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Sinovac sets off vax rollout Duterte grateful as PH gets 600K doses; Astra Zeneca suffers delay By Willie Casas and Othel V. Campos

RESIDENT Duterte welcomed the arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from China, saying he was confident that more doses would soon be available “until every Filipino will be given the chance to be vaccinated.”

VOL. XXXV • NO. 19 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

In a ceremony to mark the arrival of thanked China profusely for the donation, 600,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine saying “the gesture of friendship and at Villamor Air Base, the President solicarity” highlighted how vaccines should be treated as a global public good and made available to all, rich and poor countries alike. “No nation – no people – should be left to suffer the ravages of this pandemic for whatever reason,” Duterte said. “Comprehensive global recovery hinges on equal and easy access by everyone to life-saving vaccines because, at the end of the day… no one is safe until everyone is safe.” “Countries must therefore continue working together and do everything humanly possible to ensure a good outcome for every person,” he added. Duterte said with the mass vaccination, the country may be back to normal “maybe in the first or second quarter of 2023, with the help of God.” Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., the country's vaccine czar, said the vaccine rollout Next page

COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM FEB. 28)

576,352 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

CHINA'S DONATION. President Rodrigo Duterte (right) and Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian do the fist-bump near a China military plane at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City as the Philippines takes delivery of the first shipment comprising 600,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccines from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. on February 28, 2021. From Villamor Air Base, the vaccines will be transported in at least six 40-footer trucks going to its cold chain storage facilities that include the Philippine General Hospital and the Metropac Logistics in Marikina City.

2,113 29,763 NEW

ACTIVE

12,318

DEATHS

NEW

534,271 9,418 RECOVERIES

NEW

Duque, Galvez first in line to ‘boost public confidence’ By Willie Casas HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque III and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. will get inoculated against COVID-19 Monday with the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech to boost public confidence in the government's immunization program, Senator Christopher Go said Sunday. Go, a former aide of President Rodrigo Duterte, said Galvez will get vaccinated at the University of the PhilippinesPhilippine General Hospital (PGH) while

Duque will get vaccinated at the Lung Center of the Philippines. The first batch of 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived in the country Sunday afternoon. “They’ll be first in line to show the public that we need to trust the government and what the government is doing,” Go said of Duque and Galvez. He said he would get vaccinated along with President Duterte. “We will get vaccinated at the same

Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro and City Health Officer Albert Herrera inspect a truck waiting for the arrival of the Sinovac vaccine.

Painting fetches P84m at auction

NBI vows thorough probe into QC shoot-out By Rey E. Requejo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rio N. Araja THE NBI will “go anywhere its investigation will lead,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Sunday, promising a thorough probe of the Feb. 24 shootout between police and state narcotics agents in a busy Quezon City

intersection that left four people dead. While the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will focus primarily on criminal liability in the shootout between members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), it could also look at administrative liability too. He cited as an example the NBI investigation of the alleged failure of Customs and PDEA employees to detect

a shabu shipment worth P1 billion in 2019. “We’ve seen this many times before, more recently in the case of the tapioca shipment containing shabu. That’s why the President trusts the agency,” Guevarra said. Earlier, President Duterte declared that the NBI was the only agency mandated to conduct an investigation into the shootout that led to the deaths of two policemen, a PDEA agent and an informant. Next page

• US vouches for one-dose shot Unioil price hike in offing; solon • UK prince blasts ’infodemic’ eyes ’unbundling’

A US panel has recommended Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 shot for emergency approval, as some of the world's most powerful countries issued a unified call for better vaccine access for poorer nations. The United States is the world's hardest-hit country, and its emergency use authorization of the J&J vaccine would follow those for the Pfizer and Moderna doses. "We're going to use every conceivable way to expand manufacturing of the vaccine... and make even more rapid

progress," said President Joe Biden as the country tries to finally get on top of the virus that has already claimed 510,000 US lives. J&J stressed its vaccine was proven to work with a single shot, and could be stored long-term at standard fridge temperatures, which "offers logistical and practical advantages." Prince William hits vaccine 'infodemic' Prince William has warned that antivaccination messages are rife on social

WORLD ROUNDUP

'Tinapa Vendors' by Anita Magsaysay-Ho fetches P84 million - a record for the artist - at the Leon Gallery Asia Cultural Council Auction held Saturday. The painting is her favorite work and done in her favorite medium (egg tempera), according to Jaime Ponce de Leon of Leon Gallery.

By Alena Mae S. Flores and Rio N. Araja PUMP prices will likely go up again this week, and by as much as P1 per liter, to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market, a distributor said Sunday. “Expect fuel prices to go up next week (March 2 to 8). Diesel should increase by P0.75 to P0.85 per liter. Gasoline should increase by P0.90 to P1 per liter,” Unioil Philippines said in its advisory.

News

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Villar upbeat on coconut fund law “The coconut farmers are the poorest in the country. They earn only about P1,500 a month. This fund, which rightfully belongs to the coconut farmers, should be plowed back to them for their own direct benefit,” said Villar, head of the Senate committee on Agriculture and

Food. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco praised Duterte for signing into law Republic Act 11524 or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act. “We express our sincerest gratitude to President Duterte for signing into law this

landmark legislation that would create a trust fund to finally allow farmers to directly benefit from the multi-billionpeso coconut levy funds collected during the Marcos era,” he said. “Indeed, this is a monumental moment for more than three million coconut farmers who have long been denied the fund that rightfully belongs to them.” Velasco is one of the principal authors of the measure. AAMBIS-OWA party-list Rep. Sharon cited the signing of Republic Act 11524 to provide the “much-needed relief for the families of coconut farmers who have long waited for their share” and are now beleaguered by the adverse economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Garin, the head of the technical

Sinovac...

before the Chinese shipment, in midFebruary and has not yet been delivered, delayed by the lack of an indemnification fund to compensate persons who suffer adverse effects after being inoculated. Later Sunday, Duque and Galvez also admitted that a shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines would be delayed by a week because of supply problems. Duterte did not remark on these delays, however. “I wish to assure the public that your government remains committed to a timely [vaccine] roll out that will enable us to confidently reopen our society,” he said. “The delivery of this first batch, I hope, will serve as a guarantee to everyone that we are taking a big step in our efforts to overcome this health crisis.” He ended his address by thanking medical frontliners and urging the public to have confidence in the vaccines, which are backed by science and deliberated on by Filipino experts. He also reminded the public to continue practicing health and safety protocols while waiting for the final approval of all the vaccines. “Remember to wear masks, wash hands and observe social distancing. Your cooperation here is key and will undoubtedly save numerous lives along the way,” he said. The initial batch of 600,000 doses was initially expected to arrive on Feb. 23, but delivery was pushed back due to the lack of an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which was only released Feb. 22. The military will get 100,000 doses from the donation and the rest will go to select health workers of the country, which has recorded 574,247 total COVID-19 cases as of Saturday and has lagged behind its Southeast Asian neighbors in securing the vaccines. Sinovac's CoronaVac is the third vaccine to secure an EUA from the FDA after those from AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech, but the regulator does not recommend the vaccine for health workers due to its lower efficacy rate of 50.4 percent in the sector. The FDA said it is best for healthy individuals aged 18 to 59, but has since clarified that despite its recommendation, medical frontliners who wish to avail of

the vaccine may do so. The interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) on Friday announced it was recommending the administration of CoronaVac to health workers despite a 50.4 percent efficacy rate when it was given to medical frontliners exposed to COVID-19 during trials in Brazil. The government has allocated P82.5 billion for its state vaccination program: P70 billion from loans, P10 billion from the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, and P2.5 billion from the 2021 Department of Health (DOH) budget. Reports of smuggled doses and VIP vaccinations have hounded the country's delayed inoculation drive. The government expects the bulk of the country's COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in the third and the fourth quarters of 2021. Shots developed by Sinovac, PfizerBioNTech, and AstraZeneca have emergency use authorizations in the Philippines. The country's drug regulator also allowed the "compassionate use" of 10,000 doses of Chinese state firm Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine for Duterte's security detail, many of whom illegally received the same product as early as September last year. A number of hospitals have begun preparing to receive and manage the first batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine. The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila will receive some of the vaccines. PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said that their employees will be given priority in the vaccination rollout. Even though only 12 percent of their frontliners expressed willingness to get inoculated with Sinovac vaccines, Del Rosario said the hospital will take advantage of the opportunity to get the first batch of the doses. Del Rosario said health care workers who are off-duty will be scheduled to receive the vaccines first. The vaccination will be conducted at UP Atrium. The Veterans Memorial Medical Center is on standby waiting for the arrival of the vaccines from Sinovac. Frontliners of the Armed Forces of the

Philippines (AFP) are also set to receive the vaccines. The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) deployed some personnel to ensure the security of the vaccines. Local pharmaceutical firm Glovax Biotech Corp., meanwhile, announced plans to bring in 40 million doses of 2nd generation COVID vaccine at half the price of other more known COVID vaccine brands, while it waits for the negotiations for the P7 billion vaccine plant here to bear fruit. Glovax president and CEO Giovanni Alingog said the its partnership with Korea-based Eubiologics and LG Chem, a subsidiary of the LG Group in Korea, will help deliver the affordable vaccines to the Philippines. “Globax’s partnership with our Korean partners allowed us to reserve as much as 40 million doses of the vaccine, which should be available six months from now,” Alingog said. Globax will be carrying the brand of Eubiologics which was developed in Western New York, USA by POP Biotechnologies and has been approved for human clinical trials. EuCorVac-19 will be mass-produced by Eubiologics and LG Chem in a new facility in Korea. Glovax and Eubiologics is in the process of applying for the emergency use authorization (EUA). The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety had approved the combined phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials in January 2021. Glovax is working out the details for manufacturing the vaccine in the Philippines by constructing a local facility as it partners with the National Development Corp. (NDC) and other private partners to raise equity for the project. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has already endorsed the project to the Board of Investments for evaluation as well as for financing guidelines. Alingog said Glovax proposes to produce the next generation COVID vaccine and the Pentavalent Vaccine in partnership with Korean partners. Eubiologics and LG Chem are both PreQualified Vaccine (PQV) manufacturers, which means that both companies are traditional vaccine manufacturers with a track record in making vaccines.

The Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), meanwhile, welcomed reports that doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were scheduled to arrive Monday so that health workers would have a choice of vaccines to use. The relief was premature, however, as both Duque and Galvez later said the AstraZeneca vaccines would be delayed by a week because of supply problems. Doctors from PGH on Saturday said the Sinovac vaccine should undergo further appraisal before being administered to health care workers. The PGH Physician’s Association said the appraisal should be done by the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), an advisory body to the Health Department and PhilHealth, to facilitate informed decision-making.

“We recognize the efforts of the PGH administration in hastening the vaccination process for its constituents. However, the vaccination plan should have been handled with more prudence and transparency,” the association said in a statement. The group said the supposed inoculation using Sinovac was met with a “sweeping disapproval rate of 95 percent” among PGH residents and fellows. “As the national university hospital, PGH should set an example on how vaccination rollouts should be executed in the country. PGH should uphold the ideals of ethical and evidence-based medicine, for which it has been a bastion,” it said. “Let us not lose sight of critical thinking, especially with matters relating to our own health by monitoring updates and developments in the COVID-19

vaccination. Public vigilance is key,” it added. The Philippines logged 2,113 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total to 576,352 infections, as one laboratory was not able to submit its data, the Department of Health (DOH) reported. The DOH reported 29 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 12,318, which is 2.14 percent of the total cases. The DOH also reported that 9,418 persons have recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 534,271, which is 92.7 percent of the total. This left 29,763 active cases, which is 5.2 percent of the total number of cases. Of the active cases, 88.7 percent are mild; 5.3 percent are asymptomatic; 2.6 percent are critical; 2.5 percent are severe; and 0.93 percent are moderate.

Unioil...

Expectations of stronger demand for oil in the second quarter and compliance with the agreed OPEC production cuts also shored up oil prices. On February 23, the oil firms also raised the price of gasoline by P1.20 per liter and P1 per liter of kerosene. On February 16, the oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P0.75 per liter, diesel by P1.25 per liter and kerosene by P1.10 per liter. The oil firms also raised the price of gasoline by P0.85 per liter, diesel by P1.10 per liter and kerosene by P1 per liter on Feb 9. On February 2, the oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P0.25 per liter but cut the price of kerosene by P0.25 per liter. The oil firms did not move diesel prices. Zarate said based on reports the oil companies would increase diesel prices by P1.20 to P1.30 per liter, gasoline by P0.75-P0.85 per liter and kerosene by P1.10-P1.20 per liter.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rio N. Araja

BOUT 3.5 million coconut farmers from 68 coconutproducing provinces owning not more than five hectares for the last 10 years will benefit from President Rodrigo Duterte’s signing into law of a measure that seeks to create a trust fund for coconut farmers, Senator Cynthia Villar said.

From A1

would begin Monday with the arrival of the CoronaVac doses. A shipment of 525,600 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca was supposed to arrive today (Monday) through the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility, a global sharing mechanism for pooled procurement and equitable access for COVID-19 jabs. That has been moved back a week, however, because of supply problems. The President, his former aide Senator Christopher Go, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Galvez, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and other Cabinet officials welcomed the country's initial vaccine supply at the airbase with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian and other Chinese diplomats. Duterte said he would like to make a short visit to Beijing soon to personally thank Chinese President Xi Jinping for the donation. “China has donated several vaccines to several countries but it is only the donation made to the Philippines that was carried by a Chinese government plane. Other countries had to go to China to get their vaccine supply. But China sent our supply to us.” “I convey my sincere gratitude to the Chinese people and the government of China for this gesture of friendship and solidarity, the hallmarks of PhilippineChina partnership,” Duterte said. The shipment arrived on a Chinese Y-20 Transporter aircraft a little past 4:00 p.m. Sunday. The first shots will be distributed to several hospitals across Metro Manila on Monday, officially staring the vaccine rollout that was supposed to have begun in the middle of February. In his remarks, the President also thanked Galvez for working “very, very hard” and the Chinese ambassador for helping ensure the timely delivery of the donation—even though the shipment was supposed to have arrived five days earlier, on Feb. 23. An initial batch of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer was supposed to arrive even

Duque... From A1

time. I’m only waiting for the decision of his doctor on what’s the most suitable vaccine for his health, for his age. He’s turning 76 on March 28,” he said in Filipino during a radio interview. On Feb. 22, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President prefers to get inoculated with a vaccine developed by state-run pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. He said Duterte is qualified to receive vaccine shots from Sinopharm under the compassionate use license since he is the commander-in-chief of the military. Sinopharm has yet to secure an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.

World... From A1

media and urged those eligible to get jabs, following a similar appeal by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. "Social media is awash sometimes with lots of rumours and misinformation," the Duke of Cambridge said in video footage released by Kensington Palace on Saturday evening. It showed him and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, speaking to two women who are clinically vulnerable and eligible for first jabs soon. In one video call, a woman called Shivali, who has type 2 diabetes, said she had read a lot of social media posts that made her "a bit nervous" about getting vaccinated initially, while she was now confident about getting the jab. The prince told her: "We have to

be a little bit careful who we believe and where we get our information from, especially for those who are clinically vulnerable as well, it's so important that these vaccinations are done. Catherine and I are not medical experts by any means but if it's any consolation we can wholeheartedly support having vaccinations, it's really, really important." Auckland under lockdown anew Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered New Zealand's largest city back into lockdown as COVID-19 cases continued to be detected in the community. The latest restrictions in Auckland will last at least seven days and come less than two weeks after a three-day shutdown in the city. From Sunday morning the city's 1.7 million residents must stay at home except for essential shopping and work. Schools and non-essential shops will close, and entry in and out of the city will be restricted. AFP

From A1

But with another big oil price increase, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate demanded transparency from the oil companies by unbundling their fuel prices. He urged the oil firms to withdraw their opposition to the unbundling of their prices "for transparency so that the public will know their pricing scheme. "In the midst of this crisis gravely affecting our people, especially the poor, we strongly urge the Department of Energy to be more proactive in pushing for ways to lighten their burden, including pushing for the immediate resolution of the unbundling of oil prices," Zarate said. Oil prices have been moving up for the past four consecutive weeks as the global vaccine rollout continues that will help spur economic recovery.

working group on the House version of the bill for three consecutive Congresses, said it was a manifestation of the government's commitment to protect the welfare of the small and marginalized coconut farmers. Villar, principal sponsor of Senate Bill 1396 or the "Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act," says this law is in consonance with the declared policy of the state to consolidate the benefits due coconut farmers and to expedite their delivery to attain increased incomes for them and to ease their poverty and achieve social equality. She hopes this law will finally resolve the decades-old issue surrounding the coco levy fund. She says it will carry out its twopronged goal—to help coconut farmers and develop the coconut industry.

Women's month kicks off today; more woes bared By Macon Ramos-Araneta AS THE National Women’s Month kicks off today, Monday, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian emphasized the urgency to raise the age of sexual consent in the country. This was after the Commission on Population and Development said some teenagers are victims of rape and the cases of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines surged in 2019. POPCOM Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said two out of three of the partners of these adolescents at risk are older by 20 years. An analysis of the 2019 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority would suggest 10,000 cases of statutory rape, Perez said. While emphasizing the importance of keeping girls in school, where they can access information and sexuality education, Gatchalian also identified the need to amend the law on statutory rape as a means of running after abusers preying on young girls. Gatchalian proposed raising the age of sexual consent to 18 in Senate Bill 739. The age of consent in the Philippines is 12, the lowest in Asia and the second lowest in the world. Last year, the Senate has approved in the committee level to raise the age of statutory rape to 16. “In our country, we consider 18 as the age of majority but the age of sexual consent is 12 years old. We should amend the law to protect our youth and punish those who abuse them,” Gatchalian said. He warned the COVID-19 pandemic could exacerbate domestic child violence, abuse, and the teenage pregnancy surge. Of the 13,923 cases of violence against women and children recorded from March 15 to November 30 last year when restrictions posed challenges to rescue efforts, some 4,747 were cases of violence against children, according to the Philippine Commission on Women.

NBI... From A1

Guevarra said the NBI has formed a composite team to do the investigation. Describing his meeting with the President on Feb. 26, Guevarra said: “The President was calm, but the concern on his face was palpable.” Guevarra said both the heads of PNP and PDEA “offered no clear theories, as their investigation had barely begun.” “What they (PNP and PDEA heads) narrated was essentially what we saw in news video footages, but nothing more than that,” he said. “Dealing with the deaths and trauma of their operatives was their immediate concern,” Guevarra said. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said last week's botched entrapment operation showed that the PNP must speed up the implementation of bodycam rules. “It is again a bloody reminder of a missing but vital equipment in policing— video recording devices, especially during operations,” Recto said. Recto had sponsored with then Senator JV Ejercito a P5.4 billion fund in the 2017 national budget for new police equipment, including body cameras, “but it took four years and five PNP chiefs to buy some 2,600 pieces.” After failed biddings, the PNP finally took hold of the cameras early this year and are reportedly drafting protocols for their use. Recto said making it mandatory for police officers to wear body cameras during routine patrols and also for PDEA, NBI and military units during field operations “will store evidence needed to prosecute criminals.” “Played in court, the footage is evidence hard to refute. It will also ensure that SOP is followed during operations. And it cuts both ways. It protects citizens from abuse, and the police from unfounded charges of abuse,” he said. Recto said it is also a tool for police commanders to know if patrol cars did go on their route. A bill which guides the use of cameras in police work and funds their acquisition has cleared the Senate committee on public order. Recto said the acquisition of bodycams and dashcams, plus their support infrastructure should be budgeted by Congress every year. Meanwhile, Senator Christopher Go urged law enforcement agencies, particularly the PNP and the PDEA to improve inter-agency coordination. Senator Panfilo Lacson said the government may need to adjust its policies to prevent a repeat of the deadly "misencounter" between PNP and PDEA operatives in Quezon City. One such adjustment, Lacson said, would involve the PDEA "overseeing" anti-drug operations and focusing on intelligence work and leaving the assault operations to specially trained police personnel.

News SC deals SLU a rebuke over policy change By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court has ruled that academic freedom allows educational institutions to decide on how to afford its students a fair opportunity to complete the course they seek to pursue, but it finds any policy that tends to change the rules in their Student Handbook in the middle of the schoolyear or a course “capricious” and a “wanton abuse” of this right. The SC thus denied the appeal of St. Louis University, Inc. in Baguio City seeking a reversal of the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeals which upheld the decision of the regional trial court that SLU “cannot change its academic requirements at its whim” and that “academic freedom does not mean that SLU can just change the requirements for graduation at its pleasure.” The high court stressed that institutions of higher learning cannot just change the rules in their Student Handbooks in the middle of the schoolyear or a course because, by doing so, it would constitute grave abuse of discretion and capricious. “Academic freedom accords an institution of higher learning the right to decide for itself its aims and objectives and how best to attain them. It is both a right and an obligation. However, when the institution acted with grave abuse of discretion or patent arbitrariness, its actions may be nullified by the courts,” the tribunal declared. Citing its previous decisions, the SC dismissed the petition filed by SLU in Baguio City, which assailed the 2011 decision of the Court of Appeals. Court records showed that Baby Nellie M. Olairez, Shieryl A. Rebucal, Jenny Riza A. Banta and Brando B. Badecao enrolled with SLU’s College of Medicine in the first semester of school year 1998-1999. At the time of their enrolment, SLU imposed as a requirement for graduating medicine students the passing of a Comprehensive Written Examination (COWE). Under the 2001 edition of the SLU College of Medicine’s Student Handbook, all candidates for graduation are required to take a written examination consisting of 100 multiple-choice type questions for each of their 12 subject areas. A student who obtains a failing score in any of the subject areas shall be required to take a remedial examination for that particular subject area alone, the handbook provides. However, on Sept. 3, 2001, the SLU through College of Medicine Dean Elizabeth Fe-Dacanay issued a revised COWE, which requires that aside from one written examination graduating students should take two oral exercises. The revised COWE also provided that those who pass the written examination will take the two orals tests, but those who fail should render at least two months of extended clerkship. On October 19, 2001 pending results of the written examinations, fourth year medicine students asked that they be allowed to join the graduation in April 2002. SLU President Fr. Paul Van Parijs allowed them. On February 19, 2002, fourth year medicine students were informed that nobody passed the written examinations, but their scores were not released. They were also given varying months of extended clerkship. Olairez and her group and other fourth year students protested the conduct of orals. When their pleas was not acted upon, Olairez and her group filed a case before the Baguio City RTC.

Another bishop tests positive for COVID-19 ARCHBISHOP Florentino Lavarias, head of the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga, tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Sunday. A circular letter issued by Pampanga Archdiocese Vicar General Rev. Fr. Francis Dizon and Chancellor Fr. Danny Nacpil said the 64-year-old Archbishop is in a stable condition. The church officials said the people who have been in close contact with Lavarias were already informed about his condition. They asked the parishioners to pray for his quick recovery. “Let us all pray for his steady and speedy recovery to our Santo Cristo del Perdon y Caridad through the intercession of our Virgen de los Remedios, in Indu ning Kapaldanan,” they said.

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

MWSS’ challenge grows 4m trees F

OUR years after the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System launched the Annual Million Trees Challenge, over four million saplings have been planted in seven critical watersheds that supply water to Metro Manila and its environs.

REINFORCEMENT. The National Capital Region Police Office Sunday beefs up its force help keep watch of 56 barangays of Pasay City that that have been placed under “localized community quarantine” since February 25, 2021 after cases of COVID-19 sharply increased, according to the city government.

QC re-imposes ban on use of plastic bags By Rio N. Araja QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Sunday spearheaded the kick-off rites for the March 1 ban on the use of plastic bags in the markets. Along with officials from the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department and personnel from the Market Development and Administration Department, Belmonte inspected markets in Galas, Munoz, Suki, A. Bonifacio, Frisco and Kamuning markets in Quezon City to distribute eco-bags to market-goers to encourage sustainable practices and promote the campaign on plastic waste reduction. The city mayor also visited a super-

market in Barangay Kamuning. The activity served as the kick-off event in relation to the re-implementation of the city’s Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance to start on March 1. The plastic bag ordinance prohibits the distribution of plastic bags as carry-out bags in retail establishments throughout Quezon City. Belmonte said the activity was also part of Quezon City’s celebration of Women’s Month in March to highlight the role of women in environmental protection. Under the Kababaihan Para sa Kalikasan movement with the theme “Babae: Tayo ang Pagbabago,” women are encouraged to be more pro-active and be the catalysts for change given their

important role in our households and communities. “We suspended the implementation of the ordinance during the pandemic but now we can manage the pandemic better so we have to enforce it now. Plastics are one of the greatest polluters of our oceans and bodies of water, clogs our waste streams and pose health risks,” Belmonte said. Any supermarket, mall, shopping center, fast food restaurant and other business violating the ban will be slapped with a P1,000 fine on the first offense, a P3,000 fine and revocation of environmental clearance on the second offense and on the third offense, revocation of business permit and a P5,000 fine.

‘Charter-change resolution good for PH’ MARIKINA City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo says the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 2 is necessary “if the country is to have the flexibility to respond to inevitable changes in world economic conditions.” In a letter to the House committee on constitutional amendments chairperson and AKO Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr., Quimbo explained her vote in favor of RBH 2 that hurdled the panel in a 64-3-3 vote and was due to be heard in the plenary today. Quimbo emphasized that “the only permanent thing in an economy is change.” “If the Constitution holds important economic structures such as control over capital, access to resources, barriers to entry as fixed, we will be left behind, ” she said.

She, however, clarified that contrary to concerns that the proposed amendments would allow for the unregulated influx of foreign capital that would threaten local industries, “the proposal under RBH2 is not a free pass for all foreign investments to come in.” “That is the brilliance of it -- it provides flexibility but still allows the legislature to address the fear of some of our countrymen that we will be inundated with foreign business leaving local industry to wither away. The phrase to be added, ‘unless otherwise provided by law,’ is both liberating and serves as a protection clause. It allows our economic regulations to evolve with the times,” she cited. As 1987 Constitutional Commission member Dr. Bernardo Villegas stated in

the committee’s hearings, the economic provisions in the Constitution were originally written when the Philippines was the “Sick Man of Asia” and “had little to gain from opening up and arguably more to gain from protectionist policies,” she cited. “Fast forward to today, the Philippine economy has metamorphosed. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, it was, prior to COVID-19, one of the most promising developing economies, slated to move up to upper-middle-income status in 2020,” she said. “But with the COVID-19 pandemic, we should be realizing that such status can only be achieved if we are in a better position to compete for foreign investments, which we are fast losing to countries such as Vietnam,” she warned. Rio Araja

Launched by then MWSS Administrator now Chairman of the Board Gen. Reynaldo V. Velasco (Ret), the AMTC aims to restore the health of eight watersheds supplying water to Metro Manila and nearby provinces. These watersheds are Angat, Ipo,Kaliwa, La Mesa, MWSS Board Chairman Laguna Lake, Umi- Reynaldo Velasco ray, Upper Marikina, and General Nakar in Quezon. Also included in the list is Manila Bay which is currently undergoing rehabilitation. MWSS saw the need to reforest these watersheds that have been denuded because of illegal activities such as timber poaching, kaingin, and land conversion. Wanton destruction of forest areas has adversely affected water quality in the watersheds. For three consecutive years after its launch in February 2017, AMTC targets were surpassed. In 2017, the number of saplings planted totaled 1,337,800. This was followed by 1,027,000 in 2018; and 1,022,917 in 2019. However, the number declined in 2020 because of the pandemic that prompted several program partners to postpone tree-planting activities. Only 633,442 trees were planted for the year. Nevertheless, the cumulative number breached the four million mark at 4,021,626 in four years. These saplings were planted in Ipo-Angat (2,265,483), La Mesa (777,505), Laguna de Bay (222,096), Kaliwa Umiray (60,473), Upper Marikina (552,165), and Manila Bay (143,904). Among the program partners of MWSS in this endeavor are ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc.–Bantay Kalikasan; Bambuhay Social Enterprise; Boy Scouts of the Philippines; DENR National Capital Region; DENR Region 3; DENR Region 4A; Gen. Nakar, Quezon LGU; JCI Senate Philippines; Laguna Lake Development Authority; Luzon Clean Water Development Corporation-San Miguel Corporation; Manila Water Company, Inc.; Maynilad Water Services, Inc.; Mga Anak ni Inang Daigdig; MWSS Regulatory Office; National Power Corporation; Phil. Waterworks Association (PWWA); UP Beta Sigma; UP Mountaineers; and, World Wide Fund for Nature – Philippines. AMTC, which is a five-year watershed rehabilitation program, is in support of the government’s National Greening Program and is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. During the stakeholders annual pledging session last February 22, Velasco said that to pursue the AMTC more aggressively and ensure its activities continue even after its five-year duration, work is now in progress for the establishment of the Million Trees Foundation.

Anti-rabies drive ramped up amid rising cases, death in QC AMID the rising cases of rabies and a fatality in Quezon City, the Veterinary Department is ramping up its vaccination campaign. “Our city veterinarian recently recorded five animal rabies cases and one human death within a month. That’s why the district has now been categorized as high risk,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.

The city government is now conducting a house-to-house anti-rabies vaccination drive within a one-kilometer radius of the high-risk areas, especially in the areas of Bago Bantay and Barangays Philam, Bagong Pag-asa, and Ramon Magsaysay as well as in Barangay Bagbag in District 5. The city’s veterinary office has also intensified impounding stray animals that

are usually the carriers of the rabies virus. Spay and Neuter campaigns have also been intensified to control the growing dog population. According to city veterinarian Dr. Ana Marie Cabel, if a person gets bitten by an animal, he or she should go to the nearest health center and report the incident. The individual will then be referred to the city’s animal bite

center to receive proper treatment. The city vet would also conduct on-site investigations and will advise pet owners in the area to have their pets vaccinated immediately. A pet crematorium is also in the pipeline as well as a new city pound in Barangay Payatas scheduled for inauguration in mid-March. Rio Araja

Sinag project lights Batangas road BATANGAS CITY—What used to be a dark stretch of the Batangas-TabangaoLobo road is now brightly lit up at night, thanks to the installation of solar-powered streetlights by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. under the Save, Invest and Nurture Access to Green Energy and Technology (SINAG) project of the Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI). Andres Malibiran, who heads Barangay San Isidro where the street lights are installed, thanked Shell and PSFI, saying “tiyak na magiging ligtas at maliwanag na aming kapaligiran (we are assured of light and safety in our surroundings).” Malibiran spoke during the Ceremonial Switch-On of Solar-powered Streetlights, which was held by Shell and PSFI last January 29. PSPC Tabangao External Relations Manager Darlito Guamos said Shell, through PSFI’s SINAG project, has found an innovative way to use green energy in promoting road safety among partner communities like San Isidro. “Shell is not only serious about road

safety, but also about powering progress using cleaner energy solutions. In Tabangao, for example, we’ve set up a solar farm at the terminal, which produces enough electricity to power operational and residential needs inside the compound,” he added. Guamos and PSPC Terminal Manager Anna Estandarte led the ceremony, together with Engr. Ronaldo Frago of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Batangas Second District Engineering Office, Batangas City police station commander Police Lt. Col. Gerry Laylo and members of the San Isidro barangay council. Laylo says police stationed at the San Isidro outpost located by the road now lit up by the solar-powered streetlights will find it easier to maintain peace and order in the barangay at night. The stretch of road where Shell’s 16 solar-powered lights are installed, sees heavy traffic from trucks and lorries serving big industries along the Tabangao and Lobo coastline as well as private and public transport ferrying workers to these sites and residents located within the vicinity.

ROADBLOCKS. The Metro Manila Development Authority’s Task Force Special

Operation enforces an order banning the practice of parking on roads within the Mabuhay Lanes. It embarks regularly on road clearing activities to remove roadblocks and penalize the violators. #mmda

News

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

Isko: P26m for 3-month student aid By Willie Casas MORE than P26 million will be allocated for at least 9,100 students covered by a three-month financial aid program from the local government of Manila. Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso signed over the weekend the payroll covering 8,295 college students and 805 senior high school (SHS) students of the city-run Universidad de Manila (UdM). According to Domagoso, college students will receive P3,000 each while SHS students will get P1,500 each. The said amounts cover the months of January to March. Through the initiative of Domagoso and the full support of the Manila City Council headed by Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan as its presiding officer and majority floor leader Joel Chua, the city government rolled out in 2019 a social amelioration package that grants monthly cash assistance,to students of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and UdM as well as to senior citizens, persons with disability and solo parents. Domagoso said originally, the allowance was supposed to help students with their day-to-day expenses such as transportation fare. With the suspension of face-to-face classes, the students can use the financial aid to buy necessities or save them for future use, he said.

Red tide alert up in 13 provinces THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said a red tide alert was hoisted over several areas in 13 provinces. BFAR said for the areas covered by the alert, shellfish of all types and alamang are not safe for human consumption. The areas covered are as follows: Inner Malampaya Sound in Taytay, Palawan; Sorsogon Bay; Dauis and Tagbilaran City, Bohol; Tambobo Bay in Siaton, Negros Oriental; Daram Island, Zumarraga, San Pedro, and Cambatutay Bays in Western Samar; Calubian, Leyte, Carigara Bay, Ormoc Bay and Cancato Bay in Tacloban City, Leyte; Biliran Islands; Guiuan and Matarinao Bay in Eastern Samar; Dumanquillas Bay in Zamboanga del Sur; Balite Bay in Mati City, Davao Oriental; and Lianga Bay and Hinatuan in Surigao del Sur; Murcielagos Bay and Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental; and Taguines Lagoon, Benoni, and Mahinog in Camiguin. “Fish, squids, shrimps and crabs are safe for human consumption provided that they are fresh and washed thoroughly, and internal organs such as gills and intestines are removed before cooking,” the bureau said.

FUN RIDE. Around 1,300 cyclists joined the MORE Power charity fundraiser event. Proceeds from the cycling event will go to the ongoing improvement and beautification project of Iloilo City’s bike lanes. Iloilo City Mayor’s Office

Rody thumbs down face-to-face classes

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said he would still not allow the resumption of face-to-face classes even with the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

“Not yet, not now,” the President said in a press briefing after receiving the 600,000 doses of vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac on Sunday. “I am not ready to lose the lives of our young people,” he added. For his part, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara warned the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains even with the start of the mass vaccination program as he cautioned against the resumption of inperson classes. “Before any plan to resume face-toface classes is rolled out, it would be best to conduct a pilot implementation of this

first to see how this will work,” he said. In selecting the areas that will be part of the pilot program, Angara said that the primary consideration should be those with very few or zero cases of the novel coronavirus disease. A COVID-19 survivor himself, Angara said in other countries, there have been reports of face-to-face classes serving as super spreader events. Angara said local government units that will be part of the pilot testing should have health facilities capable of handling a large number of cases – from isolation to treatment.

On the other hand, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said schools should reopen and face-to-face classes should resume immediately so that the educational system can catch up with other countries in Southeast Asia. Sotto filed Senate Resolution No. 663 which states that “there is no substitute to face-to-face classes, which is probably the best way to arrest the decline in (education) quality and to improve learner outcomes.” “There are deep concerns that while countries whose students had performed well in the past international assessments are already back on track, the Philippines is still lagging behind using the blended learning method, which to many is not an effective means due to lack of access to internet and gadgets by majority of pupils and students,” Sotto said.

BIG SCREEN REOPENING.

Personnel of Gateway Mall in Araneta City, Cubao sanitize the theater seats for the possible reopening of cinemas and entertainment centers. Manny Palmero

Customs seizes P30m fake cigarettes in simultaneous raids in Bataan By Jess Malabanan ORION, Bataan—Government agents seized P30 million worth of cigarettes and cigarette-making machines following the simultaneous raids of two rice mills and warehouses where the contrabands were kept on in Santo Domingo

and Balagtas over the weekend. Bureau of Customs agents and Japan Tobacco International officials, accompanied by local police led the raiding teams to the Crisostomo Rice Mill and Warehouse and the EBG Rice Mill Warehouse, where hundreds of master cases of smuggled cigarettes of differ-

ent brands were stockpiled. The raiding teams swooped down on the warehouses allegedly being rented by a businessman identified as Tony Lim Vargas of Mabini in Malate, Manila. Customs personnel also found a large quantity of imported sacks of rice stored at the EBG Warehouse.

The two rice mills, police sources said, were being used to store counterfeit cigarettes and highly taxable goods believed shipped from China through the port of Mariveles and Subic Bay. The raiding teams also confiscated the cigarettes making machines and a big volume of raw materials found in one of the rice mills.

Gabriela denounces killing of Capiz female village official By Rio N. Araja

RAISING AWARENESS. A group of volunteers stages a motorcade along Edsa to remind people of the need to be vigilant as the country observes Fire Prevention Month starting today (March 1). Norman Cruz

THE Gabriela party-list on Sunday denounced what it described as the brutal killing of a red-tagged village official in Capiz ahead of Women’s Month. “This is a clear political statement from the Duterte administration that it will intensify its deadly red-tagging campaign against women human rights advocates,” Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said. “Women will not cower in fear. We will amplify our call to end this culture

of impunity and demand justice for Julie Catamin along with other women human rights advocates who have been victims of extrajudicial killings.” “We call on the United Nations member-states and the international community to immediately launch an independent investigation into extrajudicial executions and systematic human rights violations in the Philippines.” Barangay Chairwoman Catamin in Barangay Malitbog, Calinog, Capiz, was killed by men in a motorbike ahead of Women’s Month.

QC councilor seeks dialog on food security

By Rio N. Araja

AMID the spike in the prices of meat and chicken and the African swine fever outbreak, Quezon City Councilor Mikey Belmonte has urged his colleagues to tackle the problem of food security. He said strategic policies must be put in place to address food security problems and the insufficiency of meat supply and the ensuing price hike that significantly affected the vulnerable and marginalized segment of the population. “Even with this pandemic serving as our backdrop, we are faced yet again with another challenge. Right at the beginning of 2021, each and every household has had to contend, on a daily basis, with the impact of rising prices of basic food commodities – further placing stress in the already limited household budgets,” he said. Citing data from the National Statistics Authority as of January, he said the total swine inventory was approximately 9.72 million heads, which was 24.1 percent below last year’s same period level of 12.8 million heads. Consequently, the decrease in supply coupled with high consumer demand for meat products has led to a 60 percent price increase from P250 to 400 per kilo or pork meat.

Manhunt on for killers of vice mayor PHILIPPINE National Police Chief Debold Sinas said Sunday a manhunt is underway to arrest the killers of Vice Mayor Restituto Calonge of Mabuhay town in Zamboanga Sibugay and Edgar Pampanga, an engineer. He said forces in the Zamboanga peninsula had been mobilized to capture the suspects Erer Magoda and Jomar Taiting, both members of the Anwar Ansang Criminal Group who were said to be engaged in gun for hire, piracy and illegal drug activities in the region. The two were tagged by witnesses as responsible for shooting dead Calonge and Pampanga and for injuring two others in the Mabuhay town plaza at 3 p.m. on Feb. 26. Wounded during the shooting were municipal employee Abduhari Gapor and retired PNP member Gregorio Baya Cenas. Initial investigation showed that while the victims were having a conversation near the municipal hall of Mabuhay town, the gunmen approached and shot the victims using a cal. 45 pistols based on the recovered cartridges. Gapor was taken to the hospital while Calonge and Pampanga died on the spot. The suspects fled toward an unknown direction and got on a motorcycle described as a black Honda XRM125.

Opinion Speak as one DURING the successful Philippine hosting of the Southeast Asian Games, the organizers nicely put out the slogan, “We win as one.” When the COVID-19 pandemic invaded Philippine shores, and people were stuck in their homes, we prayed for deliverance from the deadly disease, and while hundreds then thousands were dying, while more tens of thousands cramped our limited health care capacity, we said “We heal as one.” Now that the vaccines which were touted as the savior are already being administered in several countries, both the wealthy and some Third World countries, wouldn’t it be best for government functionaries, as well as the presidential spokesman, to please speak as one?

It’s a mad, mad, mad world. Early this year, we were assured that some 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, supposedly with the highest efficacy thus far, would arrive on or before Valentine’s Day, and administered to frontline health workers immediately afterward. Days before the highly anticipated event, we were told, there were some hitches, but soon they would come. Likely because someone “dropped the ball” again, as the supposed 2020 negotiations came and went. Maybe this time because someone forgot there is a need for an indemnification agreement, which mercifully our Congress passed swiftly when apprised. Fingers are pointing to the Dengvaxia cases against Sanofi-Pasteur that Persida Acosta politicized, spooking the drug industry from dealing with our country without iron-clad warranties. The week after, “manna” from China, the gift Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised in mid-January, was touted to be arriving. All 600,000 doses of Sinovac, of which a hundred thousand would be for the military, and the rest to be apportioned to major cities. But then, our Food and Drug Administration came up with an emergency use authorization (EUA) early last week, which stated, quite clearly, that after thoroughly evaluating the gift from China, which later our government would buy in the millions, the said Sinovac should not be administered to senior citizens, but only to able-bodied persons aged 18 to 59 years. FDA likewise said the Coronavac of Sinovac should not be administered to medical and health care front liners who are exposed regularly to COVID-19 patients. Why? Because our FDA evaluated Sinovac to be only 50% effective. So, switching gears, our officials and our presidential spokesman said that we would give the free Sinovac shots to economic frontliners, such as farmers, fishermen, and transport workers. Fine. Except after the FDA announcement, economic frontliners felt they were being used as cannon fodder, guinea pigs, and dared the politicians to get the Sinovac injected into their system first. Nonetheless, some local government officials like Yorme Isko of Manila, and even 59year old borderline aged Sec. Carlito Galvez,

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

EDITORIAL

the vaccine czar mismo, said they are willing to be inoculated. Good gesture. Leadership by example. Para nga naman mag-kumpiyansa ang tao. That was as of mid-week last. But then after the 35th EDSA Day commemoration, change tune na naman. Pwede na raw sa medical front liners, for those willing to take the Sinovac. So what happened to FDA’s announcement three days before, its caveats as clear as clear could be? In convoluted reasoning, FDA’s Dr. Eric Domingo “clarified” his earlier pronouncement, and our uber-competent health secretary chimed in, except that he would not take a jab, exempted as he is, by reason of age. Nakalusot. But PGH health care front liners were wary, and worried. Again, “bakit kami?” “At bakit Sinovac?” The hospital in the heart of the nation’s capital is also considered the premier public hospital in the country, run by the best socially-conscious physicians from the University of the Philippines. People now ask, just as they ask why there was that motorcade of sports cars egging an unwilling presidential daughter to run and succeed her father as president, even as not a single shot of vaccine had arrived in the benighted land, “Ano ba talaga, Kuya?” So Manila’s Yorme stepped in to clarify, and said the Sinovac was only for those who want it, and others have the right to be “choosy.” And then he himself volunteered. Ah! the advantages of youth. At 46, he is within Dr. Domingo’s authorized recipient sector. And of course, Galvez’ co-czar (sounds like a maintenance drug senior citizens take daily), Vince Dizon, who must be a tad younger than the Yorme, likewise “safe” as far as age goes. But no, the health department says, “only” medics and nurses, and orderlies in hospitals. No politicians. No officials. Since hindi pwede si Duque, hindi pwede lahat. Is he truly running for senator? President Duterte, who will turn 75 in four weeks, is in the verboten age bracket, and therefore cannot take the vaccine. So no one among our “leader class” is authorized to inspire and give the public confidence to take the vaccines that surveys show they are hesitant to take, and are yet on wait and see mode. What do you suppose ordinary folks now think? To Sino or not to Sino-vac? All because of a failure to “speak as one.” Let alone act as one. But during the weekend, we get a dose of “good” news. The Covax facility is bringing in 525,000 shots of Astra-Zeneca, arriving today after the Sinovac yesterday, thanks to the British Ambassador who helped hasten the delivery, much like the Queen’s cavalry charging “Sinitic” forces to the draw. Meanwhile, Taiwan media front-paged news about an Indonesian nurse dying nine days after taking the Coronavac by Sinovac jab. Now what will happen to the handful of healthcare workers and medical professionals who have agreed to take the Sinovac jab today and tomorrow? Will they change their mind and say, “teka muna”—we prefer Astra-Zeneca. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world, to copy from a Hollywood movie title which showed decades ago when I was still in short pants when neither Yorme nor Bong Go, Inday Sara or the Pacman were yet in this world. There’s a sub-text to that movie title which I never got to see—“I wanna get out!” I am being facetious. Truly.

EDSA 35 years hence THIRTY-FIVE years have gone by since crowds of millions converged on EDSA to end more than two decades of Marcos rule in the country. I have always called it what I personally believed it to be—a revolution. Whatever side of the political divide one stands, one cannot deny the historical fact that the fateful events in 1986 has changed forever the course of our country’s destiny. EDSA has proved that a peaceful revolution is possible—and that the power of the people is greater than the people in power. It will always be remembered as a defining crossroad in our history that shaped our democracy—but without the bloodshed and violence of war. Sadly, 35 years hence, the mighty optimism that the revolution has ignited now seems to be a tiny flickering spark. The “boomers” who made EDSA happen seem to pin this fault on our generation. That our country’s millennials have forgotten its significance. That we have missed its lessons from past mistakes that seem to have been repeated again and again. Worst, they blame us for historical revisionism. A generation of digital natives is perhaps the most difficult to persuade by mere online propaganda. That would be easier than identifying a fake Facebook profile or a fake news post. We do know what it means to fact check —half truths included.

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

They say we failed EDSA. But let me say it in the strongest terms possible—you did. The generation of “boomers” who made it happe betrayed it. Not the politicians, not the soldiers, not the businessmen. But the everyday Filipino who cared no more—not after the political euphoria, the drama on the streets of Manila, the attention we got from the rest of the world. We went back to our unending bickering, pulling each other down for the sake of our own selﬁsh interests. We failed to institute the political reforms we bannered in the years leading to EDSA, and instead allowed the oligarchy that ruled the votes to make a comeback.

It could have been our nation’s moral reset. Not only that, we practically neutered our political party system—with political turncoats shifting allegiances with every electoral exercise. We failed the armed forces by delaying until recently its modernization, forgetting the toil on our soldiers’ morale caused by using military equipment from the Second World War. We called them the heroes of EDSA, but we denied them the welfare and well-being they deserve even if every day they risk their own lives to keep our nation safe. We failed to restrain corrupt businesses, and refused to reward corporate citizenship by turning a blind eye to the moneyed who ﬁnd it more convenient to bribe their way out—or way up.

Doing right by our frontliners A

T THE start of the COVID-19 lockdowns nearly a year ago, we extolled our medical frontliners—doctors, nurses and other hospital staff—for their sacrifice. They risked exposure to the dreaded virus when they examined and treated patients. We thanked them profusely and held them up as heroes. Over the next few months as the novelty of the COVID pandemic faded and we tried to get on with our disrupted lives, we became less appreciative of the travails of these health workers. They continued to pass the days by dutifully going to work despite the lack of transportation, by minimizing interactions with their loved ones lest they endanger their health as well, and made do with the salary and benefits they were receiving. All looked forward to the day when vaccines would fi nally be available, and had faith that in the order of priority, they would come fi rst so that they could serve more and serve better. Yesterday, Sunday, the first batch of vaccines from China’s Sinovac arrived at the Villamor Air Base. The first shipment, a donation from our giant neighbor to the north, contained 600,000 doses. Unfortunately, the are conflicting accounts with regard to the efficacy of the vaccines. In some trials, we are

Our officials brought this desperation upon themselves. told, the vaccine from Sinovac is only effective half the time. Other brands have a much-higher efficacy rate. The plan has been for medical frontliners and senior citizens to get the first jabs, but given this concern, there was a suggestion that members of the military, or economic frontliners, should receive them first. And then on Friday, the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) recommended the use of Sinovac for health workers amid widespread reservations, prompting protests from the frontliners. It is logical for them to want to be given the more potent vaccines given the risks they continue to face every day. Certainly,

their refusal to settle for something less effective should not be taken against them. Today, Monday, a second shipment of vaccines—525,600 doses developed by British firm AstraZeneca, is due to arrive. This comes from the COVAX Facility, from which we can expect to receive 44 million doses. We cross our fingers that those in charge of deciding who gets these shots realize they have matters of life and death in their hands. We, too, remember with distaste and indignation that suggestion from the Labor Department that we could make an exemption to the 5,000-a-year deployment of nurses and other health workers to Britain in exchange for vaccines. The British ambassador said his government had no plans to pursue this deal. A similar offer was made to Germany, a DOLE director said. These are signs of desperation, indeed. The tragedy is that our officials brought this desperation upon themselves. That we are lagging behind in vaccine procurement and rollout could have been prevented by deliberate planning and urgent action that should have been started long ago. This government should do right by our frontline workers. It should do right by all its citizens.

Stop exploitative practices GETTING infected by COVID 19 and losing one’s livelihood are, what I think, two of the top worries of every Filipino. Managing to dodge these two, the third worst thing that can happen is having bad or even no internet services, a critical everyday necessity for coping with these new normal conditions. This is the difficult situation of the residents of Twin Oaks Place (TOP) in Greenfield District complaining of being prevented by the property developers from availing themselves of more reliable, faster, and more affordable broadband services from alternative internet service providers. According to recently published reports, this has prompted the Enforcement Office of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to file a case against the condominium developer Greenfield Development Corporation and its wholly owned Leopard Connectivity Business Solutions Inc. (Leopard) for imposing exclusive fixed-line internet to residents of Twin Oaks Place located in Greenfield District. The provider of internet services in this case is Twin Oaks Place Fiber Network (TOPFN) which is managed by Leopard Connectivity. The PCC said in its press release, “As the investigative and prosecutorial arm of the PCC, the Enforcement Office alleged that Greenfield and Leopard abused their dominance as TOP’s property developer and fixed-line internet provider by preventing the entry of other ISPs to provide their services to residents and limiting the market to Leopard as sole ISP, in violation of the Philippine Competition Act.” TOP residents complained that Leopard’s internet services are more expensive as they are being charged P2,699 a month for only 20 Mbps and P3,500 for only Instead, our hardworking professionals have left our shores to find employment overseas, giving their best to other countries, just because their own failed to provide them with the opportunity that they wish they had here at home. Our generation of millennials saw this— and despite the many years of highlighting the EDSA revolution in our history classrooms— our youth understand who betrayed what. It is the politicians who conveniently changed political colors thereafter, but it is also the voters who were easily swayed by money or fear and who made it easy for unscrupulous people to win every post-EDSA election. It is the soldiers who staged one coup after another, derailing what could have been a promising momentum for national growth— but also the rebels and those who exploit the unlearned peasants and beset the peace in the countryside, long oblivious that the communist armed struggle is but a lost cause. It is the big businessmen who at the first opportunity went back to “business as usual,” replacing the so-called Marcos cronies with one of their own, yet continuing to exploit the legal contours of business to their favor and according to their flavor. But greater responsibility must be impugned on the Filipino who thoughtlessly

40 Mbps. At these same rates, other ISPs have much faster speeds at 50-75 Mbps and 100-150 Mbps respectively. Residents also complain that Leopard’s internet connection is unreliable. According to PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan, “Abuse of dominance cases are evaluated with the end view of dismantling exploitative and exclusionary practices in business and ultimately empowering consumer choice. Under the Philippine Competition Act, an entity found to have abused its dominance in the market could face a ﬁne of up to P110 million.”

Imagine being prevented from obtaining the Internet service of your choice. A similar situation is causing unjustifiable burden to more than two thousand households in the communities of Cerritos Heights and Lessandra Heights in Bacoor City that have been cornered by Planet Cable, another “exclusive” ISP for 10 years. Responding to a petition of the two communities, Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado-Revilla Government of Bacoor City concurred with the resident’s complaint that Planet Cable’s internet services “has been insufficient to cater the internet needs for residential, business or education purposes of majority of the homeowners.” According to the petition from the residents of Cerritos Heights, they have been forced “to bear Planet Cable’s poor service and equally inefficient customer support” and appealed for the intervention of the local government, the National Telecommunications Commission, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the Philippine Competition Commission, and private telecommunications providers Globe Telecom, PLDT, Converge, and others to help facilitate the installation of fiber internet and stands by the sidelines, practically abandoning the duties of citizenship yet adamantly demands the rights that come with it. EDSA could have been our nation’s moral reset. That is how millennials were taught in school—that proverbial battle between the good and the bad. But that is not what they see happening in the media—in our politics and business—in our society as a whole. The inconvenient truth is nothing much has changed. It seems to our generation that the “boomers” never really learned. Just when our generation began to take a more open perspective of the past, allowing both sides of the narrative, including the aftermath that ensued, the “boomers” pass the buck of living the EDSA legacy to a generation not even born yet by then, demanding us to own its story—but bereft of the promised gains and supposed glory, instead leaving us with just bitter anger and past hurts. EDSA should have been about the people, not politics. It should have pointed us toward potential progress, and not a polarized past. It could have been a powerful story of what Filipinos can be if we pool together our strengths for a worthy cause.

landline facilities in their area. The Cerritos Heights petition lamented that, “Based from our horrible experience with Planet Cable before and during the Enhanced Community Quarantine, it is evident that it will not be able to serve our needs of the new normal.” “We wish to assert our right to enjoy the benefits of competition, especially in getting the best possible internet provider,” the Cerritos petition said. These two cases will test the quasi-judicial powers of the PCC to enforce The Philippine Competition Act (PCA) or R.A. 10667 enacted to protect the well-being of consumers and preserve the efficiency of competition in the marketplace. Actually, these are just two hard examples of many more cases wherein telcos are being blocked from providing competitive broadband services because of some “exclusivity” policy enforced in privately managed communities. I have personally seen the same situation in the more exclusive, gated communities and condominiums where homeowners have no choice but to use a preferred landline or broadband provider. This is another unnecessary barrier to the last mile deployment of the digital infrastructure being aggressively built by the private telecommunications companies. Healthy competition has always worked for consumers as it drives innovation for better products and services at the best value for money. Competition motivates market players to continuously improve and expand access to their target customers by producing superior, or at least competitive products at the right price point of their buyers. The consumer’s freedom to choose according to his own interest forces players in a market economy to work more efficiently to satisfy and increase demand for their output. This constant push to expand customer base and become the leading brand likewise drives more investments thereby fueling economic growth. The government should not allow these illegal exclusivity policies to deprive consumers of the best broadband services.

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MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Three dead as Myanmar junta intensifies crackdown YANGON—Myanmar security forces shot dead at least three protesters on Sunday as the country’s military leaders stepped up the use of lethal force to quash opposition to their recent coup. The junta is battling to contain a massive street movement demanding it yield power and release ousted ci-

vilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with top political allies at the start of the month. Police and soldiers had already fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon on demonstrations in recent weeks in an effort to bring the civil disobedience campaign to heel, with live rounds used in some isolated cases.

US ‘gravely concerned’ over Tigray situation —Blinken WASHINGTON—US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned alleged atrocities committed in Ethiopia’s Tigray and called on the African Union and other international partners to help address the crisis in the conflict-hit region. His comments came a day after a report by Amnesty International alleging Eritrean soldiers fighting in Tigray had killed hundreds of people in November last year in what the rights group described as a likely crime against humanity. “The United States is gravely concerned by reported atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” Blinken said in a statement. “We are also deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian crisis.” Tigray has been the theater of fighting since early November, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced military operations against the northern region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, accusing it of attacking federal army camps. Pro-government troops took the regional capital Mekele in late November but clashes have persisted in the region. “We ask international partners, especially the African Union and regional partners, to work with us to address the crisis in Tigray, including through action at the UN and other relevant bodies,” Blinken said. He called for the “immediate withdrawal” of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray and unilateral declarations of a cessation of hosManila tilities by all parties. Standard TODAYof Eritrean troops in The presence Ethiopia in the Tigray LEGAL NOTICE conflict has Notice is hereby given to the been widely public that an Extrajudicial Settlement has been executed documented by the heirs of Teresita R. but has been Bejarin namely: Josefino D. denied by Bejarin, Jemy R. Bejarin, Jennifer R. Bejarin, Joewell both counR. Bejarin, John R. Bejarin, tries. Samuel R. Bejarin, Josephine Bejarin-Diaz, all of legal age, Eritrea has per deed on Feb 16, 2021 rejected Ambefore Notary Public Rafael B. nesty’s alleMadrid, Per Doc. No. 25, Page No. 6, Book No. CCVI, Series gations. AFP of 2021.

(FEB. 23/MAR. 1 & 8, 2021)

ONG KONG— Hong Kong police charged dozens of dissidents with subversion on Sunday in the largest use yet of Beijing’s sweeping new national security law, as authorities move to cripple the finance hub’s democracy movement.

Last month 55 of the city’s best-known democracy campaigners were arrested in a series of dawn raids. On Sunday, police confirmed 47 of them had been charged with one count each of “conspiracy to commit subversion”—one of the new national security crimes—and would appear in court on Monday morning. Beijing is battling to stamp out dissent in semi-autonomous Hong Kong after swathes of the population hit the streets in 2019 in huge and sometimes violent democracy protests. The security law, imposed on the city last June, criminalises acts deemed to be subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Those charged are routinely denied GROTESQUE BEAUTY. This photograph shows the full moon behind a gargoyle of Notre-Dame cathedral, in Paris, on Feb. 27, 2021. AFP bail until trial and face up to life in prison if convicted. The charged activists are a broad crosssection of Hong Kong’s opposition, from veteran former pro-democracy lawmakers such as James To and Claudia Mo to She added that she spoke to Cuomo’s NEW YORK—A second ex-employee According to Bennett, the 63-year-old academics, lawyers, social workers and of powerful New York state Governor politician said in June that he was open to chief of staff and legal counsel, who a host of youth activists. Andrew Cuomo has accused him of dating women in their 20s, and asked her transferred her to another post in anothSome struck a cautiously defiant tone sexual harassment, charges the gover- if she thought age made a difference in ro- er building. Bennett was happy with the as they prepared to report to police on new job and decided not to insist on an nor denied on Saturday. mantic relationships, the Times reported. Sunday to hear the charges. This time the allegations came from While Cuomo never tried to touch investigation. “Democracy is never a gift from Cuomo became a national star last spring 25-year-old former health adviser Char- her, “I understood that the governor heaven. It must be earned by many with lotte Bennett, who told The New York wanted to sleep with me, and felt horri- with his straight-talking yet empathetic strong will,” Jimmy Sham, a key orgaTimes that the governor sexually ha- bly uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett coronavirus briefings that contrasted sharpnizer of 2019’s huge protests, told rely with then-president Donald Trump’sCYAN dis- MAGENTA rassed her in the spring of 2020. told the paper. porters outside a police station. YELLOW BLACK missive approach to the pandemic. “We can tell the whole world, under But the harassment allegations come the most painful system, Hong Kongers as he faces a growing storm over his are the light of the city. We will remain handling of the coronavirus in nursstrong and fight for what we want,” he ing homes in his state. In a statement added. Gwyneth Ho, a young journalist Saturday, Cuomo said he “never made turned activist, posted on her Facebook advances toward Ms Bennett nor did I page before being charged: “I hope evever intend to act in any way that was eryone can find their road to peace of inappropriate.” mind and then press forward with inHe said he wanted instead to support domitable will.” Bennett, who had told him that she was The alleged offense of those arrested a sexual assault survivor. for subversion was to organise an unThe governor, whose third term exofficial primary last summer to choose pires at the end of 2022, called for “a candidates for the city’s partially elected full and thorough outside review” of legislature, in hopes that the pro-democthese charges, led by a former federal racy bloc might take a majority for the judge. AFP NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Charlotte Bennett first time. AFP

2nd woman accuses Cuomo of sexual harassment

MARLYN M. SAPLAN-TANAKA, Petitioner, CIVIL CASE NO. R-PSY-19-05129-CV FOR: Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce

MITSUYOSHI TANAKA, THE CIVIL REGISTRAR OF PASAY CITY, and PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY, Respondents. x----------------------------------------------------x

AMENDED ORDER

A verified petition for “Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce” filed by petitioner through counsel praying that an Order be issued granting the petition and recognize the Foreign Divorce between Marlyn M. Saplan-Tanaka and Japanese National Mitsuyoshi Tanaka and directing the Office of the Civil Registrar of Pasay City and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to annotate the Recognition of Divorce on the National Indices of Marriages or in the Certificate of Marriage between the parties if the same was registered in the PSA . In her petition, petitioner alleges that she is a Filipina, with residence address at 103 Nagsaing, Calasiao, Pangasinan and Mitsuyoshi Tanaka, a Japanese National whose last known address is at 2-101, Iwakuni, Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Pref., Japan; that they were married on December 17,2003 in Pasay City and this marriage was registered with the Local Civil Registrar, Pasay City; that on June 22, 2018, the marriage between petitioner and Mitsuyoshi Tanaka was dissolved by virtue of a mutual divorce thereby terminating their matrimonial relationship and capacitating Mitsuyoshi Tanaka to remarry under the Japanese Laws; thus, petitioner prays to declare her as validly divorced by her Japanese Spouse so she can remarry under Article 26, paragraph 2 of the Family Code. Finding the petition to be sufficient in form and substance, notice is hereby given that the hearing of the petition is on March 23, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. All parties interested may appear and show cause why the said petition should not be granted. Let the copy of this Order be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines once a week for three consecutive weeks at the expense of the petitioner. Likewise, let copy of this Order be furnished the Office of the Solicitor General, the City Prosecution Office, Pasay City, the Office of the Civil Registrar Office, Pasay City and the Philippine Statistics Authority. SO ORDERED. Pasay City, Metro Manila, 02 February, 2021. (Sgd.) EDILWASIF T. BADDIRI Presiding Judge

ETB/shiela COPY FURNISHED: OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL 134 AMORSOLO ST.. LEGAZPI VILLAGE. MAKATI CITY RTC-OCC, PASAY ClTY ROOM 301. 3RD FLOOR, HALL OF JUSTICE BUILDING, F.B. HARRISON ST.. PASAYCITY ATTY. HENRY B. SALAZAR JIMENEZ BAROQUE & SALAZAR LAW OFFICES UNIT 250, VALERO PLAZA, NO. 124 VALERO STREET, SALCEDO VILLAGE, MAKATI CITY OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR

volunteer medic and local media reports. Rescue worker Pyae Zaw Hein told AFP the trio was “shot dead with live rounds,” while the injured were hit by rubber bullets. “There could be many more casualties as well because more wounded people keep coming in,” he added. AFP

47 dissidents charged in HK

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION REGIONAL TRIAL COURT BRANCH 115, PASAY CITY

- versus -

Large numbers were again mobilized on Sunday morning to scatter crowds in several parts of the country, after online calls for protesters to once again flood the streets. Three men were killed and at least 20 others injured when security forces moved on a rally in the southern coastal hub of Dawei, according to a

This screengrab from a handout video provided to AFPTV from Dakkhina Insight taken on Feb. 28, 2021 shows an injured man being treated by medical officials after a crackdown by security forces in Myanmar’s southern city of Dawei. AFP

G/F HALL OF JUSTICE BUILDING, F.B. HARRISON ST., PASAYCITY OFFICE OF THE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR G/F PASAY CITY HALL BUILDING, F.B. HARRISON ST.. PASAYCITY PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 17TH FLOOR, CYBERPOD CENTRIS ETON THREE, EDSA, QUEZON CITY MARLYN M. SAPLAN-TANAKA 103 NAGSAING, CALASIAO, PANGASINAN MITSUYOSHl TANAKA 2-101, IWAKUNI, IWAKUNI CITY. YAMAGUCHI PREF., JAPAN

(MStandard - Feb. 22, Mar. 1 & 8, 2021)

Pope Francis expects to spend his final days in Rome: new book BUENOS AIRES—Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, still the Catholic pontiff, without returning to spend his final days in his native Argentina, according to a new book titled “The Health of Popes.” In an interview granted to Argentine journalist and physician Nelson Castro at the Vatican in February 2019, the pope said he thinks about death, but does not fear it. Extracts from the book were published Saturday in Argentine daily La Nacion. Asked how he sees his final days, Francis, who is 84, responded: “I will be pope, either active or emeritus, and in Rome. I will not return to Argentina.” Francis has had to cancel some events in recent months due to a painful problem with sciatica, but is not known to

suffer any other major ailments. The Vatican has always been reticent about a pope’s health. According to the new book, “this is the first time that a pope has discussed his health with the transparency afforded by Francis.” The pontiff, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires, says he does not miss his native Argentina, where he was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the son of Italian immigrants. “No, I do not miss it. I lived there for 76 years. What pains me are its problems” – an allusion to the economic crisis shaking the South American country. The pontiff said he had sought help for anxiety back when he had to sneak people out of the country to save their lives during the military dictatorship.

“Imagine what it was like to take a person hidden in a car – only covered by a blanket – and pass three military checkpoints... the tension it generated was enormous.” “I had to deal with situations that I did not know how to deal with,” the pontiff said. Asked if he saw a therapist, the pope said “No, she was a psychiatrist. And over the course of those six months, she helped me find my way of dealing with the fears of that era.” The pope has been vaccinated against COVID-19. Beyond his age, the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics is considered to be high-risk: In 1957, aged 21, he suffered from acute pleurisy and had part of his right lung removed. AFP

Pope Francis

Celebrated Turkish actor risks jail for Erdogan ‘insult’ STANBUL—Mujdat Gezen’s halfcentury career as an acclaimed Turkish writer and actor has included awards, a stint as a UN goodwill ambassador and a taste of prison after a 1980 putsch. Now aged 77, the wry-witted comedian and poet with an easy smile and a bad back risks returning to jail on charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is in danger of becoming the

latest victim in the Turkish leader’s years-long battle with what he dismissively calls “so-called artists.” “I am even banned from appearing in crossword puzzles,” Gezen quipped. Gezen landed in court with fellow comedian Metin Akpinar, 79, over comments the pair made during a television show they starred in on opposition Halk TV in 2018. In the broadcast, Gezen told Erdo-

gan to “know your place.” “Look Recep Tayyip Erdogan, you cannot test our patriotism. Know your place,” Gezen said on air. His partner Akpinar went one step further, saying that “if we don’t become a (democracy)... the leader might end up getting strung up by his legs or poisoned in the cellar.” These are risky comments to make in a country still reeling from a sweeping crackdown Erdogan un-

leashed after surviving a failed coup in 2016. Their trial is coming with Erdogan rattled by a burst of student protests that hint at Turks’ impatience with his commanding rule as prime minister and president since 2003. Prosecutors want to put the two veteran celebrities behind bars for up to four years and eight months. The verdict is expected on Monday. AFP

Business This August 23, 2019 file photo courtesy of Citigroup shows Jane Fraser, currently Citi’s president and the head of its global consumer banking business. The finance world is gradually opening up to women--underlined by the arrival on March1, 2021, of Fraser at the head of Wall Street banking flagship Citigroup. AFP

Women gradually making inroads in world of finance By Juliette Michel NEW YORK―Pin-up photos and smutty jokes have long been commonplace on trading floors, but the finance world is gradually opening up to women―underlined by the arrival on Monday of Jane Fraser at the head of Wall Street banking flagship Citigroup. Her elevation marks “a milestone,” according to Lorraine Hariton, director of Catalyst, an organization that promotes women in the workplace. “But there is also a long way to go,” she said. Employment figures demonstrate the mountains that still have to be moved to achieve parity between men and women in the financial services sector. Women in 2019 made up more than 50 percent of employees in the field in the United States, but only 22 percent of managers― leaving aside the highest positions―according to a report by Deloitte. Current trends predict that figure will rise to 31 percent by 2030. And male financial analysts earned 17 percent more on average in 2020 than their female counterparts. Several women told AFP that women have to work harder than men to climb the ranks, and have to be seen as beyond reproach. Prestigious professions and those that pay the most, like investment bankers and traders, still remain strongholds of white men. And sexist remarks still come out from time to time. “For every Jane Fraser, there are hundreds, if not thousands, out there,” said Muriel Wilkins of the executive consultancy firm Paravis Partner. AFP

Achieving Integrality IN ONE of my Integral Human Declasses, IMEE LANIE H. UY velopment we had Dr. Christine Atienza talk about integrality. Honestly, it was the first time I’ve heard of the application of this word. She defined integrality or wholeness as our response to internal and external brokenness, resulting in chronic stress, burnout, moral hypocrisy, self-deception, family breakdowns, and more. In addition to this, she discussed how having a compartmentalized life would lose a person’s real self, thus not knowing who you are and not being fully human. She further discussed the importance of achieving wholeness for a person and its effects and impact. This intrigued me because, as a team leader, part of my responsibility is to have my analysts engage. She mentioned that addressing the full range of needs of the person and reflecting on a purpose is fundamental to attain integrality. I would not have thought that constantly directing a need to a purpose would be required to reach wholeness. The virtual discussion was relevant to the current situation and was remarkably informative. But, honestly, I would have wanted to have met Dr. Atienza personally to pick her brains on a few more things. What stood out to me the most during the discussion was when the speaker cited the importance of wholeness or integrality for an individual to experience fulfillment. Considering all of the aspects mentioned by Dr. Atienza, I am confident that I can identify additional underlying issues in our workplace to address and promote integral human development. Furthermore, with a deeper understanding of integrality, I will share this with my colleagues or future collaborators as we search for a solution. With my role as a team lead, looking after at least seven analysts, I can apply what I have learned in practicing human integrality to assist them in having a satisfying and whole life. I commit to making sure that they do not compartmentalize their lives and helping them live integrated lives. As I try to reach integral human development, I would do the same for my team as well. I’ve asked my team to draw the human development flower to reflect how they see their current work situation. With this, we have collectively identified that there is a main issue on the bodily aspect. The reason as to why my action research project will be addressing this. We will be performing multiple physical activities, ensure that breaks are taken on a timely basis through blocking of calendars with reminder notification, and lessen overtime and holiday or weekend work. In relation to the committed action for my development, I would continue to wake up earlier than my shift to have enough time for morning meditation, morning yoga stretch, and breakfast before preparing for work. Moreover, I pledge to step away from my computer by 5:30 p.m. to do physical activity at least four times a week. In addition to this, I will no longer hold my pee or thirst while working. I will be taking the whole hour for my lunch break, although I can finish eating within 15 minutes and take the extra time to rest or do something that I like. To ensure that I grow in my journey to wholeness, I will closely monitor my financial investments and learn more about stocks. Focusing on self-development and acquisition of new skill sets will also be incorporated. At the end of the day, I will continue writing on my gratitude diary and express appreciation for the little things. Furthermore, after a long day at work, I will carve out leisure time with my friends and play a video game or two.

Green LiGht

The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. This article is part of her blog for the course Integral Human Development. The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of De La Salle University, its faculty, and its administrators.

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 || extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stock market likely to bounce back By Jenniffer B. Austria

HARE prices this week are expected to recover from their recent slump with the much anticipated arrival of COVID-19 vaccines this week.

The government said more than 500,000 AstraZeneca vaccines will also arrive in the country this week aside from the 600,000 Sinovac vaccines from China, Analysts said the arrival of the vaccines would finally enable the government to kick off its vaccination program and eventually reduce the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. “The next big impetus will be on the na-

tional vaccination drive,” online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com But with some sectors expressing strong resistance against vaccination, the overall plan of achieving herd immunity could face a delay. This means the broad public could still be under strict quarantine rules that, in turn, may affect consumer and business confidence. “In short, it all boils down to vaccines— and until the program gets traction, the PSEi’s streak to 8,000 will all be a lofty ambition,” 2TradeAsia said. Investors are set to monitor the release of earnings results of listed companies, including their outlook and expansion plans over the next few years. Among the companies scheduled to release their 2020 financial results this week are Metro Pacific Investments Corp., PLDT

ESB OPERATION GUIDELINES NO. 21-001 Series of 2021

IMPLEMENTING GUIDELINES FOR ACCREDITATION OF SERVICE PROVIDER FOR PNOC ENERGY SUPPLY BASE MABINI, BATANGAS The following guidelines are hereby adopted for accreditation of service provider of PNOCESB pursuant to the PPA Administrative Order No. 06-2019. SECTION 1. LIST OF PORT SERVICES As used herein, the terms below are the list of Port services in PNOC-ESB. a. Bunkering – The business of supplying, delivering oil, gasoline, grease, lubricant, and other oil products and materials to vessels, ships, tugboats and other seagoing crafts b. Brokerage – The business of facilitating clearance of imported, exported goods, merchandise and cargoes from the Bureau of Customs c. Canteen Service – The business of selling food to serve employees/occupants/ passengers thereat d. Chandling – The business of supplying food items, groceries, consumables and other provisions to vessels and other seagoing crafts docked at the piers e. Pilotage Service – The business or service of conducting a vessel from/to Pilots’ Boarding Station, to/from berth or anchorage, at any public or private wharf or pier f. Transport Service/Hauling/ Trucking – The business of providing trucks and other vehicles for delivery and movement of cargoes and passengers g. Shore Reception Facility – The business of providing waste collection services for ships and within port premise for garbage, oil/sludge and other kinds of waste h. Water Suppliers – The business of supplying fresh water to vessels, ships and other port users i. Other Services – Refers to services which are not listed herein but maybe classified in future regulations SECTION 2. DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCREDITATION 1. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS i. Company / Business Profile 1.1 Authenticated Certificate of Registration, Accreditation/ License/ Eligibility/ Franchise issued by: DTI – Sole Proprietorship SEC – Corporations / Partnership CDA – Cooperatives 1.2 Latest Updated General Information Sheet 1.3 Owner’s Identification (valid ID’s include: Driver’s License, Passport or NBI Clearance) ii.

Permits/Proof of Business Address 2.1 Business Permit/Mayor’s Permit for the current year issued by the city or municipality where the principal place of business of the applicant is located;

iii. Labor Related Documents (for the last 6 consecutive months prior to submission of application) – Certification in good standing of 3.1 SSS Remittance 3.2 Phil health Contribution 3.3 Home Development Mutual Fund Remittances 3.4 Safety Program 2. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS 1.

Letter of Intent addressed to: The PNOC President and CEO Philippine National Oil Company 6/F Bldg. 6, Energy Center Rizal Drive, Bonifacio Global City Taguig City

2. Completely accomplished Accreditation Form (available from PNOC – ESB office) and a non-refundable payment of PHP 3,000.00. 3. List of personnel which shall include the following information: complete name, position in the company, address, age, educational background, experience with inclusive dates, and number of years of experience, as well as the employment status of the personnel – if permanent or contractual employee; 4. Duly Accomplished and Notarized Omnibus Sworn Statement indicating that: (a) the signatory to the application is the duly authorized representative of the company; (b) each of the documents submitted is an authentic copy of the original, and all statements and information provided therein are true and correct; (c) it is authorizing PNOC to verify all the documents submitted; (d) that the applicant is not related to any officer and employee of PNOC; (e) it is compliant with existing labor laws and standards; (f) it did not give or pay, directly or indirectly, any commission, amount, fee or any form of consideration, pecuniary or otherwise, to any person or official or representative of the government in relation to any project or activity. Proof of authority of the duly authorized representative (such as a Secretary’s Certificate with a Board Resolution confirming the appointment) must be attached to the Omnibus Sworn Statement. 3. OTHER DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS 1. Service Contract or Authorization/Appointment provided by Shipping Line/ Company to a Shipping Agent/Representative (emailed Authorization/Appointment

Inc., Manila Electric Co. and International Container Terminal Services Inc. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index last week sank 131 points, or 1.9 percent weekon-week, to 6,794 as Metro Manila was kept under strict quarantine measures. President Rodrigo R. Duterte said he would only consider shifting Metro Manila to a modified general community quarantine status once the country started to roll out its vaccination program. The financials and property sector rose 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. However, four other indices registered week-onweek declines led by holdings (-3.7 percent), industrial (-3.7 percent), industrial (-3.4 percent) and services (-1.8 percent). The average value turnover fell to P11.9 billion while average net foreign selling rose to P1.1 billion. With AFP

is acceptable). 2. Copy of information of membership or affiliation from trade associations or business group. SECTION 3. EVALUATION All applications filed or submitted shall be initially evaluated by the Technical Working Group (TWG) of PNOC – ESB Department, Administration Division. The TWG shall provide recommendation for approval to the PNOC President. The PNOC President or his duly designated representative may approve or reject the application, in accordance with this guidelines, and other applicable laws, circulars and regulations of which the services are categorized into. SECTION 4. ISSUANCE AND VALIDITY OF CERTIFICATE OF ACCREDITATION After evaluation and verification, the Philippine National Oil Company will inform the applicant in writing of the acceptance or denial of their application. 2. Upon compliance with and completion of all the requirements enumerated in Section 2, a Certificate of Accreditation shall be issued by the PNOC. The Certificate of Accreditation shall be valid for three (3) years and may be renewed in accordance with Section 7 of this Guidelines. SECTION 5. RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN ACCREDITED SERVICE PROVIDER (ASP) The Accredited Service Provider shall: 1. Comply with all PNOC Energy Supply Base policies, rules and regulations on Safety, Health, Security and Environmental Management, and all other applicable rules and regulations. 2. During operations, an accredited service provider must ensure the safety and environmental impact of the operations. 3. Accredited service provider must settle all financial obligations after the completion of the activity rendered inside the PNOC- ESB premises. Prevailing service charge rates as defined and indicated in the tariff shall apply. SECTION 6. GROUNDS FOR REVOCATION/CANCELLATION OF ACCREDITATION CERTIFICATE Accreditation as a duly certified service provider can be revoked anytime by the management of PNOC – ESB upon infraction of any of the following acts. Further, Service Provider will also be banned from doing business and rendering services inside PNOC – ESB premises. 1. Misrepresentation or submission of fraudulent document to support the application for accreditation, 2. Engaging in activities other than those specified in the Accreditation Certificate, 3. Using the accreditation certificate to engage in nefarious, illegal, immoral and vicious activity, 4.

Non-payment of the accreditation fee,

5. Failure to renew accreditation within one (1) month before the expiration of the accreditation, 6.

Violation of professional ethics,

7. Threat of future harm or use of defamatory words to any of the PNOC and/or PNOC subsidiaries employee or officer, 8. Any threat that will affect the operations of the Energy Supply Base and its clients, vessels, consignee and agents, 9. Final judgment of conviction of any Company Officers of a criminal offense involving moral turpitude, and 10.

Conflict of interests.

SECTION 7. NON-TRANSFERABILITY OF ACCREDITATION CERTIFICATE 1. The Accreditation Certificate issued to the ESB Service Provider and the rights and privileges with respect thereto, is non transferable to another entity. Any violation thereof shall be a ground for the automatic cancellation of such certification. The erring port service provider shall not be issued any certification by ESB and shall further be prohibited from rendering service at ESB for a period of one (1) year from the date of violation. SECTION 8 RENEWAL OF ACCREDITATION 1. The Port Service Provider shall renew its accreditation not later than sixty (60) days prior to the anniversary date of the accreditation. Late submission of updated documentary requirements for accreditation shall be subject to penalty of twenty-five (25) percent per annum or point sixty-nine (0.69) percent per day of delay. Failure to submit updated documentary requirements after sixty (60) calendar days from the anniversary date shall cause the automatic cancellation of the accreditation certificate. 2. PNOC may require other additional documents/requirements as the need arises, subject to appropriate notice given to all parties interested in renewing their accreditation. APPROVED

ADM REUBEN S LISTA (RET) President and CEO

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

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

IN BRIEF BIR exceeds tobacco excise tax collections

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue has surpassed its tobacco excise tax collections target in February this year after Japan Tobacco International Philippines Inc. raised its tax payments by more than 100 percent. Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa, in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, said the BIR overshot its February 2021 target for tobacco excise tax collections by 4.3 percent, collecting P17.57 billion mid-month after JTI Philippines paid taxes of P10.94 billion, 108 percent higher than the P5.25 billion it paid in January. Guballa said BIR’s tobacco excise tax target for the month was P16.85 billion. The February 2021 collection in tobacco excise taxes is also P9.20 billion or 109.8-percent more than the amount of P8.37 billion collected in the same period in 2020. “Noticeably, we have a big increase in the collection of tobacco excises because JTI opened its plant in Lima, Batangas. So it’s in full operation, that’s why they increased their production. That’s also why we have quite a collection in tobacco for this month,” Guballa said during a recent department executive committee meeting. Julito G. Rada

Business

PH air passenger traffic plummeted 78% in 2020 A By Darwin G. Amojelar

IR passenger traffic in the Philippines plummeted 78 percent last year amid the coronavirus pandemic that forced the government to close its borders for several months.

Data from the Civil Aeronautics Board showed total passenger traffic carried by domestic and international airlines reached only 13.12 million in 2020, down from over 60 million in 2019. International air passenger traffic fell 79.5 percent last year to 6.24 million from 30.52 million in 2019, while domestic

passenger traffic decreased 76.7 percent to 6.88 million from 29.53 million. This reflected the 80.3 percent plunge in Asia-Pacific airlines’ full-year traffic in 2020, which was deeper than the 65.9-percent drop in global passenger traffic based on the report of the International Air Transport Association, which groups the largest airline operators in the world. “Last year was a catastrophe. There is no other way to describe it. What recovery there was over the Northern hemisphere summer season stalled in autumn and the situation turned dramatically worse over the year-end holiday season, as more severe travel restrictions were imposed in the face of new outbreaks and new strains of COVID-19,” said IATA director-general and chief executive Alexandre de Juniac. The crisis forced the airlines around

the world to ground most of their flights and trim their work force. In the Philippines, both the Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific announced retrenchment programs. Data showed Cebu Pacific recoded the highest number of passengers carried last year, with 3.14 million domestic passengers, down by 75.9 percent from 13.03 million domestic passengers in 2019. This was followed by PAL Express with 1.44 million domestic passengers, down by 79.42 percent from 7.01 million domestic passengers. Philippine Airlines carried 401,033 domestic passengers last year, also down from 1.63 million domestic passengers in 2019. Philippines AirAsia flew 1.38 million domestic passengers in 2020, down from 5.34 million domestic passengers in 2019.

Smart teaming up with FarEasTone

SMART Communications Inc. has teamed up with FarEasTone Telecommunications for its 5G roaming service in Taiwan. “Even as travel ground to a halt because of the pandemic, Smart remained steadfast in its dedication to provide an improved roaming customer experience,” Alice Ramos, vice president for International Roaming and Consumer at Smart. “Now, Smart roamers can access a variety of data roaming plans that suit their needs while abroad,” he added. The launch of Smart’s 5G roaming service in Taiwan with FET comes at the heels of Smart’s partnership with KT Corp. for 5G roaming in South Korea. Taiwan and South Korea number among the world’s top three countries for best 5G experience in a February 2021 report by mobile analytics and insights research company Opensignal. Darwin G. Amojelar

Megaworld, Megawide in terminal partnership

MEGAWORLD Corp. through its transport terminals arm Township Transport Terminal Inc. (T31) has partnered with Megawide Corp’.s Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) for the interconnection of their transport hub. The agreement between Megaworld and MWM Terminals Inc., the operator of PITX, is seen to establish seamless connectivity between Megaworld’s Southwood City Transport Hub in Biñan, Laguna with the PITX, the country’s first landport in Paranaque City. The partnership is also envisioned to improve the delivery of terminal services to PUV operators and benefit thousands of commuters heading south from Metro Manila and vice versa. Megaworld chief strategic officer Kevin Tan stressed the need for the government and private firms to work together with the welfare of the public in mind. He sees the pandemic as an opportunity for Megaworld to study and reinvent its transportation hubs, with safety and health of the public at its top priority. Darwin G. Amojelar

MODERN PUVS. Hyundai Asia Resources Inc., in partnership with the Hyundai Trucks and Buses Cabanatuan dealership, turns over 10 units of Class 2 HD50S Modern Public Utility Vehicle to the Tayug Pangasinan Transport Cooperative in Pangasinan province. Attending the turnover ceremony are (from left) TAPTRANSCO chairman Carlo Lilagan, former Pangasinan District 6 Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Region 1 director Nasrudin Talipasan, Hyundai Trucks and Buses Cabanatuan president Dennis San Juan, HARI head of commercial vehicle fleet sales Pamela Dacanay and TAPTRANSCO director Manuelito de Vera.

PSE clears P14.7-b IPO of DoubleDragon’s real estate trust unit THE Philippine Stock Exchange said over the weekend it approved the P14.7billion initial public offering of DDMP REIT Inc., the real estate trust company owned by DoubleDragon Properties Corp. and the Yujuico family. “We are optimistic that more property companies will list REITs in the exchange this year given the benefits to the REIT company, its investors and to the country’s economy because of the reinvestment in the Philippines rule for the REIT’s sponsor,” said PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon. DDMP REIT will offer up to 5.942 billion common shares, with over-allotment option for another 594.24 million shares owned by DoubleDragon, Benedict Yujuico and Teresita Yujuico. The shares will be sold at up to P2.25

Retail power competition and open access for 500 kW threshold begins By Alena Mae S. Flores SOME 800 power consumers with an average monthly consumption of 500 kilowatt-hours can start switching and choose their own suppliers with the effectivity of the lower threshold level for retail competition and open access on Feb. 26. Jonathan de la Viña, marketing corporate strategy head of Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, said 13 contestable customers already registered with the agency, which serves as the central registration body of the retail electricity market. “In 2018, 750 kW has opened and currently there is 384, and for 500 kW which is the nearest threshold, 13 contestable customers have successfully switched to a retail electricity supplier starting Feb. 26”, de la Vina said in a briefing Friday. He said IEMOP started processing the 500 kW customer switching requests in January. He said with the approval, the would be supplied by the retail electricity supplier of their choice for the March billing period. Under an Energy Regulatory Commission resolution, the threshold for

participating in the retail electricity market was reduced from 700 kw to 500 kw, “so that means we have more eligible end users that could select their suppliers that is available in the market.” The threshold is the minimum average peak demand for the past 12 months the consumer should have an average monthly peak demand of 500 kw for the past year. IEMOP has 1,154 one-megawatt customers which started to switch in 2013. De la Vina said there were 36 available retail electricity suppliers in the market and 14 local retail electricity suppliers. “In terms of benefits of participating in the retail competition, the contestable customers are now provided options in their source of supply,” the IEMOP official said. He said contestable customers could also negotiate with their suppliers. Distribution utilities have a pass-on provision that whatever cost they have for sourcing supply from the WESM or from their contracts, they just pass it on to the captive customers and the captive customers will have to pay that amount.

apiece, with the final price to be announced on March 5. DDMP intends to conduct the IPO from March 10 to 16, 2021 and list on the PSE on March 23. It said at least 70 percent of the shares would be sold to overseas investors and the remaining 30 percent to local trading participants and domestic investors including local small investors. Small investors can subscribe to the maiden share offering of DDMP REIT through the PSE Electronic Allocation System platform. Assuming the over-allotment shares are fully exercised, DDMP REIT will have a public float of 36.67 percent. After the IPO, DoubleDragon will retain a 44.33-percent interest, while the Yujuicos will own continue to own 9.65

TALLEST CONTROL TOWER. The country’s tallest

airport tower will rise at the Clark aviation complex in Pampanga province. Clark International Airport Corp. president Aaron Aquino says the 18-story tower will be among several projects aimed at improving the aviation complex facilities servicing the Clark International Airport. Also in the pipeline are the primary and secondary radar and the detailed engineering design of a secondary runway at Clark which will soon be also up for bidding.

percent and 9.35 percent, respectively. DDMP has a portfolio of six office towers with retail components within DD Meridian Park in Pasay City. The company’s leasing spaces cater to a mix of tenants such as business process outsourcing companies, government agencies and corporate locators. DDMP REIT is required under the law to distribute at least 90 percent of its annual distributable income as dividends. It will also have to reinvest the entire IPO proceeds in various projects in the country within one year from market debut. DDMP REIT will be the second REIT company to conduct an IPO on the local bourse. The first was Ayala Land Inc.’s AREIT Inc., which was listed with the PSE last year. Jenniffer B. Austria

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2021

PSE INDEX CLOSING Friday, February 26, 2021

38.91 PTS. 6,794.86

TOTAL VOLUME TOTAL TRADES TOTAL VALUE ADVANCES DECLINES UNCHANGED

12,277,062,990 188,472 13,736,057,510.23 121 96 42

F oreign e xchange r ate Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2021

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

48.6370

Japan

Yen

0.009415

0.4579

Pound

1.401700

68.1745

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128966

6.2725

Switzerland

Franc

1.105828

53.7842

Canada

Dollar

0.793714

38.6039

Singapore

Dollar

0.754603

36.7016

Australia

Dollar

0.787200

38.2870

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652238

128.9969

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266652

12.9692

Brunei

Dollar

0.751767

36.5637

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000071

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.033190

1.6143

UAE

Dirham

0.272264

13.2421

Euro

1.217900

59.2350

Korea

Won

0.000894

0.0435

China

Yuan

0.154902

7.5340

India

Rupee

0.013748

0.6687

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.247647

12.0448

New Zealand

Dollar

0.737200

35.8552

Taiwan

Dollar

0.035889

1.7455 Source: BSP

Robinsons Retail Ayala’s Healthway earmarks P5b to finalizes takeover launch 120chain new of QualiMed stores this year

AYALA Healthcare Holdings Inc., a unit of the Ayala Group, said Friday it completed the acquisition of a majority in Mercado General Hospital Bystake Jenniffer B. Austria Inc. which owns and operates a chain of hospitals and clinics across the country. ROBINSONS Retail Inc. Ayala Health said theHoldings purchase was of the through Gokongwei Group said it earmade subsidiary Healthway marked P3Inc., billion toacquired P5 billion in Philippines which shares 2021 White capitalKnight expenditures open from HoldingstoInc., a new stores. wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayala RRHI in a presentation Land Inc.said and other shareholders.during a recent analysts’ it planned Ayala Health did briefing not disclose the acquisition cost.to 120 new stores across to open 80 owns and itsMGHI retail brands thisoperates year. the QualiMed which includes TheHealth group,Network, which operates superfour hospitals—QualiMed Sta.and Rosa in markets, grocers, drugstores speNuvali, QualiMed San Jose Del Monte cialty hopes, said same-store sales in Bulacan, QualiMed Iloilo were expected to riseIloilo to 3 inpercent City and Daniel O. Mercado this year after declining 8.9 Medical percent Center in Tanauan, Batangas. in 2020. QualiMed also operates an ambulaIt also planscenter to increase its e-comtory surgical at UP-PGH and merce business to account for 2and to has clinics in Makati, Quezon City t3 percent of total sales this year by Cebu IT Park. expanding presence through QualiMed online also introduced Jaime its own internet platforms andOrtigas thirdYsmael, who formerly headed party Corp., platforms. Land as its new president and RRHI said e-commerce sales inchief executive. “The addition of QualiMed into2020 the creased nearly three times in AC networkyear’s comeslevel. at an opporfromHealth the previous tune time, now RRHI that health Meanwhile, said has net become income top mind for all of us.toQualiMed fell of 25.2 percent in 2020 P2.9 bilhelps complete ACbillion Health’sinservice lion from P3.9 2019 deas livery network by providing healthcare overall sales were hurt by the effects at the tertiary level, and by expanding of the pandemic. its portfolio of specialty clinics,” YsNet revenues in 2020 declined by mael said. 7.3The percent to P151 billion. Full-year acquisition will boost AC sales included the two months’ results Health’s clinics and hospitals portfoof Rose a leading chain in lio whichPharmacy, includes 85 outpatient clinthe and Visayas, which itclinics acquired in Ocics 80 corporate under the tober 2020.brand and the country’s first Healthway “2020 was a year of difficulties for specialty cancer hospital, which is set to openbusinesses. in 2023. many COVID-19 might agreement beThe considered a was signed on Feb. 26,first 2021 HPI led in between our lifetime, yet by we AC reHealth and focused chief executive mainedpresident resilient and on proPaolo QualiMed’s vidingBorromeo, the best products and founding president executive Dr. servicesand to chief our customers. WeEdrewin Mercado and Alfonso Javier Reyes main steadfast in our commitment of Ayala Land. in 2021, confident that we can drive “We are excited and honored to be sustainable for all Over of our part of the ACgrowth Health family. the stakeholders,” RRHI president and years, we have worked hard to estabchieftheexecutive lish QualiMedRobina Health GokongweiNetwork as said. provider of affordable and aPetrusted accessible healthcare. We are also excited to develop synergies with the AC Health family, including a stronger pharma supply chain, digital integration and our upcoming COVID-19 vaccination program” said Mercado. Jenniffer B. Austria

PH, India discuss reduction of tariff on imported rice DISKWENTO By Othel V. Campos CARAVAN.

Department of India started neTHE Philippine and Trade and gotiations on Industry the reduction of tariff on Undersecretary for imported rice as a preliminary gesture to consumer advance theprotection proposed preferential trade group Ruth Castelo agreement between the two countries. checks the prices of Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said basic necessities and the adjustment of rice tariff could set the prime commodities in tone on the discussions the Diskwento Caravan of potential collaboration and cooperation on a wider in Barangay San range of Marikina initiatives. Roque, City. “We have been pushing for this at the Diskwento Caravan is a committee Tariff DTI initiativeon that aims and Related Matters, with reasonablyrespect to and adjustment on to provide priced products tariff quality rates for rice coming from India, the consuming and to from other countries, as our way The the program topublic. minimize trade barrier for a very is in commodity partnership with vital in our country,” Lopez the saidmanufacturers Friday at theand joint webinar orgadistributors of basic of Indian Chamnized by the Federation necessities and prime ber of Commerce Inc. and the Indian commodities, and the Business Forum. local government units. Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran acknowledged the Philippines’ initial acceptance of India’s offer to harmonize rice trade, as India is a major rice exporter while the Philippines is a leading rice importer. “We thank the [Department of Trade and Industry] for your kind consideration of our offering an easier access to rice from India rather than roundtripping through other destinations. I believe our offer will help the Philippines in its food security efforts. But we want to go beyond that. We want to look at technology partnerships in agriculture,” Kumaran said.

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Doncic’s Mavs halt streaking Brooklyn Nets LOS ANGELES, United States—Luka Doncic scored 27 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 115-98 NBA victory in Brooklyn Saturday (Sunday Philippine time), snapping the shorthanded Nets’ eight-game winning streak. James Harden scored 29 points for the Nets but ran out of steam late as he carried the load in the absence of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Durant missed his seventh game with a strained left hamstring while Irving sat out to rest his surgically repaired right shoulder. Harden had just four points in the second half, sitting out most of the fourth quarter in which Dallas led by as many as 22. The Mavs were buoyed by the return of Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 18 points in his first contest since missing three games with back trouble. “We played like a team today,” said Doncic, who was able to celebrate the victory on the eve of his 22nd birthday. “They have an amazing team,” added Doncic, who added that even with two stars out the Mavs knew the Nets remained a dangerous adversary. “We just kept going as a team,” he said. Brooklyn remained half a game behind Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia, who fell 112-109 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime in a rare home defeat. Guard Collin Sexton scored 28 points and Darius Garland added 25 with nine assists for the Cavaliers, who came into the contest missing half a dozen players due to injury or personal reasons. Despite having just nine players in uniform, Cleveland led 28-23 after the first quarter and 56-47 at halftime. An 18-9 third-quarter run saw the Sixers pull level at 65-65 and the lead changed hands eight times in the fourth. Joel Embiid’s dunk with 1:38 left in regulation knotted the score at 92-92, but he missed a potential game-winner at the buzzer. The Cavs scored the first five points of overtime and never trailed, claiming the win despite a 42-point, 16-rebound performance from Embiid. “I thought we had one quarter with energy, the third quarter,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “Other than that, they basically got the shots they wanted all game. If they didn’t they got the offensive rebounds. They got the back cuts when they needed them.” Jazz back in tune The league-leading Utah Jazz wasted no time in bouncing back from a disorganized defeat to the Miami Heat, cruising past the Magic 124-109 in Orlando. Donovan Mitchell scored 25 of his 31 points in the second half as the Jazz improved to 27-7. Joe Ingles, starting at point guard in place of Mike Conley, scored 17 points and handed out seven assists and Rudy Gobert chipped in 12 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, who had 18 points off the bench from Jordan Clarkson. AFP

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

Dallas Mavericks forward Luca Doncic (with ball) dribbles past Brooklyn Nets defender James Harden (13) during the first half of their game at Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. AFP

Fil-foreign players lack documents for PBA Draft By Rey Joble

HE depth of the PBA Rookie Draft will be affected if Fil-foreign players like Jason Brickman, Brandon Rosser, Jeremiah Gray and Taylor Statham cannot complete their documentation. Head coaches Yeng Guiao of the NLEX Road Warriors, Topex Robinson of the Phoenix Fuel Masters and Caloy Garcia of Rain or Shine certainly think so. “May March 5 deadline pa para sa mga Fil-Ams na hindi pa kumpleto yung mga documents nila,” Guiao said. “That will determine yung talagang depth ng draft pick natin. Kasi ang daming magagaling doon. I think 18 players are still incomplete in their documents. So kung sa 18 na yun kalahati yung hindi makakumpleto, medyo magsa-suffer yung depth ng draft natin.” Guiao’s NLEX squad will be picking not just once, but twice, and will be selecting early. The Road Warriors hold the rights to their No. 3 and No. 4 picks and were determined not to give up any of them despite numerous offers received from various teams in exchange for quality players. For the seven-time PBA champion coach, these picks will be valuable as they

continuously build on their future. Robinson’s team, Phoenix Super LPG, overachieved in last year’s bubble tournament, as it wound up a win away from securing a seat in the championship round. Phoenix lost a five-game series against eventual runner-up TNT Tropang Giga. The Fuelmasters were among the busiest squads in the off season. They figured in two major trade transactions that landed them veteran forward Vic Manuel, cerebral guard Chris Banchero and moved up from being No. 10 in the first round of this year’s Rookie Draft to number seven. Of course, the team had to pay a stiff price in unloading Calvin Abueva as part of the Banchero trade to Magnolia and its first round pick next year and guard Brian Heruela to Alaska for the services of Manuel. “When we were observing the movements, obviously we were updated with the movements of the Fil-Ams. We wish they could play and get the papers done.

There’s always a possibility rin na baka hindi. So the No. 6 that we have, considering that we have a complete list right now, that No. 6 could be the No. 3 of last year’s draft. Ang taas ng value noon,” said Robinson. “And the opportunity of getting a Vic Manuel is napakalaking bagay.” Garcia and the Elasto Painters are picking No. 5 and the young mentor believes that without the Fil-Ams, things are going to be a lot more difﬁcult in terms of making his selection. “Kung andyan kasi yung mga FilAms and they’ll be eligible, picking at No. 5 is easier and the possibility of having the player on your wish list could happen. Then you’re going to ﬁll up the void needed by your team in the second round. Lalo pa tatlo yung draft picks namin in the second round,” said Garcia. Brickman, Rosser and Gray are among those notable Fil-foreign players, who submitted their application for this year’s draft. They were teammates at Alab Pilipinas, which competed in the Asean Basketball League two years ago. Statham is a 3x3 superstar. These Fil-foreign players have yet to submit the required documents and have until March 5 to submit all the requirements.

Alvarez crushes Yildirim in third

Saul Alvarez raises his hand in triumph after winning his WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine super middleweight championship bout against Avni Yildirim at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida in this handout photo released by Matchroom. AFP

MIAMI, United States—Saul “Canelo” Alvarez demolished Turkey’s Avni Yildirim in three rounds to retain his WBC and WBA super middleweight titles by knockout on Saturday (Sunday Philippine time). Mexico’s Alvarez dominated underdog Yildirim from the opening bell and sent the Turk crashing to the canvas with a crisp left-right combination in the third round at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. The outclassed Yildirim then failed to emerge from his corner for the fourth round as Alvarez once again demonstrated why he is regarded as the best poundfor-pound fighter in boxing. “I wanted to have a great fight here and I did what I had to do,” Alvarez said. “I needed a knockout and that’s what I did. It doesn’t matter if they’re taller, if they’ve got more reach, or they’ve got a good trainer. I came to do my job. I came here to win.” Alvarez, who improved to 55-1-2 with 37 knockouts, had got back into the ring on Saturday a little over two months after beating Britain’s Callum Smith in December. After the fight, promoter Eddie Hearn said the 30-year-old Mexican star will next seek to add the World Boxing Organization belt to his collection with

a May 8 fight against Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders. The Saunders fight will be the next step in Alvarez’s quest to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history. “No one has done it,” Alvarez said. “I want to make history. No-one has done it at 168.” Alvarez meanwhile brushed off suggestions that he wants to be remembered as the greatest boxer Mexico has ever produced. “I respect everyone but I want to make my own history,” Alvarez said. Saturday’s bout will give Saunders plenty of food for thought after Alvarez produced his trademark blend of technical skill and punching power to overwhelm mandatory challenger Yildirim. The 29-year-old Turk, fighting for the first time in two years, looked hesitant from the outset as Alvarez landed an array of hooks to the body and uppercuts to easily win the first round. The second round followed an identical pattern, with Yildirim barely offering any kind of resistance as Alvarez worked his opponent’s ribcage mercilessly. The end came after a third round where Alvarez once again went on the attack against a passive Yildirim. AFP

Ravena wants to join Gilas Pilipinas national team By Peter Atencio NLEX Road Warriors cager Kiefer Ravena wants to be part of the Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team when it takes part in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2020 in Belgrade. The 27-year-old Ravena expressed his desire to rejoin the training camp of the national squad, two weeks after emerging from a bubble for Gilas in Calamba, Laguna. Gilas was then getting ready to play in the third window of the FIBA Asia qualiﬁers, but the Philippines and Doha, Qatar did not push through with their plans to host last January and this week, respectively. “It was disappointing for everyone.

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

Siyempre, pagod din iyung ginawa. Ang tagal din na nawala sa families. Nandun na iyung kundisyon at mindset. Pero, we’re still ready for anything that might come up in the near future,” said Ravena on the weekly program, “Power & Play.” Ravena is among six players in the Philippine Basketball Association that were picked to join the Gilas camp, along with CJ Perez, Justin Chua, Raul Soyud, TNT stars Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario. Among those who joined the camp were Ateneo Filipino-American recruit Dwight Ramos. Javi and Juan Gomez de Liano of the University of the Philippines were also there with point guard Matt Nieto, Isaac Go, and Justine Baltazar.

Other members of the team were Jaydee Tungcab, Rey Suerte, Kobe Paras, Calvin Oftana, Dave Ildefonso, Mike Nieto, Will Navarro and Kenmark Carino. Without New Zealand, Gilas will ﬁght for a spot in the Tokyo Olympics basketball games against Serbia and the Dominican Republic. Ravena said the Gilas camp in Calamba was a reunion of members of the Gilas Cadets, and it gave them a chance to be together again. “The whole program was set for them. Nakakatuwang isipin na nag-start ulit iyung gusto nilang mangyari sa Gilas Cadets, na matagal silang magsasama,” said Ravena.

PSA Annual Awards Night to go online FOR the ﬁrst time in its storied history, the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) will be staging its Annual Awards Night via virtual event owing to the current pandemic situation. The affair is set on March 27, with only a limited number of guests allowed at the TV5Media Center studio, while the rest of the awardees and attendees will be hooked up online. While the whole of sports wasn’t spared by COVID-19, there were a number of Filipino athletes who still managed to shine and rise above adversities and give the country something to cheer about in this time of despair. Highlight of the unique but special event backed by San Miguel Corporation and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), is the awarding of the coveted Athlete of the Year trophy, which is exclusively handed out by the country’s oldest media organization led by President Tito S. Talao, sports editor of the Manila Bulletin. The other regular awards handed out in the yearly affair will also be presented such as the Executive of the Year, President’s Award, National Sports Association (NSA) of the Year, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. Major honorees in various sports are likewise included in the short honor roll list as well as a handful of citations and special recognitions to people and entities which kept Philippine sports going in mankind’s darkest hour. The hour-long program will be covered by Cignal TV to be hosted by Gretchen Ho and Carlo Pamintuan. Last year, Team Philippines was the recipient of the Athlete of the Year honor in the aftermath of the country’s successful campaign during the 30th Southeast Asian Games, where the Philippines emerged overall champion only for the second time in its 43-year campaign in the biennial meet. The Awards Night was held at the historic Manila Hotel on March 6, a week before the entire Luzon area was put under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) following the outbreak of the pandemic.

NLEX Road Warriors guard Kiefer Ravena (24) attempts a jumpshot against San Miguel Beer defender Gelo Alolino (4). Looking on is SMB’s Arwind Santos (29). PBA

Sports

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

Abanse, Sta. Lucia A duel for PSL title

Liyab bags 3rd place in LOL: Wild Rift Frontier tilt TEAM Liyab defeated Sunsparks, 2-1, to place third overall in the League of Legends: Wild Rift Frontier Contenders 2021 Tournament Thursday evening. Liyab, the professional esports team of Globe in partnership with Mineski, was among the eight teams invited to participate in the tournament which features the latest version of the iconic online game League of Legends for mobile devices. “Although we placed 3rd in this preseason tournament our team is making the necessary adjustments to be better. This tournament is a great exposure to the team as we gear up towards the Wild Rift ICON Series Preseason coming in March. We hope you continue to support us.” said Head Coach Edriane “Eds” Balbalosa, after the tournament. The team won against RRQ PH but lost to Nexplay before settling for the bronze medal match against Sunspark. They won that series with a score of 2-1 favoring our Team Liyab. Liyab is composed of Nicoli “NICCSU” Montenegro, Allen Dean “DON” Viola, Miguel “MIGGIE” Banaag, Eric “EXOSEN” Gubatan, Kevin “GAMBIT” Dizon, Lars “3SH” Maniego and Robert “MORAYTABOY” Tan. Liyab is set to compete in various community events leading up to the Wild Rift ICON Series Pre-season which will happen on March 20, 2021. To learn more about Team Liyab’s lineup of tournaments, please like and follow them on: https://www.facebook.com/ teamliyab

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Abanse Negrense A and Sta. Lucia A blasted their respective foes in the semifinals to forge a winner-take-all final battle in the 2021 Gatorade-Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup Sunday at the Subic Bay sand court here. The tandem of Alexa Polidario and Erjane Magdato of Abanse Negrense A sealed a spot in the finals following a 21-18, 21-12 win over the duo of Bang Pineda and Jonah Sabete of Sta. Lucia B in the semifinals of this prestigious tournament that is being held in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Inter-Agency Task Force. Also making it to the finals were DM Demontano and Jackie Estoquia of Sta.

Lucia A, which bested Jennifer Cosas and Gelimae Villanueva of Abanse Negrense A in the penultimate day of this spectacle that has Cherrylume, Ube Express and Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel as sponsors and Cocolife, Cocogen Insurance, Data Project and Genius Sports as technical partners. Abanse Negrense A and Sta. Lucia A are still clashing for the crown at press time, but whatever happens, they are already winners as they were part

of the country’s first-ever volleyball tournament in this time of coronavirus pandemic. “I’m so thankful and blessed to be part of the PSL’s return. Making it to the championship is just a bonus,” Magdato, a seasoned beach volleyball campaigner from University of Negros OccidentalRecoletos, said. “The best is yet to come and we still have a lot to show in the championship game.” Estoquia, for her part, said they did everything to win in the semifinals and avert what could have been an all-Negrense finals showdown. “I told DM in the third set that we need to calm down and use our emotions to bring out the best in us and win the game,” said Estoquia, who nailed three

Anti-doping policies in National Sports Summit 2021

HONORARY BLACKBELTS. The Philippine Taekwondo Association recently awarded Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan and Undersercretary Arnold “Ali” Atienza as Honorary 5th Dan Blackbelts. With them are (from left) PTA Marketing Head Jobet Morales, President Sun Chong Hon, and Secretary General Rocky Samson.

Baguio hosts FESSAP archery qualifying tourney By Graham C. Lim THE Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines Executive Committee has tasked Loren Chloe Balaoing, FESSAP’s representative in the Cordillera Region and FISU Ambassador for 2020, to supervise the qualifying tournament, for 31st Summer Universiade Games 2021, set at the Baguio Archery Club venue. Recently, Balaoing graduated with a degree in Sanitary Engineering at the University of Baguio and was voted a member of the FESSAP Board of Trustees during an online meet held last February 12. Balaoing last saw action in the 30th Summer Universiade (World University Games) held in Napoli, Italy in July 2019. Athletes who are 18-25 years old and currently enrolled at a member university/ college of FESSAP are encouraged to participate in the tryouts on April 10, 2021. Recent graduates who are within the age limit are also qualified to take part in the event. The tryouts will be held at the athlete’s respective archery ranges. The member university will be in charge of the target face that will be used during the tryouts. Currently, the registered university members with the FESSAP in Cordillera Region are the University of Baguio, Benguet State University, and

letes (three athletes per event) in the recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women. The tryout format is as follows: 70 meters for Recurve; 122 cm, one archer per target face; 50 meters for Compound; 80 cm, one archer per target face; in the event that less than, or exactly, three archers per category fulfilled their registration form on time, they will automatically be selected, and need not join the tryout at the said date. The following fees will be shouldered by the qualified athletes and their coaches: The event is the 31st Summer Universiade in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China from August 18 to 29, 2021. 1. Airfare; 2. Participation fee- Euro €560 (Euro €70 per day x approximately 8 days); 3. FISU registration fee- €20; 4. Philippines’ Travel tax/ Terminal fee, if the Philippine Sports Commission will not provide us the waiver for the said payment; 5. The FESSAP will provide for the uniforms of the athletes and coaches. The FESSAP Archery Club will come out with an online Registration Form for student-athletes on March 1. The registration for the tryouts is from March 1-31. The rules for the tryout will be posted on FESSAP’s Facebook page, @FESSAPint. Moreover, it will be Loren Chloe Balaoing emailed to the participants at a later date, or before the the University of Cordilleras. actual tryout. Selection of Participants: The link to the registration will be posted on The FESSAP will be selecting a maximum of 12 ath- March 1, 2021.

Destiny awaits Alex Eala THE COACH MIKE OCHOSA IN HIS book The Promised Land, former US President Barack Obama wrote, “The truth is, I‘ve never been a big believer in destiny. I worry that it encourages resignation in the down-andout and complacency among the powerful.” This is such a curious notion from a man, whose rise to power, eventually occupying the most influential position in the world, has been nothing short of a fulfilment of a purposeful fate. Obama’s journey began with an improbable thesis, that a black man can be President of the United States. Beleaguered by all sorts of reason that say otherwise, Obama and his team marched on with a common belief that it can be done. The uncompromising line, “Yes we can,” resonates till today. Although these words seem to point only to politics, beset with this kind of choice we all are. Do we live our lives resigned to a preordained future or do our tomorrows solely rest on us? Regardless of who we are or what we do, we go on our daily lives guided by whatever belief we have. ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA Women’s tennis is dominated by players from the United States, Czech Republic and Russia. Watching the rise of 15-year-old protégé, Alex Eala uncovers the question about destiny. This young lass is positioned to be the first

straight points to tow the Lady Realtors to the finals. Her partner, Demontano, said they would do everything to win the title as they have settled for bridesmaid finishes during the last two editions of this tournament. “Everybody wants to win the title and you can’t measure the eagerness of both teams in the finals,” Demontano said. “We will do our best in our third straight finals appearance to finally give a title to Sta. Lucia.” Sta. Lucia B is clashing with Abanse Negrense B for the bronze medal while F2 Logistics and United Auctioneers are disputing the fifth-place spot and Toby’s Sports and Kennedy Solar EnergyPetroGazz are looking to emerge as seventh-placers.

Filipina tennis player to be truly competitive in the world stage. One cannot help but marvel at her tenacity. In a sport where Asian women are still struggling, Eala must feel alone. Alex, as she is commonly called, reportedly began playing at an early age of 4. Circumstances continued to present themselves and eventually these series of opportunities formed a desire in her to continue raising the bar. When asked when she decided to take the sport seriously, she shares, “There was no specific moment, I have always loved the sport, and because tennis was such a big part of my life, being a professional player has been my dream longer than I can remember.” Her reply is no different from any other young tennis hopeful from around the world. Any champion will point to a moment where they began to “love” the sport more than others. But we must remember that there are more of these youngsters, who never enter the world of international tennis. DREAMS AND AMBITIONS Everybody begins with a dream. A personal expectation that destiny awaits. So what separates the champions from the wannabes? Are there those who are truly intended for greatness and are the others, despite similar beginnings, headed for obscurity? Eala, much like the other youth players listed in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) top ten list, began with ambition. “I am a very ambitious and hardworking girl surrounded by amazing people,” Eala describes herself. BUSTING OUT AND KICKING DOORS DOWN “I have only ever trained full time in two

places. From when I started playing until the age of 13, I would train with my grandfather and brother in a country club in Pasig (Valle Verde Country Club). I have been training here in the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain ever since September 2018.” Countries with a bustling tennis community have the luxury of constantly churning out players that compete in international play. They have training systems which include a robust financial base, an active sports environment and a fan base in their country who understands, appreciates and supports the game. The Philippines, sadly does not provide any of that. Team Eala had to break out if they were to break through. Someone once said that total commitment invites the right occasions and eventually divine intervention follows. Armed with a belief in her skills and willingness to learn, Eala moved closer to where the action was. “Moving away from the Philippines, I was definitely confident in my abilities, however I was also sure that I had so much to learn and that I was far from being the best. I would give myself a 7 because I was very eager to learn and work hard. I wouldn’t say I rated myself based on skill. I believe that you can never reach 10/10 because there will always be something you can improve no matter how good you are.” Eala’s commitment level rose when she took the step of faith out of her comfort zone. She made the Rafa Nadal training Academy her second home. Last year, Eala was ranked #2 women’s junior player in the world by the ITF. Although she moved down a notch to third spot early in 2021, she is now ranked 763 overall by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). This is her highest ranking thus far. Making this

list is by itself an extraordinary feat given the limited exposure and training she has had. At 15 years old, she is in a very good position. When asked if she expected to garner these worldwide rankings, Eala responded, “I think I knew for a while that I had the potential, but I didn’t expect to exceed my goals so quickly. I think it’s important that you believe in yourself and trust that if you work hard enough, you will reach your goals with time.” LETTING GO OF NORMALCY Like all great men and women who early in their lives have chosen a specific path, some things will have to be sacrificed. Living a life with a single minded purpose, require choices. It is not a surprise that a huge part of the “normal” has to be forgone. Alex’s daily schedule is surely not normal but the gain she says outweighs the sacrifices. “One of the biggest struggles I’ve had is maintaining a balanced social life. Growing up I never had time to spend with my friends, I was a very shy kid and still am. I would feel very left out at times because of my tennis. Another obvious sacrifice is being away from my family. Ever since I moved to Spain I haven’t been with my family as much as other kids have, but with all my sacrifices, I understand that this is what I had to give up if I am looking to be serious about tennis. Three things I think I gained are discipline, maturity and patience. I don’t think I would make it very far without these traits.” DISCIPLINE. MATURITY. PATIENCE. If there is nothing else to gain from this experience, these are enough. Clearly Alex is prepared for the long haul. It is the point of no return some would say, her path carved out, the destination in sight. Alex further intimates, “I want to be a successful woman who has achieved everything

EFFORTS towards clean and fair play in the country get the spotlight when batch 2 of the online National Sports Summit 2021 starts this March 4. Dr. Alejandro Pineda, head of the Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization (PHINADO), leads the sports conference on Thursday, providing an in-depth discussion on the implementation of the 2021 World Anti-Doping Code in the country. Pineda, a known figure in guiding national athletes and coaches in complying with world anti-doping policies, has been representing the country in the Southeast Asia Regional Anti-doping Organization (SEA RADO) since 2006. “The area of honest and fair play is very vital to impart, most especially to our athletes, coaches, and sports educators who are directly involved in the practice of training minds and bodies to be at its prime,” said the PSC’s National Training Director Marc Velasco, who is also the summit’s Project Director. This coming session opens the second batch of the migrated sports conference to adapt to the limits of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are three subjects to be discussed in this batch namely, “Anti-Doping Efforts in Philippine Sports,” “Sports Science and Sports Success,” and “High-Performance Sports and Athletic Success.”

I have wanted to achieve, not just on the court but off the court as well.” At 15, Eala understands the symbolism of what she is doing now. “I want to thank each and every one of you for following my matches in my career,” she quips, “it means so much to me to my family and friends and to all the fans you really help motivate me to be the best version of myself that I can be. I hope that I am able to somewhat serve as an inspiration to others.” No one can truly determine what will become of Alex’s tennis dream. Only time will tell. It is not wrong to expect great things from her; on the contrary our support must be anchored on anticipating success. Eala’s destiny belongs only to her. Wherever this all leads depend on how she advances from here on. “ ….. the best we can do is to try to align ourselves with what we feel is right and construct some meaning out of our confusion, and with grace and nerve play at each moment the hand that we’re dealt” President Barack Obama The Promised Land *** Mike Ochosa is an avid sportsman. He has written for various broadsheets and on line publication providing his thoughts and insights on various sports. He is a freelance TV boxing analyst having sat ringside in 14 of Pacquiao’s fights and for various international sports networks as well. He was President of Punchout Boxing Club and is currently President and Program Director of Philippine Habagat Baseball. Follow him on social media: Website: mikeochosa.com; FB: https:// www.facebook.com/coachmikeochosa/, IG: @coachmike.O; Twitter account, https://twitter.com/mikeochosa

Entertainment

Nickie Wang, Editor nickie.standard@gmail.com MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 ||

Angel Locsin, Kim Chiu among recipients of Isah V. Red Award at 4th EDDYS

HE EDDYS or The Entertainment Editors’ Choice, kicks off this year honoring once again the movie industry’s excellent craftsmen, actors, writers, directors, workers, and producers.

Organized by the Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors’ (SPEEd), the annual film event goes virtual this year with its awards night streaming on March 22. This year’s edition also gives recognition to top-caliber work aired on various platforms during the time of the pandemic. Find out who made it to the shortlist to compete in 14 categories covering work released in 2020, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor. As a special highlight, the 4th EDDYS will launch the Isah V. Red (IVR) Award in honor and memory of SPEEd’s founding president, Isah V. Red. “This recognition is given to individuals like him — a dynamic and spirited renaissance man with a deep love for God, country, and community — who, beyond the realm of entertainment, had so enriched and made a difference in the lives of many, in his most colorful, gregarious and inimitable way,” SPEEd

The late Isah V. Red (center), former Manila Standard entertainment editor, with the members and officers of SPEEd during the 3rd EDDYS Nominees’ Night held in June 2019.

President Ian Fariñas said. The first recipients of the IVR award are Senator Bong Revilla, Jr., Angel Locsin, Kim Chiu, Ramon Ang, Rei Anicoche-Tan, and Claire de LeonPapa for their humanitarian efforts toward alleviating conditions of people adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another much-awaited part in this edition is the 2021 EDDYS Icon awards, to be conferred on entertainment personalities Gloria Sevilla, Ronaldo Valdez, Pilar Pilapil, Boots AnsonRodrigo, Gina Pareño, Dante Rivero,

Tommy Abuel, Caridad Sanchez, Joel Lamangan, and Ricky Lee. Meanwhile, the EDDYS special awardees have been named as the following: TV-radio host-columnist Lolit Solis for the Joe Quirino Award; entertainment columnist Mario Bautista for the Manny Pichel Award; Blacksheep Productions for the Rising Producers’ Circle; and The IdeaFirst Company as Producer of the Year. Also, posthumous recognition will be given to Peque Gallaga, Tony Mabesa, Menggie Cobarrubias, Ramon Revilla, Sr., and Tony Ferrer.

MayWard, Francine, Donny, Arjo, Gary V renew ties with ABS-CBN

Award-winning actor Arjo Atayde (left) renews his ties with ABS-CBN. (Inset) Rising stars (from left) Donny Pangilinan, Edward Barber, and Maymay Entrata with event host Robi Domingo.

pressing his gratitude to the network. “ABS-CBN feels like home. For a lot of reasons, they take care of us. They give us the projects we deserve, as long as we work hard for it. I just love being a Kapamilya and I will stay here no matter what,” Arjo said who also received a special video message from girlfriend Maine Mendoza and his co-star in The General’s Daughter, Maricel Soriano. One of the pillars of OPM, Mr. Pure Energy Gary V, was also filled with gratitude as he remains a Kapamilya. According to Gary V, who will still be seen every Sunday

Hollywood, history combine in Churchill art auction HOLLYWOOD’S Angelina Jolie and Britain’s iconic wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, a keen artist who took inspiration from the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, are combining for a March 1 date at Christie’s auction house in London. “The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque,” an oil painting Churchill produced during a World War II visit, is tipped to fetch between £1.5 million and £2.5 million ($2 million and $3.5 million), according to a Christie’s estimate. Put up for auction by Angelina Jolie, it is vaunted in Christie’s catalogue as “Churchill’s most important work. Aside from its distinguished provenance, it is the only landscape he made” during the war. A career army officer before entering politics, Churchill started to paint relatively late, at the age of 40. His passion for the translucent light of Marrakesh, far from the political storms and drab skies of London, dates back to

on ASAP Natin ‘To, he and his co-artists will continue to spread happiness and inspiration. “What do I hope for this 2021? Just for us to continue to inspire and encourage so many people out there through our music, stories, dance. Everything,” he said. Among the ABS-CBN executives present were chairman Mark Lopez, president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, COO of broadcast Cory Vidanes, head of entertainment production, and head of Star Magic Laurenti Dyogi, managing director of ABS-CBN Film Productions Olivia Lamasan, and head of finance, Rick Tan. Gallery workers pose with Winston Churchill’s ‘Tower of Koutoubia Mosque’ during a photocall at Christie’s auction house in central London. AFP

the 1930s when most of Morocco was a French protectorate, and he went on to make six visits to the North African country over the course of 23 years. “Here in these spacious palm groves rising from the desert the traveller can be sure of perennial sunshine... and can contemplate with ceaseless satisfaction the stately and snow-clad panorama of the Atlas Mountains,” he wrote in 1936 in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. He would set up his easel on the balconies of the grandiose La Mamounia hotel or the city’s Villa Taylor, beloved by the European jet set of the 1970s. It was from the villa, after a historic

SPEEd, through these uncertain times that changed the landscape of entertainment in various ways, believes that giving recognition to the best works of the year is one way to uplift filmmakers, producers, writers, actors and all those involved in creating quality Filipino film works that both entertain and inspire audiences across the country and the world. SPEEd is a group of entertainment editors of major broadsheets and tabloids in the Philippines.

Of clowns, jesters, and jokers

Solid Kapamilya

KAPAMILYA stars Maymay Entrata, Edward Barber, Francine Diaz, Donny Pangilinan, Arjo Atayde, and Gary Valenciano, renewed their contract with ABS-CBN, the media company that they all call home. ABS-CBN executives warmly welcomed each of the six stars who still chose to be with ABS-CBN at the Kapamilya Strong special contract signing event and media conference on Friday (Feb. 26). First to sign a new contract was Maymay whose eyes were sparkling with joy when she said that ABS-CBN made all dreams possible. “I started my career here in ABS-CBN. I found my purpose here,” Maymay, who was last seen in the digital romcom movie Princess DayaReese,” shared. Maymay will continue to be part of ASAP Natin ‘To and iWant ASAP. Meanwhile, Maymay’s onscreen partner, Edward, is ready to take more risks this 2021. According to the host of the MYX online show Kwentong Barber on Kumu, “I need to jump, to take risks. I’ll take a chance. I’ll train, not try.” As for Francine, she is now busy preparing for her comeback in the much-awaited biggest inspirational series, Huwag Kang Mangamba with the Gold Squad. One of the stars who also marked a career milestone with ABS-CBN was Donny who will be seen next on the upcoming iWantTFC series, He’s Into Her, opposite Belle Mariano. “I’m glad to be here in my roots. Thank you so much ABS-CBN for giving me wings to fly as well,” Donny added. Arjo, 2020’s Asian Academy Creative Awards Best Actor winner, also inked a new contract with ABS-CBN and teased that he is already working on a new project for the Kapamilya network. Although Arjo was tightlipped about the project, he said that he’s excited to work again. He also became emotional while ex-

Screen stars Angel Locsin (top) and Kim Chui, and Beautederm’s Rhea Anicoche-Tan (bottom right) are among the recipients of Isah V. Red Award at 4th Eddys, an annual film event organized by the Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors (SPEEd).

January 1943 conference in Casablanca with US president Franklin Roosevelt and France’s Charles de Gaulle, that he painted what came to be regarded as his finest work, of the minaret behind the ramparts of the Old City, with mountains behind and tiny colorful figures in front. “You cannot come all this way to North Africa without seeing Marrakesh,” he is reputed to have told Roosevelt. “I must be with you when you see the sunset on the Atlas Mountains.” A newspaper photograph taken at the time shows the two wartime Allied leaders admiring the sunset. AFP

KTX streams ‘Ayuda Babes,’ a black comedy film that stars come of the country’s rising comedians and comedy bar performers.

THE original quote “Laugh and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone” is found in Ella Wheeler’s 1863 poem Solitude. This quote rings true, especially this time of the pandemic. Laughter has indeed become the most important medicine for all as we continue to survive the longest quarantine season on this side of the planet. Case in point, I chanced upon the trailer of Ayuda Babes, and believe me, it will surely provide everyone that some kind of wonderful bellyache due to rip-roaring laughter. From Saranggola Media Productions Inc., the short movie clip alone says so much. One can conclude that this motion picture offering is one part black comedy, one part comedy of errors, peppered with bits and pieces of parody and a good sprinkling of satire. Black comedy is defined as a film that deals with a distressing or tragic subject matter in a humorous way. Because it pokes fun on the great equalizer that is the pandemic, that is the black comedy component for you. With a cast composed up of standup comedians, comedy bar hosts, concert performers, singers, vloggers, a best actress winner, and a seasoned character actor, parodies are more than expected from the movie. Some parts of this comedy used irony and exaggeration to expose the people’s eccentricities, peculiarities, or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. The satirical components of the movie are indeed crystal. Ayuda Babes stars seasoned character actor and newly minted TikTok King Gardo Verzosa, theater stalwart Joey Paras, Cinema One Best Actress for Mamu Is A Mother Too Iyah Mina, It’s Showtime Miss Q and A First Season Queen, Juliana Porizcova Segovia, comedy bar hosts, performers and vloggers Negi, Brenda

Mage, Petite Brockovich, Berni Batin, and the Original Mash Up Queen Ate Gay. Other cast members include Bubble Gum Pop Princess and YouTuber Christi Fider (singer of “Teka, Teka, Teka”), Hashtag hunk Zeus Collins, Bidaman Dan Delgado, with the special participation of actor and heartthrob Marlo Mortel, and Marc Logan. Director Joven Tan said in an official press release: “Aside from its entertainment value and making people feel good and laugh, this movie is my modest tribute to the courage, tenacity, never say die and the survivor that is in every Filipino who by the grace of God, always faces every crisis head on and manages to rise above it, even laugh about it. The quarantine that we are all and the pandemic brought about by the COVID-19 is a year old and yes we all experienced periods of anxiety and even depression, but we still count our blessings, thankful for what we have, and smile. We take things seriously but we still manage to enjoy our lives, our family, and this is what the movie highlights and presented in the funniest of situations.” Ayuda Babes begins its streaming on March 5 on iWant, TFC, and Ktx.Ph.

Moira supports fun, safe transpo SNAPSHOT

SINGER-SONGWRITER Moira Dela Torre (2nd from right) with husband Jason Marvin Hernandez posed with Eugene Martinez of Ekstreme Scooters (extreme left) and wife Joan Lim Martinez (extreme right). Ekstreme, the country’s leading scooter service repair shop, is the exclusive distributor of Kaabo scooters described as eco-friendly and innovative electric vehicles that gave the public a big lift by partnering with city mayors, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, frontliners, and celebrities to provide fun and safe transportation to communities in quarantine.

Life

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

FOOD

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

Looks like meat, tastes like meat —zero meat

NO-MEAT MEAT. Plant-based, ready-to-cook meat brand unMeat by Century Pacific Foods, Inc. includes nuggets, sausages, minced meat, and burger patty.

By Steph Llarena

HE makers of Shakey’s Pizza’s plant-based burger Goood Burger finally launched its meat-free lineup, including the aforementioned patty.

The increasing consumer interest in plant-based diets and the rising awareness of animal rights are expected to further drive the market growth of meat-free meat alternatives, according to a published study by Grand View Research. With a growing market of consumers looking for healthier products and vegan options, Century Pacific Foods, Inc. (CNPF), the food manufacturing arm of the Po family, officially launched unMeat in February, its plant-based meat brand. “We believe unMeat is a valuable addition to our brand and product portfolio as more and more Filipinos embark on healthier lifestyles. At the same time, this initiative supports both our ambition to become a healthier food company and to do business in a more sustainable and responsible way,” CNPF executive chairman Christopher Po said earlier. The brand boasts a plant-based meat lineup that, CNPF senior executive

Nikki Dizon said, “unbelievably and undeniably looks, feels, and tastes like meat.” Variants include Nuggets, Hungarian Sausages, Giniling (minced meat), and Burger Patties. “One of the biggest concerns about plant-based foods is that they are not delicious or as pleasing to the palate as real meat, but our Nutrition Science team took that as a challenge,” added Dizon. CNPF’s plant-based meat line is made with “simple but nutritious ingredients” with no cholesterol, trans fat, egg, and dairy, but with the same mouth-feel as real meat. During the press launch last week, Chef Sau del Rosario, who sampled the products, said, “the taste is like you got it from the oven. It’s tasty, it’s clean, and it’s very delicious.” “I would put this in my menu,” enthused Chef Sau. Following unMeat’s successful initial rollout as Shakey’s Goood Burger, CNPF announced more upcoming partnerships

The meat-free line promises meat-like flavors and texture sans trans fat and cholesterol. (Photos from unMeat/Facebook)

with other restaurant brands in the country. Additionally, the company’s Global Brands Team has started offering the product to customers across a network of 80 countries such as the USA, Singapore,

China, and the Middle East. “This newest addition to our product portfolio further strengthens our company’s mission to provide affordable nutrition for all. UnMeat is very affordable

and delicious!” added Dizon. The unMeat product line is available in supermarkets and specialty stores nationwide, as well as on Shopee and Lazada. Prices range from P120 to P135.

CRAVINGS DELIVERED Steak, suckling pig in Marriott’s family meals

Xin Tian Di’s new menu includes (from left) Butter Garlic Salted Egg Lobster, Steamed Lobster Dumpling with Black Truffle, and Wood-Oven Roasted Peking Duck.

Lobsters, Iberico pork loin take center stage in Xin Tian Di’s new menu CROWNE Plaza Galleria Manila’s Chinese restaurant Xin Tian Di introduces a new and improved menu featuring premium ingredients. The new creations of Chef Peter Yeung reflect the restaurant’s commitment to a modern approach to Chinese cuisine. The latest additions to the menu include Butter Garlic Salted Egg Lobster, Wok Fried

Spain Iberico Pork Loin in Chinese vinegar and honey dressing, and Steamed Lobster Dumpling with Black Truffle. Xin Tian Di’s famous Wood-Oven Roasted Peking Duck is also available. To cap off the meal, special desserts on offer include the new Sweet Black and White Sesame Tea with Tong Yuen Dumpling and the must-try Buchi Surprise.

“The plan is to be able to come up with new fusion dishes quarterly, but still make sure that the all-time favorites are present without compromising on the quality of our food,” said Gisbeth Gloria, Xin Tian Di’s executive assistant manager. Call 8790-3100 or email fandb.reservations@ihg.com for inquiries and more details.

Sous vide and fried chicken bites

BITES

Burger chain Shake Shack’s chicken bites, first introduced in the US in 2018, are now available in Manila for a limited time. Chick’n Bites feature crispy pieces of chicken breast cooked sous vide to retain flavor and juice, then breaded in flour, cayenne, and paprika before fried. They’re served with a choice of BBQ sauce or honey mustard dip. The chicken bites are now available in stores or via GrabFood and foodpanda.

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Fuwa Fuwa loaf’s new look

Shake Shack’s Chick’n Bites

Five-star hotel Manila Marriott rolls out new family meal packages for delivery featuring dishes prepared by Executive Chef Meik Brammer’s culinary team. The six selections include the Lechon Manok Feast (six half pieces inasal, side dishes, fried rice, and leche flan) Manila Marriott’s Grilled Tomahawk Package comes with an for P3,800 nett; the 850-900g French cut bone-in ribeye, tiger prawns, sides, and Emperor’s Fish Fillet pecan pie. Package (Emperor’s fish fillet, sides including tiger prawns, and mango short cake) for P3,500 nett; and the Binusog na Pork Chop Package (maple glazed oven-roasted pork chop stuffed with rice casserole, sides, and chocolate moist cake) for P4,000 nett. Also available for delivery are the Man Ho Delights (pork asado platter, shredded chicken with jelly fish, wok fried chicken, yang chow fried rice, and egg tarts) for P4,800 nett; the Grilled Tomahawk Package (850-900g Angus beef French cut bone-in ribeye, tiger prawns, sides, and pecan pie) for P5,500 nett; and the Suckling Pig Fare (suckling pig, side dishes, German rice pilaf, and apple strudel) for P4,988 nett (half) or P9,588 (whole) Lechon Manok Feast, Emperor’s Fish Fillet, Pork Chop Package, and Man Ho Delights are good for four to six persons. The Grilled Tomahawk Package feeds two to four diners, while the half Suckling Pig Fare is good for five and the whole is good for 10 persons. Orders must be placed 48 hours in advance. Call 0917-859-9521 or 89889999, or go to www.manilamarriott.com for orders and inquiries.

Do you like your tasty soft and fluffy? Japan’s Fuwa Fuwa bread is known for is soft and pillowy texture beloved by those who answered “yes” to the previous question. Nippon Premium Bakery has introduced a new look for its fluffy loaf bread, made with Japanese quality ingredients at an affordable price. Fuwa Fuwa’s Everyday Japan Tasty is available in eight slice-pack for P47 and 12 slice-pack for P65. A special introductory price of P60 for the 12 slices is ongoing today until March 31. The fluffy loaf bread is now available at leading supermarkets and 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide.

Allowing customers to order items from different brands in one transaction, Max’s Group, Inc. (MGI) launches its own multi-brand delivery service. The delivery service covers all MGI food brands including Max’s Restaurant, Yellow Cab, Pancake House, Krispy Kreme, Teriyaki Boy, Dencio’s, Sizzlin’ Steak, and Jamba Juice. Cus- Max’s Group, Inc. now lets customers order from different tomers only need to brands in a single transaction. call 8887-9000 or go to maxsgroupdelivers.com, and specify their location to see available brands within their area. There are currently 16 multi-brand kitchens located in Makati, Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, Caloocan, Cavite, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Manila, and Pasay.