -3,010,848 -101,440 -3,040 2,945,897 52,459,996 1,729,044 -3,366,035 -18,512,365 -4,850,245.50 2,132,790 2,941,710 -586,226 600,820 -57,860,342 -302,515 11,494,605 -648,384 -2,716,940 -5,060,520 15,280 364,660 -5,129,194 204,216 -1,238,080 -35,356,205 778,428 3,044 -102,850 -55,000 -3,591,864 -1,094,001.50 10,490 -1,221,143 116,160 -10,420 -193,990

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

0.96 54.85 12.38 0.79 13.3 1.19 1.2 906 3.47 6.79 8.92 13.68 3.58 0.23 892 5.86 72.25 5.87 5.1 0.51 4.53 14.8 0.65 5.07 0.039 1.34 179 2.44 1,005 0.84 1.29 222.2 0.23 0.249

0.96 55.6 12.5 0.8 13.48 1.2 1.21 907 3.52 6.8 8.98 13.7 3.58 0.242 900 6 75.3 5.87 5.1 0.53 4.53 14.88 0.66 5.09 0.039 1.38 179.1 2.44 1,005 0.89 1.29 243.6 0.23 0.26

0.93 54.1 12.26 0.78 13.06 1.18 1.2 895 3.44 6.78 8.84 13.52 3.58 0.23 880 5.84 72.15 5.4 5.1 0.495 4.46 14.64 0.64 5 0.039 1.33 175.6 2.44 997 0.84 1.29 222.2 0.23 0.249

HOLDING FIRMS 0.95 15,105,000 55.6 2,317,350 12.26 10,024,200 0.8 595,000 13.42 15,100 1.2 1,945,000 1.21 151,000 895 967,050 3.5 1,790,000 6.78 2,235,900 8.84 7,344,100 13.7 74,300 3.58 21,000 0.242 90,000 880 206,310 5.86 623,800 75.3 4,991,430 5.4 46,800 5.1 2,600 0.52 875,000 4.47 22,000 14.72 2,931,500 0.65 300,000 5.01 36,678,200 0.039 2,000,000 1.35 60,000 179.1 375,150 2.44 4,000 1,000 1,064,800 0.88 310,000 1.29 100,000 232 1,550 0.23 30,000 0.26 3,210,000

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

15.2 0.86 9.6 1.82 0.93 48.6 2.15 5 0.56 0.75 0.85 0.22 0.4 9.84 21.3 0.455 1.65 1.23 4.71 5.01 0.315 0.44 1.48 0.39

15.2 0.92 9.9 1.87 0.95 48.8 2.15 5 0.57 0.76 0.87 0.227 0.405 9.89 21.6 0.455 1.66 1.24 4.71 5.05 0.32 0.44 1.5 0.39

15.16 0.85 9.5 1.82 0.92 47.9 2.13 4.95 0.55 0.75 0.84 0.22 0.4 9.8 20.5 0.45 1.63 1.21 4.71 4.92 0.315 0.44 1.46 0.39

PROPERTY 15.18 491,300 0.88 10,220,000 9.9 3,000 1.87 45,000 0.95 4,392,000 47.9 16,266,000 2.15 1,594,000 4.95 2,908,000 0.57 19,293,000 0.76 12,000 0.87 253,000 0.22 1,560,000 0.405 110,000 9.83 271,400 20.5 333,600 0.455 500,000 1.65 18,020,000 1.22 753,000 4.71 30,000 4.92 29,577,000 0.32 2,390,000 0.44 70,000 1.49 929,000 0.39 20,000

NAME

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

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

2.05 25 2.35 3.23 35.4 2.41 5.82 0.92 7.68

2.1 25.2 2.38 3.3 35.45 2.48 6.12 0.92 7.68

2.01 25 2.35 3.21 34.75 2.34 5.8 0.92 7.53

2.09 25.05 2.38 3.3 34.75 2.47 5.99 0.92 7.65

2,014,000 2,479,800 236,000 40,000 18,972,800 4,274,000 194,700 159,000 7,504,400

4,185,640 62,153,935 561,050 130,770 659,807,285 10,117,400 1,159,410 146,280 57,387,307

-8,834,425 -50,584,630 7,284 1,327,405

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

10.2 19.68 1.75 0.73 0.05 18.26 2.43 11.02 0.057 91.65 7.05 5.81 10.56 1,900 5.25 422.4 1.69 1.85 130.9 9.2 4.5 0.113 5.31 14 3.23 0.91 19.5 3.48 2.5 1.16 1.24 3.5 2.85 8.1 4.75 3.16 1,159 0.72 0.56 42.3 79.75 9.37 2.84 0.69 0.365 5.3 0.7 16.6

10.4 19.68 1.93 0.74 0.05 18.26 2.43 11.14 0.057 94 7.35 5.81 10.56 1,924 5.3 430 1.72 1.85 133.4 9.2 4.5 0.118 5.47 14 3.23 0.91 19.6 3.48 2.5 1.2 1.24 3.55 2.85 8.2 5.03 3.24 1,175 0.73 0.58 42.4 80.35 9.37 2.84 0.7 0.365 5.72 0.71 16.64

10.14 19 1.75 0.7 0.048 18.26 2.37 11 0.056 91.5 7.01 5.8 10.12 1,892 5.25 422.4 1.6 1.85 130 9.2 4.5 0.113 5.26 14 3.18 0.91 19.4 3.4 2.48 1.14 1.24 3.3 2.76 8.1 4.75 3.14 1,145 0.72 0.56 41.95 78.55 9.18 2.8 0.69 0.345 4.77 0.7 16.26

SERVICES 10.14 19 1.83 0.71 0.048 18.26 2.37 11.1 0.057 94 7.34 5.8 10.22 1,910 5.25 430 1.63 1.85 131.4 9.2 4.5 0.113 5.41 14 3.19 0.91 19.4 3.45 2.5 1.16 1.24 3.3 2.85 8.12 5.03 3.2 1,147 0.72 0.56 42 80.35 9.18 2.82 0.7 0.345 5.72 0.71 16.28

9,400 234,500 882,000 27,296,000 800,000 100 80,000 3,253,000 3,440,000 110,670 1,725,500 500 54,100 62,160 9,600 670 1,562,000 4,000 2,048,070 200 3,000 5,690,000 3,311,900 400 106,000 77,000 123,300 67,000 482,000 140,000 4,000 2,799,000 44,000 4,900 600 304,000 298,000 496,000 3,245,000 1,901,600 196,370 3,000 1,342,000 979,000 15,820,000 110,300 13,000 3,781,200

95,838 4,472,806 1,613,770 19,488,460 39,600 1,826 189,940 36,077,726 195,340 10,323,723.50 12,487,273 2,902 554,564 118,589,500 50,435 287,644 2,557,330 7,400 269,249,231 1,840 13,500 658,170 17,882,435 5,600 337,920 70,070 2,397,064 230,170 1,204,350 161,230 4,960 9,498,840 122,170 39,808 2,878 965,840 342,239,500 357,390 1,839,670 79,882,695 15,767,534 27,920 3,784,200 682,210 5,561,800 624,775 9,220 62,003,508

-261,380 -401,006 9,120 1,594,395 -468,300 -25,640,955 -23,896,954 -12,430 -420,252 0 -1,657,502 37,200 226,570 -16,290 -92,313,580 7,251,690.00 9,594,890.50 2,828,340 582,826 -14,455,604

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

0.0017 1.2 2.58 12.14 1.21 1.18 2.67 0.28 7.7 1.7 0.228 0.11 0.11 0.011 1.21 4.23 1.15 0.51 0.93 0.012 0.012 9.3 3.96 12.36 23.45 0.0065

0.0017 1.21 2.58 12.14 1.21 1.18 2.68 0.295 7.97 1.75 0.248 0.11 0.11 0.012 1.21 4.37 1.17 0.54 0.94 0.012 0.012 10.14 3.96 12.36 23.45 0.0065

0.0017 1.19 2.55 12.14 1.18 1.17 2.65 0.28 7.69 1.69 0.228 0.11 0.11 0.011 1.17 4.22 1.13 0.51 0.9 0.012 0.011 9.3 3.85 12.18 23.05 0.0064

MINING & OIL 0.0017 2,185,000,000 1.2 789,000 2.55 22,000 12.14 100 1.18 5,000 1.17 5,000 2.68 1,771,000 0.295 1,760,000 7.97 700 1.71 4,482,000 0.233 3,300,000 0.11 2,160,000 0.11 110,000 0.012 10,300,000 1.17 273,000 4.32 24,685,000 1.16 52,000 0.54 19,000 0.92 397,000 0.012 1,500,000 0.012 2,400,000 9.7 4,323,600 3.9 436,000 12.3 535,400 23.05 1,448,900 0.0064 14,000,000

3,714,500 943,160 56,160 1,214 5,960 5,890 4,721,540 510,800 5,412 7,704,140 785,450 237,600 12,100 113,400 321,180 106,576,670 59,440 9,750 364,310 18,000 27,000 42,492,811 1,696,500 6,564,090 33,423,850 90,600

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

18.5 506 502 102 102 107 497 5.09 992 970 97.4 1 101.5 1,005 1,026 1,054 109 982 77.6 76.5

18.5 510 502 102 102 107 500 5.09 994 980 97.4 1 101.5 1,005 1,026 1,054 109 982 77.6 76.5

18.5 506 502 102 102 107 497 5.09 992 970 96.6 0.99 101.5 1,005 1,026 1,054 109 982 77.6 76.5

PREFERRED 18.5 155,000 510 12,000 502 190 102 1,870 102 5,360 107 2,500 500 5,000 5.09 500 994 250 980 1,310 96.6 20,100 0.99 2,000 101.5 100 1,005 80 1,026 395 1,054 100 109 270 982 500 77.6 1,380 76.5 18,020

2,867,500 6,097,000 95,380 190,740 546,720 267,500 2,498,500 2,545 248,300 1,271,200 1,942,506 1,990 10,150 80,400 405,270 105,400 29,430 491,000 107,088 1,378,530

LR WARRANT

1.62

1.68

1.61

WARRANTS 1.62 63,000

102,090

MS 14,282,310 128,296,869 123,051,484 468,970 199,630 2,320,300 181,210 866,142,300 6,220,690 15,181,885 65,023,006 1,013,876 75,180 20,940 181,830,200 3,655,580 374,408,313.50 255,317 13,260 454,225 98,410 43,148,366 193,870 184,138,615 78,000 81,820 67,096,667 9,760 1,064,833,572.50 272,530 129,000 359,716 6,900 818,250 7,454,434 9,136,950 28,750 82,100 4,082,130 780,976,045 3,418,240 14,531,930 10,814,730 9,030 212,810 343,340 44,500 2,669,795 6,889,070 227,000 29,634,910 922,090 141,300 146,059,200 755,650 30,800 1,376,600 7,800

-553,180 -2,101,816.50 -44,289,116 -227,844,035 -494,370 -2,122,979 -5,151,499 431,208 -31,947,295 -3,282,188 71,218,475.50 -22,300 -2,602,540 -24,358,042 13,413,687 -107,311,877.50 -17,600 -202,268 -44,200 -1,169,272 -155,360 -51,650 -253,502,390 -1,136,760 77,930 -1,010,250 191,520 288,848 -4,808,090 -182,000 7,938,060 -33,185,613 -22,220 -

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

OPEN

ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH XURPAS

6.95 11.7 1

6.95 11.7 1.01

6.62 10.7 0.98

FIRST METRO ETF

118.5

118.5

117.8

USD DMPL A1

10.38

TRADING SUMMARY

10.38

SHARES

FINANCIAL

18,286,322

INDUSTRIAL

78,291,891

HOLDING FIRMS

96,575,713

PROPERTY SERVICES

153,717,351 83,167,121

MINING & OIL

2,259,875,954

GRAND TOTAL

2,693,050,914

10.38

SME

6.79 10.88 0.99

681,400 991,400 1,455,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 117.8 7,200 DDS 10.38

2,690

4,618,726 10,861,058 1,452,140

3,600 -5,160 -480,600 -2,900 656,060 -107,750 48,428,600 193,316 38,600 275,256 -3,232,595 -819,550 36,720 -267,500 -248,500 49,100 33,250 24,460 -

848,677

-

27,922.20

-

VALUE 1,786.58 (down) 13.54 1,634,232,364.08 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,938.94 (down) 41.31 1,891,420,797.622 HOLDING FIRMS 7,849.10 (up) 21.76 3,186,656,682.73 PROPERTY 3,985.76 (down) 73.77 1,588.84 (up) 3.21 2,197,927,840.98 SERVICES MINING & OIL 9,375.03 (down) 20.01 1,028,171,618.47 PSEI 7,871.11 (down) 40.21 210,486,630.85 All Shares Index 4,772.35 (down) 10.61 10,166,678,442.49 Gainers: 91; Losers: 94; Unchanged: 62; Total: 247

Axelum pegs initial public offering price at P5 apiece

By Jenniffer B. Austria AXELUM Resources Corp. pegged the final offer price for its planned initial public offering at P5 per share.

The lower IPO price prompted Axelum’s selling shareholder, CP Compass Singapore, to reduce the number of shares it would sell during the IPO to just 100 million shares from the original plan of 430 million shares.

“We decided to sell only 100 million shares instead of the initially planned 430 million shares after the final price was set as we believe Axelum is worth more than the set price of P5.00 per share,” said Jason Rosenblatt of CP Compass Singapore.

Axelum initially set the maximum offer price at P6.81 apiece.

Axelum will raise P4 billion from the sale of 700 million primary shares and 100 million secondary shares at the offering price of P5. the firm’s market capitalization is estimated to reach P20 billion upon listing.

The company plans to use the net proceeds from the primary offering to fund strategic acquisitions, expansion domestic and international distribution networks, new manufacturing facilities for new products and improvement of existing manufacturing facilities.

It will earmark a portion of the proceeds to retire loans, reduce payables and fund other capital expenditure requirements.

First Metro Investment Corp is the issue manager, book runner and joint lead underwriter of the IPO while BPI Capital is the joint lead underwriter.

Axelum is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of desiccated coconut, coconut milk powder, coconut milk and cream, reduced fat coconut, sweetened and roasted desiccated coconut and other coconut products.

It is a major manufacturer of coconut water for customers like Vita Coco, the leading coconut water brand in the world.

The company’s products are sold in the domestic and international beverage companies, confectioneries, bakeries, private label supermarkets and grocery store chains, food service industries, coconut coffee creamer manufacturers and diet prepared food market.

Other notable customers include prominent global brands like The Hershey Co., Nestle, Unilever, Ferrero, General Mills, Campbell’s, Quaker, Kellogg’s, Cadbury Schweppes and ConAgra Foods.

Robinsons Land set to list shares of unit at P10.10 ALTUS Property Ventures Inc., a unit of Robinsons Land Corp., plans to list its shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange through listing by way of introduction, or without initial public offering.

Altus Property said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission it would list 100 million common shares with an initial listing price of P10.10 apiece Listing by way of introduction allows a company to list its shares with the exchange without immediately selling them to the public.

Under the PSE rules, listing of securities by way of introduction may be appropriate when the stocks of an unlisted issuer are distributed by way of property dividend by a listed issuer to shareholders.

To qualify for listing by way of introduction, Robinsons Land earlier sought SEC approval to declare 100 million common shares as property dividend to existing shareholders of record as of Aug 15.

Robinsons Land’s common shareholders under the plan will be entitled to 1 Atlus Property share for every 51.9382 Robinsons Land stocks owned.

The listing price of P10.10 per share was based on the fairness opinion conducted by Navaro Amper & Co., which showed that value of the company ranged between P1.1 billion and P1.22 billion, or P10.10 to P12.20 per share.

Altus Property owns and operates Robinsons Place Ilocos in Ilocos Norte.

Other companies that were listed in the PSE through listing by way of introduction included Top Frontier Holdings Inc., AgriNurture Inc., Integrated Microelectronics Inc. and Trans Asia Petroleum Corp. Jenniffer B. Austria

World US leaders clash over complaint against Trump WASHINGTON―The US intelligence watchdog briefed lawmakers Thursday about the handling of a whistle blower complaint on alleged behavior by President Donald Trump, and a senior Democrat expressed alarm that the administration refuses to share the complaint with Congress.

The allegations, rejected by Trump as “presidential harassment,” have set lawmakers on a collision course with the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which is refusing to share the details―raising suspicions the top spy official might be improperly protecting the president.

According to a report by The Washington Post, which cited two unnamed former US officials, a complaint filed by a US intelligence official stemmed from Trump’s communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” allegedly made by the president.

The foreign leader involved was not identified by the Post.

The newspaper did say the complaint “centers” on Ukraine, and cited two people familiar with the matter.

The New York Times also reported Thursday that “at least part of” the whistle blower’s complaint “deals with” Ukraine. The newspaper cited two people familiar with the situation.

Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky―who was elected in May―about two weeks before the complaint was filed, according to both newspapers. AFP

B3

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘HK police using excessive force’

H

ONG KONG-Amnesty International on Friday accused Hong Kong police of using excessive force against pro-democracy protesters, in some cases amounting to torture, criticizing a “disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics.”

In a report based on interviews with nearly two dozen activists, most of whom were hospitalized after their arrests, the global rights watchdog said the city’s police officers routinely went beyond the level of force allowed by local law and international standards.

“In an apparent thirst for retaliation, Hong Kong’s security forces have engaged in a disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics against people during the protests,” Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International, said.

“This has included arbitrary arrests and retaliatory violence against arrested persons in custody, some of which

has amounted to torture.”

The rights group backed calls for an independent inquiry into police brutality, a key demand of protesters but one that has been rejected by government officials and police top brass.

Hong Kong’s police force dismissed Amnesty’s findings and rejected allegations it had used excessive force.

In a statement issued on Friday, police said their officers “exercise a high level of restraint at all times in the use of force”.

In response to specific allegations contained within the report, police said they “do not comment on individual cases” and said those alleging abuse

should make a complaint with the police watchdog instead.

Frequently violent demonstrations featuring hundreds of thousands of protesters have raged in Hong Kong for more than three months.

Anti-government protesters have hurled rocks, bottles and petrol bombs as well as used slingshots in their battles with police who have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.

Videos of police baton charging and beating protesters have frequently gone viral online.

Amnesty interviewed 21 people who had been arrested, 18 of whom were later hospitalized for injuries.

“Almost every arrested person interviewed described being beaten with batons and fists during the arrest, even when they were not resisting and often already restrained,” the report’s authors wrote.

Most interviewees reported the vio-

Cubans queue as fuel crisis causes panic

IN BRIEF Cubans ordered to leave US WASHINGTON―Two members of Cuba’s UN mission have been ordered to leave the United States over an alleged threat to US national security, triggering a sharp denial from Havana.

“We take any & all attempts against the National Security of the U.S. seriously,” US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Thursday on Twitter.

In a statement, she said the State Department had told the Cuban foreign ministry that the United States “requires the imminent departure” of the two members of Cuba’s UN mission.

Ortagus said that the pair had been “abusing their privileges of residence” and attempting to “conduct influence operations against the United States.”

“We... will continue to investigate any additional personnel who may be manipulating their privileges of residence,” she added.

The State Department spokeswoman also said the movement of all members of Cuba’s UN mission would be restricted to Manhattan, where UN headquarters is located.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez moved quickly to slam the expulsions.

“We categorically reject the unjustified expulsion of two officials of the Permanent Mission of Cuba at the UN and the tightening of restrictions on movement for diplomats and their families,” Rodriguez said on Twitter. AFP

Haze clears over Singapore SINGAPORE―Singapore’s skies were clearer Friday and air quality improved as smog from the Indonesian forest fires drifted away, easing fears that this weekend’s Formula One race may be affected.

Raging blazes in Indonesia have been spewing toxic haze over neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, with Jakarta deploying security forces and waterbombing aircraft to tackle them.

The Indonesian fires are an annual problem during the dry season when farmers use illegal slash-and-burn techniques to clear land for agriculture, but this year’s are the worst since 2015.

Thick smog had been hanging over Singapore since last weekend, pushing air quality to unhealthy levels, obscuring the waterfront skyline and sparking fears that Sunday’s showpiece F1 night race could be affected.

But on Friday the skies were largely clear, with only a light haze over the city, while air quality improved to a “moderate” level of around 60 on the National Environment Agency’s scale.

A reading between 101 and 200 indicates unhealthy air quality.

The wind direction could however still change ahead of the weekend and push smog back over Singapore.

F1 organizers say they have a contingency plan if the haze worsens and have been stocking up on face masks to protect against pollution which spectators can buy at the circuit.

Indonesia and Malaysia have been worst affected by haze from the fires, which are burning on Indonesia’s Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo. Borneo is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. AFP

lence stopped once in custody.

But one detainee said he was assaulted for being uncooperative and another described seeing police shine a laser into the eye of a young detainee -- a tactic protesters have employed against police.

Two defense lawyers also claimed their clients were beaten.

Multiple suspects described lengthy delays in receiving medical attention or access to defense lawyers.

Hong Kong’s police denied those allegations, saying officers “respect the privacy, dignity and rights” of those arrested.

Hong Kong’s protests were sparked by a now-abandoned plan to allow extraditions to the authoritarian Chinese mainland.

But after Beijing and local leaders took a hard line, the protests snowballed into a wider movement calling for police accountability and universal suffrage. AFP

PROTEST ON CAMPUS. Protesters sing the Star-Spangled Banner as they march while holding the US flag at the Hong Kong University campus on September 20, 2019, as they rally for the US Congress to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. AFP

Another Pacific nation drops Taipei for Beijing TAIPEI―Taiwan lashed out at China on Friday after the tiny island nation of Kiribati switched its recognition to Beijing, the second diplomatic defection in the strategically important Pacific in less than a week.

The move is another coup for Beijing just weeks before it celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

It comes just four days after the Solomon Islands made the same decision, and leaves Taiwan more isolated than ever with just 15 states left that recognize it.

At a hastily arranged press conference on Friday, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu announced Taipei would immediately withdraw its diplomats and expected Kiribati to do the same.

He said Beijing had “seduced Kiribati to change its diplomatic ties” with promises of investment and aid.

“The President of Kiribati Taneti Mamau and certain people in his party have fantasies about China,” Wu added.

Taiwan has been a de facto sovereign nation since the end of a civil war in 1949, but China still views the island as its territory and has vowed to seize it— by force if necessary.

Over the decades, as China’s economic and military power has grown, most countries, including the United States and most Western nations, have switched recognition to Beijing.

In the last decade, only a handful have remained loyal to Taiwan, largely impoverished countries in Latin America and the Pacific. The only European state to still recognise Taiwan is the Vatican.

But Beijing stepped up its campaign to diplomatically isolate Taiwan after the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen because she hails from a party that refuses to recognise the idea that the island is part of “one China.”

It has also ramped up military drills and squeezed the island economically.

Seven states have now switched to Beijing during Tsai’s tenure.

The small African nation of Sao

HAVANA―Ernesto Mirabal gave up a night’s sleep for a few gallons of gas at a Havana service station, where lining up for five hours has become the norm during a severe fuel shortage on the Communist-run island.

Since President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s shock announcement on September 11 that the country was facing the fuel shortfall, widespread uncertainty and a degree of panic have gripped the nation.

Mirabal, a taxi driver, had no choice but to while away his sleeping hours queuing for gas.

“I got here a little after 11 o’clock and was able to put gas in the car at four in the morning,” said Mirabal, 48.

“I had to do it because I had a customer to pick up at 7 o’clock.”

“I’ve got enough fuel for today and tomorrow now. But the day after tomorrow I have to start all over again.”

Images of long lines of people waiting endless hours outside service stations have flooded Cubans’ Twitter and Facebook timelines over the past week.

WhatsApp groups have sprung up around the burning question of the day: “Where can I get fuel?”

In public companies and offices, schedules have been cut back, air conditionNOTICE ers have Notice is hereby given that hummed to the intestate estate of late ASHLY JILANI who died a halt and on 21 August 2018 in DOA electric- St. Elizabeth Hospital, Inc. General Santos City, ity blackouts left a cash deposit with the Development Bank imposed for of the Philippines has been subject of Deed of a few hours Extrajudicial Settlement a day. Some by sole heir of the estate of ASHLY JILANI (with companies declaration of Identity) executed before Atty. have sent Gervacio B. Ortiz Jr. per Doc. No. 143, page no. 30 their workers Book no. 10 Series of 2018. home. AFP

Tome and Principe was the first to fall in late 2016, followed by Burkina Faso and then three Latin American nations: Panama, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Then on Monday came the Solomons, which had been deciding for months whether to make the move following Manila the April election of Prime Minister Standard Manasseh Sogavare. TODAY Taiwan heads to the polls in January, with Tsai seeking a second term and relations with China dominating the campaign.

Tsai has described January’s election as a “fight for freedom and democracy”, setting herself up as someone who can defend Taiwan from an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Her main challenger Han Kuo-yu, from the opposition Kuomintang party, favours rebooting the relaREPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE tionship PHILIPPINE COCONUT AUTHORITY with BeiElliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines jing. AFP Tel. Nos.: (02) 928-4501 to 09 Fax No.: (02) 926-7631

(MS-SEPT. 14, 21 & 28, 2019)

http://www.pca.da.gov.ph

SUNSET IN KENYA. A

wildebeest is silhouetted at sunset in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya on September 19, 2019. AFP

NOTICE OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION Notice is hereby given that public consultations on the proposed lifting of the ban on the exportation of mature coconuts will be held on the following dates and venues: Luzon

PCA Auditorium, PCA building September 26, 2019 Elliptical Road, Diliman, 9:00 am - 4:00pm Quezon City

PCA Region VIII - Regional Office, Government Center, Baras, Palo, Leyte Coconut Enterprise Development Center (CEDC), Mindanao PCA-Davao Research Center, Compound Bago-Oshiro, Davao

Visayas

October 4, 2019 9:00 am - 4:00pm

October 1, 2019 9:00 am - 4:00pm

All coconut industry stakeholders, coconut farmers and farmworkers, coconut processors, traders, exporters, representatives of government agencies, civil society organizations and farmers’ cooperatives and organizations are hereby invited to attend and participate and give their position on the proposal.

You may send your confirmation through an email to pca_tird@ yahoo.com, or call Ms. Bem Balibrea of PCA Trade Information and Relations Division at 928-4501 loc 216.

GONZALO T. DUQUE Administrator PHILIPPINE COCONUT AUTHORITY (MS-SEPT. 21, 2019)

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

URBAN LIVING WITH EASE. Time-wise, price-wise, and future-wise, renting a home becomes an all the more preferable

option with experts by your side. Shown here are some of the options of Dwellings by Eton to make you feel at home. Eton residences in Greenbelt Makati and 8 Adriatico in Manila.

S COMMUNITY-PRIVATE SECTOR TEAM UP IN QUEZON. Atimonan

One Energy, Inc. (A1E) recently helped set up a three-day workshop (Shown in photo) to help local officials of Brgy. Villa Ibaba in Atimonan, Quezon come up with a barangay development plan. The plan gives local officials a roadmap on how to maximize the benefits that residents will get from a 1,200-megawatt (MW) high efficency, low emission (HELE) coal-fired power plant that A1E will be building in the area. The barangay is entitled to benefits under the Energy Regulations (ER) No. 1-94 as host of project. Among these is a one-centavo per kilowatt-hour share of electricity sales which can be used for the electrification of communities that have no access to electricity, environment enhancement, livelihood, reforestation and watershed management, and health-related projects. More than PHP80 million is expected to be remitted to the host communities—from the region up to the resettlement area—each year. Barangay Villa Ibaba is expected to get an allocation of about P17 million. Shown here is Brgy. Villa Ibaba councilor Rogelio Zatarain asking Quezon 4th district board member Isaias Ubana II, about budget allocation processes for different programs, during the workshop.

RENTING A HOME JUST GOT EASIER

O MANY homes for rent, so little time.

When you’ve made the decision to move into a new place, it can be a burden to go through the whole exercise of inquiring, vetting, negotiating, finalizing, and moving in. It’s not practical given today’s fast lifestyle.

ger, there’s expert advice you can take advantage of.

Backed by a decade of experience, Dwellings by Eton is committed to be your personal leasing partner and make every step in finding, defining, and refining your own space as relaxing as snuggling into your favorite armchair.

YOUR NEW LOCATION With the continuing growth of Eton Properties, Dwellings by Eton has access to hundreds of units of various sizes, all in strategic locations in the central business districts of Makati and Manila.

Whatever your preference - a simple studio or a luxurious loft - the Dwellings Renting a place is not supposed to be by Eton team will scour its database for that difficult. In this age of curated life- the right space, at the right price, and styles and assistance at the tap of a fin- ready at the right time. Everything that

matters to you - your office, your school, your church, your gym, favorite restaurants and entertainment spots - will be close to your new address.

SAFE LIVING IN THE BIG CITY With first-hand knowledge on different homeowners’ diverse priorities and preferences, the company enforces policies to minimize disruptions in the community. Smoking, for example, is not allowed on the premises to ensure current and upcoming tenants can enjoy a safer and cleaner indoor environment.

All Eton property recommendations are equipped with round-the-clock security systems, and Dwellings by Eton’s leasing specialists are ready to assist should there be any issues.

EXPANDING IN CENTRAL LUZON. Real estate developer AboitizLand continues to expand in Central Luzon with

PARTNERSHIP OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.

P.A. Properties-Hankyu One, Inc. (P.A.-Hankyu), a joint venture between Laguna-based property developer P.A. Alvarez Properties & Development Corp. (P.A. Properties) and Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. (HHPC), recently signed an agreement with Colliers International Philippines for the management of Idesia Dasmariñas Phase 1, a PhP1.3B 11-hectare masterplanned community with residential and commercial components. Idesia Dasmariñas is the flagship project of the joint venture. The 37-hectare Idesia Dasmariñas township is a masterplanned community that will cater to urbanites; startup, growing or middleincome families; and those who seek to upgrade their total community living. At the sgning were (from left) Michael Escamilla, senior manager, Colliers International Phils.; Ieyo De Guzman, deputy managing Director; Jet L. Ilaga, executive director- real estate management services; Chikara Nakajima, Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. Philippine representative; Atty. Mark Bayquen, hluster Head – joint ventures; P.A. Properties; and Alvin Alquinto, head-property management.

the recent launch of Ajoya in Pampanga. The mid-market residential development is the third Ajoya community to be launched in Central Luzon within a year, and AboitizLand’s 5th residential project in Luzon. “We are proud to aggressively roll out our expansion plans to elevate the lifestyle of more Filipino families in emerging cities,” said David Rafael, AboitizLand president and chief executive officer. Another Ajoya community will soon arise in Pampanga. Spanning 17 hectares, it will feature a town plaza, clubhouse, multi-purpose hall, swimming pool, generous pocket parks and greenbelts. “We take pride in being proponents of modern Filipino architecture,” added Rafa de Mesa, AboitizLand’s first vice president of operations. “We show this by incorporating classic Filipino elements to contemporary house designs.” Ajoya’s homes are inspired by the Filipino bahay na bato, but given a modern twist. Located in Barangay Eden, Mexico—less than a two-hour drive from Metro Manila and easily accessible via the North Luzon Expressway—Ajoya Pampanga is near the burgeoning economic hub New Clark City and key businesses and conveniences. Ajoya Pampanga property prices range from P2.5.M to P4.2M.

CREBA CONFERENCE TACKLES SHELTER FINANCE THE 28th national convention of the Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) slated from October 9-12, at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Lahug, Cebu City, will center on key housing issues , among them the lack of longterm, affordable financing assistance for homebuyers, and the imminent imposition of value-added taxes on housing come 2021.

CREBA put its full support to the proposed creation of a Comprehensive Home Financing Program (CHFP) that will make all incomeearning Filipinos entitled to fixed, low-interest, long-term housing loans.

Payable up to 30 years, CHFP loans for socialized housing shall be P1.5 Million and below at 3 percent fixed interest rate, and above P1.5 Million up to P3,199,200 at 4 percent for economic housing, VAT-free.

Meanwhile, CREBA recently appealed to Congress to shield housing purchases from the looming value-added tax imposition saying that millions of Overseas Filipinos and low-income earners who have yet to fulfil their dreams of having a home for their families will no longer afford the resulting surge in housing prices. CREBA national president Noel Toti M. Cariño (Seen here) said the group fears that the impending imposition of new taxes will result to a massive industry slowdown, as housing prices rise beyond affordability levels of the millions of homeless.

BAY AREA LIVING. Federal Land Inc. recently launched Mi Casa, a four-tower premium condominium development, in the Bay Area of Pasay City. Hawaii, the first tower to be launched, offers a total of 158 units in 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, and 3 bedroom variations.

The Hawaii tower will feature indoor amenities such as a lounge area, gym, kids’ play room, function room with culinary station, and movie room. Mi Casa’s overall design is inspired by nature and the surrounding tropical setting of the Bay Area, home to Federal Land’s 40 hectare mixed-use development, Metro Park. Mi Casa’s concept and design is a collaborative effort between Federal Land, CallisonRTKL, and Aidea, Inc. The Hawaii Tower is targeted for turnover on 2023.

Life

A foo dog guarding the entrance of a mausoleum in Chinese variation of the Gothic style.

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor manilastandardlife@gmail.com @manilastandardlife @MStandardLIFE

ARTS AND CULTURE

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

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Art to remember

By Diana B. Noche

E

Paintings on a mausoleum’s door

Tommy Pascual Mausoleum

NCHANTMENT has many faces, even in the presence of ghosts.

Cemeteries make visible the evolution of the society that built them— the spiritual and religious beliefs, personal values and world view, its wealth and technological as well as artistic developments. When a loved one passes away, we remember them and honor their life, hold up memories of them by building a resting place which we hope will be more peaceful and beautiful than the one they lived in.

What was considered a resting place of vanished loved ones is today’s catacombs of treasure, of structures that make a solid statement, calling our consciousness with quiet insistence.

Cemeteries are also like museums.

When loved ones depart, we keep their presence felt by providing for those who are left behind something that can at least fill the void of their absence. It is with such affection and sentiment that makes us understand why there is a Taj Mahal in India, a masterpiece demonstration of creativity of a husband’s great love for his wife.

Manila has three distinct cemeteries: the oldest is the La Loma Cemetery, the North Cemetery, and the second oldest, the Chinese Cemetery, each with a different origin, layout, and designs involving cultural and religious dissimilarities.

The North Cemetery was built in 1905 under the US-American administration. In 1882, the La Loma Cemetery was built mostly for the Catholics during the Spanish times. The Chinese Cemetery, built in 1843, consists of 54 hectares and is shaped like a trapezoid.

It’s a mix of Buddhist Taoist burials, with multi-denominational Christians.

During the early 19th century, intermarriages of Chinese immigrants with local women gave birth to a class of Chinese mestizos. When international trade flourished, mixed Filipinos and Chinese of Spanish ancestry became the foremost class—the new social, politi-

Abandoned chapel/niche designed with cross, flowers, and gargoyles

cal, and economic elite. The newfound power under the Americans was evident in the mansions built, as well as in the grandiose funerary architecture to show a validation of their wealth and success.

Thus, luxurious mausoleums in the three cemeteries teemed in the 1920s and 1930s.

Ecclesiastical structures during the 19th century were mostly designed by European parish priests, the Spanish military and civil engineers. On the second half of the 19th century, Filipino architects such as Felix Roxas y Arroyo (born 1820) and Arcadio Arellano (1872-1920), who designed the “Mausoleum for the Heroes of the Revolution” at the nearby North Cemetery in 1915, became the professionals to go to for such services.

New funeral practices and forms of mourning and commemoration during this period and at the start of the 20th century were of European and Chinese artistic traditions, their symbolic meanings and significance. The new rich and upper middle class of mestizos and Chinese businessmen and women, professionals, and ilustrados opted for the more elaborate funerary architecture and statuary which turned the cemetery over the century-plus years into a repository of a distinct heritage.

There came a new way of defining death, not as the end, but only as an interim, during which the departed is separated from the living loved ones to be reunited later in heaven. This meant doing away with terrifying images of death (crossed bones, skulls, and the Grim Reaper) and replacing them with statues of angels, laurels, and religious images. The blending of Spanish/Catholic, Chinese Taoist Buddhist religious and cultural influences led to a new identity—the Tsinoy—or the Filipino/ Chinese community.

In celebrating the memory of the departed, both Filipinos and Chinese observe it in similar ways: the All Souls Day and Qingming Festival; the Virgin Mary vis-à-vis Chinese goddesses Mazu and Guan Yin; belief in the om-

Chinese Guardian Lions, also known as foo dogs, are placed inside or outside a building to protect it from negative energy.

nipresent spirits, superstition, and the intercession of saints in heaven; and the use of incense sticks, candles, and good luck charms.

From 1870 to the present, various funerary designs were used for mausoleum niches of the “rich and famous,” occupying the main road where the oldest and grandgrand est mausoleums in Art Deco and Revivalist styles are the midmid dle class in the inner roads; and the low income burials in terraced style on the cemcem etery perimeters.

The oldest existing burbur ial site in Chinese Cemetery bebe longs to Pilar Tiaque de Lim-TuaLim-Tua co, built in 1895. During the early 20th century, the first roof over

tomb was built. The oldest existing example is that of a woman named Tiu who was buried in the 1900s. It was com styled a la bahay na bato with a combination of Filipino and Chinese elements. The first fully enclosed mausoleum was built in the 1920s in the Revivalist styles of Neo-Romanesque, Neo -Renaissance, and New Baroque, as well as the NeoClassicism Turn to C2

Pagoda-style mausoleum

Chinese motifs used in the roofs

Ballet Philippines marks its golden anniversary this year.

Philippine creative industry in the spotlight BUSINESS in the front, arts in the back—not quite literally—at the first Manila International Performing Arts Market or MIPAM and CREATE Philippines.

The three-day event, ongoing until today at the CCP Complex, is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions and the Cultural Center of the Philippines to put the country’s creative industry front and center.

In giving the spotlight to this vibrant, talent-filled sector, CITEM and CCP hope to raise the consciousness of performing arts groups, artists, and creatives as contributors and drivers of the country’s trade and economic growth.

MIPAM x CREATE PH consists of exhibits, networking events, and business-matching opportunities. It also serves as a platform for continued learning for artists and creatives through three seminars that help build their capacities for marketing and business.

BJ Palattao on Sept. 19 had a talk on “Capitalizing on Your Ideas and Leveraging on Intellectual Property” to equip participants with knowledge of the intellectual property law and how to use it to protect their creative and business ideas. Palattao, a managing partner at the Palattao and Associates Law Office, specializes in arts and entertainment law.

FEU Band performs at Tanghalang Huseng Batute.

Day two was about teaching groups and individuals on how to start their own companies and sell their works. “The Journey of Starting A Professional Practice, Organization or Start-up Company” talk led by Jake Allan de Guzman, founder and chief executive officer of Tripleshot Media, imparted strategies and ideas to help aspiring artists and creatives understand what it takes to get their performing arts business up and running.

In “Packaging Yourself and Effectively Pitching Your Ideas,” AJ Dimarucot, direc-

tor of the Communication Design Association of the Philippines, taught participants how to create a brand identity for themselves or their groups that will make them stand out and help them win businesses for their creations.

A mix of established and rising performing arts groups performed their repertoire at the exhibits and showcases in various venues inside the CCP Complex.

Leading the list of exhibitors is CCP resident company Ballet Philippines, the country’s Turn to C2

Life

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

Nueva Vizcaya recognizes Bugkalot tribe elders

T

HE Nueva Vizcaya Council for Culture and the Arts has unanimously voted to recognize Bugkalot tribe elders as culture bearers of indigenous arts and crafts of the province.

The council, a multi-sectoral agency which oversees the province’s culture and arts scene, is composed of representatives from the government, the private sector, the academe, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the Department of Education, the tourism council, local historical society, the art community, and chaired by the provincial governor.

Based on the documentation made by the provincial tourism office, Nueva Vizcaya has several elder tribal artisans led by 84-year-old Adolfo Quewigh of Pelaway, Alfonso Castañeda town, an expert maker of the Bugkalot kaget (brass belt for women), kina-wit (belt accessories), and musical instruments like gisada (violin with human hair strings) and kulising (bamboo guitar).

His wife, Nanay Sublina is also an expert in indigenous embroidery. The Quewigh couple plays a significant role in the remote community by teaching other and younger family members of their craft.

Some elders from Dupax del Norte and other indigenous peoples’ groups are also being eyed for local and nationBugkalot indigenous artisans are recognized by the Nueva Vizcaya Council for Culture and the Arts al recognition.

84-year-old Adolfo Quewigh leads Bugkalot elder tribal artisans.

Gisada, a violin made with human hair strings.

The tribe was formerly known as the Ilongots, who were fierce headhunters in Alfonso Castañeda, Dupax del Norte, and Dupax del Sur towns, which have well-preserved indigenous customs and traditions.

The provincial government, through the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, plans to legislate ordinances declaring them as local treasures or local cultural bearers.

It also hopes to nominate these tribe elders to the Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan or the National Living Treasure Award given by the Nation-

Bugkalot kaget is a brass belt worn by women

David Beckham in Manila

Marian Pastor Roces book launched THE Museum of Contemporary Art and Design of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde recently hosted the book launch of Gathering: Political Writing on Art and Culture by cultural theorist, critic, and independent curator Marian Pastor Roces at Powerbooks at The Podium Mall.

Gathering: Political Writing on Art and Culture features Roces’ discursive articles from 1974 to 2018, which showcase her insights on diverse and important subjects such as art, museology, and cultural theory in the local and international landscape of political and social developments.

Roces, the founder and principal of TAO Inc., “a museum and exhibition development corporation,” was part of MCAD’s master planning team and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the museum in 2008.

The anthology debuts MCAD’s publishing initiative, which will continue to print special monographs of contemporary Filipino artists and art practitioners. The project was part of the celebration to mark the 10th year anniversary of the museum.

Art...

From C1

elements of the Greco-Roman architecture evident in the colonnades, porticos, pediments, and acroteria, an example of which is the Sy Mausoleum, built in the 1950s, a Greek temple in miniature.

The Neo-Gothic style with its emphasis on verticality, heaven-orientedness, and mysticism is evident in the Dijiongco Mausoleum, built in the mid-1920s, exemplified by spires, gargoyles, and angels.

A Chinese variation of the Gothic style can be seen at the Benching and Machuca-Gotanco families’ mausoleums, built in the 1930s, with foo dogs guarding the entrance and frieze of birds, trees, and dragons.

The Zigzag Moderne, an early form of Art Deco, can be seen in the Lichay Too Mausoleum, built in 1948 and modeled after an Egyptian temple. The same goes for the Dy Buncio Mausoleum, built in 1930.

Chinese motifs also inf luenced the Art Deco in the cemetery. The Lim Kong Sui Mausoleum, built in 1938, has the traditional Chinese

al Commission for Culture and the Arts and conferred by the President of the Philippines.

The GaMaBa is the highest award given to Filipinos engaged in traditional art whose distinctive skills have reached a high level of technical excellence and have been passed on to and widely practiced in their community.

The Bugkalot’s tribal art and cultural heritage will also be showcased in the province-wide observance of the Indigenous People’s Month set in the capital town of Bayombong in November.

THIS is not a drill. Former professional English football player David Beckham will be in Manila to grace a wellness and protection summit on Oct. 13.

Becks, who is AIA global ambassador, is the special guest of AIA Philam Life Live Better Expo to be held at Enderun Tent in Taguig City.

“We are thrilled to have David Beckham join us and share his daily wellness journey at the Live Better Expo,” said Philam Life chief marketing officer Leo Tan. Tan added, “His healthy and active lifestyle best exemplifies what our brand promise of living a Healthier, Longer, and Better Life means. We

are happy to have him in Manila and inspire Filipinos to also embrace and bring to life our brand promise.”

Beckham, who is known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending free-kicks as a right winger, will participate in an exhibition game with kids and Philam 7s coaches It will also feature lifestyle sessions with Philam Life brand ambassadors Nico Bolzico, Solenn Heusaff, Raymond Gutierrez, and Wil Dasovich.

Go to Philam Life’s Facebook page for more information.

‘Gathering: Political Writing on Art and Culture’ by Marian Pastor Roces

Co-published with ArtAsiaPacific Foundation and sponsored by Powerbooks and National Bookstore, Gathering: Political Writing on Art and Culture is available at MCAD and at Art Bar Serendra, Art Bar Rockwell, Powerbooks Podium, Powerbooks Alabang,

Powerbooks Shangri-La, National Book Store Glorietta, National Book Store Shangri-La, National Book Store Taft, and ArtBooks.ph for P2,300.

It is available for international purchase via www.artasiapacific.com at the price of US$45.

roof with upturned edges (dougong or corbel). The stylized dougong on the pilasters of the cemetery main entrance is an example.

Art Deco merged into Modernism in the 1950s. The Gocheco Mausoleum, in line with the new style combination, has plain wall surfaces and thin concrete roof.

The Space Age of the 1960s influenced the Chinese funerary architecture and showed more restraint in design.

The classic Modernism style dominates the Saez-Coguangco Mausoleum in its rectangular shape and a tower of black and white planes with a simple cross.

The Courtyard style is evident in the Ongche Mausoleum, built in 1936. It is in concrete, a trio of buildings in an axial, processional order: entrance gate, open pavilion in the center, and burial chamber at the end, with grills decorated with Chinese characters.

The Pagoda style has elaborate ornamentations and sharply bent roof edges with dragons and foo dogs. Example of this style is the Regal Mausoleum, or the Mother Lily Monteverde structure.

An east/west blend of design is best exemplified by the Dee Ching Chuan Mausoleum, built in 1941 and consid-

ered the grandest of its kind. Dee Ching Chuan is the co-founder of China Banking Corporation. It is a combination of Art Deco and Chinese symbols (carp for prosperity, dragon for power, and elephant for strength).

Turtle tombs can also be found in some portions of the cemetery. Unroofed turtle tombs are mounds in the shape of a tortoise back which symbolizes longevity and the shape of the universe.

These days, the Chinese still bury their dead in the Chinese Cemetery— in air-conditioned mausoleums—styled in the latest design and following feng shui guidance. The Chinese Cemetery is owned and managed by the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association and the Communidad de Chinos which was founded in the 1870s by Lim Ong and Tan Quien Sien (Christian name, Carlos Palanca).

Walkwithchan, with Rence Chan as tour coordinator, conducts a free guided tour of the Chinese and the North cemeteries. Those who wish to join the walk are requested to bring snacks and drinks for the children of the families living in the squatters area outside the cemetery walls.

Photos by Diana B. Noche

David Beckham is coming to Manila as the special guest of a wellness summit.

Philippine...

From C1

company Twin Bill Theater. Dance companies such as Hip Hop International, Ormoc City Dance Sport Team, Dance Pull, and West Australian Ballet perform on stage.

Exhibitors and visitors take their craft to the next level by becoming duly-registered businesses at MIPAM x CREATE PH. The Business Access Corner is a special setting at the event that helps make it easy to register with DTI’s NCR Regional Office as well as to secure their copyrights or trademarks with the Intellectual Property Office Philippines.

Another DTI agency, the Philippine Trade Training Center, helps with setting up training programs and services.

leading professional classical and contemporary dance company. The company will mark its golden anniversary this year with a stellar lineup of shows that include Swan Lake, Itim Asu, and Rama Hari.

Music from the FEU Bamboo Band, international jazz ensemble Blood Drum Spirit, continental Asian music and an experimental musical performance featuring the Ripieno Ensemble fill the halls of the Tanghalang Huseng Batute.

Theater and dance make their presence felt at MIPAM x CREATE PH. Among the theater companies mounting exhibits or showcases at CCP’s MIPAM x CREATE PH is open to the Tanghalang Pilipino is independent public for free.

Entertainment

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

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nickie.standard@gmail.com

Nickelodeon Slimefest 2019 gathers country’s best, up-and-coming acts The PowerPuff Girls have been introducing many of us to the idea of feminism and women empowerment for more than 20 years now.

7 awesome ways to empower young girls FOR 20 years, The Powerpuff Girls have been on a mission to prove that girls rule. Now Cartoon Network is launching #Empowerpuff in the Philippines, an initiative that hopes to make a difference in the life of every Pinay.

Through #Empowerpuff, Cartoon Network will premiere a series of onground activities, local partnerships as well as online content to inspire Pinays to build their very own ‘ka-pow’ legacy and transform their communities. But before it officially kicks off, you can empower other young ladies in your community with these easy steps:

group chats and sending them cool #Empowerpuff-themed Viber stickers.

Ride on to adventure To empower others, you need to believe in yourself too. By stepping out of your comfort zone, going on adventures and meeting other people, you gain experiences that can make an impact on others. Visit different places and take advantage of every opportunity.

Teach each other things Sharing is caring and it doesn’t only apply to material things like your baon.

Talent, skills and knowledge are also Encourage them to express their valuable things that you can share and teach others. You never know; they creativity Creativity is meant to be expressed might be encouraged to pay it forward. because it is a gift that is ever evolving.

Mingle with others If you know someone who has a talent Empowered women never limit in creating things or making beautiful drawings, encourage them to hone themselves. They go out of their comfort zone and mingle with others their craft. with whom they share the same passion. Events like It’s A Girl Thing Say no to bullying Whether online or offline, bullying (IAGT) are designed to empower girls should not be tolerated. Lift each other and celebrate uniqueness. And, as up by saying good things that will Cartoon Network partners with IAGT help them become more driven and on Nov. 10, girls like you are surely going to have fun as you meet your motivated. fave women who wowed the world.

In addition to international Always be ready to help out like the Merrel Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup personalities may have their differences and fights, twins, there will also be guest but they’re always there for their appearances from local celebrity sisters. Whether with a big or small trailblazers likeAnne Curtis, Yassi gesture, support goes a long way Pressman, Karylle, Jessy Mendiola, when it comes to empowering others. and Megan Young.

Be empowered with #Empowerpuff!

Watch out for the #Empowerpuff themed shirts by Merch By, so you can Stay tuned as Cartoon Network has empower other girls one shirt at a time a lot of surprises, cool prizes, and activities in store for you! For more information about #Empowerpuff Spark up conversations Another way to empower one and other Cartoon Network-related another is to encourage conversation. news and updates, log on towww.

Let your gal-pals know that they cartoonnetworkasia.com or follow are remembered by perking up your Facebook.com/CartoonNetworkAsia.

Celebrating...

From C4

Celebrate Marvel’s eight decades of epic storytelling with this comicsinspired collection of the world’s most iconic Super Heroes. Inspired mainly by today’s global logo tee trend, this collection allows Marvel fans of all ages to fashion the brands they love the most. Express your edge and personality with this latest exclusive, available at all SM Stores in both SM Youth and SM Children’s Wear departments.

T-Shirts. Step into the world of Super Heroes in style. Marvel tees are available at SM Store’s Youth section priced from P399.75 to P499.75.

Kiddie T-Shirts. Kids can ignite their imagination and be their own Super Heroes with any of these Marvel t-shirts! Available at SM Store’s Kids

section, Marvel t-shirt prices range from P299.75 to P349.75.

Hoodies. Join some of the galaxy’s mightiest soldiers as you wear these Marvel apparels. Muscle and sleeveless hoodies are priced at P319.75, while long-sleeved hoodies are ranging from P349.75 to P799.75.

Hasbro Toys. Fight alongside your favorite Super Hero with Hasbro’s latest Marvel 80th collection. Featuring the Legends Series modeled as 6-inch action figures, individual toys are priced at P1,399.75, while the duo sets are sold at P3,499.75. All toys are now available for sale at your nearest Toy Kingdom store.

Be part of history and arm with the millions of fans all over the world participating in this remarkable event.

Join the conversations online for Marvel’s 80th anniversary using the hashtag #Marvel80AtSM.

Indie funk rock band IV of Spades will be performing alongside other Filipino stars at the Nickelodeon SlimeFest 2019.

N

ICKELODEON SlimeFest in the Philippines has revealed the full list of performers at the family-friendly music festival on Sept. 28 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds.

With something for everyone in the family, Nickelodeon SlimeFest will be a full-day event comprising a free admission festival area (11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and a ticketed live music concert (6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.). Globe customers can get a headstart on the festival with a firsthour exclusive from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.. Expect live performances

by international and local artists, DJs, and tons of Nickelodeon’s trademark green Slime. Ticket prices start from P800 and are available at SM Tickets.

The slimetastic music festival extravaganza will sizzle with Best Southeast Asia Act nominee at the 2018 MTV European Music Awards, IV of Spades, with their funk-pop tunes and unmistakable

flair. Rising pop singer, Carlie Hanson, will also take the stage to deliver her fresh and funky pop beats in her first performance in the Philippines. Or groove along and party to 11-year-old rapperAlex Bruce, who will dish out her rhymebusting technique, alongside hip hop dance troupe Philippine AllStars.

These artists will join Jannine Weigel, Thai-German singer, songwriter and actress; and Kira, pop singer and star of Nickelodeon’sThe Thundermans, who will host as well as perform at Nickelodeon SlimeFest.

Adding to the festival feels is actor Robi Domingo who will co-host with Kira Kosarin at the concert arena, and amp up the party atmosphere.

At the free admission festival area in the day, festival attendees can get messy and have a blasting good time with Nickelodeon games and immersive one-of-a-kind experiences. Fans can meet and take photos with their favorite characters from shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, PAW Patrol, and Dora the Explorer.

Until Sept. 25, all Globe subscribers can also enjoy discounts of 17 percent off on all ticket purchases. For online purchases viawww.smtickets.com, just use the promo code Globe0917 upon checkout For over-the-counter purchases at SM Ticket Outlets, just show your Globe signal or your Globe At Home app to avail of the discount .

The Nickelodeon SlimeFest in the Philippines will be the seventh installment of the successful global event that has brought kids and families the ultimate Slimefilled, multiplatform music and entertainment experience. This year, regional and international talents will deliver the Slimiest music festival experience to attendees.

In the weeks ahead, fans can get information and news updates on the Nickelodeon SlimeFest Facebook page to keep up with all things #SlimeFestAsia. They can also check for the latest news and updates by following Globe on Facebook and visiting globe.com.ph. #ForTheLoveOfSLIME.

‘Wildflower’lone PH nominee at 1st Asia Content Awards THE phenomenal hit series Wildflower is the only Philippine drama series that has been nominated as Best Asian Drama in the 1st Asia Contents Awards, which will be held in Busan, South Korea on Oct. 6.

The Maja Salvador-starrer will compete with outstanding Asian TV series from South Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,

Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

The 1st Asia Contents Awards aims to reward the finest TV dramas produced across Asia in the last five years. It is organized by the renowned film festival Busan International Film Festival and Asian Film Market, an annual film market in South Korea.

Wildflower also continues to make waves worldwide now that it airs in

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Saturday, September 21, 2019

ACROSS 1 Use shears 5 Wildlife photographer’s concealment 10 Baby buggy, in London 14 Make intentionally hard to find 15 Solitary type 16 Drifter 17 Scraped by 18 In crowd 19 Bun 20 Tied race (2 wds.)

22 Died down 24 Prune 25 City in Iowa 26 Errand runners 29 Movie theaters 33 Faulty 34 Troubadour prop 36 Have debts 37 Obstacle 38 Provide food for 39 Like sushi 40 Physicist Georg — 41 Mimicked mockingly 42 Brightness 44 Mischief-makers 47 Slaved away 48 Existence 49 Hard wood

50 Twinkles 53 Exercise apparel 58 Tale 59 Blue Light Special store 61 Canoe or kayak 62 Pealed 63 Minute amounts 64 Bowling alley 65 Lyric poems 66 Thoroughly unpleasant 67 Cheese from the Netherlands DOWN 1 Tool storage 2 Winged Victory 3 Light bulb, in comics 4 Sells 5 Censors 6 Albright or Montez 7 Put one’s foot —— 8 After deductions 9 More wonderful 10 Put into words 11 Establish 12 Up to the job 13 Mildew 21 — d’oeuvres

23 Hogan or Affleck 25 Did something 26 Eva or Zsa Zsa 27 Nebraska hub 28 Companies 30 Ethical 31 Not in the dark 32 Fixed a seam 34 Slip-up 35 Navajo foe 38 Soft leather 42 Kind of cheese 43 Friendly 45 Jangles 46 Objective

47 Foot, slangily 50 Pita sandwich 51 Praise 52 White-tailed sea eagle 53 Back muscles 54 Latin I verb 55 Freeway 56 Andrews or Wynter 57 Mushroom part 60 Kiwi’s extinct cousin

'Wildflower' is a revenge drama starring Maja Salvador, together with an ensemble cast.

three French-speaking countries New Caledonia, Polynesia, and Reunion with the recent partnership of ABSCBN with Ampersand fiction, a French content distributor.

It is also currently shown in several French-speaking African countries and will soon air in Madagascar this October with the Kapamilya network’s deal with Startimes.

Wildflower aired on ABS-CBN in 2017 and reigned in primetime TV for a year. Its main protagonist Ivy Aguas/Lily Cruz was noted for her embodiment of women empowerment and fighting against oppression as she took down the vicious clan of Ardiente.

Entertainment

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

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

Intense vocal battle arises on ‘The Clash Season 2’ GMA Network s original musical competition–The Clash–is back and bigger than ever, featuring a new set of talented contenders, hosts, and exciting twists throughout the show.

The Clash auditions were held worldwide to search for the best singers.

And after months and thousands of potential contenders, the Top 64 Clashers have now been chosen and are all set to battle it out on The Clash stage, Isa laban sa lahat.

The second season introduces the new Clash Masters Rayver Cruz and Julie Anne San Jose who will present the exciting twists and intriguing turns The second season of GMA's original singing tilt sees a new set of hosts (from left: throughout the season.

Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz, Rita Daniela, and Ken Chan) that gives the program Off-cam and backstage stories of the some millennial vibe.

clashers will be shared by the well-loved tandem of Rita Daniela and Ken Chan as Journey Hosts.

Leading the search for the newest singing sensation once again is The Clash Panel composed of Asia s Nightingale Lani Misalucha, balladeer Christian Bautista, and comedienne AiAi delas Alas.

We’re choosing the contestant who can be a grand champion. There are times that there are a few contenders who have the same level of skills but at the end of the end, we choose the one with star quality, Lani said explaining that having a good voice is not enough.

Christian shared that he is looking for an all-around performer, I’m looking for an all-around performer, not just someone

Star-studded concert pays TRIBUTE to TEACHERS

who looks good. I’m looking for someone who also sing from the heart.

Ai Ai, in turn, is also looking for someone with a wow factor , May mga Clasher na pagpasok pa lang ng stage, commanding na yung presence, and when they start singing, mapapa-wow ka talaga.

Under the helm of Louie Ignacio, follow the journey of each Clasher on The Clash Season 2 beginning tonight at 7:00 after Pepito Manaloto, and every Sunday, 7:40 p.m., after Daig Kayo Ng Lola Ko. Kapuso viewers from across the globe can also catch their favorite Kapuso shows via GMA s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV, and GMA News TV International. For the program guide, visit www.gmapinoytv.com.

Diva Celine Dion bids Caesar Palace adieu to kick off her world tour.

EXTRA INTERNATIONAL

Celine Dion returns to Canada to kick off world tour

AFTER living and crooning for years in Las Vegas, French-Canadian superstar Celine Dion has returned home to Quebec to kick off her first world tour in a decade on Wednesday.

At 51, the Grammy winner also recently announced the release of a new album entitled Courage, which will be her 12th in English and is due out on Nov. 15.

The first single “Flying On My Own,” featuring her powerful vocals backed by techno beats, has already received airplay, while three more dropped Wednesday: “Courage,” “Lying Down” and “Imperfections.”

Known for her blockbuster ballads, Dion said in April that she felt motivated to create new music and hit the road after the 2016 death of her husband and manager Rene Angelil.

“When I lost Rene, he wanted me back on stage. He wanted to make sure I was still practicing my passion,” she said. “I wanted to prove to him that I’m fine, we’re fine, we’re going to be okay. I’ve got this.”

So, after more than 1,140 concerts for 4.5 million fans over 16 years in Sin City, she bid adieu to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace with a final two-hour show.

“Courage is exactly the way I feel,” she told public broadcaster CBC at the time, talking up the upcoming tour of the same name.

“In the past three years, it has been difficult for me to talk to my children, to raise them, to lose my husband, wondering am I going to sing again... so much has happened, but at the same time I feel that I’m in control of my life.” AFP

P

LDT-Smart Foundation beVERY lieves that teachers greatly conWANG tribute to student achievement NICKIE and play an important role in everyWANG body’s life. Thus, as a way of paying tribute to our “second parents, ” the foundation stages the annual Gabay Guro, a free concert featuring some of the country’s biggest movie and TV stars.

Asia's Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid leads the list of performers, which includes (top photos from left) Darren Espanto, Zephanie Dimarana, and Eat Bulaga Broadway Boys to name a few, in this year's Gabay Guro, a free tribute concert for teachers.

Celebrating Marvel’s 80th anniversary in style

Gabay Guro Chairperson Chaye Cabal-Revilla

On its 12th year, the start-studded event will be staged on Sunday, Sept. 22 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. And as part of the grand gathering, Gabay Guro app—an exclusive application for teachers that will provide e-learning content and interactive technology and ready-to-use online tools that are aligned with the DepEd and CHED curriculum—will also be launched. This will provide teachers with the latest and easily accessible educational resources right at their fingertips During a media launch held last month, a list of performers was unveiled. Part of the stars and acts that will grace the event are Aegis, Angeline Quinto, Christian Bautista, Eat Bulaga BakClash, Eat Bulaga Broadway Boys, Edward Barbers, Erik Santos, Darren Espanto, Gabby Concepcion, Ian Veneracion, Jaya, Jay-R, Jayson Dy, Jed Madela, Jona, K Brosas, Klarisse De Guzman, Kyla, Kuh Ledesma, Martin Nievera, Maymay Entrata, Moira dela Torre, Piolo Pascual, Pops Fernandez, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Zsa Zsa Padilla, and Zephanie Dimaranan.

In support for the Gabay Guro, talent managements Cornerstone Entertainment Inc. and Eat Bulaga enlisted their celebrity talents to perform for the Grand Gathering as volunteers. The event will be hosted by Jose and Wally and Dimples Romana.

“Gabay Guro continues to develop innovative programs for our teachers and our partners in nationbuilding,” Gabay Guro ChairpersonChaye CabalRevilla said.

“Every year, it is our great honor to be able to give back to our teachers through a grand tribute and we always look forward to continuing this mission and empower them through Gabay Guro’s previously 6 and now 7 core pillars of learning,”

Cabal-Revilla added.

Since 2007, Gabay Guro has been empowering teachers across the country through its seven key pillars: housing and educational facilities; scholarships; training programs; livelihood programs; broadbanding and computerization; annual Teacher’s Tribute; and the newly launched innovations pillar.

The new Innovations Pillar of Gabay Guro aims to reinforce the digital transformation for Filipino teachers, school leaders, and stakeholders by equipping them with new modes of teaching and the latest technology that will enable them to create, grow, and evolve their craft for the benefit of their students.

Since its founding, Gabay Guro has built and donated 47 classrooms nationwide and provided over 1,770 scholarship grants through its 57 partner schools, which have been equipped with new computers and broadband connectivity. Of its scholars, 1,013 have graduated, with 343 finishing with honors. About 680 graduates have also passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers.

Over the years, more than 60,000 educators have also benefitted from Gabay Guro’s nine regular training programs including: Teacher’s Treasure Chest; English Proficiency Program; Personality Development; Emotional Intelligence; Teachers’ Armor; Leadership Training; IT Sustainability and Literacy; Teaching in the Digital Age; and Unleashing Creativity in Teaching. Gabay Guro also links schools to communities and industries through workshops and seminars. This helps promote an innovative mindset and unlocks opportunities for teachers, school leaders and staff.

Gabay Guro also holds Teachers’ Tribute in different provinces in the Philippines. Through the “Teacherfest,”, Gabay Guro’s satellite and localized tribute celebration with teachers in key cities around

the country, more teachers from remote areas are able to share in the fun and frivolity. Gabay Guro has successfully mounted the Teacherfests in the provinces including Metro Cauayan Isabela, Santa Rosa Laguna, Bataan, Butuan, Bulacan, Navotas, and Davao.

Gabay Guro’s efforts have also been recognized by various award-giving bodies in the Philippines and abroad including Gawad Tanglaw, Anvil Awards, Philippine Quill Awards, Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) Awards, and the CMO Asia Awards in Singapore.

At the Grand Gathering, teachers will get a chance to win exciting prizes from Gabay Guro’s partners, such as 100 winners of Accident Insurance Policies for one year from Inlife Sheroes, gift certificates from Don Henrico’s, Fitness First, Jollibee, and Penshoppe.

Gift packs from Colgate and Palmolive, Pilipinas Alibaba, and Unilab Consumer Health; gadgets and free subscriptions from PLDT Home; gadgets and mobile phones from Smart, Sun and TNT; travel and leisure escape by First United Travel, Inc., and Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar; and free entrance tickets to Enchanted Kingdom; cash vouchers from Aveda, Shopee and Lazada; Television sets by Devant; cash prizes from PLDT-Smart Foundation, Pecci, and Telescoop; livelihood packages from Reyes Haircutters; motorcycle from Motorlandia; a Gratour van from Foton; and a brand new house and lot as the major prize.

The event is exclusive to teachers, and admission is free and tickets can be secured from local Dep Ed unit. For passes to the Gabay Guro’s Grand Gathering, teachers may visit Gabay Guro’s official Facebook account, and follow its official Twitter and Instagram accounts @PLDTGabayGuro for updates.

CELEBRATING Marvel’s 80 iconic years of fascinating stories and compelling characters, The Walt Disney Company Philippines and SM Supermalls team up to give fans an incredible realm of Super Hero experience, through the ‘Marvel 80 Years at SM’ campaign.

Since its grand event kick-off at SM North EDSA The Block Atrium last Aug. 27, the community of Marvel’s biggest fans in Southeast Asia took their time to look back on the timeless novels that put Marvel Universe at the pinnacle of pop culture today. Further intensifying the fans’ excitement for this year-long celebration, SM brings new thrills for Filipino supporters through a line of Marvel-themed merchandise, fitting for Super Hero enthusiasts of all ages. Continued on C3

'Marvel 80 Years at SM’ campaign offers patrons comics-inspired collection of the world’s most iconic Super Heroes.