Manila Standard - 2019 December 8 - Sunday

SEA GAMES MEDAL TALLY

HIGH ALERT OVER EXODUS OF 'TOURISTS'

(As of December 7/ 8:00 P. M.)

GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL PHILIPPINES INDONESIA VIETNAM SINGAPORE MALAYSIA MYANMAR CAMBODIA BRUNEI LAOS TIMOR

85 50 42 37 35 3 2 1 0 0

63 48 48 30 28 11 4 5 3 0

64 53 61 41 40 31 18 5 13 0

212 151 151 108 103 43 24 11 16 0

VOL. XXXIII • NO. 297 • 4 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

SMASH HITS AT SEAG

TWO PH ATHLETES SET NEW MARKS

By Peter Atencio

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APAS, Tarlac—The Philippines’ track and field stars Ernest John Obiena and Kristina Knott delivered golden finishes and put on a recordbreaking show before a roaring crowd of 5,000 in the 30th Southeast Asian Games athletics competitions at the New Clark City track stadium here Saturday.

WINNERS ALL. Track star Kristina Knott raises the tricolor high after breaking an 18-year-old Southeast Asian Games record in claiming the women’s 200-meter gold medal. It was part of a 14-gold rush by Team Philippines on Saturday thanks to victories by (clockwise from bottom right) gymnast Daniela Dela Pisa, taekwondo jin Jeordan Dominguez, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, and the men’s doubles tennis team of Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon.

Lino Santos, with AFP

SEA Games.

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IMMIGRATION officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other airports in the country are on heightened alert for this holiday season and for the mass departure of foreign athletes and delegates after the 30th Southeast Asian Games, which ends Dec. 11.

The Bureau of Immigration said this follows reports that human trafficking syndicates were planning to take advantage of the situation to spirit victims in and out of the country.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente directed the bureau’s airport terminal heads and supervisors to immediately implement strict immigration assessments of all departing Filipino passengers until Jan. 30 next year.

Morente also ordered all BI personnel in all airports to be vigilant against “passengers disguised as tourists who were illegally recruited to work overseas.”

The BI chief said most of the victims recruited by syndicates are being booked separately on several flights to mislead immigration officers on the purpose of their trip.

Morente warned prospective overseas Filipino jobseekers not to attempt to leave the country with spurious travel documents, while criminal charges would be filed against illegal recruiters. Turn Turnto toA2 A2

LANDSLIDES, FLOODS BASH NORTH LUZON LAOAG CITY—Torrential rains in the northern part of Ilocos Norte, Cagayan and Apayao have caused landslides and floods in low-lying areas, local officials reported Saturday.

The Philippines’ north has been hit by some of its worst flooding in decades, with torrents of muddy runoff forcing 66,000 from their homes and prompting rescues of trapped locals, authorities also said Friday.

Some of them had to be rescued by emergency crews in boats, as Typhoon “Tisoy” lashed the north and left at least 13 people dead.

Mayors Rafael Ralph Benemerito of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte and Esterlina Aguinaldo of Sta. Praxedes, Cagayan have advised motorists and commuters going to and from the Ilocos region to postpone their trips for their safety.

“The roads are still not passable.

Cagayan-bound vehicles are currently stopped at Barangay Baduang in Pagudpud,” said a road advisory posted on the official Facebook page of the Pagudpud government on Saturday.

Luzon, the nation’s largest island, has been hit by a string of storms that have battered its northern tip while monsoon rains were intensified by the passage of “Tisoy” (international name KamTurn to A2 muri) this week.

WATER DEALS DATE BACK TO FVR-ERA EO

By Maricel V. Cruz

PALACE DEPLORES TALK OF 'CRONIES'

RARE BIRD.

Miss Universe Philippines 2019 Gazini Ganados sets the bar in the evening gown competition of the Miss Universe pageant during the preliminary competition in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday.

Gazini shone in her shimmering ‘phoenix’ gown, a masterpiece designed by Cary Santiago, almost identical to the fuchsiaphoenix gown she wore in the Binibining Pilipinas pageant in June. Eton Concepcion

By Vito Barcelo MALACAÑANG on Saturday slammed the“baseless”reports of cronyism under the Duterte administration, saying President Rodrigo Duterte has always despised the use of connections to bypass procedures.

In a statement, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar denied that President and his officials are practicing partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted Turn to A2

TENGCO PATRIARCH DIES, 79 NEWS A3 twitter.com/ MlaStandard

The Tokyo Olympics-bound Obiena ended a two-year wait when he broke a twoyear-old SEAG men’s pole vault record after clearing 5.45 meters.

In taking the gold, Obiena eclipsed the 5.35-meter mark Thai rival Porranot Purahong made during the 2017

By Vito Barcelo

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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte should rescind a Ramos-era executive order authorizing the privatization of water services if he is really sincere in his tirades against private water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water, a lawmaker said Saturday.

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, who was first to file a House resolution seeking a critical review of the concession agreement in the 18th Congress, said revoking Executive Order 311 series of 1996 is a concrete step the President can do to reverse the privatization of water services.

“Duterte should complement his order to review the concession agreement with a decisive move to junk EO 311, which provides the basis for the privatization of the MWSS. Otherwise, he may just be positioning his favored oligarch, the Villars, to take control and profit Turn to A2

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

HIGH...

2 FIL-AMS, GUNMAN KILLED IN PEARL HARBOR ATTACK

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BI Deputy Commissioner Tobias Javier said trafficking syndicates might attempt to shift their operations to other exit ports in response to immigration efforts to stop human smuggling.

“We are ready and we assure that they will not succeed,” Javier said. “Human trafficking is a serious crime and a non-bailable offense because it is a crime against humanity.”

Morente cited a recent incident where 34 women were stopped from leaving the country for Saudi Arabia as they were illegally recruited to work there as household service workers.

“This is the biggest so far that the bureau stopped the women from being trafficked. Imagine if these women left without proper documents, they might fall victims to white slavery,” the BI chief said.

In his report to the Commissioner, port operations chief Grifton Medina said the victims were intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 1 as they were about to board a Saudi Airways flight to Riyadh.

Medina said the victims, mostly in their 20s and 30s, were not allowed to depart after immigration officers noticed glaring discrepancies and irregularities in the travel documents they presented.

“Our primary inspectors initially encountered two of their companions who happen to have been previously barred from leaving on suspicion of being trafficking victims,” Medina said.

“It was while they were undergoing secondary inspection that our men uncovered that they were traveling as a group with 32 other victims,” he added.

Ma. Timotea Barizo, BI’s travel control and enforcement unit chief, said the incident was one of the biggest interceptions of suspected trafficking victims by BI-NAIA personnel in recent years.

Barizo said the 34 presented documents as overseas Filipino workers, but upon verification, numerous inconsistencies were discovered.

“The job descriptions on the visas of the victims indicated that they were hired as household service workers, but their overseas employment certificates (OECs) and job contracts state that they were recruited as cleaners in companies,” she said.

“Discrepancies like this are not allowed, especially whAen the actual work is in households rather than in companies, which puts our workers in greater risk,” said Barizo.

LANDSLIDES,...

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Large swaths of lush green land were inundated after rivers burst their banks, leaving only treetops visible above the waterline.

Landslides have cut off roads to some isolated towns and some bridges are covered by the flooding.

However, authorities said they have not confirmed any deaths caused by the high water.

“This is one of the biggest floods in decades,” Rogelio Sending, information officer for Cagayan province, told Agence France-Presse.

As of Saturday afternoon, the maintenance crew of the Department of Public Works and Highways based in Ilocos Norte and Cagayan have been clearing the Manila North Road in Barangay San Juan, Sta. Praxedes, Cagayan and in Barangay Union, Claveria, Cagayan of debris and landslides.

“The road cut in Claveria is passable to light vehicles only while the San Juan road is still closed,” said Henry delos Santos, engineer II of DPWH Cagayan on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Sanchez Mira Bridge on the Manila North Road is also closed to heavy trucks due to a washed-out middle pier and scoured embank protection. Warning signs have been put up and motorists have to take the alternate Sanchez Mira by-pass road.

Both lanes of K0537+700 of the Cagayan-Apayao Road are also closed to traffic due to landslide.

A heavy downpour for the past few days triggered landslides and flash floods in parts of Ilocos Norte and nearby provinces of Cagayan and Apayao.

Homestay owners in Adams, Ilocos Norte said even if the road is passable in the area, visitors are not yet encouraged to go to Adams due to non-stop rain and extremely cold weather. PNA with AFP

H

ONOLULU—Two men with Filipino lineage were killed by the US sailor who took his own life in a Wednesday gun attack at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii, US Navy officials said Friday (Saturday in Manila).

Roldan Agustin, 49, and Vincent Kapoi Jr., 30, were fatally shot by Gabriel Romero, who also injured another before turning the gun on himself, officials said at a news conference.

The isolated attack, witnessed by shipyard employees in an area with thousands of workers, unfolded in about 23 seconds, Navy officials added. No motive had been identified yet for the shooting, but there’s no evidence of domestic terrorism, they said.

“This has been a devastating week for our Navy family,” Chief of

Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday said. “When tragedy hits, as it did Wednesday in Pearl Harbor, it is felt by all.”

It was not known if Romero, who was from Texas, knew his victims.

He was dead when authorities arrived, and was armed for his job standing watch and providing security for the USS Columbia. The fast attack submarine is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for maintenance, officials said.

Born in Laoag City, Agustin moved to Hawaii when he was 2, his mother, Ida Agustin, said through tears.

“He’s a good man. I’m so sorry, anak ko, I’m still shaking,” she added Friday, using the phrase “my child” in Ilocano, a Filipino language.

Agustin served in the Navy and retired from the Army National Guard, then became a metals inspector at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, family members said.

In a statement, his brother said Agustin enjoyed working on cars with his friends and spending time with family.

“We will forever remember Roldan to be humble and honest, and a generous and patient man,”the statement said.

Meanwhile, Kapoi graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2011 and was proud of his Native Hawaiian and Filipino heritage, college roommate Daniel Vu told news website Honolulu Civil Beat.

Vu described Kapoi as a softspoken and hardworking“family guy”

SMASH...

PALACE...

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Purahong settled for the silver at 5.20 meters, while Iskandar Alwi of Malaysia took the bronze with a 5-meter performance.

Obiena was already a favorite for the pole vault gold two years ago, but an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury a few days before to the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games forced him to miss the biennial meet.

On the other hand, Knott broke the SEA Games’ 200-meter mark twice in less than a day, first in the heats, which she topped with a blistering pace of 23.07 seconds to shatter the 18-year-old record of Thailand’s Khawpeag Supavadee, whose 23.3-second feat was achieved way back in 2001.

In the 200-meter finals later in the day, the Fil-American Knott was even faster, submitting a 23.01-second time to leave her rivals in her trail, including defending champion and Vietnam’s “Queen of Speed” Thu Chinh Le. Seeking the gold in the absence of injured 2017 champion Zaidatul Zulkifli of Malaysia, Le settled for the silver in 23.45 seconds. Singaporean Veronica Shanti Perreira was the bronze medallist for a second straight time at 23.77 seconds, slower than the 23.68 she recorded two years ago in Kuala Lumpur.

The 24-year-old Knott wanted to hit the Olympic qualifying standard of 22.8 seconds, but her coach Roshan Griffin told her to take it easy, taking away the pressure that was on her shoulders since she started preparing.

“I wasn’t going after anybody else. I was going after the Olympic standard. I did not hit it. But, at least I got a gold out of it,” said Knott, who hails from Orlando, Florida before moving to Pasig City last year.

Knott’s fiery pace also took down the 23.16-second Philip-

who woke up at 3 a.m. to work at the fishing docks to pay for tuition.

“He was very giving, very generous and willing to sacrifice a lot,” Vu said. “He was one of the good guys out there.”

Kapoi’s wife, Tara, said he grew up in Waianae, a town on the west side of Oahu.

“We don’t know what happened,” she said Thursday, asking for privacy.

A family statement described Kapoi as an “easy-going, fun-loving, ‘let’s do this’man”they would never forget.

William and Sista Kahiamoe have lived next door to the Kapoi family for about 21 years and said Vincent Kapoi followed his father into civilian work at the shipyard. They said Vincent’s brother now lives in the home.

“He was a good boy, I know that.

Took care of his mom when she was sick,” Sista Kahiamoe said. “He was really good.” Services for Kapoi are scheduled for Dec. 15. AFP

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pine record that Zion CorralesNelson set in the US NCAA West Preliminary meet in Sacramento, California last May 25.

Track legend Lydia De VegaMercado used to hold the national record of 23.35 seconds for 37 years until Corrales-Nelson and Knott erased it this year.

With the feats of Obiena and Knott, the Philippines kept its firm grip on the SEA Games’ overall lead with 85 golds, up by 14 from the previous day. The hosts also have 63 silvers and 64 bronzes for a total of 212 medals.

Indonesia remained at second place with a gold-silver-bronze tally of 50-48-53, while Vietnam is still at third with 42-48-61.

Thailand overtook Singapore (37-30-41) at fourth spot with 39-52-57.

Gymnast Daniela dela Pisa— an ovarian cancer survivor— kicked off the productive day for the Philippines.

Dela Pisa scored 17.750 in her routine to clinch the gold in the hoop category of the gymnastics competition, her third and most impressive medal in the games, to go with two bronzes from the ball and clubs categories.

She beat Malaysia’s Amzan Izzah (16.500) and Kwan Amy Dict Weg (15.900), who got the silver and bronze, respectively.

Following Dela Pisa’s feat, Quezon pride Cris Nievarez and the tandem of Joane Delgaco and Melcah Caballero hit paydirt as the Philippine rowing team got off to a sizzling start at the ACEA Bay here.

Hailing from a family in the seaside town of Atimonan, Quezon, Nievarez gave the country its first gold medal on Day 7 after ruling the men’s lightweight single sculls, a day after he topped the time trials. He clocked in at 7:34.27, besting Thailand’s Siripong Chaiwichitchonkul (7:35.01) for the gold.

“I didn’t expect to win the gold but the Lord guided me to victory. I am also motivated by my desire to help my family,’’ said the 19-year-old Nievarez, a first-timer in the biennial Games.

Nievarez said he will use his financial incentives to help his two siblings and mother.

Bicol standouts Delgaco and Caballero combined to rule the women’s lightweight double sculls with a time of 7:24.21.

The Philippines also got off to a hot start in the taekwondo competitions at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Rodolfo Reyes Jr. scored 8.349 to win the gold in the male recognized poomsae individual event, relegating Thailand’s Sengmueabg Pattarapong to the silver with 8.199, while Myanmar’s Shine Sun finished with 7.849 to settle for the bronze medal.

Jocel Lyn Ninobla made it a double celebration for the host team, edging Thailand’s Srisahakit Ornawee by a hair for the women’s poomsae recognized individual gold.

Ninobla scored 8.433 while Ornawee finished a close second with 8.432. Vietnam’s Le Tran Im Uyen settled for the bronze with 8.149.

The taekwondo trio of Dustin Jacob Mella, Rafael Enrico Mella and Reyes, Jr. then captured the Poomsae Team event gold later in the day.

Other winners for the day were Margielyn Didal, who captured her second gold, this time in the street category of skateboarding; Chezka Centeno in the 10-ball pool singles; the men’s epee fencing team; Junna Tsukii in the 50-kg kumite; Noelle Manalac in soft tennis; Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon in the tennis doubles; and Emerson Villena and Lester Troy Tayon in the 470-meter event of sailing.

colleagues, calling the reports “erroneous and highly deplorable.”

“Any claims and attacks being made in relation to this matter are by the opposition and by interest groups that are against the socio-economic policies and reforms by this administration,” he said.

Andanar made the statement after the Nikkei Asian Review published a story about how President Duterte supposedly promised to destroy the Philippines’ elite but ended up embracing the oligarchs.

“Not only are these baseless assertions erroneous, [but] they are also highly deplorable,” he added.

The Palace official said the administration does not tolerate cronyism, citing Duterte’s dismay over two water firms’“onerous” contracts with the state.

“And this commitment has always been consistent in such a way that this administration refuses to kowtow to the Metro Manila water concessionaires and its agreements with the previous administrations that have resulted in unfavorable repercussions not only to the government but also to Filipino consumers,” Andanar said.

He recalled how Duterte has continuously lashed out against oligarchs who have promoted corruption, provided bribes to government officials in publicprivate transactions, and eked out favors through their political connections.

“These are actions the President vowed never to tolerate,” he said.

Duterte recently ordered the Department of Justice and the Office of the Solicitor General to draft a new water concession contract that would be favorable to the state and the Filipino people, Andanar noted.

He said that people have seen that having connections and relations with officials in the present administration doesn’t entitle any individual or any business entity to privileges that would allow them to bypass government policies and legal procedures.

“This especially holds true with regards to engaging with companies for government infrastructure and development projects. We have continuously strengthened measures and undertaken steps along the way that would allow for fair and impartial procedures on public-private partnerships,” Andanar assured.

Malacañang has also advocated for an equitable application of law to all business entities, regardless of origin, by strengthening of the Philippine Competition Commission, Anti-Red Tape Authority, and National Economic and Development Authority’s functions to undermine monopolies and duopolies.

The administration is also looking to amending the current Constitution on business ownership and open up the Philippine economy to more foreign investments, Andanar noted.

WATER...

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further from the water supply needs of Filipinos,” said Brosas.

Signed in 1996 by then-President Fidel Ramos, EO 311 encourages private sector participation in the operations and facilities of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

“The President can also make a priority measure the repeal of Republic Act No. 8041, which authorizes the government to enter into negotiated contracts for the sourcing and distribution of water supply,” Brosas added.

Duterte on Friday said the country surrendered everything—including its sovereignty—when it entered into a water concession agreement with Manila Water and Maynilad in 1997.

The President also accused the two private utility companies of “economic plunder” and insisted the government

would not pay them the P10.8 billion as ordered by a Singapore-based arbitration court.

The lawmaker also questioned the “much-delayed” reaction of the Palace to the clamor of Filipino women and the people to review the highly controversial concession agreement, which has generated billions for the private water firms.

“Gabriela Women’s Party refiled House Resolution No. 19 seeking a congressional review of the water concession agreement as one of its top ten measures on Day 1 of the 18th Congress,” Rosas noted.

“We have repeatedly trooped to the MWSS and Malacañang to call for the reversal of water privatization in light of recurring water interruptions. Why is the President going ballistic against Maynilad and Manila Water only now?”

she added.

“We warn Malacañang against using the public’s dissatisfaction under the privatized water services courtesy of Maynilad and Manila Water to comfortably sneak in Villar’s PrimeWater as the new water concessionaire. Instead, the government should restore the water services across the country to full public control,” Brosas said.

Two other legislators on Friday backed Duterte’s position against the duopoly of Manila Water and Maynilad.

Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said: “If the MWSS water concessionaires believe they can wave around that arbitration ruling and think the decision is like a check they can encash at the bank, they are dead wrong.”

“We in Congress will not allow these water firms to get billions of pesos in

public funds for services not rendered or delivered poorly,” he added.

“Congress would have failed the country if it allows Manila Water and Maynilad to get away with their disservice to the Filipino people while denying billions from other government priorities,” Garbin said. “A thorough review of the concession agreements is necessary.”

Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera also maintained that the two water concessionaires should be held accountable for the plumetting water pressure in the metropolis.

In April, Herrera wrote Duterte and Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo to suggest ways to enforce accountability and make the water firms liable for their failures in water services delivery.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

TENGCO PATRIARCH OF MALOLOS DIES, 79 MALOLOS CITY—Lawyer Jose ‘Pete’ R. Tengco Jr., philanthropist, former Development Bank of the Philippines governor from Feb. 7, 1967 to Aug. 14, 1981, died in his sleep last Dec. 4.

Tengco would have celebrated his 79th birthday on Dec. 29. He is survived by wife, Zeny, children Tony, Corina and Gabriel Bautista, former Malolos vice mayor Al Tengco and Carla, Maite and Louie General, Rosanna and Rene Nepomuceno, grandchildren, among them Sto. Niño barangay captain Migz Bautista, and great grandchildren.

His body was laid in state at the Word of Grace Sanctuary at Sct. Rallos, Barangay Sacred Heart in Quezon City and later was transferred yesterday afternoon to the family mausoleum at the Legacy Memorial Park in Sto. Rosario, Malolos City.

Interment rites will be held today, Sunday (Dec. 8) after the 11 a.m. Mass and memorial service. Orlan L. Mauricio

SEWAGE TREATMENT. Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu (left) makes a surprise visit to Baguio City's aging Sewage Treatment Plant in the presence of City Mayor Benjamin Magalong following the findings by Baguio City's Sanitary Engineers that business establishments in the city discharge raw sewage above the allowed minimum of 12 cubic meters into the City's Sewage lines to be processed at the Baguio Sanitary Camp Sewage Treatment plant facility which is working beyond capacity.

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ARNIS, PINOY MARTIAL ART, EVOKES MAGELLAN’S NEMESIS O THE untrained eye, arnis—the stick-wielding martial art of the Philippines—is brutal and frenzied, but behind the chaos lies a tradition dating back hundreds of years.

With some contests lasting just a few minutes, the fast and furious combat sport made a triumphant return to the Southeast Asian Games this week, boosting the home nation's haul of golds by 14.

Filipino 'arnisadors' are fiercely proud of their country, and the sport that symbolizes their spirit of battle and revolution.

It holds a treasured place in Filipino hearts as it evokes 16th-century tribal ruler Lapu-Lapu, whose army killed Ferdinand Magellan, the lead explorer in the first successful circumnavigation of the globe, and saw off the Spanish invaders, delaying their colonisation by

"It's a style of fighting where you utilise knives and sticks," Zubiri explained, adding that the Spanish banned bladed weapons during their occupation, so Filipinos instead trained with sticks.

Players in body armour and grilled several decades.

"We consider this the martial art of helmets bow to one another in the Lapu-Lapu," Senator Miguel Zubiri, the middle of the fighting square before Philippines Arnis Federation president, attempting to strike their opponent's body with a baton made of ratan. told AFP. "Lapu-Lapu was our first defender," Somersaults and flips the former world champion added at At the SEA Games men and womthe Angeles University Foundation, about 80 kilometers northwest of the en from just four nations—the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and capital Manila.

"We consider him our first national Vietnam—fought in bantamweight, hero. He is actually in our logo, and we featherweight, lightweight and welterweight. consider him as our founding father."

They also performed solo choThe 'full combat' version of arnis is rapid and unforgiving, and the weap- reographed routines with weapons, ons are considered as extensions of the known as anyo, for which competitors wore traditional costumes. body.

Crisamuel Delfin won a gold medal for his 'open weapon' anyo routine, during which he wielded a sword and performed somersaults and flips.

His feathered headdress is a sign of ferocity and painted tattoos show a warrior's accomplishments and place in society, he explained, while the pattern on his "wanno" loincloth indicates where he is from—the mountainous region of Ifugao.

"Being from the tribes of the northern provinces, it was very important that I was able to show my traditional costume and to revive and rekindle the spirit of being a warrior in the Philippines," he said through a translator.

"I was glad I was to bring out not just the movements, but the emotion and the feeling of being fierce and committed—the spirit of being a martial artist," he said. AFP

GOV’T NURSES ASSURED OF PAY HIKE IN 2020 BUDGET

By Maricel V. Cruz A PARTY-LIST congressman on Saturday expressed support for the P3.18billion allocation in the proposed 2020 national budget to fund the 48 percent increase in the base pay of government nurses.

“We welcome the Senate’s move to simply charge the P3.18-billion to the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) in the budget, as we originally proposed,” Rep. Michael Defensor of Anakalusugan, House health committee vice chairperson, said.

Defensor is optimistic that the allotment will be approved by the budget bicameral committee once the House and the Senate versions are reconciled.

“We want the higher base pay implemented right away, not just for the benefit of our nurses in government, but also because it will put an upward pressure on the salaries of their counterparts in the private sector,” Defensor said.

“Private hospitals will have to raise their starting pay rates as well, if they want to attract continuous supply of

FWD-MCX TOLLWAY CUTS TRAVEL TIME TO CAVITE FWD Life Philippines and AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., fully-owned subsidiary of the Ayala Corp., revealed their Expressway Sponsorship Program which unveils the newly renamedFWD-MuntinlupaCavite Expressway.

The FWD-MCX, serves as a crucial artery between Muntinlupa and Cavite—connecting the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to Daang Hari, Cavite and regularly serving thousands of motorists and commuters.

With this newly signed agreement, the first of its kind for a Philippine insurer, FWD Insurance seeks to elevate the expressway as a symbol of the nation’s “road to progress”.

Used by more than one million cars a month, the FWD-

MCX has shortened what was once a 20-minute drive from Daang Hari road to SLEX to only a three-minute journey.

“The FWD-MCX contributes to economic progress by enabling businesses to expand their geographic market reach outside of Metro Manila,” FWD Insurance chairman of the Board and former Ambassador to the USA Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. said. “The expressway serves as a critical route for their operations and opens up opportunities for them to serve immediate local communities.”

Peter Grimes, president and chief executive officer of FWD Insurance, said, “This is an exciting new venture for FWD and we’re proud to pioneer a program that has never been done by a Philippine insurer.”

nursing staff, many of whom are raring to leave the country in search of greener pasture overseas,” Defensor said.

The Supreme Court upheld on Oct. 8 the validity of a provision in the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 that bumped up to Salary Grade 15 (P30,531) the minimum pay of nurses retained by the national government, mostly in hospitals run by the Department of Health.

At present, their floor pay is pegged at Salary Grade 11 (P20,754).

The tribunal handed down the ruling after the House had already approved

on Sept. 20 the entire budget and transmitted the copy to the Senate.

“The MPBF is a lump sum in the budget used to fund deficiencies in the authorized salaries, bonuses, allowances, associated premiums and other similar personnel benefits of national government employees,” Defensor said.

In the proposed P4.1-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2020, a total of P63.2 billion has been set aside for the MPBF, up 78 percent from P35.5 billion this year, according to Defensor.

JAPANESE INVASION REMEMBERED

By Ben Cal LONG before World War II broke out in the Philippines on Dec. 8, 1941, Japan had already an elaborate preparation by posting an advance force of Fifth Columns embedded across the length of the archipelago. These Japanese spies disguised themselves as “traders” and “laborers” working hand-in-hand with unsuspecting Philippine society. It was a perfect cover which Japan had successfully used during their invasion of the Philippines.

While mingling with Filipinos from all walks of life, Japanese Fifth Columns developed friendship down to the grassroots that they even taught some of their Filipino friends martial arts, particularly judo which the Japanese are known for.

These had enabled the Japanese to gather first-hand intelligence information such as the locations of US and Filipino troops, military installations, including vital communications networks.

They sent this information back to Japan through coded messages.

When the actual invasion came, these “traders” and “laborers” turned out to be ranking officers of the Japanese Imperial Army who proudly wore their uniforms in public. The Japanese seized town after town with little resistance from the American and Filipino forces who were virtually caught off guarded similar to what happened to Pearl Harbor when Japanese planes mounted a sneak attack on the American naval airbase in Hawaii that prompted the United States to declare war with Japan.

But even before the invasion, there had been endless and persistent reports that Japan was preparing to attack the Philippines. But the exact date was known. Nevertheless, American forces stationed in the Philippines and the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines responded through a mobilization program recruiting young able-bodid Filipinos to the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).

One of those who volunteered was Arnulfo D. Bañez, a 17-year-old first year college taking up Bachelor of Arts (ABpre-medicine) at the University of the Philippines, Baguio.

In his war memoirs, Bañez detailed how he and his guerilla unit fought and survived the Japanese onslaught in the jungles of northern Luzon for over three years.

CRUCIAL ARTERY. Life

Philippines CEO and president Peter Grimes is shown with AC Infra COO & MCX Tollway Inc president Noel Kintanar and FWD Life Philippines chairman Jose Cuisia Jr. during the ceremonial toast celebrating the launch of the two companies’ partnership for the Expressway Sponsorship Program which unveils the newly renamed FWDMuntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX).

The FWD-MCX serves as a crucial artery between Muntinlupa and Cavite— connecting the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to Daang Hari, Cavite.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

News

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P43-M SHABU, WEED SEIZED

By Joel Zurbano

G

OVERNMENT agents have seized P40.8 million worth of shabu and P1.8 million worth of high-grade marijuana in two separate incidents Friday evening.

POWER CO-OP SHUTS DOWN OPERATIONS

By Nash B. Maulana DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao—The Maguindanao Electric Cooperative has warned anew of a “Black Monday” —a massive power outage on Dec. 9—to put pressure on its delinquent clients and ensure a 70-percent success level in billing them.

Magelco general manager Sultan Ashary Maongco said the power cooperative will switch off its transformers for a 24-hour “Black Monday” amid the growing number of its non-paying consumers.

He said this has severely affected its P1-billion credit standing with the Power Sector Assets, Liabilities Management Corp. “[Magelco] will be under such situation of extreme compulsion by circumstances of sheer economic pressure to shut down Maguindanao power transformers that bring current for household lights and appliances, as well as industrial shops and public and private offices and schools,”he said.

“Until payments compliance shall have reached 70 percent of the connected consumers, by either full payment or restructured payment scheme, it is much to my regret that we can not reconnect the household power distribution systems until then,” Maongco added.

Maongco said in the past, PSALM gave Magelco a measly 2.75 megawatts in monthly power supply for distribution.

This, he said, prompted him to negotiate with PSALM to open up an increase in power supply for Maguindanao consumers that was granted in 2015.

FARE THEE WELL. Honor guards pay their last respects to the late National Scientist Edgardo Dizon Gomez. Gomez was a professor emeritus for marine biology at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute. (Above) The family of the late National Scientist, led

by Juliette Gomez-Romualdez, watch as the folding of the Philippine flag that was draped on top of his casket. Ver Noveno

Three suspected drug dealers were arrested during a buy-bust operation in Isabelle Grand Villas in Barangay Moonwalk, Parañaque City where the six kilos of shabu were recovered, along with three mobile phones and the buy-bust money.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency identified the suspects as Hamodine Ibrahum, 26; Datunot Magelna, 22, and Eric Musa, 20 around 8:30 p.m.

Police said Ibrahim, who they said was disguised as a tricycle driver for the illegal transaction, was the main subject of the operation.

Meanwhile, Customs agents assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport intercepted a shipment of kush or high-grade marijuana at the Central Mail Exchange Center in Pasay City.

Authorities arrested Joseph Marck Tamo, a resident of Mariano Street, Taguig City and the claimant of the shipment misdeclared as “Marvel Comic and Child Sleeping Bag” from the USA. Tamo was apprehended while claiming the parcel containing three vacuum-sealed pouches of kush weed.

The suspect will be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

NAIA District Collector Carmelita Talusan commended the vigilance and efforts of Customs frontliners in coordination with PDEA and the Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group for the success of their campaign against illegal drugs.

She assured that Customs NAIA will continue to comply with the directives of Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to be always vigilant against the entry and exit of illicit drugs and other contraband.

“The Bureau of Customs is very much on board in the country’s war against drugs and we will exert our efforts to continue protecting our nation and prevent the use of our ports in the smuggling of illegal drugs into the country,”Talusan said.

WHY SO SERIOUS? A man

wearing the DC comic Joker character’s mask and waving a smoke bomb takes part in a demonstration to protest against the pension overhauls, in Marseille, southern France, on Dec. 5, 2019 as part of a national general strike. AFP

MAJORITY of Filipino people believes the Philippines’ relationship with the United States is more important than its relationship with China, a recent survey of the Social Weather Stations showed.

Seventy-eight percent of 1,800 adults polled from Sept. 27 to 30 said they found Manila’s ties with Washington more important compared to Beijing while 12 percent found the relationship with China more important than the US, the SWS survey said.

Preference for the US was highest in Balance Luzon at 83 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 79 percent, Visayas at 77 percent, and Mindanao at 67 percent.

The survey also revealed that China’s trust rating among Filipinos was ranked “bad,” with 54 percent of Filipinos saying they have “little trust” in China, 21 have “much trust,”

and 23 percent were undecided.

On the other hand, the US enjoys an “excellent” trust rating among Filipinos, with 80 percent of respondents saying they have “much trust,” eight percent have “little trust”, and 11 percent were undecided.

In the September survey, the SWS found that those with “little trust” in China value the country’s relationship with the US more.

Majority of Filipinos who have “much trust” in China, or 67 percent, and 53 percent of those with “much trust” in the US, said it is possible for the Philippines to have a good relationship with both China and US at the same time.

Half or 52 percent of those surveyed believe it is possible for the Philippines to have a good relationship with both the US and China at the same time, while 41 percent said otherwise. The remaining seven percent abstained.

MALACAÑANG has welcomed the International Criminal Court’s ruling which says that it lacked jurisdiction over the complaint filed by two former Philippine officials against Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials for alleged crimes against humanity for its sweeping claims in the South China Sea. In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the ICC’s decision complements Malacañang’s earlier stance that the communication filed by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales against China may not prosper.

“This dismissal is consistent with our previous stand that the filing of the complaint is a futile exercise, for the reason that the ICC has no jurisdiction over China, it being not a statemember,” the Palace official said.

“Neither does it have jurisdiction over the Philippines, given that the Rome Statute failed to comply with the publication requirement in accordance with due process under our Constitution,” he added.

Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales, on behalf of Filipino fishermen “persecuted and injured” by China’s massive island-building in the South China Sea, filed a communication against Xi and other Chinese officials for purportedly perpetrating crimes against humanity attributed to Beijing’s allegedly aggressive militarization of the busy waterway.

The two former government officials accused Xi and other Chinese officials of committing crimes against humanity for implementing Beijing’s “systematic plan to control the South China Sea.” The communication was submitted to the ICC on March 15, or two days before the Philippines’ official withdrawal from the Rome Statute on March 17.

China is not a member-state of the ICC, but the communication states that the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over China for its “atrocious actions” in the South China Sea, particularly within Philippine territory. PNA

6K SHOPPERS ATTEND INT’L BAZAAR

FILIPINOS TRUST U.S. OVER CHINA

By Vito Barcelo

PALACE WELCOMES ICC RULING ON CASE VS. BEIJING’S XI

(From left) Susan B. Fries, SHOM president; Consul Helen M. Ong, president of the International Bazaar Foundation; Maria Lourdes B. Locsin, IBF chairperson; Helen Gamboa-Sotto; Consul Betty L. Ang, vice president of IBF, and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.

THE 2019 International Bazaar had exceeded all expectations as some 6,000 shoppers shopped the world during the annual one-day bazaar-for-a-cause at the PICC Forum.

The bazaar opened with the ceremonial ringing of the kulintang, an ancient instrument composed of a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and actress and wife of Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Helen Gamboa-Sotto.

The bazaar was organized by the International Bazaar Foundation, led

by Maria Lourdes Locsin, wife of the Foreign Affairs chief.

Some 37 embassies, 13 consulates, as well as 58 local and international exhibitors showcased their finest products at bargain prices to the delight of the holiday buyers.

Eager shoppers also got to sample authentic international cuisine from food stalls of 21 embassies and enjoyed the lively cultural performances by the embassies of Indonesia, Timor Leste, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Opinion B1

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

CAREER OPTION

W

E SHOULD pause for the call of a legislator in the House of Representatives on her colleagues to push forward the passage of a bill encouraging students to take up courses in agriculture and fisheries.

Rep. Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA said the enactment of the Young Farmers Program Act which she filed would encourage the youth to go into farming or fishing by providing incentives for students in these courses in both public and private tertiary institutions.

In the view of Garin, a deputy speaker, the Philippines, a basically agriculture economy, is witness to the extinction of its farmers first-hand “in

a time where ensuring food security is proving to be a herculean challenge.”

This runs parallel to the fears of, if observation by, many, who include Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba of Ilocos Norte’s 2nd District, who has been designated head of a technical working group, that having fewer people engaged in agriculture will negatively affect the country’s food security and self-sufficiency.

There are anxieties regarding the

declining interest of the youth to work in the agriculture sector, with the youth shifting their employment preference from the farm and fisheries sectors to jobs in the urbanized cities.

These concerns should invite the government to revisit its current programs on agriculture and to put in place relevant interventions to energize the interest of the youth towards the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

At the same time, we call on the Professional Regulation Commission’s Board of Agriculture to nudge the government to assist graduates of agriculture and fisheries courses to find jobs relevant to their academic disciplines.

We note the observation of parliamentary specialist Patrick Velez of the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization that labor migration in the agriculture and fisheries sectors is “a real problem.”

Garin’s statement deserves a re-quote: “We want the youth to immerse themselves once again in the noble practice of agriculture.

There is a need to reinforce the idea that it is a viable career option. We must dispel the notion that farming is tedious, unsustainable, and unglamorous. Indeed, the timeless Christian proverb ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few’ has become more relevant than ever.”

Her statement should echo from Tawi-Tawi to Batanes.

TILL DEATH DO I STAY SINGLE: SOUTH KOREA’S #NOMARRIAGE WOMEN "I'M a straight woman who is no longer interested in having relationships with men."

Bonnie Lee doesn't care about finding a boyfriend or a fairytale wedding, and will decide her own happily-ever-after.

And she is not alone.

A growing number of South Korean women are banding together to reject rigid patriarchal norms and vowing never to wed, have children or even date and have sex.

"I've always felt that as a woman there are more disadvantages than advantages to being married," says Lee, a 40-something professional who lives with her dog near Seoul.

Now she has gone even further embracing the nation's radical feminist movement "4B" or the "Four Nos": no dating, no sex, no marriage, and no child-rearing.

Marriage rates are plummeting in South Korea where wives are often expected to work, raise children, and care for ageing in-laws with little state or community help.

"In the marriage market, your previous life and work experience don't matter," explains Lee, who has two masters degrees.

"For some ridiculous reason, being highly educated also becomes a minus point. What matters the most as a potential wife is whether or not you are capable of caring for your husband and in-laws," she adds.

She has witnessed well educated friends hitting barriers at work and experiencing problems at home after having children.

Such difficulties are the subject of a recent hit film, "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982."

Based on a controversial feminist novel, it centers on a married South Korean woman who has quit her job and struggles to raise her child with limited support.

Women viewers rated the film an average 9.5 out of 10 stars on the South's top search engine. Men gave it 2.8.

ESCAPE THE CORSET A growing number of women are turning their backs on the traditional expectations of South Korea's male-dominated society, where working wives spend four times longer on domestic chores than their husbands.

A decade ago, almost 47 percent of single and never-married Korean women said they thought marriage was necessary.

Last year, that fell to 22.4 percent, while the number of couples getting hitched slumped to 257,600—down from 434,900 in 1996.

There is no official data on the size of the 4B movement, but its members say it has at least 4,000 followers.

Meanwhile, a separate feminist YouTube channel that features boycotting marriage and childrearing has more than 100,000 subscribers.

Lee has also adopted some tenets of "Escape the Corset," a movement against South Korea's strict beauty standards—some adherents have shared viral videos of themselves smashing up their make-up collections.

The groups are emerging against a backdrop of anger over South Korea's spycam porn epidemic, whose victims are mostly women, and cases of sexual misconduct uncovered in the global #MeToo movement.

The final straw for Lee came last year when a progressive male politician who used to proclaim himself a feminist was convicted and jailed for raping a female aide.

Lee says: "I realized this society is a system that I cannot accept as a woman, and from then any encounter with men—be it marriage or dating—became meaningless to me."

FOSSIL FUEL GROUPS ‘DESTROYING’ CLIMATE TALKS: NGOS OIL and gas groups were accused Saturday of seeking to influence climate talks in Madrid by paying millions in sponsorship and sending dozens of lobbyists to delay what scientists say is a necessary and rapid cut in fossil fuel use.

A day after tens of thousands marched in the Spanish capital demanding climate action, seven environmental groups raised concerns to AFP over the role of fossil fuel representatives at the COP25 summit.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations agreed to limit global warming to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and as close to 1.5C as possible.

The UN's top science panel says that 1.5C would require a radical drawdown in fossil fuel usage.

Delegates are gathered in Madrid negotiating how to implement the Paris pledges. The summit was moved at short notice after domestic unrest forced original host Chile to cancel.

Spanish energy giants Endesa and Iberdrola stepped in to sponsor the conference, which brings together more than 20,000 negotiators, scientists, NGOs and journalists from around the world.

AFP has been told that each company paid 2 million euros to be COP25 "Platinum" sponsors, affording them prominent branding and trade stalls at the event.

Endesa is one of Spain's largest greenhouse gas emitters, producing

just over 60 million tons of CO2 equivalent last year alone.

Iberdrola produced 24.6 million tons in 2018.

Neither group nor organizers confirmed the exact cost but their sponsorship of a conference designed to reach consensus on how to cut emissions drew allegations of "greenwashing" from observers.

"Bankrolling the global climate negotiations is a classic trick from the polluter's playbook," said Jean Su, energy director with the Center for Biological Diversity.

"For just a fraction of yearly profits, big polluters are able to wrap themselves in the branding of the COP and use this access to influence the negotiations," added Sriram Madhusoodanan of the Corporate Accountability watchdog.

When COP25 opened on Monday, many Spaniards woke up to advertisements from Endesa splashed across the front pages of national newspapers.

An Endesa spokeswoman told AFP that it was "a marketing action" and denied greenwashing.

"Our objective is to always do better and we are accelerating our energy transition," she said.

Iberdrola and the conference organizers did not respond to queries over sponsorship.

'We respect UN rules' Trade groups representing energy firms are entitled under UN rules to attend annual UNFCCC talks and inter-

sessional meetings as observers.

They frequently host networking meetings or presentations and have the same status and access permits at negotiations as environmental charities.

While few oil and gas majors participate directly in UN talks, they are well represented in Madrid by the trade organizations they partner.

One such group is the International Emissions Trading Agency, which counts among its members energy giants such as BP and ENI. It also represents Iberdrola and Endesa's parent company Enel, and is holding a total of 74 side events during COP25.

According to an official participants list, IETA has sent 141 people to Madrid—more than the entire European Union's delegation, and larger than that of host Chile.

"IETA supports the UNFCCC's goals and objectives for climate protection— which are a core part of our mission," CEO Dirk Forrister told AFP. "We also respect UNFCCC's rules and procedures, including its guidelines for observer participation. Our members observe UN climate negotiations, because they are serious about bringing business solutions to the climate challenge," he added.

Unlike parallel UN processes, there is currently no protection in the UNFCCC against potential conflicts of interest between nations which need emissions slashed rapidly in order to sur-

vive, and the biggest emitters whose business plans are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Thousands of energy representatives have attended climate talks since 1990.

Hoda Baraka of 350.org said trade organizations representing big energy risked undermining climate action.

"We're seeing yet again how the interests of dirty energy corporations are being put before the needs of vulnerable people and the planet," she told AFP. The UN last year said "no particular interest group influences the decisionmaking process" at climate talks, adding that it takes the issue of conflict of interest "very seriously."

Yet during annual mid-session climate talks in Germany in June, AFP obtained proof that hours of discussions on the subject were omitted from the final conference record.

Environmental groups including Oil Change International, Corporate Europe Observatory, the Observatorio de Multinacionales en America Latina, and Power Shift Africa all told AFP they considered oil and gas presence at COP25 as unacceptable.

"Our hard work and determination is easily overpowered by the vast resources of the biggest polluting corporations," said Sarah Dobson, from the UK Youth Climate Coalition.

"These companies are destroying our planet and our right to fair climate negotiations free from their influence." AFP

CHILDLIKE AND BUBBLY Yoon Ji-hye, a 24-year-old YouTuber, feels South Korean women are often expected to be "passive, childlike and bubbly," as well as attractive, to be desirable.

She has fully embraced Escape the Corset, cropping her hair short and going bare-faced, shunning the country's booming beauty industry.

"I used to spend hours mastering make-up techniques watching YouTube videos, and spent about $200 on beauty products every month," recalls Yoon, who lives with her parents.

Her ex "preferred" her with long hair and did not support her feminist inclinations, she says.

Now also a 4B member, she does not miss dating or sex, explaining: "There are other options and ways to please yourself."

Yoon is convinced most Korean men in their 20s and 30s have watched spycam videos or revenge porn—footage released by male expartners—one reason she no longer wants to engage with any of them.

4B and Escape the Corset are the most radical forms of feminism the South has ever seen, according to Shin Gi-wook, a sociologist at Stanford University in the US. "The four categories—marriage, motherhood, dating and sex—often put women in subordinate position to men... and what is represented in 'corset' is also similar—that women need to look certain ways to please men," he tells AFP. The effects risk reinforcing the country's looming demographic disaster.

South Korea's total fertility rate—the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime—dropped to 0.98 in 2018, far below the 2.1 needed to keep a population stable.

The government predicts the South's 55 million population will drop to 39 million by 2067, when half the nation will be aged 62 or older.

Authorities have been trying to promote marriage by offering newlyweds housing benefits and low-interest mortgages.

But for Lee, the future is female.

She insists: "My dream is to build housing only for women who plan to never marry." AFP

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US TALKS TO TALIBAN ANEW, PICKS UP LINE TO NOKOR DOHA, Qatar—Washington resumed talks with the Taliban in Qatar Saturday, a US source said, three months after President Donald Trump abruptly halted diplomatic efforts that could end America’s longest war.

“The US rejoined talks today in Doha. The focus of discussion will be reduction of violence that leads to intra-Afghan negotiations and a ceasefire,” said the source briefed on efforts to end almost two decades of war in Afghanistan.

In September, the United States and the Taliban had appeared on the verge of signing a deal that would have seen Washington begin withdrawing thousands of troops in return for security guarantees.

It was also expected to pave the way towards direct talks between the Taliban and the government in Kabul and, ultimately, a possible peace agreement after more than 18 years of war.

But that same month, Trump abruptly called the year-long effort “dead” and withdrew an invitation to the insurgents to join secret talks at his US retreat at Camp David after the killing of an American soldier.

During a surprise visit to a US military base in Afghanistan last week, Trump said the Taliban “wants to make a deal.”

In another development, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed during a phone conversation to maintain dialogue with the nuclear-armed North, Seoul said Saturday, with the two allies noting the situation had become “grave”.

Denuclearisation negotiations have been at a standstill since a summit in Hanoi broke up in February and pressure is rising as an end-of-year deadline to offer concessions, set by Pyongyang for Washington, approaches.

The 30-minute talk was the first conversation between the US President and the South Korean leader since they met at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

“The two leaders shared an assessment that the current situation on the Korean peninsula is grave,” said Ko Min-jung, the spokeswoman of the South’s presidential office. AFP

TRUMP NOT MARKING MEXICO CARTELS AS ‘TERROR’ GROUPS WASHINGTON—US President Donald Trump said Friday he would not proceed with his stated plans to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror groups following a request from his counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Trump called for a “war” on the cartels last month after the killings of nine women and children from a US-Mexican Mormon community.

The case brought fresh attention to cartel violence in Mexico and leftist president Lopez Obrador’s struggles to rein in bloodshed, but south of the border the US plans were seen as unwanted meddling.

Mexican officials asked for clarification on Trump’s plans, and said they wanted to make progress on efforts to stem the flow of weapons and money from the United States to criminal gangs in Mexico.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard had reacted more forcefully, saying: “Mexico will never allow any action that means a violation of its national sovereignty.”

While Trump said in a tweet Friday evening that “all necessary work has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations,” he said he was putting a hold on the move out of respect for Lopez Obrador.

“We will temporarily hold off this designation and step up our joint efforts to deal decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!” the president tweeted.

Trump said Lopez Obrador was a “man who I like and respect, and has worked so well with us.”

The Mexican president hailed the change of heart, telling reporters that joint action with Washington on cartels needed to be done “with respect for our sovereignty.”

“I think the decision made today was very good,” he added.

The victims in last month’s attack, including twin eight-month-old babies, were killed as they drove on a remote road between the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, in northern Mexico, a lawless region disputed by warring drug cartels. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor

INNOCENT LOOKS. A

boy and a girl looking out the window of a tent exchange glances at a flooded camp for displaced Syrians near the village of Killi in the north of the northwestern Idlib province of Syria on Thursday. AFP

MILITARY BASE SHOOTER: U.S. IS A ‘NATION OF EVIL’

M

IAMI—A Saudi military student reportedly condemned America as a “nation of evil” in an online manifesto prior to opening fire Friday at a US naval base, killing three people before being shot dead by police.

The shooting, which took place in a classroom building at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, left eight others wounded, including two sheriff’s deputies who responded to the attack.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the shooter was from Saudi Arabia—the same nationality as 15 of the 19 men involved in the 9/11 attacks, some of whom attended civilian flight school in Florida.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist media, identified him as Mohammed al-Shamrani, saying he had posted a short manifesto on Twitter that read: “I’m against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil.”

“I’m not against you for just being American, I don’t hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity,” he wrote.

ABC News reported that investigators were working to determine if it was in fact written by the shooter.

The Twitter account that posted the manifesto—which also condemned US support for Israel and included a quote from Al-Qaeda’s deceased leader, the Saudi Osama bin Laden— has been suspended.

DeSantis told a news conference that “the government of Saudi

Arabia needs to make things better for these victims. And I think they are going to owe a debt here given that this is one of their individuals.”

Commanding officer Captain Timothy Kinsella said the shooter was an aviation trainee, one of “a couple hundred” foreign students at the base.

Six Saudis were detained following the shooting, including three who were seen filming the entire attack, The New York Times reported, citing a person briefed on the initial investigation.

The gunman was armed with a Glock 9mm handgun that had been purchased locally, the Times reported.

It had an extended magazine and the shooter had four to six other magazines in his possession.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman telephoned US President Donald Trump to denounce the shooting, affirming that “the perpetrator of this heinous crime does not represent the Saudi people,” according to the official Saudi Press Agency. AFP

ELON MUSK CLEARED OF DEFAMATION OVER ‘PEDO GUY’ TWEET LOS ANGELES—Tesla co-founder Elon Musk was cleared of defamation on Friday by a jury in Los Angeles over a tweet in which he labeled a British caver “pedo guy.”

The jury deliberated less than an hour before ruling in favor of Musk and clearing him of any liability in the high-profile case that pitted him against Vernon Unsworth.

Unsworth had sought $190 million in damages from the tech billionaire, arguing that his reputation had been damaged by the tweet.

Musk hugged his lawyer on hearing the verdict, telling reporters afterwards: “My faith in humanity has been restored.”

One of Unsworth’s attorneys, Mark Stephens, expressed disappointment, saying the verdict would al-

low “a bullying billionaire ... to cast a long shadow.”

“I just hope that nobody else has to go through (this) and go toe-totoe with Mr Musk again,” Stephens said, noting the “enormous” amount of money Musk had at his disposal to defend himself.

Unsworth said he was sorry the verdict did not go his way but would respect the jury’s decision.

The caver’s legal team had told jurors in closing arguments that the $190 million he was seeking would amount to “a hard slap on the wrist” for Musk and would prevent him “from ever planting a nuclear bomb in the life of another individual.”

Describing the 48-year-old entrepreneur as a “billionaire bully,” Unsworth attorney Lin Wood said his

client was a man of modest means whose life had been upended by the much-publicized row.

Musk’s outburst against Unsworth followed an interview in which the 64-year-old caver dismissed Musk’s offer of a mini-submarine to rescue young soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand in the summer of 2018.

Unsworth at the time said Musk’s offer was nothing but a PR stunt—a claim he maintained during the trial—and had suggested he “stick his submarine where it hurts.”

In court testimony, Musk said the “pedo guy” tweet he shared with his 22 million followers was an off-the-cuff insult and did not mean he was accusing Unsworth—a financial consultant who splits his time between Britain and Thailand—of being a pedophile. AFP

AUSTRALIA SEES HEATWAVE AS OVER 100 FIRES BURN

SYDNEY—Out of control bushfires forced residents in eastern Australia to flee their homes on Saturday, as other parts of the country braced for a heatwave due next week.

Bushfires are common in the country but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought and climatic conditions fuelled by global warming.

Scorching temperatures have tipped above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) close to where a fire was burning on the outskirts of Brisbane in Queensland state, with residents in three suburbs told to “leave immediately.”

“Conditions are now very dangerous and firefighters may soon be unable to prevent the fire advancing,” the Queensland Fire Authorities warned. “The fire may pose a threat to all lives directly in its path.”

A shipping container full of fireworks exploded as the fire raged, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the explosion.

More than 100 fires were burning across Australia’s east Saturday, including a “mega fire” burning north of Sydney.

After combining with other bushfires Friday the huge blaze is now under control but continued to burn across 250,000 hectares within an hour’s drive of Australia’s largest city.

Sydney has been engulfed in toxic smoke for weeks and occasionally sprinkled with snow-like embers.

The pilot of a helicopter supporting the fire efforts was lucky to escape with just minor injuries after crashing about 200 kilometres north of the city Saturday.

Easing conditions overnight provided brief respite in New South Wales state and allowed for controlled burning to prevent future damage during the anticipated heatwave.

But firefighters remained on high alert as blustery winds threatened to fan unpredictable flames. AFP

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH POLICE AS CHILE UNREST ENTERS DAY 50 SANTIAGO—Protesters clashed with police as thousands took to the streets of Chile’s capital Friday for a demonstration that marked 50 days since the outbreak of the country’s worst civil unrest in decades.

Furious Chileans have for weeks been protesting social and economic inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues.

The crisis is the worst in three decades of Chilean democracy and has led to 26 deaths and more than 12,000 injuries, according to the Organization of American States, with another 20,600 people detained.

As with every Friday since protests began on October 18, thousands gathered at Plaza Italia in the center of Santiago to wave flags, sing and dance in a show of opposition Presi-

dent Sebastian Pinera’s conservative government.

Protesters held up a huge Chilean flag with a closed eye, a symbol of the 300 people who have suffered optical injuries during confrontations with police.

Some demonstrators armed with stones and Molotov cocktails clashed with police, who scattered them with tear gas and water cannon.

Officers erected barricades around the square later in the evening.

Chile’s unrest began with a demonstration against a price hike on metro tickets in Santiago, which spiraled into violent protests across the country.

Lawmakers in Chile’s National Congress last month agreed to hold a referendum on updating the country’s constitution, in force since 1980 and enacted by the former military junta of Augusto Pinochet. AFP

UGLY SIGNS. This picture taken on Wednesday shows the jewish Westhoffen cemetery near Strasbourg, eastern France, where 107 graves were found vandalised with swastikas and antisemitic inscriptions. AFP

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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

CLOSE-UP.

A tourist gets a closer shot of a coconut on top of a reclining coconut tree in Inubahan Beach, Poblacion, San Jose, Romblon.

Teddy Pelaez

CORRECT SCALES.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar checks the weighing scale of an accredited grains retailer of the National Food Authority in a surprise visit at the Muñoz Market in Quezon City on Friday. The Department of Agriculture, NFA and the Department of Trade and Industry conduct regular market visits to various public markets nationwide to monitor the prices of agricultural products. PNA

‘YORME’ TALKS.

Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko’ Domagoso speaks at a dialogue held at the Far Eastern University in Manila. The mayor tackled various topics, including the banishment of vendors at once-crowded places like Divisoria and the progress of his governance over the city. Norman Cruz

ANTI-POLIO DOSE. A young girl receives an anti-polio vaccine dose from a health worker as the Quezon City Health Department conducts its second house-to-house ‘Patak against Polio’ vaccination. The third and last vaccination round is scheduled for January next year. Manny Palmero

TRUTH CARAVAN. Las Piñas Mayor Mel Aguilar (center right) and Vice Mayor April Aguilar grace the

launch of the National Capital Region edition of the Youth for Truth Caravan at the STI-Las Piñas Auditorium.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar (center) was the keynote speaker in the event attended by the students of Dr. Filemon C. Aguilar Memorial College of Las Piñas, STI, and members of Sangguniang Kabataan. The YFT Caravan aims to empower the youth by providing the knowledge and tools to combat fake news and disinformation. The participants attended different sessions to help them become critical and responsible social media users. Norman Cruz

CRAB CAPITAL.

Young ‘Nonie’ jogs around a welcome landmark in Buguey, Cagayan, said to be the Crab Capital of the Philippines.

Aside from crabs, the town in extreme Northern Luzon is also rich with other seafood.

Ben Moses Ebreo

SILVER TREE. Guests of the New World Hotel in Makati City witness the silver-themed Christmas tree at the hotel lobby to celebrate New World’s 25th year in the Philippines. Guest of honor was Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay with Makati 2nd District Rep. Luis Campos. Celebrity Pia Guanio-Mago was master of ceremonies, while the SOLV Children’s Choir provided entertainment. Diana B. Noche

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

Riera U. Mallari, Editor sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Sports

ANOTHER PRODUCTIVE DAY FOR PH The PH’s taekwondo trio of Dustin Jacob Mella, Rafael Enrico Mella and Rodolfo Reyes Jr. celebrate after winning the Poomsae Team event gold in Ninoy Aquino Stadium. Angelica Villanueva

By Peter Atencio

S

UBIC—Gymnast Daniela dela Pisa kicked off another productive day for the Philippines in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

Dela Pisa, an ovarian cancer survivor, scored 17.750 in her routine to clinch the gold in the hoop category of the gymnastics competition, her third and most impressive medal in the games, to go with two bronzes from the ball and clubs categories. She beat Malaysia’s Amzan Izzah (16.500) and Kwan Amy Dict Weg (15.900), who got the silver and bronze, respectively.

Following Dela Pisa’s gymnastics’ feat, Quezon-pride Cris Nievarez and the tandem of Joane Delgaco and Melcah Caballero hit paydirt as the Philippine rowing team got off to a sizzling start at the ACEA Bay here.

Motivated by his desire to help his family in the seaside town of Atimonan, Quezon, Nievarez gave the country its first gold medal on Day 7 after ruling the men’s lightweight single sculls a day after he topped the time trials. He clocked in at 7:34.27 in besting Thailand’s Siripong Chaiwichitchonkul 7:35.01 for the gold. ‘‘I didn’t expect to win the gold but the Lord

guided me to victory. I am also motivated by my desire to help my family,’’ said the 19-year-old Nievarez, a first-timer in the biennial Games. Nievarez said he will use his financial incentives to help his two siblings and mother.

Indonesia’s Kakan Kusmana bagged the bronze with a time of 7:39.54.

Bicol standouts Delgaco and Caballero combined to rule the women’s lightweight double sculls with a time of 7:24.21.

Vietnam’s Thi Hao Dinh and Thanh Huyen Ta took the silver after clocking 7:27.65. Myanmar’s Shwe Zin Latt and Nilar Win registered a time of 7:30.23 for the bronze.

Delgaco, 21, and also a SEA Games rookie, said she would buy a land in Iriga City, Camarines, Sur, while Caballero plan to save her cash incentives for future use.

Zuriel Sumintac and Nestor Cordova failed to land a medal in the men’s pair after finishing fifth in the event won by Indonesia’s Dendri Al-Ghiffari and Ferdiansyah, who timed 6:58.46. The Filipinos clocked 7:15.04.

Meanwhile, the Philippines also got off to a hot start in the taekwondo competitions at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Rodolfo Reyes Jr. scored 8.349 to win the gold in the male recognized poomsae individual event, relegating Thailand’s Sengmueabg Pattarapong to

the silver with 8.199, while Myanmar’s Shine Sun finished with 7.849 to settle for the bronze medal.

Jocel Lyn Ninobla made it a double celebration for the host team, edging Thailand’s Srisahakit Ornawee by a hair for the women’s poomsae recognized individual gold.

Ninobla scored 8.433 while Ornawee finished a close second with 8.432. Vietnam’s Le Tran Im Uyen settled for the bronze with 8.149.

“It was really close. I’m thankful to God for the win,” Ninobla said.

Reyes’ win more than made up for his bronze medal finish in the event in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur.

“I’m too happy to win the gold. I’m very thankful for the support of the huge Filipino crowd. It’s really inspiring. Thanks to you all,” said 22-year-old Reyes.

The taekwondo trio of Dustin Jacob Mella, Rafael Enrico Mella and Reyes, Jr. then captured the Poomsae Team event gold.

Other winners for the day were pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, 200-meter trackster Kristina Knott; Margielyn Didal, who captured her second gold, this time in the street category of skateboarding; Chezka Centeno in the 10-ball pool singles; the men’s epee fencing team; Junna Tsukii in the 50-kg kumite; Noelle Manalac in soft tennis; and Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon in the tennis doubles.

ALCANTARA, PATROMBON RULE TENNIS DOUBLES

By Lito Cinco

IT WAS a sure gold for the Philippines with the All-Filipino finals’ cast featuring top seed Ruben Gonzales and Huey Treat against Nino Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon in the men’s doubles of the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Rizal Memorial tennis courts before an overflow crowd that cheered both teams.

The duo of homegrown talents Alcantara and Patrombon fashioned out an exciting 7-6, 7-5 victory over the Cebuana Lhuiller-backed and top

seeds Huey and Gonzales, with Patrombon’s volley sealing the victory in the second set for a gold-silver finish for the Philippines in tennis.

“It is a great day to be a Filipino today and my congratulations to Nino, Jeson, Treat and Ruben for a job well done. With their 1-2 finish, we showed again that Filipino tennis players are indeed world class athletes,” said Cebuana Lhuillier and Unified Tennis Philippines President Jean Henri Lhuillier, who was among the crowd that watched the game.

Meanwhile, Team Philippines

repulsed Indonesia, 14-1, to reach the gold medal round of the men’s baseball action Friday in the 30th Southeast Asian Games baseball tournament at The Villages in Clark, Pampanga.

This allowed the Filipino batters complete a 4-0 sweep of the elimination round.

Jonash Ponce had 4 RBIs for the Philippines in leading them to a finals encounter on the winner of the game between Thailand and Indonesia.

In softball, the Philippine Blu Girls blanked Malaysia, 12-0, in the page

system semifinals.

The Filipino clouters went on the attack early and scored four runs in the first inning.

This also allowed them to finish the eliminations with a 4-0 record.

They are eyeing their third gold medal after winning the inaugurals at home in 2005 and in 2011 in Palembang.

The Blu Boys lost to Singapore, 3-4, in the page system semifinal.

But they still have a shot at the final when they face Indonesia, the winner of which will face Singapore for the gold.

PH TAKES SILVER AT ASIAN EQUESTRIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FRONT of an astonished crowd, the Philippine team composed of veteran riders Colin Syquia, Toni Leviste, and Joker Arroyo came from an impossible distance behind the pack to take the silver medal at the team jumping competition of the Federation Equestre Internationale Asian Championships Pattaya 2019, the first continental championship in the multi discipline sport.

The sport of equestrian is not being staged at the 30th Southeast Asian Games due to the absence of quarantine and health protocols with countries from which competing horses would be originating and returning.

After the second day of competition in Pattaya, the Philippines trailed Uzbekistan by 8.17 faults for a bronze medal, an unlikely feat to overcome in light of the strong performance by the Central Asian nation.

“From the start, our team was competing at a great disadvantage, with only three riders, as opposed to the usual four, which affords a team a discard score and which normally relieves the riders of a lot of pressure, allowing them to perform at optimum potential,” said Carissa Coscolluela, president of team sponsor Equestrian Philippines Inc. Going into the final day of the competition, the Philippines needed to catch up to Uzbekistan by riding faultless rounds, with tremendous pressure on each rider who knew that every score and every jump would count.

Syquia went in first on Chanel One and posted an effortless, immaculate, and masterful clear round that gave the team the shot of con-

fidence that it needed.

“It’s a new horse I’m on and we don’t know each other too well, but everything really came together for us today,” said Syquia.

“It was a long shot, but we didn’t let that discourage us from trying,” said Olympian Toni Leviste, whose clear round on Loribri assured the Philippines of a bronze medal finish after Uzbekistan succumbed to and crumbled under pressure of Syquia and Arroyo’s competitive scores earlier in the show.

“We caught up after Colin’s and my round, and it was clear that we were hot on their heels, even we couldn’t believe it,” said Arroyo of the outcome.

Arroyo rode her Asian Games mount Ubama Alia, now already showing great signs of experience and mental maturity in the ring.

The team fought with intense focus and determination to edge Uzbekistan out of the podium, asking everything of their horses who rose to the occasion and hardly put a foot wrong on the final day.

With Hong Kong having a firm hold of the gold medal, it was up to Kuwait’s last rider to keep the silver for themselves, being more than eight faults ahead of the Philippines, now in third position. Asian Games 2018 gold medalist Ali Al Khorafi rode as the anchor rider for the Middle Eastern country, normally ensuring a fault free round, but an unexpected refusal and a fence down cost him 10 faults, ceding the silver medal to the Philippines, and placing Kuwait third in the final standings.

Champions all—Colin Syquia, Joker Arroyo and Toni Leviste

CENTENO TOPS AMIT FOR 10-BALL GOLD

By Tim Obligacion CHEZKA Centeno got off to a hot start before putting up the finishing touches to beat Rubilen Amit in an all-Filipino final to claim the women’s 10-ball singles gold of the billiards competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Manila Hotel Tent on Saturday.

Centeno blitzed to a 6-1 lead and while Amit stopped the bleeding with back-to-back wins in the eighth and ninth rack, the former went for it in the 10th rack to cop the gold in a 10-ball finals that was played in the SEA Games for the first time.

This latest finals’ victory was Centeno’s third straight over Amit as the former won golds in the 9-ball singles in the last two editions of the biennial meet at the latter’s expense.

As Centeno was magnanimous in her win over Amit, the two were all business in the women’s 9-ball doubles Saturday morning as they posted a 7-4 decision over Bui Xuan Vang and Doan Thi Ngoc Le of Vietnam to boost their chances of landing another gold for the hosts.

In the women’s 9-ball singles, Centeno dominated Jessica Tan Hui Ming of Singapore, 7-1, while Amit posted a 7-2 decision over Kongkaket Vutthiphan of Thailand to assure the Philippines of yet another gold.

Iris Rañola and Andal Floriza were not as lucky, as they took a 5-7 loss to Lim Siew Boon and Wong Poi Sei of Malaysia in their women’s 9-ball pool doubles last 12 encounter.

Meanwhile, Francisco dela Cruz absorbed a 55-100 defeat to Pham Canh Phuc in their semifinals match in the men’s 1-cushion carom event.

Carlo Biado crashed out in the men’s 10-Ball singles quarterfinals, as he took a 2-9 loss to Kadir Ismail of Indonesia.

In snooker, Avin Barbero could not keep up with Sakbieng Siththideth of Laos as he lost, 0-4, in their men’s singles last 16 match.

GEMIDA, BRAVO GUN FOR NET TITLES MIA Gemida and Cedrix Bravo brim with confidence as they shoot a pair of titles each in the PPS-PEPP Mayor Junard Chan national age-group tennis tournament which got under way at the Lapu Lapu City and Consolacion tennis courts in Cebu Friday.

Close to 200 entries are vying for top honors and ranking points in nine age-group categories of the Group I tournament presented by Dunlop with competitions also up in the doubles featuring five agegroup divisions.

Gemida and Bravo are tipped to dominate their respective sides in the 16- and 18-and-under play of the five-day tournament put up by Lapu Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan and which drew the rising and top players from the host city and nearby towns.

Out to foil Gemida are Tiffany Nocos and sisters Bless, Hazel and Helariza Coderos while Hans Cabello, Mitch Largo and Prince Lim along with Venz Alforque, John Longakit and Paul Coderos set out to foil Bravo in the top two divisions in the boys’ side of the event serving as part of the country’s longest talent-search sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Keen competition is also seen in other age brackets with Nocos bannering the 14-U section that includes Faith Banico, Helariza Coderos and Therese Gauran and Lim looming as one of the players to beat in the boys’ division, which also features Hans Cabellon, Gio Manito and Chad Cuizon.

Meanwhile, action shifts to Naga City, Cebu on Dec. 14-21 for the PPSPEPP Dagitab Festival, which features the men’s Open singles and doubles along with the Group I junior play.

Also on tap are the Legends singles for 40-and-above, and doubles for 30s, 40s and 50s. For details, contact PPS-PEPP Sports Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

Business

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

WORLD TAX RECOGNIZES P&A GRANT THORNTON’S PINAY OFFICIAL

PAYPAL EMPOWERS PH FREELANCERS, ENTREPRENEURS TO TAP GLOBAL MARKET Nagesh Devata, director and general manager for Southeast Asia’s cross border markets at PayPal

P

AYPAL is empowering thousands of Filipino freelancers and entrepreneurs to tap the global market, according to a regional executive of the global financial services company.

“PayPal is a platform that enables commerce for both consumers and buyers globally. PayPal essentially helps both consumers and businesses connect to each other. We also enable trust and confidence for people to buy and sell goods and services around the world,” says Nagesh Devata, director and general manager for Southeast Asia’s cross border markets at PayPal. PayPal enables cross-border payments in a very secure method, he says. It was the main payments provider of eBay for many years until the two publicly listed companies split into separate entities in 2015.

“O ve r t h e l a s t fo u r ye a r s fo l l ow i n g the separation from eBay, PayPal has had a tremendous growth as a standalone business and independent financial services company,” Devata says in an interview at Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.

Since PayPal was established in San Jose, California in 1998, the company has recorded 1.7 billion transactions such as money transfers and online payments. The Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, is now one of its growth areas, says Devata, a Canadian citizen.

“What we are seeing is additional growth in Asia-Pacific. We are seeing growth across the region in terms of new markets in Southeast Asia, India, China, Japan and Australia. We are seeing growth across all these markets,” he says.

295 MILLION CUSTOMERS “We have roughly 295 million customers on our platform today,” says Devata. PayPal which employs 21,800 individuals across different countries has more than 40 global partners such as Facebook, Alibaba, Google, Microsoft, Visa and Mastercard. Mobile PayPal transactions amounted to $227 billion in 2018.

It is particularly active in the Philippines which is known for its vibrant gig economy, with an estimated 1.5 million freelancers. Devata says the large population of Filipino migrants also makes the Philippines an attractive market, with PayPal tapping local partners such as Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific for airline ticketing payments.

“PayPal addresses the needs of both consumers and businesses and help them to do commerce

and provide that trust. We are seeing more businesses use PayPal across Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region,” he says.

Devata says the initial growth in the Philippines came from the expanding freelance and SME communities. “Freelancers have been a very strong area of focus for us. Over the last several years, we have been working with the freelance community in terms of connecting to platforms in the region or the US. We are giving them a way to connect to businesses around the world,” he says.

He says more merchants in the country are now also using PayPal. “You have large merchants that are using PayPal like Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. Part of the reason why they see such value in PayPal is their ability to connect to international consumers and new markets as they expand their businesses,” he says.

Another segment, he says, includes overseas Filipinos who want to buy products and services back in the Philippines. “Whether they want to purchase airline tickets, or they do bills payment on behalf of their family, we work with a number of businesses here in the Philippines. We make it easy for them to pay for a bill, buy an airline ticket, pay for someone’s school or any service that relates to cross-border. We are well positioned to help them facilitate and make it easy to buy,” he says.

RISK MANAGEMENT Devata says beyond the aspect of buying goods and services, PayPal provides seamless, secure and great checkout experience and allows users to conduct business in different currencies around the world.

“Most importantly, we provide the ability to start a business very quickly and ultimately get access to a global market. This is what makes PayPal unique and this is what has given its longevity over the years as it continues to expand to more markets,” he says.

“At the end of the day, if you think about what PayPal is, it is fundamentally a risk management company. We are able to manage risks because we are playing at two sides. We play with merchants, and we work with the consumers on both sides. As they are making those transactions, we can monitor all the different variables that go into that engagement. We monitor those transactions through human engagement, data analytics, machine learning, and all that go in there. There is a huge number of other variables that we are constantly tracking to make sure that you as a consumer, when buying something, feel secure,” he says.

“We are effectively a two-sided network that is able to manage risks on both sides. That is one of the most compelling and real-differentiated advantages for PayPal when doing cross-border

commerce,” says Devata.

Devata says even with the rise of blockchain companies that also offer cross-border transactions, PayPal has the advantage of a global network that understands local conditions.

“Blockchain is relevant and it is something that PayPal is tracking and monitoring. We are always looking at what the trends are and what can be the future developments. From PayPal’s perspective, it is something we are aware of. We are actively monitoring it. We are actively tracking it. We are seeing where it may be in the future,” he says.

“Our core infrastructure is API-driven which is scalable and global and has understanding of local market conditions. PayPal understands the needs of both consumers and buyers. A lot of that comes from years of building that up and constantly innovating the platform, the capability, technologies and solutions,” he says.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION He says in a way, PayPal is contributing to financial inclusion. “We work with partners that are enabling commerce to make it easy for entrepreneurs to start selling online. We work with partners that can help set up a store front, build a website and enable payments very easily,” he says.

“If I am a small business in the Philippines and I want to sell something that is unique from the Philippines such as clothes or mangoes and I want to connect to consumers globally, that is the real strength of PayPal in building business globally,” he says.

“On the flip side, you have consumers around the world that have PayPal. That becomes the easiest way for consumer to buy something from a Filipino business,” says Devata.

“From the PayPal perspective, it is about supporting the ability of the merchant community to conduct commerce and not limiting themselves to just a defined set. It is about empowering existing and future entrepreneurs and exporters to grow their business and help them find new customers around the world,” he says.

Devata is optimistic about the opportunities in the Philippines which he describes as a market that will “see businesses and entrepreneurs move towards export-oriented growth”.

“It will drive more financial independence for entrepreneurs and businesses. It will help them bridge the gap and be able to move very quickly in their digital journey. This is a market that is extremely oriented toward social media. Social commerce will play out in this market and enable people to conduct commerce and be able to buy and sell through a platform like that. It is a potential that the Philippines will embrace in the future,” he says. Roderick T. dela Cruz

P&A Grant Thornton tax advisory and compliance head Atty.

Eleanor Roque

P & A G R A N T Thornton tax advisor y and compliance head Atty. Eleanor Roque was named a Woman in Tax Leader in the Philippines by World Tax in association with the International Tax Review.

She is one of five Filipino women recognized in the ninth edition of the annual list of the world’s leading tax practitioners.

Within the Grant Thornton global network of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms, Roque is among 17 Grant Thornton professionals on the Women in Tax list.

Atty. Roque has been in the tax practice for more than 20 years. Prior to joining P&A Grant Thornton in 2009, she was a tax director of Grant Thornton Vietnam for two years.

Roque is currently the president of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines and a member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

The Women in Tax Leaders are nominated by their peers and the business community and are recommended as highly regarded and trusted advisers.

This year, the Euromoneypublished ITR surveyed more than 9,900 professionals from around the globe, asking who they would refer their clients to in the event of a conflict o r re co m m e n d a s a l o c a l representative in another jurisdiction.

Those named in the guide are considered market leaders with decades of experience behind them.

RAMON ANG TO FILIPINOS: PRACTICE HUMILITY

By Ben Cal SAN Miguel Corp. president and chief executive Ramon Ang advises every Filipino to practice kindness and humility daily to achieve a better Philippines.

Ang made the call in a speech read for him by his son, Jomar, during the awarding ceremony for The Outstanding Filipino award for 2019 at the historic Manila Hotel on Dec. 2.

Jomar said his father could not attend the TOFIL award due to an “important” previous commitment.

The elder Ang topped the TOFIL award for 2019 for steering SMC’s successful

diversification to other business ventures from beer manufacturing to infrastructure development, including airport, petrochemical and transportation, among others, under the business/entrepeneurship category.

The other awardees were Glenn Banaguas (environment conservation and science diplomacy), Dr. Joselito Chavez (medicine), Virgilio Malang (science and technology), Noel Rosal (government/public service) and Nelly Siababa-Aggangan (agriculture).

SMC is currently constructing a modern world-class international airport in Bulacan to enable the country to be competitive in airline travel in the years to come.

Ang reiterated the importance for Filipinos to “love our country” to enable them to improve their lives.

“Be kind and humble…every single day as this will make the Philippines a better country,” Ang said.

President Rodrigo Duterte sent written message to the TOFIL organizers, extending his “warmest greetings to the JCI [Junior Chamber International] Senate Philippines”.

“For decades JCISP has honored distinguished Filipinos in various fields for being models of excellence and hard work in their respective professions,” Duterte said.

“I thus congratulate this year’s awardees Turn to C2

Business

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 business@manilastandard.net

IN BRIEF

AIRDISC INVENTOR CLINCHES STUDENT-ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

PAMI BECOMES TRUST CORPORATION

PHILAM Life continues to innovate the way it conducts its business to provide customers with the right solutions to meet their individual protection and wellness needs.

AIA Philam Life is set to transition its subsidiary, Philam Asset Management Inc. into a trust corporation as the main vehicle to manage the Philam Group investment portfolio.

“This move is aligned with AIA Philam Life’s thrust to put its customers at the heart of the business,” said AIA Philam Life chief executive Kelvin Ang. “By establishing a TC managing our general and VUL funds, we will be able to give more focus on investment requirements that support our core insurance business. As such we will be able to draw on the advantages of economies of scale, innovative investment strategies and multi market fund access, and pass it on to our customers,” he said.

The TC will allow AIA Philam Life to leverage on AIA’s global investment expertise and best practices and funds platforms under the AIA investment framework and business model. “With renewed focus on our insurance business, we will be able to concentrate on our twin priorities of protection and wellness, bringing to life our brand promise of helping Filipinos live Healthier, Longer and Better Lives,” said Ang. During the transition and until completion of the TC turnover, all contracts, agreements and existing mutual funds from PAMI will be transferred to BPI Investment Management Inc., the largest mutual fund manager in the country in terms of assets under management.

PLDT, FREE BEE TEAM UP WITH SM

PLDT Global Corp. and Free Bee have teamed up with retail giant SM Supermalls to delight overseas Filipinos this holiday season.

The Dear SM Santa campaign is a digitized mailbox where kids and kids-at-heart can submit their Christmas wishes to Santa online. Offline participants may also submit their letter at SM Santa mailbox stations in participating SM malls Through the partnership, overseas Filipinos all around the world can participate in the promo through a direct link from the Free Bee mobile app. By submitting a letter to SM Santa via Free Bee, overseas subscribers are also rewarded with a 3-minute premium call to their loved ones back home.

Free Bee has become the go-to calling app for Filipinos living and working abroad. The ad-based solution delivers a two-minute free international call to the Philippines, even if the recipient is not connected to the internet or does not own a smartphone.

“We know how important it is for Filipinos to stay connected to their families back home, and to participate in family Christmas traditions even from afar. That is why, together with SM, we are happy to be able to extend the reach of the Dear SM Santa campaign to our global Filipinos while rewarding them with more minutes to call their loved ones this holiday season,”said Albert Villa-Real, chief commercial officer of PLDT Global.

ETORO LAUNCHES FOOD INVESTMENT

MANUFACTURERS and suppliers are investing billions in developing new foods and services as the world grapples with multiple challenges. A surge in the global population is likely to increase food demand by 60 percent in the next 30 years, requiring more sustainable agricultural production. Closer to home, the move towards plant-based diets and consumer demand for out of home dining options is opening up opportunities for manufacturers, retailers and even technology firms. eToro’s new foodtech investment portfolio is unique as it comprises a diverse range of companies working in the sector, from innovators through to established players. It includes well-known brands like Danone (BN.PA), which invests its own capital in foodtech disruptors2 and relative newcomers such as Beyond Meat (BYND), which quadrupled its stock value3 in three months following its IPO in May. Yoni Assia, CEO and Co-founder of eToro, says: “We always say invest in your passions, and there is little that excites more passion and debate than food these days. Whether it is taking more interest in the food we consume and our own health, or the way it is produced and the impact it has on the environment.”

“But it is a fast moving industry and it can be confusing for the private investor to understand the factors that drive the performance of individual stocks. While there are well-established big brands like Danone and Nestle, start-ups like Beyond Meat and Blue Apron are also having an impact on the sector. eToro’s foodtech portfolio has been designed to provide a diversified long-term investment option for investors,” Assia says.

NESTLÉ EXTENDS PARENTAL LEAVE

NESTLÉ announced the launch of a more inclusive and enhanced global parental support policy. The new gender-neutral policy will apply to all employees worldwide.

Under the new policy, parental leave for primary caregivers will be extended to 18 weeks of fully paid leave from 14 weeks previously. The policy establishes a minimum of four weeks for secondary caregivers, for whom there was no global minimum before.

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said: “Every family is unique, so we have designed a parental support policy that is flexible enough to work for us all. Supporting the healthy development of infants has been a core value of our company since our founding. Our new parental support policy is an important part of our efforts to provide children with the best start in life, by allowing parents to spend more time with their new child.”

The new policy sets new minimum standards but does not set limits. This means that in some places, Nestlé may choose to offer more leave than the 18 weeks for primary caregivers and the four weeks for secondary caregivers.

The company said it would always provide longer parental leave if local laws required it. In addition to the new arrangements, the parental support policy reinforces employment protection, nondiscrimination, health protection, the availability of flexible working options and breastfeeding support.

Nestlé head of group human resources Béatrice Guillaume-Grabisch said: “We want to make Nestlé an even more inclusive and inspiring place to work. This is a policy that will benefit every one of our people when they welcome a new child to their family, wherever they are in the world.”

A

BUDDING student entrepreneur who discovered a sustainable, refrigerant-less air conditioner was crowned as the winner of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Philippines Finals.

Angel Palma, a student from De La Salle University, was named as the winner of the Philippine leg of GSEA for her invention of the AirDisc—a cooling technology that is not dependent on coolants that are harmful to the environment.

Held annually, GSEA is the premiere global competition for student entrepreneurs who own and actively operate their own businesses. The global student entrepreneurship competition also provides a platform where they could be connected with key industry players locally and internationally, allowing them to gain valuable insights and learn best practices, which they could apply to their businesses.

By winning the Philippine leg of GSEA, Palma will represent the country in the GSEA Global Finals in Cape Town, South Africa in April 2020, and will take home a cash prize of $3,000.

“Entrepreneurs’ Organization Philippines is committed to enabling student entrepreneurs to learn, grow and fully maximize their potentials.

This competition will not only provide them with capital help, but will also give them the opportunity to enhance their skills through personal mentorship, and the platform to widen their local and international connections,” said Ray Roxas-Chua, chairperson of EO Philippines GSEA. ‘ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY’ In her presentation during the finals, Palma said that her discovery of the product was accidental, but after seeing the product’s potential to revolutionize the air-cooling industry, she pursued

Angel Palma (on the screen), a student entrepreneur who invented AirDisc, is named as the winner of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Philippines Finals. She will represent the country in the GSEA Global Finals in 2020. With Palma are (from left) EO Philippines GSEA committee member Duane Tan, EO Philippines GSEA chairperson Ray Roxas-Chua and EO Philippines president Hanky Lee.

the development of AirDisc.

Apart from potentially revolutionizing the industry, what inspired Palma was the passing of a relative due to a heart attack triggered by heat stroke. “ The Philippines is a countr y where a temperature of more than 30 degree Celsius is a normal occurrence. The heat claimed my uncle’s life, and it can claim thousands more. If we only we have access to air-cooling equipment, we could have prevented the deaths caused by heat,” Palma said in her presentation.

“The entry of AirDisc in the market will be a deciding step for all of us. Instead of fostering unnecessary competition, stakeholders in the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry are encouraged to join me in my mission with this technology,” she said.

Palma will fly to Cape Town to represent the country in the GSEA Global Finals in April 2020. She will be facing more than 50 student-entrepreneurs from around the world, and will be receiving intensive mentorship from EO Philippines member entrepreneurs.

MAPÚAN CLIMATE DIPLOMAT BAGS TOFIL 2019 AWARD MAPÚA University alumnus and climate diplomat and scientist Glenn Banaguas is a recipient of this year’s The Outstanding Filipino award.

He is one of the “six nation-builders” honored by the Junior Chamber International for his exemplary contributions in environment conservation and science diplomacy.

Banaguas has been providing progressive researches to various provinces and local government units to help them incorporate climate science in their development programs.

The Mapúa chemical engineering alumnus was recognized along with five other awardees, including San Miguel Corp. president and CEO Ramon Ang (business and entrepreneurship), Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal (government/public service), Dr. SMMalang Supermalls Joselito Chavez (medicine), Virgilio (science COO Steven Tan at and technology) and Nelly Siababa-Aggangan the Nikkei Business (agriculture).

Forum “Research is my life. I have been conducting research for free, donating my salary to bring science and policy to the communities. It is a covenant and commitment to save them from the wrath of climate crises and disaster risks,” Banaguas said.

With his team of researchers, he also extends information on climate change to cultivate disaster resiliency.

“I think it has been my gift to laymanize and translate terms into a language that even the local people understand. I personally believe that because it’s not just about communicating, but also assuring that the people grasp the information and act upon it,” he said.

Banaguas founded the Environmental and Climate Change Research Institute in 2010 where he started the Climate Smart and Disaster Resilient Philippines program to promote science diplomacy and scientific capacity building especially to the marginalized sector.

The program already reached out to more than 500 local government units, 200 universities and colleges, 200 CSOs and NGOs and 200 members of the private sector.

Mapúa University alumnus and climate diplomat and scientist Glenn Banaguas

“For me these are not enough because the Philippines has 135 cities, 1,493 municipalities, 81 provinces and 42,000 barangays. I haven’t gone to other places yet, so I’m aiming to accomplish all of them,” he said.

Banaguas is the chair of ASEAN Science Diplomats—a group of engineers and scientists in Southeast Asia providing trainings on science-based policymaking and policy development.

He is also a professor teaching Environmental Management System at Enrique T. Yuchengco School of Business and Management in Mapúa.

The TOFIL award is a public recognition of men and women, 41 years age and over, whose exemplary achievements are worthy of emulation. It was institutionalized by the Junior Chamber International.

RAMON ANG...

From C1

for their vital contributions in uplifting the welfare of our people,” he said.

The president is hoping the TOFIL award will “inspire ever yone to a greater commitment in our shared task of national-building so that future generations can enjoy a country where hope, equality and optimism abound.”

The announcement for this year’s TOFIL awardees was disclosed by national chairman JCI Senator Melandrew Velasco and board of judges chairman, Supreme Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez.

The TOFIL awardees each received a 27-inch trophy designed by National Artist for Visual Arts Napoleon Abueva.

Other members of the board of judges were TOFIL Foundation chairman JCI Sen. Rogelio “Bicbic” Garcia, JCISP president Domingo “Jun” Roque Jr., 2010 TOFIL awardee Shirley Halili-Cruz and PCCI chairman emeritus Dr. Francis Chua.

The TOFIL Award was conceived in 1988 to give recognition to men and women for their exemplary achievements that benefit the people and country.

PNB GATHERS KNOWLEDGE EXPERTS TO LIFT LUZON’S ECONOMY

PNB CEO Wick Veloso (right) exchanges ideas with business owners

MORE than a hundred business owners and entrepreneurs from Northern and Central Luzon provinces gathered recently at the Clark Marriot Hotel for the “2019 Transforum: Connecting You Forward”, a first-of-its-kind innovation forum hosted by Philippine National Bank for corporate clients in the region.

PNB president and CEO Wick Veloso said the bank held the innovation gathering as it supports building a more robust economic

landscape for the region. “We are bringing groups of knowledge experts together with businesses who have successfully deployed new technologies. We want to show business owners the latest trends in innovation as many of them gear up their businesses for the next level,” Veloso said.

Luzon is a major contributor to the economy as it is the base of many businesses. The region combines the advantages of having agricultural and industrial zones, tourism and retail areas, an international airport, a seaport, support services and major highways. These elements make the region an ideal investment and residential destination.

“We see growth in many regions, and we aim to drive local economies in the countryside to help sustain the country’s economy as a whole,” Veloso said, adding that PNB’s strategy is focused on pursuing safe, aggressive growth

Participants of the Transforum came from growth sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, retail/ wholesale, distribution and construction. They learned valuable insights from a roster of top-notch keynote speakers with expertise in the fields of digital payments, supply chain management and electronic learning.

The audience found particularly interesting the talk of Antonieta Arceo, chief of information services division of the Agricultural Training Institute, the training arm of the Department of Agriculture. In partnership with a leading telco, Arceo has pioneered a technology-based program that applies e-learning The idea selling forum tackles insights from for farmers and fisher folk. innovation experts Apart from Arceo’s digital inclusion initiatives, participants also learned about digital payments from in various areas of business.

“PNB wants to be at the forefront of innovation Cathlyn Dolor Pavia, head of VisMin Enterprise Group of and business. As a financial and growth partner of Mynt, the creators of GCash. Meanwhile, Unido Holdings Filipinos, we want to help guide business owners Group chief financial officer Francis Reyes shared the on how they can make automation work for them,” success story of Landers Superstores and how technology plays a vital role in their supply chain management. he said.

Tech & Gadgets

HUAWEI HOLDS 1 SALES ELITE TILT OUTSIDE CHINA ST

H

UAWEI, a leading global information and communications technology solutions provider announced the winners of the First Huawei Sales Elite Challenge outside China and participated in by students from Ateneo De Manila University, Mapua University, Polytechnic University and University of the Philippines.

From 200 applicants, Huawei got the top 50 students which were arranged into 10 groups.

Commercial Bidding was the first challenge for the students with the topic 5G Network Deployment of Carrier S Project.

The 10 groups joined the mock bidding and the top five groups with the highest score proceeded to the next level of the competition, which is the Marketing Practice.

On the second level of the competition, students were able to experience retail marketing. This was held at selected Huawei Concept Stores. Last challenge is the final presentation of the students, with the topic about their experience during the marketing practice.

“This prestigious competition is actually held only in China. And frankly, the Philippines is the first country outside China to host this competition. We are first among 170 country office of Huawei globally to launch the competition,” said Francis Rosario, Deputy HR Director.

The Huawei Sales Elite Challenge aims to enhance the promotion of positions in the sales category, identify and recruit excellent students, and to improve branding.

After the two-day challenge, University of the Philippines Team

“GOSAKTO300K” emerged as the top winner, taking home P300,000, a plaque and certificate.

The team members are Carl Adrian Patco, Anthony Gene Sarino, Andrew Brandon Ong, Isabelle Beatriz Ginez, and Louise Hezekiah Rance.

Second place went to Team Huhuwawei by students from UP and PUP Students namely Anne Sherine Constantino (PUP), Stephen Destura (UP), Jericho Reta (PUP), Ted Angelo (UP) and Jen Givan Turla( PUP). They brought home P150,000, a plaque and certificate.

Third place was Huawawei Team called the wild car. The team members came from students from the four universities, namely Ateneo, Mapua UP and PUP. The team mem-

bers are Wilhelm Noble (PUP), Kimberly Ellice Chua (ADMU), Bridget Noelle Legaspi (UP), Lance Quinto (Mapua) and Ken Harvey Dela Cruz (UP). They won P90,000 pesos, plaque and certificate.

Aside from the top 3 group awards, 13 individual awards were given to the following students for their exceptional performance during the Commercial Bidding Challenge, namely Janie Eunice Comia (UP), Anne Sherine Constantino (PUP), Stephen Destura (UP), Jen Givan Turla (PUP), Kirsten Rae Hipolito (UP), Nikko Marcelo Palomares (UP), Carl Adrian Patco (UP), Anthony Gene Sarino (UP), Louise Hezekiah Rance (UP), Wilhelm Noble (PUP), Charles Christian Kim Biunas (Ateneo), Tiffany Joy Marie Lim

(Ateneo), Renei Katherine Tabucol (Mapua). Each took home Huawei’s latest handset, the Mate 30 pro and plaque.

Jade Cao, Huawei HR Director, expressed her gratitude to the students: “I want to thank all of you (students) because in three days, you were with Huawei to practice our company’s Vision and Mission, which is Bring Digital to Everyone Person, Home and Organization for a Fully Connected and Intelligent World.”

The Sales Elite Sales Challenge competition is part of Huawei Human Resources Program to identify talented students and contribute to local talent development in the Philippines.

Shown here are (from left) Wangshunli, Huawei Board Member; Carl Adrian Patco , Louise Ezekiah Rance, Isabelle Beatriz Ginez (UP), Anthony Gene Sarino, Andrew Brandon Ong (UP) and Dean Remedios Ado of PUP as presentor of the award.

STAND OUT WITH WELL-DESIGNED PERSONAL WEBSITE EMPLOYERS and recruiting departments today extensively utilize various online platforms to find information about prospective employees.

Prior to actual job interviews, employers often conduct online background searches to initially assess a candidate.

According to leading employment portal, JobStreet Philippines, hiring managers get a better grasp of a candidate’s personality and capabilities by looking at their online presence. It’s a way of humanizing a potential employee– something you have control over if you manage your social media pages and personal website well to showcase your best professional self.

Candidates who own a creative and professional looking personal website also have an added edge in showcasing their skills and specializations to potential employers and interested parties. In addition, having a website is more dynamic than the usual written resume, and can showcase one’s knowledge in their area of expertise and in website creation and design technologies.

Here are some tips for creating and maintaining a professional personal website:

Choose the website design that best reflects you as an individual and as a professional. Remember that your website speaks a lot about you as a person, so find a happy medium that showcases both your personality and your professional capabilities.

Update your website content with new information and experiences. Add information about new courses, programs, projects completed and training you have attended and completed, to highlight your ongoing professional development. This way, prospective employers can see your initiatives and quickly assess your value to their current needs and projects.

Use blogs to help you connect with people and organizations you share interests with. Doing so also connects you to prospective employers and also shows you can be considered as a thought leader in your field.

Those looking to build a personal website but feel they lack the technical know-how can try GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, a product that offers a variety of customizable themes to help users decide the look and feel of their website. With easy-touse templates, you can create a professional look-

ing website in under an hour. GoDaddy also has 24/7 customer care, providing users with roundthe-clock guidance on GoDaddy products and services to help you along the way.

Building and maintaining a personal website takes work, creativity, and some elbow grease to keep it fresh. But all that effort can help to pay off in more ways than one when it comes to landing the interest of potential employers.

“Websites have become more than just platforms for people and business. Today, websites have evolved to define the individual’s brand, lifestyle, and career potential through effective design and content,” said Tina Shieh, Marketing Director for GoDaddy Asia. “Having your own website gives you the ability to control your own content and highlight your strengths, experiences and achievements. With GoDaddy Websites + Marketing you can easily get started creating your personal website to help you achieve your goals.”

To learn more about GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, visit https://ph.godaddy.com/websitesmarketing.

DICT: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION KEY TO ACCELERATING STARTUPS NEW legislation is opening the doors for innovative entrepreneurs, but digital transformation is the key to accelerating startup growth, said the Department of Information and Communication Technology as it called for a stronger push for new technology at the first-ever Philippine Startup Week.

PHSW2019 both showcased the Filipino startup community and provided them a venue to explore further growth through innovation and government assistance. It is the first-ever collaborative effort between the DICT, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, and various partners from the private sector.

The highlight of PHSW2019 is DICT’s Tech Advantage summit held at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas last November 21. Tech Advantage was not only a knowledge-sharing platform for digital technologies, it was a venue to emphasize an increased vigor towards more public-private partnerships in the technology space.

“We at the DICT trust that utilizing, developing, and harnessing technology will only accelerate the growth and evolution of our Philippine startup ecosystem,” said Assistant Secretary for Digital Philippines, Emmanuel Rey R. Caintic, as he reaffirmed the government’s

FPh and DICT present plaques of appreciation to Sprout Solutions, Gorriceta Law, Angkas, MyEG and other special guests during the Philippine Startup Week 2019.

commitment to star tups.

Digital transformation is still young in the Philippines, but the FinTech Philippines Association (FPh) has noticed a growing amount of knowledge and talent consolidating in the Philippines and has sought to bring them together to change the way business is done for the better.

“Now we see the best and the brightest in the world moving to the Philippines,” said Amor Maclang, executive director of FPh. “We are very fortunate to serve as the gateway for technology companies and Philippine businesses to

experience and take part in a regional and global ecosystem.”

George Royeca, Angkas Chief Transport Advocate, also echoed the desire to work together, urging that digital businesses need not see each other as competition. “Focus on solving a problem.

Your competitor right now is not your actual industry competitor, your competitor is everybody that’s analog,” said Royeca.

“What you need to do is work together as an industry, like FPh, and push together.”

In turn, Sprout Solutions is particularly keen on pushing for the adoption of

digital technologies in the Philippines.

During the summit, the company announced that the payroll module of their services is free for companies with less than 50 employees--a move to push young startups towards digital transformation.

“We were a startup ourselves not too long ago, so we really understand how difficult it can be in the beginning,” said Guiterrez. “We’ve always wanted to help businesses, and we really believe that going digital will help them focus on growing.”

For Jove Tapiador, co-founder of FPh, there is a wealth of opportunities to solve problems through innovation in the Philippines. He noted that various international development agencies have supported the growth of electronic payment startups in the country. “Startups are a key to longlasting economic development,” said Tapiador. “We believe that the startup community is potentially the 4th leg of economic growth in the Philippines.”

With Republic Act 1137--known as the Innovative Startup Act--set to offer development programs and incentives to both startups and enablers, starting a Filipino digital business will have more support in the future from both the public and private sector.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

FORMULA 1 WORKS WITH AMAZON WEB SERVICES AMAZON Web Services, Inc., an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Formula One Group (Formula 1) have completed a Computational Fluid Dynamics project to simulate the aerodynamics of cars, while racing, carrying out detailed simulations that have resulted in the car design for the 2021 racing season.

The CFD project used over 1,150 compute cores to run detailed simulations comprising of over 550 million data points that model the impact of one car’s aerodynamic wake on another.

Using the unmatched scalability of AWS, Formula 1 was able to reduce the average time to run simulations by 70 percent – from 60 hours down to 18. The project ran for six months using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) c5n instances and delivered performance equivalent to that of a supercomputer, for a small fraction of the cost.

Increasing excitement for fans, by enabling closer, wheelto-wheel, racing, was at the core of the project.

For Formula 1 cars, the downforce generated by their aerodynamics is the single largest performance differentiator, helping a car travel faster through corners. The current generation of cars suffer a loss of downforce when they are running close to one another, reducing a drivers’ ability to sustain close racing and increasing the difficulty of overtaking.

Currently, a car running one car length behind another loses up to 50 percent of its downforce.

To reduce this downforce loss, F1 used AWS to look closely at how the aerodynamics of cars interact when racing in close proximity.

These simulations looked at cars in common racing situations and the results have driven the changes to the proposed 2021 car design. With the insights gained from these simulations, Formula 1 has been able to design a car with only 15 percent downforce loss at the same, one car length distance.

The resulting car will feature a brand new bodywork design with a new front wing shape, simplified suspension, new rear end layout, underfloor tunnels, wheel wake control devices, and will run on 18-inch wheels with low profile tyres for the first time.

CFD simulates the impact of a liquid or gas on an object and requires extensive compute capacity to perform this kind of simulation, requiring high performance computing clusters to do the job.

However, running HPC clusters on-premises requires considerable upfront capital expenditure, lengthy procurement cycles, and regular hardware refreshes to avoid obsolescence.

AWS provides the most elastic and scalable cloud infrastructure to run HPC applications. With virtually unlimited capacity, engineers and researchers can innovate beyond the limitations of on-premises HPC infrastructure.

To complete the CFD work, Formula 1 used AWS ParallelCluster on Amazon EC2 to run the OpenFOAM CFD framework, and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for data storage. Leveraging the scalability of the cloud, Formula 1 was able to run CFD simulations on core counts much larger than they were previously able to execute.

The increased speed with which the aerodynamics team could run detailed, two car turbulence simulations on AWS meant they could increase the number of car designs they could investigate from one to five per week.

Moving forward, there are plans to expand the application further, up to 2,300 cores, and to introduce AWS Machine Learning (ML) tools, such as Amazon SageMaker, to allow ML technologies to help with the design and further optimize the performance of the car.

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TECH & Gadgets SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

VIVO LAUNCHES FASHIONABLE S1 PRO FOR EVERY LIFESTYLE

“P

REPPY”, “Hipster”, “Gamer”, “Laid Back”—today’s generation have continuously been embracing a plethora of styles. People from all ages and different walks of life can frequently be seen breaking barriers and deviating tradition to express themselves in their own unique ways.

Catering to this inception of numerous styles fashioned by different people under the same atmosphere, Vivo, the leading global technology company, recently launched the stylish S1 Pro at the Conrad Hotel, Manila.

The event, graced by Vivo Philippines executives, product distributors, and media partners, featured a lavish and colourful venue with two interactive zones that called for guests to explore their style.

“The Styling Suite”, a fancy-looking open-air dressing room with several hair and make-up artists, allowed guests to get the best look and end up with a stunning makeover. To complete the look, there was also a “Styling booth” where guests tried out different outfits from Forever 21.

Of course, the main highlight of the night was the unveiling of the newest line in the Vivo S series.

Through product talks and TVC premieres, guests learned that the Vivo S1 Pro was truly a phone fit for any and every style the user chooses to explore.

Its unparalleled 32MP front camera is perfect for selfie-lovers. For those more comfortable with shots taken with the rear camera, the Vivo S1 Pro sports a magnificent diamond-shaped rear quad camera set-up consisting of a 48MP main, 8MP secondary, 2MPwide-angle, and 2MP macro camera that perfectly capture “OOTD” shots.

For gamers, the S1 Pro also boasts of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor and 8GBRAM/128ROM—a medley of specs synonymous to average game-ready

Jabra Elite Active 65t

JABRA SETS HOLIDAY PROMO FOR WIRELESS HEADSETS

Vivo S1 Pro

laptops. The phone also has a gaming mode where users will be stripped off of notifications which may hinder the full-on phone-gaming experience.

Meanwhile, for minimalists who simply use the phone for communicating, watching, and browsing, the S1 Pro’s 6.38-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display, along with the same RAM/ ROM specs, brings smooth and seamless use for a hassle-free experience.

Part of the launch was a fashion show which proved that the phone’s sleek, but unique design,

whether in Knight Black and Fancy Sky colorways, is perfect for every style and every occasion. Models in different collections from Forever 21 paraded a beautiful runway, each flaunting the newest Vivo S1 Pro—cementing the fact, that the S1 Pro is the ultimate phone which encourages users to “explore your style”.

Retailing for P15,999, the smartphone can be pre-ordered online and in-store from November 21 to 29. It is now available at all authorized Vivo outlets nationwide.

SPROUT OFFERS DIGITAL PAYROLL SOLUTION TO SMEs SMALL and medium enterprises now have an easier time complying with government regulations with the official launch of Payroll for Small Businesses

by Sprout Solutions at the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s Tech Advantage summit last Thursday.

Sprout Solutions is a software-as-aservice (SaaS) company based in the Philippines that aims to help businesses through their suite of innovative HR and payroll management solutions.

Payroll for Small Businesses is part of Sprout’s advocacy for improving businesses in the Philippines by giving them access to solutions that will help them grow. Small businesses don’t always have enough resources to efficiently process payroll, which is why Sprout is offering their payroll module for free until they are ready to avail of the full range of services.

“Sprout has always been about impacting Filipino lives by improving business, and the way we want to do this now is by giving smaller businesses a way to focus more on strategic thinking,” said Patrick Gentry, co-founder and CEO of Sprout Solutions. “We were also quite small not too long ago, and we understand how tough it is to handle more people, which is why we decided to offer Payroll for Small Businesses without charging until a client grows beyond 50 people,” he added.

According to the 2018 List of Estab-

Patrick Gentry

lishments of the Philippine Statistics Authority, medium-sized and smaller enterprises make up 99.52% of registered businesses in the Philippines.

Many SMEs simply lack the manpower to efficiently process payroll while allowing their HR to focus towards strategic responsibilities like skill and capacity building.

Sprout’s main direction has always been to help businesses by solving problems with compliance. Avoiding non-compliance can bog down budding businesses because of the time and effort it takes to carry out the iterative tasks of payroll and timekeeping.

This problem is even more critical for smaller businesses that need to focus

resources on operational concerns rather than administrative tasks.

Getting Payroll for Small Businesses up and running takes only five to 10 days, and users can expect support throughout the entire onboarding process, and any time that help is needed with the payroll process. A mixed team of Prince2certified project managers, expert payroll advisers, and product support staff are ready to address any concerns regarding both the software and payroll.

Aside from the web-based signup and verification, which allows users to initiate the process from the comfort of their own homes, Sprout reaches out to provide basic setup instructions and free payroll training. Sprout also provides a self-onboarding tool, which walks new users through the software’s interface, and access to an extensive knowledge base for both the software and Philippine payroll requirements.

For more visual learners, users can opt to use Sprout Academy, a learning management solution, which provides a more comprehensive learning experience.

“We’re there every step of the way to help out with anything related to the payroll process,” said Gentry. “The way we help businesses isn’t just about giving them the tools to work with; we also want to help them learn how to use those tools,” he added.

Sprout’s payroll solution offers businesses the ability to easily overcome the

compliance problem by automating the payroll process, including automatic generation of over 20 government reports and calculation of 32 different pay rates.

Business can leverage the technology to navigate tricky regulations that stifle an HR department’s ability to focus on enriching the employee knowledge pool.

“We’ve always focused on compliance because it’s such a huge weight on small businesses,” said Gentry. “We want to see HR departments focus on other important value-adding tasks, not just encoding spreadsheets over and over again.”

It’s not just the automated payroll that helps businesses comply with government requirements, because aside from tax and contributions, the Data Privacy Act of 2012 has mandated companies to adhere to strict standards when it comes to protecting sensitive data. However, with Sprout’s cloud-based 201 file database management and ISO 27001 certification for information security, users can rest assured that their data remains secure.

Sprout Solutions aims to impact Filipino lives through helping businesses redirect resources to skill and capacity building. By alleviating the burden of resource-heavy and repetitive payroll and timekeeping responsibilities, companies can now have their HR departments invest in developing people, leading to improved employee confidence, low employment turnover, which ultimately saves businesses time and money.

TAIWAN TO FURTHER ADVANCE HEALTHCARE WITH TECH

By Paul David L. Gelario THE vice chairperson of Taiwan’s Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry revealed that the country aims to further advance its healthcare by harnessing latest technology in the Taiwan Healthcare Expo 2019 at Nangang Exhibition Hall 2, last Friday.

“We can harness technology to advance the development of healthcare,” IBMI Vice Chairperson, PanChyr Yang said.

These latest technologies include AI, biotechnology, cell therapy, precision medicine, and 3D printing.

“Taiwan is known for its ICT (Information Communications Technology) industry. I know these will scale our industries higher,” said Yang, who estimated that using these technologies

will create an investment of a whopping $126 billion dollars.

This projected investment have prompted several hospitals to seize the opportunity to improve healthcare. China Medical University Hospital based in Taichung, for instance, uses AI-assisted diagnosis.

“The doctor cooperates with the machine, the machine cooperates with big data, and then we come up with very smart diagnosis. These are very famous in the world not only in Taiwan,” CMUH Deputy Director of International Center, Dr. Ooi Hean said.

Despite the advanced technologies, Taiwan’s hospitals charge patients at a reasonable price to both foreigners and locals alike.

“Most of our price is reasonable even for foreigners,” CMUH Chief Secretary Interventional Cardiology, Shih-

Doctors from various hospitals along with executives leading the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open Taiwan Healthcare Expo 2019.

Sheng Chang said. in 2015 to create opportunity for collaboThis year’s Taiwan Healthcare Expo has ration and exchange of ideas, and it has set up a total of 1,850 booths. It first started grown tremendously since then.

TECH enthusiasts who are on the lookout for holiday season deals are in for a treat as Jabra runs its “12 Gifts of Christmas” promo, featuring its top wireless headset range including true wireless earbuds such as the Elite 65t, Elite Active 65t and the Elite Sport.

Jabra, a global leader in personal sound and office communication solutions, is raffling off over P300,000 worth of prizes, including an iPhone 11 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Note 10, Huawei P30, and a Samsung Galaxy A80.

To qualify for the raffle, customers who purchase Jabra’s featured products from participating authorized dealers from Nov, 29, 2019 to Jan. 15, 2020 must register their product in http:// jabraphwarranty.com/ for product warranty. Customers must completely fill out the online form with their contact and purchase details to be eligible for the raffle draw.

“This is our way of encouraging our customers to register their Jabra headsets for warranty right after purchase. We provide a 1-year local warranty on our products purchased from local authorized dealers, but select products come with an even longer 2- or 3-year warranty,” announced Gladee Lee Manantan, Jabra Philippines’ Country Sales Manager for Consumer products.

“Once registered for warranty, it will be easier for our customers to avail of product warranty if necessary. All they need to do is bring their headset and proof of purchase at our service center, which is conveniently located in Makati City,” Manantan added.

Aside from the Elite 65t, Elite Active 65t and the Elite Sport true wireless earbuds, other featured products for the “12 Gifts of Christmas” promo include the Elite 65e, Elite 85h, Elite 25e, Elite 45e, Elite Active 45e, Move Style Edition, Talk 5, Talk 15, Talk 25, Talk 35, Talk 45 and Talk 55.

Qualified customers will get a chance to win during the three raffle draws, which will be held on Dec. 20, 2019 for entries submitted between Nov. 29 to Dec. 16 this year; Jan. 17, 2020 for entries between Nov. 29, 2019 to Jan. 9, 2020, and the grand draw on Jan. 24, 2020, for entries submitted between Nov. 29, 2019 to Jan. 15, 2020.

A total of 12 raffle prizes will be given away during the three raffle draws with the support of Wordtext Systems Inc.—Jabra consumer distributor—at the WSI Corporate Center in Makati City.

For a list of participating Jabra authorized dealers and additional information about the promo and other announcements, customers can follow their Facebook page https:// www.facebook.com/JabraPhilippines/ or email JabraPHwarranty@jabra.com.

Destinations D1

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor

manilastandardlife@gmail.com

@manilastandardlife

@MStandardLIFE

Enjoy a luxurious stay at discounted rate at Discovery Primea.

STAY IN

HOLIDAY ESCAPE

VISUAL TREAT. Shoppers at St. Stephen’s Basilica Christmas Market are treated to a stunning light painting show projected on the facade of the basilica. (Photo from budapestchristmas.com)

STORYBOOK SHOPPING I

IN EUROPE

N EUROPE, shopping for Christmas presents is more than just making a list and checking it twice. It’s a tradition filled with romantic fairy lights, charming merchandise, and mulled wine.

THE holiday season has a magical way of bringing together families and loved ones. Those looking to spend more quality time together in the heart of Makati may book Discovery Primea’s Holiday Escape room package, which offers 15 percent savings on the best available rates of the season.

Guests enjoy luxurious accommodation complete with daily breakfast, complimentary Wi-Fi Internet access, and use of amenities and facilities, along with a range of exclusive dining discounts. Booking period is until Jan. 12, 2020 for stays today until Jan. 12.

Call (02) 7955-8888 or email primea. restaurants@discovery.com.ph.

Streets transform into a scene straight out of a fairy tale, with snow-capped cathedrals and wooden chalets; twinkling and magical. Christmas markets are aplenty in Europe, and here are four to start.

Emirates gives passengers two-nights’ stay in Dubai.

FREQUENT FLYER

FLY TO DUBAI

Lights twinkle at Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt square.

Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market

Berlin, Germany Already stunning throughout all seasons of the year, the three historical buildings at the Gendarmenmarkt square stand bright and proud with decorative lights during Christmas season. Artisan stores offer Christmas goods like origami craft, belts, glass art. Expect to find fragrant food stores that offer German, Austrian, and Bavarian dishes as well as gourmet delicacies.

Did you know? Don’t panic if you order mulled wine and are charged higher than the price indicated at the market. The extra amount is a deposit for the mug. Feel free to return or keep it as a souvenir as they are usually specially designed for the year-end event.

Where to stay? Both COSMO Hotel Berlin Mitte and Titanic Gendarmenmarkt Berlin Hotel are within walking distance of the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market. Situated in the cultural and shopping area of Berlin, they provide easy access to the city’s attractions.

Old Town Square

Prague, Czech Republic The Christmas market in Prague’s Old Town Square is one of the most beautiful and liveliest markets in the country with plenty of dance and choral performances to entertain visitors. Visitors can indulge in traditional dishes such as roasted ham, sausages, Czech Christmas cakes, and local beers. Winter got you? Keep warm with hot beverages such as honey wine, grog, and hot chocolate.

Did you know? Instead of turkey, Czechs traditionally serve fried carp for their annual Christmas Eve dinner.

Where to stay? After exploring the Christmas market, rest at the cozy Ventana hotel located next to the Old Times Square, a few minutes’ walk from the market. Or stay at the comfortable Iron Gate Hotel & Suites Prague which offers a variety of room types to fit different needs.

Indulge in Czech Christmas cakes and hot chocolate at Old Town Square.

The Christmas market takes place in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica.

(Photo from budapestchristmas.com)

St. Stephen’s Basilica Christmas Market

Budapest, Hungary The market is famous for one of the largest 3D light painting shows in Europe, where visitors can be part of the narratives projected on the façade of St. Stephen Basilica. There’s a skating rink that’s free for children under 14, and culinary booths offering a taste of Hungarian specialties such as fried sausage and pálinka (fruit brandy).

Did you know? Hungarian children can receive gifts twice during this jolly season. On Dec. 6, children leave shoes on their windowsill to get small presents like sweets or chocolates. Bigger gifts come under their Christmas tree on the eve or morning of Christmas.

Where to stay? Stay at the Kempinski Corvinus or Hotel President to enjoy Christmas in Budapest with many Christmas markets nearby. St Stephen’s Basilica is also just a few minutes away.

Karlsplatz Art Advent

Vienna, Austria This is an alternative market for art and culture enthusiasts to shop for unique and high quality Christmasthemed products and more. Vendors actually have to pass a panel of judges in order to showcase and sell their crafts at the market. The food and beverage stalls serve organic cuisine and drinks.

Did you know? On Dec. 4, Austrians get twigs from cherry trees and place them in a vase with water. It is believed that if the twig blossoms

by Christmas Eve, the family will be blessed with good luck.

Where to stay? Check in at Grand Ferdinand - Beyond Stars and Standards for a stylish stay in the heart of Vienna and not far from Karlsplatz Art Advent, or stay luxuriously at the Schlosshotel Romischer Kaiser.

Check out Agoda for more options on where to stay.

EMIRATES treats Filipino travelers to an unforgettable journey to Dubai.

Travelers booking today until Dec. 15 for return fares to Dubai at US$450 in Economy Class or US$1,250 in Business Class, get a complimentary twonight hotel stay, 10 kg excess baggage allowance, and a free 30-day Dubai Tourist Visa. Travel periods are on Dec. 5-27 and Jan. 3 to May 31, 2020.

Economy Class passengers who book flights within the promotional period get two nights’ accommodation at either Rove at the Park or Rove Healthcare City; while Business Class passengers who book flights during the same period can enjoy two nights’ accommodation at either the Address Sky View or Address Dubai Mall.

When booking the flight tickets on emirates.ph/en/dubaipush, travelers simply need to enter the promotional code, FEDUBAI, before proceeding to payment. The complimentary hotel stay will then be booked and confirmed.

To avail of the 30-day Tourist Visa, travelers simply need to submit a scanned colored passport and passport size photo to ekphil@emirates.com no later than Dec. 17.

Art Advent in front of the imposing Karlskirche church.

Destinations

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

SPORTS TOURISM

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The aerial acrobats delighting everyone with their thrilling routines.

HE ongoing Southeast Asian Games is a big proof of sports being a very important factor in our country’s efforts to increase our visitor arrivals.

This regional event has I commend him for takbrought in close to 7,000 ing the initiative to reward athletes, sports officials, establishments and organitheir friends and families to zations that promote sports our shores. Imagine the revtourism in our country. With enues we earn from this, and this move, more entities are the multiplier effect of its finow aware that international nancial benefits, not to mensports events can, indeed, be MERCURY RISING a significant contributor to tion the prestige it brings, to

BY BOB ZOZOBRADO keep our heads up high! our tourism efforts.

Any international sports This year, Charles put toevent, regardless of size, gether his third Sports Tourism which the country hosts, is a big plus to our Awards, and chose the newly opened Grand tourism efforts and to our coffers. This is why I Wing of Resorts World Manila as the venue. Of am very happy to know of one individual who course, the place was packed with various perhad the initiative, since three years ago, to see sonalities in the tourism industry involved with to it that international sports events keep on sports tourism in our country. coming, even if they involve less than a thouLeading the list of outstanding awardees sand athletes. were Davao City, for Destination Marketing I have known Charles Lim since he man- of the Year, for hosting Iron Man Philippines; aged the Silk Air office in my hometown, Marco Polo Plaza in Cebu City, as Hotel of the Cebu City. He was a very active airline man- Year, for hosting four sports events that atager and was easily loved by the travel tracted approximately 4,000 participants; Reagents in that city. Although a Singaporean sorts World Manila, for Charity Event of the by origin, he made Cebu City his home and Year, with its Run With Me event which colgot involved with many travel events in and lected a total of P3.5 million for charity; Clark around the area. He was even Tourism Com- Freeport, as Destination of the Year, for hostmissioner for some time. ing 200–plus sports events.

The man of the hour, Charles Lim.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon, Jr. welcome guests and awardees.

This year’s Sports Tourism awardees.

Other winners were Dumaguete City, Organiz- chosen for the M.I.C.E. Event of the Year Award.

An award was also given to Sun Life for its Suner of the Year (Government); Philippine Airlines, as Airline of the Year, for continuously hosting Piology, chosen as Event Sponsorship of the Year; its very popular golf tournament; Ceres-Negros and to Sunrise Events Inc., which was the runaway winner Football Club, for Organizer as Sports Assoof the Year ciation of the (Private).

Year; and Cebu YOUR WEEKEND CHUCKLE Charles Pacific Air, for JERRY SEINFELD: If I were an Olympic athlete, I’d rather Lim anAdventure come in last than win the silver. You win the gold, you nounced Event of the feel good. You win the bronze and you think “At least, I during the Year because got something.” But you win the silver, it’s like “Congratevening of its well–atulations, you ALMOST won! Of all the losers, you came festivities, tended Juan in first. You’re the number one loser! No one lost ahead which also for Fun. of you! featured aerThere were ial acrobats other signififor entertaincant winners: Cebu City, for Event of the Year because of ment, that there will be more categories in next its hosting of the Philippine National Games; year’s awards which can only mean additional Subic Bay, for International Event of the Year, as sports events in our country, resulting in more it hosted Iron Man International; Bacolod City’s tourist arrivals.

Panaad Park and Stadium, as Sports Venue of the Year; AAP for its FIA Conference, which was For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com.

ILOILO OPENS DOORS TO FIRST SERVICED RESIDENCE A NEW lodging property offers residents and visitors to Iloilo City a new home away from home.

CapitaLand’s subsidiary The Ascott Limited brings Citadines, a serviced residence concept to Western Visayas.

Citadines Amigo Iloilo provides all types of guest, from transient travelers to long-staying businessmen, chic spaces designed to mirror the privacy of a home but with the conveniences of a hotel.

“Serviced residences are typically fully equipped apartments, but include concierge, housekeeping, and other services found in upscale hotels,” said Susan Salcedo, city manager of The Ascott Limited Philippines.

She continued, “The concept is designed for guests on extended visits ranging from a few days to a month or more, and who are looking for a more ‘home-like’ atmosphere than what is offered by a typical hotel.”

The opening of another Citadines property in the Iloilo capital further boosts Ascott’s presence in the country, with 21 properties, nine of which are operational and more opening soon.

It’s the fifth Citadines property in the Philippines, with 121 rooms on offer.

“We are on track to achieve Ascott’s target of 6,000 units in the Philippines by 2020, as we continue to expand through management contracts, franchises, investments, and strategic alliances,” said The Ascott Limited Philippines general manager Daniel Wee. Citadines Amigo Iloilo comes with complete facilities, including function rooms, fitness center, swimming pool, and all-day dining restaurant. The design and services of the new property is inspired by local influences, a key trait of the brand’s identity.

One is the prominence of hablon in the overall design of the space. Hablon refers to Iloilo’s traditional weaving practice and its artisanal end product, which is traditionally made of local materials such as piña, abaca, and cotton.

Another distinction of the property is the unparalleled service of the local staff, as Ilonggos are renowned for their warmth and hospitality, adding familial comfort to the guests’ feel-at-home experience.

Serviced residence Citadines Amigo Iloilo is equipped with facilities such as swimming pool.

The spacious lobby features Iloilo’s hablon.

Studio apartment type

Entertainment

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

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

STANDARD’S CHOICE

MISS UNIVERSE 2019 TOP PICKS

From left: Jem, Lie, Shawntel, and Kiara

FOUR ‘PBB OTSO’ ALUMS LAUNCH NEW DIGITAL SINGLES

TOP 3. Miss Universe frontrunners (from left) Miss Philippines Gazini Ganados, Miss Colombia Gabriela Tafur, and Miss Brazil Julia Horta.

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HE 68th edition of the world’s most prestigious pageant is currently being held in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. At the end of the pageant, a new queen who will succeed last year’s champion, the Philippines’ Catriona Gray, will be named.

quite a veteran in her country’s national pageant circuit. She is a Journalism graduate at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora and works as a speaker and digital influencer. Like Gazini, Julia is one of the three candidates, along with Miss Colombia, to win the coveted Mis Universe crown.

3. Miss Colombia Gabriela Tafur Nader, 24 She is one to beat in the Q & A department. The 5-foot-10 model is a lawyer by profession. She finished her degree at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota with flying colors (cum laude). Gabriela was born in Cali, the most populous city in Southwest

With 90 delegates competing, the coronation night will air live from Tyler Perry Studios tomorrow (Sunday in the US).

This year, the candidates will follow the “Top 20-6-3-1” competition format: Top 20 will compete in the Swimsuit and Evening Gown rounds (19 semi-finalists who gained the highest scores during the preliminary competition and one winner from online voting); Top 6 will be announced to compete in the Q & A portion where random questions will be asked; and the Top 3 where only three candidates will proceed to the next round of the competition where one question will be asked to determine the winner.

And as a yearly tradition, we are listing down the strongest candidates, who we believe deserved to be this year’s queen: 1. Miss Philippines Gazini Christiana Ganados, 23 This year’s pageant critics and fanatics’ favorite is a native of Cebu. She’s a graduate of Health Care Services NCII and Tourism Management at the University of San Jose Recoletos.

Gazini is also an Ambassador of Sustainable Development Program Building. She stepped on the global pageant stage with her stunning looks and advocacy that trains the spotlight on elderly care.

2. Miss Brazil Julia Horta, 25 Julia is a 5-foot-8 model who is

Colombia, where she found a career in modeling as early as 15 years old.

4. Miss India Vartika Singh, 26 She was educated at the Canossa Convent School in Lucknow. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Clinical nutrition and dietetics from Isabella Thoburn College. The Indian model also holds a Master’s degree in Public health from the University of Lucknow.

5. Miss Mexico Sofia Aragon,25 A native of Guadalajara, Sofia is an author who has published two books that focus on women empowerment. This Miss Universe 2019 frontrunner is also a speaker who is committed to helping others who suffer from depression.

6. Miss Thailand Paweensuda Drouin, 26 This towering beauty is a Thai-Canadian model and DJ. As one of the strongest Asian candidates this year, Paweensuda is praised for her classic eurasian beauty apart from her impressive resume graduating summa cum laude with a degree in Kinesiology.

Other candidates who have a strong chance for the crown are Miss France Maëva Coucke, 25, Miss Puerto Rico Madison Anderson Berrios, 23, Miss Vietnam Hoang Thuy, 27, and Miss Venezuela Thalia Olvino, 20.

Bubbling up are Miss Singapore Mohanaprahba Selvam, 24, Miss Ireland Fionnghuala O’Reilly, 25, Miss Chile Geraldine Gonzalez, 19, Miss USA Cheslie Kryst, 28, Miss HaitiGabriela Clesca Vallejo, 26, Miss Kenya Stacy Michuki, 18, Miss Argentina Mariana Varela, 23, Miss Albania Cindy Marinablonde, 21, Miss Netherlands Sharon Pieksma, 24, and Miss Indonesia Frederika Alexis Cull, 20. Eton Concepcion

FORMER PBB Otso housemates Lie Reposposa, Jem Macatuno, Shawntel Cruz, and Kiara Takahashi are conquering new tasks as StarPOP’s newest artists, beginning with the launch of their respective digital singles “Sana Sana,”“Can’t Get Out,” and “Reason Enough.”

StarPOP head Rox Santos hailed the four Starmates for their talent and said that even when they were still inside the PBB house, they were already seen as promising artists who could do projects under the youthful label.

Here are the three songs which were officially launched on Nov. 30 that you should most certainly add to your playlist: 1. “Sana Sana” by Lie Reposposa Bringing a new flavor to Angeline Quinto’s original song, Lie joked that she can relate to the track because someone she used to like now yearns for her attention. But in all seriousness, she said that being a recording artist is a dream come true for her. “I still can’t believe this is happening because I used to just dream about being on TV. Now I’ve been given this opportunity, you’ve all heard my song. I feel so blessed and happy.”

2. “Can’t Get Out” by Jem Macatuno Jem initially wrote his original composition in Tagalog while still inside Camp Star Hunt before it was translated by his co-Star Dreamer Ashley in English.

The young singer-songwriter, who previously joined The Voice Teens before being a housemate, shared his thoughts on writing songs about love. “The pain is already a part of love, so when it comes to music about love, you can either inspire or hurt a person. But that’s the goal of songwriting, to make someone feel something,” he shared.

3. “Reason Enough” by Shawntel Cruz and Kiara Takahashi Adult housemates Shawntel and Kiara said they were excited to collaborate together on “Reason Enough,” a meaningful song about allowing oneself to fall in love again originally sung

by Regine Velasquez-Alcasid.

“It suits our voices and our genre, so when they put us together, they said we were perfect for the song,” Shawntel said.

For Kiara, the song transcends the definition of a romantic love song. She enthused, “This song isn’t just about love, in general, it could also be about family and friendship—having someone as a ‘reason enough’ to make you smile, make you feel loved.”

Lie, Jem, Shawntel, and Kiara were all part of PBB Otso, the latest edition of Pinoy Big Brother where they were able to showcase not just their genuine selves but also their talents, among others. Lie went on to place 6th overall, while Kiara was hailed as the 2nd big placer.

Stream Lie, Jem, Shawntel and Kiara’s respective singles, “Sana Sana,”“Can’t Get Out” and “Reason Enough” on all digital platforms worldwide and on ABS-CBN Star Music’s YouTube channel.

‘THE HAUNTED’ STARTS RATTLING VIEWERS TONIGHT SHAINA Magdayao teams up with Denise Laurel and Jake Cuenca as they impart valuable lessons and add thrill and chills to viewers’ nights this holiday season with The Haunted, which starts airing tonight.

The series revolves around loving mother Aileen (Shaina), who is trying to rebuild her strained relationship with her husband Jordan (Jake) mainly for their daughter, Angel. Aileen is hesitant to welcome Jordan back in their lives, especially after his negligence caused Angel’s accident that leaves her in a coma for two years. However, after realizing how devoted and remorseful Jordan is, Aileen gives him a second chance, just in time as Angel wakes up.

Little does the newly reunited family know, their rekindling is the least of their problems as evil starts to

lurk from the shadows. Aileen and Jordan’s relationship will again be put to the test as the ghost of a scorned woman starts to haunt them. This haunting will not only challenge Aileen’s will as a mother but also her conviction as a wife, when she fights the spirit who wants to claim her husband and child because of a dark secret in their family’s past.

Will a mother’s love prevail and keep their family intact? Or will the ghost of the past finally put an end to their family?

Directed by Manny Palo, the Dreamscape Entertainment offering also stars Alex Castro, Victor Silayan, Sheenly Gener, Ruby Ruiz, Ingrid dela Paz, Simon Ibarra, and Rita Avilla.

Follow what mysteries lie ahead in The Haunted, which airs Sundays at 8:00 p.m. on ABS-CBN

‘The Haunted’ main cast (from left) Denise Laurel, Jake Cuenca, and Shaina Magdayao. Photo by Kate Adajar of Random Republika.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

Desiree Carlos, Editor

Pets

daycarlos28@yahoo.com

FEED THE HUNGRY AND HOMELESS

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MAGINE having nothing to eat.

Imagine having to look for food in a pile of trash.

Imagine having to seek refuge under a car or in the bushes, rain or shine, but never allowing yourself to fall into a deep, restful sleep.

Imagine always being on the alert for people who might hurt you or catch you while you are eating or sleeping.

Imagine being sick and alone on the street.

Can you feel the hunger? Can you taste the fear? Can you feel the tiredness? Can you smell the helplessness?

This is how a stray dog and homeless cat feel every moment of every single day and night.

This is the life of a stray dog and cat.

Please do not hurt them.

If you can, please leave some food for them.

Another very hungry dog. When was the last time he had a bath, the volunteer-feeders wondered.

A dog was waiting for clients of an eatery to give him food when the Save ALL feeding team saw him. He loved the dog food that the team gave him.

They "meowed" for food.

These kittens are so young to be on the streets.

A dog was waiting for clients of an eatery to give him food when the Save ALL feeding team saw him. He loved the dog food that the team gave him.

A disabled dog gets her share of food.

Such a sad look on this cat's face.

Hungry but happy.

Feeders felt full in the heart after a day's feeding of hungry dogs and cats. From left: Michielou Amor Geraldino Ulgasan, Tani Benedito, Sylvia P. Ongsing, Melissa Anne Relucio (owner of dog treats Pup Fiction), Sohayla Michelle Pusing, Bautista Arevalo, Samara Jassi Pusing, Edison Jesse Pusing, Loribert Sobrio Bersabe, and Niko Gabriel C. Salgado

Grateful for one meal, these cats are.

CARRYING THE CAUSE OF ANIMAL WELFARE

By Heidi Marquez and Greg Salido Quimpo

ESTABLISHED by a British group in June 2000 as an animal welfare group, Animal Kingdom Foundation, Inc. (AKF) went straight into rescuing the slaughter-bound Filipino dogs from the underground business of trading dog meat for human consumption as soon as it received its official accreditation.

Test-running an animal protection law that was approved by the Philippine’s Tenth Congress on February 11, 1998, AKF launched in 2000 a massive campaign right at the epicenter of the trade; in the Cordillera region specifically Baguio City and Benguet province where dog meat buying and eating happened on a daily-basis.

Dog traders from the CALABARZON, mostly from Batangas and Laguna provinces, were the main suppliers of live dogs during these times.

They snatch the dogs off the roads, bind its snouts and feet as tight as they can, pack 70-100 dogs inside a hidden compartment of a vehicle and transport the dogs to the north for more than 7 hours. Most of the dogs would have died

of suffocation, ruptured organs and from the extreme heat inside the vehicle.

The northern buyers would blowtorch the furs off the dog’s entire body, butcher it and deliver the meat to restaurants in Baguio City and La Trinidad. In 2015, AKF totally closeddown the blatant selling of dog meat in Baguio public market after launching a series of raids on restaurants and market stalls in Baguio and La Trinidad.

The 1998 animal welfare law did not anticipate the enormous operation of the trade rendering it toothless against the syndicates; they were fined 40 USD for a haul of 100 or more slaughter-bound dogs that which the dog traders make profit from of nearly the same amount just for a single dog. AKF has since then lobbied for the amendment of Republic Act 8485 hurting the syndicate’s further with a 100 USD per dog penalty.

The trade has significantly been affected reducing the number of dog traders from the CALABARZON area prompting the Cordillera group to transport the dogs, now mostly carcasses, from the south.

This dog meat trade campaign has widely

created an awareness to the public about animal welfare and, with social media as a tool, AKF has turned to rescuing and responding to extreme and emergency cases of animal cruelty in the past 4 years. Still utilizing the now amended Animal Welfare Act of 1998 (RA 10631) AKF has organized a volunteer-based legal assistance team called CLAWS—Collaboration for Legal Animal Welfare S—to guide and aid the public on its rising concern over animal welfare issues and cases of animal cruelty.

It has been nearly two decades of carrying the cause for AKF but, as changing the worlds point of view goes, the fight is just in its infancy. AKF knows fully well that it needs the whole country’s support to effect more positive change for the animals.

The fight continues.

Editor’s note: CLAWs stands for Center for Legal Assistance on Welfare and Protection.

The column CLAWs Protection will come out every second Sunday of the month.

AKF rehabilitates and re-homes the rescued dogs and a few cats from its shelter in Capas, Tarlac. This haven for the rescued animals was built in 2006 and is purely operating on donations. Please visit #AKFanimalrescue on FB or email AKF at: akfadvocates@gmail.com

Sixth anniversary celebration: Feed-the-hungry project.

Members and officers of Save ALL Inc.- Save Animals of Love and Light, a SEC-registered animal welfare group, feeding street dogs and cats, and owned, hungry dogs who were in cages or tied to posts, last Dec. 1, Sunday, in Novaliches, Quezon City to mark Save ALL's sixth anniversary. The group has rescued and assisted 441 dogs and cats, and have had about 400 dogs and cats spayed or neutered (fixed) to help lessen animal population in the country.

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

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

MISHA was rescued by Mike Langasan from the busy Shaw boulevard in Mandaluyong.

“She was maybe a week old then, searching for food in the trash. I got off my bike and snatched her before she can run to the middle of the busy road,” Mike recalls.

Mike brought her to the pet clinic where the vet said Misha assessed her.

The vet declared her as healthy for a stray kitten.

Mike had her dewormed and vaccinated as advised by the vet.

Today, the former stray kitten Misha is a well-loved and cared for furbaby of Mike and his family.

“She is a very possessive baby. It is not easy to leave her at home when I have to go to work. She loves being carried everywhere I go, “ Mike shares.

“Leaving her at home means a big argument with her when I get home. Hahaha!” Mike says.

Now seven months old, Misha is a playful kitten who loves cat food and fish.

“We eat our meals together,” says Mike.

Editor's note: These stories were compiled by admin Miks Lim of Save Animals of Love and Light (Save ALL), a SEC-registered animal welfare group that helps animals in need, and encourages and promotes responsible pet ownership, adoption of rescued dogs and cats from fosters, shelters and pounds, and spaying and neutering of pets to control animal population in the country, among others.