Manila Standard - 2019 October 1 - Tuesday

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DUTERTE ALL SET TO GO PUBLIC WITH LIST OF ‘NINJA COPS’

By MJ Blancaflor PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will release the names of “ninja cops” or rogue policemen who allegedly resell illegal drugs seized in raids, the Palace said Monday.

“He said he will. So he will,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told Palace reporters without saying when he would do this.

President Duterte is scheduled to visit Russia from Oct. 1 to 5, and it was un-

PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino

clear if he would publicize the names upon his return.

Earlier, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee sent the President the list of ninja cops, which was furnished by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, a former policeman who led anti-drug operations at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police.

Panel chairman Senator Richard Gordon said he had forwarded the list and the Next page

VOL. XXXIII • NO. 229 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PDEA chief quizzes PNP over 15 escorts

By Rio N. Araja

P

8 convicts ask SC to nullify GCTA rules

HILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino on Monday asked why the Philippine National Police has recalled his 15 police escorts— supposedly for duty during the Southeast Asian Games—when no other government officials have had their security details pulled.

By Rey E. Requejo CONVICTS at the New Bilibid Prison have questioned before the Supreme Court the legality and constitutionality of several provisions of the revised implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 10592, the law that freed on good behavior almost 2,000 inmates convicted of heinous crimes.

In a petition, eight NBP inmates led

by Russel Fuensalida urged the Court to declare as illegal and unconstitutional pertinent provisions of the IRR that disqualified inmates convicted of heinous crimes from earning time allowances for good conduct, study, teaching and mentoring, and loyalty for “going beyond the law and for being tantamount to executive legislation.”

The inmates named Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, new Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, and Bureau

The security pullout comes after Aquino testified before the Senate that corrupt policemen were reselling drugs seized in police raids.

“With the recall, my movement would be restricted,” Aquino said in an interview on radio dzMM. “Despite that, they did not want to listen to me, and instead they sought explanation from my escorts why they were not yet reporting [to their mother unit],” he said.

“The problem here is that, after a [head] count, the other security escorts were allowed to go back to their VIP

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Fake Elvis, fake vagina=fake orgasm?

A MAN bearing a strong resemblance to Elvis Presley has been accused of stealing a fake vagina from a New Zealand sex shop, prompting a police investigation.

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Speaker, deputies hit pork squealer

ON THE ROCKS.

Thousands of jeepney passengers are stranded along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City because of a transport strike by drivers. In defiance of the Duterte administration’s jeepney phaseout proposal, challenged as well by militant groups (right) during a rally at Welcome Rotunda in Quezon City, with the Quezon City government offering ‘Libreng Sakay’ to those stranded, in much the same way Manila Police District Station 11 at Plaza Santa Cruz in Binondo, Manila offer free rides, too. Norman Cruz, Manny Palmero

By Maricel V. Cruz

MMDA, LGUs play down impact of transport strike

By Joel E. Zurbano

Rugby superfan shows world cup colors A JAPANESE rugby superfan is making a splash at this year’s Rugby World Cup by having his upper body painted in the colors of all 20 competing teams.

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THE nationwide protest staged by drivers and operators against the government’s Public Utility Jeep modernization program had a minimal effect on commuters on Monday, thanks to a contingency plan created with the help of local government units to respond to such inci-

Petron leads LPG price hike, oil cut

By Alena Mae S. Flores and Macon Ramos-Araneta OIL player Petron Corp. will implement a P4.50 per kilo increase (or P49.50 per 11-kilo tank) for liquefied petroleum Next page

dents, government officials said.

In coordination with the Department of Transportation, the Metro Manila Development Authority and mayors deployed trucks, buses and private vehicles, and offered free rides for morning rush-hour commuters in the National Capital Region.

But the protest also triggered the suspension of classes in some public and pri-

vate schools, colleges and universities in Metro Manila and in various provinces.

In Makati, the city government through its Public Safety Department, said there were no disruptions in jeepney operations.

City Chief Information Officer Romulo Salgado Jr. said the PSD, acting on the Next page

AFP sets P12.5-b Russian arms deal THE Armed Forces of the Philippines is reportedly set to buy 16 Mi-17 mediumlift Russian helicopters worth $14.7 million each as part of its modernization program.

That would be P779 million each at the exchange rate of P53 to $1, or a total of $235.3 million or P12.5 billion.

The purchase will be made to coincide with the scheduled state visit of

President Rodrigo Duterte to Moscow this week.

“I am hoping and praying that before my remaining three years expire, that all of these things, especially the labeled ‘Horizon Projects’ of yours, will be completed during my term, President Duterte said during the 72nd anniversary of the Philippine Air Force at Villamor Air Base in July.

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SPEAKER Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday came out swinging against Senator Panfilo Lacson, saying the senator had the mistaken idea that he had a monopoly of the anti-pork barrel advocacy and that the senator should realize that the House of Representatives had the same advocacy.

He challenged Lacson and other critics of the House to identify what they were calling “pork” in the House-approved version of the 2020 proposed national budget.

Cayetano and Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said the proposed P4.1trillion national government budget for Next page

ASF outbreak Agri’s challenge MALACAÑANG on Monday expressed confidence the Department of Agriculture is competent enough to handle the African swine fever following the reported deaths of 15 pigs from a Bulacan town.

“I’m sure the Secretary of Agriculture is competent enough to handle this situation. He hasn’t said anything about not handling it,’’ Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told reTurn to A3 porters.

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News

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Ramming victims may seek claim

By MJ Blancaflor

T

HE fishermen involved in the Recto Bank incident should file an insurance claim to receive compensation from the Chinese trawler that rammed their boat, Malacañang said Monday.

What the fishermen have received so far is a used fishing vessel donated by a Chinese businessman as reported by another newspaper.

“Now with respect to that, isn’t it the Chinese government that said we have to file an insurance claim? That is why they should and they should file, Panelo said.

“They won’t just give something, of course, the shipping company has an insurance.”

The Guangdong Fishery Mutual Insurance Association, which counts the owner of the Chinese trawler as a member, apologized on Aug. 28 on behalf of the vessel owner.

It has also requested the Filipino fishermen to seek compensation based on their loss.

“I think for now they have received several help and assistance coming from various sectors. But they should file an

insurance claim,” Panelo said.

It was established during the exchanges with the Chinese officials that the boat from China’s Guangdong province was not part of Beijing’s maritime militia and that the June 9 incident was an “accident.”

President Duterte had also downplayed the incident as a “little maritime accident.”

The collision, however, sparked antiChina sentiments among Filipinos, with some calling for the invocation of the Mutual Defense Treaty.

After the June 9 incident, Duterte said he had granted access to China in 2016 to fish within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The deal drew criticisms because the 1987 Constitution says Filipinos should exclusively enjoy the marine wealth within the territory of the Philippines.

The Palace made the statement a month after the 22 fishermen of Gem-Ver 1 received an apology from the operator of the Chinese trawler that rammed and damaged their fishing vessel that was anchored at Recto Bank on June 9.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte still trusts the Chinese government despite its several commitments that have hardly materialized.

“The President still trusts them, Panelo told reporters.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. had previously said the perception that China had been helping the government’s economic and infrastructure development was mainly on paper.

The 22 crew men, left adrift in open water for hours until they were saved

by Vietnamese fishermen, have yet to receive compensation for their damaged boat.

Their livelihood also suffered since they failed to immediately go back to fishing due to their damaged boat.

Duterte...

Senate resets SK, barangay polls to Dec. 2022

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transcript of the executive session with Magalong to President Duterte, who had expressed an interest in the matter.

Senator Christopher Go, a longtime aide of the President, said Duterte would validate the list with “his own resources.”

Duterte has yet to speak on the issue.

Last week, he warned “ninja cops” that they will “die first” if they continue their illegal activities.

“I’m sorry to tell you, everybody dies in this world but you will go ahead first,” Duterte said in a speech in Parañaque City.

At the same time, Panelo said Senator Franklin Drilon’s suggestion to cancel the passport of Guia Gomez Castro, tagged by authorities as a “drug queen” in cahoots with ninja cops, was “a good idea.”

The foreign affairs secretary is authorized to cancel a passport “in the interest of national security” or when the holder of the passport is a fugitive from justice under the Philippine Passport Act, Drilon said.

“It appears that Mrs. Castro does not intend to return to the country and face the warrants of arrest issued against her since 2002 for violation of Republic Act 6425 or the Dangerous Drugs Act. Hence, she is a fugitive from justice,” Drilon said in a statement.

“The DFA, to avoid miscarriage of justice and by virtue of the Philippine Passport Act, can validly and lawfully cancel her passport so we can restrict Castro’s movement, and summon her back to the country to face charges against her.”

Panelo said it is up to the DFA to decide on the matter.

“I understand she’s facing warrants of arrest. So if she is facing warrants of arrest that would be a good idea,” he said.

Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso, meanwhile, urged Interpol and the Thai government to arrest Castro, after the Bureau of Immigration confirmed that she had fled to Bangkok with her family.

“If these people are in your country, then you have an obligation to arrest them and bring them back to face the court in the Philippines,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

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The President has vowed a full completion of the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the balance of his term.

Duterte was not just referring to the modernization of the Air Force. He meant the modernization of the entire Armed Forces including every service and every unit.

The Second Horizon phase of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program involves P139 billion worth of projects, including the procurement of utility vehicles, drones and other command and control fixed-wing aircraft.

Russia exported over 800 Mi-17s in 2006–2016, according to reports.

The Mi-17 is being marketed by Rosoboron, the marketing arm of the Russian Defense Industry and is being offered to the PAF through a third company, according to sources.

The offer includes not only the 16 units of helicopters but an additional chopper, free-of-charge for a VVIP (very, very important person), the source said.

However, sources within the AFP are concerned about the speed with which the contract is to be closed on the multibillion-peso contract.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta WITH 21 votes, the Senate has approved on third and final reading a bill postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections set on December 5, 2022 from the original schedule on May 2020.

No senators objected nor abstained from the voting on the Senate floor.

In effect, this would extend to another year the term of office of the incumbent village and youth leaders.

With the 21 affirmative votes, Senate Bill 1043 was approved on third and final reading after the Senate Electoral Reforms Committee chaired by Senator Imee R. Marcos submitted its report in early September.

If enacted into law, there will be two elections in 2022—the presidential elections in May and the synchronized barangay and SK elections seven months after.

The first bill approved by the Senate in the current 18th Congress, the mea-

sure initially proposed to have the barangay and SK elections to take place on second Monday of May 2023.

But senators, during last week’s debates, settled to the December 2022 schedule, finding the five-year extension of office on current village and youth leaders too long.

Following the December 2022 local poll exercise, the subsequent synchronized barangay and SK elections shall be held on the first Monday of December 2025 and every three years thereafter.

Under SB 1043, the elected officials shall assume office at noon of Jan. 1, 2023.

The most recent barangay and SK elections were held in May 2018. Originally, it was supposed to take place in October 2017.

If signed into law, it will be the third time that the barangay and SK elections will be postponed under the Duterte administration.

The bill proposes holding the baran-

gay and SK elections every three years.

Marcos earlier said the six and half months period is enough for COMELEC to prepare for the local polls.

“We have given six and a half months which they consider as sufficient time. It is manual, it is not hybrid…So six and a half months or so apparently is a short period, COMELEC will be pressed for time but they claim that they can do it without undue failure of elections and other problems,” she said.

The barangay elections had been postponed six times since 1988.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto on Friday said Barangay officials should be given a six-year term to stop the practice of frequently postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.

“I propose elections to be held either one year before or after the presidential elections and every six years thereafter.

I also propose the term of office should be six years with one reelection,” Recto said.

8 Convicts...

PDEA...

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assignments, while mine were detailed to other duty assignments,” he said.

“Surprisingly, I [really] don’t know the reason,” he added.

He said President Rodrigo Duterte seemed surprised when he raised the matter to him on Sept. 25.

“The President instructed Senator [Christopher] Go to return my security escorts,” he said.

“So I called them up [escorts] to go back since there was already a verbal instruction from the President,” he added.

He said he trusted his long-time police escorts since he was then the Region 3 director.

PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde earlier said the escorts were pulled out for duty

during the Southeast Asian Games, which the Philippines is hosting this year.

He added that he ordered a temporary four-member security detail for the PDEA chief, even though under the socalled Alunan doctrine, only two police escorts are allowed.

“I applied [for an exemption] for the Alunan doctrine so I would be allowed to have more than two because of the high risks of death threats. I am encountering enemies everyday. Whether you like it or not, you create foes—the drug lords, the pushers and even the international drug syndicates,” Aquino said.

“And now, there is this issue of the ‘ninja cops.’ Maybe there is friction with the PNP because of this,” he said.

Speaker,..

one, the House of Representatives as an institution was criticized again,” he said.

Cayetano said he expected the bicameral conference committee to be contentious with regard to the programs and projects to be funded, but he expected it to be smooth when it came to ‘pork’ even as he said the House would not entertain gossip or disinformation on pork.

He was referring to the claim of Lacson that the House would allocate P1.5 billion each to deputy speakers and similar allegations on the House-approved 2020 national budget.

“I won’t respond to gossip,” Cayetano said.

Romualdez said the House approved a constitutionally-compliant budget and that it specified all the institutional amendments it did in the money measure.

He said every member of the 300-strong House participated in the budget deliberations and submitted their respective individual amendments to the budget.

of Jail Management and Penology chief Allan Iral as respondents.

The petitioners through lawyers argued that the revised IRR of RA 10592, signed on Sept. 16, after a 10-day review by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, was issued with grave abuse of discretion.

The new IRR explicitly excludes recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees, and those charged with heinous crimes from earning any kind of time allowance.

The petitioners also seek the nullification of the provision that a disqualified person deprived of liberty who was imprisoned before RA 10592 took effect in 2013 should be entitled to time allowances they had already accrued under the Revised Penal Code.

RA 10592 amended provisions of the decades-old Revised Penal Code on time allowances and credit for preventive imprisonment.

The petitioners argued that the prohibition on disqualified inmates who were placed behind bars after 2013 from earning any kind of time allowance or CPI also goes beyond the law, constitutes executive legislation, and violates the equal protection clause under the Constitution.

The DOJ and DILG reviewed the IRR adopted during the Aquino administration after the public outcry over the early release of convicts who were found guilty of heinous crimes and the possible release of convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez, a former mayor.

Anger over revelations that almost 2,000 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes had already been freed prompted the government to suspend the Good Conduct Time Allowance processing for thousands of inmates pending a review of the IRR.

depending on the brand, location and market forces.

Other oil companies are expected to follow suit but have not made an announcement yet.

Petron also announced it will cut the price of its gasoline products by P1.45 per liter, diesel by P0.60 per liter and kerosene by P1 per liter at 6 a.m. today to reflect the softening of world oil prices after Saudi Arabia announced the resumption of its operations following the drone attacks.

Other oil firms—Chevron Philippines, PTT Philippines, Unioil Philippines, Total Philippines and

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.—will also reduce their pump prices.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Transportation to ensure a 100-percent distribution of the fuel subsidies for public jeepney drivers and operators this year in the wake of the recent oil price hikes.

During a recent Senate inquiry on the Department of Energy’s security plans following the drone strikes on key oil facilities of the Saudi Arabia earlier this month, Gatchalian asked the DOTr whether the department has fully distributed the fuel subsidies under the Pantawid Pasada Program.

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2020 that had been passed by the chamber was “pork-less and free of any parked funds.”

Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Monday said the declaration of a ceasefire between the Senate and the House of Representatives over the alleged insertion of pork barrel for congressmen in the proposed P4.1-trillion 2020 national government budget should come from the origin of the controversy– Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Villafuerte said he believed there was no truce between the two houses of Congress on the budget issue even if the majority leaders of the two chambers―Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez-have agreed to it.”

“No ceasefire actually happed because while Senator Migz [Zubiri] said there is

Petron..

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gas effective 12:01 a.m. today (Tuesday) to reflect the movement of contract price of LPG in the world market.

Petron said in its advisory it will also raise the price of its auto LPG by P2.50 per liter.

“These reflect the international contract price of LPG for the month of October,” the country’s biggest oil company said.

Prior to the increase, LPG was priced from P550 to P695 per 11-kilo tank,

Mocha back in harness at OWWA

By MJ Blancaflor, Vito Barcelo and Maricel V. Cruz FORMER Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson has been appointed as deputy executive director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

The announcement of her appointment immediately drew mixed reactions from the Commission on Elections and Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said Uson was exempted from the one year election ban, saying “the partylist nominees aren’t candidates per se. So the rule doesn’t apply to them.”

Under the rule, party-list representatives are indirectly elected via a partylist election wherein the voter votes for the party and not for the party’s nominee.

The Constitution bans the appointment of any candidate who has lost in an election to any office in the government, including government-owned or controlled corporations or subsidiaries, within one year after such election.

But Gaite denounced the appointment, saying a losing candidate was barred from assuming position in the government within a year after the elections as provided in the 1987 Constitution and in the Local Government Code.

Gaite cited Section 6, Article IX B of the 1987 Constitution that provides, “no candidate who has lost in any election, shall within one year after election, be appointed to any office in the government or any government-owned or controlled corporation or in any of its subsidiaries.”

Similarly, Gaite said Uson’s appointment was illegal per Section 94 of the Local Government Code on the Appointment of Elective and Appointive Local Officials Who Lost in an Election, that no elective or appointive local official shall be eligible for appointment or designation in any capacity to any public office or position during his tenure.

Unless otherwise allowed by law or by the primary functions of his position, no elective or appointive local official shall hold any other office or employment in the government or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries” Gaite said.

“This Constitutional prohibition is applicable to party-list nominees and Mocha Uson being the first nominee of AA KASOSYO Partylist, and who participated in the 2019 Party-list elections, is covered by the 1-year ban. So her appointment as the Deputy Administrator of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is illegal and should not be enforced,” said Gaite.

MMDA,...

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directive of Mayor Abigail Binay, deployed vehicles to help commuters during rush hours. He added the routes were from PRC to Mantrade and from Guadalupe to Puregold Makati.

“The United Transport Federation of Makati [UTFM] had earlier informed the city government that its drivers would not participate in the nationwide transport strike today,” said Salgado.

The strike had less of an impact on commuters in Marikina City because the city government provided six coasters, eight vans and two buses to transport passengers for free.

Taguig City Mayor Lino Edgardo Cayetano, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Pasay City Mayor Imelda Rubiano also ordered the deployment of city buses and vehicles marked with “Libreng Sakay” to assist the riding public from 6 a.m.-9 a.m. and from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. along major thoroughfares in the cities.

The local government of Muntinlupa coordinated with Star 8 operator and deployed 10 modern vehicles for freerides during the afternoon rush hour on the Alabang-Zapote Road.

In Quezon City, there were no stranded passengers as most of public utility vehicles carried out normal operations. The city government also dispatched buses offering free rides early in the morning.

MMDA spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Pircelyn Pialago said the organizers failed to paralyze transport operations in the metropolis.

“Were they successful? No. Because the government will never allow them to be successful. They are not successful because as early as 8:30 in the morning areas with stranded passengers were restored to normal situations,” said Pialago. With Macon Ramos Araneta

News UNICEF says more women, children surviving MORE women and children have greater chances of surviving today, according to a new report on child and maternal mortality.

The report, released by the United Nations group led by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, revealed the Philippines had nearly halved the number of dying infants and of children dying before their fifth birthday, reflecting the global downward trend in maternal and child deaths.

The report showed that more babies are surviving as the number of infant deaths in the Philippines dropped from 40 per 1,000 live births in 1990, to 22 in 2018.

Similarly, more children are surviving past the age of five, from 113,000 deaths down to 63,000 in the same period.

Further, the report showed that 24 percent less women in the Philippines are dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth, from 160 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000, to 121 in 2017.

Globally, more women and children are surviving today mainly due to improved access to affordable, quality health services scaled up through universal health care.

A trained health workforce, free care for pregnant women and children, and support to family planning led to the substantial decline in child and maternal deaths in many countries.

Southeast Asian countries have made the most progress globally with an 80 per cent decline in underfive deaths.

Despite the progress, the report says that around 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year across the globe, or 1 every 11 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, the new estimates say.

Children face the highest risk of dying in the first month, especially if they are born too soon or too small, have complications during birth, congenital defects, or get serious infections. About a third of these deaths occur within the first day and nearly three quarters in the first week alone.

The Philippines passed the Universal Health Care Law to strengthen primary health care by investing in skilled birth attendants, improving access to clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, and by supporting family planning.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Panelo: Gov’t officials can go to US G

By MJ Blancaflor and Macon Ramos-Araneta

OVERNMENT officials are not discouraged from traveling to the United States amid the proposal to deny entry to those involved in the detention of opposition Senator Leila de Lima, Malacañang said Monday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo also said he did not mind being barred from entering because the US was “not the only country” where one could “enjoy sites and the sounds.”

He also said the matter was merely a proposal and only represented the view of only a minority of American senators.

“I think the views of the two senators are in the minority. Otherwise, some senators would have supported that. In other words, that ban will be only effective upon the approval of both Houses of Congress of the United States,” Panelo said.

US Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin filed an amendment in the 2020

State and Foreign Operations (SFOPs) appropriations bill to ban officials involved in the imprisonment of De Lima, a vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Since then, the administration has slammed the proposal, calling it a “brazen” attempt to intrude into the country’s internal affairs and treats the Philippines as an “inferior state.”

Panelo said the government did not reject criticisms of other countries outright but it should be based on truth.

“The problem with them is that they listen to the critics of the administration and believe what they hear or what they receive as info hook, line and sinker,” Panelo said.

Leahy previously said his country provided large amount of aid to the Philippines.

“I assume President Duterte’s spokesman who defended the wrongful imprisonment of Senator De Lima does not consider our aid to be ‘interfering’ in their sovereignty,” Leahy said.

“Our aid is not a blank check, and when Philippine officials abuse the justice system for the purpose of political retribution, we have a responsibility to respond,” the senator added.

Panelo, responding to Leahy, said aids or grants were not a form of sovereign interference and given by a state for “comity and friendship.”

“Grants or aids with attached conditions are anathema to the very purpose of such generosity and we reject them, for they cloth the donor the authority as well as the gumption to meddle into our internal affairs thereby trampling our sovereign rights,” Panelo said.

“We remind Senator Leahy that the Republic of the Philippines is not a vassal nor a colony of America. It is an independent state that is fiercely protective of its sovereignty and subservient

EDSA, other major roads to be dug up

GARBAGE HAUL. Miss Earth 2019 candidates on Monday join the team from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in

hauling garbage along the shore of Baywalk area on Roxas Boulevard in Manila. With gloves and thongs, 13 candidates immerse themselves in the environmental activity with members of the Metro Parkway Clearing Group as a way to save the environment. Norman Cruz

Macau to employ only PH workers accredited by it, not tourists

By Vito Barcelo THE Macau government will no longer hire Filipinos who will enter the former Portuguese colony as tourists and will only employ Filipinos through local licensed recruitment agencies accredited with Macau recruitment agencies.

“The Macau Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China will no longer issue any more work permits to Filipino tourist workers which has been the practice for several years, to stop illegally recruited Filipinos,” according to Emmanuel Geslani, a migrant expert and a recruitment

ASF...

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His statement came after Pangasinan authorities said the infected pigs delivered from their province came from Bustos town in Bulacan.

Panelo also said Malacañang respects the decision of some local government units to ban the entry of live pigs and pork products from Luzon areas affected by the African swine fever.

The cities of Cebu and Davao as well as the provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental have imposed restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of ASF, which is fatal to pigs but not harmful to humans.

“If their decision, we have to respect them. They are only trying to protect their constituents,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

On Monday, Manila airport authorities seized more than 50 kilos of meat brought over the weekend by air travelers mostly from China, an official said Monday.

Reynaldo Quilang of the Bureau of Animal Industry said the confiscated meat was discovered being carried by arriving passengers at the NAIA Terminal 1 from Xiamen and Guangzhou in China and from Incheon in South Korea.

Quilan said airport authorities were strictly implementing the “no-meat policy” at the airport to prevent the entry of the highly contagious African Swine Fever which is now affecting some areas in the Philippines.

to no other country,” he added.

De Lima has been detained since February 2017 over her alleged link in illegal drug trade when she was still justice secretary. She has repeatedly denied the accusations and dubbed the allegations against her as “political persecution.”

The senator is not entitled to bail and might face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if found guilty.

At the same time, De Lima maintained the United States had a right to impose entry restrictions on foreigners who are deemed responsible for gross human rights violations and abuses for political retribution in their countries.

She noted that those who can be barred from entering the United States are Philippine government officials involved in her “wrongful imprisonment.”

De Lima issued the statement in the wake of Malacañang and some of her Senate colleagues criticisms’ on the decision of a United States Senate panel to approve the proposed visa ban on Filipino government officials found to be involved in her unjust detention.

group spokesman.

Filipinos intending to work in Macau will now have to apply with local licensed recruitment agencies accredited with Macau recruitment agencies so that OFWs will be given adequate welfare and protection benefits, he said.

He said that a memorandum of understanding was signed recently by the Philippine Manpower Agencies for Macau and Association of Macau Philippine Employment Agencies in the presence of Department of Labor and Employment officials that will protect aspiring Filipinos who want to work in He said all kinds of meat, poultry products and canned goods were still prohibited, especially those coming from the countries affected by the ASF. Quilan reiterated his appeal to air travelers to refrain from bringing fresh or canned meat, saying those will be confiscated.

Customs airport district collector Carmelita Talusan earlier made similar reminders to the public.

She said the government had banned the importation of pork and pork-based items from Russia, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, Zambia, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Mongolia and Cambodia.

Talusan said airport authorities were also enforcing tighter security in anticipation of the avalanche of canned goods and meat products brought in by travelers as gifts to their families this coming holiday season.

“We’re expecting the influx of canned goods and meat products this Christmas season, but we will confiscate items from the countries affected by the ASF and from other countries with no permits,” Talusan said.

Aside from chocolates, pork products such as hot dogs, sausages, ham and luncheon meat are among the favorite gifts of returning travelers to their families and friends during the holidays and other celebrations. MJ Blancaflor and Joel E. Zurbano

Macau from unscrupulous recruiters.

“The MOU also aims to effectively undertake its objectives and advocacies, not only to ensure the viability of the Macau market but more importantly to ensure the protection and welfare of the Filipino workers in Macau,” Geslani said.

Macau has been a magnet for Filipino tourist workers for the past several years with so many jobs available with the numerous casinos and hotels and the ease in getting work permits.

Thousands of Filipino household workers are now working in Macau who entered as tourists on the promise

Rugby...

From A1

Hiroshi Moriyama, 53, said he got the idea from an Auckland Blues fan who had covered himself in blue paint and wanted to spice up the often passive atmosphere at Japanese club rugby games.

“In the Top League games we go to watch regularly, the crowds are often very serious and watch the matches in silence,” he complained. “I wanted to do something to change that.”

Moriyama plans to attend 27 of the 48 Rugby World Cup games, getting his wife to daub his upper body with special paint to make it appear as if he is wearing the team jersey.

“My husband is very attentive to

Fake Elvis...

From A1

The Elvis lookalike allegedly stole the prosthesis from the Peaches and Cream sex store in suburban Auckland after a failed attempt to purchase it.

“He was very energetic and erratic, going around the shop, talking a lot... he brought a sex toy called ‘Like a Virgin’ up to the counter but his card declined,” staff member Kat Maher told stuff.co.nz.

Maher said the man—whose Elvis-

of $800 as their monthly wages, however, but only receive less than $400 by their employers who pay the illegal recruiters the cost of bringing the workers to that Chinese territory.

There are about 35,000 Filipinos working in Macau, half of them as domestic helpers and the rest as professional workers and casino and hotel employees.

“Only a small percentage of these Filipino workers are documented by the POEA. In 2018, the POEA has only 918 OFWs deployed in Macau by legitimate recruitment agencies from the Philippines,” he added.

MAJOR roads in Metro Manila, including EDSA, Commonwealth Ave., Roxas Blvd., Alabang Zapote Road, and C5, will be dug up all at the same time before the end of the year to comply with a Supreme Court ruling to accelerate sewerage connections.

Around 1,000 kilometers of primary and secondary Metro Manila roads and those in surrounding areas like Cavite will also be covered.

The Supreme Court ruling last August penalized Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water P912 million each for not finishing their sewerage projects by May 2009 under the Clean Water Act and, moving forward, imposed a fine of P322,102 every day until they have complied.

“They have no choice but to comply but that means catastrophe for us, the public, businesses, and the economy.

Traffic will be so snarled nothing will move. The worst part here is that the ruling will benefit no one,” bK3 convenor Louie Monetmar said.

Jobs will be lost as businesses and the economy shrink, it added.

“Kulelat na naman ang Pilipinas all because this ruling refused to honor an earlier Supreme Court ruling in 2011 allowing the two companies to comply up to 2037, instead of 2009. The 2011 ruling recognized that the 2009 deadline was impractical and impossible to meet,” Montemar said.

There were, for instance, preparatory work government agencies had to deliver before the two concessionaires could do their sewerage work, but the agencies all failed to deliver.

One requirement was for the public works department to do a national plan to coordinate the program and set priorities. Local governments in Metro Manila were also required to provide land.

detail and I have to admit I’m still struggling to draw the smaller letters and precise patterns,” said Rika Moriyama, 54.

It was rugby that brought the Moriyamas together―they met at the university club where Hiroshi played and Rika managed.

Like many veteran rugby players, he has moved forward in the pack as age catches up with him.

A former number eight, he now packs down in the second row for an over-50s side. He took several years out of the game and “when I came back, I couldn’t run at all,” he laughed.

He was initially worried Japan would not embrace the World Cup and wanted to contribute in his unique way to the atmosphere.

But he said he doesn’t know now why

he was even worried, seeing the packed stadiums for the games.

“I am impressed with the number of people who are coming to games. Of course, there are a lot of foreigners but also a lot of Japanese,” he told AFP. “What a joy to see such enthusiasm.”

He hopes Japanese rugby will be able to convert this enthusiasm into “taking root as a culture in Japan.”

Rika Moriyama shrugged off concerns about the cost of traveling to the games and buying tickets.

“We’re really just here to have fun so we’re not too hung up on the amount,” she said.

“When I see the smiles of people when they see my husband, I say to myself that it’s really worth the effort and gives me strength for all the jerseys I’ve still got to do.” AFP

like characteristics included slickedback black hair and large sunglasses, incongruously teamed with a high-visibility vest—then ran out of the shop with the NZ$100 ($62) sex toy in hand.

New Zealand police confirmed they had received a report of a theft at the store on Sept.23.

The store, frustrated with repeat shoplifting incidents, posted stills from CCTV footage on social media in an effort to help track down the thief.

Maher told New Zealand Herald she also hoped to track down a woman who

allegedly stole vibrating sex toys on Friday before running out the door and jumping into a getaway car.

“She just did it so quickly. She knew what she was after so must have been casing it for a while,” Maher told the newspaper.

“I went out there and tried to open her door. I knew she’d stolen something... I was going to jump on the boot.

“I work 13-hour days on a Friday, and it ruins your whole day.”

She said the store was targeted by thieves about once a week. AFP

A4

Opinion

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

A legacy THE nation marked last Sept. 21 the imposition of martial law by strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Sadly, all we read and hear are the narratives of abuses committed during those days. These bring to fore the question: Was Marcos a hero or a heel? The answer: It depends.

To many who envy his ingenuity, vision and foresight, and to those who seek revenge, Marcos is most certainly a heel.

But to those who are aware and appreciative of his remarkable performance during this time, he can also be seen as a hero.

The fact is that Marcos was not fully aware of what was happening during those years of infamy.

Was Marcos a hero or a heel?

Then again, who can deny that he was responsible for starting the first light railway of the country with LRT1? Who can also deny that he was responsible for the beginning of the North Luzon Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway, as well as the Marcos Highway that connected Luzon with the island of Leyte?

Those projects made traveling so much easier.

Who can deny that during the first two years of martial law, we saw relative stability throughout the country?

Santa Banana, the years of the dictatorship were not all bad as the Marcos haters would have us believe.

As a journalist and lawyer, I would like to believe that the legacy of Marcos—great infrastructure projects and 7,883 presidential decrees and other legal

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

issuances—is not entirely bad.

In other words, Marcos’ place in history is assured.

Retired Justice Manuel “Lolong” Lazaro said in his introduction to “The Marcos Legacy” by Cecil Arillo: “It is typical of some people to have short memories of another’s good deeds, but long memories of the other’s bad or perceived wrongs.”

The crafting and formulation of thousands of legal issuances that have the force and effect of the law covering every phase of human life, from birth to death, include: The Judiciary Development Fund the basis of the financial benefits of the members of the judiciary, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, an alternative revenue source to fund miscellaneous activities of the government, the Export Processing Authority to attract foreign investments, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, the Philippine Coconut Authority to develop coconut production and export, the Philippine Tourism Authority, laws on socialized housing, the Philippine Heart Center, Kidney Center, Philippine Children’s Center, establishment of the biggest oil company now known as Petron, establishment of a nuclear power plant, geothermal power plants as alternative sources of energy, exploration and drilling in Malampaya.

Marcos is also the only president who acknowledged, by law, the importance of arts and culture in the like of the nation.

There was the construction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the huge Philippine International Convention Center.

Lazaro also said that in time, Marcos will be vindicated. “He is a great man unjustly judged at the wrong time by wrong minds. Time and history will vindicate his vision and foresight especially in lawmaking. Generations freed from the ugly blemishes of hate, vengeance and prejudice will look more kindly and with gratitude on his achievements and

T

Conveyance, not inconvenience

RANSPORT groups protesting the planned phaseout of jeepneys staged a nationwide transport strike Monday, causing the suspension of classes in numerous local governments in Metro Manila and other places.

Depending on who is talking, the strike was a big success—or an utter failure.

Strikers decry the government’s transport modernization program, under which jeepneys older than 15 years need to comply with Euro 4 standards that require much lower toxic emissions.

Last week, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board announced the cancellation of the franchises of some 20 operators who joined similar transport strikes two years ago. The operators say they are unfazed.

The government says Monday’s strike did not achieve its desired

end—to paralyze business-as-usual and make their voice heard—because classes were suspended and LGUs provided help to their constituents who might find themselves stranded on the road.

It’s impossible to imagine how the operators can feel oppressed by the modernization program. Who can find fault with a move to improve the air quality by making vehicle owners and operators responsible for their emissions? What is wrong with ensuring the health of your passengers and the general public? It is not as if these requirements were made known yesterday—they have been there for quite a while, and any conscientious

worker would have taken steps to prepare for such an eventuality, especially if one’s livelihood depended on it.

Of course, individual drivers may be hard pressed to do this on their own. This is exactly why they count themselves as members of transport associations—to know how they can use collective power. This is also where LGUs could serve them well—by providing incentives for jeepneys to modernize.

The Filipino commuter is no stranger to inconveniences, given the sorry state of public transportation and traffic in Metro Manila.

This must not embolden others, however, to do as they please.

It is plain wrong for jeepney drivers and operators to punish the public they claim to serve for something that was intended to benefit them— specifically, modernization, and a much more responsible way of plying their route—in the long run.

Turn to A5

Forty days, forty years IT WAS forty days ago this week when terrible news arrived at our inboxes—arriving by personal messages, email, and text: Genifer “Gen” Buckly, Jesuit Volunteer assigned in Pangantucan Community High School in Bukidnon, had been killed by an unknown assailant in the house she shared with her partner Kathleen Gatdula.

That news struck me directly at the heart in four ways: I had also joined the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines (JVP) 39 years ago, my wife was a JVP herself, Pangantucan is a familiar place of mission, and Kath, a lawyer, was my student from Ateneo Law School.

Gen, a native of Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur, graduated from Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU) in 2015, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, major in Filipino. When she graduated, she taught in the ADZU Junior High School for four years. Wanting to do and give more, she applied and joined the JVP in June this year.

This decision to go on mission did not come as a surprise for those who knew Gen as a student and as a teacher. It also did not come as a surprise for those who know her family who happens to be active in the Alliance Church. It is a missionary family—not rich materially, but grounded in the certainty of the love of God and the fidelity of His promise to us.

This week, Gen’s family traveled to Pangantucan to see for themselves the seeds she has sown, the love she generously gave.

Gen and her family reminds me of the parable of the widow’s mite. Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums while a poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples, Jesus said: “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

Gen gave everything to the mission, offered the only thing she had which was her time, education, and experience. Her family gave us Gen, a very big part of what they had.

This is why Fr. Karel San Juan, in announcing the sad news of Gen’s death to the ADZU community, wrote: “Your tragic death pains us deeply, Gen. But your life, your joyful love and service console and inspire us. You gave your life to your family, friends, students, and to many others.

Your generous spirit will forever stay in our hearts.”

Fr. Karel also said of Gen: “We will miss her very much. We remember her with affection and for her precious service to people. She was a courageous soul, eager to take the path of loving service for God and for the Country.”

That is why on the day she was buried, I wrote: “You live in your partner Kath who knows how blessed she is and will give even more than two persons could for the rest of her life.

In spite of what happened to Gen, because of what happened to Gen, there will be more of us volunteers in the next 40 years.

You live in your fellow Jesuit Volunteers of Batch 40 who knew you most in our community and will always tell the wonderful, funny, and profound stories about you.

You live in Fr. Bill Kreutz, founding chaplain of JVP, who has gone back and forth to Mindanao this week to be with your family and loved ones, neither age or distance preventing him to exemplify cura personalis—the empathy and love for others that you also showed in your brief sojourn on earth.

You live in all of us—volunteers from 40 years, who died with you last Aug. 23, knowing what happened to you could have happened to any of us, gathering together this week in our local communities and places of work to celebrate your generosity and sacrifice.

You live of course in your family, your students in Ateneo de Zamboanga and Pangantucan, your friends and schoolmates in Zamboanga City and Zamboanga del Sur, and even in those who haven’t met you but have been touched by your story, inspired now also to volunteer and give without counting the cost.

Dear Gen, your Facebook profile says Gen Buckly (loves you). We love you, too, Gen, our saint and martyr!

It has been 40 days since Gen physically left us. But what she left with her family, her students and colleagues in Bukidnon, and the JVP community, will stay with us Turn to A5

New China marks 70th year OCTOBER 1 this year marks the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, or 70 years ago. Understandably, the Chinese leadership has organized a big commemorative event at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the new China after leading years of struggle by the Communist Party of China against Japanese invaders and Kuomintang forces. This year's celebration will be capped by a civilmilitary parade highlighting China's emergence as an economic and military superpower.

What changes have taken in place in China in the past 70 years? One of Mao's first moves to reduce economic inequality was to undertake a total overhaul of the land ownership system and implement extensive land reform.

He replaced China's old system of gentry landlord ownership of farmland with a distribution system in favor of poor and landless peasants. Later, under the Great Leap Forward in 1958, he began an unprecedented process of collectivization in rural areas. Mao also urged the use of backyard iron smelters to increase steel production and boost industrial growth.

To consolidate his hold on political

power, Mao initiated what he called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in May 1966. This was a turbulent period in contemporary Chinese history as Red Guards targeted "old elements," counter-revolutionaries and "capitalist roaders", including Deng Xiaoping. The campaign ended only with the death of Mao in 1976.

Xi Jinping has laid out a series of national goals for 2050.

Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao as transitional leader only for two years, from 1976-1978. Deng Xiaoping, though he never served as head of state or General Secretary of the Communist Party, played a significant role in lead-

ing his country through far-reaching economic reforms that led the country to economic growth and domestic stability. He is remembered today for having had the guts to contradict orthodox socialist doctrine by declaring that "to get rich is glorious," and his other classic statement: "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice."

For Deng, the task faced by the leadership of China was twofold: one, to promote modernization of the Chinese economy, and two, to preserve the ideological unity of the Communist Party and its control of the difficult reforms required to modernize agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology in China.

To preserve ideological unity, Deng Xiaoping formulated "Four Cardinal Principles" which the Communist Party must uphold: the "basic spirit of communism"; the political system of the PRC, known as the people's democratic dictatorship; the leadership of the Communist Party, and MarxismLeninism-Mao Zedong Thought.

In 1992, 14 years after his rise up the hierarchy as China's leader, Deng Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher ManilaStandard

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Opinion

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

Judgment day ruling came out only AFTER Marcos had filed his protest. The obvious problem here is that it would be easier and faster to cheat, the less one has to shade the boxes on a fraudulent ballot. *** SOME weeks ago, local newspapers reported that Supreme Court Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa had already circulated to his colleagues (sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal-PET) a report on the findings of the hearing commissioners appointed by the High Court to review evidence on allegations of electoral fraud in three provinces—Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and Camarines Sur—that were singled out by VP aspirant and former senator “Bongbong” Marcos.

Caguioa has reportedly recommended to dismiss Marcos’ electoral protest, on grounds not yet disclosed. Today is when the SC is scheduled to meet en banc on his report. If the Court agrees with him, this could stop in its tracks the longdrawn-out quest by the young Marcos for redress of what by most accounts was a conspiracy by the Liberal Party to rob him of a justly earned electoral victory in 2016.

The Caguioa recommendation, if true, shouldn’t come as a surprise from a SC justice who was once Noynoy Aquino’s presidential legal counsel and acting Justice Secretary. This is an Aquinoappointed justice who has consistently voted with the minority—fellow Aquino appointees Marvin Leonen and the ousted Meilou Sereno as well as the antiArroyo hardliner, retiring Senior Justice Tony Carpio—in four politically charged cases: • Acquittal of former President Arroyo on plunder charges • Declaration of martial law in Mindanao • Burial of former President Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani • Arrest and detention of Senator Leila de Lima A year ago, it was also Caguioa who penned a PET ruling that allowed ballots with only 25-percent shading on a candidate’s box to be considered valid, over the objections of Marcos’ lawyers. This

It’s these voters whom the electoral tribunal should keep in mind.

I brought up then: • The law requires all election results to be sent directly to seven public servers, located at the canvassing centers for city/municipal, provincial, and national results; the majority and minority parties; the KBP and a citizen’s watchdog.

But instead of doing this, Smartmatic allegedly installed a secret server through which the votes first had to pass. If this is true, what was that secret server doing to the votes passing through it?

• On election evening, while the votes were already being counted, Marlon Garcia, a foreign employee of Smartmatic, broke into the system and changed one letter in the name of a senatorial candidate, Roy Seneres, who had died three months earlier. If true, why on earth did this happen?

What else could Marlon have changed in the computer code? Marlon has long since skipped the country, together with then-Comelec chairman Andy Bautista after he’d proclaimed the illegal action as “just a cosmetic change.”

• Around the same time the system was compromised, about 7:30 p.m., news reports were proclaiming that Marcos was leading with over a million votes out of 79 percent of total votes already counted.

But the rest of that night, the Marcos lead slowly melted away at a regular rate of 40 votes against him, one for him, almost like clockwork. Could this have been the joint product of that secret server together with Marlon’s meddling? *** These are major questions I hope will not be thrown by the wayside simply because of technicalities raised by the Caguioa report before the SC today. As I said in my earlier piece, the real victims of such fraud are not the candidate himself, but the million-odd citizens who voted for him but may have been silenced.

It’s these voters whom the electoral tribunal should keep in mind—not what kind of family Bongbong belongs to—as they continue deliberations that, frankly, should already have been concluded by now.

What may seem to be mere hairsplitting becomes meaningful when one considers the razor-thin margin of Robredo’s victory over Marcos: only 263,473 votes, or half of one percent of the total votes cast for Robredo. In the same light, other irregularities alleged by Marcos also become noteworthy: • Many ballot boxes were found to have been damaged, soiled, drenched in water, even containing fish heads and leaves.

• Many of the decrypted ballots that were supposedly read, counted and transmitted by the automated voting machines were found to contain squares not found in the original ballots. The two should have been mirror images of each other.

• Massive cheating was also alleged in many provinces of Mindanao and elsewhere.

The problem is that, if the High Court rules against Marcos in the three provinces covered by the Caguioa report, some are saying that the Court could then refuse to look as well into those other provinces in Mindanao. There might be justification for this in the rules of court, but as a non-lawyer, I’d be dismayed to see the search for truth in something as important as the vice presidential elections abandoned simply because of technicalities. *** A few weeks ago, I had already written in this space about the young Marcos’ electoral problems, in the context of a wider revisit of the Marcos years. It’s not Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@ inappropriate, I think, to repeat the issues yahoo.com

Hazing whitewash, Ninja cops coverup IT’S A shame that the tragedy of Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio and the exposé on “Ninja Cops” came on the heels of the investigation on the massive corruption at the Bureau of Corrections.

Just as we needed the assurance of a credible and reliable law enforcement to protect us from the thousands of hardened criminals now on the loose, we learn that a number of Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel themselves have been actually engaged in illegal drugs trafficking.

Only recently, we discovered that BuCor’s crooked officials had been exploiting the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) parole program questionably releasing prisoners in exchange for hefty bribes. Unfortunately, some of the very people President Duterte trusts are undermining his anti-crime and anti-illegal drugs drive.

It turned out there have been more convicts released from the national penitentiary facilities than the actual number of those killed in Oplan Tokhang "encounters" designed by former PNP and BuCor chief and now Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa.

Among those freed were convicted

A legacy From A4

contributions to the nation.”

I say amen.

Marcos haters perpetuated the hoax of People Power in 1986. Not even half a million people gathered on EDSA. This was not a revolution because there was no system change! We simply changed regimes, that’s what.

Martial law at that time served its pur-

New...

From A4

embarked on China's "opening up," which proved to be very significant for China's economic development until today. With the shift in the focus of the Party's work to economic development, the introduction of reforms and opening up ushered in a new period for building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Xi Jinping took over as President of

wealthy local and international drug lords who are cohorts of "ninja cops," who "recycle" or resell confiscated shabu or other illegal drugs in Metro Manila and other key cities.

President Duterte offers cash bounties for the heads of ninja cops, who have been coddled by some PNP generals, local government executives, and barangay officials—clearly an organized crime.

He also offers cash rewards for the capture of released heinous crime convicts.

They must be returned to prison.

And, then it cost the life of another promising young soldier to unravel what horrendous ordeal cadets at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) are being subjected to. They are being humiliated and tortured.

There is a public outcry for justice for the cruel death of Dormitorio, an outstanding youth leader from Cagayan de Oro, in the hands of several upperclassmen.

Initial investigation by the Baguio City Police revealed that the plebe was punished for a missing pair of combat boots, in all likelihood a frame up to justify his torment including being electrocuted with a taper flashlight on his genitals.

Dormitorio was severely beaten, his head kicked repeatedly. This landed him on the hospital for the third time, which was not reported publicly until he succumbed to death. Clearly there was intent to kill him.

Dormitorio's murder may be called a case of extra-judicial killing (EJK),

PMA-style."

It's not the first case and it’s impossible that incidents of maltreatment and hazing of cadets went on without the knowledge and approval of PMA officials, as well as their tactical officers.

Now, there are at least four more batchmates of Dormitorio hospitalized at the AFP Medical Center on V. Luna, Quezon City. Authorities admit they have also been subjected to PMA hazing.

The pursuit of justice for Dormitorio should be guided by PMA's Honor Code, which demands that "a cadet does not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do."

All these instances are essentially connected. They starkly demonstrate the chaotic, deplorable and disturbing state of law enforcement due to rampant corruption.

There seems no difference between the impunity in BuCor, PNP and PMA, all in a state of disarray and their credibility in question. No single charges have been filed just yet.

A wholesale whitewash of the PMA hazing and coverup of the ninja cops mafia within the PNP are simply unacceptable. Enough of lies!

Truth and justice should prevail once and for all. *** We welcome your reaction and comments. Please send to etulfo2011@yahoo.com or visit us at ERWIN TULFO CENTER For Media and Public Service, Room 303 Castro Bldg., #58 Timog Avenue, Quezon City (above PSBank branch).

pose. It had to be done because Marcos was facing a three-pronged problem: The communist movement, separatist movement in Mindanao led by Nur Misuari, and an independence movement.

Had Marcos delayed proclaiming martial law, who knows what would have happened?

Good deeds cannot be expunged.

Good survives and triumphs in the end. *** Sometimes, rules and regulations themselves become the stumbling block to progress and development.

The New Manila International Airport

by San Miguel Corporation easily comes to mind. The proposal was submitted many years ago. Why was it not acted upon then?

The proposal had to go through the National Economic and Development Authority through its Investment Coordinating Council, a group of bureaucrats who think they know better than Ramon Ang. Had they acted sooner, we would be enjoying the benefits of the new airport now!

China in 2012. A few years into his term, he enunciated a 14-point basic policy that now guides China's development.

These include: ensuring Communist Party of China leadership over all forms of work in China; the Communist Party of China should take a people-centric approach for the public interest; the continuation of comprehensive deepening of reforms; adopting new science-based ideas for innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development; following socialism with Chinese characteristics with people as

the masters of the country; governing China with the rule of law; practicing socialist core values, including Marxism communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics; improving people's livelihood and well-being as the primary goal of development; coexisting well with nature with energy conservation and environmental protection policies and contribute to global ecological safety; and strengthen national security.

Xi has emphasized that the Communist Party of China should have

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

A tale of four former presidents reluctant to run for President in the 2010 election but eventually filed his certificate of candidacy because of unrelenting pressure from the Liberal Party’s leaders and Cory Aquino’s devoted followers.

Noynoy Aquino dutifully performed the presidential functions for six years, but A WORLD-FAMOUS political scientist his departure from Malacañang in June once wrote that one of the best indications 2016 meant a return to life as a private that a country is a functioning democracy citizen.

The recent events in the political is the continued existence and liberty of its former chief executives. The basis for lives—the reaching by Ms. Arroyo his view was the tendency and inclination of the statutory three-terms limit for of unelected Chief Executives—espe- members of the House of Representacially those who are installed in office by tives and Mr. Estrada’s defeat in the extra-constitutional means—to liquidate Manila mayoralty contest—would seem or imprison the individuals they had re- to suggest an end to the political lives placed. Rarely do overthrown presidents of the two former chief executives. But and prime ministers survive revolutions this expectation is probably unrealistic.

Mrs. Arroyo and Mr. Estrada have poliand coups d’etat.

If one goes by the foregoing dictum, tics in their DNAs, and, while they may the Philippines is a functioning democ- wish to seek elective office again, they racy. Four out of the five individuals who can be counted upon to stay in close touch with politihave been Presical leaders and to dent of the Philipstay informed pines since the fall about political of Ferdinand E. This is how it developments in Marcos—Corazon this country.

C. Aquino, Fidel should be.

For the nation’s V. Ramos. Joseph 12th president, Ejercito Estrada, there is no such Gloria M. Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III—are still in this thing as retirement. The word does country, very much alive and enjoying all not appear in his personal dictionary. the rights and benefits granted to Filipi- The cigar-man who is fondly known as nos by their country’s Constitution. Cory Tabako remains physically fit in his late Aquino died a natural death in 2010 after a eighties, swimming every day and playsix-year (1986-1992) stay in Malacañang. ing a round of golf regularly. He is one Killing a sitting President is not a part of the Filipinos most respected outside of modern Philippine political culture; the Philippines, and the prestigious Rathe sole exception is the attempt to as- mos Foundation for Peace and Developsassinate wartime President Jose P. Lau- ment gets its founder invited to address rel at the height of the guerilla campaign audiences in the leading countries of against the occupying Japanese forces. the world. Former President Ramos has But killing a likely future president in- been likened by some observers to the truded into Philippine history when famous Eveready Energizer battery: he former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was just goes on and on.

Except for Gloria Arroyo’s neck-spine mercilessly gunned down by government agents on Aug. 21, 1983 upon his return problem and Joseph Estrada’s obesity, all four former presidents are in reasonably from exile in the US. Two of the living former chief execu- good health. And, despite the mistakes tives—Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Ejer- and unfairness that they may have comcito Estrada—are in their eighties, Gloria mitted during their incumbencies, they M. Arroyo is in her seventies and Benig- are generally treated with respect and no Aquino III, is in his sixties. Messrs. dignity, befitting former chief executives Ramos and Estrada and Mrs. Arroyo have of this country. When he joins the ranks earned the right to enjoy, and are enjoy- of the former Presidents, Rodrigo Duterte ing, the company of their grandchildren can expect the same treatment from the and great-grandchildren; Mr. Aquino is a Filipino people.

That is how it should be. The Philipbachelor and can enjoy only the company pines is a democratic nation, and demoof his four sisters’ sons and daughters.

Of the four living former presidents, it cratic nations do not devour their former is only with regard to Benigno Aquino III chief executives when they leave office. that one can speak of post-Malacañang Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, retirement from public life. It is well- Gloria Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III known that Noynoy Aquino was highly are living proofs of that.

Forty...

From A4

forever.

For the JVP community, our Executive Director Blas Descallar describes best what happened to us in these last 40 days: “No words can adequately express the sadness and suffering we all have been going through. The tragedy in Pangantucan has shaken our JVP community. On our 40th year, the foundation is facing several challenges and the enormity of this unfortunate incident last August 23, 2019 was unexpected. On the evening of that fateful incident, I asked God a question when I visited the Immaculate Conception Chapel at Xavier University. My question was: “Why is this happening during my time?” But in a few seconds, that question transcended from a personal concern into a more communal one. So I asked: “What is the message You want to get through to us; that You allowed this to happen on our 40th Year?”

Fr. Bill Kreutz answered this in his own letter: What happened to Gen “brought to reality our unity and our faith in our community and our care for one another.” Fr. Bill pointed how good it was to see that each of our local communities join together for Holy Mass and prayer. He pointed out how right after notification of the terrible incident, the JVP linkages came into action. Indeed, “the response was wonderful and quick in coming.

We are a community. When Gen was killed, all of us felt what Eric Mallonga, my JVP batchmate wrote: “I never met Genifer Buckly in person.

But there is something about the Jesuit Volunteers that binds you as brothers and sisters in the service of humanity for God. When a Jesuit Volunteer is killed, it feels like having a knife stabbed into your heart, as you feel the pain that Gen might have experienced before she died. I cannot get this image out of my head, of a young, ideal-

absolute leadership over China's People's Liberation Army; promote the one country, two systems policy for Hong Kong and Macau with a future of complete national reunification and to follow the One-China policy and 1992 Consensus for Taiwan; establish a common destiny between Chinese people and other people around the world with a peaceful international environment; and improve party discipline in the Communist Party of China.

Officially called “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Character-

istic, innocent volunteer facing the sufferings of the world and sharing that burden, if only to ease the weight resting on the shoulders of men and women without counting the costs and without complaints. And then getting killed in the process and paying the supreme sacrifice in that aspiration to better our world . . . Having been a pioneering Jesuit Volunteer thirty nine years ago, I feel like a parent who has lost a child. I grieve.”

I was not close to Gen, although I had met her once. But we JVPs are one in this as we always have been in the forty years that this community of faith and practice has existed. JVPs from everywhere did their bit to try to ease the pain for everyone, to be able to say goodbye to Gen properly, to make sure Kath would recover and heal, that Gen’s and Kath’s family were consoled and supported, to get justice for both of them.

The JVP is committed to bringing hope to marginalized populations. For 39 years, Jesuit volunteers have been working with schools, parishes and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to teach, train community leaders, assist cooperatives, implement livelihood projects, assist disabled people and victims of violence, engage in the training of young people, supporting environmental issues, defending the dignity of indigenous peoples, fighting for the rights of the oppressed.”

We are Jesuits, priests, nuns, church workers, school administrators, teachers, development workers, lawyers, doctors, psychotherapists, judges, corporation presidents, government officials, overseas Filipinos, business and social entrepreneurs, and we are all over the Philippines and the world.

In spite of what happened to Gen, because of what happened to Gen, there will be more of us in the next 40 years. All for God’s greater glory.

Facebook: deantonylavs Twitter: tonylavs

istics for a New Era”, the doctrine is now enshrined in both state and party constitutions.

Xi has laid out a series of national goals for 2050, such as making China a nation with pioneering global influence, turning the military into a “world class” force, eradicating extreme poverty. He has also reiterated a pledge to continue to open up the country’s markets and provide a level playing field for businesses. ernhil@yahoo.com

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TODAY OCTOBER 1, 2019 TUESDAY,

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PRA flagged on illegally reclaimed lands City mayors laud Du30 plan to give LGUs IRA share early DAVAO CITY—City mayors expressed their gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte following the latter’s announcement that he is exploring options for local governments to immediately avail of their share of the national revenue as ruled by the Supreme Court in response to a petition filed by Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas.

President Duterte’s statement was met with a resounding applause by city mayors who have invited the President as their guest of honor at the 69th National Executive Board Meeting of the League of Cities of the Philippines which was held at the Dusit Hotel in Davao City Friday, Sept. 27.

Speaking before local chief executives from across the country, the President said that while the timing of the SC decision is not perfect due to major programs already being financed by the national government, his administration will find a way to implement the SC decision that will expand the internal revenue allotment of LGUs as early as possible.

One of the options proposed by city mayors that the President is considering is a monetization scheme wherein LGUs can acquire a loan from the bank according to their expanded IRAs which the national government can then pay on a later date.

For Bacolod City mayor and LCP president Evelio “Bing” Leonardia, the President’s statement offers a glimmer of hope for LGUs. “President Duterte’s remarks only show that he understands and hears the requests of local governments especially us city mayors since he is a former mayor himself. We can finally look forward to receiving what is owed to our cities and, ultimately, to our constituents not in 2022, but as soon as possible,” Leonardia said.

During the closed-door meeting, Duterte also discussed other pressing issues of concern to local governments, including peace and order, counterinsurgency and anti-corruption.

The President also extended an invitation to Mayor Leonardia to attend a high-level exploratory meeting in Malacañang this October that will discuss a win-win solution for both the national government and the LGUs.

By Rio N. Araja

T

HE Commission on Audit has called the attention of the Philippine Reclamation Authority for spending on 344 “illegally” reclaimed lands without any financial gain to the government.

State auditors said the illegal reclaimers were the ones who financially benefited.

Government incurred expenditures for travel expenses for monitoring activities on the illegally reclaimed lands, including 292 lands with complete reclamation and with pending applications for titling, 52 lands with cease-and-desist orders and 26 detected unauthorized reclamations.

“The illegal reclaimers, however, seem to enjoy all the economic benefits

associated with the use and ownership of reclaimed land from the period of reclamation,” COA’s report read.

The commission took a swipe at PRA for the delayed completion in the legalization process and forfeiture of illegal reclaimed lands.

“The illegal acts committed of reclaiming shorelands without permit from the national government cannot be undone, hence the immediate forfeiture of such property, and subsequent titling thereof in favor of the government ap-

pears to be the logical solution which rests with the PRA, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Office of the President,” COA noted.

It told PRA to end business operations in the disputed reclaimed lands, expedite the submission of required dossiers to DENR for land titling and coordinate with the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel.

“Also, PRA requested from DENR for the conduct of a joint policy review on the various tenurial instruments and department orders of DENR vis-à-vis rules and regulations on reclamation,” it said.

In a related development, the COA said it wants the sale of a 3.6-hectare “illegally” reclaimed land in Looc, Mandaue City, Cebu voided.

State auditors told the PRA to hold the

city government culpable for the questionable sale of the 35,821-square meter shoreland property in Barangay Looc for only P1.8 million in 2015.

On Sept. 18, 2015, the Mandaue City government sold the reclaimed area to a private real estate firm—the E.C. Ouano Development and Management Corp. (Ecodemcor)—for just P50 per square meter.

Based on the audit report, there was no record that the property had been appraised and classified as alienable and disposable before it was sold.

“The city government of Mandaue or any private entity has no authority to reclaim and to sell the reclaimed land located in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City, Cebu. PRA has not regulated nor authorized the reclamation as it is yet to conduct inspection,” the report read.

BI agents nab American, Chinese fugitives

By Vito Barcelo

BOARD MEETING. President Rodrigo Duterte, LCP National chairman, led the national board meeting of the LCP in Davao City.

Also in photo are (from left): LCP VP for Mindanao Mayor Sammy Ko, Senator Bong Go, LCP National president Evelio ‘Bing’ Leonardia, Mayor Edgardo Labella, and LCP National vice chairman Rommel Rivera. LCP PHOTO

Ruby Rose’s family seeks Duterte’s help

By Rey E. Requejo THE family of alleged murder victim Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez on Monday asked President Rodrigo Duterte and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to thoroughly review the decision of a lower court in Malabon City that dismissed the parricide case they filed against the estranged husband.

“If he [the President] could look into the case. Since the President was once a prosecutor he would understand. I am appealing so that we would have the chance to obtain justice,” Ruby Rose’s mother Asuncion said in a press conference.

Asuncion appealed to Guevarra to help them in pursuing the parricide case they filed against Ruby Rose’s husband Manuel “Third” Jimenez III after the case was dismissed by Malabon City Regional Trial Court, Branch 170, Acting Presiding Judge Edwin Larida Jr. even without subjecting the husband to an arraignment, and even without a warrant of arrest was even issued against him.

Barrameda’s lawyer Al Lazaro said they would coordinate with other agencies such as the DOJ, in pursuing the prosecution of the accused.

“This is not the end of the story. The

case was not dismissed based on the merits. In fact, it did not even reach arraignment, so there is no double jeopardy here,” the lawyer said.

The victim’s family lamented that Judge Larida, who only took over the case a few months ago, dismissed last July10 the murder case filed against Ruby Rose’s fatherin-law lawyer Manuel Jimenez Jr., Manuel Montero, Spyke Descalso, and Robert Ponce.

Two other accused—the uncle-in-law Lope Jimenez and Eric Fernandez are reportedly currently at large, while Montero, who became the complainant’s lone state witness, reportedly went missing.

Mayor Sara orders ‘Salugpungan’ schools in Davao closed DAVAO CITY—Mayor Sara Z. Duterte has called for the immediate closure of 11 tribal schools operated by the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center Inc. in the city, accusing its backers of “deceptive acts and practices.”

In a statement released on Monday, Mayor Sara cited the March 19, City Peace and Order Council resolution asking the Department of Education to terminate Salugpungan’s permit to operate.

The CPOC resolution cited the local government's findings that include the per-

sistent problem of Salugpungan students not having academic records and individual learner’s reference numbers. The findings also noted the presence of DepEd schools in areas where Salugpungan operates, negating the purpose of a Salugpungan school.

She said the Salungpungan learners are being used by its backers to raise funds that never went to the intended beneficiaries, and are instead being used for anti-government propaganda.

In particular, she singled out the Save Our Schools Network, which she said

NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION Notice is hereby given that the Amended Articles of Incorporation of Northbay Auto Parts Corporation shortening the term of existence, hereby dissolving the said corporation.

This announcement will serve as notice to all concerned of all legal dissolution of the aforesaid corporation.

Notice of dissolution of North Auto Parts Corporation . Notice is hereby given that the Board of Directors and Stockholders of North Auto Parts Corporation at a special meeting held on September 19, 2019 have approved the dissolution of the Corporation and the amendment of the Articles of Incorporation to shorten its corporate term up to October 31, 2019.

This will serve as notice to all concerned of the legal dissolution of the aforesaid corporation.

(Sgd) Adelaida R. Balete Corporate Secretary

(MS-OCT. 1, 8 & 15, 2019)

“continues to shamelessly lick its wound publicly over the closure of Salugpungan schools. It scampered in obvious panic, but it is relentless in its efforts to sow disinformation about the government and why the closure was enforced.”

The SOS Network, she said, even hosted a concert in Manila—a fundraiser for the so-called students of “bakwit school” or a “school-on-the-run.”

“It is clearly another form of abuse and oppression of lumad children by a group that pretends to be its protectors and defenders. A

environmental activists confirmed the findings of the recently released report of international anti-corruption watchdog Global Witness on the situation of Filipino land and environmental defenders.

Holding copies of the report ‘Defending the Philippines’ are (from left): Rachel Cox, Global Witness; Rene Pamplona, Covergence of Initiatives for Environmental Justice; Leon Dulce, Kalikasan PNE; Daisy Pedranza, Limay Concerned Citizens Inc.; and Ben Leather, Global Witness during the press conference held in Quezon City. Manny Palmero

Advertising Department 832-5547

N OTICE

N OTICE Notice is hereby given that CEBU AIR, INC. doing business under the names and styles of Cebu Pacific and Cebu Pacific Air [Formerly: CEBU AIR, INC.] with office address at Cebu Pacific Building, Domestic Road, Barangay 191, Zone 20, Pasay City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as a New Operator of Air Transport Services under the Preferred Activity - Infrastructure and Logistic including LGU-PPPs - Air, Land and Water Transport - Air Transport (A320 NEO #4 with CAB Registration No. RP-C4109 and Serial No. MSN9244) on a Non-Pioneer status with project site at Airline Operations Center, Manila Domestic Airport, Pasay City.

Any person with valid objection/s on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

Any person with valid objection/s on the abovementioned project may file his/her objection in writing, under oath, with the BOI within three (3) days from the date of this publication.

(SGD.) MARY ANN E. RAGANIT Officer-In-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service

(SGD.) MARY ANN E. RAGANIT Officer-In-Charge Infrastructure and Services Industries Service

(MS-OCT. 1, 2019)

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Notice is hereby given that CEBU AIR, INC. doing business under the names and styles of Cebu Pacific and Cebu Pacific Air [Formerly: CEBU AIR, INC.] with office address at Cebu Pacific Building, Domestic Road, Barangay 191, Zone 20, Pasay City, is applying for registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) as a New Operator of Air Transport Services under the Preferred Activity - Infrastructure and Logistic including LGU-PPPs - Air, Land and Water Transport - Air Transport (A321 NEO #3 with CAB Registration No. RP-C4120 and Serial No. MSN8921) on a Non-Pioneer status with project site at Airline Operations Center, Manila Domestic Airport, Pasay City.

(MS-OCT. 1, 2019)

bakwit school, just like Salugpungan schools, is useless because it is not and it will never be recognized by DepEd and it is another ploy to solicit pity and money from the public while advancing their propaganda against the government,” she added.

Mayor Duterte maintained that the students of “bakwit” schools are Indigenous People's children sprung out by SOS Network from their communities and forcibly brought in to the cities, “away from their homes to be used as poster boys and girls in their anti-government agenda.”

IMMIGRATION agents arrested two foreign fugitives, one from the United States and another from People’s Republic of China who are both wanted by authorities in their country for serious offenses.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the American as Arthur Mark Curts, and the Chinese national as Dong Jinxi, who were arrested in Cebu province.

Operatives from the BI’s fugitive search unit arrested Curts in the town of Liloan in coordination with the US Diplomatic Security Service-Overseas Criminal Investigations and the Liloan Police Station.

Dong was apprehended by the FSU in coordination with the Chinese Ministry of Security and the City Investigation and Detective Management Branch of the Mandaue City Police Office inside a five-star hotel in Mandaue City.

“They will be deported for being undesirable aliens and for being undocumented as their passports were already canceled by their respective governments,” Morente said.

According to the BI chief, Curts was issued an arrest warrant by a US district court in Florida on charges of theft of government funds and making a false statement, in violation of 18 US Code Sec 1001.

On the other hand, Dong is wanted for smuggling and has a standing warrant of arrest issued by a Chinese court.

Dong had already been issued a summary deportation order by the BI board of commissioners on April 26 this year.

“We will also include them in our blacklist to prevent them from reentering the Philippines.” Morente said.

He warned other foreign fugitives using the Philippines as a refuge to evade criminal prosecution in their homelands that they will be caught eventually.

“Do not use our country to evade justice. Sooner or later the long arm of the law will catch you and you will be sent back to your countries to face your crimes,” he added.

Solon files bill amending Foreign Investments Act REP. Weslie Gatchalian, the chairman of the House Committee on Trade and Industry, has filed a bill that seeks to amend the Foreign Investments Act. House Bill No. 300 aims to amend Sections 4 and 8 of Republic Act No. 7042, or the Foreign Investments Act of 1991.

Gatchalian said the proposed measure will make it easier for foreign businessmen to invest in the Philippines by easing the restrictions to foreign capital and limiting the barriers to entry of foreign businesses.

“The Foreign Investments Act of 1991

was last amended 23 years ago in 1996

by Republic Act No. 8179. Since its enactment, the business landscape has significantly changed. While the FIA aims to attract, promote and welcome productive investments from foreign individuals and entities, certain provisions of the law create substantial barriers in the achievement of its objective,” Gatchalian said in his sponsorship speech.

Gatchalian said such restrictions have discouraged foreign businessmen from investing in the Philippines. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that the

Philippines received only $9.80 billion in net FDI inflows in 2018, compared to Indonesia’s $20.18 billion, India's $42.23 billion and Singapore's $81.86 billion.

“The low level of FDI inflows into the Philippines is being identified as a reason why the country has relatively high unemployment rate,” said Gatchalian. Among the ASEAN markets, the Philippines has the highest unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, compared to Thailand’s 0.7 percent, Singapore’s 2 percent, Vietnam’s 2.2 percent, Malaysia's 3.2 percent and Indonesia’s 5.2 percent.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

PH Sports Commission intensifies LGU linkages THE Philippine Sports Commission strengthened its linkages with local government units in Mindanao as it conducted its Sports for Peace programs in Maragusan, Compostela Valley and in Bukidnon Province.

Maragusan Municipal Mayor Maricel Colina-Vendiola graced the Ate-Kuya volunteers’ orientation at the Mayor’s Conference Room on September 27 followed by the Children’s Games held in Maragusan Central Elementary School on September 28.

Mayor Colina-Vendiola, thanked PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez for bringing the Children’s Games to their municipality.

“We are very thankful to Chairman Butch that PSC has come to our municipality and for supporting us with the Children’s Games,” she said in Filipino.

Colorful flaglets, courtesy of the Municipality of Maragusan LGU, adorned the playing venue.

“The colorful f laglets speak about the colors and vibrancy of the hosting,” PSC Mindanao cluster head Ed Fer nande stated, praising the mayor for the elaborate preparations.

About 200 children and 20 AteKuya volunteers had a fun-filled day playing tug of peace, mukhang kamatis, sack race, hug relay and balloon race, among others.

They received souvenir shorts and enjoyed the boodle fight during lunch. Maragusan also had a Saturday Sports Special, a sports program for the children.

Over in Bukidnon Province, the PSC also held a consultative sports planning last September 17 and 18, which was attended by 26 participants from 12 municipalities.

It was conducted alongside a grassroots coaching clinic on table tennis, athletics, taekwondo, boxing, and badminton from September 17 to 19, drawing 104 participants.

The Bukidnon stop, supported by Governor Jose Ma. Zubiri, Jr. culminated with a Children’s Games at Folk Arts Theatre, Kaamulan Park, Malaybalay City that was filled with 500 kids who were assisted by 50 AteKuya volunteers.

Pampanga, Taguig force rubber match PAMPANGA and Taguig won over separate opponents to force a rubber match for a spot in the finals of the National Basketball League Season 2.

The Delta beat Laguna Pistons, 94-86, and the Generals defeated Parañaque Aces, 82-76, in Game 2 of the best-of-three semifinals last Saturday at the San Dionisio Gym in Parañaque to tie the series at 1-1.

Game 3 will be played on Saturday at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Primo Manaloto finished with 22 points and nine rebounds as the topseed Delta avoided an upset and will play the do-or-die game next week at home.

LJ Mayo had 19 points and seven rebounds, Kean Caballero scored 11 points, and the Generals beat the reigning champion Aces on their homecourt to stay alive in their quest for a championship.

In the WNBL, the Taguig Lady Generals advanced to the finals after beating Cleon and Clyde, 73-56, in Game 3 of the semifinals.

Camille Sambile had 16 points for the Lady Generals, who will face the PSI-Air Force Lady Air Defenders in the best-of-three championship series starting on Saturday.

Pampanga team

Rep. Barbers leads Plaridel golf guests

Active children having fun during the balloon relay event of the UNESCO-cited Philippine Sports for Peace Children’s Games at Maragusan Central Elementary School in Maragusan, Compostela Valley on September 28.

In-form Lascuña seeks to dominate at home T

ONY Lascuna hopes to mark his return to winning form with another victory at home but the newly crowned Nan Pao TPGA (PGA of Taiwan) champion faces a tough challenge from a formidable cast headed by fellow Davaoeno aces and firmed up by a number of foreign bets when the ICTSI Apo Golf Challenge is fired off tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct. 2) at the quaint Apo Golf and Country Club in Davao.

The 48-year-old Lascuna ended a twoyear title spell in big fashion, winning the second Philippine Golf Tour Asia in Taiwan last Sunday where he turned back a slew of Thai and Taiwanese rivals with a couple of gutsy shots in the closing holes to win by one.

That makes him the player to watch in this eighth leg of the 10th season of PGT

although the former three-time Order of Merit winner has expressed guarded optimism as he gears up for four days of battle of shotmaking and putting against a field headed by players who have also honed up their skills and talent on the tight, flat par 72 layout.

They include Jhonnel Ababa, winner of the last PGT leg at Del Monte

two weeks ago, Elmer Salvador and Alvin Engino, joint runners-up in this event last year, Ferdie Aunzo, Rufino Bayron, Mhark Fernando and Elmer Saban among others with the likes of Del Monte bets Clyde Mondilla, Johvanie Abano and Reymon Jaraula, who stunned Lascuna in a playoff to score a breakthrough win at Pueblo de Oro three weeks ago, also tipped to contend for the crown in the P3 million event sponsored by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. “I feel good about my chances, of course, very confident but wary with so many strong players around, including my fellow Davaoenos,” said Lascuna.

Kamao pull off come-from-behind win Games Wednesday

(Pasig City Sports Center) 2 p.m. – PNP vs DENR 3:30 p.m. – SSS vs AFP 5 p.m. – Agriculture vs PITC

MALACANANG-Philippine Sports Commission pulled off another comefrom-behind win, this time nipping National Housing Authority, 77-76, in Group II elims of the 8th UNTV Cup held over the weekend at the Pasig City Sports Center.

The President’s men trailed the Builders in the first two quarters then outscored the Builders in the third to gain the initiative which they maintained to prevail and take the early Group II lead.

Former PH team pool member Eric dela Cuesta topscored for the Kamao with 19 points while Joseph Roque and Ian Garrido combined for 29 points as they helped negate the 34-point explosion of Alvin Vitug in the tournament organized by UNTV president and CEO Dr. Daniel Razon.

The Benneth Palad-mentored NHA slipped to 1-1.

Judiciary bounced back from a 6460 defeat to the Kamao by downing the GSIS Furies, 88-74, in the other Group

Haddi Porto led PITC to a 95-74 win over PhilHealth by scoring 22 points in the UNTV Cup held on Sunday at the Pasig City Sports Gym.

II match while Haddi Porto and Louis Lopez scored 22 points each in leading the Philippine International Trading Corporation to a 95-74 win over Philhealth in the lone Group I elims.

PITC’s win was its first in two games while handing the PhilHealth Plus their second straight in the event for public servants.

Former Ginebra player Chester Tolomia

led the Judiciary Magis with 24 points but it was Frederick Salamat who turned the game around in their favor, draining five triples on the way to 19 points.

Rookies Erik Dionisio and Cristopher Dela Cruz made their presence felt by combining for 30 points and 17 rebounds in the event offering P4 million to the chosen charity of the champion team.

REP. Robert Ace Barbers (2nd Dist. Surigao del Norte) will lead the ceremonial tee-off of the 5th Plaridel Golf Cup on Oct. 4, at the Camp Aguinaldo Golf Course in Quezon City.

Also invited to the ceremonial tee-off is Rep. Juan Fidel Felipe Nograles (2nd Dist. Rizal). Teeoff time is 7 a.m.

The Plaridel Golf Cup is the annual sports project of the Association of Philippine Journalists—Samahang Plaridel Foundation, Inc., the professional group of veteran journalists, publishers, editors-in-chief and communicators that promotes high ethical standards among local media, according to the high professional standards of Marcelo H. del Pilar.

The association is led by Chairman Crispulo “Jun” Icban (publisher-Manila Bulletin) and President Rolando G. Estabillo (publisher-Manila Standard).

This year’s principal sponsor is First Orient International Ventures Corporation.

The 18-hole tournament seeks to foster camaraderie among golfing mediamen and their friends. It also aims to raise funds for Samahang Plaridel projects.

Other corporate sponsors are Cebu Pacific Air, Sogo Hotel, Ayala Land, Steel Asia, Globe, PAGCOR, Reyes Haircutters, ABS-CBN, GMA7, Doña Maria, Manila Water, City of Dreams, Sen. Cynthia Villar and Asia Brewery. Media partners are Manila Times and Manila Standard.

There will be two divisions, media and guests.

Golfers from corporate sponsors and other companies are welcome to join the tournament.

Registration is still ongoing.

Interested golfers may contact Samahang Plaridel through Nelly Lumbaca at mobile no. 09209286498 or email her at apjsamahangplaridel@gmail.com.

PSA Forum tackles 2 cage finals TWO upcoming cage finals will be tackled in today’s session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Amelie Hotel Manila.

Representatives from Marinerong Pilipino and BRT Sumisip BasilanSt. Clare are coming over in the 10:00 a.m. session to discuss their coming best-of-three title series for the PBA D-League Foundation Cup. Joining them in the weekly forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Braska Restaurant, Amelie Hotel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation are the Women’s National Basketball League finalists PSIAir Force Lady Air Defenders and Taguig Lady Generals.

Coach Diana Carandang and players Ambie Almazan, Anna Regina Buendia, and Katherine Sandel will represent the Air Force in the session livestreamed via the PSA Facebook page f b.com/Philippi neSp or t sw r it e r sA ssociat ion and aired on a delayed basis over Radyo Pilipinas 2 from 1-2 p.m. and later at 6:30 p.m.

Bill seeking to prohibit schools from recruiting non-PH players filed HOUSE Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero (1 Pacman Partylist) yesterday filed a bill that will stop and prohibit schools in various collegiate leagues from recruiting and using non-Filipino citizens as it denies homegrown players the opportunity to further develop their skill.

The practice of using foreign players under the guise of student-athletes, according to Romero, has become a norm in various colleges nowadays, which is a total disregard to the true meaning of fair play.

In House Resolution No. 388,, Romero said: “I am urging the proper committee of the House of Representatives in aid of legislation to stop and prohibit all collegiate leagues from recruiting, acquiring and using non-Filipinos as players because in effect, it stops the growth and shortchanges the development of var-

ious sports programs in the Philippines.”

By allowing foreigners to play, Romero said schools that have vast resources will have advantages and in doing so may destroy the beautiful game of basketball.

“Lest I’ll be accused of some kind of a killjoy, I am doing this for the good of Philippine basketball. The crushing defeats we suffered in the recent FIBA World Cup has forced me to make this resolution,” said Romero who was the godfather of the Philippine basketball team that won the gold medal during the 2007 SEA Games in Ratchasima, Thailand.

“I’m not targeting any school here.

All I want is to give our homegrown players the chance to improve and compete to the best of their ability,” said Romero. “Acquiring foreigners is not only counter-productive but is also

more expensive to maintain a team.”

Romero also noticed that some foreign players—mostly Africans—have moved from one league to another, thus belying the notion that they came to the country to study.

“Hindi tayo nagdadamot, pero ang masakit nito ang kapwa nating Filipino ang nagiging biktima rito,” said Romero, who played for La Salle during his college days.

The lawmaker who owns NorthPort in the PBA, said various league should find ways or create measures to prevent the proliferation of this “malpractice for the sake of homegrown athletes.

Romero, however, is happy to note that this season will be the last time “imports” in the oldest collegiate league—the NCAA— will be playing. Maricel V. Cruz Rep. Mikee Romero

Sports

Riera U. Mallari, Editor; Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor sports@thestandard.com.ph; sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

Foton gets spunk back, edges PLDT AFTER a luckless start, Foton finally got its swag back as it dominated PLDT Home Fibr, 25-21, 25-20, 2518, in the Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference yesterday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The Tornadoes displayed a balanced attack to clobber the Power Spikers in 78 minutes and capture their first win after opening the season with backto-back setbacks.

Shaya Adorador paced the assault with 15 points laced with nine excellent reception and six digs while CJ Rosario manned the middle with five kills for 12 points for Foton, which is missing the services of Jaja Santiago, Dindin Manabat and Maika Ortiz.

Santiago and Manabat are competing in the prestigious V.Premier League in Japan while Ortiz crashed with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Elaine Kasilag was also impressive as she chipped in 10 hits while EJ Laure and Marian Buitre added eight markers.

Foton coach Aaron Velez said he is glad that they finally got their first win without Santiago, Manabat and Ortiz.

“Of course, we’re happy. Coming from two losses, this is a huge boost for us,” said Velez, who also drew great plays from Gyzelle Sy and impressive floor defense from Jen Reyes.

“Before the match started, I told them to give their best because getting this win is important for our campaign. They responded well.”

Foton forced a tie with PLDT with identical 1-2 win-loss cards before entering the second round, where the Tornadoes will be grouped in Pool D joining Sta. Lucia, Generika-Ayala and F2 Logistics.

The Power Hitters missed their head coach Roger Gorayeb, who was under the weather, as last game’s top scorer Grethcel Soltones struggled with just four points, leaving Jerrili Malabanan to carry the cudgels with 11 points in a losing effort.

PLDT will join Pool C in the next round together with Cignal, Petron and Marinerang Pilipina.

PLDT’s Jerrili Malabanan scores against Foton’s Giselle Sy and Marian Buitre, but the Tornadoes came out the victor, 2521, 25-20, 25-18, in the Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

PH edges Malaysia for equestrian title

By Lito Cinco

I

T WAS but fitting that the overall team championship in the inaugural head-to-head equestrian meet between the Philippines and Malaysia was to be decided by the very last event between local national rider Paola Lorenzo and past Southeast Asian Games’ medalist Mohammad Nabil Fikri Bin Ismael in the 1.2m. class.

Held at the posh Manila Polo Club last Sunday with an appreciative weekend crowd on hand, the tournament was the Equestrian Philippines Riders Tour 2019, featuring a dual meet between the two countries.

Using a borrowed horse Lobella, owned by her national teammate Nicole Camcam, the current MPC Jumping Rider of the Year Lorenzo ended up with a clear race, while her opponent Bin Ismail had one knockdown that determined not only the individual event result but the team championship as well.

Malaysia actually had more individual titles, three to the host country’s two, not counting the victory of open entry Nikki Aboitiz aboard Azais de Sainte Hermelle, in the 1.0m class, where she beat

Romualdez bags EqPH Sportsmanship Award

PBA Player Development Program set IN LINE with its Player Development Program, the PBA will conduct a new round of players’ orientation that concerns legal matters this time.

Emphasis is concentrated on specific issues related to prejudice, Violence Against Women and Children, annulment, and other matters.

The program is set on Oct. 21 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. tentatively at the Meralco Theater.

Special guest speakers will be on hand to discuss about the different issues.

The orientation is a mandatory league-sanctioned activity.

League Commissioner Willie Marcial, who’s the prime mover behind the revived program, encourages all teams and players to participate in the event as discussion will guide them in their personal and work-related undertakings.

This will be the second Player Development Program to be conducted by the league this year.

Only last February, the PBA launched its initial players’ orientation in which topics regarding financial management, social media activities, proper grooming, and the importance of one’s mental health were greatly tackled.

Among the speakers included Roch Vanderberghe of FWD Insurance and Cheska Bugia-Tenorio, Maggie Cortez, PBA legend Ronnie Magsanoc, Alaska assistant coach Tony dela Cruz, and San Miguel Beer guard Chris Ross.

Camcam, riding Rubis Landais, by a second in a jump-off.

Twelve-year-old Arysha Haya Kanda, aboard Magic Mio, figured in a jump-off with another local open entry Katrina Oligares (riding Quatrain du Lesme), with the Malaysian emerging champion in the 0.65m. class event for her country’s first title.

In the 0.90m class, which featured a oneon-one between German national but Philippine-based Mohamed El Akad (riding My Name is Coco Jambo) and Adam Hariz Bin Kamaludin, the latter took the title after El Akad hit a crossbar for a knockdown, allowing the Malaysian to win his country’s second individual title.

The 1.10m class also saw another jump

off, this time between national team member Lara Zobel (riding Lander van Bijstervel) and NorrineIra Dewal Binti Md Ali (aboard Joker Arroyo’s Concept TM), with the Malaysian winning by time for her country’s third title.

Earlier, Alessandra Ynares aboard Cooper, had an easy win in the 0.75m. class after her opponents Holigores went over the time allowed, while Malaysian entry Sophia Fatima Chea Binti Johari used a wrong course for the Philippines’ first individual victory.

Lorenzo added the second title for the hosts in the final event, with the total points earned by the Top 4 riders of the two national teams determining the team crown.

“We are certainly happy with the results of this inaugural event, which is part of MPC’s regular series. Definitely, it was a good exposure for our young riders including the open entries and we in the Equestrian Philippines will continue to do for the sport what needs to be done,” said Carissa Coscoluella, President of the organizing Equestrian Philippines Inc.

Minxie Romualdez

YOUNG equestrienne Minxie Romualdez was the recipient of the coveted Equestrian Philippines Sportsmanship Award at the recently concluded Equestrian Philippines Riders Tour 2019 / 3rd Manila Polo Club Showjumping Competition held on September 29.

The 11-year-old daughter of House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and TINGOG Partylist Congresswoman Yedda Romualdez, shone in exhibiting discipline, hard work, and dedication during team training, and hospitality and camaraderie during the hosting of the visiting team from Malaysia.

“Minxie is a kind, gracious, thoughtful, and wonderful young girl, who represented her team and her club in a way that makes us all very proud. At an early age, true Filipino hospitality and charm shines through her, and she was delightful towards our visitors from Malaysia,” said Equestrian PH president Carissa Coscolluela.

Team coach Joker Arroyo further commented: “Minxie was faced with a challenging training period, having to ride unfamiliar and difficult horses. She rode each one to the best of her ability, with great determination, and never once complained. She already exhibits the determination of a true athlete.”

The young Romualdez is a member of the Champion team from the Philipppines that bested the Malaysian team at the Riders Tour event. She rode in the 65 cm category and places second aboard Galaxy.

Del Rosario firms up PH bid in Taiwan FORMER Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner Pauline del Rosario hopes to make the most of her maiden stint on the Party Golfers Ladies Open in Taiwan, bringing with her a game honed up by months of training in the US and a recent stint in the LPGA Qualifying plus desire to snap a long spell in the P5 million event which gets going tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct. 2) at the National Golf and Country Club in Miaoli County.

The former Philippine Ladies Open champion racked up four victories in her rookie pro year on her way to winning the OOM title in 2017, capping her big season with a victory in the TLPGA and Royal Open to become the first Pinay to win on the LPGA of Taiwan Tour. But she didn’t see much action in the local circuit in the next two years as she toughened up abroad as part of her buildup for the LPGA Q-School where she, however, fell short in Stage I last August.

But she vowed to come back strong next year even as she seeks to measure up with a crack international field right in the first round of the P5 million event sanctioned by the LPGT featuring the leading and rising players on the TLPGA, including the Taiwanese and the Thais, and other circuits in the region.

“As of right now, I’m not setting any expectations heading into this tournament,” said Del Rosario. “My form has improved much more coming from LPGA Q School and I have had time at home to do some drills. I’m looking forward to seeing what the National Golf and Country Club has to offer and give it my best shot.”

The likes of Daniella Uy, Chanelle Avaricio, Marvi Monsalve and former three-time LPGT OOM titlist Cyna Rodriguez are also ready to mix it up with the field, headed by local ace Tzu Chi Lin, who swept the last two legs of TLPGA, including last week’s Kenda Open, and the Thai winners in this year’s LPGT-TLPGA co-sanctioned events, including Arpichaya Yubol (Manila Ladies Masters) and Thanutra Boonraksasat (Manila Southwoods).

The event is actually the fifth LPGTTLPGA event this year with amateur Chia Yen Wu also back in the hunt for a record back-to-back feat in the event after the then 14-year-old beat a stellar field, including Princess Superal and Rodriguez, to reign last year.

ABAP bares SEA Games’ lineup THE Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines announced yesterday the composition of the Philippine team which will see action in the 30th Southeast Asian Games which the country is hosting late next month.

Heading the contingent is World Championship and 2-time SEA Games gold medalist Eumir Felix Marcial (middleweight, 75 kg). The 23 year old airman claimed the second ranking in the world at the Championships held in Ekaterinburg, Russia in mid-September.

Also in the line up are Carlo Paalam (light flyweight, 49 kg), Rogen Ladon (flyweight, 52 kg), Ian Clark Bautista (bantamweight, 56 kg) , Charly Suarez (lightweight, 60 kg), James Palicte (light welterweight, 64 kg), Joel Bacho (wel-

terweight, 69 kg) and John Tupas-Marvin (light heavyweight, 81 kg).

In the distaff side will be Josie Gabuco (light flyweight, 48 kg), Irish Magno (flyweight, 48 kg), Aira Villegas (bantamweight, 54 kg), Nesthy Petecio (featherweight, 57 kg) and Risa Pasuit (lightweight, 60 kg).

Even as the roster has been drawn up, ABAP secretary-general Ed Picson said the association reserves its right to make last-minute changes.

“This list is not cast in stone. We reserve the right to replace any boxer who does not live up to the criteria set by the coaching staff, which includes not only performance in the ring or the gym, but also in terms of punctuality, attitude and over-all behavior,” Picson.

INCENTIVE. The MVP Sports Foundation, headed by Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan (center) and president Al S. Panlilio (5th from right) present a check for P500,000 to Eumir Felix Marcial (5th from left) for his silver-medal finish in the middleweight division of the AIBA World Championships in Ekaterinburg, Russia recently. Also in photo are (from left) Art Aro (MVPSF), Elite men head coach Ronald Chavez, ABAP secretary-general Ed Picson, ABAP president Ricky Vargas, ABAP coaching consultant Don Abnett, coach Roel Velasco, MVPSF executive director Ryan Gregorio and Maita David (MVPSF).

“All the teams are allowed to replace Heading the coaching staff are elite any boxer until the official weigh-in, men head coach Ronald Chavez, elite which is a day before the competition women’s head coach Nolito Velasco and starts on December 3.” foreign consultant Don Abnett.

PH and China: ‘Good neighbors, partners’

C

HINA and the Philippines are good neighbors, sincere friends and trusted partners. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Duterte, China-Philippine relations have moved forward steadily and delivered tangible outcomes. ·China is committed to sharing the

China and the Philippines announced on 29 August 2019 they would set up an intergovernmental joint steering committee on oil and gas cooperation after the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

On 25 April 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Great Hall of the People during the Second Belt and Road International Cooperation Forum.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed a wide range of issues with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.at their bilateral meeting on 20 March 2019, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China.

On 30 August 2019, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Great Hall of the People during the latter’s official visit to China.

On 20 January 2019, Delfin Negrillo Lorenzana, the Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines, accompanied by Vice Admiral Robert Arugay Empedrad, Flag OfficerIn-Command of the Philippine Navy, visited the missile frigate Wuhu.

On 24 January 2019, SGCC “Brighten Up” poverty alleviation project funded by the State Grid Corporation of China was launched at the Baliwat village primary school in Zambales province.

On 9 September 2019, the teachers and students from UP, PUP and PNU paid a visit to Fujian Normal University as the part of the visiting program to China organized by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines.

A Chinese government-financed drug treatment and rehabilitation center in southern Philippines’ Agusan del Sur province was turned over to the local government on April 8, 2019.

benefits of development with the Philippines. ·China is committed to being a true friend of the Philippines. ·China is committed to maintaining regional peace and stability with the Philippines.

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World

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

HK braces for China festivities

H

ONG KONG―Ripped-up paving stones lay scattered around the graffiti-scarred streets of Hong Kong after one of the most violent days in a summer of rage, as protesters ready for fresh clashes on Tuesday’s 70th anniversary of communist China’s founding.

The protest-wracked financial hub witnessed its fiercest political violence in weeks Sunday as riot police spent hours in running battles with protesters, the streets blanketed in tear gas and smoke from burning barricades.

Millions have hit the streets during nearly four months of pro-democracy protests, and hardcore activists have repeatedly clashed with police, in the biggest challenge to China’s rule since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997.

Tensions have soared in the last few days.

Beijing is preparing for huge, tightlychoreographed festivities from Tuesday to mark the founding of the People’s Republic of China, including a massive military parade that will showcase the country’s emergence as a global superpower.

Yet the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong threatens to upstage those festivities as the semi-autonomous city

boils with public anger over the erosion of its special freedoms under Beijing’s rule.

In the past week democracy activists have ramped up their rallies and street battles ahead of October 1, which Hong Kong protesters have dubbed a “Day of Grief”.

Throughout Sunday police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon in multiple locations in their bid to disperse hardcore protesters hurling bricks and petrol bombs.

Hospital authorities said at least 40 people were injured, one in a serious condition.

There appears little sign of the protests abating.

On Monday, authorities announced that they were upholding a ban on a planned National Day democracy march,

citing security concerns.

The Civil Human Rights Front, a group that advocates non-violence and was behind a series of huge peaceful rallies earlier in the summer, hit out at the decision, saying it was the fourth time their march proposals have been rejected.

“Hong Kong is now having less and less freedom and becoming more and more like Beijing,” CHRF spokeswoman Bonnie Leung told reporters.

With legal rallies banned, online forums used by the largely leaderless movement have instead called for wildcat protests across the city in an effort to stretch police resources.

“I want to see millions of people boycott national events and result into violent protests on October 1,” one user wrote in a heavily upvoted comment on the Reddit-like LIHKG forum. AFP

Starbucks becomes latest target of protesers HONG KONG―Starbucks has emerged as the latest brand to fall foul of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters after a family member of the local restaurant chain that owns the local franchise spoke out against demonstrators.

Multiple branches were covered with graffiti over the weekend as the city convulsed with some of the most intense clashes between hardcore protesters and riot police in weeks.

One cafe in the district of Wanchai was daubed with slogans saying “boycott” as well as insults to the police and Maxim’s Caterers, a major Hong Kong restaurant chain that runs Starbucks outlets in the city.

The vandalism illustrates the huge pressures on international brands as Hong Kong is shaken by its worst political unrest in decades.

Beijing is piling pressure on businesses to publicly condemn the protests.

Those that do risk a protester backlash, but staying silent risks financial punishment on the mainland, a far more lucrative market.

The boycott campaign against Maxim’s snowballed after Annie Wu, the daughter of Maxim’s wealthy founder, delivered a speech earlier this month in which she condemned the protests and said Beijing’s hard-line stance against democracy advocates should be supported.

She was speaking at the UN’s human rights council in Geneva alongside Pansy Ho, a billionaire casino magnate who made similar calls.

Their comments were seized on by protesters and portrayed as an example of how Hong Kong’s wealthy elite are out of touch with public sentiment and in the pockets of Beijing.

Prominent democracy campaigner Joshua Wong was among those calling for a boycott of Starbucks since Wu’s speech and more than 50,000 people have signed a petition asking the Seattle-headquartered company to sever ties with Maxim’s.

“We herein urge the Board of Directors to consider whether Maxim’s truly represents the social values of Starbucks and terminate the franchise to Maxim’s immediately,” Wong wrote on Twitter on Friday. AFP

IN BRIEF

Late monsoon kills 100 in India

PATNA―At least 100 people have died in northern India over the last three days in unusually heavy late monsoon rain that has submerged streets, hospital wards and houses, officials said Monday.

Dozens of boats were pressed into service on streets overflowing with gushing rain water in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, after torrential downpours far stronger the normal.

At least 27 people have lost their lives across the state and another 63 in neighboring Uttar Pradesh since Friday, authorities said. With more rain predicted, weather experts say September could end as the wettest in more than a hundred years.

“Patna alone has recorded some 8.9 inches of rainfall since Friday,” Bihar disaster response official M. Ramachandru told AFP. Photos showed patients lying on hospital beds in dirty rain water at the state-run Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna.

It has also been raining heavily in southern India and in the western state of Gujarat.

The annual monsoon usually lasts from June to September.

With the Indian Meteorological Department Monday predicting excess rainfall across 15 states, this year’s monsoon will end as the wettest since 1917, the mass-circulation Times of India said. AFP

Xi bows to Mao ahead of anniversary

MARTYRS’ DAY. China’s President Xi Jinping walks toward the Monument to the People’s Heroes at Tiananmen Square during a wreath-laying ceremony marking Martyrs’ Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on September 30, 2019. AFP

Taiwan shrugs as China hails 70th anniversary TAIPEI―Communist China’s creation seven decades ago irrevocably changed Taiwan, but Beijing’s huge celebrations this week will be met with a collective shrug on an island where people increasingly see themselves as distinct from the mainland.

After the People’s Republic of China was declared on 1 October 1949, its rival, the Republic of China, set up in Taiwan―the island Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated Kuomintang nationalists fled to and imposed their will upon.

Taiwan remains a sore point to this day among party leaders in Beijing―viewed as a missing piece of a geographical puzzle that must one day be completed, regardless of what the island’s 24 million inhabitants want.

But for younger Taiwanese people such as Doris Cheng, the idea that her homeland is a part of mainland China is anathema.

“Taiwan is a country,” the 16-yearold told AFP, while taking a break from

practicing hip-hop dance moves with friends in Taipei’s Liberty Square.

“Taiwan has autonomy, a government, our own people and territory.”

Fellow dancer Stephanie Fu, an 18-year-old college freshman, agreed.

“I think it is natural that we see ourselves as Taiwanese, we were not born in China after all,” she said.

“There’s no sense of belonging to China,” she added. “Culturally we may be Chinese and similar, but there are still differences.”

The Chinese communist party has never controlled Taiwan and historically mainland governments have exerted nominal control for only a fraction of the island’s history.

But Chinese president Xi Jinping has made no secret of his desire to see Taiwan brought into the mainland’s fold.

In a January speech that rattled nerves in Taiwan, he described the island’s absorption as “inevitable” and said the “problem” must not be put off for the next generation to handle.

But that increasingly assertive rhetoric from Beijing has done little to win over the Taiwanese, who have now experienced more than two decades of democracy.

According to a regular poll by Taipei’s National Chengchi University, those who identify as solely Taiwanese has rocketed from 18 percent in 1992 to 55 percent last year.

Those who see themselves as “Taiwanese and Chinese” has hovered around the 40 percent mark while those who identify as Chinese only has plummeted from a quarter of the population to just four percent.

The emergence of a growing Taiwanese identity is a headache for Beijing’s plans.

But many older Taiwanese still see themselves as part of a wider Chinese family.

On the other side of Liberty Square, 56-year-old David Chang was teaching a martial arts class, an ROC flag bandana on his head. AFP

BEIJING―Chinese President Xi Jinping paid his respects to Chairman Mao Zedong’s embalmed body Monday in a rare gesture ahead of China’s celebration of 70 years of Communist rule.

Xi and other top Chinese officials visited Mao’s mausoleum―located in the heart of Beijing in Tiananmen Square―and bowed three times to the late leader’s statue, reported the official news agency Xinhua.

He also paid respects to the remains of Mao, whose embalmed body is kept in a glass display at the memorial hall.

The last time a Chinese leader bowed to the statue of the “Great Helmsman” was six years ago, when Xi commemorated Mao’s 120th birthday.

The move to honor the founder of the People’s Republic of China comes as the country readies itself for a day of tightly-choreographed festivities, including a massive military parade and the release of 70,000 doves.

The anniversary is meant to showcase China’s extraordinary rise from the ravages of war and famine to a modern, powerful nation state whose economic and military muscle is viewed by many with increasing concern.AFP

Factory fire kills 19 in China

BEIJING―A factory fire has killed 19 people in east China, local authorities said Monday, in the latest deadly incident to hit the country’s industrial sector.

The fire broke out on Sunday at a factory in Ninghai county, eastern Zhejiang province, said the local government on its official Twitter-like Weibo account.

The incident, which is under investigation, occurred at a facility owned by the Ruiqi Daily Necessities Company.

Among eight people rescued from the fire, three were injured and sent to hospital for medical treatment, said Ninghai authorities.

It made for a deadly weekend in China ahead of the communist-led country’s 70th-anniversary celebrations on Tuesday.

A packed bus collided with a truck in eastern Jiangsu province on Saturday, killing 36 people.

Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced. AFP

French bid farewell at the coffin of ex-president Chirac PARIS―Thousands of people on Sunday queued in Paris to bid a final farewell to France’s former president Jacques Chirac, fondly remembered as a charismatic giant of domestic and international politics despite a mixed legacy.

A massive queue snaked round the Invalides complex to pay homage at Chirac’s coffin ahead of a national day of mourning on Monday and a memorial service expected to be attended by dozens of world leaders.

Chirac’s death on Thursday aged 86 prompted a flood of tributes to a man whose high-profile political career spanned three decades capped by 12 years as president from 19952007.

But it also sparked questions about how much this consummate political operator had actually achieved during a long spell in office and again threw the spotlight on a 2011 conviction for graft over his time as Paris mayor.

Nevertheless, a poll in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed that the

French consider him to have been their best president of the modern era, alongside Charles de Gaulle.

An initial multi-faith prayer service was held around the coffin in the SaintLouis-des-Invalides cathedral at the Invalides memorial complex with close family, including his daughter Claude.

His wife of six decades Bernadette, 86, was however unable to attend.

Members of the public were then allowed in to view the coffin, draped in a French flag and flanked by a picture of a waving Chirac.

Thousands lined up in a queue that wound around the Invalides complex, where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried, for almost a kilometre, braving the rainy weather and the prospect of a long wait.

“Adieu president, we miss you already,” read one placard in the crowd.

“Chirac represented a certain era,” said Marin Menzin, 21. “If he had seen the queue today, he would have jumped into the crowd to shake hands.”

The national day of mourning in

France Monday will see a minute of silence observed in all public institutions and schools.

The coffin of Chirac will at 0900 GMT Monday leave the Invalides, under a military escort through the streets of Paris, before arriving at the SaintSulpice church for a final memorial service attended by President Emmanuel Macron.

The Elysee said some 30 heads of state and government are expected to be present, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and German President FrankWalter Steinmeier. Former leaders who worked closely with Chirac, notably including German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, will also be there.

Chirac’s successors Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande will attend, the Elysee said.

In a rare public appearance, the third president of France’s modern fifth republic Valery Giscard d’Estaing, 93, will also be present. AFP

DANCE PARTY. Dave Amato of REO Speedwagon and Brad Paisley perform onstage during Nashville’s 80’s dance party to end ALZ benefitting the Alzheimer’s Association on September 29, 2019, in Nashville, Tennessee. AFP

Business

OCTOBER 1, 2019, TUESDAY extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market declines; Metrobank up T HE stock market fell Monday, weighed down by fears of an escalation in the US-China trade war that has raged for more than a year between the world’s two biggest economies.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 40.15 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,779.07 on a value turnover of P12.9 billion. Losers beat gainers, 125 to 71, with 52 issues unchanged.

Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. declined 3.9 percent to P10.86, while Puregold Price Club Inc. of retail tycoon Lucio Co. lost 3.3 percent to P39.05.

SM Investments Corp. of the Sy Group fell 2.9 percent to P971, but Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-

biggest lender in terms of assets, rose 2.2 percent to P68.40.

The rest of Asian markets were mixed on Monday as investors digested reports in US media late last week that President Donald Trump is mulling severe new restrictions on investment in China.

Tokyo closed down 0.6 percent, with analysts saying stocks were weighed down by losses in the US market. Jakarta and Sydney also fell, but Wellington was up 0.8 percent.

Hong Kong dipped on opening but later recovered and rose 0.6 percent, after one of the most violent weekends the semi-autonomous city has seen in a summer of unrest.

Despite assurances from the US Treasury that there were no plans to stop Chinese companies from listing on US exchanges, Shanghai and Tokyo slumped the day before a week-long patriotic holiday begins in China.

The Asian giant celebrates 70 years since the founding of communist China on Tuesday, with markets taking a break from October 1 to 7, while planned prodemocracy protests in Hong Kong are threatening to disrupt festivities.

Shanghai closed down 0.9 percent as some investors took profits.

“The Sino-US trade negotiations have been full of twists and turns,” said Zhang Gang, an analyst with Central China Securities.

“You don’t know what remarks Trump would make in the next seven days, or what variables there will be from the US side. So (investors) have set themselves in a low-key, waiting position.”

It came after China posted better-thanexpected manufacturing data for September, but factory activity remained in contraction for the fifth month running.

On Friday, stocks fell into the red after multiple US media reports said the

White House was considering proposals to de-list Chinese companies from US stock markets, or block US investment in China.

Stephen Innes, Asia Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader, said in a note that the US Treasury statement released Saturday calmed nerves somewhat, but “didn’t exactly clarify the White House position, nor did it rule out other courses of action.”

“Unquestionably, floating this story at a time when US-China harmony is most needed suggests the US administration isn’t exactly rolling out a red-carpet welcoming party for China’s high-level trade negotiators,” he said.

The threats appeared intended to ratchet up pressure on Beijing to strike a bargain. Trump has said in recent weeks that China may be holding off on reaching a trade deal, betting that he will not be re-elected next year. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 56 950 93 1,537,250 2 10,000 143 1,573,110 1.11 20,000 25 200,100 18.6 1,500 11.94 389,200 5.2 177,800 7.71 1,200 1.21 2,000 750 280 0.42 1,600,000 68.4 4,537,900 0.92 17,000 13 338,900 43.6 282,800 179.6 7,430 129 20 60.7 17,380 26.5 2,700 197 330,660 1,850 420 59.1 5,320 1.09 275,000

52,350 141,935,664 20,020 224,836,874 22,200 5,001,595 27,960 4,661,980 924,911 9,263 2,420 211,750 669,250 309,303,108.50 15,740 4,405,700 12,387,120 1,316,898 2,580 1,024,063.50 71,660 64,967,454 770,775 314,421 299,750

57,501,618 -3,508,702 -1,244,515 -687,314 11,424 126,000 21,964,023.50 -238,525 -232,098 -55,710 -18,431,462 -

38.35 15.68 0.67 1.29 0.242 90.5 2.56 14.06 120 8.6 18.06 31.5 70 76 2.03 6 5.9 8.88 15.26 10.34 7.08 1.64 24.25 80.05 45.8 2.48 14.1 8 1.51 218.2 5.35 8.26 20.15 13 18.22 363.4 0.203 1.67 4.24 4.99 10.38 2.29 10.78 32.05 5.3 5.1 1.81 2.24 1 11.58 88.8 7.3 0.123 1.05 156 2.42 1.1 1.19

INDUSTRIAL 38.35 2,488,900 16 338,100 0.68 356,000 1.3 942,000 0.246 2,190,000 108.9 120 2.61 4,219,000 14.06 14,300 120 130 8.7 520,800 19 7,800 31.5 100 70 4,420 76.3 4,700 2.03 52,000 6 35,300 5.9 147,600 8.9 475,600 15.3 31,200 10.98 408,700 7.1 1,838,500 1.64 8,000 24.6 1,805,100 80.3 420,870 47.05 108,600 2.53 4,660,000 14.5 298,200 8 861,000 1.55 13,000 222 499,940 5.4 167,600 8.26 1,800 20.2 1,268,800 13.18 753,700 18.7 452,700 370 356,520 0.203 330,000 1.69 20,098,000 4.28 53,000 5 2,581,500 10.42 23,800 2.31 9,822,000 11.08 113,800 32.3 179,200 5.3 833,800 5.12 1,051,700 1.97 2,179,000 2.39 53,000 1.02 124,000 11.68 85,800 92 337,520 7.45 141,600 0.123 170,000 1.05 945,000 156 2,140,580 2.42 86,000 1.13 2,255,000 1.2 2,664,000

95,919,965(52 5,403,428 239,520 1,224,200 542,100 11,228 10,934,310 201,446 15,600 4,606,431 146,142 3,150 310,979.50 359,043.50 105,740 211,850 875,389 4,238,581 478,136 4,459,860 13,133,128 13,180 44,285,485 33,713,022.50 5,113,520 11,834,680 4,291,934 6,893,619 19,730 110,150,428 901,140 14,868 25,739,400 9,891,936 8,313,004 131,812,966 67,120 34,907,110 226,300 12,912,797 248,252 22,858,470 1,253,936 5,793,330(1, 4,419,300 5,385,130 4,135,720 121,820 126,680 1,001,594 30,489,500 1,044,529 20,910 1,016,150 336,474,530 208,120 2,513,120 3,207,070

,283,765.0003) 369,002 -219,710 128,000 59,190 -3,150 -636,710 -933,826 323,556 2,958,214 -4,184,950 28,984,160 -20,999,852 4,852,050 -59,970 -1,369,380 6,891 19,564,346 -14,698,495 -3,061,010 -3,862,786 56,412,028 214,200 -3,057,937 -10,420 -1,196,470 -471,044 561,454.9998) -248,320 447,234 -12,254,617 -132,822,947 208,120 -446,000 -

0.93 54.1 11.24 0.77 6.99 13.68 1.19 895 3.6 6.63 8.5 13.68 4.01 5.2 0.221 847.5 5.82 73.95 5.83 0.53 4.39 14.48 0.59 5.1 0.039 1.35 175 999 0.89 1.27 228.8 0.226 0.24

0.86 53.05 10.7 0.74 6.98 13.24 1.16 880 3.5 6.53 8.31 13 4.01 5.2 0.221 835 5.75 72.5 5.5 0.51 4.38 13.94 0.56 4.82 0.038 1.27 171.5 971 0.86 1.27 224 0.224 0.235

HOLDING FIRMS 0.93 25,887,000 53.05 913,820 10.9 17,928,200 0.75 129,000 6.99 1,900 13.28 4,000 1.18 1,163,000 884.5 463,980 3.5 971,000 6.53 870,600 8.31 6,247,600 13 244,600 4.01 1,000 5.2 400 0.221 50,000 842 86,750 5.75 29,900 72.5 1,637,980 5.83 4,700 0.53 4,000 4.39 472,000 13.94 506,500 0.59 261,000 4.98 29,044,000 0.039 8,500,000 1.35 57,000 171.5 283,000 971 431,690 0.86 149,000 1.27 40,000 225 3,950 0.224 160,000 0.235 1,120,000

23,410,890 48,578,297.50 196,368,980 96,510 13,276 53,260 1,365,730 410,273,990 3,435,910 5,727,403 52,396,929 3,203,730 4,010 2,080 11,050 73,072,825 173,095 119,137,992 25,883 2,080 2,067,740 7,111,658 150,510 144,119,930 326,100 73,990 48,651,640 423,647,300 128,630 50,800 890,066 35,880 263,430

4,067,190 -10,885,033 -9,061,966 38,688,100 -176,560 -3,378,279 -24,458,000 -715,106 -2,080 4,727,860 -57,522.00 -14,983,795 -302,400 -622,008 28,461,180 -31,431,438 -212,429,820 186,498 -

15.06 0.87 10.02 1.96 0.92 49.7 2.13 4.75 6.35 0.55 0.73 0.83 0.223 0.395 9.77 20.7 0.45 1.6 1.2 4.5 0.305 0.415

15.04 0.82 10.02 1.91 0.87 49.1 2.09 4.7 6.32 0.53 0.73 0.83 0.215 0.385 9.5 20 0.45 1.56 1.2 4.3 0.295 0.41

PROPERTY 15.04 91,200 0.83 4,303,000 10.02 500 1.96 8,000 0.9 1,464,000 49.45 12,910,500 2.09 307,000 4.74 401,000 6.34 64,300 0.55 14,177,000 0.73 35,000 0.83 7,000 0.223 160,000 0.395 310,000 9.75 527,300 20.4 197,900 0.45 10,000 1.57 15,596,000 1.2 334,000 4.37 46,797,000 0.305 6,600,000 0.415 50,000

1,371,670 3,621,670 5,010 15,430 1,304,850 638,333,445 645,150 1,887,110 407,370 7,706,550 25,550 5,810 34,530 119,450 5,127,669 4,003,820 4,500 24,482,140 400,800 205,582,200 1,980,300 20,700

-971,574 100,800 9,550 -2,640 125,179,470 -436,680 -98,860 303,532 -48,400 1,518,510 2,190,075 -3,031,590 -240,000 -55,456,200 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK BRIGHT KINDLE CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND 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

55 91.8 2.02 145 1.11 25.05 18.66 12.1 5.34 7.72 1.21 760 0.43 67 0.93 13 44.4 179 129 57.85 26.6 196 1,835 59.95 1.09

56 93 2.02 145 1.11 25.05 18.66 12.1 5.34 7.72 1.21 760 0.43 69.05 0.93 13 44.4 180 129 60.7 26.85 197.8 1,850 59.95 1.09

55 91.3 2 141.5 1.11 24.9 18.6 11.94 5.16 7.71 1.21 750 0.415 66.95 0.92 13 43.6 176 129 57.5 26.5 195.3 1,835 59.1 1.09

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS BASIC ENERGY BOGO MEDELLIN 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 EUROMED FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG GINEBRA GREENERGY HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LMG CHEMICALS MACAY HLDG MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO MG HLDG PEPSI COLA PETROENERGY 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

38.8 16.08 0.69 1.29 0.242 90.5 2.62 14.1 120 9.2 18.5 31.5 71.5 77 2.04 6.05 6 8.95 15.7 10.86 7.1 1.65 24.7 80.2 47.8 2.55 14.14 8.12 1.57 220 5.35 8.26 20.5 13.28 18.46 363.4 0.203 1.73 4.38 5 10.5 2.32 10.9 32.05 5.35 5.1 1.84 2.4 1 11.64 90 7.3 0.123 1.11 158 2.42 1.1 1.2

39.5 16.1 0.69 1.31 0.25 108.9 2.63 14.1 120 9.2 19 31.5 71.5 77 2.04 6.05 6.15 8.95 15.7 11 7.18 1.65 24.8 80.35 48 2.58 14.5 8.12 1.57 222.8 5.41 8.26 20.5 13.28 18.7 370.8 0.204 1.81 4.38 5.03 10.5 2.39 11.08 32.75 5.35 5.13 1.97 2.4 1.04 11.8 92 7.48 0.123 1.11 160.8 2.42 1.14 1.23

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

0.89 53.5 10.9 0.75 6.99 13.24 1.17 895 3.58 6.63 8.5 13.68 4.01 5.2 0.221 838 5.82 73.6 5.5 0.53 4.39 14.48 0.58 4.89 0.039 1.27 175 998 0.88 1.27 228.8 0.226 0.235

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

15.04 0.84 10.02 1.91 0.89 49.65 2.13 4.7 6.35 0.53 0.73 0.83 0.216 0.385 9.72 20.25 0.45 1.6 1.2 4.47 0.3 0.41

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PHIL INFRADEV PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND VISTAMALLS

1.38 0.375 2.05 24.15 2.34 3.26 36.5 2.59 0.95 7.73 5.73

1.38 0.385 2.06 24.9 2.34 3.27 37.2 2.68 0.95 7.73 5.85

1.34 0.375 2 24.05 2.32 3.26 36.1 2.56 0.9 7.62 5.67

1.38 0.38 2.06 24.5 2.32 3.27 37.2 2.57 0.93 7.72 5.84

3,134,000 50,000 231,000 1,007,900 70,000 25,000 8,233,100 1,865,000 1,483,000 2,536,500 25,800

4,262,520 18,900 466,830 24,734,610 163,360 81,670 304,938,225 4,883,820 1,348,490 19,552,528 147,262

1,228,290 5,691,930 -119,190 81,670 60,225,430 -227,480 -82,800 -722,085 -

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

10.28 18.32 1.71 0.63 0.046 18.24 2.37 11.28 0.055 92.55 7.21 7 2.01 9.9 1,835 5.24 423 10.84 1.6 1.77 122.5 0.111 4.97 14.18 3.05 0.9 19.02 3.45 2.35 1.14 2.87 2.85 8 4.82 140 3.02 1,128 0.73 0.55 40.4 79 9.08 2.75 0.68 0.325 0.67 16.58

10.3 18.36 1.79 0.65 0.046 18.24 2.37 11.52 0.056 93 7.21 7 2.11 9.9 1,859 5.24 435 12.48 1.6 1.77 122.9 0.111 5.09 14.18 3.05 0.94 19.04 3.45 2.39 1.14 2.97 2.96 8.24 4.97 140 3.07 1,145 0.73 0.56 40.4 79 9.15 2.85 0.71 0.33 0.7 16.58

10 18.2 1.7 0.61 0.045 18.24 2.31 10.72 0.055 90 7.2 6.83 2 9.68 1,827 5.2 422.4 10.84 1.59 1.77 120 0.11 4.9 13.6 3.01 0.9 18.8 3.45 2.35 1.14 2.71 2.82 8 4.82 140 3.01 1,127 0.7 0.54 38.95 78.9 9.08 2.69 0.68 0.325 0.67 16.4

SERVICES 10 18.36 1.78 0.62 0.045 18.24 2.31 10.86 0.056 90 7.2 6.88 2.11 9.68 1,830 5.22 432 12.48 1.59 1.77 120.4 0.11 5.03 13.6 3.01 0.94 18.8 3.45 2.37 1.14 2.71 2.82 8.24 4.82 140 3.04 1,132 0.7 0.55 39.05 79 9.12 2.82 0.68 0.325 0.67 16.5

10,600 44,400 153,000 15,033,000 6,700,000 800 22,000 9,021,700 20,170,000 92,680 600 829,400 26,000 55,000 31,260 64,500 2,250 2,800 294,000 5,000 2,644,620 2,190,000 1,148,000 21,500 183,000 774,000 196,300 4,000 347,000 18,000 16,576,000 183,000 4,200 13,500 710 182,000 74,880 3,585,000 18,525,000 1,860,600 522,830 18,600 3,056,000 356,000 2,710,000 486,000 1,864,900

108,244 811,530 268,750 9,436,500 307,500 14,592 51,200 99,223,978 1,117,400 8,418,024 4,325 5,716,479 52,150 534,341 57,288,065 336,033 967,842 31,306 468,240 8,850 319,102,650 242,120 5,703,400 299,610 552,890 710,340 3,695,460 13,800 818,630 20,520 47,814,940 526,320 33,624 65,085 99,400 550,810 84,930,440 2,542,280 10,250,800 73,100,705 41,288,424.50 169,578 8,588,950 245,510 884,800 327,220 30,770,354

124,500 29,658,304 452,800 -2,960,412.50 -307,709 -29,100 -6,901,780 8,850 -45,724,554 191,810 2,720 48,480 -136,800 -126,892 73,020 -14,209,040 8,640 8,000 98,000 -63,710 22,401,690 -23,480 -26,400 -43,520,370 4,906,137 4,257,430 16,250 -7,836,718

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

0.0016 1.19 2.51 11.3 2.64 0.28 7.72 1.67 0.239 0.106 0.11 0.0091 0.01 1.11 4.05 1.08 0.87 0.012 0.012 8.83 3.78 11.7 22.5 0.0064

0.0017 1.2 2.51 11.8 2.68 0.28 7.8 1.68 0.241 0.108 0.11 0.0091 0.01 1.14 4.13 1.15 0.9 0.012 0.012 8.83 3.78 11.98 22.85 0.0064

0.0016 1.15 2.51 11.06 2.56 0.28 7.69 1.64 0.232 0.105 0.11 0.0091 0.01 1.11 3.95 1.08 0.87 0.011 0.012 8.51 3.76 11.58 22.05 0.0064

MINING & OIL 0.0017 69,000,000 1.17 455,000 2.51 57,000 11.72 6,000 2.65 6,577,000 0.28 100,000 7.8 7,900 1.65 3,882,000 0.239 590,000 0.108 1,460,000 0.11 20,000 0.0091 1,000,000 0.01 145,100,000 1.14 72,000 3.96 10,602,000 1.08 113,000 0.9 71,000 0.011 500,000 0.012 3,200,000 8.51 377,300 3.77 281,000 11.86 354,000 22.8 1,023,800 0.0064 5,000,000

116,300 531,430 143,070 67,440 17,308,420 28,000 60,981 6,432,360 137,920 153,850 2,200 9,100 1,451,000 80,300 42,385,960 122,810 62,300 5,600 38,400 3,285,704 1,058,730 4,166,840 23,222,435 32,000

0 -10,410,720 820,380 -694,600 -117,630 832,480 -4,558,315 -

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

17.8 502 505 101.1 101 107.5 500.5 5.08 994 99.55 0.99 101.5 1,001 1,030 1,080 108 1.4 995 78.25 75.1 75.6 76 76

17.8 502 505 101.1 101 107.5 501 5.14 999 99.65 0.99 101.5 1,001 1,058 1,081 108 1.4 995 78.25 75.4 75.6 76 76

17.6 502 505 101.1 101 107.5 500.5 5.08 994 97 0.99 101.5 1,000 1,025 1,080 108 1.4 995 77.9 75 75.6 75.8 76

PREFERRED 17.6 22,500 502 80 505 10,180 101.1 1,000 101 5,390 107.5 540 500.5 20,000 5.14 42,700 999 4,020 97 60,000 0.99 147,000 101.5 230 1,000 5,000 1,056 10,550 1,081 1,560 108 750 1.4 2,000 995 2,010 77.9 37,940 75 79,810 75.6 1,200 75.8 12,760 76 8,900

399,180 40,160 5,140,900 101,100 544,390 58,050 10,010,025 219,472 3,997,280 5,846,351 145,530 23,345 5,000,230 11,136,250 1,685,315 81,000 2,800 1,999,950 2,956,214 5,994,431.50 90,720 969,078 676,400

-125,570 181,442 499,500 -

LR WARRANT

1.52

1.52

1.52

WARRANTS 1.52 22,000

33,440

-

2,242,055 1,875,791 1,262,930

36,612 -40,580 -2,810

1,035,364

-12,914

MS ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH XURPAS

6.9 10.14 0.94

6.9 10.4 0.94

6.6 9.95 0.92

FIRST METRO ETF

117.3

117.4

117

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL

SHARES

11,660,221

INDUSTRIAL

72,055,672

HOLDING FIRMS

97,832,423

PROPERTY

124,634,920

SERVICES

1,431,446,009

MINING & OIL

250,596,807

GRAND TOTAL

1,990,115,900

6.8 10.1 0.93

SME

333,600 186,400 1,361,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 117 8,840

VALUE 1,804.77 (up) 1.22 795,532,054.35 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,565.13 (up) 8.41 1,024,913,924.84 HOLDING FIRMS 7,595.33 (down) 128.11 1,584,833,651.41 PROPERTY 4,101.27 (up) 32.65 SERVICES 1,526.50 (down) 17.52 1,319,100,340.52 MINING & OIL 9,010.69 (up) 42.29 8,095,233,004.56 PSEI 7,779.07 (down) 40.15 100,918,555.078 All Shares Index 4,712.87 (down) 15.94 12,926,947,726.76 Gainers: 71; Losers: 125; Unchanged: 52; Total: 248

B3

Ayala Land to sell bonds worth P10b next month

By Jenniffer B. Austria MAJOR property developer Ayala Land Inc. plans to raise another P10 billion in fixed rate bonds in November.

ALI chief finance officer Augusto Bengzon said in an interview Monday at the sidelines of the listing of the company’s P3-billion fixed rate bonds with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. the company would offer 2- and 7.25- year bonds to partially fund programmed capital spending in 2019.

Bengzon said BPI Capital Corp. would be the lead underwriter of the offering and China Banking Corp. as one of the underwriters.

“This will be a unique offering because it will be dual tenor issuance with two-year bond together with a 7.25 year bond,” Bengzon said.

“There is demand for shorter issuance. So we will have the flexibility to determine how much will go to 2-year bonds and to the 7.25-year bonds,” he added.

The planned P10-billion bond offering will be third tranche under ALI’s P50-billion bond shelf registration program approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in April.

The company will use the net proceeds from the P10-billion bond offering to partially fund the company’s capital spending plan in 2019.

ALI has earmarked P130 billion in capital expenditures this year to primarily fund expansion of malls, hotels and offices projects across its mixed-use estates.

Bengzon said the company also remained on track with its target of P130 billion worth of launches for 2019.

ALI launched only 13 projects in the first half of the year, with a total sales value of P19.5 billion.

Bengzon said October and November would be very busy months of ALI after lining up several launches in the last quarter of the year.

“Similar to last year, we see more launches in the last two quarters of the year. The fourth quarter particularly will be busy in terms of residential launches,” Bengzon said.

Meanwhile, Bengzon said the results of the recent real estate survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas validated the company’s continued positive outlook on the property sector.

“Price appreciation continues to be there year-on-year as condominium prices moved by close to 10 percent.

In terms of area, Metro Manila projects moved up by five percent. So it is a healthy appreciation,” Bengzon said.

SEC approves P10-b debt note of Aboitiz Power

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Securities and Exchange Commission allowed Aboitiz Power Corp. to issue the third tranche of its P30 billion worth of peso-denominated, fixed-rate retail bonds amounting to P10 billion.

Aboitiz Power disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday it received the certificate of permit to offer securities for sale on September 27 from the SEC. The bonds were registered under the shelf registration program of SEC on June 19, 2017.

The third tranche bonds, with a principal amount of P7 billion and an oversubscription option of up to P5 billion, will be issued on October 14. The offering period will start on September 30 and end on October 4.

Aboitiz Power engaged BDO Capital & Investment Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp. as joint issue managers, and BDO Capital & Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., SB Capital & Investment Corp. and PNB Capital & Investment Corp. as joint bookrunners and joint lead underwriter of the bonds.

BDO Unibank-Trust and Investments Group has been appointed as trustee, while Philippine Depository & Trust Corp. will act as the registrar of the bonds.

The bonds received an issue credit rating of “PRS Aaa” with a stable outlook from the Philippine Ratings Services Corp.on August 30.

Aboitiz Power plans to list the bonds with Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corporation.

“Aboitiz Power will use the proceeds of the Third Tranche Bonds for (i) repayment of its short-term loan obligations and (ii) general corporate purposes,” the company said in an earlier disclosure.

The company issued the first tranche worth P3 billion on July 3, 2017 and the second tranche in the amount of P10.2 billion on October 25, 2018.

IN BRIEF Panda Express set to open 1st PH outlet JOLLIBEE Foods Corp., the biggest fastfood chain in the country, will open the first Panda Express restaurant in SM Megamall in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Jollibee did not disclose the opening date of the Panda Express outlet, America’s largest family-owned and operated Chinese American restaurant concept.

“As it stretches from coast to coast and around the world, the Panda Express will soon arrive in Manila. Finally, Filipinos will get to enjoy dining in America’s favorite Chinese restaurant,” Jollibee said in a statement.

The location of the first Panda Express was finalized one year after Jollibee formed a 50:50 joint venture with Panda Restaurant Group Inc. to bring Panda Express restaurants to the Philippines.

The partners plan to focus on developing five stores in Metro Manila in the initial phase.

The two restaurant companies aim to deliver exceptional dining experiences through their shared foundation and commitment to their dedicated employees, loyal guests, and great operations. Jenniffer B. Austria

BIR tapping PayMaya to speed up payments THE Bureau of Internal Revenue tapped PayMaya Philippines Inc. to provide faster remittance of tax payments to the government.

“Having more digital payment options is part of the government’s efforts to drive ease of doing business in the country and help make tax payments more convenient for Filipinos. With our partnership with PayMaya, even those who are not within reach of a bank branch can make their tax payments on time, wherever they may be,” said BIR Commissioner Cesar Dulay.

With agencies like the BIR opening digital payment channels for their constituents, PayMaya founder and chief executive Orlando Vea said the quality and efficiency of government services were vastly improved to help drive the country’s competitiveness.

“We at PayMaya are proud to be partners with the government in not just improving service delivery, but also ensuring the transparency of services with the help of digital technology,” he said.

The partnership between BIR and the PayMaya is in support of the government’s efforts to digitize many of its services.

Darwin G. Amojelar

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

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

Business

PCC clears Pasay reclamation Megaworld spending P1.8b T to build a mall

By Othel V. Campos

he Philippine Competition Commission said Monday it approved the joint venture between Pasay Harbor City Corp. and the city government of Pasay on the 265-hectare land reclamation project in Pasay City.

Under the deal, the Pasay City government allocated rights to reclaim its municipal waters while Pasay Harbor City will fully finance all raw land reclamation works and expenses.

The transaction marked the first merger review by the commission in-

volving a local government unit as a party to the joint venture.

Pasay Harbor City is a partnership composed of Udenna Development Corp. of businessman Dennis Uy, Ulticon Builders Inc. and China Harbour Engineering Company.

Pasay Harbor City submitted an unsolicited proposal to develop a part of Manila Bay within Pasay City’s domain.

PCC said in a decision on Sept. 26 that the transaction would not likely lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant market.

It said that a new market for commercial and residential real estate in Pasay City would rise in the reclaimed area.

Pasay Harbor City and the Sangguni-

ang Panlungsod ng Pasay signed a joint venture agreement on the reclamation project as early as November 2017.

The project is expected to cost P62 billion once it is completed within four years from the date of approval.

PCC, the country’s anti-trust body, is mandated under the Philippine Competition Act to review mergers and acquisitions to ensure that these deals will not harm the interest of consumers.

It received 196 merger transactions by local and international companies, approved 184 of them and blocked 1 anti-competitive merger with overall value of P3.21 trillion.

Aside from PCC’s clearance, the reclamation project needs the approval of the Philippine Reclamation Authority and the National Economic and Development Authority.

Salceda pushes bill to ease investments ALBAY Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda is pushing for reforms in the country’s restrictive laws on foreign direct investment to enable the Philippines to perform at par with its Asian neighbors, attract more foreign investors and help further expand its gross domestic product.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has ranked the Philippines with the most restrictive laws on FDIs, among the 10 ASEAN members, and separately, in 35 other countries in 2018.

Salceda, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said the Duterte administration recently achieved the “highest ever FDI percentage of GDP” in history, pushed by structural reforms and its Build-BuildBuild Program, but still lagged behind Cambodia and Vietnam—both ravaged by protracted wars over decades—due to restrictive laws.

The lawmaker presented three bills pushing for amendments to the Public Service Act and the Foreign Investments Act, House bills 78 and 1221 which he both authored, and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act which he co-authored, to help boost the country’s FDI performance.

DICT set to provide free Wi-Fi to 104,000 public sites by 2022

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Department of Information and Communications Technology said it expects to provide free Internet access to more than 100,000 public sites by 2022.

“By 2022, we aim to have provided free Wi-Fi in approximately 104,000 public sites through different strategies such as partnership with the private sector and tapping satellite broadband services, among others,” DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said.

The DICT teamed up with San Juan City for the rollout of 35 Internet hotspots with 400 Mbps bandwidth through DICT’s Free Wi-Fi for All program.

Residents of San Juan can now avail of free Wi-Fi in hotspots in thirty-five sites for the initial phase of the rollout, covering public schools, hospitals, parks and other similar and strategic areas within the city.

The agency said of more than a hundred total Wi-Fi sites marked throughout 18 barangays indicated in the partnership, three of these sites were already operational at San Juan City Hall, San Juan Library and San Juan Mini Park.

“Pursuant to RA 10929 and the president’s marching order, we are strengthening our efforts in the roll-out of the program through partnerships with LGUs such as here in San Juan,” Honasan said.

“We are looking forward to installing more Wi-Fi sites not just here in San Juan but in many more cities and municipalities of the country in the coming years,” he said.

San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said all public places in barangay would have free Wi-Fi access.

WASTE MANAGEMENT. ABS-CBN Foundation declares Resorts World Manila as the country’s first green integrated resort to sign up for the foundation’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment project. Attending the signing of the agreement at the ballroom of Hilton Manila are (from left) Hotel Okura Manila-PCO chief engineer Macarthy Olaveria, Sheraton Manila Hotel general manager Anna Liza Vergara, Envirocare Management Precision Inc. president and chief executive Ariel Entico, RWM chief operating officer Stephen Reilly, ABS-CBN Foundation chief finance and services officer Angelita Lara, Holiday Inn Express general manager Elpidio Beloso and Hilton Manila-PCO engineer Austin Cabrido.

CITIRA bill expected to generate 1.5m new jobs—DOF official

By Julito G. Rada THE Finance Department said the implementation of the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act or CITIRA bill will generate 1.5 million jobs, debunking the claims by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines that it could lead to job losses.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua challenged the JFC to look more closely at the proposed second package of the comprehensive tax reform program, instead of prematurely fretting over imagined job losses.

Chua also called on the chambers’ leaders to support their claims about the domestic jobs that would ostensibly be affected or lost once the CITIRA bill was signed into law by providing the names of the companies and the number of jobs to be affected in each company.

His statement was in reaction to the claims of John Forbes, representing the JFC in the Senate committee hearing last week, that the passage of the CITI-

RA bill would lead to the loss of jobs.

Forbes is a senior adviser at the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, a JFC member-organization.

“Our numbers are transparent. Companies will reasonably invest at least 50 percent of their additional money from the reduction of the corporate income tax rate in growing their business. This will mean more jobs—a total of 1.5 million jobs actually. Morever, the new menu of incentives for investors, as proposed in CITIRA, will also encourage job creation and upskilling,” Chua said.

“We hear them. We have been listening to them and asking them in almost every meeting for two years now to give us more details on what kinds of jobs they are referring to, in which industries, and in which areas of the country, so we can help,” Chua said.

“Secretary Lopez of the Department of Trade and Industry, who chairs both PEZA [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] and BOI [Board of Investments], already said

that we are open to continue supporting footloose industries. So why won’t they give us more details on their claims? Their lack of transparency is a little bit suspicious; don’t you think?” Chua said.

He also challenged the members of the foreign chambers currently receiving incentives to consider and calculate for themselves what they stand to gain from CITIRA. He said the Finance Department wanted to transform the incentive system to reward job creation, among other activities that are directly beneficial to the Filipino people.

“For instance, the highly labor-intensive industries can avail of the superior incentives in the form of an additional 50-percent deduction on labor, under CITIRA. Some companies we have met claim that labor accounts for 60 percent of their revenues. So instead of deducting around 60 percent from revenues, they can deduct 90 percent and reduce their taxable income. Under CITIRA, the firm gets a performance-based incentive that guarantees jobs,” he said.

in Pampanga

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. said it is spending P1.8 billion to build a flagship mall in Central Luzon.

Megaworld said Capital Mall, a three-level full-scale mall with gross floor area of 33,000 square meters, would rise in its 35.6-hectare township development in San Fernando, Pampanga.

It said construction would start by the second half of 2020 and would be completed by 2022.

“We are curating a new and unique design concept for this mall. As a tribute to the legacy of Pampanga’s oldest sugar mill, we will build the Capital Mall with its rich cultural heritage in mind,” Megaworld chief strategy officer Kevin Tan said.

“Other recovered portions of the sugar mill such as the giant bull gears, sprockets and mechanical parts will become part of the mall’s interiors,” he said.

Capital Mall is highlighted by its unique architecture that mimics the sugar mill, reminiscent of the original structure that stands on the same spot of the township.

The area in which the township is being built used to be the site of the historic sugar central of Pampanga Sugar Development Company which was built a century ago.

The mall, which will be operated and managed under the Megaworld Lifestyle Malls brand, will also feature the re-created chimneys of the PASUDECO Central. The bricks recovered from the original sugar mill will be used for mall’s interior walls.

Capital Mall will have a landscaped garden enclave of restaurants and cafes surrounded by water ponds and century-old trees.

It will also have four state-ofthe-art cinemas, a food hall and a shophouse strip.

“Even the food hall will sport an industrial architecture highlighted by more mementos of the sugar central.

The cinemas will also feature the 1960s charm and ambience,” said Tan. Megaworld has 17 commercial and mall properties in its portfolio.

Megaworld said that over the next three years, it would spend P10 billion to open eight new malls.

The eight new malls will add 200,000 square meters of shopping space to its Megaworld’s portfolio located in Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Boracay, Cavite and Pampanga.

Inflation rate likely dropped below 1% in September—Bangko Sentral estimate THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday inflation rate in September likely decelerated to as low as 0.6 percent from 1.7 percent in August because of lower rice prices and electricity rates.

An estimate by the BSP Department of Economic Research showed that the September 2019 inflation settled within the 0.6 percent to 1.4 percent range.

“The continued decline in rice prices and the downward adjustment in electricity rates could be offset by the recent uptick in fuel prices as well as higher prices of selected food items due to weather disturbances during the month,” it said.

“Moving forward, the BSP will remain watchful of economic and financial developments that could affect the inflation environment in line with its commitment to price stability conducive to long-term economic growth,” it said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority will release the official September inflation rate next week.

The continued deceleration in inflation prompted the Bangko Sentral to cut the benchmark interest rates last week by 25 basis points to 4 percent.

The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also cut to 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

The following day, the board also cut the reserve requirement ratios of banks from 16 percent to 15 percent in a bid to infuse more liquidity into the financial system.

ING Bank said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was expected to maintain the current policy stance until the end of the year.

ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa noted that with data pointing to inflation settling at 2.5 percent for the year, Diokno delivered in the second half a 100-bps reduction in bank reserves for the fourth quarter.

Julito G. Rada

ONLINE REGISTRATION. The Department of Trade and Industry teams up with GCash, Paymaya and Land Bank of the Philippines to provide online payment options for business name registration. The process can be completed online through the Business Name Registration System Next Generation portal at https://bnrs.dti.gov.ph/ and fees can now be paid via GCash, Paymaya and Landbank’s LinkBiz portal. Signing the agreement are (from left) Globe Fintech Solutions assistant vice president Ferdie Perez, LandBank executive vice president Liduvino Geron, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon and Paymaya chief executive Orlando Vea.

Life

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

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

By Diana B. Noche

T

HERE is a certain raggedy charm about people who are past 70 years old.

They have long ago accepted their oddities and predictabilities. Their drooping spare tires, their pendulous chins. The child-like hobble in old age.

The shuffling of careful, unsteady steps, like a toddler with a loaded diaper.

The hair thinned and grayed, a not too pleasant image in the mirror, but which they have dismissed, though reluctantly, as something inevitably coming. After all, a guarded optimist says, it’s what’s inside the cranium that matters, not what’s on top of it. And wrinkles, they lend character to that old face.

At 70, the body slowly simmers down.

There is a wide fascinating range of possibilities to live our life instead of just imagining it until the diminished years of retirement end. Why wait till the body is riddled with cancer and diabetes to learn how to live? Our golden years can be truly golden.

Other people we know are alone, with frozen sense, unanimated, and emotionally flat. They lead pepless lives except for a sprinkling struggle against pain where analgesics and a regimen of therapy and pills are the common weapons to fight the inconvenience.

At 70, depression sinks in. Dementia.

Intermittent incoherence. Inability to locate pertinent words. Difficulty connecting faces to their names. Melancholia. Alienation. Sluggishness. The past and the present collapsing all together.

The family learns to live with it.

We’ve done our bit; we should indulge ourselves for a change. Turn all the conventions upside down. Be naughty. Be nice. Be bad. Do a lot of social roaring.

Go to friends’ birthday parties, or in-

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

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Sweet Seventy

So you’ve added weight. See it as ballast against life’s windswept weather.

Who cares now if you haven’t been on a diet these last few years? You can’t expect yourself to be a snug fit in a swimsuit at your age. Love those bulges! You’re still a lovable, adorable, plodding Colossus with grizzled chin whiskers and soft lisps from the metal in your false teeth when you speak.

A precocious widowhood should neither come across as the start of a long sadness nor be an excuse to surrendering yourself to become an embittered shell in a dark corner. It would surprise you when you realize that you stand at least two inches taller when you don’t hunch your shoulders.

Move on, up, around. Explore both uncharted roads and big highways, even the fantasy realms, of the stub end of your life.

Live. Dream on, big and with optimism. Take risks. They add zip to what you’d do. They can erase the fogginess of many years past. Time is a thing we all run out of. Now is the perfect time to just live life. *** October 1 to 7 is Filipino Elderly Week per Proclamation No. 470 of Sept. 26, 1994. It aims to increase awareness of the different issues concerning older people.

LIVE LIFE. Research shows 70s tend to be the happiest decade of a person’s life as those in this age bracket often know that bad times pass

Additional photos

by Diana B. Noche

and good time pass—which make them more precious.

vite them to your own. Blow the many candles on the cake and wish for more birthdays to come. Keep hips moving.

Shock people and shock yourself, too.

Get yourself a makeover. Wear makeup, heavier mascara, redder lips, high heels, Marten’s boots. As for the men, wear a pony tail or a Mohawk. Style your hair into alien shapes. Never mind if the hair is a halo of white—you’ll look more gentlemanly and erudite that

way. And if you need to, fudge your age by 10 years. Make each morning an agenda of adventures. Make up for lost salad days.

Look up an old flame. First love never dies. Passion does not wither with age.

The heart’s quest for romance never ebbs. Refuse to die of a broken heart.

Exchange valentines. Don’t die longing for companionship. Consider mental phantasms of escape. Boracay! Disney-

land! Hot air balloon rides!

One of the pleasures of being 70 is being free. It’s a freedom, not in a physical way, but a liberating of the mind from old middle-age insecurities. The children have all grown up and are doing well. The grandkids are impossible to dislike even if they spew their taho on the floor. They adore you. Grandchildren are born embracers so you get welcoming and warm.

There’s no façade in hugging them back.

Senior citizens watch movies for free at Newport Cinema on Oct. 1-2.

Free movies for seniors, PWD

Attend social gatherings such as birthdays and high school reunions; reminisce about old days.

Sweethearts till the autumn years.

ACCORDING to the World Health Organization, people with a sedentary lifestyle have a 20 to 30 percent increased risk of death, which can be due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, heart diseases, high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes.

The foremost answer to solving this problem is to get moving and start working out. However, the drive to get off the couch is hard to attain for some as they are discouraged with workouts that are unrelatable, boring, and with no

BELOVED senior citizens and persons with disabilities are treated to free movies at Newport Cinema in Resorts World Manila on Oct. 1-2.

The free movie is in time for the observance of the Filipino Elderly Week this October.

Senior citizens and PWDs simply need to present their government-issued IDs at the counters of Newport Cinemas 2 and 4. Proxies or letters with authorization upon presentation of the IDs will not be honored.

Senior citizens and PWDs who want to avail of free movie tickets can also watch multiple movies within the 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. screening period, but must finish movies prior to claiming the next ones. Accommodations for screenings are also subject to availability of seats and will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Regular ticket prices apply to any companion of the seniors or PWDs. direct benefit for what they need.

Enter, functional fitness. This incorporates movements in the workouts that carry over to an individual’s daily functions and real-life activities—whether they are picking up something from the floor, sprinting to an elevator, or carrying something to a cabinet overhead.

It is designed to be customizable; complex movements can be learned by scaling the level up or down, depending on the person’s fitness capacity and experience.

Turn to C2 Squats benefit the lower part of the body, strengthening hips, thighs, glutes, and hamstrings.

Functional fitness Functional fitness workouts utilize deadlift, a movement that works almost all muscles in the body.

Life

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

Doctors recommend cleft corrective surgery for patients as early as 3-4 months old.

The gift of smile The Alliance for Smiles brings a group of surgeons and other medical practitioners to conduct free corrective surgery in the Philippines.

Several groups work together to give the gift of smile to those with cleft lips and palates.

C

ment symposium.

LEFT lip and palate hinders many to find their smile.

The symposium was co-organized Thankfully, several groups and NGOs work together to make

by The Noordhoff Craniofacial Founit easier for everyone to live life smiling. dation of the Philippines and hosted

Surgical mission

out of every 1,000 children born in the country. In 2016 there were 1,731,289 births in the Philippines, which means that there were about 3,350 Filipinos born with the condition just in that year.

Doctors from Alliance for Smiles recommend cleft lip corrective surgery for patients as early as 3-4 months old; when there is a cleft palate or both cleft palate and lip, surgery must be done within 18 to 24 months.

The Alliance for Smiles medical mission is at Rizal Medical Center.

An international team of surgeons is currently here in the Philippines to give the gift of smile to 100 patients that need free cleft lip and palate surgery.

The Alliance for Smiles, a nongovernment organization committed to treating those afflicted with cleft lip and palate in developing countries, has brought the medical practitioners to the country. They are performing free corrective surgery on 100 underprivileged patients today until Oct. 12.

In the Philippines today, many poor children with uncorrected cleft lips and Cleft management palates live in isolation. Most have difsymposium ficulty eating, hearing, breathing, and Smile Train, the world’s leading cleft most especially speaking. It is for this reason that cleft lip and palate corrective organization, brought together individuals involved in providing cleft care for surgery needs to be done early.

Cleft lip and palate occurs in 1.94 “It Starts with A Smile” cleft manage-

by GSK. The event is intended to improve the knowledge and proficiency of medical practitioners and individuals involved in providing comprehensive cleft care for children.

Sharing the same realization that a child with a cleft often requires more than just surgery to be fully treated, the symposium was joined by representatives from the country’s esteemed medical associations including the Association of Philippine Orthodontists, Philippine Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, Philippine Association of Speech Pathologist, and the Philippine Pediatric Dentists Society, Inc. Through organized panel discussions moderated by medical practitioners, “It Starts with A Smile” provided a platform for the attendees to share, inform,

and be educated more extensively on cleft care treatment for children. Topics discussed included preparing the child for surgery, anesthesia concerns, and primary cleft lip and palate surgery for infants and toddlers.

For children age 3 to 12 years old, speech evaluation after primary Palatoplasty, dental health, and bone grafting of cleft patients were thoroughly discussed. For those who have cleft lip or palate age 13 and up, orthodontics before and after Orthognathic surgery, assessment and considerations of the surgery, cleft management and Restorative/Prosthodontic treatment were tackled.

“We are proud to support this symposium, an effective event to educate local medical practitioners and individuals involved in providing efficient cleft care treatment to better the lives of those patients in need,” said Ritesh Pandey, GSK general manager for GSK Consumer Healthcare Philippines.

Alliance for Smiles mission director Mary Liu

Sports retailer reaches out to Tahanang Walang Hagdanan MULTI-BRAND sports retailer Toby’s Sports reaches out to Tahanang Walang Hagdanan to provide its residents sports equipment and apparel.

Toby Claudio, president of Quorum International Inc., the parent company of Toby’s Sports, recently met with members of TWH and the group talked about their individual stories and bonded over their shared love for sports.

“Toby’s Sports believes in giving everyone a chance to play sports and live an active lifestyle, no matter their background. And I’m really so happy that the TWH team sees the value that sports can bring to their amazing community,” said Claudio.

Through its CSR arm, the Toby’s Youth Sports Foundation, the retailer donated a variety of sports equipment, footwear, apparel, and a Ping Pong Table that brought so much delight to the TWH community.

The non-stock, nongovernment organization Tahanang Walang Hagdanan has, for the past 45 years, been providing programs and services focused on the improvement of the quality of life of persons with disabilities, especially the orthopedically impaired, by providing training, educational assistance, mobility aid assistance, and livelihood.

The TWH compound has four sheltered workshops that feature different handicrafts. There’s a Metalcraft workshop where they manufacture customized wheelchairs, canes, and walkers; a Woodcraft workshop that produces educational materials, Montessori items, PT-OT equipment, novelty items, corporate giveaways, and furniture like chairs, cabinet, tables, etc.; and Sewing and Packaging Services departments that provide livelihood to persons with disabilities.

From left: P&G corporate communications manager Charm Banzuelo, Gretchen Ho, P&G corporate communications head Anna Legarda, Fox Networks Group Philippines general manager Jude Turcuato, World Vision national director Rommel Fuerte, National Solid Waste commissioner Crispian Lao, and Malabon City Mayor Antolin ‘Len’ Oreta.

‘Docuseries’ rallies citizens to address global issues A SIX-PART docuseries raises awareness of extreme poverty, inequality, and sustainability issues to mobilize global citizens to take action and drive meaningful and lasting change.

The “ACTIVATE: The Global Citizen Movement” by Procter and Gamble and National Geographic is co-produced by Global Citizen and RadicalMedia.

Each episode delves into a different issue connected to the root causes of extreme poverty, including sustainable sourcing, criminalization of poverty, disaster relief, girls’ education, plastic waste, and the global water crisis.

Procter and Gamble Philippines premieres the fifth episode in the country on October 4. The “ACTIVATE: Ending Plastic Pollution” episode shows the critical role of multi-sectoral collaboration to start solving the complex problem of solid waste, where all must play their part and the active participation of all citizens is vital.

In this episode, Global Citizen ambassadors and advocates Pharrell Williams and Darren Criss push for governments, corporations, and individuals to step up and do their role in solving the ocean plastic waste problem.

Shot in different cities in the Philippines, Criss travels and witnesses firsthand the impact of plastic waste on people living in poverty and calls on global

Anna Legarda presents the Head & Shoulders bottle made with recovered beach plastic waste.

manufactured over 1 million bottles with recycled beach plastic.

Safeguard, meanwhile, is ditching plastic overwraps used for its bar soap multi-packs to use recycled paper board cartons. The company said this packaging change will reduce up to 8,500 kilometers worth of plastic packaging waste—approximately 1,000 times the length of Boracay island.

P&G and long-time partner World Vision Philippines are executing the second phase of “Pag-Asa sa Basura,” a school-based plastic collection program aimed at educating students and families, incentivizing their efforts, and executing proper plastic waste collection.

To date, nearly half a million sachets and almost 150,000 bottles have been collected under the program.

The ACTIVATE Partnership is a shared commitment National Geographic, P&G, and Global Citizen have made to leverage their collective influence, audience, and scale to raise wide awareness and inspire everyone to take action. It also illustrates experimentation with new content and distribution models, and new ways to mobilize viewers across the world.

citizens to urge their mayors to commit their cities to zero-waste future.

Experts describe the impact of plastic pollution on people in developing countries and the ways different stakeholders can work together to solve the problem.

For its part, P&G has already taken a step in addressing the growing beach plastic waste. Head & Shoulders, the leading anti-dandruff shampoo, has created shampoo bottles made with ACTIVATE episode 5 will premiere in post-consumer resins to reduce its eco- the Philippines on National Geographic footprint. Since 2017, the brand has on Oct. 4, Friday at 9:00 p.m.

Toby Sports representatives donate sports equipment and apparel to Tahanang Walang Hagdanan.

Functional...

From C1

When done the right way, functional fitness workouts can make everyday activities easier and help reduce risks of injury.

Functional fitness workouts utilize deadlift, a fundamental movement that works almost all muscles in the body.

The deadlift can be scaled down by utilizing kettle bells or dumbbells, or scaled up by adding up more weights using a barbell. Picking up a pen from the floor or moving a sack won’t be a sweat if deadlifts are incorporated in one’s workouts.

Another one is a squat, a simple exercise that can be done anywhere on

any available space. It benefits mostly the lower body, including hamstrings, calves, glutes, and thighs, and also strengthens core. Getting stronger in this movement will pain-proof waist and hips, a great preparation for those dreaded stairwells.

Sante Fitness Lab in Imus City, Cavite has a prime functional fitness hub.

Its FitCamp class utilizes functional fitness movements, which are ideal for fat loss, strengthening, and general conditioning. It also caters to athletes who need strength and conditioning training.

The facility boasts premium and high standard equipment such as Olympic grade barbells, platforms, manual treadmill, cable machines, rower, free weights, and speed and agility tools.

Go to santefitnesslab.com to know more.

Entertainment

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

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nickie.standard@gmail.com

XOXO, Psalms David, Bryan Chong ink contracts with GMA Music GMA Music welcomed The Clash alumni Riel, Dani, Lyra, and Mel --collectively known as XOXO—together with Psalms David and Brian Chong to its roster of talents as they signed separate recording deals on Sept. 20.

The newly-launched girl group XOXO aspires to make their fans even prouder with their performances now that they are officially part of GMA Music.

Riel, dubbed as XOXO’s ‘Diva,’ extended her gratitude to their avid supporters, “We feel super blessed because finally, we are one step closer to our dreams.”

Dani, the ‘Fierce and Sexy’ member, expressed her enthusiasm on their new journey, “We’re so happy and excited for what’s ahead of us. We are grateful for this chance and we promise to give it our all.”

Lyra, the ‘Tough girl’ of the group, still finds it surreal to have gone this far, “We didn’t expect that we would be given this kind if opportunity. We’re super happy and thankful.”

To further enhance their stage presence

I

From left: Gigi Santiago-Lara, Simoun Ferrer, XOXO, Rene Salta, and Kedy Sanchez

and vocal prowess, Mel, the ‘Sweet girl’, shared what they do to constantly improve their craft, “ Mas marami pa po kaming pinagsasanayan, araw-araw nagre-rehearse kami, ‘di lang sa pagkanta kundi pati rin po sa pagsayaw. Kailangan po na we have the stamina in all our numbers.”

Meanwhile, Psalms is excited

to kick off his recording career with GMA Music, “I’m excited to have my own single and do the shoot for a music video. The listeners can expect different genres like pop, R&B, and ballad from my songs.”

In addition, he also shared that he hopes to collaborate with one of the members of ‘The Clash’ panel, Asia’s Romantic

Balladeer Christian Bautista, “Siya po talaga ang dream kong maka-duet kahit sobrang kinakabahan ako to sing in front of him kasi isa po siya sa mga tinitingala kong artists.”

On the other hand, Bryan is grateful to all his fans who continue to support his music. According to him, he produces music based from his experiences in

life so the listeners should prepare for heartfelt songs, “Kailangan po kapag makikinig kayo ng ilalabas naming music, maglalabas po kayo ng tissue dahil hugot po talaga. Siguradong kukurot sa inyong mga puso ang ilalabas naming mga kanta.”

GMA Music Managing Director Rene Salta sees a bright future for each of the newly-signed artists, “The label is excited to become their platform in creating heartfelt and powerful music that will connect us even more with the audience. Napaka-gagaling ng mga batang ito at sila ang kinabukasan ng ating musika.”

Present in the contract signings were GMA Music Managing Director Rene Salta, GMA Music A&R Manager Kedy Sanchez, GMA Senior Assistant Vice President for Alternative Productions Gigi SantiagoLara, GMA Artist Center Assistant Vice President and Head for Talent Imaging and Marketing Unit Simoun Ferrer, GMA Artist Center Senior Talent ManagerTracy Garcia, and Bryan Chong’s manager, David Bhowie Cabawatan.

Why Joshua went solo at ABS-CBN Ball

T WAS noticeable that in the recently-concluded ABSCBN Ball, Joshua Garcia was all by himself. Just like Bea Alonzo and Julia Barretto, the young actor opted to attend the traditional glitzy function alone. He wasn’t with someone unlike the past year when he graced the same event with former girlfriend Julia in tow.

“It was my personal choice not to be with someone in this year’s ball. I’m just happy to be in the event even if I was alone. I just looked forward to enjoying the evening upon arrival and I did,” he avers.

For the young actor, there is more meaning and significance in this year’s edition of the star-studded ball.

“We have a beneficiary, the Bantay Bata 163. The celebration is more meaningful because it’s for a good cause. That night was special because we didn’t only celebrate and enjoy. At the same time, we were helping children. It’s simply a wonderful feeling!”

Many ask how he is at present. Is he okay being single or he would still choose that phase when he is in love with someone?

“I think it depends on the person. But if you’re to ask me, I can say I’m okay with both. While it’s nice that you’re in a relationship with the one you love, it’s also great if you’re single because you’re spared from complications. Your life is

smooth-sailing.”

In spite of the fact that his love life is zero at present, Joshua is glad that his career on the other hand is doing well. For one, his currently airing prime time soap opera The Killer Brideopposite Janella Salvador is a certified chart-topper. In fact, it consistently trends in social media.

Fans gradually like his screen chemistry with Janella as well.

“I only have gratefulness in my heart.

I want to thank all my supporters for their never-ending love and appreciation.

All the effort I exert in doing the scenes is definitely all worth it. It’s not easy to mount scary scenes. But with all the positive feedbacks we get from viewers, we feel more encouraged to work harder to give them quality entertainment.

I’m simply thankful to all the fans that supported and continuously support The Killer Bride since day one. We owe our success to all of you!”

The appealing heartthrob is proud that fans have accepted his love team with Janella.

“Of course, who wouldn’t be happy?

I’m overwhelmed by their support. All of us in the program feel that the soap is doing well ratings-wise, from Janella and I to Sam (Concepcion) toAlex (Ilacad).

It’s good that our love triangle in the story is working.”

Meanwhile, Joshua has a message to all JoshLia fans who keep on supporting him even if their love team has already ended.

“I just want to tell them that I love them. They’re still here until now who always cheer me. Despite the sad fact, they remain loyal to me. I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Anyways, I have good news for the fans: Julia and I have wrapped up shoot for our movie Block Z. It’s a must-see film and everyone should watch out for it,” he ends. *** After her love team with Donny Pangilinan was disbanded, Kisses Delavin is bracing for lots of changes.

“It is expected,” she says. “But what I can say right now is that I’m grateful to all

Joshua Garcia enjoys his time being single.

my supporters. I hope that they trust what I decide upon and will continue to be by my side no matter what.”

At this point, does she think it’s better if she will be pushed as a solo actress?

“I can’t really say because it’s always a different experience. But each experience has its nice side. Let’s just wait and see.”

In one of Donny’s recent interviews, he said that he won’t forget everything that they’ve shared together in their friendship and that he wishes her happiness.

“Well, that’s nice. Thank you. I think, when we see each other in functions or events, we’re civil. That’s the good thing about it,” Kisses states.

Fern. drops ‘Sweet’ collaboration with Kiana V Fern. and Kiana V make some good music together, literally.

A SWEET new collaboration has just been released as two of OPM’s hottest young artists come together for the first time on Fern.’s latest track “Sweet” with Kiana Valenciano.

The track explores the physical manifestation of love showing signs of maturity from the young singer-songwriterproducer. Joining him is Kiana V, who lends her sweet vocals to add even more flavor to the mix.

Talking about the collaboration, Fern. says “working with Kiana was a blast, with her being such a talented artist - she fit my vision for the song perfectly.”

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, October 1, 2019

ACROSS 1 Held in common 7 Sheltered side 10 Hatchet handle 14 Warm color 15 Pipe bend 16 Actress Falco of “The Sopranos” 17 Martini add-ins 18 Ottoman title 19 Legal claim 20 Induction to the Hall of Fame 23 Be in store for 26 Actress Jillian 27 Vendettas 28 Kind of pepper 29 Train alternative 30 Toward the rear of a ship 31 Lemon cooler 32 Very long time 33 From Juneau 37 Top NCO 38 Tank 39 U.K. broadcaster 40 Floor 41 Joist crossers 43 Regret deeply 44 Zippy the Pinhead’s cry 45 Sturm — Drang 46 Ka-pow!

47 Soap unit 48 Resided

51 Vintage 52 Phony 53 Market follower 56 Chills 57 — and yang 58 Reduces speed 62 Tulip colors 63 Dowel 64 Least risky 65 Fingerboard ridge 66 Switch positions 67 Give satisfaction to DOWN 1 Pasture sound 2 Search engine find 3 “— -Pan” 4 Disclose 5 Cause 6 Not more 7 Acquires knowledge 8 Hoops great — Baylor 9 Verve 10 Hard-hats 11 French farewell 12 One who is ardently attached to something 13 Pavilions 21 Comes as a ghost 22 Blot out

23 Destroy the self-confidence of 24 Pie slice 25 Prince Val’s wife 29 Get on the train 30 Book for photos 32 Big occasions 33 Scrape 34 Arctic canoe 35 Heard the alarm 36 More modern 42 Most boring 46 Fits in

47 Coffee holder 48 Folkloric gnome 49 Hazard 50 Shake off 51 Sky hunter 52 Untamed 54 Neophyte 55 Recipe amt.

59 Large green parrot 60 Curve shape 61 Fr. holy woman

Since it’s release, the track has been gaining a lot of exposure. It was featured as the cover of New Music Friday Philippines, and been included in multiple playlists across Spotify in Asia (Singapore. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand).

The track was released ahead of Fern.’s upcoming second EP, Loveless, which is set to bring forth more of Fern.’s personal and musical growth.

The song is now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon Music under Universal Records.

Extra International...

From C4

As part of the deal, the character will also appear in a future Marvel Studios film.

Holland reacted to the news on Instagram, posting a smiley face with a clip from The Wolf of Wall Street in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character says: “I’m not leaving. (...) The show goes on.”

Amy Pascal, who produced the first two Holland-led movies, will also have a role in producing the new film.

“Peter Parker’s story took a dramatic turn in Far From Home and I could not be happier we will all be working together as we see where his journey goes,” said Pascal.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe films have together grossed almost $23 billion at the global box office, and Holland’s SpiderMan has become an increasingly central figure in the most lucrative franchise in film history.

But while Spider-Man has for decades been one of the stars of the Marvel comic book empire on which the films are based, Sony owns the character’s movie rights.

He only began appearing in Marvel’s films after the Hollywood giants stuck an almost unprecedented, and still highly secretive, 2015 deal to co-produce and split profits across the films. AFP

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

C4

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019

EXTRA INTERNATIONAL

Sony, Marvel strike deal for new ‘Spider-Man’ film SPIDER-MAN will spin his web on the big screen once again.

A breakdown in talks between Sony Pictures and Marvel had imperiled the web-slinger’s celluloid future, but the two companies announced a deal Friday for Marvel Studios to produce the third Spidey film starring British actor Tom Holland.

The film—which follows up on SpiderMan: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far from Home—is set for release on July 16, 2021, the studios said.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will take up his usual role as producer.

“I am thrilled that Spidey’s journey in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

will continue, and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working on it,” Feige said in a statement.

“Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse, you never know what surprises the future might hold.”

Sony and Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, had reached an impasse over the summer on a new financing deal —sparking despair for fans who have embraced Holland’s take on the teen hero. Continued on C3

Fans feared that Spider-Man's role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would end when Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios initially failed to strike a deal on a new film, but an agreement is now in place.

Look who’s in town

The generation that

GAVE UP ON LOVE

FILIPINO American actor Jacob Batalon, best known for his role as Ned Leeds, the best friend of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in the SpiderMan movie series, was in town to promote Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The animated film aired on GMA-7’s Kapuso Movie Festival on Sept. 22.

The 22-year-old actor visited GMA Network’s complex and met with Kapuso stars and did a few rounds of interviews with some of the network’s programs.

During a meet-and-greet hosted

by Joyce Pring, GMA stars such as Bianca Umali, Ruru Madrid, Clint Bondad, and Cassy and Mavy Legaspi, and StarStruck winners Shayne Sava and Kim de Leon were there to welcome the Fil-Am actor. They were able to ask a few questions and have a photo op with Jacob, too.

“Hollywood is just really, you know, a buffed up thing that people think is success. What I want to say is, if you are with people who are just as artistic and who believe in the

same things as you, that makes you successful already. And really, your work will speak for itself and that’s what will get you there,” the SpiderMan star told the GMA stars when asked for an advice on how to get to Hollywood.

This is the second time that Jacob visited the Philippines. He no longer has any recollection of his first visit because he was still very young but he’s looking forward to visiting the country again to explore it and work with some of the local stars.

“If I have more time, I would love to collaborate with you all. That would be a fun project for us to put out there. I would have to come back here,” he told Manila Standard during the Q and A portion of the event held on Sept. 20.

“Thank you so much for loving and supporting me. I wouldn’t be here without you. Truly, this event makes me feel so much better about myself.

I’m so proud to be a Filipino and I love yo all,” he ended.

MILLENNIAL STARS. 'Ang Henerasyong Sumuko sa Love' lead cast Albie Casiño, Myrtle Sarrosa, Tony Labrusca, Jane Oineza, Jerome Ponce, and Thia Thomalla.

In the film, Tony and Jane portray characters that most millennials can relate to.

Jacob Batalon (2nd from left) with GMA stars (from left) Mavy Legaspi, Anthony Rosaldo, and Mavy Legaspi

SNAPSHOT

D

IRECTOR Jason Paul VERY Laxamana wanted to WANG do a youth-oriented film NICKIE but didn’t want to feature cutesy WANG characters. Instead, he created a picture that unapologetically depicts the members of the millennial generation.

“We wanted a barkada movie na noholds barred, hindi siya pa-cute, hindi pa-bebe. We wanted to show the real challenges that the members of the young generation experience today,” Laxamana told members of the press during the film’s media conference.

According to the director the film asks: Can you change the world through love, or will the world change you?

“That’s the premise of Ang Henerasyong Sumuko Sa Love,” he said.

“The story resonates with the millennials today, who aim to find their identity in a world full of challenges and confusion.

The film focuses on five main characters, with each one representing the different kinds of youth in this fast-paced era.”

Written and directed by Laxamana, Ang Henerasyong Sumuko Sa Love follows the story of a barkada, which consists of Kurt, Maan, Denzel, Hadji, and Juna Mae. They are young, full of zest, and idealistic. After graduation, the group agrees to camp by the lake overnight.

Witnessing a meteor slicing the night sky, they decide to make a pact to meet on the same spot the following year to celebrate their friendship, not knowing the surprises and challenges that await each of them in terms of career, relationship issues, and societal issues.

Will they still have the same ideals and faith in love the next time they meet again?

Will they still see the world in beautiful colors or will it be gray and sad?

In the movie, Jane Oineza plays the role of Ma-an, a vlogger, competitive, and who advocates empowered women.

However, her issue lies in the fact that her biggest competitor, Thia Thomalla, who is also a vlogger, has more subscribers than her. It turns out that her rival is also her exboyfriend’s current girlfriend. This only fans Ma-an’s competitive streak, and her determination to prove that she is better that her ex-boyfriend’s current girl. Will she let her insecurities eat her?

Jerome Ponce portrays Denzel, a gay man. He is openly gay and confident, a

successful restaurant owner and an achiever.

However, Denzel’s issue is mainly about seeking a relationship for keeps. He seeks potential partners through dating apps and casual hook-ups. Will someone prove to be one that is for long-term relationship?

Albie Casiño is Hadji, a video editor. He lives under one roof with his girlfriend JunaMae. Idealistic when it comes to romance, Hadji’s concept of love and romance is highly influenced by what he sees in social media.

Myrtle Sarrosa plays, Juna-Mae, a promodizer. She is the complete opposite of her boyfriend Hadji. Because of her past experience in relationships, Juna-Mae is pessimistic when it comes to love. She is jaded when it comes to relationships and she does not believe in happilyever-after. Because of this, she fears commitment and this affects her relationship with Hadji.

Tony Labrusca is Kurt, a guy who is determined to make it big, until he realizes that there is a huge piece missing in his life. He constantly compares himself to others on social media in terms of success.

He tends to become competitive in terms of achievement and success that eventually leads him to feelings of sadness, burnout, and depression.

With all these challenges their generation is facing, can they still make a difference and change the world?

Also starring are Kelvin Miranda, Kayla Heredia, Anjo Damiles, and Thia Thomalla, who is now the leading lady of Alden Richards on GMA Network’s primetime series The Gift.

From Regal Entertainment, Inc., the film unspools in cinemas nationwide tomorrow, Oct. 2.

Prioritizing subscribers with ‘Signature Series’ GUIDE TO THE SIGNATURE LIFESTYLE. Smart recently launched the ‘Signature Series,’ a line-up of exciting activities aimed at prioritizing subscribers and enabling them to connect, discover, and celebrate a much more meaningful digital lifestyle. For its first session held at the Smart Store in at SM City North EDSAAnnex, ‘ S i g nature Series’ featured c e l e b rity photographer BJ Pascual, who dished out his favorite mobile photography tips to help subscribers level up their social media feed.

Catch the highlights of the first ‘Signature Series’ and make the most of the Signature lifestyle by following Smart on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ SmartCommunications) and Instagram (@ReimaginePH).

Ace photographer BJ Pascual