Manila Standard - 2020 February 3 - Monday

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CHINA’S MYSTERY ILLNESS

CHINA DEATH TOLL

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INFOGRAHIC

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VOL. XXXIII • NO. 354 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

13,700

2019 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS

First virus death in Manila bared

• Countries and territories Outside mainland China Thailand Singapore Japan hong Kong S. Korea auSTralia Taiwan MalaySia gerMany uniTed STaTeS Macau France VieTnaM canada

19 16 14 13 11 10 10 8 7 7 7 6 5 4

uae BriTain ruSSia iTaly philippineS caMBodia Finland india Sweden nepal Spain Sri lanKa

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Duque: 44-year-old Chinese man came from Wuhan

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Willie Casas

T

HE Philippines reported the first death on Sunday outside of China from the novel coronavirus, deepening global fears about an epidemic that has claimed more than 300 lives.

SANITIZED. An ambulance enters the main gates of the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila on February 2, 2020. The Philippines reported the first death outside of China from a new coronavirus, deepening global fears about an epidemic that has claimed more than 300 lives. Inset photo (top) shows mallgoers use hand sanitizers a protection against the virus. AFP and Manny Palmero

The first fatality was a 44-year-old Chinese man, and the second confirmed case of the deadly virus, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Sunday.

The fatality was among the patients under investigation being monitored by the Department of Health.

His traveling companion, a 38-year-old Chinese woman, was the first confirmed nCoV case in the country.

The Chinese man died of pneumonia at the San Lazaro Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila, on Friday. He was admitted for pneumonia on Jan. 25, after experiencing fever, cough, and sore throat.

“Over the course of his admission in the said hospital. he developed severe pneumonia,” Duque said in a news briefing.

In the last few days, the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement, but his condition deteriorated in the last 24 hours, Duque said.

Duque said the two patients were isolated following strict isolation standards, and all health personnel who came in contact with them practiced stringent infection control measures and wore appropriate personal protective equipment.

Both patients were from Wuhan, China, who arrived in the Philippines via Hong Kong on Jan. 21, 2020. They travelled to the cities of Cebu and Dumaguete.

The Department of Health (DOH) said as of Feb. 1, 24 patients under investigation tested negative for the novel coronavirus while two tested positive. Samples from four other patients were still being tested.

Next page

Rody bans travelers from China, HK Outbreak: 45 new

By MJ Blancaflor, Rio N. Araja fatalities in China and Willie Casas PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte temporarily banned the entry of all travelers from China except Filipino citizens and resident visa holders as the country reported the first coronavirus-related death Sunday.

The ban includes the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

The President also prohibited Filipinos from traveling to China and its special administrative regions to prevent the spread

of the virus, which has so far killed 304 people according to the Chinese government—an outbreak dubbed by the World Health Organization as a public health emergency.

President Duterte also ordered a mandatory 14-day quarantine for Filipinos and permanent resident visa holders coming from any place in China and its special administrative regions, as he approved the establishment of a repatriation and quarantine facility to contain the virus, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

THE number of confirmed deaths from China’s coronavirus outbreak rose to 304, as authorities in hardest-hit Hubei province on Sunday reported 45 new fatalities.

In its daily update, figures from the provincial health commission also showed a sharp increase in confirmed infections in Hubei, with 1,921 new cases.

That puts the national total over 13,700, Next page based on numbers previously issued by the central government.

The virus is believed to have emerged in December in the provincial capital of Wuhan in a market that sold wild game.

Cases of infections have spread beyond the province as Chinese people traveled across the country and the world for the Lunar New Year holiday that started last week.

Next page

DISINFECTED. This handout photo taken and released by the Indonesian Embassy on February 2, 2020, shows officials in full protective gear disinfecting Indonesian students as they disembark upon arrival at Hang Nadim international airport in Batam, following their evacuation from the Chinese city of Wuhan due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. AFP

Bird flu hits city near nCoV epicenter Taal still shaking, A CITY in China’s Hunan province, right next to Hubei which is the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, said it had culled close to 18,000 chickens following an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu.

In a statement, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Saturday said of the 7,750 chickens on the farm

in Shaoyang City where the outbreak reportedly happened, at least 4,500 died of the “highly pathogenic” strain of the bird flu.

Since 2003, the H5N1 avian flu has killed 455 people worldwide, data from the World Health Organization showed.

Next page

Oil price cut: Diesel cheaper by P2/liter

By Alena Mae S. Flores HONORARY MAYOR. Alliance Global Group, Inc Chairman Dr. Andrew L. Tan was named ‘Adopted Son’ and ‘Honorary Mayor’ of Bacolod City during colorful ceremonies of the Bacolaodiat Festival at the Bacolod Government Center Saturday.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia led the recognition rites together with the officials of the Bacolod City Government and the Filipino-Chinese community of the city.

PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines rolled back the price of diesel by P2 a liter and gasoline by P1.60 a liter over the weekend to reflect the movement of world oil prices.

The price cuts were effective 6 a.m.

Feb. 1, the company said in an advisory.

Pilipinas Shell on Sunday announced its own price cut for diesel at P2 and gasoline at P1.60 per liter, taking effect Next page on Tuesday.

emitting steam

ABOUT 153 volcanic earthquakes, including two low-frequency earthquakes, were recorded from Taal Volcano in the past 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Sunday.

In their 8 a.m. bulletin, state volcanologists said the activity in the main crater had been characterized by weak emissions of white steam-laden plumes 50 to 100 meters tall that drifted southwest, and that sulfur dioxide emission was measured at an average of 97 tons per day.

“These earthquakes signify magmatic activity beneath the Taal edifice that Next page

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News

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Cabinet, lawmakers press for VFA review

By Rey E. Requejo THE Justice department will submit to President Rodrigo Duterte within the week the consolidated assessment conducted by the Cabinet Cluster on security, justice and peace on the possible impact of the Philippine decision to terminate its Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made the disclosure on Sunday and added that the recommendations to Duterte would include the suggestion made by lawmakers for the government to subject the vising forces agreement to a comprehensive review.

Meanwhile, Senator Francis Tolentino rejected fears that an indefinite travel ban to the United States imposed on all Cabinet members would likely result in the severance of the ties between the two countries.

“Agreements are in place...trade agreements are in place...person to person, it’s there. I don’t foresee in the immediate future a great impact,” Tolentino said.

Some senators are inclined to subject the VFA to a review instead of immediately abrogating the 22-year-old agreement between the Philippines and the United States, its long-time ally.

“The Cabinet Cluster on Security, Justice and Peace has already met last Friday and it considered various options of dealing with the VFA, including what some Senators are presently considering, Guevarra said.

“The DOJ report will consolidate the assessment made by other concerned executive agencies. We have no direct information about the comments of the Senate, but coincidentally, the suggestion of some Senators to review, and not to terminate, the VFA happened to be one of the options considered by the Cabinet Cluster.”

But Guevarra said while he would submit the report in the next few days, it would not stop the other members of the Cabinet Cluster to come out with their own impact assessment reports on the VFA and submitting them to Duterte.

“I intend to submit this week. Other agencies may submit their own impact assessment separately, Guevarra said.

Besides the DOJ, the other members of the Cabinet Cluster on Justice, Security and Peace are the Department of National Defense, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Department of Foreign Affairs, National Bureau of Investigation and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.

Guevarra earlier assured that they would be coming out with a fair impact assessment on the VFA with the US, and that they would consider the pros and cons of the executive decision.

“A firmer picture will come out after the top-level meeting of the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces tomorrow [Monday], Guevarra said.

With Macon Ramos-Araneta

Outbreak...

From A1

China found itself increasingly isolated over the weekend, with the United States and Australia leading a growing list of nations to impose extraordinary Chinese travel bans.

The epidemic has ballooned into a global health emergency with cases in more than 20 countries.

The eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou restricted the movement of residents and closed roads on Sunday in the most drastic steps taken by authorities outside the epicenter of a deadly virus.

Only one resident per household is allowed to go out every two days to buy necessities, authorities said in the city of 9 million, while 46 highway toll stations have been closed.

Zhejiang province has the highest number of confirmed cases outside central Hubei province at 661 confirmed infections, with 265 of those in Wenzhou.

The city—which is more than 800 kilometers away by road from Wuhan, the epicenter—has also cancelled public events and closed public places like swimming pools, cinemas and museums.

Wenzhou’s metro line and public transport have also been suspended as have inter-province buses.

Schools and universities will not resume classes until after March 1, and authorities said enterprises should not resume work until after Feb. 17—except government institutions and administrative departments which will start work on Feb. 9.

The virus has infected more than 14,000 people across China and caused 304 deaths. AFP

ADB to facilitate new water deals

By Rio N. Araja

Reps. Mike Defensor, Joey Salceda, Precious Hipolito Castelo and Manny Lopez welcomed the statement of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez had informed him about the ADB consultants to help address the allegedly “onerous and disadvantageous” provisions of the 25-year concession deals signed in 1997.

“I am positive that the amendments or changes that President Rodrigo Duterte wants will be accomplished since even during the committee hearings conducted by the House of Representatives, Maynilad and Manila Water were both amenable to amend the provisions, such as doing away with charging consumers with corporate income tax and the non-

intervention of the government among others,” Defensor said.

“The Executive’s move to have ADB facilitate the changes is brilliant and gives credence to the social, financial and legal considerations given ADBs experience and credibility. No one can claim that they were bullied to accept the necessary changes.”

Salceda said the ADB would ensure that the terms of the agreement were equitable and efficient.

“I think we can come up with better arrangements as this process will also serve as some sort of audit of the current deal,” Salceda said.

“We expect that the involvement of a professional and dependable partner, like the ADB, would enable both the government and the concessionaires to arrive at a deal that is both equitable and efficient

First...

The first fatality reported outside China came as an increasing number of governments around the world closed their borders to Chinese traveling from their country, in bid to stop it spreading.

Since emerging from the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, the coronavirus has infected 14,000 people across China and spread to 24 countries.

China has locked down Wuhan and surrounding cities in a bid to contain the virus, but it has continued to spread, prompting a hard-hit eastern city far from the epicenter to impose similar draconian measures on Sunday.

The country was also on the last day of an extended Lunar New Year holiday, meaning people are starting to return home on planes and trains, though many businesses will remain closed for at least another week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday declared the situation a global health emergency, and nations have taken extraordinary measures to build virtual fortresses against the disease.

The United States, Australia, New Zealand and Israel banned foreign nationals from visiting if they had been in China recently, and warned their own citizens from traveling there.

Mongolia, Russia and Nepal closed their land borders, while Papua New Guinea went as far as to ban anyone arriving from ports or airports across Asia.

The containment measures may have

slowed the spread of the virus, but not stopped it.

The person who died in the Philippines was a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan, the WHO said.

The news of the man’s death was released shortly after Manila announced it would immediately halt the arrivals of any foreign travelers from China.

“This is the first reported death outside China,” Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the WHO representative to the Philippines, told reporters in Manila.

In wake of the announcement, President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a ban on the entry of all foreign arrivals traveling from China. The travel restrictions also apply to Hong Kong and Macau as well.

Several major Philippines airlines have started cancelling or drastically reducing the number of flights to China. Philippine Airlines reported that it would cut the number of flights between the Manila and Chinese cities by half.

Philippines AirAsia said that it was suspending all inbound and outbound China flights until March 1, citing the “health situation.”

Britain, Russia and Sweden also this weekend confirmed their first infections.

The death toll in China soared to 304 on Sunday, with authorities reporting 45 new deaths from the previous day.

There were 2,590 new confirmed cases in China, bringing the total to nearly 14,500.

Monreal issued the statement just hours after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the expansion of the temporary travel ban order and barred Filipinos from traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macao.

Duterte initially approved on Friday the recommendation to impose a temporary travel ban on travelers coming from Wuhan City and the entire Hubei province in China.

The 2019-nCov, which originates in Wuhan, China, continues to spread to more than a dozen countries, most of which are Asian countries.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Sunday advised its foreign offices in China to relay information about the temporary travel ban.

In a statement, the DOT said a mandatory 14-day quarantine for Filipinos and permanent resident visa holders coming from any place in China and its Special Administrative Regions is also required.

The directive excludes Filipino citizens and holders of permanent resident visas issued by the Philippine government.

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday said President Rodrigo Duterte should address the country about the nCoV threat, instead of having his Cabinet secretary do the talking.

In her weekly radio program, Robredo said the President must speak out and report the real situation.

She, however, said the Filipino people must not put the blame on the Chinese people, adding “they are victims, too.”

“We must be sympathetic. This is not a fight against China or its people,” she said.

More House leaders on Sunday joined calls to stop the spread of anti-Chinese racism in the wake of global outbreak of

the novel coronavirus.

House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., and Ako Bisaya party-list Rep. Sonny Lagon expressed disappointment that the hostility sparked by the deadly virus is now becoming a serious case of China-bashing.

“Please work for the common good of everyone. Avoid sowing panic. Stop spreading false information and hate campaign against Chinese people. Let’s pray for good health and the immediate recovery of those who have been affected,” Romualdez said.

Barzaga, a vice chairman of the House committee on health, said resorting to “worst stereotypes” against Chinese people would not help the country.

“No debate, all of us are very scared of the 2019-nCoV, but let’s be fair and humane. They (Chinese) are victims,” he added.

“Chinese people are victims and we should not exacerbate their sufferings by issuing harsh statements against them,” Lagon said.

Adamson University, meanwhile, apologized for ordering its graduate and undergraduate Chinese students to quarantine themselves “to ensure a healthy and virus-free environment.”

The memo also urged Chinese nationals to postpone all transactions inside the university until Feb. 14.

Social media users slammed Adamson for what they called a racist memo.

“Apparently, the president of Adamson University wants all of its Chinese students to self-quarantine themselves.

Just the Chinese students. That’s racist,” one Twitter user wrote.

“This memo is downright xenophobic,” another Twitter user said. With PNA

H

OUSE leaders said Sunday the entry of the Asian Development Bank in crafting a new concession agreement with the two water concessionaires― Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc.―would ensure a better deal for their combined 16-million customers.

From A1

On Feb. 1, the DOH reported five additional patients under investigation, bring the total number to 36.

Twenty-three patients are currently isolated in hospitals, while ten have been discharged under strict monitoring.

The previously reported mortality, who was HIV-positive, was found to be negative for nCoV and died of pneumonia.

The department’s Epidemiology Bureau is conducting contact tracing of passengers aboard the flights of the two positive cases, and has obtained the flight manifests from the airlines involved.

Contact tracing activities are ongoing in Cebu and Dumaguete, and in other places where the patients stayed.

Duque said the department is monitoring every development very closely.

“This health event is fast-evolving and fluid. We are continuously recalibrating our plans and efforts as the situation develops,” Duque said.

“We are providing the public with constant updates and advisories as frequently as possible, so all I ask from the public now is to heed the advisories from official DOH channels and to refrain from sharing unverified and unvalidated information.

I assure the public that we will keep you abreast of any information that we have,” he added.

Rody...

From A1

Singapore, the United States, Australia, and Russia earlier imposed travel restrictions and suspended flights to and from China, despite WHO’s advice that global trade and travel restrictions were unnecessary.

Other countries have also pulled their citizens out of Wuhan City in Hubei province.

The President is set to hold a meeting Monday with the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“We assure the Filipino people that the directives issued by the President, the protocols being implemented, as well as succeeding ones, are all geared for the safety of our countrymen and will last until the danger of the dreaded disease has ceased,” Panelo said.

All government agencies and offices were also directed to adopt and implement the guidelines which the task force might issue until the nCoV threat is over, he added.

Panelo said the task force was also given the authority to ban the entry of travelers from other areas with widespread confirmed nCOV cases.

Panelo reminded the public to observe preventive measures recommended by the Health Department against the virus, such as washing hands and wearing surgical masks when going around crowded places.

Air passengers who have already booked flights to China are advised to coordinate with their respective airlines or travel agencies, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Ed Monreal said on Sunday.

Oil..

From A1

Unioil Philippines, meanwhile, said it expects oil prices will go down this week as much as P2 to P2.20 per liter for diesel and P1.50 to P1.60 per liter for gasoline.

Other oil companies are expected to follow suit on Tuesday.

World oil prices took a hit as a deadly coronavirus outbreak gripped China, the world biggest consumer of oil.

On Feb. 1, the oil firms also announced a price cut in liquefied petroleum gas or LPG. Petron Corp. announced it will imple-

ment a P2.20 per kg rollback in LPG, or a P24.20 price drop per 11-kilo tank effective Feb. 1.

Petron said it will also cut its autoLPG prices by P1.25 per liter at the same time.

“These reflect the international contract price of LPG for the month of February,” it said.

Phoenix LPG Phils.,Inc. also announced that it will cut the prices of Phoenix Super LPG by P2.20 per kilogram and auto LPG by P1.25 per liter effective Feb. 1.

Rival Isla LPG which markets the Solane Brand cut LPG prices by P1.95 per kilo exclusive of value added tax.

Bird...

From A1

The WHO said while H5N1 can be transmitted to humans through contact with dead birds, human-tohuman transmission is rare.

“The virus does not infect humans easily, and spread from person to person appears to be unusual. There is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly prepared and thoroughly cooked food,” WHO said.

The mortality rate in humans is 60 percent, it added.

in delivering the intended public welfare outcome.”

Salceda said the ADB had “already supported the [government] with value-adding projects, such as the Angat water supply optimization project, the Manila south water distribution project and the Umiray-Angat transbasin project.”

Castelo said “everything is worth a try.”

“No harm in exploring anything. We just hope the final recommendation will be reflective of the interest of the people― no pass-on taxes and increase in tariffs to consumers. Any and all recommendations are subject to review.”

Lopez said “the Filipino people can rest assured that our interest will be protected with Justice Guevarra at the helm of the group to revise the concession agreement.”

The number of confirmed infections in China is far higher than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak of 2002-03.

SARS, which is caused by a pathogen similar to the new coronavirus and also originated in China, killed 774 people worldwide—most of them in China and Hong Kong.

China has imposed unprecedented measures to curb people traveling—with the respiratory virus believed to be able to jump from person to person via droplets.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million people and the capital of Hubei province, has been under quarantine since Jan. 23.

Similar measures have been in place across all of Hubei, effectively sealing off more than 50 million people.

Custom authorities have ordered temperature checks at all exit-entry points in Beijing, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

All passengers are also required to fill in health declaration cards.

Returning travelers are also being checked and registered at residential compounds, while fever checks are in place in subway stations, plus many offices and cafes.

Car drivers in eastern Shandong Province are required to undergo temperature checks before entering highways, said Xinhua.

Train passengers in southwest metropolis Chongqing have to wear masks due to “a major increase in passenger flow” over the weekend. With AFP

Taal...

From A1

could lead to eruptive activity at the main crater,” Phivolcs said, adding Alert Level 3 was still up over the volcano.

In related developments: • Phivolcs said the Taal Volcano Network was able to record 153 volcanic earthquakes in the past 24 hours―lower than the 182 quakes in the previous 24hour period.

The continuing quakes showed “magmatic activity... that could lead to eruptive activity at the main crater,” it said.

• Now that the alert level for Taal Volcano has been lowered from four to three, Senator Sonny Angara urged all concerned government agencies to immediately conduct an assessment of the damage brought about by the eruption two weeks ago.

Angara, who is chairman of the Finance Committee that went over the P4.1 trillion General Appropriations Act for 2020, said there was a significant amount of funding available for use of the different government agencies.

Phivolcs reminded the public that sudden steam-driven and even weak phreatomagmatic explosions, volcanic earthquakes, ashfall and lethal volcanic gas expulsions could still occur and threaten the areas within Taal Volcano Island and the nearby lakeshores.

It recommended no entry into Taal Volcano Island as well as into the areas over Taal Lake and communities west of the island within a seven-kilometer radius from the main crater.

The agency also advised local government units to assess the areas outside the seven-kilometer radius for damage and road accessibilities and to strengthen preparedness, contingency and communication measures in case of renewed unrest.

“People must observe precautions due to ground displacement across fissures, frequent ashfall and minor earthquakes,” Phivolcs said.

“Communities beside active river channels particularly where ash from the main eruption phase has been thickly deposited should increase vigilance when there is heavy and prolonged rainfall since the ash can be washed away and form lahar along the channels.”

Since airborne ash and ballistic fragments from sudden explosions and windremobilized ash may pose hazards to aircraft, Phivolcs stressed that civil aviation authorities must advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano.

On Saturday, another harmonic tremor or rhythmic shaking associated with magma movement was recorded from the volcano. PNA, with Rio N. Araja and Macon-Ramos-Araneta

News

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘nCov fears to hurt aviation, tourism’

HALL OF FAMER.

The Bambanti Festival is an annual celebration of the Provincial Government of Isabela that started in 1997.

The Bambanti Festival is 2018 Aliw Award’s Hall of Famer for Best Festival Practices and Performance by being a three-time winner from 2015 to 2017. Bambanti is an Iloko word for scarecrow, which the province considers as protection despite the common notion that it rouses fear. Created with colorful straws and grasses wrapped in farmer’s clothing, bambanti has always been the icon and mascot of the festival.

Teddy Pelaez

By Darwin G. Amojelar and Willie Casas THE Wuhan-originating corona-virus expects to have a “vastly greater” impact on aviation and tourism in Asia Pacific than the SARS in 2003, according to the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

CAPA said Chinese tourists make up the largest proportion of international visitors for most countries in Asia Pacific and they are also in many cases the biggest per capita spenders.

The aviation think tank also said that air services to and from China have grown many times over.

“As the China lockdown continues and airlines cut back on services, both inbound and outbound tourism has staggered almost to a stop. The impact is already massive. What remains unknown is how long and how widespread the virus’ spread will continue,” CAPA said.

“For several Asia Pacific countries, China has become a vital source of tourism; for Thailand, 11 million, or 28 percent of its international visitors came from China in 2019, and a quarter of its international airline seats were to/from China,” CAPA added.

Countries like Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are broadly similarly engaged in the China market.

Sought for comment, Carmelo Arcilla, executive director of Civil Aeronautics Board said the government has yet to assess the impact of the corona virus on Philippine aviation and tourism industry.

“We are looking at the safety of the public first,” he said.

The Philippines has a total Chinese visitors of 1.62 million as of November last year, according to the Tourism Department.

In a statement, the Department of Tourism advised its foreign offices in China to relay to all stakeholders involved in bringing markets to the Philippines on the latest directive by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to temporarily ban “the entry of any person, regardless of nationality, except Filipino citizens and holders of Permanent Resident Visa issued by the Philippine Government, directly coming from China and its Special Administrative Regions”, Hong Kong and Macau, in order to contain the spread of the novel corona virus (NCov).

The government also ordered the temporary ban on Filipinos from travel to China and its Special Administrative Regions.

“The safety and protection of our citizens thriving in our tourist spots, the employees of the tourism sector, and domestic and foreign tourists alike remain the Department of Tourism’s priority,” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said in a statement.

PH needs more sanitary landfills, DENR exec says

By Rio N. Araja THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources wants more engineered sanitary landfills before 2022 to address the “growing” garbage woes.

Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns Benny Antiporda said that sanitary landfill is the primary longterm method of solid waste disposal allowed under Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Under the law, sanitary landfill is required in any LGU as a means of safe disposal of untreated solid waste or resource recovery residuals.

He said the number of sanitary landfills in the country remains small even after 20 years since RA 9003 took effect.

“What we need in this country is about 1,700 sanitary landfills for all the municipalities and cities. But, sad to say, we only have 108 as of the moment and this number could even decrease in the future,” he said.

“Our sanitary landfills are already getting filled. What happens next is some might go back to open dumpsite, which is illegal under RA 9003. We will not allow this to happen,” he said.

He gave the assurance that Secretary Roy Cimatu would do everything to ensure the establishment of more sanitary landfills nationwide before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends in 2022.

Contain ASF in Davao Occidental, DA orders U PON receiving reports of African Swine Fever (ASF) incidence in Davao Occidental, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar immediately issued directives to manage, contain and control the disease while awaiting confirmation by the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in Quezon City.

Dar also called for strong cooperation among hog raisers and traders to stop transport and sale of live hogs, and pork products from suspected ASF areas.

DA Regional Field Office 11 Director Ricardo M. Onate, Jr. immediately convened an emergency meeting attended by the Davao Occidental provincial veterinarian, municipal agriculture officers of Don Marcelino and Malita, military and police officials, local environment and risk reduction officers, and DA-BAI veterinary quarantine service on January 30.

DA-BAI national director Ronnie Domingo, on the other hand, instructed the Davao regional veterinary quarantine officers (VQOs) to extend full assistance in restricting animal movement, following the 1-7-10 protocol in affected barangays.

Domingo also directed other regional VQOs in Mindanao to strictly enforce

quarantine procedures and monitor animal movement.

Dar lauded Davao Occidental Governor Claude Bautista, and mayors of Don Marcelino and Malita towns for enforcing a temporary lockdown and in establishing 24/7 quarantine checkpoints manned by barangay tanods (village police officers) and uniformed Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police personnel.

He instructed Domingo to order DA-BAI regional VQOs to conduct investigations, particularly in areas where Don Marcelino actively trades with the towns of Malita, Santa Maria, Jose Abad Santos, all in Davao Occidental, and Sulop, Davao Del Sur. Onate said another coordination meeting with local officials and VQOs will be held to identify the disposal sites for culled hogs and conduct an inventory of the total swine population

in affected areas.

The DA-RFO11 quick response team, together with Davao Occidental provincial veterinary office and municipal agriculture office of Don Marcelino conducted an investigation on January 29, in eight affected barangays (Linadasan, North Lamidian, South Lamidian, Calian, Mabuhay, Lawa, Nueva Villa and Baluntaya).

The composite team also reported ASF incidence in seven barangays in Bito, Kidalapong, Tubalan, Felis, Mana, Talogoy, and New Argao in Malita.

Laboratory examinations of affected animals revealed similarities of lesions for classical swine fever or hog cholera and ASF. Backyard farmers in the area practice group rearing (pagalam system) of hogs, from different owners, most having no proper housing provisions nor biosecurity practices.

They do not also practice vaccination, vitamin supplementation and deworming.

Household butchering is common especially with animals exhibiting weakness or disease, and animals are sold to neighbors and relatives.

The means of trading animals is by viajeros (bukag-bukag) who purchase sick animals at low cost and transport them by motorcycle to consolidators in the nearby town of Santa Maria for distribution to several areas in Davao Del Sur. PNA

Create programs for seniors, PWDs, LGUs urged Local government units (LGUs), specifically its municipal or city councils, should prioritize creating job programs and providing healthcare benefits for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs), Senator Joel Villanueva said over the weekend.

Villanueva said he filed Senate Bill No. 1278 which seeks to amend a provision of Republic Act No. 7160 that will emphasize the importance of taking care of the welfare of senior citizens and PWDs in their respective communities.

“Improving the plight of and giving extra care to our senior citizens and PWDs are equally pressing,”

said Villanueva, chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development, in a statement.

He underscored the mandate of the local governments in advancing their welfare and rights.

In his bill, Villanueva proposed the amendment of Section 16 of RA 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, to have the LGUs exercise their powers to include in their programs the provision of free healthcare benefits and promotion of employment opportunities for their resident senior citizens and PWDs.

The proposed amendments are geared towards the formulation of policies and implementation of welfare programs for senior citizens and PWDs, the senator explained.

“The amendments also ensure their convenient and priority access to government services, welfare programs, utilities and facilities,” he added.

In the same provision, Villanueva likewise sought to have all LGUs ensure that senior citizens and PWDs are granted convenient, easy and priority access to social and other services, utilities and government utilities.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Poe seeks insurance for farmers, fisherfolk

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATE Grace Poe is seeking insurance coverage for the country’s fisheries, livestock and poultry sectors as protection for farmers and fisherfolk when calamity strikes.

Poe made the push for her Senate Bill No. 866 as estimates of agricultural losses begin to trickle in following the Taal Volcano eruption that displaced thousands from their homes and livelihood.

Poe said the fisheries, livestock and poultry sectors are major contributors to the economy and food security.

“However, all of the sectors identified above are vulnerable to climate change and severe-weather based calamities,” Poe said.

“Insurance coverage will guarantee that during times of unforeseen events, farmers will not be holding an empty bag,” she said.

Under SBN 866, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, a corporate body attached to the Department of Agriculture, shall insure qualified fisherfolk against losses arising from natural calamities and provide insurance coverage to livestock and poultry and unharvested fisheries stock, without prejudice to the inclusion of other noncrop agricultural assets.

These assets include livestock and poultry pens and cages, inland fishponds, fish cages, fish pens, fishing boats, and other related infrastructures, as the Board of Directors of the corporation may determine.

The bill also includes in the crop insurance coverage the cost of production inputs, the value of the fisherfolk’s own labor and those of the members of his household, including the value of the labor of hired workers, as the Board decides to insure.

SBN 866 is a proposed amendment to section 1 of Presidential Decree 1647, otherwise known as the “Revised Charter of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation Act of 1995,” which mandates to insure qualified farmers against losses caused by plant diseases, pest infestations, and natural calamities, and provide insurance coverage for palay and agricultural crops, among others.

Pandacan fire to set back Skyway project

By Willie Casas

FIRE DAMAGE. Fire Investigators from the Bureau of Fire Department inspect

the damage in the Skyway Stage 3 project during a fire that hit a plastic plant of San MigueL Yamamura Packaging Corporation in Pandacan, Manila. Norman Cruz

AROUND 300 meters of the Skyway Stage 3 project was affected by a fire that hit a plastic plant of San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corp. in Pandacan, Manila last Saturday.

San Miguel Corp. officials said the technical team of SMC Infrastructure went to the site after the fire was put under control and discovered the damage it made.

While the blaze affected 300 meters of the project, “the full extent of damage and its impact to the construction, has yet to be determined,” the company added.

SMC vowed to extend assistance to the families whose houses were razed by the fire.

“We are ready to provide assistance to anyone directly affected by the incident,” it said.

The fire broke out at 10:38 a.m. at

Barangay 865 in Pandacan.

Due to its intensity, the fire reached Task Force Bravo barely 30 minutes after the first alarm was raised.

The fire caused the collapse of a section of the Skyway Stage 3 project that was under construction. The damage to the property was placed at P15 million, the Manila Fire District said.

In a report, Fire Superintendent Roberto Samillano Jr., deputy fire marshal of the Manila Fire District, gave the damage estimate at the industrial compound of the San Miguel Yamamura Plastic Plant Corp.—a manufacturer of plastic containers and packaging.

The fire reportedly started from a stack file of plastic pallets placed at the open space under the Skyway project, Samillano added.

There were no reported fatalities nor injuries from the fire.

A4

Opinion

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Drain IN THE recent phreatic eruption of Taal Volcano which disrupted the lives of thousands upon thousands of lakeshore towns and beyond, the readiness and reaction of two local governments were nothing short of outstanding.

Instead of just appealing for national government help, both Batangas and Cavite LGUs moved quickly. Batangas understandably had to act because the affected towns --- Talisay, Laurel, Agoncillo, Taal, Lemery, San Luis, San Nicolas and even Balete, Alitagtag and Cuenca are under its jurisdiction. And Governor Dodo Mandanas was quick to act, using provincial resources even as the national government was still mobilizing.

Brain and brawn, both Cavite whose residents were hardly endangered but for the ashfall, also went to the rescue of their neighbors in Batangas’ lakeshore towns. Governor Johnvic Remulla quickly mobilized the 28 towns and cities of his province, identified the proper evacuation centers, provided the needed food, water and amenities that the evacuees would immediately use, with many residents volunteering their abodes for homestay.

Thousands of Batanguenos went up to Tagaytay, and from there, they were bused by the Cavite government to the prepared evacuation centers, and if they had kin or friends, these were immediately contacted for possible homestay. Everything was done with neither fuss nor fanfare, and the national government was not at all bothered by the province.

The DILG and the police under it moved in to the lakeshore towns to keep the peace and direct orderly evacuation, as well as supervise and enforce the

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

lockdown while the alert levels had not yet been withdrawn by Phivolcs.

If LGUs and their elected officials were only as alert and efficient as those of these Tagalog provinces, federalism would work. Unfortunately, Cavite and Batangas are perhaps more exception than rule, which is why many doubt if a shift to federalism from the present system would work well. But then again, one has to input the fact that these Tagalog provinces have ample resources to spare. *** Returning to Taipei after the Lunar New Year holidays, I was told that there is a looming shortage of hand sanitizers and even rubbing alcohol. The MECO administrative director had to scour so many drugstores and even convenience outlets to be able to buy these disinfectants which we needed urgently when we re-opened our offices after the holidays last Thursday, January 30.

Truth is, we had to buy several boxes of rubbing alcohol to send to our Taiwan offices to disinfect the hands of every visitor to MECO, whether Taiwanese or Filipinos. Taiwan officials have also restricted the amount of face masks a retail buyer could purchase, and forbidden any export of the highlyneeded commodity.

Even a Taiwanese company which manufactures medical disposables such as face masks in Bataan had to work overtime just to supply rush orders from neighboring countries including, better believe it, mainland China. *** A major concern was expressed to me by both Manila and Taiwanese businessmen who are participating or intend to participate in the infrastructure projects of the Philippines, whether under the Build,Build,Build government program, or big-ticket private-sector financed PPP projects.

They complain about the lack of skilled manpower readily available in our country. Apparently, through the years, our engineers and even skilled workers like electricians, plumbers, and welders, as well as craftsmen and finishing carpentry workers have been going abroad as OFWs. With the increased demand in the Philippines occasioned by the

A series of unfortunate events

T

HE second month of the year has just begun, but already many people feel as though 2020 has dragged on too long.

We crossed over into the new year with news of the bushfires in Australia.

While the conflagration was relatively far from home, it was a stark reminder that our physical world is precarious and that events out of our control could alter life as we know it.

On the first week of January, we learned that United States President Donald Trump greenlighted the assassination of a top military officer of Iran. The Iranian government vowed to retaliate. A series of tweets from Trump heightened the tension, and sparked worries of another war. For us here in the Philippines, this meant greater likelihood of an increase in the price of oil and subsequently all other products and services, and the loss of jobs for our overseas workers in the entire Middle East.

On January 12, what was supposed to be a quiet Sunday, Taal Volcano started spewing ash, and alert levels were increased from Level 2 to Level 4 in a matter of hours. The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology eventually raised the possibility of an explosive eruption in a matter of days or weeks, and thousands of residents in

the danger zone were evacuated.

Just as the volcano appeared to simmer down, we got wind of a strange virus that was traced to Wuhan City in China. After several reports and misreports of suspected cases, the first case was confirmed last Thursday; a second confirmed patient, who was the partner of that first patient, died Saturday at San Lazaro Hospital. What makes the virus alarming is that, being new, there is no known cure yet for it, and that human-to-human transmission has been reported in other countries.

In the middle of all this, the death of an American basketball superstar caused sports fans worldwide to grieve.

This has been a truly unfortunate month, they lamented.

And then on the first day of the new month, a fire engulfed a plastics plant and warehouse in Manila; the blaze caused the collapse of part of the Skyway project.

Amid all these unfortunate occurrences, it is easy to be fatalistic and attribute everything to sheer bad luck, or, worse, the wrath of God. Nobody would deny that these first

few weeks of 2020 have been challenging. But perhaps these could seem less overwhelming when we regain control of the narrative. We can acknowledge that while there may be many things outside of our control, many things remain to be.

For instance, in the face of natural disasters and health emergencies, national and local authorities can commit to have plans ready for implementation. Leaders should know their priorities and be decisive on their courses of action, relying on the advice of experts instead of “close advisers.” People should be exhorted to believe and pass on only credible information, instead of sharing unconfirmed, misleading or downright fake reports.

Filipinos, certainly, have not lost their sense of humor amid all these troubles – this is fine, so long as it does not trivialize the plight of others, sow falsehood or confusion, and hinder efforts to address problem. We are known to be a resilient and hopeful lot.

Then again, resilience and hope will not work without commonsensical plans and decisive action. Above all, let us hope, not for the absence of trouble – that would be an impossibility – but for the wherewithal and fortitude to address them as intelligently and as objectively as we can.

Turn to A5

NCoV and Sinophobes

HERE’S a timely reminder from the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after the agency declared a global health emergency after the outbreak of the NCoVirus: “This is the time for facts, not fear.”

“This is the time for science, not rumors.”

“This is the time for solidarity, not stigma.”

“We are all in this together.”

Indeed, we are all—the entire world community—in this together.

Not just China and more specifically, Wuhan and the other cities in Hubei Province, ordered locked down by the Chinese leadership less than a week after the emergence of this still beingexamined-and-named virus end of December last year. Or, for that matter, the Philippines and a host of other countries including such First World nations as the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan and our neighbors in ASEAN, Singapore and Vietnam, all f whom have reported a number of citizens confirmed infected

by NCoV. With about 259 deaths reported, thousands of new cases and clear evidence of human-to-human transmission, the WHO had no other choice but to reverse its earlier decision to hold off the declaration ensuring the immediate and active participation of governments and the private sector in getting to the bottom of this epidemic and, more importantly, fast track the development and use of testing kits, facilities and medicines before things run out of control.

For a while there, loads of fake news and, yes, even supposed antidotes to this rapidly spreading virus populated the air as the global public grappled

with the real situation and its impact on our daily lives. To the credit of the WHO and the Chinese authorities, those wild claims have been properly rebutted and somehow the earlier panicky reactions laid to rest. Of course, with the announced lockdown and the increasing number of countries reporting possible infections, jitters continue to fill the air. This has become even more pronounced in the case of tourists and global travelers with governments and airlines restricting travel to and from China.

These are truly condemnable acts.

But then again, as the WHO’s Ghebreyesus emphasized, the organization is not inclined to recommend such moves to limit trade and movements, noting that “travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing and medical supply chains and harming economies” and that “countries and companies [should] make evidencebased and consistent decisions.”

In fact, the WHO Director-General made it clear that the decision to declare a “global health emergency” was not a call out on China and its capability to combat the virus and its spread.

He said that the Chinese have shown immense capacity to work things out. Rather, he said, it was meant to ensure that the virus does not spread to countries with weak medical service systems which may cause the death of thousands of people. Which is just as well as we move on and together work out the needed means and solutions to minimize the damage which this newly discovered virus strain can cause to the global community.

Which brings us to our other point.

This is not the time, in fact, there should never be a time for Sinophobes Turn to A5

Dr. Busy’s dilemma DOCTORS face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. Decisions like resuscitating a patient, prescribing a futile treatment or discontinuing a curative treatment in order to respect the family’s decision, and performing a procedure that is not fully medically warranted are among the things that disturb their sleep—that is, if they even have time for that.

Apart from the dilemmas they face on the field, some choose to stir some trivial problems that put the profession in question, as disappointing as that may sound.

Most recently, melodramatic reports have surfaced in the medical industry about a doctor who has been aiming his guns at the institution that has given him the opportunities to stand where he is right now. In between attending to patients, he had the time to stir some allegations on the toxic and poor working environment of the worldclass hospital.

An insider from the medical

It’s ego versus ethics for this young and promising physician. community shared that the false rumors stemmed from failed expectations of a promotion. This young doctor already had a reputable position in the hospital but wanted more than what he had. He claimed he was sure to clinch his coveted position in executive management, but the promotion was given to another doctor. Many in the medical community say that he exhibited in many instances that proved he wasn’t deserving of the position— swearing at hospital employees, engaging in inappropriate relationships with nurses, demonstrating instances of incompetence as he relied on his peers for advice.

The young doctor’s dilemma is now ego versus ethics.

My friends who are HR professionals always say it is not wise to burn bridges, especially if you are still young and have a long way to go.

*** The question remains.

While we welcome the pronouncement of the Department of Energy to revisit and re-assess the operating agreement entered into by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation, a government- owned and -controlled corporation regarding the wholesale electricity spot market, the fact remains it entered in to an agreement with a four-month old, P7,000-company, whose capital is not even enough to put up a food cart.

This matter was brought into the open by Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Rep. Jericho “Koko” Nograles who welcomed the DoE’s decision to review the questionable deal saying it could shed light on how and why a 7,000peso company like the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, Inc. was able to clinch a contract to manage the country’s wholesale electricity spot market without any competitive bidding, in full disregard of existing laws against graft and corruption.

“I welcome the decision of the DoE to finally step in and look into this dubious deal with IEMOP. The Philippines Turn to A5

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

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Opinion Saint Blaise and the coronavirus

FEBRUARY 3 is the memorial of the martyr Saint Blaise, the third-century physician-turned-bishop of Sebaste in ancient Armenia. Known for healing in his time, in our day his prayer and protection invoked against diseases of the throat. During today’s mass, Catholics will receive the traditional blessing which is given by touching the throat of each person with two candles blessed during yesterday’s feast of the Presentation of the Lord and which has been joined together in the form a cross, sometimes by a red ribbon, the color of martyrdom.

The intercession of Saint Blaise is particularly timely given the growing concerns over the incidence of the novel coronavirus, including in the Philippines. As of writing, there are two confirmed cases in the country.

At the epicenter of this global health emergency, though, is the city of Wuhan, China where more than 11,000 individuals have been confirmed to have the new coronavirus.

What we know about coronaviruses is that they belong to a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses.

The same kind of virus that can cause the common cold, or worse, pneumonia and bronchitis. However, in some rare cases, coronaviruses have evolved and spread from animals, where it is more prevalent, to humans. This is what happened with the coronaviruses known as the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-Cov), both of which are known to cause more severe symptoms.

The novel coronavirus outbreak happened during the Christmas and Chinese New Year holidays. As a result, many countries were caught unaware of this growing medical emergency, especially in confirming cases of personto-person transmission of the virus.

The Philippine government’s response to the novel coronavirus was, at best, sluggish, given the wait-andsee attitude that it seemed to take at the onset of the outbreak. Our country has successfully prevented before the incidence of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-Cov), but there are concerns that there is a lot to be desired in its current response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Critics point out that while neighboring countries have started to suspend flights to and from China, it took some more time for the Philippine government to follow suit. It seemed that what caused the indecision was that the government allegedly cared more for its relations with China, than the health of its population. Despite the growing cases of coronavirus cases in mainland China, Chinese tourists continued to travel to tourist destinations in the Philippines, until this weekend, when President Rodrigo Roa Duterte finally imposed a temporary travel ban to and from the Chinese mainland.

The growing concern, and even

panic, over a possible coronavirus outbreak in the Philippine is of course understandable. The growing number of Chinese tourists and workers in the country cannot escape the attention of the local population who seem to identify the virus with the country from which it originated. Social media is replete with anecdotes about Chinese individuals being discriminated against and even refused services by hotels, transport services and other establishments for fear that they might be carriers of the coronavirus. Not even the Philippine Red Cross was spared from criticism when it decided to send face masks to China, given that the local supply in the Philippines was thought to be limited.

There is always a long list of what was done wrong, but what we need now is an even longer list of what and how things could be done better.

What is even more lamentable is the growing political bickering over recent decisions, or rather indecision, of the Philippine government. True, the government’s response was less than satisfactory. The Department of Health should have been more aggressive and transparent in addressing misinformation related to the virus, and should have been more forthcoming in preventing fake reports and setting up response protocols. Having a wait-and-see attitude did not help, especially when the people expected a more decisive policy direction from health authorities.

Sadly, critics of the present administration have taken advantage of this health emergency in order to launch a political offensive against President Duterte. #OustDuterte was trending in social media a few days ago, a rather insensitive call when we should all be rolling up our sleeves and working together in response to this impending health crisis. Has politics gone that low so as to take a public health emergency as a political leverage for the opposition?

I remember more than six years ago, when former Aquino administration failed miserably to respond with haste in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan, residents of the affected communities cared less about politics, and never asked for the ouster of former President Noynoy Aquino. The local officials and businessmen even asked him to declare martial law so that with his expanded powers, he could more effectively direct the response efforts and steep up the public safety and security in the devasted areas. Did we asked President Aquino to resign? No. For one simple reason, that despite our anger and frustration, it was not the time for that.

Eventually, political accountability was exacted when Mar Roxas and other national candidates allied with the Aquino administration lost miserably in two succeeding elections, further cementing public support for President Duterte. If there is one strong reason why the people of Leyte and Samar supported him, it was because less than

Drain From A4

infrastructure push, skilled labor supply has been tremendously outstripped.

The yet available labor supply in the region can be sourced only in China and even India, but these are quite expensive, and restrictions in our country understandably proscribe massive utilization of foreign workers.

Note the howl of resentment about POGOs’ Mandarin-speaking foreign hires who entered the country mostly from China. Recall how years back, Fontana Resort Hotel in Clark was closed down after having run afoul of labor laws because they hired construction workers from China.

In our desire to shore up our dollar remittances from OFW earnings, and the wage disparities as well as work demand in foreign shores vis-à-vis local conditions, we now face the dire prospects of a skilled labor shortage.

It is both a brain and brawn drain that we now experience.

Thinks of nurses and doctors, even teachers, who are increasingly enticed to work abroad due to better

Dr. Busy’s...

From A4

has one of the highest electric rates in Asia and it’s really revolting to realize that part of the money that we pay for electricity goes to a company with a capital that is not even enough to build a food cart business, and now they are collecting more than P1.2 billion a year,” Nograles said.

According to Nograles, the PEMC and the people behind its deal with IEMOP usurped the power of the President of the Republic of the

72 hours after typhoon Haiyan made landfall, the then-mayor of Davao was the first local government official to bring aid and relief to the survivors of the typhoon. See, both the good and the bad, we never forgot.

But even to talk about ousting President Duterte at this time when all of us should be rallying behind our government is an insult to the countless people in government who have been working hard to respond to this coronavirus crisis. How many doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are now risking their own health and well-being in order to attend to suspected coronavirus cases? How many nameless people in government have been working day and night to come up with workable solutions to this health emergency, with little time to care about their own homes and families?

Nobody wishes to absolve the President or anyone from his administration of any responsibility over the handling of this crisis. He will have to be accountable for that at the proper time. Criticism is welcome, but there is a greater need for constructive solutions. As in any crisis, there is always a long list of what was done wrong, but what we need now is an even longer list of what and how things could be done better.

In fact, these politically-loaded commentaries appear to drown the needed public health information in social media. Instead of calling for the President’s ouster, and proposing that his constitutional successor could do a better job—why not share more reliable and objective information about the coronavirus and its effects? Instead of fueling a health scare, why not assure the people that the best and most effective response to the coronavirus is to follow the usual flu season protocol?

Observe good hygiene. Wash hands with soap and water. Avoid ill people.

Stay home and avoid crowded places, if possible. Be more informed about how coronavirus can spread between an infected persons and others. Have a healthy lifestyle and sleep right to boost your immune system. If you have colds or cough, seek medical care right away. Wear a face mask, but only when needed. In most cases, all you need to cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

None of these require that we ask the President to resign or to oust him from office. This is a public health emergency, for which the proper health solutions must be employed. For those who those who choose to play politics over the health of Filipinos - the political course of action that they propose is crass and plain irresponsible.

It is important not to allow cynicism, hatred, politics and selfish interests - to threaten our very survival. We cannot allow our self-centered actions to be the biggest threat to our existence. In doing otherwise, we risk self-destruction.

But if in the face of a crisis, we hold to every shred of humanity in us, there is no war, disaster or disease that our shared action and common purpose cannot overcome.

“This is the time for facts, not fear.

This is the time for science, not rumors.

This is the time for solidarity, not stigma.

We are all in this together.”—Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, DirectorGeneral, World Health Organization.

Saint Blaise, pray for us!

salaries, creating a brain drain that affects our health and educational needs.

Think now of a brawn drain, where even blue collar workers are in short supply.

The success of the Build, Build, Build program is endangered. Speedy construction of urgently needed big-ticket projects such as the Bulacan and Sangley international airports will likewise be affected, unless government makes a realistic assessment of the situation and acts accordingly. *** The Filipino consumer is an oppressed creature, paying for services that he hardly gets month after month after month. One such oppressive service provider is Sky Cable.

In my case, the few times that I stay in Manila being in a foreign post, I get denied of my cable TV service even if mercifully, it is my link to the internet. There is hardly any television channel that I could access other than CNN International, even if my service provider is Sky Cable, which supposedly has a monopoly on the Lopezcontrolled ABS-CBN, ANC or DZMM Teleradyo.

I am luckier in Taipei, where I source my local TV

Philippines by allowing the transfer of government-owned assets to a private company without his approval.

The said act, Nograles said, might constitute a violation of Republic Act 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011 which requires that any GOCC like PEMC must first seek endorsement from the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations and thereafter the president’s approval, before transferring any asset or function to any Private entity like IEMOP. As such, this corner agrees

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Lower power rates are always welcome DATA from the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the country’s Consumer Price Index surged 121.90 Index Points in December 2019 from 119.1 points at the start of last year.

As per the PSA definition, “the Consumer Price Index or CPI measures changes in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services.”

The figures reflect a weighted average of goods and services such as food, transportation, education, health care.

Calculating the price changes results in an average that would show whether we are in a period of inflation or deflation.

For the regular consumer, the increase by 2.8 index points confirms that prices for consumer goods and services are increasing.

If prices of commodities have been rising, why are power rates going down?

According to PSA’s summary on inflation rate, “The Philippines’ annual inflation rate increased to 2.5 percent in December 2019 from 1.3 percent in the previous month and beating market estimates of 2.1 percent. This was the highest inflation rate since June, driven by prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (1.7 percent vs flat reading in November), mainly reflecting seasonal effects of higher demand during the Christmas season and the impact of recent typhoons on crops. Additional upward pressure came from cost of transport (2.2 percent vs -2.4 percent), namely domestic pump prices (17.1 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (1.9 percent vs 1.2 percent); furnishings (3.1 percent vs 2.8 percent) and alcoholic beverages & tobacco (18.4 percent vs 17.6 percent).

Meanwhile, inflation was steady for education (at 4.6 percent); recreation & culture (at 1.4 percent); restaurant, miscellaneous goods & services (at 2.7 percent) and communication (at 0.3 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 0.7 percent in December, the highest since September 2018, after a 0.25 percent gain in November.”

Reviewing data from 2012 to 2019 shows a 20-percent increase in CPI. For us regular consumer and most especially breadwinners, this is a daily burden that hits us whenever we pay for the food, drinks, fuel, and all the cash draining expenses we must fork out to support our family.

An interesting contrast is the lower power rates recently reported by Meralco. Compared with the 20 percent CPI increase in the same period, Meralco power rates decreased by 10 percent.

This was revealed following Meralco’s announcement of a 41-centavo-per-kilowatt-hour rate reduction for January 2020. Compared with the same period last year, the overall rate is even cheaper by

fare from TFC, but in Manila? I cannot get neither the Lopez-owned stations, nor their competition.

The few times that ANC beams on the monitor, it is terribly pixelized, one gets a headache watching. And sometimes even the lone CNN channel goes bad.

This has been my sad plight as a consumer since October last year when the service faltered. When we call to complain, our calls are diverted to “Sales.” And on the very rare occasion when we finally got through to inform Sky Cable of our complaint, they promised to send a serviceman on a Saturday. That Saturday passed with no one responding.

When we called the week after, we were told that their crew came, and made adjustments to the cable wires outside our house. Still no dice. Who were they fooling?

It’s now 2020, and four months have passed since we first noticed that the cable service was abysmally bad. I am tired of complaining. I just want to shoot the service purveyors, or their outsourced repair agents, maybe even their insensitive telephone operators.

Who owns Sky Cable, which airs ABS-CBN fare?

Lopez, Pangilinan, whoever? I am filled with glee every time the President curses you guys.

with Nograles that the claim of National Transmission Corporation Spokesperson Andres De Jesus that the PEMC-IEMOP deal was “above board,” as rather absurd, ergo, unacceptable.

Just how can de Jesus conveniently set aside so many Republic Acts that have been violated by the transfer of market operations from a GOCC to a private entity?

And then here comes IEMOP’s statement claiming they are the only qualified institution in the land.

How in the world can they make that

A5

claim when Rule IX Section 6(a) of the IRR of the EPIRA law is very specific on the qualification for an independent market operator which states that it should be financially and technically capable, with proven experience and expertise of not less than two years as a leading independent market operator of similar or larger size electricity market?

At four months old, with a paidup capital of only P7,000, they have the gall to declare they are the only institution qualified?

Laway na nga lang ang puhunan, ginagawa pa tayong tanga.

approximately 39 centavos per kilowatt hour.

Typical households would see a lower electricity bill, by about P82.

So, if prices of commodities have been rising, why are power rates going down?

Meralco explained that the lower overall power rates are because of its “superior sourcing strategy,” particularly the lower generation charges in their power supply agreements (PSA) – a bilateral agreement between a Generation Company (GenCo) and a Distribution Utility (DU) for the purchase and supply of power.

According to Meralco public information office head Joe Zaldarriaga, “Lower PSA charges were brought about by a reduction in capacity fees as a result of the annual reconciliation of outage allowances done at the end of each year under the PSAs approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). The early completion of annual capacity payment for Sual Unit 1, Ilijan, Pagbilao Unit 1 and Panay Energy resulted in savings immediately passed on to consumers by way of lower electricity rates.”

Power Supply Agreements account for 49.4 percent of the generation charge. The December 2019 billing was at 4.8420 and decreased to 3.9761.

Looking at the rates from January 2019 to January 2020, the total net reduction is 73 centavos per kilowatt hour. Further review of the rates for the last ten years, in terms of average rate for 200-kilowatt hour customers, the 2019 rate at 9.90 pesos per kilowatt hour is even lower than the 10.03 pesos per kilowatt rate in 2010.

Just to review where our money goes whenever we pay our Meralco electricity bills, the biggest bite is the generation charge which goes to generation companies (GenCos) that supply power (power plants) at 55 percent of the total electricity bill.

Taxes (Value Added Tax, Energy Tax Local Franchise Tax, Universal Charge and subsidies) account for 11.7 percent.

The transmission charge or the cost that goes to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines for transporting power from the GenCos to Meralco subsidiaries takes 10 percent. System loss and the feed in tariff subsidizing operations of renewable energy companies take 5.7 percent. Meralco’s distribution charge is at 17.5 percent and has not changed for the past 54 months.

On the other hand, demand for electricity in 2019 grew by 4.3 percent to 11,344 MW, an increase of 468 MW. As per the DOE list of existing power plants dated June 2019, only one power plant started commercial operations.

The 968 MW expected to come online from private sector-initiated projects failed to meet their target operation date. This resulted 51 days of Yellow alerts and 15 days of Red Alerts in 2019.

The DOE has stated that Luzon demand in 2020 will increase by 942 MW, higher by 8.3 percent than 2019 peak demand of 11,344 MW. These figures should already raise red flags of a looming power shortage that will be debilitating to all of Luzon.

NCoV...

From A4

and their ilk to go wild. This is the time to restrain ourselves and refrain from further fueling anti-Chinese sentiments which have been swirling in the air since these Sinophobes and their allies, in and out of the country, ramp up their prejudices with their tirades on the West Philippine Sea. These Sinophobes have focused their attention on Chinese-looking or Chinese tourists reportedly infected with the virus. Their bigoted response to an ongoing health emergency has been so awfully displayed with the issuance by certain schools—who should know better—to have Chinese students do self-quarantine as a precautionary measure against NCoV. This is a truly condemnable act.

It is a good thing that Adamson University has apologized for such a highly discriminatory issuance. Other schools which have issued precautionary advisories which were calculated to prevent the spread of the virus have been more sanguine and diplomatic in their reportage and dissemination. They have advised all students, not just Chinese or Chinese looking (?) to take all the necessary steps to ensure they do not get to be infected. That included travels to China, self-quarantine if needed and keeping healthy and clean at all times.

Dapat lang.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

News

Standard

A6

TODAY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Expert warns against vaccine shift A

By Joyce Pangco Pañares

LEADING expert on infectious diseases has warned that shifting to an “inferior” PCV-10 anti-pneumonia vaccine could increase the mortality rate among Filipino children who are under threat of deadly pulmonary diseases.

In an interview, Dr. Ron Dagan, professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and former chairman of the board of the International Symposia on Pneumococcus and Pneumococcal Diseases, said that while the vaccines PCV-10 and PCV13 are both good vaccines, PCV13 is “clearly superior.”

“There are different additional serotypes that PCV-13 covers that PCV-10 does not cover.

PCV-13 covers very well serotype 19A and 6A that are not in PCV-10, and to a certain extent serotype 3,” he said.

Serotype 19A is the most virulent and prevalent type of deadly microbe that causes pneumonia, which remains to be the top

cause of death among Filipino children 5 years or younger. It is also antibiotic resistant.

Serotype 6A, on the other hand, is a cause of invasive pneumococcal disease while serotype 3 is associated with complicated pneumonia.

“Serotype 19A will not respond well to PCV-10 and will increase with PCV-10. Once you give PCV-13, it will decrease.

So maybe you are thinking I can give PCV-10 at the moment, and save some money, but what that means is you will see an increase in diseases caused by 19A – you will see increased number of children with meningitis caused by 19A. You will see increased number of severe pneumonia caused by 19A. You will see

Republika ng Pilipinas

Republika ng Pilipinas

National Irrigation Administration

National Irrigation Administration

(PambansangPangasiwaan ng Patubig) Regional Office No.III

Office Address : Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Telephone Nos. : (044) 766-2467, 766-4839, 816-6808 Website : www.region3.nia.gov.ph

Email Address: niar03@yahoo.com Telefax No. (044) 766-2467 TIN No. 000-979-570-000

(PambansangPangasiwaan ng Patubig) Regional Office No.III

Office Address : Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Telephone Nos. : (044) 766-2467, 766-4839, 816-6808 Website : www.region3.nia.gov.ph

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3, hereby invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors to bid for the project, through the General Appropriations Act of CY 2020, intends to apply the sum of Sixty Five Million Three Hundred Seventy Six Thousand Seven Hundred Eleven Pesos and 15/100 (P 65,371,711.15) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the contract for NIAR3-2020-TAR-BACASDU-6.

Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Email Address: niar03@yahoo.com Telefax No. (044) 766-2467 TIN No. 000-979-570-000

Invitation to Bid Construction of Diversion Works, Canal System and Access Road of Castillo CIS ITB No. NIAR3-2020-TAR-CASTILLO CIS-7

Invitation to Bid Construction of Diversion Works and Canal Systems of Baluto CIS, Castillo CIS and Dungan CIS ITB No. NIAR3-2020-TAR-BACASDU-6 1.

increased mortality caused by 19A,” Dagan said.

“You will observe a lot of diseases that not only were not prevented by PCV-10, but also were induced by PCV-10 because PCV10 increased the 19A prevalence in your country. But if you start from the beginning with PCV-13, you save all of those cases that could occur if you start with PCV-10,” he added.

In the Philippines, the Department of Health has been using PCV-13 since 2014, but there have been recent efforts to shift to PCV-10 – a move that has been described by former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin as a “step backward.”

“That’s like getting a Betamax when you’re already using a

1.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3, hereby invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors to bid for the project, through the General Appropriations Act of CY 2020, intends to apply the sum of Seventy Three Million Seven Hundred Eighty Six Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty Eight Pesos and 76/100 (P 73,786,858.76) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the contract for NIAR3-2020-TAR-CASTILLO CIS-7. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

VHS player,” Garin said, describing PCV-10 as a “weaker” vaccine.

Dagan said there have only been two examples of countries that switched from PCV-13 to PCV-10 as the rest have switched from PCV-10 to PCV-13.

“One example, a country which has very good surveillance, was Belgium. Belgium for many years has a lot of pneumococcal disease in children and it started with PCV-7. Diseases associated with serotype 19A started to go up in a very frightening rate, and they switched after a while to PCV-13.

They saw a beautiful reduction of overall disease and 19A diseases to a point where 19A was very, very low in the community.”

“After several years, of using PCV-13 successfully, they thought that maybe now it’s time to switch to PCV-10, because they don’t see much 19A. What they found within two years after switching back

Dr. Ron Dagan

to PCV-10 was that they had an amazing increase of 19A diseases, together with an increase in overall diseases to almost previous rates as before PCV-13 was introduced,” Dagan said.

Pneumonia is a leading cause of death among children, and data from the World Health Organization showed that in 2017, close to a million children aged 5 and below died of pneumoniarelated diseases worldwide.

The Philippines is among the 15 countries that make up 75 percent of the world’s childhood pneumonia cases, with a mortality rate of 23.4 per 100,000 people.

DTI: Outbreak not reason to increase medicine prices

2.

Bidders must secure Site Inspection Certificate from IMO Office as a technical requirement for Eligibility and Technical Document (Envelop A). Non compliance will be a ground for disqualification.

2.

By Othel V. Campos

3.

Only who submitted Document Request List (DRL) from PhilGEPS including updated company profile by the owner or its authorized liaison officer, will be accepted to participate in the bidding.

Bidders must secure Site Inspection Certificate from IMO Office as a technical requirement for Eligibility and Technical Document (Envelop A). Non-compliance will be a ground for disqualification.

3.

Only those who submitted Document Request List (DRL) from PhilGEPS including updated company profile by the owner or its authorized liaison officer, will be accepted to participate in the bidding.

4.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 now invites bids for Construction of Diversion Works and Canal Systems of Baluto CIS, Castillo CIS and Dungan CIS located in Concepcion, Tarlac. Completion of the Works is required within Three Hundred Sixty (360) calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

4.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 now invites bids for Construction of Diversion Works, Canal System and Access Road of Castillo CIS, located in Concepcion, Tarlac . Completion of the Works is required within Three Hundred (300) calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

5.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using nondiscretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

5.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

6.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday to Friday.

6.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday to Friday.

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on January 31, 2020 to February 20, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., Monday to Friday, and February 21, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., except holidays from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P 50,000.00).

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on January 31, 2020 to February 20, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, except and holidays and February 21, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Seventy Thousand Pesos (P 70,000.00)

8.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 7, 2020, 10:00 a.m. at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy.

Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

9.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:30 a.m. (PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

THE Department of Trade has issued warnings against overpricing not only of surgical masks but of drugs and medicines, in general, as the government confirmed Sunday first death caused by the novel coronavirus outside of China.

The department called on medicine importers to consolidate purchases in bulk orders to make prices more affordable.

Trade secretary Ramon Lopez issued another request to drug companies to come together to bring down the cost of medicines and prevent situations of overpricing.

He said prices of medicines in other countries were lower than in the Philippines because of government subsidies, but the Duterte administration cannot afford to offer such measure.

He estimated the Philippines would need over P4 trillion to keep up with the subsidies offered by other nations.

“That’s our entire budget. That’s what it will entail if we want to lower prices to where we want them to be via subsidies,” Lopez said.

He floated the idea that a government body could collate the requirements of hospitals and drug stores and purchase on their behalf in bulk.

“The beauty of this system is the government will know exactly how much the medicines would cost, and can then guide the retail price,” he said.

The technical working group on drugs created by the Department of Health was open to the suggestion and even to proposals to impose suggested retail prices.

The Philippines’ per capital consumption of medicine was at P60,000 compared to P211,000 in other countries in the region.

10.

11.

12.

Bid opening shall be on 10:00 a.m. (PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

All particulars relative to the eligibility screening, bid security, performance security, pre-bid conference/s, evaluation of bids, post qualification and award of contracts shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its revised IRR. The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat/s; NIA – Region 3,Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Tel No. (044) 766-4839 and 816-8608

8.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 7, 2020 10:00 a.m. at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan, which shall be open to all interested parties.

9.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:30 a.m.

(PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on 10:00 a.m. (PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

10. All particulars relative to the eligibility screening, bid security, performance security, pre-bid conference/s, evaluation of bids, post qualification and award of contracts shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its revised IRR. 11. The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

12. For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat/s; NIA – Region 3, Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Tel No. (044) 766-4839 and 816-8608

(SGD.) VIRGILIO J. ILAO BAC – Chairman

Noted by:

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later that the submission of their bids.

(SGD.) JOSEPHINE B. SALAZAR Regional Manager

(MS-FEB. 3, 2020)

Noted by: (SGD.) JOSEPHINE B. SALAZAR Regional Manager

Republika ng Pilipinas

National Irrigation Administration

(PambansangPangasiwaan ng Patubig) Regional Office No.III

Email Address: niar03@yahoo.com Telefax No. (044) 766-2467 TIN No. 000-979-570-000

(PambansangPangasiwaan ng Patubig) Regional Office No.III

Office Address : Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Telephone Nos. : (044) 766-2467, 766-4839, 816-6808 Website : www.region3.nia.gov.ph

Invitation to Bid Construction of Diversion Works and Canal System of Castillo CIS ITB No. NIAR3-2020-TAR-CASTILLO CIS-5 1.

(MS-FEB. 3, 2020)

Republika ng Pilipinas

National Irrigation Administration

Office Address : Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Telephone Nos. : (044) 766-2467, 766-4839, 816-6808 Website : www.region3.nia.gov.ph

(SGD.) VIRGILIO J. ILAO BAC – Chairman

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3, hereby invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors to bid for the project, through the General Appropriations Act of CY 2020, intends to apply the sum of Ninety Two Million Two Hundred Thirty Four Thousand Three Hundred Nine Pesos and 64/100 (P 92,234,309.64) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the contract for NIAR3-2020-TAR-CASTILLO CIS-5. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Email Address: niar03@yahoo.com Telefax No. (044) 766-2467 TIN No. 000-979-570-000

Invitation to Bid Improvement of Diversion Works, Canal Systems and Various Irrigation Facilities of Dungan CIS, Lilibangan CIS, San Nicolas Balas CIS (BPR) & San Nicolas Balas CIS (APR) ITB No. NIAR3-2020-TAR-DLSN - 8 1.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3, hereby invites all interested PhilGEPS registered contractors to bid for the project, through theGeneral Appropriations Act of CY 2020, intends to apply the sum of Fifty Four Million Eight Hundred Sixty Eight Thousand Five Hundred Forty Three Pesos and 52/100(P 54,868,543.52)being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)for the contract for NIAR3-2020-TAR-CASTILLO CIS-7. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

Bidders must secure Site Inspection Certificate from IMO Office as a technical requirement for Eligibility and Technical Document (Envelop A). Non-compliance will be a ground for disqualification.

3.

Only those who submitted Document Request List (DRL) from PhilGEPS including updated company profile by the owner or its authorized liaison officer, will be accepted to participate in the bidding.

2.

Bidders must secure Site Inspection Certificate from IMO Office as a technical requirement for Eligibility and Technical Document (Envelop A). Non compliance will be a ground for disqualification.

3.

Only who submitted Document Request List (DRL) from PhilGEPS including updated company profile by the owner or its authorized liaison officer, will be accepted to participate in the bidding.

4.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 now invites bids for Construction of Diversion Works and Canal System of Castillo CIS located in Concepcion, Tarlac. Completion of the Works is required within Three Hundred Sixty (360) calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project.

The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

4.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 now invites bids for Improvement of Diversion Works, Canal Systems and Various Irrigation Facilities of Dungan CIS, Lilibangan CIS, San Nicolas Balas CIS (BPR) & San Nicolas Balas CIS (APR), located in Concepcion, Tarlac. Completion of the Works is required within Three Hundred (300) calendar days. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

5.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using nondiscretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

5.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

6.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday to Friday.

6.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday to Friday.

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on January 31, 2020 to February 20, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., Monday to Friday, and February 21, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., except holidays from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P 50,000.00).

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on January 31, 2020 to February 20, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, except and holidays and February 21, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Fifty Five Thousand Pesos (P 55,000.00)

8.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 7, 2020, 10:00 a.m. at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy.

Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later that the submission of their bids.

8.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:30 a.m. (PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy.

Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on February 7, 202010:00 a.m. at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan, which shall be open to all interested parties.

9.

Bid opening shall be on 10:00 a.m. (PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before 9:30 a.m.

(PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on 10:00a.m. (PST) of February 21, 2020 at NIA-R3 Office, Conference Room, Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

10.

All particulars relative to the eligibility screening, bid security, performance security, prebid conference/s, evaluation of bids, post qualification and award of contracts shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its revised IRR.

10. All particulars relative to the eligibility screening, bid security, performance security, pre-bid conference/s, evaluation of bids, post qualification and award of contracts shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its revised IRR.

11.

The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3 reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

11. The NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION – REGION 3reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

12.

For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat/s; NIA – Region 3,Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Tel No. (044) 766-4839 and 816-8608

9.

Noted by: (SGD.) JOSEPHINE B. SALAZAR Regional Manager

12. For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat/s; NIA – Region 3,Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan Tel No. (044) 766-4839 and 816-8608

(SGD.) VIRGILIO J. ILAO BAC – Chairman

(MS-FEB. 3, 2020)

Noted by: (SGD.) JOSEPHINE B. SALAZAR Regional Manager

(SGD.) VIRGILIO J. ILAO BAC – Chairman

(MS-FEB. 3, 2020)

nCoV won’t turn patients into zombies—Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR—The deadly coronavirus will not cause victims to act like zombies, Malaysia’s government said on social media, as officials act to correct the spread of misinformation surrounding the outbreak.

As medical authorities seek to contain the virus, some social media users in Malaysia made a connection between the disease and the walking dead.

Malaysia’s health ministry dismissed the rumor in a tweet, however, saying: “The claim that individuals infected with this virus will behave like zombies is not true... Patients can recover.”

A number of posts in Malaysia on social media have

wrongly claimed the number of deaths or infected people in the country.

Police have arrested six people for spreading misinformation about the virus, a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia statement said.

In the latest arrest, last Thursday, a 28-year-old woman was investigated for “improper use of network facilities.”

If convicted, she can be fined up to 50,000 ringgit or be jailed for a year, or both.

The virus has killed more than 300 people in China and infected thousands. Eight people in Malaysia have been found with the virus—all Chinese nationals. AFP

Finance chief to power co-ops: Pay P59B debt FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has tasked the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to demand payment from 20 Independent Power Producer Administrators (IPPAs) and electric cooperatives that owe the government P59.23 billion as of December 2018.

Most of these accounts have been moved from the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to PSALM in 2001 by virtue of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act Act .

Dominguez said the government would use the funds collected to build more roads and schools.

In a PSALM report to Dominguez, who is chairman of the board of the state-run firm, some IPPAs have overdue accounts worth P28.46 billion.

South Premiere Power Corp., which runs the Ilijan gas-fired power plant in Batangas City, has the biggest debt with PSALM at P19.75 billion.

PSALM earlier terminated this IPPA, “but the termination has been enjoined by the courts,” the Department of Finance said.

Another PSALM debtor is Vivant-Sta. Clara Northern Renewables Generation Corp. (Vivant-Sta. Clara), formerly under Vivant Energy and Sta. Clara Power Corp., at P3.86 billion. It received an IPPA contract for the Bakun Hydroelectric Power Plant in Ilocos Sur. CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Sports

A7

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Ochoa, Lopez talk career at National Sports Summit TWO of the country’s influential female national athletes—Meggie Ochoa and Pauline Lopez are set to share the secrets to their victories at the 2020 National Sports Summit (NSS) to be held at Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on February 27-28.

The 29-year-old Ochoa is a veteran internationalist in jiujitsu who won three world championships titles and also copped the gold medal in the women’s -45kg class at the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019.

Aside from being a champion athlete, Ochoa is also the founder of “Fight to Protect” movement which guards children against sexual abuse through sports.

Recently, Ochoa was named as one of “The 50 Greatest Filipino Athletes of All Time” along with other Filipino greats.

“It is a huge honor and privilege to be able to speak in such a momentous event. I do not feel worthy to speak in such an event, but given this one of a kind opportunity, I will make the most of it and do my best. Overall, I am just grateful.” said Ochoa.

“Most likely I will be speaking about my journey as an athlete. The greatest lesson that sport has taught me is to never forget the reason why you do and what you do, because it will push you through the hardest times.”

On the other hand, Lopez, who is a champion taekwondo athlete in the women’s 57kg class in the 2019 SEA Games, will be with Ochoa to talk about their experiences on how they made marks in Philippine sports.

The two champion athletes will join well-known sports specialists and educators in the two-day lecture-workshops to be facilitated by Dr. T.J. Rosandich, President and CEO of the United States Sports Academy (USSA) who will share his expertise from a First World Perspective.

Dr. Celso Dayrit, Chairman of the Southeast Asian Games Executive Committee will discuss the Philippine Sports and Olympic movement, Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Atty. Revsee Escobedo is set to have a lecture on the status of sports in schools along with Davao del Norte Youth and Sports Development Head Giovanni Gulanes who will discuss their regional sports program.

Adamson advances to UAAP HS hoop finals

San Miguel Beer big man June Mar Fajardo (15) attempts to score from underneath the basket against the Magnolia Hotshots. SMB and Magnolia usher the next PBA season when they clash in the opening game. PBA

Beermen battle Magnolia th to start PBA’s 45 season M

ILAN—Owing to its commitment to the Gilas program, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is adopting the same format it had last year when it ushers its 45th season starting on March 1.

The league’s 2020 playing calendar kicks off with the season-opening Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum where five-time defending champion San Miguel Beer kicks off its title retention bid against Magnolia in the lone game on opening night.

The All-Filipino Cup will last until June to be promptly followed by the Commissioner’s Cup that features imports with a height limit of 6-foot-10.

The season-ending Governors’ Cup then ushers the final conference of the year showcasing imports 6-foot-5 and below and which is expected to again overlap until January of 2021.

PBA Board chairman Ricky Vargas said embracing the same set-up from last season is imperative especially with the league schedule again adjusting to the Gilas Pilipinas campaign in the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers that begins “We’re trying to move from a calendar year to a flexible year,” said Vargas dur-

ing the Board’s annual planning session that concluded on Friday.

“We’re going to extend to January 2021 because this (calendar) will accommodate the window of qualifiers for the FIBA Asia Cup. So we organized it on that basis.”

Format for the Philippine Cup (March 1-June 17) will have the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals, with the top two teams at the end of the eliminations enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage against the eight and seventh seeded teams.

The no. 3 team tangles with no. 6 and no. 4 battles no. 5 in a best-of-three series.

The four teams which survive clash in the best-of-seven semifinals before the two remaining ball clubs figure each other out in the best-of-seven finals.

The same set-up will be used in the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup (June 24-October 4), although the semifinals is going to be a best-of-five, and the finals

a best-of-seven.

The Governors’ Cup (October 11-January 29) meanwhile, will have eight teams again earning a berth in the quarterfinals, where the top four squads own a twiceto-beat advantage against the four other teams in the lower bracket.

The four teams that remain face each other in the best-of-five semis, before the season concludes with a best-of-seven finals.

The league takes a break from July 1012 to hold the annual All-Star game in Passi, Iloilo.

The PBA is also looking to play more provincial games this season as well as another out-of-the country outing.

Five games in the provinces have already been set for the Philippine Cup that include Bataan, Cagayan De Oro, Panabo, Dipolog, and Iloilo.

In light of the success of the doubleheader it played in Dubai last year, the league is again eyeing to hold matches outside of the country, with Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and the USA as among the likely host.

For the third straight season, the PBA won’t be holding games on Christmas Day.

Mighty Sports-Creative Pacific PH makes Dubai history

Renato Balkman holds the championship trophy as he poses with Mikey Williams, Jelan Kendrick and Thirdy Ravena after winning the Dubai championship in Dubai.

MIGHTY Sports-Creative Pacific Philippines made the country proud once again, becoming the first non-Middle Eastern club to win the Dubai International Basketball Championship crown.

In another show of force – not to mention championship class – the PH club came through with a massive third quarter attack to dethrone Al Riyadi of Lebanon, 92-81, in the 31st edition of the prestigious tournament before a wildly-cheering Filipinos fans at the Shabab Al-Ahli Club in the United Arab Emirates.

Chants of “Mighty! Mighty!” reached its highest level when former Ateneo King Eagle Thirdy Ravena strung up five points capped by a booming triple that gave the team backed by Oriental Game, Go for Gold, Discovery Primea and Gatorade a 68-51 bubble late in the third frame.

There was no stopping Mighty SportsCreative from winning its second straight

international tournament from then as the Renaldo Balkman, Andray Blatche and Fil-Am Mikey Willians continued to wreak havoc on the Lebanese club’s defense.

The Charles Tiu-mentored team even hiked its lead to 21 early in the payoff period on the way to a seven-game sweep of the championship which many thought would not be possible after struggling to win two of their four games in the group eliminations.

“It’s great! It’s a great feeling as we made up for a heartbreaking loss in the semis last year. This year it feels nice,” said the boyish-looking young tactician who thanked fans for giving the team the extra boost in battling against taller and beefier rivals.

The title sweep was Mighty Sports’ third since winning Taiwan’s Jones Cup in 2016 and 2019.

Wide open race for women’s Grand Slam tennis titles MELBOURNE, Australia—The last five women’s Grand Slams have now been won by five different players. Good luck trying to predict who triumphs at the French Open.

Sofia Kenin’s three-set victory over Garbine Muguruza in Saturday’s final at the Australian Open underlined just how open the women’s game is.

The young American was seeded 14th in Melbourne and her best performance at a Slam prior to this was reaching the round of 16 at Roland Garros last year.

But here the fiery 21-year-old was, beating world number one and home hope Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals and then defeating two-time Slam champion Muguruza.

A Kenin-Muguruza final was 750-1 with British bookmakers before the tournament.

Kenin’s victory was the last episode in a wildly unpredictable draw in which six of the top-10 women’s seeds, including Serena Williams and holder Naomi Osaka, went out in round three.

Moscow-born Kenin, who will now jump to seventh in the world and above Williams as the top-ranked American, has confidence in bucketfuls.

The unwavering belief that she was destined for the biggest stage in tennis shone through in the past fortnight in Melbourne.

Yet she was reticent when asked if she will be the one who emerges from the pack behind the 38-year-old Williams to win multiple Major titles.

“I would love to, that would be amazing,” said Kenin, glass of champagne in hand after defeating Spain’s Muguruza.

“Right now I still can’t believe what just happened. I need to somehow come down and just let it all sink in.

“Hopefully I can just keep going, build up on everything that I’ve done these past two weeks, just move forward.”

There is a marked contrast between men’s and women’s tennis.

Last year’s Grand Slam titles in the women’s game were won by Osaka (Australian Open), Barty (French Open), Simona Halep (Wimbledon) and Bianca Andreescu (US Open).

Yet in the men’s game Novak Djokovic triumphed at last year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon, and Rafael Nadal won the French and US Opens.

Those two, along with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, have reigned over men’s tennis for the best part of two decades.

The 33-year-old Spaniard Nadal will once more be hot favorite at the French Open in May-June, having won the crown there a remarkable 12 times. AFP

Sofia Kenin of the US kisses the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after winning against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in their women’s singles final match on day thirteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. AFP

ADAMSON University made history after securing a spot in the inaugural UAAP High School Girls Basketball Finals, after scoring an 80-70 wire-to-wire win over De La Salle-Zobel, Saturday at Paco Arena.

With a 4-0 slate, the Baby Lady Falcons punched their ticket to the finale.

The duo of Crisnalyn Padilla and Katrina Agojo once again led the Soaring Falcons with the former finishing with a game-high 26 points to go along with five steals, four rebounds, and four assists while the latter tallying 15 points, eight rebounds, four steals and an assist.

Adamson held a double-digit lead for most of the game, leading by as much as 20 points, 75-55, after an Agojo jumper with 2:13 left.

“Siyempre, nakakatuwa na maging part ng history na Adamson ang pinakaunang team sa kasaysayan ng UAAP na maglalaro sa Finals nito,” said Adamson head coach Ewon Arayi. “Maganda ito para sa school at para sa women’s basketball.”

Besides Padillo and Agojo, Joan Camagong also delivered, finishing with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Abigail Amdad led Adamson’s bench with 12 points and 19 rebounds.

Luisa Dela Paz paced DLSZ, who fell to 1-3, with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Achrissa Maw and Jeehan Ahmed also finished with double-doubles, 14 points and 13 rebounds for the former and 13 points and 11 boards for Ahmed.

In the first game, University of Santo Tomas completed their sweep of Ateneo with an 80-point whitewash, 108-28.

Notching their third win, the Junior Growling Tigresses secured at least a playoff for the other Finals berth.

Bridgette Santos flirted with a rare quadruple-double but came up a rebound short of achieving the feat.

The forward scattered 18 points, 13 assists, 12 steals, and nine rebounds.

Five other UST student-cagers ended in double-digits with Erika Danganan, Rachel Lacayanga, and Chille Serrano getting 14 markers each. Jane Araza and Jazly Estudillo added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Maxine Almeda paced the Lady Eaglets for the second straight game with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Ateneo remained winless in four outings.

The day’s winners collide on Saturday, February 8, with UST aiming to follow Adamson to the Finals in their battle scheduled at 9 a.m. La Salle, on the other hand, will shoot for its second win against Ateneo in the following game of that day at 11 a.m.

GM Laylo rules Hong Bao tilt FILIPINO Grandmaster (GM) Darwin Laylo recently won the Hong Bao Rating Tournament 2020 (Open division), at the Singapore Chess Federation Conference Room in Bishan, Singapore last weekend.

Laylo, one of the top players of multititled Philippine Army chess team playing under the banner of Usec Lieutenant General, AFP (Ret.) Arthur Tabaquero (AFP Presidential Adviser on Military Affairs) and Col. Dexter Macasaet (Director, SSC, IMCOM, PA) and National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman/president Rep. Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. won with 5.5 points, earning a 500 Singapore dollar cash prize.

Laylo’s big wins were against compatriots Fide Master Arlan Cabe in the fourth round and Arena Grandmaster Almario Marlon Quiroz Bernardino Jr. in the sixth and final round.

Laylo split the point with another Pinoy Grandmaster Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor, playing for the Singapore flag in the fifth and penultimate round.

Fide Master Andrean Susilodinata of Indonesia, who yielded to Bernardino in the penultimate round upset GM Villamayor in the last round to catches up Cabe in the second to third places with 5.0 points apiece.

With a better tie break points, Susilodinata took the runner-up purse of 300 singapore dollar while Cabe pocketed the third prize worth 200 singapore dollar.

Villamayor and Bernardino wound-up with 4.5 points apiece completed the top five list for 100 singapore dollar each.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) shoots the ball during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. AFP

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

sports@manilastandard.net

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

A8

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

PH OCR team faces tougher competitions

By Peter Atencio TRAINING for more challenging competitions continues for the Philippine national obstacles course racing (OCR) team, which collected 10 medals in the recent 30th Southeast Asian Games.

And they will be preparing for a lot of competitions this year, which includes the “aminoVITAL® Sports Series.”

“I personally like challenging myself to be better every day…I may not be the strongest athlete, but I am one of the those who works the hardest.” aminoVITAL® is one with the OCR community in inspiring and encouraging people to get out of their comfort zones and give them the push needed to really make it too the next level,” said team skipper Glorien Merisco.

Merisco talked about their next activities recently during a launch held at the Pretty Huge Obstacles facilities in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The national team was able to get gold medals, three silvers and a bronze during the biennial meet.

The launch was backed by Ajinomoto Philippines Corporation (APC), which kicked off its “aminoVITAL® Sports Series,” which will be held later this year.

With its support, Ajinomoto aims to promote different sports activities and active lifestyle among Filipinos through the Sports Series which will highlight endurance sports.

During the SEA Games, Mervin Guarte led the Philippines’ campaign when he clocked 25 minutes and 31 seconds and compatriot Mohammad Sherwin Managil clocked 26:26 for a 1-2 finish in the men’s individual 5Kx20 event.

The Philippines also had a 1-2 finish in the women’s side, with Sandi Menchi Abahan winning 33:30 and Merisco clocking 40 minutes for the silver.

Malaysian Mohd Pittli Mohd Saddan settled for the bronze in the men’s division in 28:02 while Sorvimane Khamla of Laos clinched third spot in the women’s category in 55:27.

NS-NU Bullpups rout Jr. Maroons STEVE Enriquez and Terrence Fortea showed the way for the Nazareth School-National University Bullpups as they routed the University of the Philippines Integrated School Junior Maroons, 113-76, yesterday at the FilOilFlying V Sports Center in San Juan.

Their big games allowed the Bullpups to post their 13th straight win in the 82nd University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) junior basketball tournament.

The Bullpups, with Enriquez and Fortea making 17 points apiece, are now a win away from a 14-game sweep of the elimination round, and an outright finals berth.

They have already secured the top two seeding with the Far Eastern University Baby Tamaraws.

Earlier, the Adamson Baby Falcons stayed in contention for the last two Final Four slots with their 124-68 demolition of the University of the East Junior Warriors.

John Erolon banged in 27 points for the Baby Falcons, who hiked their winloss slate to 7-6.

Enriquez, who also had five rebounds, sank two charities in the last 1:44 handed the Bullpups a 109-74 spread.

Fortea, one of the team’s top gunners, last struck in the final 8:33 of the game, giving the Bullpups their biggest edge at 31, 90-59, and he was subbed afterwards.

Gerry Abadiano delivered 12 points for the Bullpups, and he left the court in the third period, moments after he assisted Reyland Torres to a basket, 7956. Peter Atencio

Sports Lakers depose Kings, 129-113 L

OS ANGELES, United States—Anthony Davis scored a team-high 21 points as the Los Angeles Lakers put the emotions of their Kobe Bryant tribute night behind them with a 129-113 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday (Sunday Philippine time).

The Lakers won their first game since Bryant died in a horrific helicopter crash after losing 127-119 Friday to Portland on a night when they paid tribute to the former NBA legend.

“We got our first win,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. “It is never going to feel normal. It is never going to feel the same.

“That is our first win since this happened. There are going to be a lot of important steps for us along the way.”

LeBron James had a triple-double of 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and Avery Bradley scored 16 of his 19 points in the first 12 minutes as the Lakers racked up 81 points in the first half.

Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown scored 32 points as the Boston Celtics won their sixth game in the last seven with a 11695 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jayson Tatum tallied 25 points, Marcus Smart had 16 points, and Brad Wanamaker chipped in 15 as the Celtics avoided a season sweep by Philadelphia.

Boston played without injured leading scorer Kemba Walker, who has a sore left knee.

Ben Simmons led the 76ers with 23 points, and Joel Embiid was held to 11 on a dismal one-of-11 shooting.

Philadelphia was done in by poor shooting. They attempted 33 shots from three-point range but made just seven.

The 76ers had beaten the Celtics in their first three meetings this season, including December 12 at the Boston Garden.

Elsewhere, Kawhi Leonard scored at least 30 points for the ninth straight contest as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-106.

Leonard, who also had six rebounds, needed just 24 minutes of playing time to score 31 points.

Paul George, playing in his second contest after missing nine games because of a left hamstring strain, had 21 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes.

Lou Williams added 17 points, Montrezl Harrell contributed 16 points and six rebounds, and Patrick Beverley finished with 12 points and five rebounds in the win.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who lost their 11th straight game.

Andrew Wiggins, limited with foul trouble in the first half, had only 13 points on four-of-11 shooting.

Josh Okogie had 13 points, while Rob-

Kansas City Chiefs battle 49ers in Super Bowl Fil-Am Nelson MIAMI, United States—The Kansas City Chiefs chase their first Super Bowl title in 50 years on Sunday (Monday Philippine time) when they face the San Francisco 49ers in a championship clash poised to usher in a new era for the NFL. Around 100 million Americans are expected to tune in for the biggest event on the US sporting calendar, which kicks off at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium at 6.30pm (2330 GMT).

The eagerly anticipated showdown could mark a changing of the guard for the NFL’s quarterback hierarchy as the curtain comes down on the league’s 100th season.

With Tom Brady and the New England Patriots failing to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 2016, the stage is set for the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes to crown his emergence as the best quarterback in the league.

The gifted 24-year-old Texan could become the second-youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl if he leads the Chiefs to victory in only his second full season as a starter.

Mahomes, who became only the second quarterback in history to amass 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns in a season in 2018, has cut a relaxed figure during this week’s build-up.

“I’m going to go out there and try and have fun and play the way I’ve played all season long,” Mahomes said earlier this week.

True to form, Mahomes and his team-

Patrick Mahomes (15) of the Kansas City Chiefs looks on in the second half against the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. AFP

mates laughed and joked their way through a final practice session on Saturday under the watchful eye of veteran head coach Andy Reid.

“They’re loose, to a point,” Reid said of his team. “They know the job at hand

against a real good football team, but at the same time, we try to let our personalities show.

“That has been an emphasis, and I don’t expect them to stop doing that now.”

Attempting to frustrate Mahomes and the Chiefs are a 49ers unit chasing a record-equaling sixth Super Bowl.

Led by the 28-year-old quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo – who won two Super Bowl rings during his stint as a back-up to Brady in New England – the 49ers boast a fearsome defense which will attempt to knock Mahomes out of his stride.

Garoppolo has an array of weapons at his disposal.

Against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game, the 49ers blew away their opponents with a fearsome ground game that saw running back Raheem Mostert rush for four touchdowns and more than 200 yards.

On the defensive side, the 49ers boast a fearsome pass rush led by Nick Bosa, who was given a pre-Super Bowl fillip on Saturday after being named rookie of the year at the NFL’s annual awards.

The 49ers are also bound to have a few offensive tricks up their sleeve as they prepare under the guidance of head coach Kyle Shanahan, one of the most innovative minds in the NFL. “We’re as ready as we can be,” Shanahan said on Saturday. “We just need the game to get here. It has been two weeks of (practice), and we are itching to go.” AFP

UST takes early lead in UAAP Season 82 HS Beach Volleyball tourney UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas took the solo lead in the girls and boys squad after posting 3-0 records in the UAAP Season 82 High School Beach Volleyball Tournament Sunday at Sands SM By The Bay. Vanessa Bangayan and Jullana Carreon of the Junior Tigresses topped University of the East’s Chris Ann Susbilla and Dea Villamor, 19-21, 21-7, 15-7, and Ateneo’s Celina Vergeire and Ady Lasala, 21-15, 21-16, to stay perfect in the season.

UST’s Jay Rack Dela Noche and Alexan-

ert Covington chipped in 12 points. Shabazz Napier had 11 points.

Also, Draymond Green equaled his career best with 16 assists as the Golden State Warriors surprised the Cleveland Cavaliers 131-112.

Green dished out a half dozen assists during a 44 point scoring blitz by the Warriors, who shot 10-for-16 on threepointers in their third-quarter surge.

The Warriors started the quarter with a slim two-point halftime lead and ended it with a commanding 105-78 margin.

In Washington, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving sprained his right knee in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 113-107 loss to the Washington Wizards.

Irving—who will have an MRI on Sunday to determine the extent of the damage—became tangled with Bradley Beal in a tussle for the ball before Beal fell awkwardly on the outside of his right leg.

Irving finished with 11 points, his lowest mark in a game this season, as the Wizards rallied for the win. AFP

der Iraya are also undefeated in the boys’ side following a 21-14, 21-11 win over Ateneo’s Giulian San Juan and Mikka Mendoza.

Nazareth School of National University opened its girls’ campaign with two straight victories to make a statement on its title aspirations.

Kathrina Epa and Chantal Rodriguez scored a 21-14, 21-15 win over Far Eastern University-Diliman’s Nikka Medina and Alexandra Juangco before returning in the afternoon with a 21-8, 21-18 romp of

Adamson University’s Mary Grace Borromeo and Ayesha Juegos.

De La Salle-Zobel’s Aira Jaboneta and Gerzel Petallo fashioned out a 22-20, 1821, 15-12 win over UE’s Susbilla and Villamor. The Junior Lady Spikers rose to 1-1 along with the Baby Tamaraws.

The Baby Falcons, who fell in a tie with the Junior Warriors at 1-2, didn’t come home empty-handed as they prevailed over the Eaglets, 21-13, 21-11, in the girls’ morning session.

In other boys’ matches, FEU’s Jelord Talisayan and Carl Cabatac rediscovered its winning form by outlasting De La Salle-Zobel’s Andre Espejo and John Lituania, 23-21, 19-21, 15-10, while Adamson University’s Jefferson Marapol and Evander Novillo recorded a quick 21-11, 21-6 victory over UP Integrated School’s Brett Borja and Miguel Castro.

The Baby Tamaraws and the Baby Falcons improved to 2-1 to force a three-way tie in second place along with the Blue Eaglets.

resets women’s indoor mark FIL-American Zion Corrales-Nelson set another Philippine record, this time at the New Mexico Indoor Team Invitational in Albuquerque.

The 21-year-old Corrales-Nelson clocked 24.34 seconds in her heat of the women’s 200-meter dash, breaking the national mark set by Princess Griffey 11 years ago.

Griffey clocked 24.33 seconds at a dual meet in the United States back in 2009.

This is the third record that CorralesNelson has broken in the last two years.

Last year, she was the first of two sprinters in 2019 to break Lydia de Vega-Mercado’s 33-year national record (23.65 seconds).

That was when Corrales-Nelson set a 23.16-second Philippine record in the US NCAA West Preliminary meet in Sacramento, California last May 25, 2019.

Josephine Anokye of Arizona State, who was first in her heat, took overall first place in 23.61 seconds, with Kreet Verlin of Washington in second (24 seconds), followed in third by Ayla Stanisclaus of New Mexico (24.11 seconds).

Corrales-Nelson’s feat came as she tried to reach the Olympic qualifying standards in the 60-meter and the 400-meter events.

Corrales-Nelson clocked 58.45 seconds in the 400-meter preliminaries to place fourth in her heat, and 11th overall.

Her performance was far from the Philippine mark of Kayla Richardson, which is at 54.94 seconds.

She placed fourth in her heat, and 11th overall in the final tally, with Karoline Sauer of New Mexico winning the gold in 54.83 seconds.

In the 60-meter run, Corrales-Nelson placed second overall with a time of 7.54 seconds, and with Stanisclaus topping it in 7.43 seconds.

She is far from the 7.37 second national mark of de Vega-Mercado. Peter Atencio

IN BRIEF

Clark’s CEO bares record performance

THE Clark Freeport remains one of the premier investment hubs in the country as Clark Development Corp. cited an all-time high economic performance in the past three consecutive years under the Duterte administration.

CDC president and chief executive officer Noel Manankil said economic indicators at the Freeport registered record-breaking levels in a span of three years since CDC’S inception in 1993.

Total revenues of CDC peaked to P6.08 billion, or 29 percent of the total in its 25 years of existence.

Significant growth was also posted in the net income of CDC at P3.17 billion, or 51-percent of the entire profit of the stateowned firm from 1993 to 2018. This exceeded the combined earnings of CDC in the past 22 years (1993 to 2015) of P3.01 billion.

With the upturn of investments in Clark, CDC is expected to have a 58-percent growth in net income in the next five years (2020-2024).

Some of the top revenue contributors include Widus International Leisure Inc., Filinvest Mimosa Inc., Eight Integrated Development Corp., Eaglesky Technology and Amusement Corp., Yokohama Tire Philippines Inc., L&T International Inc., Premier Central, Inc. and Puregold Duty-Free Inc.

China pledges P7.2m for Taal disaster relief

CHINA has pledged a 1-million renminbi (P7.2 million) cash donation to the Philippine government to assist in the ongoing disaster relief efforts for the displaced residents in Luzon following the Jan. 12 eruption of Taal Volcano, the Department of Finance said over the weekend.

In a diplomatic correspondence sent to the DoF, China, through its embassy in Manila, said it “is looking forward to handing over the... donation as soon as possible.”

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III thanked the Chinese embassy for the donation, which he said “would be of great help to the government’s ongoing efforts to assist the Taal evacuees.”

“We thank the People’s Republic of China for its donation, which is just one of the many it has provided to the Philippines to help victims of calamities. This concrete expression of sympathy and support to our countrymen further strengthens our bilateral ties and reflects the warm relations between our two countries,“ Dominguez said in a statement. Julito G. Rada

Business PH set to sustain faster economic growth—DOF T

By Julito G. Rada

HE Department of Finance said faster economic growth will be sustained in the coming months due to prevailing strong economic fundamentals of the Philippines.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said in a statement over the weekend the pickup in growth in the fourth quarter of 2019 of 6.4 percent, resulting in part from the government’s catch-up spending following anemic expansion in the year’s first semester, would gain speed in 2020.

He sees the domestic economy firing on all cylinders as a result of even more vigorous investments in infrastructure and human capital development for the entire year ahead.

With the timely approval of the 2020 General Appropriations Act and the extended validity of the 2019 GAA till end-2020, Dominguez expects “a double-barreled boost enough to sustain— and even crank up the level of catchup spending that the economic team...

carried out in the remaining half of last year... ” President Rodrigo Duterte approved the P3.7-trillion budget for 2019 only in April, after months of impasse between the two houses of Congress. As a result, economic growth in 2019 slowed to an eight-year low of 5.9 percent and missed the target range of 6 percent to 6.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil Beltran said three forecasters accurately predicted the 6.4-percent gross domestic product expansion in the fourth quarter. The DoF has been analyzing the quarterly growth projections by 20 private sector experts.

Beltran said the analysts were Alex Holmes of Capital Economics, Emilio

Neri Jr. of Bank of Philippine Islands and Ruben Carlo Asuncion of Union Bank of the Philippines.”

“These three analysts got the Q4 2019 GDP growth exactly right, so it follows that their full-year estimates will also be correct because GDP growth figures from the first three quarters were already reported by the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority),” Beltran.

In addition, he said that three more analysts made forecasts that were close enough to the official estimate to make their 2019 full-year estimates of 5.9 percent correct.

“These are Jefferson Arapoc of the University of the Philippines, Romeo Bernardo of GlobalSource Partners, and Alvin Ang of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development,” Beltran added.

The DOF analyzed the growth forecasts of 20 analysts from institutions that regularly release their estimates through the media.

The latest forecasts came as the country remained among the fastest-growing major economies in Asia.

PayMaya teams up with 3 supermarkets

PAYMAYA Philippines Inc. has teamed up with the country’s three biggest supermarkets to accept cashless payments in their stores nationwide.

Landers, Rustans Supermarket and Shopwise join the growing list of PayMaya QRenabled supermarkets, on top of an already expansive set of grocery partners that include Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Easymart, Robinsons Selections, Shopwise, Super8, Wellcome, LCC Supermarket, Metro Gaisano, Citimart Supermarket, WalterMart Supermarket, Budget Mart, South Emerald Supermarket and Prince Hypermart.

“We see the strong shift of consumers towards the use of digital payments when shopping for groceries. Our partner merchants are able to address this demand by offering PayMaya QR and other digital payment options,” said PayMaya president Shailesh Baidwan.

The latest data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from the study conducted by the United Nations-based Better Than Cash Alliance showed encouraging signs of growth for digital payments in the Philippines. Darwin G. Amojelar

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

B1

Vivant plans 1,000 MW of power output in 10 years

By Alena Mae S. Flores VIVANT Energy Corp. plans to put up 1,000 megawatts of power capacity by 2030, company officials said over the weekend.

“We’re looking at by 2030, 1,000 MW, of which 30 percent is in RE (renewable energy) sector... Of course, we revisit these targets every couple of years,” said Vivant Energy executive vice president and chief operating officer Emil Garcia.

Vivant Energy is the energy unit of listed Vivant Corp., which has a diversified portfolio in power generation and distribution, and retail electricity supply.

Vivant Energy plans to double its capacity in the medium-term to 500 MW by 2023, with 20 percent coming from RE. “In our planning session, we would like to have at least additional... 500 MW by 2023 and one thing that is key there is... we want 20% from renewables sector. … We’re quite heavy on coal, bunker, so we want to make that conscious shift to RE-centric projects. We know there’s still a place for conventional but we want to have the proper mix,” Garcia said.

He said the company was looking at wind and solar for its RE porfolio.

“We’ll try to work with coops, utilities, even contestable (market)... We have some on grid and we’re looking at one off grid as well,” he said.

The company will start construction of a 23-MW project in Bantayan Island in Cebu and has lined up other projects in Palawan, Marinduque and other areas The official said the company was also open to partnerships and acquisitions.

He said the expansion plans involved not only Visayas where the company has a strong presence but also other areas around the country.

“We already have presence in other parts of the country. We’re developing a coal plant in La Union together with Global Power. We’re developing a wind lot in Eastern Visayas as well, with a wind partner,” Garcia said.

Vivant Energy plans break ground on the wind project by the first half of next year.

“We’re doing the proper sizing right now, so it’s around 80 MW to 100 MW, but it looks like it’s close to 80 MW to 85 MW,” he said.

Shem Jose Garcia, assistant vice president of parent Vivant Corp., said the company was “optimistic about the new partnership” on the wind project.

San Miguel vows to cooperate with anti-trust agency

COURTESY CALL. The 2020 Board of Trustees of the Chamber of Thrift Banks CTB pays a courtesy call on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno (seated center). The visit is in line with the 2020 CTB National Convention slated on March 13, 2020 at the Dusit Thani Manila, with the theme “Thrift Banking in the New Decade,” where Diokno is the keynote speaker. With Diokno are (seated, from left) CTB secretary Maria Cristina Go (BPI Family Savings Bank); Monetary Board Member Antonio Abacan Jr.; auditor Mary Jane Perreras (CARD SME Bank); president Cecilio San Pedro (Sterling Bank of Asia); past president Ambassador Alfredo Yao (Philippine Business Bank); executive director Suzanne Felix; BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier and trustee Maria Consorcia Tamayo (University Savings Bank).

By Jenniffer B. Austria

Batangas Land closure aimed at ending Chevron’s 44-year lease deal

DIVERSIFIED conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said it will continue to work with anti-trust body Philippine Competition Commission to obtain a favorable decision on its planned acquisition of the assets of Holcim Philippines Inc. “We are aware of the concerns raised by the Philippine Competition Commission on the company’s proposed acquisition of Holcim Philippines, and are committed to achieving a favorable outcome of the review process,” San Miguel said in a statement over the weekend.

“We firmly believe that the acquisition of Holcim by San Miguel Corporation, a Filipino company, will be beneficial to consumers, the industry, and our country’s development,” it added.

The PCC on Friday issued a statement saying its Mergers and Acquisitions Office had flagged competition concerns in San Miguel’s proposed takeover of Holcim, citing monopoly, increased market power and a potential collusion arising from the merger.

The MAO in a review said the buyout

by San Miguel through unit First Stronghold Cement Industries Inc. would result in a substantial lessening of competition in the market for grey cement in four key areas in the Philippines, namely Central Luzon, Northwest Luzon, Northeast Luzon and Greater Metro Manila.

Holcim manufactures and distributes cement through its eight facilities in the Philippines.

San Miguel, through parent Top Frontier Investments Holdings Inc., has two cement plants that are scheduled to start commercial operations within the next two years.

The family of San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang also owns Eagle Cement, which has a facility in Bulacan and is in the process of completing a new plant in Cebu.

THE Finance Department said the decision of National Development Co. to close down one of its subsidiaries―Batangas Land Company Inc.― was aimed to end a 44-year-old contract that has proven to be onerous and grossly disadvantageous to both the government and Filipino taxpayers.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said the lease contract between BLCI and Chevron Philippines Inc. (formerly Caltex Philippines Inc.) contained onerous terms.

One condition allowed Chevron to use a 1.2-million square meter gov-

ernment industrial park in San Pascual, Batangas for a measly rental fee of P0.74 per sq. m. a month compared with the current rental value of the property of P17.90 per sq. m. monthly based on appraisal reports.

“This (dissolving BLCI) would allow the government to explore all options in order to exercise its ownership and rights over this prime lot and other real estate properties occupied

by Chevron, which are strategically located for the country’s future energy projects,” Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino II said in a state-

PSALM stops collecting universal rate STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. announced over the weekend it will cease collecting P0.0543 per kilowatt-hour from consumers under the universal charge for stranded contract costs effective February.

PSALM said the move “is a relief to power consumers all over the country.”

This will translate into a reduction of P5.43 for every 100 kWh of monthly electricity consumption.

“PSALM’s authority to collect this particular UC-SCC amounting to P0.0543 per kwh is hinged on fully recovering the amount of P5,117,060,647.80, which was the specific amount that was approved by the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission),” PSALM president Irene Garcia said.

Garcia said PSALM ‘s calculations showed that once it collected the UC-

SCC in the January billings, the agency would be able to recover the amount “and so therefore we need to cease collecting the UC-SCC amounting to 5.43 cents per kwh.”

“This is consistent with the specific ERC decision that had approved this particular UC-SCC amounting to P0.0543.

Thus, last Thursday, we instructed the collecting entities to stop including the UC-SCC of P0.0543 per kWh starting the February billings,” Garcia said.

PSALM said it started advising electricity distribution and collecting utilities to terminate the implementation of the UC-SCC. The April 10, 2019 decision of the ERC allowed PSALM to recover over P5 billion through the UC-SCC. PSALM said the total amount should have been fully recovered in the January 2020 billing period.Alena Mae S. Flores

ment over the weekend.

Lambino said should the government decide in the future to bid out the lease contract on the Batangas property, it would do so in a transparent manner and on terms advancing the public interest.

“As pointed out by Secretary Dominguez, we want to get the best deal for the government and our people, instead of our taxpayers, in effect, subsidizing a corporate giant by allowing the continuation of a lopsided contract that has enabled it to pay only 4 percent of the current monthly market rental estimate for this 120-hectare

SUN LIFE CAMPAIGN. Sun

Life Asset Management Company Inc. brings back its highly successful investor education campaign, dubbed “Make It Mutual,” in a bid to encourage more Filipinos to make mutual funds their choice of investment, as they strive to achieve their financial goals. At the launching of the campaign are (from left) Gerald Bautista, head of agency, bank and alternative channels of Sun Life; Matteo Guidicelli, brand ambassador of Sun Life; Valerie Pama, president of Sun Life; and Mylene Copa, chief marketing and client officer, Sun Life of Canada Philippines Inc.

property in Batangas,” Lambino said.

Dominguez, an NDC board member, stressed last month that the government should have exercised its rights over the Batangas property as early as 1975, but Chevron was able to obtain preferential treatment to continue occupying and using state properties under the then-Marcos administration.

The rental fee of P0.74 per sq. m. a month, which amounts to just P10.66 million per year for the 120-hectare industrial park, is the rate that Chevron has been paying to the government since 2010. Julito G. Rada

B2

Business

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stock market poised to fall further

By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

TOCK market analysts expect trading this week to continue a downward trend on worries the outbreak of Chinese coronavirus would slow economic growth.

BDO Unibank Inc chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the market could move toward the 7,000-point level after the coronavirus made a dent on investor confidence.

Analysts said sentiments over the short term period would mainly revolve around concenrs on the rapid spread of the virus as the World Health Organization last week declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index last week plunged 5.5 percent to 7,200.79, while the broader All Shares Index declined slumped 5.1 percent to close at 4,292.21. The Philippine government over the weekend confirmed the first death outside China from the coronavirus.

“As the number of infections, possible infections and death due to the 2019 novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) mount, share prices continued (their) slide,” said Justino Calaycay, research head of Philstocks Financial Inc. All major sub-indices ended in red, led by industrial which dropped 8.3 percent, holding firms which fell 6.1 percent, and financials which declined 4.7 percent.

The services index dropped 4.5 percent, while mining and oil and property dipped 3.8 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.

The PSEi year-to-date is down 8.2 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for

the week by P3 billion, while the average daily value traded stood at P5.4 billion from the previous week’s average of P6.6 billion.

Weekly top price gainers were Manila Water Co Inc., which rose 12.2 percent to P12.16, Union Bank of the Philippines, which climbed 6.2 percent to P63.50, and Ayala Land Inc., which added 0.5 percent to P41.60.

Weekly top price losers were MacroAsia Corp., which fell 25 percent to P9.12, Manila Electric Co., which tumbled 15.3 percent to P256, and Cebu Air Inc., which dipped 10.5 percent to P75.

Meanwhile, stocks struggled worldwide on Friday with most indices ending sharply lower amid mounting worries the coronavirus outbreak will dent global economic growth.

The Dow slid more than two percent losing more than 600 points in its worst session since August as the three largest

US carriers halted all service to China.

Just after markets closed, US authorities declared a public health emergency, and starting Sunday will ban entry into the country of any foreign national who has traveled to China in the past two weeks, while quarantining Americans who have made the trip.

Major European markets slid more than one percent, including London, where equities were weakened by a stronger pound in the final session before Britain was due to leave the European Union.

Asian equity markets also were gripped by virus fears in a volatile end to the week, although Japan’s Nikkei finished higher.

“Unless a cure is found, this could push a fragile world economic recovery into reverse,” warned Douglas McWilliams, deputy chairman at British research group the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). With AFP

Manila Standard BuSineSS Weekly StockS revieW STOCKS

JANUARY 27-31, 2020 Close Volume

Value

JANUARY 20-24, 2020 Close Volume Value

Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI Bright Kindle Resources China Bank Citystate Savings COL Financial Eastwest Bank Ferronoux Holding I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

52.15 148.00 82.50 0.87 25.1 8.48 18.46 11.2 4.12 1.19 850.50 0.390 57.35 0.77 12 20.80 31.80 53.4 177.9 20 177 1830.00 63.50 1.03

30,120 9,762,850 9,443,430 269,000 2,136,600 100 62,500 1,433,800 606,000 24,000 30 3,830,000 14,267,700 936,000 224,800 22,000 2,428,000 61,400 2,240 174,300 2,050,290 1,225 347,930 10,000

FINANCIAL 1,566,258.00 1,477,174,655.00 784,383,444.00 236,000.00 53,585,120.00 848.00 1,153,954.00 16,847,420.00 2,573,420.00 28,120.00 25,710.00 1,530,350.00 873,863,262.00 732,390.00 2,697,600.00 453,140.00 79,509,805.00 3,543,796.00 392,162.00 3,798,075.00 374,370,491.00 2,263,685.00 21,728,892.00 10,300.00

53.5 156.00 82.25 0.88 25.1 8.49 18.46 12.1 4.15 1.18 850.00 42.000 64.55 0.85 12 20.50 31.20 59.2 172 22 190 1855.00 59.80 1.03

6,280 7,500,560 11,900,630 45,000 566,000 700 112,700 1,292,500 344,000 151,000 1,260 30,000,000 13,698,990 552,000 134,700 22,000 2,799,300 51,900 19,280 133,300 1,124,520 545 46,420 712,000

334,786.00 1,155,110,515.00 982,303,696.50 40,040.00 14,169,530.00 5,213.00 2,077,432.00 15,551,594.00 1,395,990.00 173,240.00 1,104,000.00 13,381,500.00 882,726,499.50 467,830.00 1,621,984.00 451,000.00 87,218,930.00 3,046,150.50 3,377,607.00 2,959,045.00 209,443,157.00 1,028,405.00 2,723,975.00 739,850.00

Aboitiz Power Corp.

AC Energy Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons.

Axelum Basic Energy Corp.

Bogo Medelin C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Conc. Aggr. ‘B’ Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Eagle Cement EEI Emperador Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp.

First Holdings ‘A’ Fruitas Holdings Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Greenergy Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp.

Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Macay Holdings Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Petron Corporation Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Pilipinas Shell Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas and Co. Roxas Holdings SFA Semicon Shakeys Pizza SMC Food and Beverage SPC Power Corp.

Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp.

Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp.

Vivant Corp.

Vulcan Ind’l.

32.35 1.98 12.04 0.51 1.2 3.05 0.220 100.9 17.72 1.42 15 165 8.9 61.3 64 30.6 2.15 5.39 4.93 8.800 12.7 8.40 7.22 2.41 20.3 66.65 1.64 37.00 1.9400 12.70 7.01 1.180 191.20 42.00 4.94 3.05 7.19 12.16 10 14.6 256.00 5.29 1.85 4.09 3.62 9.80 9.94 11.90 29.95 4.7 5.02 1.65 1.6 1 9.46 72.9 9.21 0.121 0.91 145 2.54 1.17 14.06 0.91

4,452,500 14,614,000 5,803,300 5,177,000 2,269,000 28,444,000 29,570,000 110 4,200 80,563,000 2,921,800 40 24,235,000 3,200 6,560 1,100 216,000 126,800 702,900 4,993,800 554,000 431,300 13,133,500 7,184,000 6,389,500 611,280 210,864,000 165,000 23,661,000 883,500 1,815,600 1,773,000 2,790,580 5,300 24,000 62,000 33,800 80,948,600 505,100 6,840,400 1,500,600 8,000 768,000 66,000 7,026,000 36,300 136,500 188,500 1,218,200 227,000 143,200 1,743,000 188,000 17,617,000 1,756,400 858,470 1,248,500 2,620,000 1,094,000 5,686,080 51,000 40,252,000 1,100 26,261,000

INDUSTRIAL 145,150,105.00 30,013,640.00 69,751,322.00 2,813,460.00 2,730,440.00 93,195,480.00 7,020,550.00 9,844.00 70,212.00 124,576,150.00 43,875,932.00 6,600.00 245,913,191.00 198,016.00 432,953.00 34,795.00 463,730.00 638,525.00 3,556,974.00 44,607,988.00 6,948,764.00 3,775,142.00 94,833,785.00 15,697,810.00 134,808,585.00 40,712,348.00 357,235,890.00 6,092,260.00 46,973,950.00 11,235,748.00 13,251,021.00 2,222,530.00 415,449,198.00 222,450.00 117,960.00 193,700.00 235,177.00 891,586,324.00 5,367,466.00 101,619,844.00 414,427,938.00 39,090.00 1,406,660.00 267,510.00 26,842,600.00 351,604.00 1,334,432.00 2,225,058.00 37,133,830.00 1,071,190.00 726,366.00 2,927,680.00 302,380.00 20,617,560.00 16,711,640.00 63,100,503.00 11,555,542.00 306,600.00 1,059,080.00 869,357,560.00 124,650.00 58,049,200.00 15,730.00 26,299,720.00

33.3 2.15 12.02 0.59 1.23 3.6 0.232 101.2 17.98 1.64 15.36 169 11.48 62.5 67 30.6 2.17 5.46 5 8.880 13.6 9.09 7.23 1.69 21.2 66.4 1.83 37.25 1.9900 12.90 7.74 1.300 217.00 42.00 4.9 3.18 6.89 10.4 11 15 302.40 5.37 1.85 4.15 4.00 9.95 10.00 11.96 31.5 4.7 5.24 1.76 1.76 1.25 9.5 78 9.1 0.120 1.02 162 2.56 1.3 15.10 0.99

5,671,600 40,409,000 5,108,200 16,043,000 125,000 57,466,000 6,660,000 210 600 142,828,000 2,619,000 200 73,958,500 1,940 1,850 193,300 442,000 24,900 21,600 3,361,100 2,587,300 371,200 5,610,100 16,000 6,864,700 186,960 231,455,000 830,800 34,672,000 3,534,400 1,708,500 3,861,000 1,778,960 8,100 70,000 233,000 52,800 77,323,600 386,400 7,829,100 1,160,650 96,100 1,747,000 9,000 7,314,000 21,300 217,700 191,000 1,529,700 404,000 147,000 2,700,000 458,000 49,188,000 2,514,300 1,726,240 720,900 2,410,000 2,550,000 5,529,770 6,000 89,761,000 2,400 11,136,000

185,554,055.00 87,489,540.00 62,227,576.00 8,831,330.00 153,190.00 192,749,410.00 1,524,680.00 20,485.50 10,108.00 234,256,170.00 39,234,060.00 33,800.00 859,768,385.00 124,392.00 125,584.00 6,175,930.00 954,350.00 135,824.00 107,195.00 29,881,098.00 35,175,616.00 3,332,190.00 40,552,757.00 26,220.00 139,663,943.00 12,353,574.50 401,134,720.00 30,756,225.00 70,952,180.00 45,719,806.00 13,433,554.00 5,217,960.00 376,243,672.00 338,790.00 338,880.00 691,640.00 371,294.00 760,343,563.00 4,243,116.00 116,249,806.00 334,678,354.00 465,567.00 3,082,860.00 36,300.00 28,867,100.00 207,336.00 2,169,253.00 2,275,988.00 48,556,755.00 1,899,560.00 766,024.00 4,889,270.00 768,230.00 66,716,790.00 24,285,376.00 123,520,583.50 6,372,061.00 280,340.00 2,612,590.00 869,275,877.00 15,370.00 112,091,440.00 36,184.00 10,927,330.00

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ Asiabest Group ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Ayala Land Log Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

Forum Pacific GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings `A’ Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

Lopez Holdings Corp.

LT Group Mabuhay Holdings `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

Pacifica `A’ Prime Media Hldg Republic Glass ‘A’ San Miguel Corp `A’ Seafront `A’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Transgrid Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.830 49.30 10.80 0.70 6.24 10.54 0.900 0.930 726.5 2.550 6.08 6.10 3.75 13.02 0.207 675 4.95 70.10 6.78 5.2 0.5 3.72 9.8 0.600 3.21 4.5100 1.190 2.75 139.80 2.01 971.00 1.20 0.82 186.000 189.00 0.2020 0.200

57,811,000 4,334,120 28,718,300 7,596,000 148,700 122,100 8,011,000 1,218,000 1,236,010 7,402,000 3,380,700 37,716,400 11,000 123,500 760,000 551,930 173,400 6,772,030 129,300 41,800 1,993,000 4,454,000 12,069,100 906,000 158,400,000 1,200,100 1,136,000 2,000 917,540 34,000 1,140,895 400,000 610,000 520,010 980 2,530,000 6,880,000

HOLDING FIRMS 49,559,730.00 219,033,435.50 309,700,334.00 5,420,010.00 916,943.00 1,313,888.00 7,342,640.00 1,136,220.00 898,324,965.00 19,431,170.00 21,486,459.00 227,557,693.00 41,340.00 1,609,074.00 157,000.00 397,553,860.00 876,165.00 489,395,712.50 871,525.00 217,360.00 997,875.00 16,625,940.00 124,205,386.00 523,070.00 516,435,650.00 6,453,018.00 1,341,010.00 5,500.00 131,300,971.00 68,430.00 1,141,742,355.00 455,180.00 497,620.00 96,677,886.00 185,855.00 526,100.00 1,432,880.00

0.860 52.95 11.10 0.76 6.39 11.36 0.950 0.990 740 2.720 6.42 6.20 3.76 13.10 0.209 791 5.41 77.00 6.72 5.2 0.5 3.71 10.2 0.600 3.35 4.6300 1.230 2.72 150.00 2.1 1032.00 1.22 0.88 199.900 190.00 0.2160 0.220

74,227,000 3,313,440 19,783,900 23,253,000 4,200 201,500 8,069,000 517,000 1,819,830 14,145,000 3,036,100 37,504,700 3,000 99,600 280,000 439,610 72,800 3,515,550 26,800 8,700 669,000 1,208,000 24,849,700 416,000 127,881,000 90,000 609,000 2,000 997,790 38,000 2,150,000 221,000 4,560,000 12,040 2,280 1,340,000 16,930,000

64,997,720.00 173,300,367.00 216,519,932.00 18,217,670.00 26,479.00 2,304,360.00 8,056,010.00 517,440.00 1,094,032,730.00 37,871,400.00 19,772,850.00 236,118,701.00 11,290.00 1,299,964.00 57,800.00 343,094,580.00 374,116.00 262,075,422.00 175,228.00 44,840.00 330,415.00 4,487,670.00 254,861,770.00 243,210.00 423,979,490.00 397,840.00 728,570.00 5,440.00 147,645,411.00 77,090.00 2,213,434,705.00 258,390.00 3,937,740.00 2,221,351.00 417,580.00 284,040.00 4,080,860.00

1,799,300 3,417,000 11,800 7,569,000 7,433,000 76,183,500 6,151,000 1,394,000 228,000 34,469,000 8,000 1,968,000 3,740,000 3,010,000 1,241,200 2,915,600 4,500,000 210,000 49,699,000 3,489,000 163,651,000 86,260,000 10,079,000 3,660,000 2,220,000 2,959,000 10,338,600 214,000

PROPERTY 26,485,846.00 2,204,840.00 105,765.00 14,156,450.00 5,901,950.00 3,170,692,385.00 10,133,090.00 6,362,780.00 1,062,804.00 17,491,715.00 6,140.00 1,578,250.00 675,150.00 1,156,050.00 11,196,039.00 49,719,184.00 1,807,850.00 21,970.00 74,197,920.00 3,738,270.00 673,788,510.00 19,587,620.00 11,993,240.00 1,442,200.00 728,100.00 6,188,600.00 276,465,745.00 441,070.00

14.720 0.70 8.75 1.540 0.830 41.400 1.7 4.6 6.69 0.530 0.75 0.870 0.186 0.390 9.270 18 0.410 0.109 1.52 1.11 4.28 0.249 1.2000 0.4050 0.365 2.24 28.30 2.08

2,459,100 3,053,000 4,500 553,000 7,902,000 131,098,100 8,011,000 866,000 15,700 42,502,000 81,000 78,000 2,660,000 4,740,000 609,400 4,508,300 7,090,000 1,430,000 46,969,000 2,058,000 134,894,000 128,140,000 10,067,000 3,460,000 89,760,000 3,305,000 9,046,900 1,255,000

36,196,846.00 2,143,730.00 39,375.00 786,920.00 6,456,730.00 6,124,883,505.00 13,527,320.00 4,030,480.00 101,547.00 22,236,460.00 60,370.00 66,500.00 491,700.00 1,928,200.00 5,725,385.00 81,152,296.00 2,905,350.00 155,750.00 71,068,510.00 2,212,710.00 582,569,080.00 32,107,920.00 12,314,870.00 1,391,700.00 30,698,050.00 7,311,420.00 246,471,215.00 2,600,840.00

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Anchor Land Holdings Inc. Araneta Prop `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. `A’ CEB Landmasters Cebu Holdings Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

DM Wenceslao Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Filinvest Land,Inc. Global-Estate Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil Infradev Phil. Estates Corp.

Phil. Realty `A’ Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell

14.740 0.65 8.80 1.740 0.790 41.600 1.57 4.46 6.67 0.490 0.77 0.790 0.178 0.380 8.700 15.9 0.400 0.105 1.46 1.04 4.05 0.215 1.1300 0.3800 0.320 2.05 25.50 2.06

STOCKS

JANUARY 27-31, 2020 Close Volume

JANUARY 20-24, 2020 Close Volume Value

Value

Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes Vistamalls

3.07 38.90 2.54 2.53 1.800 7.000 5.300

227,000 49,033,100 1,900,000 28,000 52,867,000 18,813,500 602,000

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel AllHome APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

Chelsea DFNN Inc. Discovery World Easy Call “Common” FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IPeople Inc. `A’ IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Metro Retail MetroAlliance A MetroAlliance B NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Paxys Inc. PH Resorts Group Phil. Racing Club Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Waterfront Phils.

Wilcon Depot

9.4 16.42 1.31 10.2 0.400 0.049 17.5 2.55 9.00 75 6.51 5.05 5.37 1.8 8.10 893.5 1890 5.26 425.00 13.38 1.16 130 1.62 8 5.03 0.099 3.3600 1.76 13.68 2.28 0.96 9.12 13.84 0.435 3.03 1.96 1.05 0.96 2.230 2.12 7.40 2.97 4.26 8 142.50 3.45 996.00 0.330 0.540 38.20 77.05 8.75 2.22 0.610 0.255 0.580 18.840

25,900 1,086,500 368,000 7,073,000 7,960,000 276,620,000 3,200 3,685,000 53,155,000 2,068,340 19,600 2,525,400 357,200 13,000 157,400 3,020 102,970 850,000 132,510 2,100 18,122,000 6,269,830 38,000 22,500 2,200 9,600,000 40,281,000 94,000 8,300 2,499,000 88,000 12,010,800 2,900 5,710,000 918,000 3,679,000 1,711,000 1,784,000 11,324,000 3,481,000 33,200 8,000 27,000 18,500 40,970 166,271,000 975,395 64,730,000 15,173,000 2,808,200 1,197,330 473,300 12,814,000 39,155,000 25,610,000 3,932,000 10,250,700

Abra Mining ACE Enexor Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Atok-Big Wedge `A’ Benguet Corp `A’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `A’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. `A’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Semirara Corp.

United Paragon

0.0015 7.9100 0.99 2.40 11.80 1.1000 1.1000 3.07 0.270 6.71 1.460 0.206 0.098 0.101 0.0077 0.76 2.86 1.03 0.4650 0.7000 0.0110 0.0110 2.88 8.61 0.0100 22.00 0.0055

MINING & OIL 2,494,000,000 3,738,900.00 1,611,000 12,703,864.00 12,156,000 12,819,750.00 2,137,000 5,310,100.00 21,400 231,690.00 36,000 41,150.00 35,000 38,500.00 8,683,000 26,496,400.00 980,000 262,400.00 50,300 350,704.00 8,447,000 12,620,330.00 4,170,000 848,720.00 2,670,000 257,180.00 10,000 1,010.00 39,000,000 303,700.00 2,178,000 1,741,810.00 25,489,000 65,614,680.00 154,000 155,140.00 150,000 69,650.00 213,000 150,590.00 49,800,000 542,600.00 763,100,000 9,911,300.00 2,859,000 8,486,950.00 4,109,800 98,695,559.00 334,100,000 3,650,700.00 5,450,800 110,448,432.00 17,000,000 94,600.00

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Alco Preferred B Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ CPG PREF A DD PREF First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B House Preferred MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred 2B PCOR-Preferred 3A PCOR-Preferred 3B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC Preferred 1 SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMPFC Preferred

15.3 103.1 503.5 503 100.7 101.1 108 490 5.15 970 990 99 100.6 1115 1040 1060 102.3 108 1030 1000 77 75.2 75 76 75 75.95 75.2 1.7

1,950,000 690 10,850 330 125,450 86,820 20,300 4,600 459,100 3,790 10 410 150,860 55 5,670 3,145 1,990 1,230 6,615 32,800 119,780 1,245,740 826,400 1,503,890 43,750 1,056,930 843,210 7,000

LR Warrant

1.130

WARRANTS & BONDS 1,103,000 1,417,900.00

Makati Fin. Corp.

Italpinas Kepwealth Xurpas

2.28 3.5 9.78 0.81

4,000 2,280,000 10,597,900 18,732,000

First Metro ETF

109 10.2 10.28 0.95

USD DMPL A1 USD DMPL A2 USD TECH B2

714,190.00 1,953,294,920.00 4,853,380.00 70,270.00 102,063,430.00 135,843,144.00 3,309,901.00

3.17 40.80 2.55

63,000 57,282,500 3,650,000

201,340.00 2,309,536,520.00 9,039,210.00

2.040 7.290 5.870

236,457,000 41,053,000 168,800

507,411,060.00 299,435,404.00 980,847.00

9.59 17.04 1.42 11.3 0.440 0.047 18.6 3.2 10.32 83.8 7.05 5.4 5.20 2 8.80 890 2004 5.31 437.00 13.34 1.35 132.5 1.54 9.42 7.50 0.107 3.8800 1.94 13.86 2.75 0.95 12.16 13.84 0.435 3.15 2.06 0.94 0.99 2.550 2.72 7.50

64,800 1,876,000 522,000 7,921,900 17,110,000 80,900,000 166,700 7,777,000 23,873,500 954,800 100 2,221,500 327,100 10,000 190,300 880 236,670 1,685,000 85,030 7,300 28,877,000 5,115,910 18,000 6,700 2,300 34,430,000 9,629,000 347,000 3,400 5,999,000 566,000 21,944,500 100 8,400,000 124,000 2,364,000 206,000 43,000 7,864,000 4,842,000 32,300

613,969.00 33,023,002.00 704,490.00 89,483,440.00 7,423,950.00 3,789,100.00 3,050,940.00 23,005,870.00 242,728,505.00 81,973,715.00 705.00 11,838,875.00 1,739,952.00 18,720.00 1,659,645.00 783,375.00 477,941,490.00 8,984,695.00 37,413,398.00 90,032.00 42,166,260.00 676,115,282.00 29,380.00 56,710.00 17,235.00 3,712,410.00 36,926,680.00 639,880.00 44,404.00 16,888,900.00 516,500.00 275,237,080.00 1,384.00 3,736,700.00 376,620.00 4,865,610.00 195,350.00 40,890.00 19,552,440.00 13,424,770.00 239,783.00

4.90

114,000

502,060.00

139.90 3.79 1061.00 0.400 0.560 39.80 79.00 9.19 2.56 0.620 0.285 0.610 18.820

635,680 37,134,000 1,065,215 136,900,000 33,303,000 3,800,500 958,960 459,400 7,083,000 27,592,000 27,050,000 2,932,000 10,506,100

85,814,142.00 126,024,750.00 1,120,150,760.00 55,986,200.00 18,772,790.00 150,099,090.00 74,902,789.00 4,177,811.00 18,462,020.00 17,014,220.00 7,668,400.00 1,754,070.00 196,035,144.00

0.0015 8.1000 1.09 2.50 10.00 1.1500

89,000,000 2,460,300 6,319,000 1,153,000 44,200 1,000

124,500.00 19,932,957.00 6,882,640.00 2,901,100.00 453,408.00 1,150.00

3.11 0.270 7.18 1.550 0.212 0.095 0.100 0.0078 0.81 3.17 1.04 0.4500 0.7300 0.0100 0.0110 2.95 8.93 0.0110 22.00 0.0058

25,124,000 760,000 3,500 12,166,000 6,650,000 6,500,000 2,610,000 191,000,000 4,090,000 23,101,000 248,000 450,000 125,000 55,000,000 3,500,000 1,727,000 2,998,700 280,200,000 2,090,600 29,000,000

79,487,550.00 204,850.00 25,125.00 18,527,470.00 1,393,330.00 616,970.00 246,760.00 1,471,600.00 3,339,300.00 75,572,080.00 253,720.00 202,750.00 89,580.00 580,100.00 38,600.00 5,038,700.00 26,927,069.00 3,067,000.00 44,352,950.00 186,600.00

15.5

955,700

15,293,584.00

505 504.5 101.9 100.9 105.2

80 1,600 26,960 244,650 25,130

40,180.00 807,200.00 2,742,818.00 24,598,655.00 2,657,232.00

5.14 980 999 99 100.1

1,952,600 2,500 2,570 91,220 211,330

10,035,293.00 2,453,840.00 2,561,020.00 9,064,039.00 21,136,180.00

1040 1050 101.5 108 1030 990 77 75.2 75.5 76 75.3 75.65 76 1.36

3,480 3,335 231,190 1,440 6,350 70 224,520 59,330 42,140 363,900 28,041,500 34,700 844,630 4,000

3,595,240.00 3,501,670.00 23,465,835.00 155,960.00 6,540,370.00 69,300.00 17,282,057.00 4,461,616.00 3,155,114.00 27,651,606.00 3,123,925.00 2,622,195.00 64,002,777.00 5,440.00

1.330

2,630,000

3,566,800.00

3.88 10.2 0.89

1,648,000 3,132,000 22,042,000

6,349,680.00 31,513,042.00 19,122,680.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 107,190 11,928,353.00

114.4

85,280

9,666,733.00

DOLLAR DENONIMATED SEC. 2,950 30,090.00 43,000 434,088.00 31,500 29,925.00

10.2 9.92 0.95

14,460 2,900 58,500

146,632.00 28,846.00 55,806.00

SERVICES 244,746.00 18,584,910.00 484,750.00 76,572,414.00 3,295,500.00 13,491,020.00 53,560.00 10,670,050.00 515,845,202.00 162,539,327.50 128,208.00 13,186,751.00 1,905,475.00 23,590.00 1,338,412.00 2,691,550.00 200,661,105.00 4,501,317.00 57,491,404.00 23,215.00 23,187,490.00 822,741,932.00 60,320.00 177,966.00 13,376.00 981,850.00 149,952,130.00 167,690.00 108,504.00 6,315,880.00 81,570.00 128,824,022.00 40,092.00 2,492,800.00 2,830,370.00 7,376,700.00 1,871,160.00 1,848,930.00 27,155,780.00 7,978,240.00 240,845.00 23,130.00 115,500.00 148,189.00 5,832,385.00 720,593,540.00 991,155,605.00 23,658,100.00 8,454,100.00 109,121,580.00 93,058,667.00 4,323,638.00 29,686,420.00 24,251,990.00 6,825,550.00 2,307,580.00 193,661,308.00

PREFERRED 31,404,952.00 71,139.00 5,396,975.00 164,610.00 12,772,214.00 8,745,448.00 2,132,417.00 1,976,500.00 2,371,825.00 3,713,100.00 9,900.00 40,590.00 15,114,119.00 57,565.00 5,931,665.00 3,313,625.00 203,099.00 133,047.00 6,869,250.00 32,418,700.00 9,229,663.50 93,679,648.00 61,979,529.00 114,297,970.00 3,283,790.00 80,207,884.50 64,052,057.00 12,150.00

SME 9,120.00 8,632,980.00 120,432,340.00 16,388,240.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS Abra Mining Oriental Pet. `B’ Philodrill Corp. `A’ Apollo Global Fruitas Holdings Philweb.Com Inc. Megaworld Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

MRC Allied Ind. Manila Water Co. Inc.

VOLUME 2,494,000,000 763,100,000 334,100,000 276,620,000 210,864,000 166,271,000 163,651,000 158,400,000 86,260,000 80,948,600

STOCKS Ayala Land `B’ SM Prime Holdings Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. SM Investments Inc. PLDT Common Ayala Corp `A’ Manila Water Co. Inc. Metrobank Universal Robina I.C.T.S.I.

VALUE 3,170,692,385.00 1,953,294,920.00 1,477,174,655.00 1,141,742,355.00 991,155,605.00 898,324,965.00 891,586,324.00 873,863,262.00 869,357,560.00 822,741,932.00

Smart eclipses rival in terms of offering internet services in PH

By Darwin G. Amojelar SMART Communications, Inc. (Smart) has outpaced rival Globe Telecom Inc. in terms of providing mobile internet services in the country, according to umlaut, the global internet benchmarking company formerly known as P3.

The Germany-based company said Smart had the best and widest 4G/ LTE coverage, and fastest upload and download speeds. It said Smart posted an overall score of 753 out of a maximum of 1,000 points in the annual umlaut benchmarking survey.

The score includes Smart’s performance in terms of voice coverage, data coverage, 4G coverage, user download speed, user upload speed and data service availability.

These results follow similar findings by other international third-party internet rating firms, such as Ookla and Opensignal, which have also released their respective crowdsourcebased studies on internet services in the country and found Smart’s wireless network to be superior than that of competition.

“Our improved service performance is the outcome of several years of sustained investments in our network,” said Mario Tamayo, senior vice president for network planning and engineering for PLDT and Smart.

“We have as a result been able to deliver progressively better quality services to our customers, enabling them to benefit from the growing range of data and digital services,” he added.

“Congratulations to PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications for winning the umlaut Mobile Benchmark and being awarded Bestin-Test,” said umlaut chief executive Hakan Ekmen.

“Our umlaut Mobile Benchmark is the de-facto industry standard, fairly and transparently assessing the global digital infrastructure,” Ekmen added.

Conducted with more than 200 operators in over 120 countries worldwide, umlaut’s network benchmarks are widely accepted as the global de-facto industry standard. Its crowdsourcing technology allows umlaut to collect data about real-world customer experience in a passive way from integrated background diagnosis processes in more than 900 diverse Android apps.

Globe Telecom, Puregold launch store mobile app GLOBE Telecom Inc. in partnership with Puregold Price Club Inc. launched a mobile app aimed at enhancing the grocery shopping experience of Filipinos and boost revenues.

Puregold Mobile is designed to take grocery shopping experience to another level with features such as item barcode scanning, store pickup and real-time updates on order status and stock replenishing.

The app also allows loyal customers to link their Tindahan ni Aling Puring (TNAP) or Puregold Perks Card for easier tracking of their points and access to exclusive discounts.

“Puregold Mobile is one of our efforts in partnership with Puregold in enhancing the grocery shopping experience for Filipinos,” Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said.

“We are happy to collaborate with the country’s most digitally advanced and well-known grocery brand in co-developing an app that enables customers to maximize mobile connectivity in doing basic and essential everyday things with utmost convenience,” he added.

Puregold vice president for operation Antonio delos Santos said the mobile app was initially available in 10 stores.

“The goal is to reach 100 stores by end of the year,” he added. “We are confident this will add value to our revenues.”

Shoppers may pay their purchased items via GCash. Other payment options include credit card and cash upon pick up. In-store pickup is currently available in select Puregold branches in the Greater Manila Area.

The Puregold mobile is powered

by Globe and available for download from Globe Play or App Store starting January 31, 2020.

Darwin G. Amojelar

CYAN CYAN MAGENTA MAGENTAYELLOW YELLOW BLACK BLACK Manila Manila

Standard Standard

World

TODAY TODAY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

B3

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

UN marks 75 year in world of distrust th

U

NITED NATIONS―As the United Nations enters its 75th year, the world is still rife with mistrust: the United States remains the dominant superpower but is on the wane, while Asian power is growing in the face of an increasingly fractured Europe, with an explosive Middle East sandwiched in between.

In the New York headquarters of the United Nations, the Cold War never really ended, as demonstrated by a scene recently observed in its hallowed hallways: a US diplomat spotted hiding behind a wall to listen in on what the Chinese ambassador was telling a group of journalists.

Even if the world has managed to avoid a third World War, conflicts drag on for years and the risk of a more widespread conflagration remain high, as witnessed by the recent near-miss when US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of a top Iranian general in Baghdad while the Security Council

simply looked on.

“With turbulence on the rise, trust within and among nations is on the decline,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a recent address, calling the multiple challenges “a grave test to multilateralism.”

“We see this trust deficit in streets across the world, as people vent their frustrations and voice their feeling that political establishments are out of touch, incapable or unwilling to deliver,” Guterres said earlier in January during a debate on the UN Charter.

“We see it in the work of the United Nations, including the Security Council,

when member states struggle or fail to find reasonable common ground,” he added.

The UN’s promise as a global forum for resolving conflicts has dimmed dramatically since the powers that emerged from the ruins of World War II hatched the idea at the Yalta conference in February 1945.

For some, the cracks in the edifice started to really show in 2011 with the start of the Syrian civil war and the overthrow of Libyan strongman Moammar Kadhafi led by western powers. For others, it was the 2003 US-British invasion of Iraq that dealt the international system a resounding blow.

Republic Republicofofthe thePhilippines Philippines REGIONAL REGIONALTRIAL TRIALCOURT COURT National NationalCapital CapitalJudicial JudicialRegion Region BRANCH BRANCH114, 114,PASAY PASAYCITY CITY

Now you know why REAL CARPIO SO

Green LiGht

daily, of which 4 hours are spent on social media. Most used social media platforms include Facebook, You tube, FB Messenger and Instagram. According to projection, there will be an approximate 58 million social media users by the end of 2020. It is projected that in 2023, social network users in the Philippines will reach 62.5 million.

The Bill of Rights under the 1987 Constitution provides “the right to be free from undesired publicity or disclosure and as the right to live without unwarranted interference by the public in matters with which the public is not necessarily concerned.” Simply, the right to be left alone.

The Civil Code of the Philippines states that “every person shall respect the dignity, personality, privacy and peace of mind of his neighbors and other persons.” It identified acts that can make a person liable for damages caused to other people. Social media can be “used as a medium and place of commission of the offense.”

In a landmark decision on social media privacy, the Supreme Court declared that, “Nothing is ever private on Facebook.” According to the court, even when media is tagged as private, they never really escape public viewing, “including unintended audience.”

The Supreme Court cited “self-regulation as the best defense against breach of privacy, especially among the techsavvy selfie generation.” The duty of privacy protection is delegated to the online user themselves.

The court added, “It is, thus, incumbent upon internet users to exercise due diligence in their online dealings and activities and must not be negligent in protecting their rights. Equity serves the vigilant... We cannot afford protection to persons if they themselves did nothing to place the matter within the confines of their private zone.”

Ergo, every time I slip away whenever there is a photo session, please do not look for me. You know why.

Asymmetric warfare has replaced the high-stakes balance of power that marked the heyday of the Cold War, with attacks on the streets of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East now so frequent as to seem almost humdrum. The old threat of nuclear proliferation has raised its head once again, accompanied by the new dangers of global warming.

The US pullback from the world stage over the past decade, combined with European fractiousness, has opened the door to Russian expansionism, which has proved hard to stop in crisis areas such as Syria, Libya, Venezuela or North Korea. AFP

KEITH KEITHRONALD RONALDMILHENCH, MILHENCH, represented represented Herein Hereinby byhis hisAttorney-in-Fact, Attorney-in-Fact, ATTY. ATTY.ALFREDO ALFREDOR.R.CABEZA CABEZA Petitioner, Petitioner, -versus-versus-

ON THE average, a post on social media reaches at least 1,000 people... and a lot of your personal information is exposed to the public.

The Data Privacy Act of 2012 defines personal information as “any information whether recorded in a material form or not, from which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by the entity holding the information, or when put together with other information would directly and certainly identify an individual.”

Personal information becomes sensitive when it reveals an individual’s “race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, color and religious, philosophical or FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS. Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse speak political affiliations... health, education, onstage during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Awards Night Ceremony at Basin etc.” It is strictly confidential when it Recreation Field House on February 01, 2020, in Park City, Utah. AFP includes “an individual’s name, biometric information, genetic information, photo and video, mobile number, email addresses... and signature.”

When one is aware about the risks in US Democrats make final pitch posting on social media, one can always IOWA CITY―Democratic candidates bolt Sunday across Iowa, where no handshake set his profile on private rigorously. Deor pit stop is too insignificant one day ahead of the state’s presidential nominating prospite this, he is still susceptible to privacess, which is the first in the nation. cy attacks with him being clueless that Iowa has traditionally served as a vital launching point-or burial ground―for presihe is being attacked. dential campaigns.

However, Monday’s crunch vote has created an air of suspense, with no clear front According to “Hidden Privacy Risks runner. in Sharing Pictures on Social Media,” Leftist senator Bernie Sanders holds only a narrow lead over former vice president each piece of photo or video shared on Joe Biden, among the field of several candidates feverishly criss-crossing the rural social media has “hidden privacy viostate. lations stored in their metadata.” When Three of the leading candidates seized on a brief break from their duties as jurors in a photo or video is posted or shared, the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in Washington to rush to Iowa for a flurry of last-minute events. by you or by a “friend” or “friends of The senators―the self-styled democratic socialist Sanders, progressive Elizabeth friends,” it also uploads metadata for Warren and moderate Amy Klobuchar―each held a handful of events Saturday. the media.

The impeachment trial―only the third in US history―created an unprecedented Metadata is data about the photos situation by limiting the senators’ ability to campaign in Iowa in the closing days before and videos shared to social media. It the state’s presidential caucuses. includes technical information such as Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar have to return to Washington on Monday, along with Senator Michael Bennet who trails badly in the polls, for the trial’s resumption. AFP the “camera’s shutter speed, color spectrum, lens model, lens maker, camera model, and camera maker.” It also conPompeo condemns Xinjiang crackdown tains “the camera’s identifier number, NUR-SULTAN-SUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on countries to offer asythe GPS coordinates of where the pholum to ethnic minorities fleeing China’s troubled Xinjiang region during a visit Sunday tograph or video is taken and more.” to oil-rich Kazakhstan―a country that borders the region.

Real Carpio So lectures at the Ra“We ask simply for them to provide safe refuge and asylum for those seeking to Moreover, when these are posted, the mon V. del Rosario College of Busiflee China,” Pompeo said at a press appearance with Kazakh foreign minister Mukhtar platform or website captures the “GPS ness of De La Salle University. He is Tleuberdi. coordinates” and attach them to the an entrepreneur and a management “Protect human dignity, just do what is right,” Pompeo said. post. consultant. Comments are welcomed Pompeo was meeting top officials in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan as he rounds off a fiveBy sharing on social media, these at realwalksonwater@gmail.com. Arnation tour in two countries where Russia and China enjoy privileged interests. metadata are exposed. As they can be chives can be accessed at realwalksonHis visit to the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan also saw him meet with Kazakhs who say their family members are detained in Xinjiang, where over a million ethnic Uighurs, used to track you down, this becomes water.wordpress.com.

Kazakhs and other minorities are believed to have been incarcerated as part of an una threat if you would like “to keep inprecedented security crackdown in the region. formation like... home address, favorite The views expressed above are the Kazakhstan has allowed several ethnic Kazakhs of Chinese citizenship who fled the locations, place of work, and more, pri- author’s and do not necessarily reflect region to stay in the country, but has not given any of them asylum -- a reluctance local vate.” the official position of DLSU, its faculty, activists attribute to Chinese pressure. AFP According to poll results, “over 40% and its administrators. of all posts on social media are done at REPUBLIC REPUBLICOF OFTHE THEPHILIPPINES PHILIPPINES Date :: Feb. DateApproved Approved Feb.2, 2, 2017 2017 with aaLegal Legal easement easement with the user’s home and REGIONAL REGIONALTRIAL TRIALCOURT COURT (20.00 m. m. wide) wide) (20.00 Geodetic :: Paulino Geodetic Engineer Engineer PaulinoZ. Z. Regalado.”

Regalado.”

FOURTH FOURTHJUDICIAL JUDICIALREGION REGION 80% were taken at 8-9-10 NW NW Lot 1252, 1252, Cad-842-D, Cad-842-D, 8-9-10 Lot BRANCH BRANCH99 Calaca Cadastre Cadastre Calaca under under the the provision provision of of the the Property Property Registration Registration their 10 most visited BALAYAN, BALAYAN, BATANGAS BATANGAS Decree.

Decree.

10to to24 24NW NW Lot 810-C 810-C (River), (River), 10 Lot places.” To confirm Finding Finding the the petition petition to to be be sufficient sufficient in in form form and and Csd-04-045733-D Csd-04-045733-D the results, research- IN INRE: RE:APPLICATION APPLICATIONFOR FOR substance, substance, the the same sameisis set set for for hearing hearingon on March March 4, 4, 24-25-1NW NW Lot 810-A, 810-A, Csd-04-045733-D Csd-04-045733-D 24-25-1 Lot ers monitored posts LAND LANDREGISTRATION REGISTRATION 2020 2020 at at 8:30 8:30 in in the the morning morning before before this this Court, Court, sitsitTie Point: Point: BLLM #1, #1, Csd-842-D, Csd-842-D, Tie BLLM ting ting at at the the Hall Hall of of Justice, Justice, Regional Regional Trial Trial Court, Court, posted by particiCalaca Cadastre Cadastre Calaca L.R.C. L.R.C. CASE CASENO. NO. N-577 N-577 Balayan, Balayan, Batangas, Batangas, at at which which date, date, time time and and place place pants for a period of LotDescription: Description: Lot any any interested interested person person isis hereby hereby ordered ordered to to show show three weeks. At the RONALD Bearing Distance Bearing Distance Line Line RONALDR. R.ELEPAÑO, ELEPAÑO,JR., JR., cause causeifif any anywhy whythe thepetition petition should shouldnot not be begranted. granted. end of the monitorTie N.81º 3778.29m Tie Point Point -1 -1 N.81º 15’W 15’W 3778.29m Applicant.

Applicant.

The The applicant applicant isis hereby hereby directed directed to to have have this this 1-2 S. 137.80m 1-2 S. 07º 07º 33’E 33’E 137.80m Order Order published published at at its its expense expense once once in in the the Official Official ing, they were able xx -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- xx 2-3 N. 14.29m 2-3 N.82º 82º51’W 51’W 14.29m Gazette, Gazette,once onceaaweek weekfor fortwo two(2) (2)consecutive consecutiveweeks weeks to ascertain “85% ORDER ORDER 3-4 S. 71.32m 3-4 S.12º 12º 28’W 28’W 71.32m in in aa newspaper newspaper of of general general circulation circulation in in the the PhilipPhilipof the participants’ AA verified verified Application Application for for Land Land Registration Registration has has 4-5 S. 23.31m 4-5 S.10º 10º 01’W 01’W 23.31m pines, pines, and and once once aa week week for for three three (3) (3) consecutive consecutive been filed filed by by applicant applicant Ronaldo Ronaldo R. R. Elepaño, Elepaño, Jr. Jr. home as well as been 5-6 S. 20.95m 5-6 S.10º 10º 01’W 01’W 20.95m weeks weeks in in aa newspaper newspaper of of general general circulation circulation in in the the praying that that after after due due notice notice and and hearing, hearing, an an Order Order 6-7 N. 22.94m 6-7 N.62º 62º35’W 35’W 22.94m province province of of Batangas.

Batangas. their top 5 most praying be be issued issued that that the the subject subject land land be be brought brought under under 7-8 N. 52.62m 7-8 N.44º 44º27’W 27’W 52.62m Let Let this this Order Order be be posted postedat at the the main main door door of of the the visited locations.” the the operation operation of of the the Property Property Registration Registration Decree: Decree: 8-9 N. 25.34m 8-9 N. 07º 07º 41’E 41’E 25.34m Provincial Provincial Building Building of of Batangas, Batangas, at at the the Bulletin Bulletin The locations were directing directing the the Administrator, Administrator, Land Land Registration Registration AuAu9-10 N. 56.00m 9-10 N. 07º 07º 41’E 41’E 56.00m Board Board of of the the Hall Hall of of Justice, Justice, Regional Regional Trial Trial Court, Court, thority, to to issue issuethe the corresponding correspondingDecree Decree of of RegisRegisidentified by “read- thority, 10-11 N. 6.29m 10-11 N. 41º 41º 35’E 35’E 6.29m Balayan, Balayan, Batangas, Batangas, and and at at the the Bulletin Bulletin Board Board of of tration over over the the subject subject land land under under hte hte name name of of the the 11-12 N. 11.41m 11-12 N. 33º 33º 57’E 57’E 11.41m the the Municipal Municipal Building Building of of Calaca, Calaca, Batangas, Batangas, at at the the ing the metadata tration Applicant and and directing directing the the Register Register of of Deeds Deeds of of 12-13 N. 11.53m 12-13 N. 49º 49º 49’E 49’E 11.53m expense expense of of the the applicant. applicant. of the photos and Applicant Batangas Batangas to to issue issue an an Original Original Certificate Certificate of of Title Title 13-14 N. 10.95m 13-14 N. 39º 39º 42’E 42’E 10.95m Notify Notify the the Office Office of of the the Solicitor Solicitor General, General, the the videos shared, the covering covering the the subject subject land land in in the the name name of of the the appliappli1415 N. 5.57m 1415 N. 19º 19º 42’E 42’E 5.57m Land Land Registration Registration Authority, Authority, and and the the Bureau Bureau of of cant, which which isis more more particularly particularly described described as as folfolgeospatial tags from cant, 15-16 N. 6.79m 15-16 N. 19º 19º 42’E 42’E 6.79m Lands, Lands, which which may may file, file, within within fifteen fifteen days days from from rerelows, lows, to to wit: wit: the posts, including 16-17 N. 9.37m 16-17 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 9.37m ceipt ceipt hereof hereof or or from from the the last last date date of of publication, publication, 17-18 N. 8.64m 17-18 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 8.64m their their opposition. opposition.

“TECHNICAL “TECHNICALDECRIPTION DECRIPTION check-ins on Twit18-19 N. 14.12m 18-19 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 14.12m The The applicant applicant isis hereby hereby ordered ordered and and to to furnish furnish Survey Survey Plan Plan No. No. ::Casd-04-045733-D Casd-04-045733-D ter, Facebook, and 19-20 N. 7.22m 19-20 N.44º 44º27’W 27’W 7.22m the the Office Office of of the the Solicitor Solicitor General, General, the the Land Land RegisRegisLot LotNo. No. :: 810-B 810-B Instagram.”

20-21 N. 13.04m 20-21 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 13.04m tration tration Authority, Authority, the the Bureau Bureau of of Land, Land, and and the the adadPortion Portionof ofLot Lot :: 810, 810, Cad-842-D, Cad-842-D, Calaca Calaca In other words, a 21-22 N. 9.05m 21-22 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 9.05m joining joining owners owners of of the the subject subject land, land, within within fifteen fifteen Cadastre Cadastre 22-23 N. 11.93m 22-23 N.44º 44º27’W 27’W 11.93m (15) (15) days days from from receipt receipt hereof, hereof, with with aa copy copy of of the the LRC LRCRecord RecordNo. No. :: single post, by you 23-24 N. 6.19m 23-24 N.44º 44º27’W 27’W 6.19m application application and and its its annexes annexes and and manifest manifest to to this this Land Land Owner/Claimant: Owner/Claimant: Gregorio Gregorio Caisip Caisip or by a “friend” or 24-25 N. 16.83m 24-25 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 16.83m Court Court compliance compliance herewith. herewith.

Location Location :: Brgy.

Brgy.Dacanlao, Dacanlao, Municipality Municipality “friend of friends,” 25-1 N. 11.67m 25-1 N. 44º 44º 27’E 27’E 11.67m of of Calaca, Calaca, Province Province of of SO ORDERED. SO ORDERED. will potentially exBatangas, Batangas, Island Island of of Luzon Luzon Area: Area:TWELVE TWELVETHOUSAND THOUSANDSIX SIXHUNDRED HUNDREDFIFTY FIFTY Balayan, Balayan, Batangas, Batangas, October October 11, 11, 2019.

2019. pose your identity, NINE NINE SQUARE SQUARE METERS METERS AND AND FIFTY FIFTY SQUARE SQUARE Boundaries: Boundaries: (Sgd.) CAROLINA F. (Sgd.) CAROLINA F. DE DE JESUS JESUS your location and DECIMETERS DECIMETERS (12.659.50) (12.659.50) SQUARE SQUARE METERS. METERS. Direction Adjoining AdjoiningLot/Feature Lot/Feature Line Line Direction Presiding Presiding Judge Judge 1-2 NE Barangay Road Road 1-2 NE Barangay the places that you Description Description of of Corners: Corners: Corners Corners2,3,4,6,7 2,3,4,6,7&&88are are Copy Copy furnished: furnished: 2-3 SE Lot 811, 811, Cad-842-D, Cad-842-D, Calaca Calaca 2-3 SE Lot frequent, etc.

Old OldPS PScyl. cyl.conc. conc.mons. mons.15x50 15x50cmc. cmc.and and the therest rest Office Office of of the the Clerk Clerk of of Court Court BL/OSG/LRA/RD BL/OSG/LRA/RD Cadastre Cadastre are arePS PS cyl. cyl.conc. conc.mons. mons. 15x40 15x40cms. cms.

In the Philippines, Official Applicant Official Gazette Gazette Applicant to 66 SE SE Lot 1401, 1401, Cad-842-D, Cad-842-D, 33 to Lot Bearings : Grid Bearings : Grid average time spend Counsel Counsel for for Applicant Applicant CalacaCadastre Cadastre Calaca Date Date of of Original Original Survey: Survey: March March 77 to toApril April 29, 29, 1989 1989 online is 10 hours 6-7-8 SW Dacanlao River River (30-40 (30-40 m. m. wide wide 6-7-8 SW Dacanlao Manila Manila Standard Standard // Jan. Jan. 27 27 && Feb. Feb. 3, 3, 2020 2020 Date Dateof of Subd.

Subd.Survey Survey :: March March12, 12, 2016 2016

IN BRIEF

Sp. Sp.Proc.

Proc.Case CaseNo. No. R-PSY-19-01452-CV R-PSY-19-01452-CV

METROPOLITAN METROPOLITANBANK BANKAND AND TRUST TRUSTCOMPANY, COMPANY, Respondent.

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

AMENDED AMENDEDORDER ORDER

undistributed undistributed toto date, date, are: are:a)a) One One (1) (1) Metrobank MetrobankBond; Bond; b)b)One One(1) (1)Savings Savings Account Accountatatrespondent’s respondent’sOcean OceanTower Tower Branch Branch with with aa PP 20,470.00 20,470.00 balance, balance, ifif still still existing; existing; c)c) One One (1) (1) Safety Safety Deposit Deposit Box Box atat respondent’s respondent’s Angeles Angeles City City Branch, Branch, contents, contents, ifif any. any. That That numerous numerous demands demands for for the the above above items’ items’release releasetotoPetitioner Petitionerwere weremade made upon upon Respondent, Respondent, albeit albeit verbal, verbal, but but allallproved provedunavailing. unavailing. That Thattotocompel compel Respondent Respondenttotorelease releasetotoPetitioner Petitionerthe the above abovedeposited depositeditems, items,effectuate effectuatethe the probated probatedLast LastWill Willand andTestament, Testament,and and bring bringthe thelegal legaleffects effectsofofthe theDecember December 20, 20, 2013 2013 Grant Grant ofof the the High High Court Court ofof Justice, Justice, United United Kingdom Kingdom ofof Great Great Britain Britain and and Northern Northern Ireland Ireland into into the the Philippines, Philippines, there there isis an an indispensable indispensable need need toto recognize recognize such such foreign foreign judgment. judgment.That Thatthe thepertinent pertinentexcerpt excerptofof the theProbate ProbateLaw Lawofofthe theUnited UnitedKingdom Kingdom ofofGreat GreatBritain Britainand andNorthern NorthernIreland, Ireland, under underwhich whichthe thevalidity validityofofthe theLast LastWill Will and andTestament Testamentwas wasestablished. established.

Finding Findingthe thePetition Petitiontotobe besufficient sufficient ininform formand andsubstance, substance,notice noticeisishereby hereby given giventhat thatthe thehearing hearingofofthe thePetition Petitionisis set seton onMarch March12, 12,2020 2020atat8:30 8:30ininthe the morning, morning,ininthis thisCourt Courtsitting sittingatatRoom Room 402, 402,Hall HallofofJustice, Justice,F.B. F.B.Harrison HarrisonSt., St., Pasay Pasay City, City, atat which which date, date, time time and and place, place, any any person person interested interested may may appear appearand andinterpose interposetheir theiropposition opposition why why the the said said Petition Petition should should not not be be granted. granted.

Let Letcopy copyofofthis thisOrder Orderbe bepublished published once onceaaweek weekfor forthree three(3) (3)consecutive consecutive weeks weeks inin aa newspaper newspaper ofof general general circulation circulation atat the the expense expense ofof the the petitioner. petitioner.

Likewise, Likewise, let let copies copies ofof the the Order Order and andthe thePetition Petitionbe besent senttotothe theOffice Office ofof the the Solicitor Solicitor General, General, the the Pasay Pasay City City Prosecutor’s Prosecutor’s Office, Office, the the Local Local Civil Civil Registrar Registrar ofof Pasay Pasay City City and and the the Philippine Philippine Statistics Statistics Authority Authority and and the the petitioner. petitioner.

SO SOORDERED. ORDERED. Pasay Pasay City, City, Metro Metro Manila, Manila, January January 28, 28,2020.

2020.

AA verified verified Petition Petition for for Judicial Judicial Recognition Recognition ofof Foreign Foreign Judgment Judgment was was filed filed by

by Keith Keith Ronald Ronald Milhench, Milhench, represented representedherein hereinby byhis hisAttorney-inAttorney-inFact, Fact,Atty.

Atty.Alfredo AlfredoR.R.Cabeza.

Cabeza.

Petitioner Petitioner alleged alleged among among others, others, that thathe heisisnon-resident non-residentBritish Britishnational, national, ofof legal legal age, age, with with residence residence atat 41 41 The The Delph, Delph, Lower Lower Earley, Earley, Reading, Reading, Berkshire, Berkshire,England, England,RG63AN. RG63AN. He Heflies flies this thissuit suitininhis hispersonal personalcapacity capacityas asaa compulsory compulsory heir heir ofof his his father, father, Ronald Ronald George George Milhench, Milhench, and and as as AttorneyAttorneyin-Fact in-Fact ofof his his sister sister and and only only cococompulsary compulsaryheir, heir, Ann AnnMarie MarieMilhench Milhench Palen.

Palen. That Thatpetitioner’s petitioner’sfather, father,Ronald Ronald George George Milhench, Milhench, died died on on April April 28, 28, 2012.

2012.He Heleft leftaaLast LastWill Willand andTestament Testament over overhis hisproperties propertiesininthe thePhilippines, Philippines, which whichwas wasduly dulyprobated probatedininthe theUnited United Kingdom Kingdom ofof Great Great Britain.

Britain. The The Last Last Will Will and and Testament, Testament, duly duly notarized notarized by byaaReading, Reading,England EnglandNotary NotaryPublic Public duly duly authenticated authenticated by

by A.A.Khan Khan ofof the the Foreign Foreignand andCommonwealth CommonwealthOffice Officeofof the the United United Kingdom Kingdom ofof Great Great Britain, Britain, and and duly duly confirmed confirmed by by the the Consul Consul ofof the the Consular Consular Section, Section, Philippine Philippine Embassy, Embassy, London, London, United United Kingdom.

Kingdom.

That That the the deceased, deceased, immediately immediately before before and and atat the the time time ofof his his death, death, was wasaaresident residentofofPasay PasayCity.

City. AtAtthe the time time ofof his his death, death, he he briefly briefly stayed stayed with with an an acquaintance acquaintance atat Angeles Angeles City, City, Pampanga, Pampanga, where where he he died died on on (Sgd.) (Sgd.)RESTITUTO RESTITUTOV.V.MANGALINDAN MANGALINDANJR. JR. April April 28, 28, 2012.

2012. That That among among his his last last Acting ActingPresiding PresidingJudge Judge Will Willand andTestament Testamentand andwhich whichremain remain (MStandard-Feb. (MStandard-Feb.3,3,10 10&&17, 17,2020) 2020)

Republic Republicof ofthe thePhilippines Philippines REGIONAL REGIONALTRIAL TRIALCOURT COURT National NationalCapital CapitalJudicial JudicialRegion Region Quezon QuezonCity, City,Metro MetroManila Manila BRANCH BRANCHLXXVIII LXXVIII(78) (78) PETITION PETITIONFOR FORADOPTION ADOPTIONOF OF MINOR MINORJOSHUA JOSHUASAMUEL SAMUEL SARENAS SARENASIBAÑEZ, IBAÑEZ, SP. SP.PROC. PROC.CASE CASENO. NO.R-QZN-19-15989-SP R-QZN-19-15989-SP SPOUSES SPOUSESGINO GINOANTONIO ANTONIO CADIENA CADIENACRUZ CRUZAND ANDMARIA MARIA CLARISSE CLARISSESARENAS SARENASIBAÑEZ-CRUZ, IBAÑEZ-CRUZ, Petitioners.

Petitioners. x---------------------------------------------------x x---------------------------------------------------x

ORDER ORDER

AA verified verified Petition Petition was was filed filed by by the the petitioners, petitioners, spouses spouses Gino Gino Antonio AntonioCadiena CadienaCruz, Cruz,and andMaria MariaClarisse ClarisseSarenas SarenasIbañez-Cruz, Ibañez-Cruz, through through counsel, counsel, praying praying that that after after due due notice notice and and hearing hearing the the petition petitionbe begranted, granted,that thatthe theminor minorJOSHUA JOSHUASAMUEL SAMUELSARENAS SARENAS IBAÑEZ IBAÑEZbe bedeclared declaredfor forall allintents intentsand andpurposes purposesas asthe thelegitimate legitimate child child of of the the petitioners, petitioners, and and the the Civil Civil Registrar Registrar of of Mandaluyong Mandaluyong City Citybe beORDERED ORDEREDTO TOAMEND AMENDhis hisRecord Recordof ofBirth Birthto tochange changehis his surname surnameto tothat thatof ofpetitioners. petitioners.

Petitioners Petitioners are are husband husband and and wife, wife, both both of of legal legal age, age, and and residents residents of of 78 78 General General Avenue, Avenue, GSIS GSIS Village, Village, Barangay Barangay Tandang Tandang Sora, Sora, Project Project 8, 8, Quezon Quezon City.

City. They They were were married married on on July July13, 13,2019.

2019.

The The minor minor Joshua Joshua isis the the illegitimate illegitimate child child of of petitioner petitioner Maria Maria Clarisse ClarissePaula PaulaIbañez-Cruz Ibañez-Cruzwho whowas wasborn bornbefore beforeher hermarriage marriageto to petitioner petitionerGino GinoAntonio AntonioCruz.

Cruz. As Asevidence evidenceby bythe thelack lackof ofsignature signature ininthe theCertificate Certificateof ofBirth, Birth,Joshua’s Joshua’sbirth birthwas wasnot notacknowledge acknowledgeby by this this biological biological father, father, who who had had abandoned abandoned him him and and his his mother mother Maria Maria Clarisse Clarisse while while he he was was still still aa toddler. toddler. At At present, present, neither neither petitioners petitioners nor nor Joshua Joshua have have any any communications communications with with the the biological biologicalfather. father. They Theyhave haveno noknowledge knowledgeof ofhis hiswhereabouts. whereabouts.

That That petitioners petitioners desire desire to to jointly jointly adopt adopt Joshua Joshua and and extend extend to to him him all all the the rights rights and and privileges privileges of of their their legitimate legitimate child. child. At At present, present,they theylive livetogether togetherwith withJoshua Joshuawho whoisisaaYS YS99(Grade (Grade8) 8) Home Home Study Study Program Program student student at at Angelicum Angelicum College College inin Quezon Quezon City.

City. Petitioners Petitionersprovide providefor forall allhis hisneeds needsas aswell wellas asensure ensurethat that his his upbringing upbringing isis inin accordance accordance with with sound sound Biblical Biblical Christian Christian values. values. And Andsince sincethe thebirth birthof ofJoshua, Joshua,petitioner petitionerMaria MariaClarisse Clarisse has hasbeen beenaaselfless selflessand andresponsible responsiblemother. mother. She Shesacrificed sacrificedher her personal personal needs needs and and aspirations aspirations to to look look after after Joshua’s Joshua’s needs needs as as aa child, child, and and continues continues to to do do so so until until now now inin her her child’s child’s teenage teenage years. years. Petitioner Petitioner Gino Gino Antonio Antonio has has likewise likewise cultivated cultivated aa loving, loving, open, open,and andsupportive supportiverelationship relationshipwith withJoshua Joshuaas asaagesture gestureof ofhis his love lovefor forthe themother motherand andson. son.

Moreover, Moreover, petitioners petitioners are are qualified qualified and and do do not not possess possess any any disqualification disqualification under under the the adoption adoption laws laws to to adopt adopt the the minor minor Joshua, Joshua,and andare arefinancially financiallycapable capableof ofsupporting supportinghim. him. They Theyhave have aa wholesome wholesome and and happy happy home home life, life, and and have have aa stable stable income income coming coming from from professional professional commissions, commissions, interest interest on on savings, savings, investment investmentearnings, earnings,and andconsultancies. consultancies. Petitioner PetitionerGino GinoAntonio Antonio isisaaCertified CertifiedPublic PublicAccountant.

Accountant. He Hepreviously previouslyworked workedfrom from2010 2010 to to 2014 2014 at at SGV SGV && Co. Co. as as an an accountant accountant and and then then later later at at KGLI KGLI Asia AsiaROHQ ROHQfrom from2014 2014to to2018 2018as asaafinancial financialanalyst. analyst. Currently, Currently, he he isis aa Business Business Broker Broker affiliated affiliated with with Link Link Business Business Broking Broking Philippines, Philippines, Inc. Inc. As As aa business business broker, broker, he he isis engaged engaged inin the the sale saleof ofbusiness businessto toensure ensurethat thatowners ownersare areable ableto toget getthe themost most beneficial beneficial transaction transaction for for them them inin transferring transferring the the ownership ownership of of their theirbusinesses. businesses. Petitioner PetitionerMaria MariaClarisse Clarisseisislikewise likewiseaaBusiness Business Broker Brokeraffiliated affiliatedwith withLink LinkBusiness BusinessBroking BrokingPhilippines, Philippines,Inc. Inc. She She isis also also an an insurance insurance agent agent for for Sun Sun Life Life of of Canada, Canada, Philippines, Philippines, Inc. Inc.since since2016.

2016. That Thatas asrequired requiredby bylaw, law,petitioners petitionersare arewilling willing to to be be the the subject subject of of aa child child study study report report to to be be conducted conducted by by the the Court CourtSocial SocialWorker.

Worker.

IN INVIEW VIEWTHEREOF, THEREOF,and andfinding findingthe thepetition petitionto tobe besufficient sufficientinin form formand andsubstance, substance,the thesame sameisishereby herebygiven givendue duecourse. course.

Accordingly, Accordingly, let let the the instant instant petition petition be be set set for for hearing hearing on on May May 6, 6,2020 2020(Wednesday), (Wednesday),at atexactly exactly8:30 8:30o’clock o’clockin inthe themorning morning at atRooms RoomsB13-B14, B13-B14,Basement, Basement,Hall Hallof ofJustice JusticeBuilding, Building,Quezon Quezon City.

City. Notice Noticeisishereby herebygiven giventhat thatanyone anyonewho whohas hasany anyobjection objectionto to the thePetition Petitionshould shouldfile filehis/her his/heropposition oppositionhereto heretowithin withinfifteen fifteen(15) (15) days daysfrom fromthe thelast lastdate dateof ofthe thepublication publicationof ofthis thisOrder Orderor orappear appear ininCourt Courton onthe theabove-scheduled above-scheduleddate dateof ofhearing hearingand andshow showcause, cause, ififany, any,why whythe thePetition Petitionshould shouldnot notbe begranted. granted.

Let Letthis thisOrder Orderbe bepublished, published,at atthe theexpense expenseof ofthe thepetitioners, petitioners, once onceaaweek weekfor forthree three(3) (3)consecutive consecutiveweeks weeksininaanewspaper newspaperof of national nationalcirculation circulationininthe thePhilippines, Philippines,to tobe bechosen chosenby byraffle raffleunder under the the supervision supervision of of the the Executive Executive Judge, Judge, Regional Regional Trial Trial Court, Court, this this city city pursuant pursuant to to PD.D. PD.D. 1079.

1079. The The Court Court Social Social Worker Worker Ms. Ms. Mariebec MariebecCariaga Cariagaisishereby herebydirected directedto toconduct conductaacase casestudy studyon on the the petitioners petitioners and and on on the the minor minor subject subject of of the the adoption adoption and and to to submit submither herreport reporton onor orbefore beforethe thescheduled scheduledhearing. hearing.

Petitioners Petitioners are are hereby hereby directed directed to to coordinate coordinate with with the the Court Court Social SocialWorker Workerto tofacilitate facilitatethe thepreparation preparationof ofthe thecase casestudy studyreport. report.

Petitioners Petitionersare arefurther furtherrequired requiredto tofurnish furnishaacopy copyof ofthe thePetition, Petition, together together with with its its annexes, annexes, the the Office Office of of the the Solicitor Solicitor General, General, Office Office of of the the City City Prosecutor, Prosecutor, Quezon Quezon City, City, the the Philippine Philippine Statistics StatisticsAuthority, Authority,the theLocal LocalCivil CivilRegistrar Registrarof ofMandaluyong MandaluyongCity, City, the the Local Local Civil Civil Registrar Registrar of of Quezon Quezon City, City, and and the the Department Department of of Social Social Welfare Welfare and and Development-National Development-National Capital Capital Region Region (DSWD-NCR), (DSWD-NCR), and and to to submit submit compliance compliance therewith therewith before before the the scheduled scheduledhearing. hearing.

SO SOORDERED. ORDERED. Quezon QuezonCity, City,Metro MetroManila, Manila,October October17, 17,2019.

2019.

(Sgd.) (Sgd.)FERNANDO FERNANDOT. T.SAGUN, SAGUN,JR. JR. Copy CopyFurnished: Furnished: Presiding PresidingJudge Judge Spouses SpousesGino GinoAntonio AntonioCadiena CadienaCruz Cruz&& Maria MariaClarisse ClarisseSarenas SarenasIbañez-Cruz Ibañez-Cruz Atty.

Atty.Noche NocheRiza RizaD. D.Castillo Castillo Pros.

Pros.Conrado ConradoC. C.Rosario Rosario Office Officeof ofthe theSolicitor SolicitorGeneral General Office Officeof ofthe theCivil CivilRegistrar Registrar––Mandaluyong MandaluyongCity City Office Officeof ofthe theCivil CivilRegistrar Registrar––Mandaluyong MandaluyongCity City Office Officeof ofthe theCivil CivilRegistrar Registrar––Q.C. Q.C. Philippine PhilippineStatistics StatisticsAuthority Authority(NSO) (NSO) D.S.W.D. D.S.W.D.--NCR NCR (MStandard (MStandard--Jan. Jan.27, 27,&&Feb. Feb.33&&10, 10,2020) 2020)

CYAN CYAN MAGENTA MAGENTAYELLOW YELLOW BLACK BLACK

LGUs

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor lgu@manilastandard.net editor.lgustandard@gmail.com

B4

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Valenzuela nCoV protocol up

By Jun David

I

N THE light of concerns raised about by the novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian recently convened the Valenzuela City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (VCDRRMO).

Mayor REX began the session with a reminder that the meeting is not intended to cause any alarm, but to help all the members to be fully aware of the “true” facts about the virus that has recently been causing worldwide pandemic apprehensions, with the main objective of saving lives and minimizing adverse consequences.

Valenzuela City Health Office (CHO) Head, Dr. Jaime Exconde presented the city’s interim guidelines on the preparedness & response to nCoV which is based on the current data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health (DOH).

Emphasis was given to the “Modified Decision Tool for nCoV Assessment”, which are: fever, cough and/or colds, travel history to Wuhan, China within 14 days prior to onset of symptoms, and history of exposure to confirmed cases and places with confirmed cases of infection.

Acting on the potential worst-case scenario that the illness has already reached Valenzuela City, reporting system was laid out. Any suspected case in the community must be reported to the Barangay Health Station (BHS), which shall report it to the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the CHO. The CHO will then quickly refer the suspected case or person under investigation (PUI) to the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) of the DOH that certifies patients for care and observation at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the San Lazaro Hospital, which are the only facilities with experts in handling infectious and communicable diseases.

Barangays are reminded not to touch any suspected case in their respective communities but to report such to the CESU so that it can be handled properly. This is to prevent the circulation of the virus should the suspected case be confirmed.

To further assure safety, Valenzuela Medical Center (VMC) chief Dr. Ma-

ria Estrella B. Litam, an epidemiology expert, was tasked to conduct a briefing with CESU and Valenzuela City Rescue Unit personnel, together with barangay officials, tomorrow, January 31, on proper handling protocols.

Furthermore, the City will dedicate two ambulances for the purpose of responding to reported suspected cases.

Goggles and N95 masks have already been stocked up since the Taal eruption. These can come handy should stricter precautions against the virus is necessary.

Immediate purchase of thermal guns is also underway for quicker body temperature measurement. The isolation room of the Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital (VCEH) and the VMC are also prepared to take in patients in this instance.

A meeting with public and private hospitals, public and private schools and universities in the city will also be called immediately to strengthen disease monitoring system and to assess their vulnerability to the spread of the nCoV virus.

The City Health Office appeals to the constituents to submit themselves for medical checkup should they feel any of the symptoms of the nCoV so that proper diagnosis can be made, and appropriate medical procedure can be administered.

Mayor Rex reminds the constituents not to spread fake and unverified news so as not to create panic among the constituents.

It was emphasized that contrary to what has been spreading from unofficial sources, nCoV virus is not airborne (able to survive or stay suspended in the air for hours or travel more than a few feet).

It can be transmitted only via direct contact with oral secretion from infected patient through coughing or sneezing, or indirect contact with nCoV virus droplets when one touched on nearby surfaces, such as handrails, knobs, or smart phones, where an infected patient has coughed or sneezed on.

SM Foundation’s AVP for Livelihood and Outreach Programs Cristie Angeles (second from right) receives the Panata Award from DSWD officials.

SM Foundation bags DSWD’s ‘Panata’ award SM FOUNDATION was recently named one of the recipients of the Pagkilala sa Natatanging Kontribusyon sa Bayan or PaNaTa Ko sa Bayan Awards 2019.

This is an annual activity of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that recognizes efforts of individuals, groups, and organizations whose “panata” (vow) is to share their resources, time and selves in providing better opportunities for disadvantaged sectors and to promote inclusive growth.

The awarding ceremony coincided

with the 69th anniversary celebration of DSWD. Awardees are chosen based on their significant contributions to the DSWD in fulfilling its mandate of improving the quality of life of the poor and disadvantaged sectors.

SM Foundation, established in 19983

by SM founder Henry Sy Sr. and his wife, Felicidad T. Sy, undertakes SM group of companies’ corporate social responsibility.

The Foundation is committed to serve by supporting and empowering host communities through education,

healthcare, shelter, disaster response, farmer’s training, environmental programs and care for persons with special needs, inspired by the principle of People Helping People espoused by its founder.

SM Foundation was represented by Cristie Angeles, AVP for Livelihood and Outreach Programs, in the awarding ceremony.

The ceremony also served as a venue for sharing and learning the best practices, technologies and system of governance for individuals, organizations and LGUs.

Sinulog 2020: Sto. Niño devotion spans generations

Among the measures taken by SM malls in Bulacan are health advisory posters at SM City Baliwag to promote awareness among shoppers, placing alcohol dispensers at entrances and comfort rooms, and mobilizing sanitation teams at SM City San Jose del Monte by applying disinfectant on escalators, elevators, entrance doors, and railings. Jun David

SM Bulacan malls boost readiness vs. coronavirus

By Orlan L. Mauricio

MALOLOS CITY—With the growing nationwide fear on the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) that has entered the country, prevention is better than cure.

Following this policy, SM Malls in the province of Bulacan have beefed up their sanitation as the best preventive measure against the spread of nCoV on all its shopping malls in San Jose Del

Monte, Marilao, Baliwag and Pulilan.

First, alcohol dispensers are now accessible in all entrances and rest rooms to encourage customers to sanitize their hands upon entering the mall or after using the comfort rooms. Elevators, escalator handrails, and railings are also regularly disinfected.

Second, a health advisory detailing the common signs of nCoV as well as its preventive measures are strategically posted at all entrances to raise

awareness and give proper information to mallgoers.

Besides these precautionary measures, frontliners like guards and janitorial personnel have always been directed to wear masks, while tenants and mall employees have undergone awareness seminars on the nature, prevention and symptoms of nCoV. These measures are strictly implemented for the safety of both SM customers and employees.

FILIPINOS’ devotion to the Sto. Niño continues to flourish, even in this day when faith and religion are deemed antiquated in other parts of the world. The Sinulog festival in Cebu is a testament to this – more so now with the digital age presenting more ways of practicing the devotion, thus bringing generations together in honoring the Christ Child.

With technology, younger generations and devotees based abroad are encouraged to participate in the Sinulog festival. For instance, they read posts on the Facebook page of the Basilica del Sto. Niño, and they can livestream the Mass.

Certain aspects of the Sto. Niño devotion still need to be refined, notes the Catholic Bishops Conference of the

Philippines on its website, “but we cannot deny that this devotion has helped us greatly” amid the challenges of a changing world.

As one devotee says, “people pray for their families, their health, their jobs… for bountiful harvests, for success in their endeavors, or simply to give thanks on their birthdays and wedding anniversaries.” Now Victoria Barlizo, 59, helps other devotees pray for the Senyor. “I’m happy to pray for them, with them, because I am able to pray for myself and my family, too.”

The bishops remind us that like the image of Christ as child and king, “we need to be like a child to attain our ultimate kingly goal of human maturity and Christian perfection.”

Journalist Arlyn Dela Cruz holds first art exhibit at Movida

Journalist Arlyn Dela Cruz (left) joins guests (from left) Olive Villafuerte, Dean of the College of Mass Communications of Philippine Women’s University and Arlyn’s former news manager at ABC 5; Anne Dela Cruz, a former reporter and Arlyn’s friend; and Ido Gurevich, owner of Movida Fashion + Food Club. Other photo shows ‘Jamila,’ one of Arlyn’s paintings.

SHE is known first and foremost as a journalist, having made a name for herself with the TV networks ABC 5, ABS-CBN and later the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Through the years, she was able to publish her first book and direct movies. Now, Arlyn Dela Cruz wants also to be known as an artist.

Dela Cruz held her first art exhibit which she titled “Hindi Ako Pintor” at Movida Fashion + Food Club, the newest hangout place located along P. Burgos Street, Poblacion, Makati City on January 30. There, she showcased 16 paintings, which mostly featured women she had encountered over the years.

Arlyn suffered from a stroke last June 2019 and as part of her recovery process, and on the prodding of actress Elizabeth Oropesa, she started to paint. It was through painting that Arlyn was able to fully regain her motor skills.

“I am truly grateful to Elizabeth Oropesa because if it was not for her, I don’t think I would have the courage to start painting and stage this art exhibit,” Arlyn said in her remarks during the opening of the exhibit.

The Sto. Niño devotion spans generations and is now enhanced by technology.

Life

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

FOOD

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

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To eat or not to eat:

How to avoid contracting nCoV A

VOID eating raw meat. Consume soups and other food with malunggay leaves. Stay hydrated.

The food that we eat, it seems, can help us avoid contracting the deadly 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV), which has killed at least 300 people and infected more than 14,000 in China alone.

On Feb. 2, a 44-year-old man from Wuhan, China was reported dead due to the virus. The second confirmed case in the Philippines and the first death outside of China.

“Rule Number 1: Never eat raw meat.

It can give us many diseases. Half-cooked also won’t cut it. Don’t eat pinkish meat, especially when it comes to pork,” said Health Secretary Francisco Duque, who last week announced the country’s first confirmed nCoV case involving a 38-yearold Chinese woman who traveled from Wuhan via Hong Kong.

“Kilawin—stop it for the meantime because many microbes are present in raw meat,” he reiterated.

Filipinos should as well avoid eating exotic animals such as snakes and lizards.

But if partaking of such dishes cannot be avoided, Duque said the meat must be cooked well—no medium-rare, please.

“You need to cook it well because coronaviruses are sensitive to heat. I think it will be neutralized at 53 degrees Centigrade,” he said.

The Department of Health shares the following tips to avoid contracting the deadly novel coronavirus.

Several illnesses, after all, are zoonotic or are transmitted from animals, such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), African Swine Fever (ASF), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

“SARS came from civet cats. HIV/AIDS came from chimpanzees and ASF came from pigs. MERS-CoV originally came from bats then to camels,” said Duque.

Studies have pointed to bats or snakes as the origin of nCoV based on the genetic analysis of the virus—bats being the native host and snakes being the most logical intermediate host. Both rats and snakes are sold at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, believed to be the origin of the outbreak.

Drink water and fruit juices as well, and to partake of nutritious food, especially malunggay.

“I strongly recommend as your doctor that you have to drink a lot of water.

Make sure that your throat is moist so that the virus doesn’t attach to it and eventually get sore,” added Duque.

Aside from proper food preparation, the times call for avoiding handshakes.

Neither is making beso de rigueur—not when everyone’s wearing a face mask and armed with alcohol, alcogel, and hand sanitizer.

“At most, maybe you can do a fist bump. Or if you want, a finger to finger as the least contact point. At best, just say ‘hello!’ But avoid shaking of hands

and avoid beso-beso,” advised Duque.

And the most basic reminder, of course, is to practice frequent hand washing which should last for at least 20 seconds.

“You can sing ‘Happy birthday’ or say your little prayer of ‘Our Father’— nothing prevents you from extending it by another 20 seconds so you can sing and you can pray. That’s 40 seconds all in all,” the health chief added.

I’m at joyce.panares@gmail.com.

Sweets for your sweetheart YES,, we know, January was rough. With so many unfortunate events that transpired, 31 days felt like a year (or three). Amid all these bad news popping up our newsfeed, it helps—even a little—to have a little sweetness to counter the bitterness. After all, it’s the month of love.

Cookies, cake pops, and customized confections Known for its novelty cake, chocolate, and cookie creations, Kink Cakes offers a variety of sweet options for the Valentine season.

The cake store offers luscious lollipops, rose cookie bouquet, choco pop (chocolate lollipop), themed cakes, and other confections. As with any other occasion, Kink Cakes accepts customized creations based on customers’ requests.

Kink Cakes has branches at C12 Landsdale in Timog Avenue, Quezon City (0917-634-3274), Berjaya Hotel in Makati (8398-6586 / 0917-634-4039), and Don Antonio Arcade in Commonwealth, Quezon City (7358-5390 / 0917-110-6969). Go to www.kinkcakes.com.

Kink Cakes’ choco pops (left) and Valentine’s Day cakes

Strawberry chocolate cake

Cute cupcakes

Two of the most complementary flavors come together in Andrew Café’s Valentine cake.

The Valentine Succulent Strawberry Chocolate Cake is made of three layers of decadent moist chocolate cake with rich serving of strawberry cream filling, made extra lavish with cream cheese frosting, melted chocolate drips, fresh strawberries, and white chocolate shards on top.

Love comes in all sizes, and New York’s M Bakery packed it in its sweet cupcake creations.

Ideal for gifting or as personal treat are the beautifully decorated Rose cupcakes and Valentine’s Day cupcakes that come with sprinkles and topper of choice—both variants are available in vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet. Edible image cupcakes come in Classic Vanilla and Chocolate flavors topped with buttercream.

For something smaller and great for sharing, the Valentine’s Day mini cupcakes are available in Classic Vanilla and Chocolate with a lovely touch of red, white, and pink-themed chocolate and vanilla icing.

M Bakery is at One Bonifacio High Street Mall in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Call (02) 847-9829 or 0917-633-1718 for inquiries and orders.

It’s available for preorders, two days in advance. Contact (02) 230-5100 local 1888.

Andrew Café is at Benilde campus in Malate, Manila.

Andrew Café’s Valentine Succulent Strawberry Chocolate Cake

M Bakery’s Valentine’s Day cupcakes (left) and Rose cupcakes

Life

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 manilastandardlife@gmail.com

Taho and halo-halo in one bowl

Singapore’s Nine Fresh is coming to Manila Singapore, serves bean curd (just like our taho, but silkier and runnier), grass jelly, or ai-yu jelly (made from the HAT will you get when you mix taho and halo-halo? seeds of awkeotsang creeping fig), and Singapore dessert chain Nine Fresh serves it. topped with sweet potato, matcha, and taro balls.

Other toppings include black pearl, Because of its popularity among Fili- its home base—at SM Manila and SM variety of jelly, beans, and roasted or pinos in Singapore, Nine Fresh is bring- Fairview. boiled peanuts. ing its bestselling Taiwanese desserts to The shop, which opened eight years “It’s similar to the Filipino halo-hathe country—its first venture outside ago and currently has 17 branches in lo,” co-founder Vanessa Tan said during the brand’s preview in Manila.

Tan said they brought the concept to Singapore after trying the dessert in Jiufen, a mountain town in Taiwan, where it is a local delicacy.

Aiming to localize the flavors of the dessert, Nine Fresh’s branches in the Philippines will use local ingredients and toppings such as ube balls in place of taro balls. Tan also shared they are planning to include more local ingredients in their topping menu.

Bestsellers include Nine Fresh Signature (priced at P115 for a 500ml bowl), Black Pearl Ai-Yu Special (P120), Grass Jelly Special (P110), and Fruity Ai-Yu Jelly (P125).

Customers can also create customized combinations of the base and topNine Fresh founders pings. Bean curd and grass jelly are recommend adding priced at P50 while ai-yu is P65. Topa cup of milk to make pings’ range from P10 to P30. the dessert bowl tastier and milkier.

Tan said they are planning to open eight to 10 more branches this year.

Text and photos by Angelica Villanueva

W

The Singaporean shop brings to the Philippines its bestselling dessert bowls made with bean curd, grass jelly, ai-yu jelly, and various toppings.

DINE OUT

Hotel offers P2-k lunch buffet for 2 WHERE to eat lunch on Monday?

Marriott Café at Manila Marriott Hotel makes Monday easier to bear with its year-round lunch buffet promo. A diner and a company can savor a lavish feast featuring various cuisines for P2,020 nett, more than half the original lunch buffet price per person.

The spread includes freshly baked breads and artisan cheeses, salads,

Halal-certified dishes, Indian cuisine, Australian beef and other meats, pasta, Japanese fare, fresh and sustainable seafood, Filipino food favorites, Chinese dim sum, and cakes and gelato.

Those who can’t make it to lunch may take advantage of the 50 percent off on the regular rate for dinner buffet every Monday. Diners only need to pay P1,300 nett per person to enjoy the spread.

Promo cannot be availed in conjunction with any other membership discount and other promotional offers. For the 2 for 2020 promotion, children aged 7 to 12 years old are considered as one of the pair and should be accompanied by one adult.

Call (02) 8988 9999 or visit www.manilamarriott.com to know more.

Chef Josh Boutwood’s new achievement Australian Wagyu Striploin, one of the dishes served at The Test Kitchen.

BRITISH-Filipino chef Josh Boutwood adds another feather to his cap—in this case, his toque—after one of his progressive dining concepts has been named one of CNN Global’s Best New Restaurants in Asia.

From being a culinary wunderkind who brought Manila his flair for flavors as the Bistro Group’s executive chef since 2012, Chef Boutwood has established himself as a culinary maverick, with Helm, Savage, and The Test Kitchen serving up a different, more personalized take on tastes and textures.

CNN Global described his 42-seater The Test Kitchen in upscale Rockwell area in Makati as “a mix of informality and sophistication in both design and food.” The restaurant is the only establishment from the Philippines that made it into the list.

The Test Kitchen is known for its dedication to bringing out the flavors and freshness of ingredients through different approaches.

Chef Boutwood’s success, he said, can be attributed to a guiding principle that follows the cooking philosophy that he has held throughout his stewardship of the restaurants under the Bistro Group and the homegrown concepts he created himself.

For him, time is also an ingredient. At his concepts, he uses techniques that amplify the flavor and not hide it, he told CNN. The Test Kitchen serves a diverse and ever-changing menu as the chef seeks out

Marriott Café at Manila Marriott Hotel offers a year-round buffet promo every Monday.

BITES Ready for 3 nine-inch?

Chef Josh Boutwood is known for his progressive dining concepts.

the best produce for the season to come up with a well-curated, well-balanced lineup of gustatory delights to be paired with fine wines and spirits.

Having made it to the Asia’s Best New Restaurants list of CNN puts The Test Kitchen at par with other exciting concepts in the region such as Cantonese restaurant Mott 32 at Marina Bay Sands Singapore, Hong Kong’s Mono, Bali’s underwater dining venue Koral, Halapua and Kinu by Takagi in Thailand, and Chef Alain Ducasse’s Esterre in Tokyo.

The Test Kitchen Manila is on the ground floor of One Rockwell at Rockwell Drive, Rockwell Center, Makati City.

They say good things come in threes, just like three nine-inch pizzas.

Yellow Cab’s New York, New York deal offers three nine-inch New York Classic pizzas for P699. The promo for the pepperoni filled pies runs today until Feb. 25.

It’s available for dine-in, take-out, delivery, and curbside pick-up in selected Yellow Cab stores. Check out its website and social media pages for the list of participating stores.

Yellow Cab’s New York Classic Greenwich’s Hawaiian Overload

100-peso off on Hawaiian pizza In celebration of National Pizza Day on Feb. 9, leading pizza and pasta brand Greenwich slashes P100 off on every barkada size of its bestselling Hawaiian Overload Pizza.

Topped with sweet pineapples, melt-in-your-mouth cheese, savory ham, bacon bits, and fresh green bell peppers, the Hawaiian Overload pizza offers a savory-sweet summery taste that many Filipinos love.

Orders made from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. will get the discount. Customers may order through #5-55-55 hotline, www.greenwichdelivery.com, or via SMS.

Entertainment SNAPSHOT

US rAPPer 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of fame in California.

The ceremony comes 10 days before the finale of the Starz crime drama he produces and appears in, Power. the 11:30 a.m. ceremony was in front of the W Hollywood Hotel and Hollywood Hamburger at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

Present to witness the event were rappers Dr. Dre and Eminem. AFP

Love and hope in the time of HIV A

fter given the opportunity to witness excerpts from the play Ward 448, one can easily sum it up as timely, heartbreaking, emotionally stirring, and definitely mindblowing. the production will give you a better understanding and proper information about people afflicted with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, popularly known to many as HIV.

from frontline Production Inc., written and directed by Rodel Mercado, the play is about the lives of three people who have HIV. How they got the virus, what are the repercussions they must face and why must they come “clean” with their status, specifically to their loved ones and families are the question the story wanted to resolve.

Playwright and director Mercado says: “ With the alarming incidence of HIV incidence in the Philippines nowadays, it is best to be informed than ignorant. My main objective for writing, directing and producing Ward 448 is to let the audiences realize that the sufferings, indignation of people who has acquired HIV. Not only are we talking here about the physical deterioration but the decline of emotional support and sympathy that one goes through once people find out that you are HIV positive,” He carries on: “We want discussion, we are giving stories of three individuals who are dealing with the affliction. We aspire for a more humane and compassionate reaction to people who are carriers of this deadly virus.”

What makes this different from other plays about HIV? Director M e r c a d o ’s quick reply: “Well, this is from the point of view of

The cast of 'Ward 488,' a heart-tugging play about the lives of three people who have HIV.

nickie.standard@gmail.com

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Docu on plastic waste nominated at London filmfest

50 Cent gets his own star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

people with HIV. Sila ang magkwekwento kung paano nila ito na-acquire. Knowing that they have it, they will reveal how it affected their lives, livelihood and how the people they love, specifically family, next of kin, friends and lovers reacion to what they have. Will they be accepted with a lot of sympathy and understanding? Will they be ridiculed, disowned o kaya pandidirihan at lalayuan? All these, the characters in the play, may kaniya-kaniyang answers and takes.”

He promises: “Yes, the play is brave and daring. But I made sure there are elements and moments in it na makakahinga ka naman as an audience.

May laughter, tears, tender and intimate moments. What is most important is that when you get out of the theater, what you bring home is correct information about HIV/AIDS and that with the drama that unfolded, you will be more understanding of their emotional and personal battles and convictions.”

One of the major cast members is April Gutierrez who portrays the role of Carla Mae, a mother and household help to an influential family.

Alternately giving life to Kevin, the straight acting call center agent who has a penchant for complicated relationships are VJ Mendoza and Kevin Posadas. francis, who is the last major character, a gay impersonator who lives a rainbowcolored life, is seasoned actor Ronnie Martinez.

For Gutierrez, the biggest challenge of being Carla Mae is: “It was extrachallenging for me to bring out my bring out and channel my maternal side. Hindi pa kasi ako nanay.

I have this breakdown scene in the play that is so painful

monDAY, februArY 3, 2020

to do. Pero liberating for the character because she was able to exorcise her demons and face the truth.”

“Maraming aral na matutuhan dito pero hindi siya preachy,” Mendoza declares. “Difficult and exciting to give life to Kevin because of his emotions can be compared to a roller coaster ride.

One part of him is a sexual predator but a hopeless romantic. He loves the thrill of the chase and the conquering but at the end of the day, what he looks for is someone who will make him loved and secured. He longs for security, yung feeling na he belongs and is a part of a relationship.”

Martinez’s eyes turn misty as he talks about being francis: “Hindi siya madaling gawin for me kasi may mga kaibigan akong nawala na dahil nagkaHIV sila, that eventually became AIDS and that was the cause of their demise.

It was excruciating for me to go back to that place, yung ang dami mong gustong itanong at sabihin. My character here is almost diva-like, larger than life. He always tries his best to make happiness a daily choice.”

“He doesn’t care for the consequences of his actions. He knows kasi na mas mas madali ang maging masaya kesa maging malungkot. When people see you happy, the world smiles with you. When you are sad, no amount of people telling you that they understand how you feel will change and erase the sadness. You alone carry the heavy feeling, hindi ba?”

Ward 448 started its performance feb.

2. Other performances are slated on feb.

15, 18 and 29 at the San Sebastian College recolletos Manila Auditorium. for tickets, please call: +632 869-3794 / 0905-8939869 / 0975-5305697.

Alon!, an expertly-curated documentary on plastic waste written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Gabby Fernandez, has been nominated for the Best foreign Language Documentary, Best Director of Foreign Language Documentary, and Science and education Award at the London International Cinema festival to be held on feb. 8 to 15 in London, United Kingdom.

The annual week-long event celebrates the global independent film industry through a series of professional lectures, workshops and financing seminars. Showcased are premieres and screenings, and the highlight is the recognition of the year’s most promising independent and studio films from around the world. It likewise serves as an ideal platform for networking among the participating like-minded creatives and potential investors in a collaborative community setting.

It is in this venue that Alon!, produced by the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) through the Office of the Vice President for Advancement, will initiate a bigger ripple of change outside of the country.

With the aim to remind everyone of the immense impact of plastic

College’s Production Design Program. “this is an issue that this generation, the students themselves, feel strongly about. It is their advocacy and for a change, it is our generation following their lead. they take it seriously—as we all should,” he continued.

“What was presented was just an outcropping of a larger problem,” fernandez revealed. “the surfers have answers to help solve the plastic pollution of the oceans. So in turn, we used those insights and applied them to see where the root causes were coming from.” the documentary posits how the production team’s quest for a solution led them back to the urban landscape where the unsurmountable production of single-use plastic and poor proper waste disposal remain to be predominant. fernandez wished we should take the issue seriously as soon as possible.

“It is killing off many of our plant and animal life—including us—and choking our planet to death. Not just filipinos, by the way, but everyone.”

Alon! was screened in various schools including Jaime Hilario School-De La Salle Bataan, La Salle Green Hills, and De La Salle Lipa.

It started its pilgrimage to the

NOW MAKING WAVES. 'Alon' is an expertly-curated documentary

on plastic waste written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Gabby Fernandez.

pollution, it presents the wonders of the Philippines’ growing surf tourism and its relationship with the looming environmental problems.

The film projects the issue through the lenses of the local surfers as ecowarriors who, in their own ways, are thriving to help save the environment.

It showcases the breathtaking views of the six leading surfing communities namely Siargao, La Union, Baler, Mati in Davao, Gubat in Sorsogon, and Sabang Daguitan in Leyte, where resurfaced pieces of trash in form of packaged commodities hold proof of the extensive presence of plastic from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao.

“It is an interesting contrast: the beauty and simplicity of the surf lifestyle against the backdrop of runaway consumerism and ubiquity of plastic waste,” noted fernandez, who was the erstwhile Chairperson of the

Who touches...

From C4

So men can just visit the Belo clinic at least once a year and get back to their busy schedules for the rest of the year while looking their very best.

Dr. Belo explained to members of the media the improvements on Mayor Isko’s face after doing the thermage FLX. She said Yorme used to have deeper lines that have now become shallow.

When she pinched his skin, there’s less to pinch now than before. Also, Mayor Isko’s jawline has become more prominent and his eyes more open. “I didn’t want to fix everything. I just want a refreshed look and I got what I wanted. I feel good about it. Kumpyansa ako,”,the Mayor replied.

Dr. Belo said the partnership with Mayor Isko Moreno came about because the Manila mayor is also passionate in showing the whole world that the Philippines is world class.

“I know we’re third world but we are first class in dermatology.

So, when I meet a person who has that same love and who wants

featured surfing communities to honor the eco-warriors, with a premiere at the Lola Sayong Eco Surf Camp in Gubat, Sorsogon as part of Swellfest, an annual celebration of the start of the surf season wherein the locals immerse their guests in tours, workshops, and clean-up drives that aim to educate them on the risks of plastic.

Speaking on behalf of the local surfers of Gubat, Lola Sayong Eco Surf Camp Head Noli John Mercader wished that tourists would learn how to be responsible travelers.

He praised Benilde’s initiative which has helped them to spread the message.

“Benilde has a wide network and visual understanding that would effectively educate the people regarding the problem on plastic waste. It is true that plastic is a clear and present danger to us and our environment).” to taas the bandilang Pilipino, I feel it in my bones and that’s what I felt with Mayor Isko. Put it together somehow, love for Philippines, Belo Medical Group being around 30 years trying to make a dent in the world, trying to make the country a beauty destination, parang I feel a kinship,” Dr. Belo said. the Manila mayor added that he believes the Philippines can be globally competitive, we have the same technology and training, institutions like the Belo Medical Group are proof that Filipinos are world-class and first class. the press launch ended with an announcement from Dr. Belo that the Belo Medical Group is donating P500,000 pesos to the Philippine red Cross to help with relief efforts for the victims of the taal eruption.

“Because we all want to help... this is not going to be a superficial presscon.

But rather it’s also a way that... together we can help and we will continue to help you. We are all here,” Dr. Belo said. the press launch was held at the Rizal Park Hotel in Manila as suggested by Mayor Isko. the good mayor wanted people to know there’s a lot of beautiful locations in Manila that’s worth visiting.

Entertainment

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

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Who touches Yorme’s skin?

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno encourages men to take care of their skin. (Inset) Dr. Vicki Belo with the popular city mayor during Belo Thermage FLX media launch.

“SHE promised. She promised there’s no injection. She promised it will be a quick procedure, and she promised I will see immediate results. She promised and she delivered. So that’s why it’s sort of saying, it’s a promise delivered to a client like me who’s very busy. I feel good about myself and I want you to feel good about yourself also.”

This was the statement of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso referring to his Belo Thermage FLX procedure performed on him by no less than the founder and CEO of the Belo Medical Group, Dr. Vicki Belo.

The valiant Manila mayor, who

admitted he’s scared of injections and is sometimes shy to admit he goes to a beauty clinic, openly encouraged busy men like him who don’t have time for themselves to try the Belo Thermage FLX. “Gravity will win as you age. I can honestly say to my colleagues and to my age bracket, it’s time. It’s time to take Thermage. This is for us,” Moreno said.

Dr. Belo said the Thermage FLX is really perfect for men on-the-go like Mayor Isko because it only takes 35 minutes, has immediate results, and delivers a long-term effect.

Continued on C3

The main cast of GMA's latest television drama directed by Don Michael Perez.

CONEY REYES back on camera

ABS-CBN named most outstanding TV network

T

HERE’S nothing like a family drama, especially on the way it hits our dramatic core, and how the characters become so relatable because we see ourselves in them.

'G Diaries' host Ernie Lopez received the award for G Diaries and I Love Foundation.

Gretchen Ho and Jeff Canoy were hailed Most Outstanding Male and Female Correspondents.

MEDIA giant ABSCBN is welcoming the new decade on a high note as the De La Salle Araneta University bestowed the station with the Most Outstanding TV Network award at the 3rd Gawad Lasallianeta.

The network was the most awarded station during the ceremony, hauling over 30 recognitions including Most Outstanding AM Radio Station for DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 and Most Outstanding News TV Show for TV Patrol, the country’s most watched primetime newscast.

Kapamilya news and current affairs programs also raked in double recognitions such as Umagang Kay Ganda (Most Outstanding Morning Show and Morning Show Hosts), The Bottomline with Boy Abunda (Most Outstanding News/ Current Affairs Talk Show and Most Outstanding Current Affairs Talk Show Host for Boy Abunda), Sports U (Most Outstanding Sports Show and Most Outstanding Sports Show Host for Dyan Castillejo), SOCO (Most Outstanding Public Affairs Show and Most Outstanding Public Affairs Show Host for Gus Abelgas), and Matanglawin (Most Outstanding Educational Show and Most Outstanding Educational Show Host for Kim Atienza).

Umagang Kay Ganda anchors Jeff Canoy and Gretchen Ho were also hailed as the Most Outstanding Male and Female Correspondents, respectively, for their work in ABS-CBN News, while ABSCBN North America bureau chief TJ Manotoc was a recipient of the Green Zeal Award for Excellence as Lasallian Public Communicators.

Meanwhile, G Diaries and I Love Foundation, a non-profit organization founded

by the late ABS-CBN Foundation chair Gina Lopez, took home the Green Zeal Award for Excellence in Environmental Conservation.

In the entertainment category, Kapamilya stars and programs also triumphed, including Coco Martin (Most Outstanding Male TV Dramatic Actor) for FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano,Angel Locsin (Most Outstanding Female TV Dramatic Actress) for The General’s Daughter, Kadenang Ginto (Most Outstanding TV Drama Series), It’s Showtime (Most Outstanding Musical/Variety Show and Hosts), and Hello, Love, Goodbye (Most Outstanding Filipino Film of 2019).

Also part of the list of winners from ABS-CBN are I Can See Your Voice (Most Outstanding Game Show on TV), Gandang Gabi Vice (Most Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show), MOR 101.9’s DJ Chacha (Most Outstanding Female FM DJ), Angelica Panganiban (Most Outstanding TV Comedienne), Joshua Garcia (Most Outstanding TV Performance by an Actor for MMK’s ‘Medalya’ episode), Alex Gonzaga (Most Outstanding Social Media Content Creator), Anne Curtis (Most Influential Entertainment Celebrity), Daniel Padilla (Most Effective Male Celebrity Endorser), and Kathryn Bernardo (Most Effective Female Celebrity Endorser).

There were also Kapamilya stars who picked up multiple awards, including Vice Ganda (Most Effective Twitter Influencer, Most Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host, and Most Influential Entertainment Celebrity) and Luis Manzano (Most Outstanding Game Show Host and Green Zeal Award for Excellence as Lasallian Public Communicators Awardee).

These facts prompted seasoned screen actress Coney Reyes to star again in a television series after declining several offers in the past. Coney topbills Love of My Life, a heartwarming family drama that promises to play with our emotions as it tackles different relationships, bonds, and issues among family members.

“It’s such a blessing to be part of something that Channel 7, GMA, is doing for its 70th anniversary. For those who have not yet been born during those days, I started my career in 1975 here,” Coney shared during the series’ media conference.

“It’s really just a joy to be back here and in GMA to do this special teleserye with such a talented group of artists. It’s been a real joy working with each one of them, discovering them, along with the production staff and the crew. [Direk] Don Michael Perez I think is a brilliant

director. We learn from each other. If they say they learn from me, I also learn from them so it’s a continuous learning process,” she added.

Joining Coney Reyes are Rhian Ramos, Carla Abellana, Mikael Daez, and Tom Rodriguez.

Playing vital roles are Anna Marin, Vaness del Moral, Geleen Eugenio, Samantha Lopez, Maey Bautista, Ethan Hariot, Raphael Landicho, Levi Ignacio, Carl Guevarra, Dino Pastrano, and Johnny Revilla.

The Gonzales family is not like any other, Isabella (Coney), the matriarch, is a rich widow with high standards who would stop at nothing to get what’s best for her family. Nikolai (Mikael), her youngest son, has grown into a rebellious man after causing a traumatic family accident which led to the death of his father. Stefano (Tom), the favorite son, is a family-oriented architect who fathers the child of Kelly (Rhian), his former lover who holds a vengeful heart due to what she has been through in the name of love.

When Stefano crosses paths with Adelle (Carla), a widow with a child who manages her own handicraft business, things

BROTHERS. Tom Rodriguez and Mikael Daez

as the sons of Coney Reyes' character in 'Love of My Life.'

begin to get better. Amidst Isabella’s objection towards their relationship, Stefano and Adelle strive to build a normal family. Their seemingly perfect life crumbles not only when Kelly barges into the picture along with the estranged Nikolai, but also when Stefano gets diagnosed with a terminal illness.

How can pain bring together such opposing characters for the sake of the love of their lives? How will Adelle, Kelly, Nikolai, and Isabella adapt to their unusual set-up, living inside one house for the sickly Stefano?

The series is a product of the visionary minds of Creative Director Aloy Adlawan; creative head Suzette Doctolero; creative consultant Agnes Gagelonia-Uligan; headwriter Ronalean Sales; writers Ana Aleta Nadela, Dang SulitMarino and brainstormers Gilda Marcelino and Nehem Dalliego.

Love of My Life, directed

by Don Michael Perez, premieres today and airs weeknights, on GMA Telebabad.

Coney Reyes topbills 'Love of My Life,' a family drama that premieres today on primetime.